Spurt of heart muscle cell division seen in mice well after birth: Implications for repair of congenital heart defects

The entire heart muscle in young children may hold untapped potential for regeneration, new research suggests.

For decades, scientists believed that after a child's first few days of life, cardiac muscle cells did not divide. Instead, the assumption was that the heart could only grow by having the muscle cells become larger.

Cracks were already appearing in that theory. But new findings in mice, scheduled for publication in Cell, provide a dramatic counterexample -- with implications for the treatment of congenital heart disorders in humans.

Researchers at Emory University School of Medicine have discovered that in young mice 15 days old, cardiac muscle cells undergo a precisely timed spurt of cell division lasting around a day. The total number of cardiac muscle cells increases by about 40 percent during this time, when the rest of the body is growing rapidly. [A 15-day-old mouse is roughly comparable to a child in kindergarten; puberty occurs at day 30-35 in mice.]

The burst of cell division is driven by a surge of thyroid hormone, the researchers found. This suggests that thyroid hormone could aid in the treatment of children with congenital heart defects. In fact, doctors have already tested thyroid hormone supplementation in this setting on a small scale.

The findings also have broader hints for researchers developing therapies for the heart. Activating the regenerative potential of the muscle cells themselves is a strategy that is an alternative to focusing on the heart's stem cells, says senior author Ahsan Husain, PhD, professor of medicine (cardiology) at Emory University School of Medicine.

"It's not as dramatic as in fish or amphibians, but we can show that in young mice, the entire heart is capable of regeneration, not just the stem cells," he says.

The Emory researchers collaborated with Robert Graham, MD, executive director of the Victor Change Cardiac Research Institute in Australia. Co-first authors of the paper are Nawazish Naqvi, PhD, assistant professor of medicine at Emory and Ming Li, PhD, at Victor Chang.

The researchers tested how much mice, at the age of day 15, can recover from the blockage of a coronary artery. Consistent with previous research, newborn (day 2) mice showed a high level of repair after such an injury, but at day 21, they did not. The day 15 mice recovered more than the day 21 mice, indicating that some repair is still possible at day 15.

The discovery came unexpectedly during the course of Naqvi and Husain's investigation of the role of the gene c-kit -- an important marker for stem cells -- in cardiac muscle growth. Adult mice with a disabled c-kit gene in the heart have more cardiac muscle cells. The researchers wanted to know: when does this difference appear?

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Spurt of heart muscle cell division seen in mice well after birth: Implications for repair of congenital heart defects

Dont be fooled by quacks and fake meds

Beware of fake medicines and advertisements touting the purported miracles that stem cell therapy can do. This was the warning aired by former health secretary Esperanza Cabral at the Kapihan sa Manila at the Diamond Hotel last Monday.

Contrary to what the ads claim, she said, stem cell therapy has not been scientifically proven to cure any disease or make anyone young again. It has been successful in a very few experiments, which is the reason quack doctors are taking advantage of it to make exaggerated claims that the therapy can cure the deadliest diseases known to man.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) very recently issued a similar warning against it.

Stem cell therapy is the process of injecting into patients young cells taken from humans or sheep. The theory is that the young cells will rejuvenate the old cells of the patients and make them young again and cure whatever diseases they have. Although experiments are being conducted, no such results have been achieved. But that does not prevent foreign quack doctors from coming here and making all those exaggerated claims. Sadly, they are aided by some Filipino doctors.

The reason is that in countries like the Philippines where the people are suckers for miracle cures, stem cell therapyand other miracle curesis like a gold mine.

Aging millionaires looking for the fountain of youth pay a lot of money to undergo stem cell therapy. Patients with terminal illnesses like cancer, in a desperate search for a cure, also fall victim to the sales talk and word-of-mouth yarns of so-and-so being cured by the therapy.

But they get neither younger nor cured. And the quack doctors run laughing with their patients money all the way to the bank.

A friend told me that he had gone abroad to have stem cell therapy. He said he felt better and stronger after the treatment. Look at me, dont I look younger? he said.

I looked at him. He didnt look a minute younger and in fact looked the same as when I last saw him, maybe even older.

My wife said I look younger, he said. It was his wife who had convinced him to have the stem cell therapy.

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Dont be fooled by quacks and fake meds

Stem Cell News | Stem Cell Treatment, Stem Cell Research …

In a study published today inF1000Research, Professor Kenneth Lee of the Chinese University of Hong Kong reveals the full experimental results of an attempt to replicate a controversial study published inNaturerecently that suggested that bathing somatic cells in acid can reprogram them to induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells). With systematically collected and fully available data, Lee and his colleagues report that carefully replicating the original acid-treatment method does not induce pluripotency in two types of mouse somatic cells, including those used in the original study.

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A subset of immune cells directly target colon cancers, rather than the immune system, giving the cells the aggressive properties of cancer stem cells.

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Adults suffering from diseases such as leukemia, lymphoma, and other blood-related disorders may benefit from life-saving treatment commonly used in pediatric patients. Researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have identified a new technique that causes cord blood (CB) stems cells to generate in greater numbers making them more useful in adult transplantation.

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A new study inNaturechallenges research data that form the scientific basis of clinical trials in which heart attack patients are injected with stem cells to try and regenerate damaged heart tissue.

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By carefully controlling the levels of two proteins, researchers at theSalk Institutehave discovered how to keep mammary stem cellsthose that can form breast tissuealive and functioning in the lab. The new ability to propagate mammary stem cells is allowing them to study both breast development and the formation of breast cancers.

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Stem Cell News | Stem Cell Treatment, Stem Cell Research ...

New Jersey Stem Cell Therapy | Stem Cell Treatments

New Jersey Stem Cell Therapy Worldstemcells.com is one of the leading stem cell therapy and treatment providers for residents of New Jersey and across the nation. Our cutting edge technology and compassionate staff truly set us apart from the competition. We are a US based company that understands your needs and concerns when looking for a stem cell treatment center. Our treatment center is located in Cancun, Mexico.

Conditions we treat include but not limited to:

Getting Started With Your Stem Cell Therapy and Treatments Here at World Stem Cells LLC we try to make the process of receiving stem cell transplants as easy as possible. We will help you figure out what your needs are and help you reach your goals as fast as possible. Follow the steps below on what to do.

Option 1 1.) Go to any page on our website and fill out the contact form. 2.) Fill in the required information and select the condition you would like to treat with stem cell therapy. 3.) Be sure to include any special information in the comments section. 4.) Click the submit button and we will contact you in a timely manner. 5.) Thats it, youre done!!!

REQUEST INFORMATION NOW!

Option 2

Call 800-234-1693 and speak with a representative regarding your stem cell therapy needs and requirements.

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New Jersey Stem Cell Therapy | Stem Cell Treatments

Stem Cell Treatments – Stemgenex

For thousands of years physicians had 3 ways to treat patients; with surgery, drugs, and medical devices. These were considered the 3 pillars of medicine and society has benefited from major advances in these areas. Today, a 4th pillar of medicine, cellular based therapies or regenerative medicine is likely to dominate medical therapies in the future. Regenerative medicine uses the bodys own cells to treat diseases, repair damage, and restore structure and function.

We understand what it means to seek a good healthy quality of life and our doctors are focused on making positive differences in the lives of patients through innovative stem cell treatments and regenerative medicine treatments.

And it just so happens that you came equipped with stem cells, The Human Repair Kit and we know how to put it to work.

A 150-Year History of Autologous Treatments in Western Medicine There has not been a more powerful method in existence of healing the body than by using its own biology and chemistry. Skin grafting, which is the use of skin or a skin substitute to replace a non-healing wound, has been in existence since 800 BC. One of the earliest documented cases of attempted skin grafting occurred in India. The first successful autologous skin graft occurred in 1822.

(Information provided by Kate A. Lygoe , BSc, and Mark P. Lewis, PhD. Eastman Dental Institute, University College London)

Multiple Sclerosis Stem Cell Treatment

MS is a degenerative disease that involves the deterioration of nerve cells. Our Stem cell treatment and stem cell therapy works by resetting the patient's immune system through the use of stem cells. This Multiple Sclerosis stem cell therapy has helped patients who don't respond to typical drug treatment.

Learn More >>>

Alzheimer's Stem Cell Treatment

In a healthy brain, there are over 100 billion nerve cells connected to extensions. With the onset of Alzheimers disease, information transfer at the synapses (the connection between the nerve cells and extensions) starts to break down, and the number of synapses decreases significantly.

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Stem Cell Treatments - Stemgenex

$4 Million from Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation Will Support UCLA Research

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Newswise Two new gifts from The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation to UCLA totaling $4 million will fund research in stem cell science and digestive diseases and support the recruitment of key faculty at two renowned research centers.

The gifts bring to $30 million The Broad Foundation's total support of faculty recruitment and basic and translational research at the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCLA and at the Center for Inflammatory Bowel Diseases at UCLA's Division of Digestive Diseases.

A $2 million gift to the Broad Stem Cell Research Center adds to The Broad Foundation's original 2007 gift of $20 million, which has supported faculty and research and launched the Innovation Award program, which furthers cutting-edge research at the center by giving UCLA stem cell scientists "seed funding" for their research projects. The new gift will enable the continuation of the award program, which has yielded a 10-to-1 return on investment with grantees securing additional funding from other agencies, including the National Institutes of Health and more than $200 million in total grants from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, the state's stem cell agency.

"The Broads' generous support has been essential to the development of new therapies that are currently in, or very near, clinical trials for treating blindness, sickle cell disease and cancer," said Dr. Owen Witte, director of the Broad Stem Cell Research Center. "The Broad Stem Cell Research Center's work, supported by critical philanthropic and other resources, is quickly being translated from basic scientific discoveries into new cellular therapies that will change the practice of medicine and offer future treatment options for diseases thought to be incurable, such as muscular dystrophy, autism and AIDS."

The $2 million gift to the Division of Digestive Diseases builds on nearly $6 million in previous commitments from The Broad Foundation since 2003.

The gifts have enabled the division to develop a comprehensive research and clinical enterprise focused on inflammatory bowel disease, one of only a few such centers in the world. Earning a multifold return for The Broad Foundation's initial investments, these grants have enabled investigators to secure $11 million in funding from pharmaceutical companies, the National Institutes of Health and nonprofit foundations.

In addition, The Broad Foundation's Broad Medical Research Program has provided more than $600,000 in grants to UCLA researchers over the past decade for the study of inflammatory bowel disease.

The new gift will support the Center for Inflammatory Bowel Diseases and research led by Dr. Charalabos "Harry" Pothoulakis, the center's director. Pothoulakis' team conducts research aimed at identifying the molecular mechanisms involved in the development of this group of chronic debilitating diseases, for which there is no cure.

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$4 Million from Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation Will Support UCLA Research

Police say man used Facebook, Twitter to offer stem-cell treatment

A Lake Worth man is facing serious charges.

Jon Rubenstein is charged with one count of unlicensed practice of medicine, WPBF 25 News has learned.

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According to an arrest report, Palm Beach County Sheriff's detectives received a complaint from the Department of Health that Rubenstein is using social media to offer stem-cell therapy treatments for injured athletes.

Rubenstein has no professional medical licenses, but was the registered agent of Innovative Blood Technology Inc., and the Center for Natural Healing and Regenerative Medicine Inc., based in Margate.

An undercover agent contacted Rubenstein, who replied via email, saying he "has helped hundreds of people with arthritis live a pain-free life through stem-cell injection therapy."

A single injection is $300 and if a patient chooses to have the full, three-shot treatment, the charge is $750.

Rubenstein and the undercover agent scheduled to have the procedure take place at a home in Lake Worth. The suspect arrived wearing scrubs and carrying medical equipment when he met two undercover agents.

The Palm Beach County Diversion Task Force placed Rubenstein under arrest.

WPBF's attempts to contact him for comment were unsuccessful.

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Police say man used Facebook, Twitter to offer stem-cell treatment

Creative Medical Health to Recruit Principal Investigator for U.S. Clinical Trial on Use of Stem Cells for Treatment …

PHOENIX--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Creative Medical Health, Inc. (CMH) announced today initiation of efforts to recruit a preeminent U.S. urologist as principal investigator to run a Phase I/II study under FDA jurisdiction assessing efficacy of its patented method of treating erectile dysfunction.

Creative Medical Health, Inc. owns U.S. patent #8,372,797, titled Treatment of Erectile Dysfunction by Stem Cell Therapy, which covers the use of various stem cells for treatment of patients who are resistant to Viagra, Cialis and Levitra. In contrast to pharmaceutical agents, the treatment developed by Creative Medical Health, Inc. involves regenerating the blood vessels and smooth muscle of the penis, thus offering the possibility of permanent regeneration, not a temporary remedy.

The medical procedure involves extracting stem cells from the patients own bone marrow, processing them and subsequent administration into the penis. A peer-reviewed study describing the first patient treated with this procedure may be found at http://www.translational-medicine.com/content/pdf/1479-5876-11-139.pdf.

There are approximately 18 million patients with erectile dysfunction in the USA. Of these, 30% are resistant to pharmaceutical interventions, which represents approximately 5.4 million potential patients that could benefit from our approach, stated Timothy Warbington, CEO of Creative Medical Health, Inc. Given that this patient group has limited alternatives besides costly implants and injections before intercourse, which can be associated with horrific side effects, we believe it is our responsibility to accelerate development of this program in a timely manner.

The use of bone marrow stem cells is currently part of medical practice in bone marrow transplantation, and is currently in advanced clinical trials for conditions including heart failure, peripheral artery disease and stroke. Creative Medical Health, Inc. is the first to patent and subsequently clinically validate the feasibility of applying this form of stem cell therapy to urological conditions.

Investigators interested in collaborating with Creative Medical Health, Inc. should contact Timothy Warbington at CEO@creativemedicalhealth.com.

About Creative Medical Health Inc:

CREATIVE MEDICAL HEALTH, INC. and its wholly owned subsidiaries, in collaboration with leading U.S. universities, physicians and scientists, have developed and tested our patented cutting-edge BIONUTRACEUTICAL(TM) products, stem cell related blood testing services and treatment of various medical conditions with stem cell technology. Our area of concentration is the scientific and evidence-based approach to the approximately $30 billion per year complementary and alternative medicine market in the United States and $250 billion worldwide market. For more information about Creative Medical Health go to http://www.creativemedicalhealth.com.

The statements and products have not been evaluated or approved by the FDA. They are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease or condition.

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Creative Medical Health to Recruit Principal Investigator for U.S. Clinical Trial on Use of Stem Cells for Treatment ...

Xcelthera Inc Secures First U.S. Patent for Large-Scale Production of High Quality Human Embryonic Stem Cells and …

San Diego, CA (PRWEB) May 08, 2014

Xcelthera Inc, a major innovator in the stem cell research market and one of the first U.S. companies formed for clinical applications of human embryonic stem cell (human ES cell) therapeutic utility for unmet medical needs, and its joint research partner San Diego Regenerative Medicine Institute announced today that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has granted Patent No. 8,716,017 entitled, Technologies, Methods, and Products of Small Molecule-Directed Tissue and Organ Regeneration from Human Pluripotent Stem Cells. This newly-issued patent is the first among a portfolio of intellectual property of Xcelthera Inc covering PluriXcel human stem cell technology platform for large-scale production of high quality clinical-grade pluripotent human ES cell lines and their functional human neuronal and heart muscle cell therapy products.

Neurodegenerative and heart diseases are major health problems and cost the worldwide healthcare system more than $500 billion annually. The limited capacity of these two cell systems -- neurons and cardiomyocytes -- for self-repair makes them suitable for stem cell-based neuronal and heart therapies. Nevertheless, to date, the existing markets lack a clinically-suitable human neuronal cell source or cardiomyocyte source with adequate regenerative potential, which has been the major setback in developing safe and effective cell-based therapies for neurodegenerative and heart diseases. Xcelthera proprietary PluriXcel technology allows efficient derivation of clinical-grade human ES cell lines and direct conversion of such pluripotent human ES cells by small molecule induction into a large commercial scale of high quality human neuronal or heart muscle cells, which constitutes clinically representative progress in both human neuronal and cardiac therapeutic products for treating neurodegenerative and heart diseases.

PluriXcel technology of Xcelthera Inc is milestone advancement in stem cell research, offering currently the only available human cell therapy products with the pharmacological capacity to regenerate human neurons and contractile heart muscles that allow restitution of function of the central nervous system (CNS) and heart in the clinic. Through technology license agreement with San Diego Regenerative Medicine Institute, Xcelthera Inc has become the first in the world to hold the proprietary breakthrough technology for large-scale production of high quality clinical-grade pluripotent human ES cell lines and their functional human neuronal and heart cell therapy products for commercial and therapeutic uses.

As neurodegenerative and heart diseases incur exorbitant costs on the healthcare system worldwide, there is a strong focus on providing newer and more efficient solutions for these therapeutic needs. Millions of people are pinning their hopes on stem cell research. PluriXcel technology platform of Xcelthera Inc is incomparable, providing life scientists and clinicians with novel and effective resources to address major health concerns. Such breakthrough stem cell technology has presented human ES cell therapy derivatives as a powerful pharmacologic agent of cellular entity for a wide range of incurable or hitherto untreatable neurodegenerative and heart diseases. Introduction of medical innovations and new business opportunities based on PluriXcel technology will shape the future of medicine by providing pluripotent human ES cell-based technology for human tissue and function restoration, and bringing new therapeutics into the market.

About Xcelthera Inc.

Xcelthera INC (http://www.xcelthera.com) is a new biopharmaceutical company moving towards clinical development stage of novel and most advanced stem cell therapy for a wide range of neurological and cardiovascular diseases with leading technology and ground-breaking medical innovation in cell-based regenerative medicine. The Company was recently incorporated in the state of California to commercialize the technologies and products developed, in part, with supports by government grants to the founder, by San Diego Regenerative Medicine Institute (SDRMI), an non-profit 501C3 tax-exempt status independent biomedical research institute that is interested in licensing its PATENT RIGHTS in a manner that will benefit the public by facilitating the distribution of useful products and the utilization of new processes, but is without capacity to commercially develop, manufacture, and distribute any such products or processes. Xcelthera is a major innovator in the stem cell research market and one of the first companies formed for clinical applications of human embryonic stem cell (human ES cell) therapeutic utility for unmet medical needs. The Company is the first to hold the proprietary breakthrough technology for large-scale production of high quality clinical-grade pluripotent human ES cell lines and their functional human neuronal and heart muscle cell therapy products for commercial and therapeutic uses. The Company owns or has exclusive rights in a portfolio of intellectual property or license rights related to its novel PluriXcel human stem cell technology platforms and Xcel prototypes of human stem cell therapy products. The inception of Xcelthera is driven by the urgent need for clinical translation of human ES cell research discoveries and innovations to address unmet medical challenges in major health problems. Xcelthera breakthrough developments in human ES cell research dramatically increase the overall turnover of investments in biomedical sciences to optimal treatment options for a wide range of human diseases. The overall strategy of the Company is to use cutting-edge human stem cell technology to develop clinical-grade functional human neural and cardiac cell therapy products from pluripotent human ES cells as cellular medicine or cellular drugs to provide the next generation of cell-based therapeutic solutions for unmet medical needs in world-wide major health problems. The Company is currently offering Series A Convertible Preferred Stock to accredited investors through equity crowdfunding to raise fund for its pre-IPO business operation and filing confidential IPO as an emerging growth company according to the JOBS Act to create a public market for its common stock and to facilitate its future access to the public equity market and growth of the Company.

Visit Xcelthera Inc. at http://www.xcelthera.com.

For more information or investment opportunity about Xcelthera series A round, please contact: Xuejun H Parsons, PhD, Chief Executive Officer Xcelthera Inc. http://www.xcelthera.com 888-706-5396 or 858-243-2046 investors(at)xcelthera.com or parsons(at)xcelthera.com

About San Diego Regenerative Medicine Institute

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Xcelthera Inc Secures First U.S. Patent for Large-Scale Production of High Quality Human Embryonic Stem Cells and ...

Study Urges Caution in Stem Cell Clinical Trials for Heart Attack Patients

CINCINNATI CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL MEDICAL CENTER. (PRNewsFoto/Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center)

CINCINNATI, May 7, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ --A new study in Nature challenges research data that form the scientific basis of clinical trials in which heart attack patients are injected with stem cells to try and regenerate damaged heart tissue.

Researchers at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), report May 7 that cardiac stem cells used in ongoing clinical trials which express a protein marker called c-kit do not regenerate contractile heart muscle cells at high enough rates to justify their use for treatment.

Including collaboration from researchers at Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute in Los Angeles and the University of Minnesota's Lillehei Heart Institute, the study uncovers new evidence in what has become a contentious debate in the field of cardiac regeneration, according to Jeffery Molkentin, PhD, study principal investigator and a cardiovascular molecular biologist and HHMI investigator at the Cincinnati Children's Heart Institute.

"Our data suggest any potential benefit from injecting c-kit-positive cells into the hearts of patients is not because they generate new contractile cells called cardiomyocytes," Molkentin said. "Caution is warranted in further clinical testing of this method until the mechanisms in play here are better defined or we are able to dramatically enhance the potential of these cells to generate cardiomyocytes."

Numerous heart attack patients have already been treated with c-kit-positive stem cells that are removed from healthy regions of a damaged heart then processed in a laboratory, Molkentin explained. After processing, the cells are then injected into these patients' hearts. The experimental treatment is based largely on preclinical studies in rats and mice suggesting that c-kit-positive stem cells completely regenerate myocardial cells and heart muscle. Thousands of patients have also previously undergone a similar procedure for their hearts but with bone marrow stem cells.

Molkentin and his colleagues report those previous preclinical studies in rodents do not reflect what really occurs within the heart after injury, where internal regenerative capacity is almost non-existent. Molkentin also said that combined data from multiple clinical trials testing this type of treatment show most patients experienced a roughly 3-5 percent improvement in heart ejection fraction a measurement of how forcefully the heart pumps blood. Data in the current Nature study suggest this small benefit may come from the ability of c-kit-positive stem cells in heart to cause the growth of capillaries, which improves circulation within the organ, but not by generating new cardiomyocytes.

"What we show in our study is that c-kit-positive stem cells from the heart like to make endothelial cells that form capillaries. But in their natural environment in the heart, these c-kit positive cells do not like to make cardiomyocytes," Molkentin said. "They will produce cardiomyocytes, but at rates so low roughly one in every 3,000 cells it becomes meaningless."

The c-kit protein is expressed on the surface of progenitor cells originally identified in bone marrow. These c-kit expressing cells can generate multiple different cell types that are destined to help form specific organ tissues or other parts of the body. Given its presence in bone marrow, c-kit cells are also involved in the production of different types of immune system cells.

Researchers in the current study worked with two lines of genetically bred mice to see how efficiently c-kit-positive cardiac progenitor cells would regenerate cardiomyocytes in the hearts of the animals. The authors measured heart cell regeneration rates during the animals' embryonic development, during aging and after myocardial infarction (heart attack).

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Study Urges Caution in Stem Cell Clinical Trials for Heart Attack Patients