Stem Cell Clinic

Dr. Oz takes on those bogus for-profit stem cell clinics–and cuts them to shreds – Los Angeles Times

By Stell Cell Research

The undercover investigation youre about to see today is going to make you really angry, because were exposing the worst kind of scam one that takes advantage of those most vulnerable, stealing not just their money, but their hope, their dignity.

Thats how Dr. Mehmet Oz introduces a series of segments scheduled to run on his daytime television program Tuesday. His quarry: those for-profit clinics offering supposed stem cell treatments for an implausible host of diseases unproven, unlikelyand very expensive cures.

We reported on this noisome corner of medical pseudo-sciencelast year, outlining theabsence of scientific support for their treatmentand their intensive marketing pitches to hopeful patients. We reported that in a survey of stem cell tourism, stem cell scientist Paul Knoepfler of UC Davis and bioethicist Leigh Turner of the University of Minnesotaidentified 570 clinicsaround the U.S. offering stem cell interventions. Scores were concentrated in such hotspots as Beverly Hills, Phoenixand New York. Many were offering unproven therapies featuring the termstem cell as a marketing veneer.

Dr. Ozs investigation of these clinics is a worthy addition to public awareness. Its must-viewing for patients and families desperate enough to contemplate turning to such clinics for succor, and for state and federal regulators and law enforcement agencies that should be riding herd on thembut have almost universally given them a pass. Oz calls on the Food and Drug Administration and other regulators to step in and stop this now, thats how bad its become.

Weve been critical of Dr. Oz in the past for purveying untested medical nostrums, as have many other critics. But his investigation of the stem cell clinics is a model of public service. He musters his entire arsenal of crowd-pleasing techniques his forceful, impassioneddelivery, his cultivated aura of medical authority, and his credibility with his audience to the best purpose.

The investigation is the product of the shows so-calledmedical unit and its chief of staff, Michael Crupain, a medical doctor and public health specialist who was hired from Consumer Reports about a year and a half ago. At one point during his research for the program Crupain dialed in to a webinar in which prospective patients were recruited by a clinic. It was like watching someone sell a time-share, he told me an observation that made it into the show.

The three segments, which take up about half of Tuesdays scheduled program, include undercover visits to clinics in New York by Elizabeth Leamy, a reporter on the program, along with a former patient. At one point we see a clinic employee claim that hestreated 44 patients for multiple sclerosis, and every single patient had vast improvement. The investigators are pitched $15,000 treatments and encouraged to spread it out on their credit cards. (No insurer will cover these untested and unproven therapies.) One promoter seen on tape acknowledges to the undercover team, We dont know the exact mechanism of everything we do, but counselsthem, We just know that it works, we use it. If it works and its safe [and] its reasonable in cost, you know, why not?

Why not, indeed? Because the targets of these pitches are at the end of their rope, vulnerable to scamsters,and often have to make immense sacrifices to pay the fees. Doctors and others can prey on their vulnerability, Oz observes.

Oz displays a list of the conditions the clinics claim to treat joint pain, autism, Parkinsons, Alzheimers, stroke, emphysema, and blindness, among many others. He explains that its impossible for a one-size-fits-all treatment to cure them all: It defies basic medical know-how, which means they are not telling us the truth. He lucidly describes their supposed technique, which involves extracting stem cells from the patients by liposuction, separating the stem cells by centrifuge and treating them with some sort of enzyme, then reinjecting them in the patients body and waiting for the concoction to do its magic.

He offers a withering assessment of doctors who claim to be engaged in clinical trials of stem cell treatments butask you to give money upfront and mortgage your house and borrow fromyour friends credit cards thats not how medicine should be practiced.

Oz is assisted by talk show host and multiple sclerosis patient Montel Williams and Sally Temple, a stem cell scientistwho is president of theInternational Society for Stem Cell Research. Temple explains that real research into stem cell treatments takes years and aims to develop treatments that can receive FDA approval. She quite properly underscoresthe dangerto legitimate research posed by bogus clinics offering medically dubious treatments.

Theyre saying they can cure a whole host of diseases, and we know they cant, she says. We are really concerned that its going to undermine the genuinely good work thats being done.

Crupain considers the stem cell investigation to be Dr. Oz at his best. Hes right.

Keep up to date with Michael Hiltzik. Follow@hiltzikmon Twitter, see hisFacebook page, or emailmichael.hiltzik@latimes.com.

Return to Michael Hiltzik's blog.

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Dr. Oz takes on those bogus for-profit stem cell clinics--and cuts them to shreds - Los Angeles Times

Possible key to regeneration found in planaria’s origins – Phys.Org

By Embryonic Stem Cells

February 13, 2017 Three-dimensional reconstruction of a Stage 3 S. mediterranea embryo, stained with a pan-embryonic cell marker (red) and a nuclear dye (green). Credit: Image courtesy of Erin Davies, Ph.D., Amanda Kroesen, and Sean McKinney, Ph.D.

A new report from the Stowers Institute for Medical Research chronicles the embryonic origins of planaria, providing new insight into the animal's remarkable regenerative abilities.

The work, published online in eLife, is the first to discover that adult stem cells called neoblasts, key to planaria regeneration, arise during a specific stage of embryonic development. Ordinarily, embryonic cells do not persist beyond embryogenesis. However, neoblasts made in early planarian embryos persist beyond embryonic development and are present throughout the animal's lifetime. Neoblasts seemingly retain the ability to access embryonic developmental programs during adulthood to drive the regeneration of body parts lost to traumatic injury.

"While a large body of research focuses on regeneration in adult planaria, much less is known about planarian embryogenesis - the process of growing from a single fertilized egg into a properly formed organism," says Erin Davies, Ph.D., the study's first author and a postdoctoral research associate in the laboratory of Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Stowers Institute Investigator Alejandro Snchez Alvarado, Ph.D.

Wanting to know more, Davies and colleagues generated a staging series, or a set of unique molecular fingerprints, for Schmidtea mediterranea embryos, as well as a gene expression atlas describing embryonic tissues and the formation of major organ systems during embryogenesis. These resources are available online at https://planosphere.stowers.org. Together, these tools lay the foundation for scientists to begin comparing the processes of embryogenesis and regeneration in planaria.

"In planaria, we have a really great system for studying regeneration during adulthood," Davies says. "It offers us the opportunity to start to compare and contrast what is similar and what is different about developmental processes during embryogenesis and regeneration in an adult animal."

Planaria have an ability to regenerate that is unparalleled among other organisms. If an adult worm is cut apart, nearly any piece can form a new, fully-functional animal complete with a brain and nervous system, eyes, kidneys, gut, muscle, and skin - within just two weeks. Adult stem cells called neoblasts power the planaria's extraordinary talent for regeneration. These cells both replace themselves and make every type of cell needed to create an adult worm. But their origin has been unclear.

"Because neoblasts have only been studied in adults, we did not know how they were made in the first place during embryonic development," says Snchez Alvarado. "Our work has uncovered both the precise embryonic time when neoblasts are formed, and the gene expression profile that precedes their formation."

The researchers observed a large-scale shift in the types of genes being expressed at about one week into development, explains Davies.

"The genes that we think of as being required to make different types of tissues in the body - brain, muscle, gut, kidneys - all these genes start to turn on during this time window," she says.

The researchers found that when planarian embryonic cells start to form major organ systems, adult neoblasts arise as well. When transplanted into adult planaria depleted of stem cells, these embryonic cells took hold and proliferated. The embryonic cells replenished the adult planarian stem cell population and extended its life. However, transplanted embryonic cells from earlier time periods did not take, and the adult planarian hosts died.

During embryogenesis, neoblast offspring help build the worm. Once established, neoblasts are maintained throughout the worm's life, allowing the animal continued access to embryonic development programs during adulthood. Understanding this unique planarian flatworm attribute may provide further insight into their incredible regenerative abilities.

"Planarian embryogenesis has remained obscure for many decades, and the embryogenesis of Schmidtea mediterranea particularly so. It is to Erin Davies' great credit that this is no longer the case and that we, as a community interested in regeneration and stem cell biology, can now peer into a world of biological activity we could not access previously," adds Snchez Alvarado.

The finding lays the foundation for future research on how stem cells are specified, maintained, and regulated, and will facilitate direct comparisons of gene function during embryogenesis and regeneration. Many of the genes required to build and maintain organs in planaria appear to work in both developmental contexts.

"I think that there are likely to be many similarities, but also critical differences," Davies adds. "We understand very little about how regeneration cues are transmitted to stem cells in the adult. In planaria, we'll have the opportunity to investigate embryonic and regenerative processes both at the level of single genes, and globally at the level of what happens to all genes expressed in a particular tissue over time."

Knowledge of the developmental pathways responsible for regeneration could also guide future therapeutic advances for patients suffering from degenerative diseases or traumatic injuries.

Other Stowers contributors include Kai Lei, Ph.D., Chris Seidel, Ph.D., Amanda Kroesen, Sean McKinney, Ph.D., Longhua Guo, Ph.D., Sofia Robb, Ph.D., Eric Ross and Kirsten Gotting.

The work was funded by the Stowers Institute for Medical Research, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health (R37GM057260-17). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH.

Lay summary of findings

Planarian flatworms have an ability to regenerate that is unparalleled among other organisms. If an adult worm is cut apart, almost any piece can form a new, fully-functional animal complete with a brain and nervous system, eyes, kidneys, gut, muscle, and skin - within just two weeks. That's why scientists consider them an ideal organism in which to study regeneration. But this phenomenon is still poorly understood.

A new report from researchers in the Snchez Alvarado Lab at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research chronicles stage-by-stage how the planarian flatworm develops as an embryo and provides new insight into the animal's remarkable regenerative abilities. The work is the first to show that stem cells key to planarian regeneration, called neoblasts, form during a specific stage of embryonic development. Neoblasts are present throughout the worm's life, and can replenish themselves and make every type of cell in the body. This feature is unique to planarian flatworms, and may underlie their incredible regenerative abilities. The findings could guide future therapeutic advances for patients suffering from degenerative diseases or traumatic injuries.

Explore further: Key molecular signal that shapes regeneration in planarian stem cells discovered

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With its abundance of stem cells known as neoblasts, and remarkable abilities to restore body parts lost to injury, the humble flatworm, or planaria, has become an exciting model organism to study the processes of tissue ...

A single adult cell from one of the most impressive masters of regeneration in the animal kingdom the planarian is all it takes to build a completely functional new worm, researchers have learned. The study ...

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Researchers report in the journal Developmental Cell that they have identified genes that control growth and regeneration of the intestine in the freshwater planarian Schmidtea mediterranea.

A new report from the Stowers Institute for Medical Research chronicles the embryonic origins of planaria, providing new insight into the animal's remarkable regenerative abilities.

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Possible key to regeneration found in planaria's origins - Phys.Org

Study implicates neural stem cell defects in smooth brain syndrome – Medical Xpress

By Stell Cell Research

February 13, 2017 by Nicholas Weiler

Research led by scientists at UC San Francisco and Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine has used brain "organoids"tiny 3-D models of human organs that scientists grow in a dish to study diseaseto identify root causes of Miller-Dieker Syndrome (MDS), a rare genetic disorder that causes fatal brain malformations.

MDS is caused by a deletion of a section of human chromosome 17 containing genes important for neural development. The result is a brain whose outer layer, the neocortex, which is normally folded and furrowed to fit more brain into a limited skull, instead has a smooth appearance (lissencephaly) and is often smaller than normal (microcephaly). The disease is accompanied by severe seizures and intellectual disabilities, and few infants born with MDS survive beyond childhood.

In the new studypublished online January 19, 2017 in Cell Stem Cellthe research team transformed skin cells from MDS patients and normal adults into induced pluripotent stem cells (IPSCs) and then into neural stem cells, which they placed in a 3 dimensional culture system to grow organoid models of the human neocortex with and without the genetic defect that causes MDS.

Closely observing the development of these MDS organoids over time revealed that many neural stem cells die off at early stages of development, and others exhibit defects in cell movement and cell division. These findings could help explain how the genetics of MDS leads to lissencephaly, the authors say, while also offering valuable insights into normal brain development.

"The development of cortical organoid models is a breakthrough in researchers' ability to study how human brain development can go awry, especially diseases such as MDS," said Tony Wynshaw-Boris, MD, PhD, chair of the Department of Genetics and Genome Studies at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, and co-senior author of the new study. "This has allowed us to identify novel cellular factors that contribute to Miller-Dieker syndrome, which has not been modeled before."

'Smooth Brain' Organoids Reveal Defects

Previous research on the causes of lissencephaly has relied on mouse models of the disease, which suggested that the main driver of the disorder was a defect in the ability of young neurons to migrate to the correct location in the brain. But Arnold Kriegstein, MD, PhD, professor of neurology, director of the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regeneration Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCSF, and co-senior author, says there are significant drawbacks to this approach.

"Unlike the human brain, the mouse brain is naturally smooth," Kriegstein said. "If you are studying a disease that leads to a smooth brain in humans, it's a challenge to study it in an animal that normally has a smooth brain."

The mouse brain also lacks a type of neural stem cell called outer radial glia, which were discovered by Kriegstein's group in 2010. These cells are thought to have played a crucial role in the massive expansion in size and complexity of the primate brain relative to other mammals over the course of evolution.

In order to more accurately model the progression of MDS in the embryonic human brain, study first author Marina Bershteyn, PhD, a postdoctoral researcher in the Wynshaw-Boris and Kriegstein labs, spearheaded the development of MDS cortical organoids and techniques to observe how stem cells within these organoids developed in the laboratory into the different cell types seen in first-trimester embryonic human brains.

Bershteyn and her team found using time-lapse imaging that outer radial glia cells that grew in patient-derived organoids had a defect in their ability to dividepotentially contributing to the small, smooth brains seen in MDS patients.

"There are just fundamental differences in how mouse and human brains grow and develop," said Bershteyn, who is now a scientist at Neurona Therapeutics, a company founded by Kriegstein and colleagues to develop stem cell therapies for neurological diseases. "Part of the explanation for why these observations were not made before is that outer radial glia cells are quite rare in mouse."

In addition, the team found that early neural stem cells called neuroepithelial cells which are present in both mice and humans die at surprisingly high rates in MDS organoids, and when they do survive, divide in an abnormal wayas if they are prematurely transforming into neurons, cutting short important early stages of brain development.

Consistent with prior mouse studies, time-lapse imaging also revealed that newborn neurons are unable to migrate properly through developing brain tissue, which potentially contributes to the failure of MDS brains to properly form outer brain structures.

Organoid Research Opens Doors to Studying Human Brain Diseases in Lab

Together, these observations helped the team pinpoint developmental stages and specific neural cell types that are impaired in MDS. The next step to understanding lissencephaly more broadly, the authors say, will be to test cells from patients with different genetic forms of the disease, so researchers can begin to link specific mutations with the cellular defects that drive brain malformation.

The study is also a demonstration of the utility of patient-derived brain organoids as a way to bridge the gap between animal models and human disease, the authors say. In particular, the finding that human outer radial glia cells readily grow in organoid models opens the door for scientists worldwide to study the role of these cells in both normal human brain development and disease.

"Patient-derived cortical organoids are creating a huge amount of excitement," Kriegstein said. "We are now able to study human brain development experimentally in the lab in ways that were not possible before."

Explore further: Scientists engineer gene pathway to grow brain organoids with surface folding

More information: Marina Bershteyn et al. Human iPSC-Derived Cerebral Organoids Model Cellular Features of Lissencephaly and Reveal Prolonged Mitosis of Outer Radial Glia, Cell Stem Cell (2017). DOI: 10.1016/j.stem.2016.12.007

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Study implicates neural stem cell defects in smooth brain syndrome - Medical Xpress

Ovarian hormones awaken newly discovered breast stem cells – Science Daily

By Stell Cell Research

Science Daily
Ovarian hormones awaken newly discovered breast stem cells
Science Daily
The discovery was made by Dr Nai Yang Fu, Dr Anne Rios, Professor Jane Visvader and Professor Geoff Lindeman as part of a 20-year research program into how the breast develops from stem cells, and how breast cancers can arise from stem cells and ...
Stem cell linked to breast cancer foundTVNZ
Melbourne scientists' breast cell study offers cancer treatment hopeHerald Sun

all 5 news articles »

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Ovarian hormones awaken newly discovered breast stem cells - Science Daily

Breast cancer: Changes in immune cell composition linked to future risk – Medical News Today

By Uncategorized

For the first time, researchers have quantified the composition of various types of immune cell in breast tissue and assessed whether it is linked to later risk of breast cancer.

In the journal Clinical Cancer Research, the team - from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN - suggests that the findings reveal important clues about the role of the immune system in the early stages of breast cancer development.

First author Dr. Amy Degnim is a breast surgeon who specializes in the study of breast tissue for very early signs of premalignant change.

She says the new study supports the idea that immune-related approaches such as vaccines may be effective in preventing breast cancer.

Breast cancer is cancer that begins in the cells of the breast, although it can spread to other parts of the body. It can occur in both men and women, but it is rare in men.

In the United States, breast cancer is the second most common cancer in women after skin cancer.

Based on current incidence rates, a woman born in the U.S. today has a 1 in 8 chance of developing breast cancer during her lifetime.

For their case-controlled study, Dr. Degnim and colleagues quantified various types of immune cell in different types of breast tissue. They used samples of normal breast tissue from donors to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Tissue Bank, and samples of breast tissue from women diagnosed with benign breast disease at the Mayo Clinic.

Fast facts about breast cancer

Learn more about breast cancer

Benign breast diseases are noncancerous breast conditions such as cysts and fibrosis that present as lumps and thickening of tissue in the breast.

Some noncancerous breast conditions may not present symptoms and may only be found during a mammogram. Sometimes, however, they can present in a similar way to breast cancer, so it can be hard to differentiate them from breast cancer just from symptoms alone.

Unlike breast cancers, benign breast diseases are not life-threatening, but some are connected with a higher risk of developing breast cancer later in life.

Some of the study participants with benign breast disease went on to develop breast cancer later.

Altogether, the researchers collected data on 94 age-matched triplets.

Each triplet comprised: a normal breast tissue case; a benign breast disease case in which the donor developed breast cancer later; and a benign breast disease case where the donor remained cancer-free.

The results showed that the composition of immune cells in the breast tissue was different in the three different types of donor.

For example, compared with normal breast tissue, breast tissue from donors with benign breast disease had higher proportions of certain immune cells, particularly dendritic cells and macrophages. These types of immune cell work together to create an immune response.

The researchers also found that tissue from donors with benign breast disease who later developed breast cancer showed lower levels of B cells - a type of immune cell that produces antibodies.

They suggest that the reduced levels of B cells in breast tissue of women with benign breast disease who later develop cancer indicates that B cells may play an important role in preventing disease progression, and they may serve as a biomarker for breast cancer risk.

"Our findings provide evidence that the immune system may have an important role in promoting or inhibiting breast cancer development in its very earliest stages."

Dr. Amy Degnim

Learn how the spread of triple-negative breast cancer could be halted with existing drug.

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Breast cancer: Changes in immune cell composition linked to future risk - Medical News Today

Educational seminar on stem cell therapy to be featured at lunch meeting in Abilene – Salina Post

By Uncategorized

Kansas Regenerative Medicine Center (KRMC) staff will be the guest speakers at the next Healthwise 55 luncheon. Speakers Frank Lyons, MD; John Farley (Founder); and Kate Farley will define stem cells and explain their many therapeutic uses. The KRMC staff will also share how stem cell therapy is a potential alternative to joint replacements or other medical therapies.

The event will be on Thursday, February 23, from noon to 1 p.m. in the Conklin Conference Center at Memorial Hospital, located at 511 N.E. 10th, Abilene. The cost is $5.00 to cover the price of the meal. Please call Michelle McClanahan, MHS Director of Volunteer Services, at (785) 263-6692 by Monday, February 20, to make a reservation.

Healthwise 55 is a luncheon and health information program hosted by the MHS Volunteer Corps. It is open to the public for individuals ages 55 and older. It includes a meal followed by a health care professional(s) speaking on a health-related topic.

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Educational seminar on stem cell therapy to be featured at lunch meeting in Abilene - Salina Post

Can banking baby teeth treat diabetes? – Fox News

By Stem Cell Treatment

When she was just 11 months old, Billie Sue Wozniaks daughter Juno was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, an autoimmune disease that affects 1.25 million people and approximately 200,000 children under age 20 in the United States.

The disease had affected several members of Billie Sues family, including her uncle, who passed away at the age of 30.

My first thought was, Her life is going to be short, the 38-year-old from Reno, Nevada recalled. The more that I learned, the more I found that many people with type 1 live longer and the treatment advances are really exciting.

While looking for treatments, Wozniak learned about encapsulation therapy, in which an encapsulated device containing insulin-producing islet cells derived from stem cells is implanted under the skin. The encapsulation device is designed to protect the cells from an autoimmune attack and may help people produce their own insulin.

After learning of the therapy through JDRF, Wozniak saw an ad on Facebook for Store-A-Tooth, a company that offers dental stem cell banking. She decided to move forward with the stem cell banking, just in case the encapsulation device became an option for Juno.

In March 2016, a dentist extracted four of Junos teeth, and sent them to a lab so her stem cells could be cryopreserved. Wozniak plans to bank the stem cells from Junos molars as well.

Its a riskI dont know for sure if it will work out, Wozniak said.

Dental stem cells: a future of possibilities

For years, stem cells from umbilical cord blood and bone marrow have been used to treat blood and bone marrow diseases, blood cancers and metabolic and immune disorders.

Although there is the potential for dental stem cells to be used in the same way, researchers are only beginning to delve into the possibilities.

Dental stem cells are not science fiction, said Dr. Jade Miller, president of the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry. I think at some point in time, were going to see dental stem cells used by dentistson a daily practice.

Dental stem cells have the potential to produce dental tissue, bone, cartilage and muscle. They may be used to repair cavities, fix a tooth damaged from periodontal disease or bone loss, or even grow a tooth instead of using dental implants.

In fact, stem cells can be used to repair cracks in teeth and cavities, according to a recent mouse study published in the journal Scientific Reports.

Theres also some evidence that dental stem cells can produce nerve tissue, which might eliminate the need for root canals. A recent study out of Tufts University found that a collagen-based biomaterial used to deliver stem cells to the inside of damaged teeth can regenerate dental pulp-like tissues.

Dental stem cells may even be able to treat neurological disorders, spinal cord and traumatic brain injuries.

I believe those are the kinds of applications that will be the first uses of these cells, said Dr. Peter Verlander, Chief Scientific Officer for Store-A-Tooth.

When it comes to treating diseases like type 1 diabetes, dental stem cells also show promise. In fact, a study in the Journal of Dental Research found that dental stem cells were able to form islet-like aggregates that produce insulin.

Unlike umbilical cord blood where theres one chance to collect stem cells, dental stem cells can be collected from several teeth. Also, gathering stem cells from bone marrow requires invasive surgery and risk, and it can be painful and costly.

The stem cells found in baby teeth, known as mesenchymal cells, are similar to those found in other parts of the body, but not identical.

There are differences in these cells, depending on where they come from, Verlander said.

Whats more, mesenchymal stem cells themselves differ from hematopoietic, or blood-forming stem cells. Unlike hematopoietic stem cells, mesenchymal stem cells can expand.

From one tooth, we expect to generate hundreds of billions of cells, Verlander said.

Yet the use of dental stem cells is not without risks. For example, theres evidence that tumors can develop when stem cells are transplanted. Theres also a chance of an immune rejection, but this is less likely if a person uses his own stem cells, Miller said.

The process for banking stem cells from baby teeth is relatively simple. A dentist extracts the childs teeth when one-third of the root remains and the stem cells are still viable. Once the teeth are shipped and received, the cells are extracted, grown and cryopreserved.

Store-A-Tooths fees include a one-time payment of $1,749 and $120 per year for storage, in addition to the dentists fees for extraction.

For families who are interested in banking dental stem cells, they should know that theyre not necessarily a replacement for cord blood banking or bone marrow stem cells.

Theyre not interchangeable, we think of them as complementary, Verlander said.

Although the future is unclear for Junowho was born in 2008her mom is optimistic that shell be able to use the stem cells for herself and if not, someone else.

Ultimately, however, Wozniak hopes that if dental stem cells arent the answer, there will be a biological cure for type 1 diabetes.

I hold out hope that somewhere, someone is going to crack the code, she said.

Julie Revelant is a health journalist and a consultant who provides content marketing and copywriting services for the healthcare industry. She's also a mom of two. Learn more about Julie at revelantwriting.com.

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Can banking baby teeth treat diabetes? - Fox News

How does the Catholic Church resolve new bioethical questions? – The Tidings

By Embryonic Stem Cells

A number of years ago, I participated in a debate at Harvard on embryonic stem cell research which also included a Jewish rabbi, an Episcopalian clergyman, and a Muslim imam. The debate went smoothly and cordially, although I was the only voice in the group who defended the human rights of individuals who happen still to be embryos. After the debate, the Episcopalian clergyman pulled me aside and told me how he thought Catholics should consider themselves fortunate to have such an authoritative reference point in the Church and the Vatican, particularly when it comes to resolving new bioethical questions. With surprising candor, he shared how he had sat on various committees with others from his own faith tradition where they had tried to sort through the ethics of embryonic stem cells, and he lamented, we just ended up discussing feelings and opinions, without any good way to arrive at conclusions.

Many people, indeed, appreciate that the Catholic Church holds firm and well-defined positions on moral questions, even if they may remain unsure about how or why the Church actually arrives at those positions, especially when it comes to unpacking new scientific developments like embryonic stem cell research.

So how does the Church arrive at its positions on bioethics? For one thing, it takes its time, and doesnt jump to conclusions even in the face of media pressure for quick sound bites and rapid-fire news stories.

I once had a discussion with a journalist for a major newspaper about the ethics of human-animal chimeras. He mentioned that a leading researcher working on chimeras had met the pope and afterwards implied that the pope had given his blessing to the project. I reminded him that its quite common for the pope to offer general encouragement and blessings to those he meets, though that wouldnt be the same thing as sanctioning new and morally controversial techniques in the biosciences. As a rule, the Catholic Church does not address important bioethical questions that way, through chance encounters with the pope as you are strolling through the hallways of the Vatican.

Instead, the Church may reflect for months, years, or even decades, to identify important considerations and guiding principles when new moral dilemmas arise in the biosciences. Even with this slow and deliberative process, I think its fair to say that the Church generally stays ahead of the curve. By the time of the successful cloning of Dolly the sheep in 1996, for example, the Catholic Church had already been reflecting on the question of human cloning for many years, and concluded, nine years prior to Dolly, that human cloning would be morally unacceptable in an important document called Donum Vitae (On the Gift of Life).

This same document also identified key moral problems with doing human embryonic stem cell research eleven years before it was even possible to destructively obtain those cells from human embryos. When the first test tube baby was born in 1978, the serious moral concerns raised by the procedure had already been spelled out twenty-two years earlier, by Pope Pius XII, in his 1956 Allocution to the Second World Congress on Fertility and Human Sterility wherein he concluded: As regards experiments of human artificial fecundation 'in vitro,' let it be sufficient to observe that they must be rejected as immoral and absolutely unlawful.

Whenever definitive conclusions about medical ethics are reached or otherwise clarified by the Church, they are normally promulgated through official Church documents, like papal encyclicals and addresses, or, with the approval of the pope, documents and commentaries from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF the Vatican office responsible for preserving and interpreting Catholic doctrine), or other congregations, councils or dicasteries of the Church.

Even today, certain bioethical controversies remain under active discussion within the Church, such as the question of whether it would be allowable to adopt abandoned frozen embryos by implanting and gestating them in volunteer mothers.While a 2007 CDF document expressed some reservations and concerns about the proposal, debate continues inside and outside the Vatican.

New medical discoveries and technological developments challenge us to careful moral reflection and discernment. These scientific developments can either be an opportunity for genuine human advancement or can lead to activities and policies that undermine human dignity. The U.S. Bishops in a recent document summed it up this way: In consultation with medical professionals, church leaders review these developments, judge them according to the principles of right reason and the ultimate standard of revealed truth, and offer authoritative teaching and guidance about the moral and pastoral responsibilities entailed by the Christian faith. While the Church cannot furnish a ready answer to every moral dilemma, there are many questions about which she provides normative guidance and direction.

Rev. Tadeusz Pacholczyk, Ph.D. earned his doctorate in neuroscience from Yale and did post-doctoral work at Harvard. He is a priest of the diocese of Fall River, MA, and serves as the Director of Education at The National Catholic Bioethics Center in Philadelphia. See http://www.ncbcenter.org

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How does the Catholic Church resolve new bioethical questions? - The Tidings

Vital links between brain tumors and epileptic seizures – Science Daily

By Uncategorized

Detecting brain tumors at the earliest possible stage and eliminating them before seizures begin might be possible one day, according to research by scientists at Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children's Hospital.

In the study, which is published in the journal Nature Neuroscience, the scientists report that the emergence of specific brain cells during brain tumor progression in a mouse model marked the onset of seizures and brain tumor invasion. An improved understanding of how brain tumors cause seizures can potentially lead to strategies to prevent them or treat them.

"We began this project by studying normal brain cells," said co-senior author Dr. Benjamin Deneen, associate professor in the Center for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine at Baylor and the Neurological Research Institute at Texas Children's Hospital. "The brain has billions of cells of which only 30 percent are neurons. Astrocytes are the predominant cell type of the remaining 70 percent. Surprisingly, astrocytes have not been studied in as much detail as neurons have."

"Although astrocytes are often broadly categorized as one cell type, a lot of diversity exists in the functions carried out by these cells," said co-senior author Dr. Chad Creighton, associate professor of medicine and member of the Dan L Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center Division of Biostatistics at Baylor.

Astrocytes play diverse roles in the brain, from supporting the functions of neurons, participating in synapse formation and function and in the release of neurotransmitters, to making the blood-brain barrier and other functions. What is not known is whether all these functions are carried out by different subpopulations of astrocytes. This study explores the cellular and functional diversity of the most enigmatic, yet most abundant cell type in the brain. Answering this fundamental question served as the starting point for this investigation.

Better understanding the underappreciated astrocyte

The researchers took populations of mouse astrocytes, which until now have been considered to be a cell type with little diversity, and used molecular markers expressed on the cells' surface to divide the cells into subpopulations according to the cell surface markers expressed. They identified five subpopulations -- the scientists called them subpopulations A, B, C, D and E -- each containing a unique combination of cell surface markers. These subpopulations were consistently present across several different regions of the brain.

Further studies showed that each subpopulation of astrocytes expressed distinct sets of genes. These molecular signatures suggested that each subpopulation might play different roles in the brain. In particular, the scientists were interested in subpopulation C, which expressed a significant number of genes associated with synapses, the junctions that transmit nerve impulses that connect networks of neurons in the brain.

The researchers compared the ability of the different subpopulations of astrocytes to support the formation and function of synapses between neurons.

"In the laboratory, we combined individual subpopulation of astrocytes with neurons and measured synapse formation and function," said Deneen. "We found that neurons incubated with subpopulation C made more synapses than neurons incubated with the other subpopulations."

Taken together, these results revealed that astrocytes in the normal mouse brain comprise at least five distinct subpopulations that differentially support synapse formation and function.

Linking astrocytes to human glioma

"Astrocytes are associated with numerous neurological conditions, including injury, multiple sclerosis, autism, schizophrenia, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease and brain tumors. Given that we found diverse astrocyte subpopulations, we wondered whether these subpopulations could also explain astrocyte contributions to a host of different neurological diseases," Deneen said.

One of the interests of the Deneen lab is identifying mechanisms that regulate astrocyte development and how these cells contribute to neurological diseases, in particular human glioblastoma multiforme, the most aggressive and deadly type of brain tumor. In these type of cancer, about 80 percent of the tumor comprises transformed astrocyte-like cells, and, just as in the case of normal brain tissue, the diversity of these tumor cell subpopulations and functions in brain tumors had not been studied in detail.

In this case, the scientists used a different approach to determine whether astrocyte-like cells in human glioblastoma include different astrocyte subpopulations.

"We used publicly available genomic datasets to help us understand what distinguishes the different types of astrocytes from each other," Creighton said. "The genomic datasets compile entire genomes -- all the genes -- of different types of cells. Using this resource, we discovered that each type of human astrocyte showed very distinctive patterns of gene activation. It was by comparing these patterns with patterns associated with brain cancer or with epilepsy, using public data, that we discovered how specific types of astrocytes appear to have roles in these diseases."

To support that astrocytes seemed to play a role in human glioblastoma, the researchers genetically engineered two mouse models of the disease and observed that the astrocyte subpopulations are also present in mouse tumors. The subpopulations are also present in primary human specimens of human glioblastoma multiforme.

Astrocytes and seizures

One striking characteristic of glioblastoma, which usually leads to the discovery of the tumor, is epileptic seizures.

On one occasion Deneen was talking with Dr. Jeffrey L. Noebels, about this research. Noebels, who is professor of neurology, neuroscience, and molecular and human genetics, director of the Blue Bird Circle Developmental Neurogenetics Laboratory at Baylor and is a leader in the field of epilepsy, asked Deneen, "do your mice with brain tumors have seizures?" "They do," Deneen said.

This conversation led to planning a series of experiments in the mouse models of glioma to determine the time scale of the seizures and whether different sub populations of astrocyte-like cells within the tumor were associated with seizures.

The results of these experiments showed that as the tumor grows, the excitability of the adjacent neurons progressively increases. Seventy days after birth, the mice had visible seizures that correlated with the emergence of astrocyte subpopulation C. Further linking these astrocyte-like subpopulations to seizures, the scientists showed that subpopulation C expresses a significant number of genes linked to epilepsy.

While subpopulation C seems to be involved with seizures in the mouse model of glioblastoma, subpopulations B and D showed they were able to migrate more in laboratory assays than population C.

"Taken all together, the evidence from the mouse model of glioblastoma indicates that as the tumor evolves, different subpopulations of astrocyte-like cells develop within the tumor and execute distinct functions that are related to two important tumor characteristics, synaptic imbalance that can lead to seizures, and tumor migration that can lead to tumor invasion of other tissues," Deneen said.

"Less than half of the patients with epilepsy caused by a brain tumor can be helped with existing antiepileptic drugs," said Noebels, co-author of the work. "We do not understand exactly how malignant cells cause seizures, or why seizures persist after tumor surgery. Until now, we could only study this brain tissue at later misleading stages. I am excited that this next-generation experimental model in mice will allows us to study, for the first time, the earliest effects of human tumors on brain circuits before seizures actually begin and understand the mechanisms. These studies would be a major advance in patient care, allowing clinicians to bypass precious months spent searching for effective therapy to stop seizures. Because seizures themselves damage brain tissue, timely effective therapy is of the essence."

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Vital links between brain tumors and epileptic seizures - Science Daily

Stem cell treatment for baldness showing signs of success – WLS-TV

By Stem Cell Treatment

Americans spend between one and four billion dollars a year treating hair loss. Now, four surgeons in the U.S. are testing a stem cell treatment in a non-surgical procedure, and overseas trials in Japan and Egypt are already showing some success.

"It's been thirty years of concern," said Roy Woelke.

Doctor Kenneth Williams may have new hope for Roy and millions of others. He's running a clinical trial that uses stem cells and platelet-rich plasma, or PRP, to treat baldness.

"The study is taking cells that are in our body that help to regenerate or stimulate inactive or dormant hair follicles. That is the theory behind what we're doing this procedure on," said Dr. Williams.

Dr. Williams takes fat from the abdomen, emulsifies it and separates the stem cells, mixes it with the patient's own plasma which has been spun down to be super concentrated. Then, with 300 shots, injects the mixture into the scalp, twice over a three-month period. Roy hopes to get into the trial, which has five participants so far. Dr. Williams already does the procedure for paying patients who've had promising results.

Dr. Williams hopes to publish results in two years.

Doctor Williams' trial is supported by NIH, but not by a major pharmaceutical company yet. That means his trial is patient-funded, meaning they'll pay a reduced cost of the $2,500 to $5,800 procedure, depending on which arm of the trial is chosen. Contact the Irvine Institute of Medicine and Cosmetic Surgery at (949) 333-2999 or visit http://www.straandstudy.com for more information.

If you would like more information, check out the medical breakthroughs on the web at http://www.ivanhoe.com.

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Stem cell treatment for baldness showing signs of success - WLS-TV

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