Young Patient With Autism Improves After Stem Cell Therapy Program – Digital Journal

BANGKOK, THAILAND - 17 Aug, 2017 - Autism is a complex brain developmental disorder that is characterized by impaired social interactions, communication difficulties, obsessive attachment to routines and repetition, and often an extreme dislike of certain sounds, textures and tastes. Autism usually surfaces in the first three years of life and may vary in severity from mild to disabling.

Depending on degree of severity, some children with autism may develop into independent adults with full time employment & self-sufficiency however this is seldom the case. There is no known single cause but abnormalities in brain function are generally attributed to environmental, immunological and neurological factors.

Autism stem cell therapy is a therapeutically beneficial program. The administration of our stem cell therapy isproposed as a novel treatment for the two pathologies associated with autism:

Hypoperfusion to the brain and immune dysregulation, using stem cells may potentially heal both the brain and the gut.

The Patient

Baby Keean is 2 years old child with autism who was successfully treated with stem cell therapy through a 2 week program developed by Stem Cells 21 international medical center in Bangkok (Thailand). He is showing early signs of improvement in his condition as confirmed by his mother, Mrs. Carmen McCarthy. After the treatment she is happy to report:

Keean is doing really well. His walking has really improved. He now walks around everywhere and rarely falls over. His eye contact and interactions have continued to improve; he now initiates contact with us all the time. He will put down toys walk over to us and cuddle without us even asking him to come. This is something he never did before. His focus in play has also improved and he now presses buttons to make his toys play music. This he could not even understand how to do before. I am very happy with his progress and looking forward to even greater changes in him. I want to thank the whole team at Stem Cells 21 for giving my son such great care and most importantly for giving him a chance to become a normal happy little boy.

How the Autism Stem Cell program can help:

Angiogenesis The formation of collateral blood vessels is believed to be fundamental in neurological recovery.

A promising method of in- creasing angiogenesis into damaged areas is by administration of CD34+ stem cells. Consequently improved blood flow and oxygen to the brain should also improve nervous system functioning.

Dr. Thein Htut M.D., M.B.B.S., medical director at Stem Cells 21 explains: The treatment of immune dysregulation in autism is expected to profoundly influence neurological functions. The ability of mesenchymal stem cells to suppress pathological immune responses (e.g. inflammation) and to stimulate haematopoiesis (blood cell regeneration) leads to the possibility that these cells may also be useful for treatment of the defect in T cell numbers associated with autism.

Stem Cells 21 Autism Treatment Program:

Our Autism Stem Cell Therapyis aimed to attempt to lessen the deficits and abnormal behaviors associated with autism and other autism spectrum disorders (ASD)/ADD, and to increase the quality of life and functional in- dependence of autistic patient. Treatment is typically catered to the childs needs. Treatments fall into two major categories: educational interventions and medical management.

The treatment is also beneficial to:? 1. Improve cellular energy production marker 2. Improve cellular antioxidant production 3. Improve gastrointestinal system 4. To improve and clear any heavy metal in the blood circulation

YouTube Video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAnEnZHmY2A

Video Link: https://youtu.be/UAnEnZHmY2A

Media Contact Company Name: Stem Cells 21 Co. Ltd. Contact Person: Paul Collier Email: treatment@stemcells21.com Phone: +66 26507709 Country: United States Website: https://stemcells21.com/

See more here:
Young Patient With Autism Improves After Stem Cell Therapy Program - Digital Journal

Vitamin C may encourage blood cancer stem cells to die – Medical Xpress

August 17, 2017 Ball-and-stick model of the L-ascorbic acid (vitamin C) molecule, C6H8O6, as found in the crystal structure. Credit: public domain

Vitamin C may "tell" faulty stem cells in the bone marrow to mature and die normally, instead of multiplying to cause blood cancers. This is the finding of a study led by researchers from Perlmutter Cancer Center at NYU Langone Health, and published online August 17 in the journal Cell.

Certain genetic changes are known to reduce the ability of an enzyme called TET2 to encourage stem cells to become mature blood cells, which eventually die, in many patients with certain kinds of leukemia, say the authors. The new study found that vitamin C activated TET2 function in mice engineered to be deficient in the enzyme.

"We're excited by the prospect that high-dose vitamin C might become a safe treatment for blood diseases caused by TET2-deficient leukemia stem cells, most likely in combination with other targeted therapies," says corresponding study author Benjamin G. Neel, MD, PhD, professor in the Department of Medicine and director of the Perlmutter Cancer Center.

Changes in the genetic code (mutations) that reduce TET2 function are found in 10 percent of patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), 30 percent of those with a form of pre-leukemia called myelodysplastic syndrome, and in nearly 50 percent of patients with chronic myelomonocytic leukemia. Such cancers cause anemia, infection risk, and bleeding as abnormal stem cells multiply in the bone marrow until they interfere with blood cell production, with the number of cases increasing as the population ages.

Along with these diseases, new tests suggest that about 2.5 percent of all U.S. cancer patients - or about 42,500 new patients each year - may develop TET2 mutations, including some with lymphomas and solid tumors, say the authors.

Cell Death Switch

The study results revolve around the relationship between TET2 and cytosine, one of the four nucleic acid "letters" that comprise the DNA code in genes. Every cell type has the same genes, but each gets different instructions to turn on only those needed in a given cellular context.

These "epigenetic" regulatory mechanisms include DNA methylation, the attachment of a small molecule termed a methyl group to cytosine bases that shuts down the action of a gene containing them.

The video will load shortly.

The back- and-forth attachment and removal of methyl groups also fine-tunes gene expression in stem cells, which can mature, specialize and multiply to become muscle, bone, nerve, or other cell types. This happens as the body first forms, but the bone marrow also keeps pools of stem cells on hand into adulthood, ready to become replacement cells as needed. In leukemia, signals that normally tell a blood stem cell to mature malfunction, leaving it to endlessly multiply and "self-renew" instead of producing normal white blood cells needed to fight infection.

The enzyme studied in this report, Tet methylcytosine dioxygenase 2 (TET2), enables a change in the molecular structure (oxidation) of methyl groups that is needed for them to be removed from cytosines. This "demethylation" turns on genes that direct stem cells to mature, and to start a count-down toward self-destruction as part of normal turnover. This serves as an anti-cancer safety mechanism, one that is disrupted in blood cancer patients with TET2 mutations, says Neel.

To determine the effect of mutations that reduce TET2 function in abnormal stem cells, the research team genetically engineered mice such that the scientists could switch the TET2 gene on or off.

Similar to the naturally occurring effects of TET2 mutations in mice or humans, using molecular biology techniques to turn off TET2 in mice caused abnormal stem cell behavior. Remarkably, these changes were reversed when TET2 expression was restored by a genetic trick. Previous work had shown that vitamin C could stimulate the activity of TET2 and its relatives TET1 and TET3. Because only one of the two copies of the TET2 gene in each stem cell is usually affected in TET2-mutant blood diseases, the authors hypothesized that high doses of vitamin C, which can only be given intravenously, might reverse the effects of TET2 deficiency by turning up the action of the remaining functional gene.

Indeed, they found that vitamin C did the same thing as restoring TET2 function genetically. By promoting DNA demethylation, high-dose vitamin C treatment induced stem cells to mature, and also suppressed the growth of leukemia cancer stem cells from human patients implanted in mice.

"Interestingly, we also found that vitamin C treatment had an effect on leukemic stem cells that resembled damage to their DNA," says first study author Luisa Cimmino, PhD, an assistant professor in the Department of Pathology at NYU Langone Health. "For this reason, we decided to combine vitamin C with a PARP inhibitor, a drug type known to cause cancer cell death by blocking the repair of DNA damage, and already approved for treating certain patients with ovarian cancer."

Researchers found that the combination had an enhanced effect on leukemia stem cells, further shifting them from self-renewal back toward maturity and cell death. The results also suggest that vitamin C might drive leukemic stem cells without TET2 mutations toward death, says Cimmino, given that it turns up any TET2 activity normally in place.

"Our team is working to systematically identify genetic changes that contribute to risk for leukemia in significant groups of patients," says corresponding author Iannis Aifantis, PhD, professor and chair of the Department of Pathology at NYU Langone Health. "This study adds the targeting of abnormal TET2-driven DNA demethylation to our list of potential new treatment approaches."

Explore further: A tumor-suppressing gene can be harmful in some cancers

Journal reference: Cell

Provided by: NYU Langone Health / NYU School of Medicine

Adjust slider to filter visible comments by rank

Display comments: newest first

Very interesting. And what about the way in which Dr. Linus Pauling was ostracized by the scientific community as a quack for investing his career into this idea? Where is the deeper discussion of the effects that this has had upon this research? Why would the journalist fail to mention that it appears that the scientific community may have made a huge mistake?

' If you want a quote from his original paper that shows this better than anything, here it is: "We believe that the ascorbate-treated patients represent a random selection of all the terminal patients in the hospital, even though no formal randomization process was used." Suffice it to say that, in a clinical trial, it is not sufficient to "believe" that your groups were properly randomized and matched. You have to show it.'

https://profiles....bbkz.pdf

Subsequent randomized clinical studies showed no benefit from high oral dosage of vitamin C in cancer. ' followed by two other randomized clinical trials, which when coupled with the first trial, involved 367 patients and failed to find a benefit from high-dose oral vitamin C in cancer. '

Please sign in to add a comment. Registration is free, and takes less than a minute. Read more

Go here to see the original:
Vitamin C may encourage blood cancer stem cells to die - Medical Xpress

Linking seizures, heart health and sleeping sickness to bacteria and shape-shifting parasites in the mouth and gut – UB News Center

BUFFALO, N.Y. Four studies focused on improving our understanding of the human genome and microbiome were awarded funding through the third round of research pilots supported by the University at Buffalos Community of Excellence in Genome, Environment and Microbiome (GEM).

The projects, which total $150,000, will study how the relationship between the human body and the collection of microorganisms that reside on or within it affect our risk for certain diseases.

Understanding the connection these microorganisms have with our bodies may enable the development of precision medicine and empower individuals to have greater control over their health.

The pilot grants award researchers from a variety of disciplines up to $50,000 to develop innovative projects focused on the microbiome. The funds support up to one year of research.

The awards are provided through GEM, an interdisciplinary community of UB faculty and staff dedicated to advancing research on the genome and microbiome. GEM is one of UBs three Communities of Excellence, a $9 million initiative to harness the strengths of faculty and staff from fields across the university to confront the challenges facing humankind through research, education and engagement.

Changes in the genome our own or those of the microbes in, on or around us have a tremendous impact on human health and our environment, says Jennifer Surtees, PhD, GEM co-director and associate professor in the Department of Biochemistry in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at UB.

With these newest projects, UB scientists from across disciplines have come together to dig deeper into these changes and to help establish the infrastructure necessary for advanced precision medicine.

Along with Surtees, GEM is led by Timothy Murphy, MD, executive director and SUNY Distinguished Professor in the UB Department of Medicine; and Norma Nowak, PhD, co-director, professor in the Department of Biochemistry, and executive director of UBs New York State Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences.

The funded projects involve faculty teams from the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, the UB School of Public Health and Health Professions, and the UB School of Dental Medicine.

Can organisms in the gut increase vulnerability to seizures?

Inflammation in the central nervous system can increase susceptibility to seizures.

Given the role that the intestinal microbiome plays in shaping inflammation in the body, UB researchers believe that the tiny organisms may have an impact on the onset, strength and duration of seizures.

The study, led by Ira J. Blader, PhD, professor in the UB Department of Microbiology and Immunology, and Alexis Thompson, PhD, senior research scientist in the UB Research Institute on Addictions, will examine in mice the composition of the microbiome and which of its components affect seizures.

If correct, this may suggest the gut microbiome as a therapeutic target for the treatment of seizures and epilepsy.

Researchers lay groundwork for UB genomic research with Spit For Buffalo

To better understand how the human genome and microbiome interact to influence health, UB researchers will establish Spit For Buffalo, a project that will collect DNA samples from volunteer UBMD patients for use in future studies.

The researchers will collect saliva samples, anonymously link the samples to each patients electronic medical record, and sequence the genome and oral microbiome. By determining which genes are associated with which diseases, new connections between specific genes and diseases will be made.

Samples are currently being collected from patients in the UBMD Neurology, Internal Medicine and OBGYN clinics in the Conventus Center For Collaborative Medicine.

The project will provide an infrastructure resource for genome and microbiome investigations at UB.

The research is led by Richard M. Gronostajski, PhD, professor in the Department of Biochemistry and director of both the WNY Stem Cell Culture and Analysis Center and the Genetics, Genomics and Bioinformatics Graduate Program; Gil I. Wolfe, MD, professor and Irvin and Rosemary Smith Chair of the UB Department of Neurology; Michael Buck, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Biochemistry and director of the WNY Stem Cell Sequencing/Epigenomics Center; and Nowak.

Solving how RNA provides a parasite with shape-shifting abilities

The parasite Trypanosoma brucei, the cause of Human African Trypanosomiasis commonly known as sleeping sickness radically alters its physiology and morphology as it moves between insect and mammal over the course of its life cycle.

These changes, researchers found, are caused by various RNA binding proteins, allowing the organism to survive in environments that range from the human bloodstream to the insect gut. UB researchers will examine how these proteins regulate the parasites transformations.

The study is led by Laurie K. Read, PhD, professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology; and Jie Wang, PhD, research assistant professor in the Department of Biochemistry.

Pinpointing the potential effects of oral and gut bacteria on heart health

UB researchers will investigate the connection between oral and gut bacteria and the onset and progression of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (CVD), or the buildup of plaque around the artery walls, eventually blocking blood flow.

The study will seek to understand how the microbes in the body contribute to plaque formation in the arteries, providing the basis for interventions that reduce the effects of the microorganisms on CVD.

Previous studies have found microbes present in arterial plaques, but have not provided conclusive links to the parts of the body where the microbes originate. Researchers will use next-generation sequencing and advanced bioinformatics analysis methods to identify and characterize microorganisms in the artery walls and compare the bacteria with those present in oral, gut and skin microbiomes.

Environmental factors such as smoking, blood cholesterol and periodontal disease status will also be examined as potential factors that influence the bacteria-CVD relationship.

The research is led by Robert J. Genco, DDS, PhD, SUNY Distinguished Professor in the UB Department of Oral Biology and Department of Microbiology and Immunology, and director of the UB Microbiome Center; and Michael J. LaMonte, PhD, research associate professor in the UB Department of Epidemiology and Environmental Health.

Here is the original post:
Linking seizures, heart health and sleeping sickness to bacteria and shape-shifting parasites in the mouth and gut - UB News Center

Temple native’s sickle cell case to be featured on Discovery program – Temple Daily Telegram

Deidra Flowers-Williams ended up in Building 10 of the National Institutes for Health in 2015 because she was out of options.

Flowers-Williams had sickle cell anemia and the toll it had taken on her body over the years had left her in constant pain and too weak to walk from her bed to the bathroom.

After a stem cell transplant at the NIH hospital on Nov. 19, 2015, Flowers is free of the disease and has not had a sickle cell crisis since the procedure.

Her story, along with three other NIH patients, is the subject of the three-part documentary, First in Human, airing tonight on the Discovery Channel. Flowers-Williams story will be featured in the third segment on Aug. 24.

Narrated by Jim Parsons of the Big Bang Theory, the series follows the diverse patients as they participate in a First in Human trial the initial time when a new therapy is tested in humans.

Deciding to pursue a spot in a medical trial can be daunting. There are lots of hoops to jump through to get accepted and there is always the chance that nothing will change or it might kill you, Flowers-Williams said.

She was willing to take the risk.

Tanisha Flowers, her sister, provided the stem cells. The sisters were a 100 percent match.

Sickle cell anemia is a disease in which the body produces abnormally shaped red blood cells. The cells are shaped like a crescent or sickle. They don't last as long as normal, round red blood cells. This leads to anemia. The sickle cells also get stuck in blood vessels, blocking blood flow. This can cause pain and organ damage.

Flowers-Williams was No. 43 in the NIH clinical trial on using stem cells to cure sickle cell in adults. The first transplant took place about 13 years ago and that patient is alive and free of sickle cells.

Flowers-Williams returns to the NIH every six months for a checkup.

On my last visit, everything was good, she said.

Shes had to get all-new immunizations since her slate was swept clean when her sisters stem cells took over.

The therapy couldnt fix what was damaged before the stem cell transplant.

You know I lived with sickle for 39 to 40 years and Im so grateful to be here today, Flowers-Williams said.

She said her success is hope for individuals with sickle cell anemia.

There is medical work being done that can ease our suffering, she said.

Flowers-Williams said she was excited about the series because it highlights the NIH and its work.

Those scientists and researchers are working every day to cure diseases and sickle cell is only one of many, she said. I believe the stories of the four patients will touch people and bring focus to the institution.

The research center has already come up with another treatment for sickle cell patients who dont have a stem cell match, Flowers-Williams said.

Prior to my treatments I had no prior knowledge of what they did, Flowers-Williams said. This has opened up a whole new world for me. Im so happy the National Institutes of Health is getting this exposure.

Flowers-Williams has a job, an impossibility for years. Her teenage children have a new mother.

They have only known me as being sick, she said. Were making new memories.

Ethel Flowers, a nursing instructor at Temple College, her daughter and family were in Los Angeles recently to promote First in Human.

Dee Dee was on a panel with the other patients discussing their experiences, Flowers said. They asked everybody on the panel questions, but I only focused on her.

Flowers said the family has viewed bits and pieces of the series, but havent seen it in its entirety.

The producers were supposed to send me the program on a DVD, because I told them I was old school, Flowers said. As of Wednesday the DVD hadnt arrived.

Her daughter is doing great, according to Flowers.

She has normal people problems now, like arthritis, she said.

Over a period of a year, film crews from the Discovery Channel were embedded within the hospital and followed four patients who volunteered to participate in experimental treatments in the hopes they will help them, or others in the future. The series also follows the doctors and nurses who carry out the research while caring for the patients.

View original post here:
Temple native's sickle cell case to be featured on Discovery program - Temple Daily Telegram

Boldly Go! My Journey in Stem Cell Therapy – Health Link …

Carolyn Hastings

Patient Update

Carolyn Hastings sent us this fascinating followup piece written 9 months after the stem cell procedure she had performed on her knee by Dr. Paul Handleman here at Health Link Medical Center.

By Carolyn Hastings

I am living proof! I admit to being a little bit of a risk-taker, but it has always served me well. I had Radial Keratotomy performed when I knew no one who had. It has been so long ago that unless youre my age you probably havent even heard of it. RK was the precursor to Laser Eye Surgery. I talked a friend into having it done the same day, so I wouldnt be alone. What can I say, a few minutes in surgery and I was 20/20! So, here I am again, living proof!

Its funny how fearful we can be of the unknown, yet all around us limits are being stretched. I live with my phone in one hand and my iPad in the other. I read on Facebook about drones and rifles that shoot around corners. My real camera sits on the shelf gathering dust. Dont get me wrong, I dont jump out of perfectly good airplanes or ski off mountains that I cant get to without a helicopter but that may be because Im a little old for that kind of stuff!

My age brought me to why Im writing this story. A few months ago I had Stem Cell Therapy to rebuild the cartilage in my knee, but let me back up a little. Five years ago I had a Total Knee Replacement done on my right knee. I was scheduled to have my left knee replaced within a few months as well. I know that everyone has a little different outcome to Total Knee Replacements but mine was tough, tough enough that I immediately cancelled my second surgery and started looking for an alternative. Thats probably where this story should have begun. I looked and I looked, but to no avail. The Orthopedic world was working on it but to me it felt like more of the same. I talked to everyone that would talk to me. Almost everyone I spoke with was desperately trying to affirm their decision for having the surgery, but if you caught them in an honest moment, many had issues. As I look back, I truly dont remember any of the doctors explaining the literal brutality of the surgery. If they did, it would probably dramatically diminish the number of surgeries they perform. They dont talk much about the fact that it is virtually impossible to kneel on a metal knee. I never realized how much I would miss that simple act.

About four years into my quest for an alternative, a friend of mine mentioned someone she knew who had gone the stem cell route. Afterwards, I couldnt even remember who told me but Google Search became my best friend! My research kept me awake until the wee hours of the morning many nights. I was learning about the amazing world of stem cells.

There were articles from around the world and right in my own backyard. There were high profile people who had seen amazing results. Governor Rick Perry had a stem cell procedure done on his back while campaigning for President. Professional athletes were back on the field in record time after procedures on knees, backs and shoulders. Stem cell therapy is one of the best kept secrets in the medical arena.

You may wonder why you havent heard more about it. Number one is that at this point stem cell procedures are considered investigational and experimental by most insurance companies. Right now you may be thinkingwhoa! Dont stop reading, not just this article but if you or someone you love needs this, read everything you can get your hands on.

Because the procedure uses our own stem cells the FDA does not regulate them and most insurance companies dont cover the procedure. Keep reading! In most cases this is not a deal breaker. Later in this article I am going to go through the old Ben Franklin decision making formula of Pros and Cons with you.

Let me tell you how my procedure worked. I located a clinic in San Rafael that appeared to be what I was looking for. I researched Health Link Medical Centers/Regenexx and found out everything I possibly could about them. We are so fortunate in the Bay Area to have a facility nearby. This group has been doing this type of procedure for several years and have more experience than any other clinic I researched. I called and made an appointment with Dr. Paul Handleman, D.O. Yes, he is an Orthopedic Doctor who specializes in Regenerative Interventional Orthopedics. They asked if I had a MRI and if so, to bring it with me. My personal physician had ordered one for me so I was on my way. Dr. Handleman put my MRI up on a large screen and while we looked at it together, he told me about the procedure and answered my questions. He then did an ultrasound on my knee pointing out issues that couldnt be seen on my MRI. After I left, I had a few more questions that he willingly answered over the phone. I had made up my mind. Since I was a candidate, it was the answer to my search.

Let me share a few of the things I learned about Stem Cell Therapy. Number one, from what Ive read it is a bit of a political hot potato. In my opinion, the medical lobbyists have done a great job keeping it at bay. The average Total Knee Replacement will have a cost of $75,000-$100,000. This includes everything from hospital stays to operating rooms, to the various medical professionals involved to after-care and rehabilitation. Then you have drugs, crutches, walkers (oh my!) Let me just say, it is BIG Business. My Stem Cell Therapy was a total of four visits to the doctor. The first visit was my consultation. The actual procedure is a three visit process over a period of approximately a week.

The first of the three visits was very quick. The doctor answered my last minute questions and then did something I thought rather unusual. He anesthetized my knee and put several shots of what amounted to sugar water in the places I needed to grow back the cartilage and repair ligaments. The purpose of this is to literally make these areas angry so when the stem cells are injected they know where to go.

The second of the visits was two days later. I was nervous. I had heard stories from people who had donated stem cells and Im not sure if mine was different or the people that had shared had embellished but it was enough to create the nervousness. They first drew blood. They used the platelets from the blood for what is called Plasma Rich Platelets or PRP. The PRPs by themselves were some of the stem cells used for procedures. The Doctor then numbed my lower back to extract the Stem Cells from my Iliac Crest. This has proven to be the absolute best Stem Cells in our bodies.

This process actually turned out to be pretty funny. I credit a little white pill given to be by the doctor and a system that is pretty clean (other than my borderline sugar addiction) for the humor in that day. It seems that I was feeling no pain when the doctor did the extraction. My son, who was sitting in the waiting room, could hear me singing my heart out all during the procedure. He told me later when I asked, that probably everyone in the eight story building could have heard me singing and laughing.

After a nice lunch with my son, I returned to the actual stem cell injections into my knee. While we were having lunch the medical team was concentrating those cells in a lab. Regenexx SD is the process. I left that day on crutches with a couple of pain pills, just in case. There was some pain involved with the procedure but I had been getting Cortisone shots every three months directly into my knee. I was hoping to never have to get another one! I was instructed to not do a lot of walking for a couple of days. I had scheduled my procedure over a long weekend. Dr. Handleman had given me his cell phone number and told me to not hesitate to call.

I went back for my third and last appointment a few days later. The doctor drew some more blood and gave me booster shots in my knee of the stem cells. I was done. I went back to work. My knee has gradually (its growing) gotten better and better. They had told me that the growth is at least a year -long process. It has now been 9 months.

It is a little strange how you qualify the recovery. I havent had a cortisone shot in a year. When I had them before I would be great for 2-3 weeks and by the time I could get another one, I would hardly be walking. I used to schedule my injections around events or travel where I knew I would need to walk a lot. Now it just gets easier and easier. I love going to church but the congregation stands while they sing. This is sometimes 30 minutes. I just couldnt do that before. Now, I stand for the whole time and dont even think about it. I also belong to a group who collects donations for our troops every month. I can now stand for the whole 2 hour shift. Everywhere I turn there is living proof that my body is healing itself.

Lets go back to Ben Franklin. On the Pro Side I hadnon-surgical, little or no recovery time, less pain, no prolonged time away from work or commitments resulting in less loss of income, very little help needed, no aftereffects, can have it done more than once to get a better result over time, and traditional surgery is still an option if it doesnt work.

The Con Side is shorter. Will it work? Private Pay. Fear of the unknown. Process takes a year. Even after I decided, I thought long and hard about the private pay aspect. I began actually running the numbers. I called my insurance company to see what my total co-pays would be for the traditional surgery. Thats when I found out what the Total Knee Replacement cost was. With Obamacare now in place the numbers seemed to get higher and higher and no one seemed to be able to give me a clear picture. The Health Link Medical Center group gave me clear numbers. It would cost me approximately $6,200. The co-pays on the traditional procedure werent that far off and with the Stem Cell procedure I was back to work much faster not interrupting my income flow.

If you are going to opt for the Stem Cell Procedure, I would highly recommend getting on a high grade nutritional supplement as soon as possible. I have been taking great supplements for several years and rarely get sick. Little did I know that my supplements would warrant me the nickname at the clinic of Stem Cell Queen? It seems that the extra nutrition plus good hydration before the procedure provided over a billion stem cells in the extraction!

Even though I did my research and due diligence, I have intentionally not gone into the more scientific aspect of Stem Cell procedures. I am not a scientist, nor a doctor, just a very grateful patient. Between the Health Link and Regenexx websites and others (UC Davis has an amazing program) you can learn as much or as little as you like. Now, BOLDLY GO!

Read the original here:
Boldly Go! My Journey in Stem Cell Therapy - Health Link ...

Techshot system headed to space – Evening News and Tribune

GREENVILLE Onboard the next SpaceX cargo spacecraft launching to the International Space Station (ISS) from Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center will be a commercial research system owned and operated by Techshot Inc. The equipment will conduct regenerative medicine experiments onboard the station before returning to Earth in the same capsule for a splashdown off the coast of Southern California approximately 30 days later.

Techshots ADvanced Space Experiment Processor (ADSEP) is a device approximately the size of a microwave oven that contains three separate modules, each of which simultaneously can process experiments in three separate on-orbit replaceable automated mini-laboratory cassettes. Two of the three cassettes on the mission will conduct research for a team led by Robert Schwartz, Ph.D., from the University of Houston.

Funded by the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), the study will evaluate a new approach to growing human tissue for transplant. The microgravity environment onboard the ISS could improve cell growth and development and 3D tissue formation, enabling discoveries that will advance translational disease treatments. Previous studies on Earth by Schwartz and his collaborators at the Texas Heart Institute and the Baylor College of Medicine have found that low gravity environments help specially programmed stem cells move toward becoming new heart muscle cells, which may be used to repair damaged hearts on Earth.

The third cassette contains an experiment conducted by and for Techshot itself. The company is developing a 3D bioprinter for the ISS known as the Techshot BioFabrication Facility (BFF), which it expects to launch to the station near the end of 2018. Critical to the success of the printer will be the ability to provide nutrients and mechanical stress for organs and tissues it manufactures in space strengthening them and keeping them viable for transplantation back on Earth.

Approximately 36 hours prior to launch, Techshot scientists in a laboratory at the Kennedy Space Center will 3D print a one centimeter thick construct consisting of stem cells and heart muscle cells. Theyll then place it inside the prototype BFF cell culturing subsystem, which for this mission is temporarily housed inside an ADSEP cassette. The printer used in the lab will be the same modified nScrypt unit that was the first to 3D print cardiac constructs with adult human stem cells in microgravity aboard an aircraft in parabolic flight. Video captured inside the cassette during the month-long experiment, and the tissue itself which is expected to have developed its own micro blood vessels will be evaluated for effectiveness after return from space.

Techshots space bioprinting program leverages its terrestrially based technologies for cell isolation and vascular graft development, and its decades long experience culturing cells in space, said Techshot Chief Scientist Eugene Boland, Ph.D., in a news release. Being able to test our novel approach for culturing 3D printed cells more than a year before we fly the whole BFF is invaluable. The data from this mission will get us one step closer toward our goal of helping eliminate organ shortages.

Founded in 1988, Techshot Inc., develops technologies used in the aerospace, defense and medical industries. Through its Space Act Agreement with NASA, and its role as an official CASIS Implementation Partner, the company provides equipment and services that help federal, institutional and industrial customers live and work in space. http://www.Techshot.space

Submitted

View original post here:
Techshot system headed to space - Evening News and Tribune

Wild new microchip tech could grow brain cells on your skin – CNET

Researchers demonstrate a process known as tissue nanotransfection (TNT). When it comes to healing, this TNT is the bomb.

It's usually bad news to have something growing on your skin, but new technology uses that all important layer as a sort of garden to "grow" whatever types of cells your body might need to treat an injury or disease, be it in a limb or even the brain.

Researchers atthe Ohio State University Wexner Medical Centerhave developed a nanochip that uses a small electrical current to deliver new DNA or RNA into living skin cells, "reprogramming" them and giving them a new function.

"It takes just a fraction of a second. You simply touch the chip to the wounded area, then remove it,"Chandan Sen, director of the Center for Regenerative Medicine and Cell-Based Therapies at Ohio State, said in a statement. "At that point, the cell reprogramming begins."

In a study published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology, Sen's team used a technology called Tissue Nanotransfection (TNT) to create new blood vessels in pigs and mice with badly injured limbs that lacked blood flow.

They zapped the animals' skin with the device, and within about a week, active blood vessels appeared, essentially saving the creatures' legs. The tech was also used to create nerve cells from skin that were then harvested and injected into mice with brain injuries to help them recover.

"By using our novel nanochip technology, injured or compromised organs can be replaced," Sen said. "We have shown that skin is a fertile land where we can grow the elements of any organ that is declining."

While it sounds futuristic, reprogramming skin cells is not a new idea. The ability to change skin into pluripotent stem cells, sometimes called "master" cells, earned a few scientists a Nobel Prize half a decade ago. But the new nanochip approach improves upon that discovery by skipping the conversion from skin to stem cell and instead converting a skin cell into whatever type of cell is desired in a single step.

"Our technology keeps the cells in the body under immune surveillance, so immune suppression is not necessary," Sen says.

By now I think we've all learned that beauty is only skin deep, but it might take a while to learn that the same could go for cures, at least if the system works just as well on people.

Next up, the scientists hope to find out by continuing to test their technology in human trials. The aim is that it could eventually be used to treat all sorts of organ and tissue failure, including diseases like Parkinson's and Alzheimers.

Crowd Control: A crowdsourced science fiction novel written by CNET readers.

Solving for XX:The tech industry seeks to overcome outdated ideas about "women in tech."

Go here to read the rest:
Wild new microchip tech could grow brain cells on your skin - CNET

John Theurer Cancer Center and MedStar Georgetown University … – Business Wire (press release)

WASHINGTON & HACKENSACK, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--MedStar Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, D.C. in collaboration with John Theurer Cancer Center, part ofHackensack Meridian Health, Hackensack University Medical Center in Hackensack, N.J., announce the 100th blood stem cell transplant performed since the BMT programs first patient was treated in September, 2013.

The patient, a woman from Arlington, Virginia, received her blood stem cell transplant at MedStar Georgetown as a treatment for multiple myeloma diagnosed in December 2016.

The BMT program at MedStar Georgetown is a joint effort with specialists from Hackensack John Theurer Cancer Center and a key component of the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, the only cancer program in the Washington, D.C. region designated by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) as a comprehensive cancer center.

Once considered experimental, BMT is todays established gold standard for treating patients with a number of malignant and other non-malignant diseases of the immune system, blood, and bone marrow, including multiple myeloma, lymphoma, and acute and chronic leukemia. For some conditions, blood stem cell transplant can provide a cure in patients who have failed conventional therapies, says Scott Rowley, MD, chief of the BMT program at MedStar Georgetown as well as a member of the John Theurer Cancer Centers Blood and Marrow Stem Cell Transplantation. For some conditions, it can actually be a cure; for others, it prolongs survival and improves quality of life. Having performed 100 BMTs at MedStar Georgetown including allogenic transplantation illustrates the strength and maturity of our program achieved in rather short time.

MedStar Georgetowns program is also the only comprehensive BMT center within Washington, D.C. and southern Maryland with accreditation from the Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy (FACT) for adult autologous procedures, where the patient donates his or her own cells.

The BMT program at JTCC is one of the top 10 transplant programs in the United States, with more than 400 transplants performed annually.

A BMT involves a two-step process: first, collecting bone marrow stem cells from the patient and storing them for future use. Then, a week or so later, patients receive high dose chemotherapy to eliminate their disease. The previously stored cells are reinfused back into the bloodstream, where after reaching the bone marrow, they begin repopulating and allow the patient to recover their blood counts over the following 2 weeks.

Even though BMT is considered standard therapy for myeloma worldwide, in the United States fewer than 50 percent of the patients who could benefit from BMT are referred for evaluation, says David H. Vesole, MD, PhD, Co- Chief and Director of Research of John Theurer Cancer Centers Multiple Myeloma division and director of MedStar Georgetowns Multiple Myeloma Program.

Thats mostly due to physicians concerns that a patient is too old or compromised from other health conditions like diabetes, cardiac disease or renal failure. But new techniques and better supportive care have improved both patient outcomes and the entire transplant process, extending BMT to more patients than ever before.

The MedStar Georgetown/Georgetown Lombardi Blood and Marrow Stem Cell Transplant Program is part of a collaborative cancer research agenda and multi-year plan to form an NCI-recognized cancer consortium. This recognition would support the scientific excellence of the two centers and highlight their capability to integrate multi-disciplinary, collaborative research approaches to focus on all the aspects of cancer.

The research areas include expansion of clinical bone marrow transplant research; clinical study of haplo transplants use of half-matched stem cell donor cells; re-engineering the function and focus of key immune cells; and the investigation of immune checkpoint blocking antibodies that unleash a sustained immune response against cancer cells.

In this partnership, weve combined John Theurers strength in clinical care with Georgetown Lombardis strong research base that significantly contributes to clinical excellence at MedStar Georgetown. By working together, we have broadened our cancer research to offer more effective treatment options for tomorrows patients, says Andrew Pecora, MD, FACP, CPE, president of the Physician Enterprise and chief innovations officer, Hackensack Meridian Health. This is one of many clinical and research areas that have been enhanced by this affiliation.

Our teams are pursuing specific joint research projects we feel are of the utmost importance and significance in oncology particularly around immuno-oncology as well as precision medicine, says Andr Goy, MD, MS, chairman of the John Theurer Cancer Center and director of the division chief of Lymphoma; chief science officer and director of Research and Innovation, RCCA; professor of medicine, Georgetown University. Together our institutions have a tremendous opportunity to transform the delivery of cancer care for our patient populations and beyond.

ABOUT THE JOHN THEURER CANCER CENTER AT HACKENSACK UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER

John Theurer Cancer Center at Hackensack University Medical Center is New Jerseys largest and most comprehensive center dedicated to the diagnosis, treatment, management, research, screenings, and preventive care as well as survivorship of patients with all types of cancers. The 14 specialized divisions covering the complete spectrum of cancer care have developed a close-knit team of medical, research, nursing, and support staff with specialized expertise that translates into more advanced, focused care for all patients. Each year, more people in the New Jersey/New York metropolitan area turn to the John Theurer Cancer Center for cancer care than to any other facility in New Jersey. Housed within a 775-bed not-for-profit teaching, tertiary care, and research hospital, the John Theurer Cancer Center provides state-of-the-art technological advances, compassionate care, research innovations, medical expertise, and a full range of aftercare services that distinguish the John Theurer Cancer Center from other facilities.www.jtcancercenter.org.

MedStar Georgetown University Hospital is a not-for-profit, acute-care teaching and research hospital with 609 beds located in Northwest Washington, D.C. Founded in the Jesuit principle of cura personaliscaring for the whole personMedStar Georgetown is committed to offering a variety of innovative diagnostic and treatment options within a trusting and compassionate environment.

MedStar Georgetowns centers of excellence include neurosciences, transplant, cancer and gastroenterology. Along with Magnet nurses, internationally recognized physicians, advanced research and cutting-edge technologies, MedStar Georgetowns healthcare professionals have a reputation for medical excellence and leadership.

For more information please visit: medstargeorgetown.org/bmsct

About Hackensack Meridian Health Hackensack University Medical Center

Hackensack Meridian Health Hackensack University Medical Center, a 775-bed nonprofit teaching and research hospital located in Bergen County, NJ, is the largest provider of inpatient and outpatient services in the state. Founded in 1888 as the countys first hospital, it is now part of one of the largest networks in the state comprised of 28,000 team members and more than 6,000 physicians. Hackensack University Medical Center was listed as the number one hospital in New Jersey in U.S. News & World Reports 2016-17 Best Hospital rankings - maintaining its place atop the NJ rankings since the rating system was introduced. It was also named one of the top four New York Metro Area hospitals. Hackensack University Medical Center is one of only five major academic medical centers in the nation to receive Healthgrades Americas 50 Best Hospitals Award for five or more years in a row. Beckers Hospital Review recognized Hackensack University Medical Center as one of the 100 Great Hospitals in America 2017. The medical center is one of the top 25 green hospitals in the country according to Practice Greenhealth, and received 25 Gold Seals of Approval by The Joint Commission more than any other hospital in the country. It was the first hospital in New Jersey and second in the nation to become a Magnet recognized hospital for nursing excellence; receiving its fifth consecutive designation in 2014. Hackensack University Medical Center has created an entire campus of award-winning care, including: the John Theurer Cancer Center; the Heart & Vascular Hospital; and the Sarkis and Siran Gabrellian Womens and Childrens Pavilion, which houses the Joseph M. Sanzari Childrens Hospital and Donna A. Sanzari Womens Hospital, which was designed with The Deirdre Imus Environmental Health Center and listed on the Green Guides list of Top 10 Green Hospitals in the U.S. Hackensack University Medical Center is the Hometown Hospital of the New York Giants and the New York Red Bulls and is Official Medical Services Provider to The Northern Trust PGA Golf Tournament. It remains committed to its community through fundraising and community events especially the Tackle Kids Cancer Campaign providing much needed research at the Childrens Cancer Institute housed at the Joseph M. Sanzari Childrens Hospital. To learn more, visit http://www.HackensackUMC.org.

Excerpt from:
John Theurer Cancer Center and MedStar Georgetown University ... - Business Wire (press release)

Revolutionary Israeli ALS Therapy Receives FDA Approval for Phase 3 Clinical Trials – TheTower.org

BrainStorm Cell Therapeuticsof Petah Tikva is recruiting American patients for a Phase 3 clinical study of itsNurOwn stem-cell treatmentintended to halt progression of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

The announcement was made in a patient webinar last week.

The NurOwn platform grew out of a technique developed at Tel Aviv University for growing and enhancing stem cells harvested from patients own bone marrow. The enhanced cells, injected via lumbar puncture, secrete elevated levels of nerve-growth factors believed to protect existing motor neurons, promote motor neuron growth and reestablish nerve-muscle interaction.

A 24-week Phase 2 safety study was concluded in 2016 on 48 participants (36 treated, 12 placebo) with possible, probable and definite ALS. This study was done at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital and the Mayo Clinic.

The Phase 3 double-blind, placebo-controlled study, to begin enrollment in August, will look at efficacy and safety of repeated doses. The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine has awarded Brainstorm a $16 million grant to support the pivotal trial.

This study will accept 200 randomized study participants between the ages of 18 and 60 (half getting the treatment and half a placebo) at the three previous centers as well as California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco, UC-Irvine near Los Angeles and another site not announced.

Potential participants must live within about 100 miles of one of the centers for ease of follow-up. They will receive three doses over a 16-week treatment phase and then undergo 28 weeks of follow-up.

BrainStorm President and CEO Chaim Lebovits said he hopes to get approval by the end of the year for a hospital exemption program in Israel an accelerated regulatory pathway that would clear the way for a first batch of 50 patients to receive NurOwn at Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center. However, there will be no compassionate treatment using NurOwn in Israel or elsewhere.

The NurOwn platform technology also has potential applications in any neurodegenerative disease, such as multiple sclerosis and Parkinsons.

(via Israel21c)

[Photo:TheMarker Online / YouTube]

The rest is here:
Revolutionary Israeli ALS Therapy Receives FDA Approval for Phase 3 Clinical Trials - TheTower.org

Cells that stand in the way of HIV cure: Discovery expands understanding of marrow’s role – Medical Xpress

July 31, 2017 Illustration incorporating gene-expression maps and cell images from the new research. Credit: University of Michigan

Every day, 17 million HIV-infected people around the world swallow pills that keep the virus inside them at bay.

That is, as long as they swallow those pills every day for the rest of their life.

But no matter how many drugs they take, they'll always have the virus in them, lurking in their white blood cells like a fugitive from justice.

And if they ever stop, HIV will come out of hiding and bring down their immune system from the inside out, causing the disease known as AIDS and potentially spreading to others before killing them.

Now, new research into HIV's hiding places reveals new clues about exactly how it persists in the body for years. The discovery could speed the search for drugs that can flush HIV out of its long-term hideouts and cure an infection for good.

In a new paper in PLoS Pathogens, a team led by University of Michigan researcher Kathleen Collins, M.D., Ph.D. reports that HIV hides in more types of bone marrow cells than previously thought - and that when these cells divide, they can pass the virus's genetic material down to their "daughter" cells intact.

This keeps the infection going for years, without tipping off the armed guards of the immune system.

Collins and her colleagues made the discovery in bone marrow samples donated by dozens of long-term HIV patients treated at U-M's academic medical center, Michigan Medicine, and at Henry Ford Health System in Detroit.

Using funding from the National Institutes of Health, they found that HIV can hide in hematopoietic progenitor cells (HPCs), which also serve as the parents of new blood cells that replace worn-out ones on a regular basis. HIV tricks the cells into incorporating the virus's genetic material into the cells' own DNA.

"Looking for the cells that harbor functional HIV is like searching for a needle in a haystack. Our new results expand our understanding of the type of cells that can do it," says Collins, a professor of Microbiology and Immunology and of Infectious Disease at the U-M Medical School. "It's like a cancer biology problem, only the 'mutation' in the cells is the inserted viral genome."

HPCs are made by hematopoietic stem cells, the "master cells" of blood production found in the marrow. Previous research had shown that HIV can hide for years in the bone marrow.

But it was not known whether the virus persisted only in stem cells or whether the reservoir could include more differentiated progenitor cells. Demonstrating that progenitor cells form a long-lived reservoir of virus expands the number of cell types that need to be targeted.

By demonstrating that HIV genetic material can lurk in blood progenitor cells, the researchers extend other recent studies indicating that such cells can live for years, says Collins, whose lab team included lead author Nadia Sebastian, a U-M M.D./Ph.D. student.

She notes that from the point of view of the virus, finding a harbor in this kind of cell means it can hedge its bets, giving it a chance at survival and eventual reproduction if its host's defenses weaken. The virus that causes chicken pox - varicella - also does this, hiding out in nerve cells just under the skin for years until it awakens and causes the painful condition called shingles.

Knowing exactly what cells harbor HIV over the long-term is crucial to battling persistent infections. Other research has focused on the T cells that carry out key immune system functions.

"Having established this, now we're poised to ask if we can treat HIV infection by targeting hematopoietic progenitor cells," she explains. The team is evaluating potential drugs that could kill just these cells.

The research team on the new paper also includes former U-M stem cell researcher Sean Morrison, Ph.D., who now leads a research center at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. Morrison's lab uses mice as a model to study stem and progenitor cells.

They find in the new paper that in order for HIV to infect a progenitor cell, that cell must have a type of receptor on its surface, called CD4, that the virus can attach to. Additionally, the researchers show that two subtypes of HIV can infect these cells: those that use the CXCR4 co-receptor to enter cells as well as those that use CCR5, which expands the types of HIVs that can potentially cause reservoirs.

Finding those progenitor cells in the marrow of the human patients who agreed to undergo a biopsy for the sake of pure research was tricky, Collins says. But thanks to them, researchers are a step closer to a day when HIV infection is no longer a life sentence for millions of people around the world.

"Moving from the state we're in, where patients will always have to be on these drugs, to a better form of therapy where they can stop, would have a huge effect," she says. "Today's medications have side effects, as well as financial costs. To get to the next step, we need to target the types of cells that form a latent infection, including these progenitor cells."

Explore further: Scientists find that persistent infections in mice exhaust progenitors of all blood cells

More information: Nadia T. Sebastian et al, CD4 is expressed on a heterogeneous subset of hematopoietic progenitors, which persistently harbor CXCR4 and CCR5-tropic HIV proviral genomes in vivo, PLOS Pathogens (2017). DOI: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1006509

Please sign in to add a comment. Registration is free, and takes less than a minute. Read more

Read more here:
Cells that stand in the way of HIV cure: Discovery expands understanding of marrow's role - Medical Xpress