Japanese newborn to receive the worlds first liver stem cell – News Landed

Stem cell research is an advanced branch of science that hopes for promising and budding treatment in the future. It is quite complicated and controversial even for the scientist, due to the unstructured multiplication of cells. We know that the stem cells are specialized, undifferentiated precursor cells capable of self proliferation and differentiation. It can develop into any type of cell in the body, including muscle cells and even brain cells.

Usually, these stem cells are extracted from the inner cell of a blastocyst in a fertilized egg and so named Embryonic Stem cell. This process of extraction is generally tedious, and most importantly, it causes ethical issues due to embryo destruction.

Read Also: Parkinsons, diabetes, and other disease research affected by COVID-19

A six-day-old infant in Japan was suffering from urea cycle disorder in which the liver is not able to breakdown ammonia, a toxic compound, in the blood. Doctors suggested that liver transplant was not advisable for the baby considering the age. It was recommended only for babies who are about 3 to 5 months old weighing around six kilograms(13 pounds). As to find a temporary solution, Doctors at the National Center for Child Health and Development planned to attempt a bridge treatment until the baby attains a particular age. They injected 190 million liver cells, which were derived from embryonic stem cells into the blood vessels of the newborns liver.

On examining the babys blood after treatment, they didnt notice any abnormally elevated level of ammonia and this claimed to be a successful therapy for the first time in the world. The baby later underwent a liver transplant successfully from its father and was discharged after six months from the hospital. The institute said that the success of this trial demonstrates safety in the worlds first clinical trial using human ES cells for patients with liver disease.

Read Also: China supports coronavirus inquiry, but insists on waiting until containment

The research about the stem cell could be used in the upcoming days for many infants who require organ transplants in the initial stage without any intervention. These transplants rely mainly on donors because looking for the embryonic cell has been unscrupulous and unethical. Liver cells can be taken from brain dead patients and also people who are interested in donating liver cells. By this stem cell approach, we can prevent many genetic or acquired diseases and provide a long-lasting healthy life.

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Source: MedicalXpress

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First American to Receive Placental Cell Treatment For COVID-19 is an Acclaimed Broadway Scenic Designer – Science Times

Edward Pierce, 49, an acclaimed Broadway set designer for plays like Wicked spent five weeks in a medically induced coma after contracting COVID-19 and was treated at a hospital in Teaneck, New Jersey.

His condition slowly deteriorated due to organ failure, and there seemed to be little hope, so his wife agreed to use an untested method developed by an Israeli biotechnology firm. He made history as the first American to receive placental cells in around 15 parts of his body.

According to the Daily Mail, Pierce was off a ventilator and breathing on his own just within ten days of treatment. The treatment is said to be part of the Food and Drugs Administrations' 'compassionate use.'

Pierce first thought that he had the flu, so doctors only prescribed him medicines and told him to stay home. However, his condition continued to worsen, and then he was admitted to the hospital. Four days later, he was put on a ventilator.

At one point in his stay, doctors had to restart his heart after it stopped when he pulled out his breathing tube. Pierce told The Daily Beast that he felt scared at the time because he does not want to be not in control.

He remembered that doctors asked him to count backwards from 10 and her wife told him that she loves him, and he said it back to her. That was the last thing he remembered before waking up five weeks later.

A lot has happened in those times, including him having kidney failure and needing dialysis. Luckily, he did not have to have that. His wife began thinking of what life would be like if Pierce did not make it. She would receive updates from the hospital, sometimes the news was good, sometimes it was not so good.

According to Pixie, the doctors are running out of options to save her husband. So they ask her to authorize an as-yet-untested treatment that extracts stem cells from human placenta.

Read Also: 115 Healthy Babies have Been Born from Mothers Infected with COVID-19 In India

Pluristem Therapeutics, an Israeli company who pioneered the treatment said that 75% of COVID-19 patients had been taken off the ventilator, according to The Jerusalem Post. The FDA permitted the company to offer the treatment on a case-by-case basis to patients under 'compassionate use.'

Compassionate use is the use of a new unapproved treatment for patients who are seriously ill and has not shown any improvements after every other option has been exhausted.

The proposed treatment includes using cells from the placenta or the intramuscular administration of the company's PLX-PAD, which is used for severe pneumonia caused by COVID-19 and preventing the deterioration of patients towards ARDS and sepsis.

Within ten days, Pierce was taken off a ventilator and started to breathe on his own. Gradually, doctors weaned him off of sedatives, and three days after he woke up, his breathing tubes, feeding tubes, and catheters were all removed.

Finally, on May 1, he was discharged from the hospital after nearly seven weeks of treatment. He was then sent to rehabilitation to rebuild his muscles and regain strength.

Read More: CDC Emphasized COVID-19 Not Easily Spread By Touching Surfaces or Objects

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First American to Receive Placental Cell Treatment For COVID-19 is an Acclaimed Broadway Scenic Designer - Science Times

We now have a special power to kill the virus – Bangalore Mirror

Some good news on the Covid treatment front. Cytokine therapy trials, for mild and moderate symptoms in asymptomatic individuals and early-stage symptomatic Covid-19 infections, will begin from Monday. Though approvals are awaited, doctors are optimistic

Starting Monday, HCG Cancer Centre will start conducting cytokine therapy trial on humans, which can treat patients with mild to moderate Covid-19 infection. Cytokines are cell signalling molecules that activate immune response and direct movement of cells towards the infection/inflammation site. The therapy involves injecting this cocktail of chemicals into patients with compromised immune systems. Doctors expect the cytokines to activate the immune response in Covid-19 patients. At least 10 people have volunteered and pre-screening is currently going on at HCG. Dr US Vishal Rao, regional director of head and neck surgical oncology and robotic surgery, HCG Cancer Centre, explains the mechanics of the therapy.

Why cytokines? How do they help?We found that children with immature immune system recover very well from Covid-19 infection and tend to have milder symptoms; but those in the 65+ age bracket with a more mature immune system are at higher risk. A logical explanation to this could be the active thymus gland which is well developed in children in the mothers womb itself and gets active soon after birth. In the age group 65-plus, the thymus has degenerated.

Most people who are dying (due to Covid-19) are dying between the 8th and the 27th day (of the infection). This is because in the initial days the body has some reserve cells to fight the virus (innate immunity).

But by the 5th to 7th day, they need to start recruiting new people in this fight, for which they need the thymus. But in the 65+ age group, the thymus degenerates because the body says I have seen all the viruses I need to. So we went back to our labs and started finding out how to activate this immunity (active immunity).

Dr Jyothsna, who has worked with a Nobel Prize winner and has had a great experience with Rockefeller, and Dr Gururaj, a cell biologist with immense knowledge of these procedures, are working on this cytokine therapy.

How do you extract cytokines?We take 2ml of blood from healthy individuals and get a buffy coat (the froth generated when the blood is spun at a high velocity) full of thymic cells. We take the buffy coat and identify the specific thymus cells which are active in the immune system. We then simulate a virus attack on these cells in the laboratory. Due to this, the cells start secreting these special hormones called cytokines.

What next?There are four to five cytokines and one among them is the interferon. The word interferon means to interfere; so, when a cell is dying due to the virus, it releases interferons which are called messenger proteins. These messenger proteins quickly reach out to the neighbouring cells and inform them that there is an impending viral attack, so please get prepared.

When this happens, several other cells start getting ready with the anti-viral engine in their own blood cell machinery which will kill the virus, whenever it infects this cell.

So what did you create?We created a concoction of cytokines which we believe will reactivate the immune system completely when the virus is about to enter and attack (the system) and not at the terminal stage.

Who all can benefit from this therapy?It can be given to a Covid-19 patients primary contacts, or someone who is developing cough or cold (due to the infection). If you inject the cytokines, their immune system will be reactivated to such a level that when the virus attacks, their body will be prepared significantly to fight back. What we have done is given the body a special power to kill the virus.

How is it different from a vaccine?Vaccines prevent normal individuals from contracting the virus. Here we are trying to help people infected by the virus to kill the virus by reactivating the immune system. Will this therapy prevent viral infection again? We still do not know.The experiment on animals is successful. We wanted to see whether the animal was going to get a cytokine storm.

Cytokine storm? Whats that?Covid-19 patients who are terminally ill go through a storm, where the immune system becomes hyperactive. At this juncture, if interferons were to be given when the person is dying, the system is already releasing so many immune cells and the cells are fighting and there are multiple reactions happening. This is when the immune system gets frustrated. Then, these interferons which went to contact the thymus cells are getting surplus of the immunity and that is when it starts a storm.

In the second stage - a stage of severe illness we need to prepare the patient with plasma when the patient shows breathlessness and is not on a ventilator.

In the last stepwhen the person is on the ventilator we believe the mesenchymal stem cells are one of the best therapy and China has already given results and we are waiting for the approvals. They are doing it in the US too.

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We now have a special power to kill the virus - Bangalore Mirror

In the race to find a Covid-19 cure, leaders must not forget other diseases in need of research funds – The National

In the past few months, countries have raced to find vaccines and treatments for Covid-19.

From the US to the UK, potential vaccines are being tested out. Recently, scientists in the UAE have also made extraordinary advances in treatment and testing. Abu Dhabi Stem Cell Centre unveiled a new type of aerosol stem-cell therapy that has been tested on 73 patients with mild to severe symptoms, all of whom recovered. This new treatment helps lung cells regenerate faster and is meant to be administered alongside other existing protocols.

Among the recovered patients who underwent stem-cell therapy is Abdullahi Rodhile. A father of 10 with underlying conditions, he had to be put in an induced coma for nearly three weeks. I was brought back to life. he told The National. I was dead and now I am alive.

And on Tuesday, QuantLase Imaging Lab, the medical research arm of Abu Dhabi-based International Holdings Company, announced the development of a rapid laser coronavirus test with the potential to carry out mass screenings and deliver results in seconds. The new technology could, in the coming months, replace swab tests, which can take hours to process.

These new treatments, vaccines and testing methods have yet to be accessible on a large scale, and require further work. But they are a clear step towards the innovation necessary to diminish the pandemics threat to daily life. For several years now, scientific research worldwide has suffered from a lack of resources and funding. In Europe, home to many renowned institutions of medical science, governments have repeatedly struck blows to research programmes through immigration restrictions, budget cuts to universities and a lack of public investment in the sciences. In the US, the Trump administration has been criticised for its 2018 dissolution of Washingtons pandemic response team, a taskforce put in place by the Obama administration after the discovery of Ebola.

This pandemic has proved the importance of promoting strong research institutions and scientific advancement. It has also given more space for medical and scientific experts in the media landscape. Their contribution is vital to combating conspiracy theories, providing trusted information and raising awareness. Nurses, doctors and innovators have now become the role models and heroes of the new generation.

I was brought back to life. I was dead and now I am alive.

Abdullahi Rodhile

But while renewed interest in scientific advancements is pivotal to global public health and to our economies, the focus on coronavirus has, unfortunately but inevitably, come at the cost of furthering research in other essential fields. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has announced it will give its total attention to the coronavirus pandemic. Similarly, the European Union has decided to allot an additional 675 million from the Horizon 2020 programme, the biggest research and innovation fund in Europe, to research into the coronavirus, with pandemic investment from the fund totaling 1 billion.

Global policymakers, the scientific community and civil society are all part of a delicate balancing act between allocating the resources necessary to find a path out of the coronavirus pandemic, and not allowing other priorities to fall to the wayside. Resources are limited, but when used carefully and effectively, we can spur innovation on all fronts.

Updated: May 21, 2020 10:53 AM

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In the race to find a Covid-19 cure, leaders must not forget other diseases in need of research funds - The National

Indian tennis: For injury-plagued Yuki Bhambri, the lockdown is both a chance and another challenge – Scroll.in

If these were normal circumstances, Yuki Bhambri would probably be back on the grind of the tennis tour trying to qualify for a Grand Slam again. It would be a far cry from his breakthrough 2018 season, where he crossed top 100 and played all four Majors, but at least he would be back and fighting on court.

However as things stand, the former India No 1 has not played a competitive match since October 2018 after battling a debilitating knee injury that wasnt correctly diagnosed for months and led to a layoff that is 18 months and counting now.

From a career-best ranking of 83 in April 2018 to losing his ranking and being tagged as inactive on the official ATP charts, it has been a period of difficulty and confusion for the 27-year-old, who has been a junior world No 1 and Grand Slam champion.

Its been a pain a struggle. The [past] 18 months have felt like five years. From not being able to really put any load on my knee, I think its a big achievement to be able to finally get back to playing tennis and do even the basic exercises, Bhambri told Scroll.in.

But even then, there are two ways to look at the long time away from the sport due to injury and now an extended break due to the coronavirus pandemic. The positive is, of course, a shutdown of the entire tennis tour means that the timeline for recovery is extended. Does he see this time off, although due to a negative reason, as beneficial?

Yes, it does for me and for everyone whos been out injured because you dont miss out on the tour. Everyone in the same situation, everyone comes back without hitting a tennis ball for months. Ill not be missing the Grand Slams or any events and it gives me time to come back. So for the few ones, like me, Roger Federer, Juan Martin del Potro, this is a good time. Of course, you dont want it to happen due to a pandemic, he added.

The Indian has been spending time at home in Delhi, trying to get whatever fitness training he can at home with the tennis courts shut amid the nationwide lockdown but he knows its not enough.

Its difficult and different, no matter how much you train at home, its not the same. Youre obviously doing it for your career, for tennis and Im not able to play it and theres only a certain amount that you can really do at home. For me, its really just about being active and doing bits and pieces so that I dont have to start from scratch when I get back on the court, he added.

I was already following a bunch of exercises I need to for my knee rehab. But sometimes modifications are needed and Im in constant touch with my team. Theres only so much you know you can do but I think Ive been good enough in being active, said the Indian who is coached by Stephen Koon from the Impact Tennis Academy in Thailand.

Bhambri admitted that he is unsure if he would be a 100% if the tour were to restart.

Its pretty good but I am not match-fit. I made a lot of progress and if I had to, even right now Id give myself a 70% chance. I need to get out there and practice because I havent done anything in regards to my physical fitness for about over a year and a half now.

The body takes some time to get used to it again and for that Id have to be on the court I presume for at least a couple of months, to be able to get back to running and being able to take the load of a match. I had just started to do that and get into a routine when the lockdown happened. Once its over Ill get back to practice but looking at things, we may not have a tennis season this year he added.

As candid as Bhambri is while talking about the past few months, the toll becomes evident when he describes the excruciating details of his injury and the experimental treatment. He was injured in mid-2018 but it was only in September 2019 when he consulted with Dr Angel Ruiz Cortorro, who has worked with many top injured tennis players including Rafael Nadal, that Bhambri got a clear idea of the problem.

From what I understand of the diagnosis I have a small, partial tear in the medial part of my knee. Because it was tiny and in the middle of the tendon, no one could really figure it out and I was somewhere stuck in between because surgery would have been too big a step to repair it and the basic modern medication and therapy werent working. So I had to try different kinds of treatments, different injections to help heal the tendon, he said.

I was seeing doctors in the US and getting different opinions. But a few of them had the same idea, which was an experimental treatment called stem cell. This procedure was more advanced in Spain and there are very few countries that actually do it; they dont even do it in the States. Since I was getting different opinions, I decided to get in touch with Dr Cortorro just to have another opinion and went with him because hes the one who has treated a lot of tennis players who had knee trouble, Bhambri added.

The decision paid off because after almost a year of taking different injections and waiting for months to see if they made a difference, he finally made progress in late 2019. Around the new year is when I got back on court to hit the ball and I have seen improvement every week, which is a good sign.

Also read: Yuki Bhambri on building up the ammo to fire his way to the top

In his career so far, Bhambri is no stranger to injuries or fighting back from them, but even then one needs immense self-belief to be able to deal with this long and complicated rehab process.

There havent been too many positives, he laughed, but admitted that his success in 2017-18 was a reminder of what he is capable of.

I needed to keep reminding myself that I want to come back and continue playing to get back at the level I was at. I think having tasted success of finally playing the Slams, my first Wimbledon, winning a few matches at the Masters 1000 in Indian Wells and Miami, pushed me as well to try. Wanting to play those events again kept me going, he said.

Coming from a family of tennis players also helped the 27-year-old. His sister Ankita is the Indian Fed Cup coach while other sister Sanaa and cousin Prerna are all pro tennis players.

Theyre always on the lookout, helping out; specially both my sisters who have been helping with the research, making sure I am finishing training and not being lazy my parents coming in and asking if Ive iced my knee or not. So theyve all been actively involved and try to help it in whatever way they can, he said.

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