Stem Cell Clinic

New Stem Cell Activating Anti-aging Serums Offer Hope for Damaged Skin

Damaged and aging skin can now be repaired and rejuvenated due to new advances in stem cell and telomerase technology. A new topical agent restores skin to a youthful appearance without a visit to a plastic surgeon or dermatologist.

Fleetwood, PA (PRWEB) February 26, 2013

Up until now, patients had to see a plastic surgeon or dermatologist to rejuvenate their skin. Recent developments and research in topical agents have made it less likely for one to need Botox, laser or fillers to restore their skin to a more youthful appearance or get rid of blemishes.

Dr. Dave Woynarowski MD, an anti-aging specialist, states that new combinations of topical serums applied to the skin have yielded some remarkable results without having painful injections or surgery.

Dr. Dave gave remarks, I was extremely skeptical about the possibility of repairing damaged skin with a topical 'on the skin' agent. After all, the cosmetics industry has been hawking this stuff for decades to the tune of several billion dollars. None of it seemed to work very well. But recently there is research to back up specific agents that, when used in combination, can do some pretty amazing age reversal, even on damaged skin. I have a lot of friends who are plastic surgeons or anti-aging dermatologists so I decided to let them have the latest serum we devised called RG-Cell and see what they said. Bottom line: The patients love it for home use as well as post-treatment recovery, and it really does work far better than any of us anticipated!

While pleasantly surprised, he also said there are drawbacks.

This procedure takes longer to see results. It is not as aggressive, painful or expensive as injections, fillers, lasers or surgery, and it cannot be expected to deliver the same results in the same time frame.

The more wrinkled, sun damaged or blemished your skin is, the longer it takes using topical serums to reduce the damage youve accumulated. But, there is no down time either because you dont burn, puff or cut the skin. Its also very easy to use, so you dont have to depend on a skin care professional to administer it. Anyone can use it!

Of course, Dr. Dave encourages visiting a skin care professional first.

Your plastic surgeon, dermatologist or a good cosmetologist may actually already have RG-Cell, although it is very new and hard to get. Odds are the cutting edge ones will know about it and already carry it.

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New Stem Cell Activating Anti-aging Serums Offer Hope for Damaged Skin

Sweet news for stem cell's 'Holy Grail'

Feb. 26, 2013 Scientists have used sugar-coated scaffolding to move a step closer to the routine use of stem cells in the clinic and unlock their huge potential to cure diseases from Alzheimer's to diabetes.

Stem cells have the unique ability to turn into any type of human cell, opening up all sorts of therapeutic possibilities for some of the world's incurable diseases and conditions. The problem facing scientists is how to encourage stem cells to turn into the particular type of cell required to treat a specific disease.

But researchers at the University of Manchester's School of Materials and Faculty of Life Sciences have developed a web-like scaffold, coated with long-sugar molecules, that enhances stem-cell cultures to do just this. The scaffold is formed by a process known as 'electrospinning', creating a mesh of fibres that mimic structures that occur naturally within the body.

The team's results -- presented in the Journal of Biological Chemistry -- are particularly promising, as the sugar molecules are presented on the surface of the fibres, retaining structural patterns important in their function. The sugars are also 'read' by the stem cells grown on the surface, stimulating and enhancing the formation of neuronal cell types.

Lead author Dr Catherine Merry, from Manchester's Stem Cell Glycobiology group, said: "These meshes have been modified with long, linear sugar molecules, which we have previously shown play a fundamental role in regulating the behaviour of stem cells. By combining the sugar molecules with the fibre web, we hoped to use both biochemical and structural signals to guide the behaviour of stem cells, in a similar way to that used naturally by the body. This is the Holy Grail of research into developing new therapeutics using stem cell technology."

The group anticipate that the combination of the sugar molecules with the fibre web will aid both the growth of stem cells and the formation of different cell types from the stem cell population.

Possible applications include tissue engineering, where the meshes could support cells differentiating to form bone, liver or blood vessels, for example. The meshes also have potential therapeutic implications in the treatment of diseases such as multiple osteochondroma (MO), a rare disease creating bony spurs or lumps caused by abnormal production of these sugar molecules.

Co-author Professor Tony Day, from Manchester's Wellcome Trust Centre for Cell-Matrix Research, said: "This cross-faculty collaboration provides exciting new possibilities for how we might harness the adhesive interactions of extracellular matrix to manipulate stem cell behaviour and realise their full therapeutic potential."

The study was funded by the Medical Research Council and Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council Human Frontiers Scientific Programme.

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Sweet news for stem cell's 'Holy Grail'

Duke doctor: Stem cell therapy might help heart disease patients

Durham, N.C. People with heart disease have more treatment options than ever. However, sometimes nothing gets rid of continued chest pain known as angina. Researchers say they are looking at a special stem cell therapy to help those patients.

Danny Darden, 49, has heart disease and frequent chest pain despite two years worth of every treatment, surgery and medication available to stop it.

If I walk around the block, I give out and have chest pains, he said.

Duke cardiologist Dr. Tom Povsic included Darden in a phase 3 trial looking for benefits of a special stem cell therapy to stimulate the growth of new vessels feeding blood to the heart.

In certain patients, the arteries can no longer be fixed, or bypass surgery can't be used to fix the arteries. And in those patients, novel therapies are sorely needed, Povsic said. So, the stem cells in this particular case are obtained from the patient themselves.

The cells, originating in the bone marrow, are stimulated and released into the blood stream, extracted and then administered directly into the heart through a special catheter.

Last week, I was injected with the stem cells, Darden said. I'm excited to be in it, because I feel it's going to work, and even if it (doesnt) work for me, it's going to work for other people.

The study is blind, meaning Darden may have received a fake infusion. Participants are followed for two years. A smaller previous study showed promising results.

The benefit that was seen in the early study far exceeds what was seen with many medicines that are approved for angina relief, Povsic said.

Researchers say if the stem cell therapy benefits are confirmed in patients with angina, it could also be studied in patients dealing with stroke, heart attack or heart failure.

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Duke doctor: Stem cell therapy might help heart disease patients

'Holy Grail' of stem cell research discovered

Washington, February 27 (ANI): Scientists have developed sugar-coated scaffolding to improve stem cell technology to cure some of the world's incurable diseases and conditions.

Stem cells have the unique ability to turn into any type of human cell, opening up all sorts of therapeutic possibilities for diseases from Alzheimer's to diabetes.

But how to encourage stem cells to turn into the particular type of cell required to treat a specific disease is the problem that scientists are facing now.

Now researchers at the University of Manchester's School of Materials and Faculty of Life Sciences have developed a web-like scaffold, coated with long-sugar molecules, that enhances stem-cell cultures to do just this.

The scaffold is formed by a process known as 'electrospinning', creating a mesh of fibres that mimic structures that occur naturally within the body.

The team's results are particularly promising, as the sugar molecules are presented on the surface of the fibres, retaining structural patterns important in their function. The sugars are also 'read' by the stem cells grown on the surface, stimulating and enhancing the formation of neuronal cell types.

"These meshes have been modified with long, linear sugar molecules, which we have previously shown play a fundamental role in regulating the behaviour of stem cells. By combining the sugar molecules with the fibre web, we hoped to use both biochemical and structural signals to guide the behaviour of stem cells, in a similar way to that used naturally by the body. This is the Holy Grail of research into developing new therapeutics using stem cell technology," said lead author Dr Catherine Merry, from Manchester's Stem Cell Glycobiology group.

The group anticipate that the combination of the sugar molecules with the fibre web will aid both the growth of stem cells and the formation of different cell types from the stem cell population.

Possible applications include tissue engineering, where the meshes could support cells differentiating to form bone, liver or blood vessels, for example.

The meshes also have potential therapeutic implications in the treatment of diseases such as multiple osteochondroma (MO), a rare disease creating bony spurs or lumps caused by abnormal production of these sugar molecules.

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'Holy Grail' of stem cell research discovered

Cedars-Sinai Invites High School Students to Submit Essays, Attend Stem Cell Program

Newswise LOS ANGELES (Feb. 24, 2013) Three winners of a high school essay contest on stem cells will receive a cash award and the chance to volunteer in a stem cell research laboratory during the summer. All high school students essayists or not and parents and teachers are invited to a 5 to 7 p.m. program on March 14 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center to learn more about these cells that may revolutionize many medical therapies.

Students who choose to participate in the contest must submit by March 1 an essay on any one of three topics: Discuss the ethical and social issues involved with the use of embryonic stem cells Discuss the recent successes of the use of stem cells in therapy for human diseases Discuss the challenges of making stem cell therapies more viable for human use Winning essays will be chosen by a selection committee that will value content over length, although essays are expected to be long enough to address the topic researched. References, which must be cited in the text, may include periodicals, textbooks and websites, but not Wikipedia. Awards range from $200 to $500. Winners will be announced during the March 14 program, Introduction to the World of Stem Cells. Advanced registration is available at http://www.cedars-sinai.edu/neurosurgeryconferences, under Student Conferences; same-day registration will begin at 4:30 p.m.

Cedars-Sinai research scientists and clinicians will present sessions on:

An introduction to stem cells and issues related to different types Differing scientific opinions, ethical issues and how scientists are working to resolve conflicts Adult stem cells versus embryonic stem cells for therapy Careers related to stem cells Stem cell Jeopardy! game Presentation of essay awards

The program will be led by John S. Yu, MD, vice chair of the Department of Neurosurgery and director of surgical neuro-oncology, and Dwain Morris-Irvin, PhD, neural stem cell research scientist and principal investigator with the Maxine Dunitz Neurosurgical Institute at Cedars-Sinai.

Ahmed Ibrahim, who has a masters in public health and is in Cedars-Sinais Graduate Program in Biomedical Science and Translational Medicine, also will speak. As a high school student, Ibrahim participated in a summer research project at Cedars-Sinai. He now conducts stem cell research at the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute, which in 2009 performed the first procedure where a heart attack patients own heart tissue was used to grow specialized stem cells that were injected back into the heart. The researchers found significant reduction in the size of heart attack-caused scars in patients who underwent the experimental stem cell procedure, compared to other heart attack patients who did not receive the experimental therapy.

For questions or essay submission, contact Samantha Phu, academic program coordinator for the Department of Neurosurgery, at phus@cshs.org or (310) 423-9522.

Introduction to the World of Stem Cells, which will be in Cedars-Sinais Harvey Morse Auditorium, is one of three programs to be presented by the Department of Neurosurgery during Brain Awareness Week March 11-17. The annual Brainworks program for seventh and eighth graders will be from 10 a.m. to 1:10 p.m. on March 11; a two-day conference for scientific and health care professionals on nanomedicine for imaging and treatment will be on March 15 and 16.

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VIDEOLINK ENABLED Thanks to a new, state-of-the-art in-house studio, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center can now instantly broadcast quality HD video directly to newsrooms around the world.

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Cedars-Sinai Invites High School Students to Submit Essays, Attend Stem Cell Program

YaFarm Technologies Announces ISCI Clinical Study

PITTSTON, ME--(Marketwire - Feb 25, 2013) - YaFarm Technologies, Inc. ( PINKSHEETS : YFRM ) (YaFarm, or the Company) announced todaythatthe Integrative Stem Cell Institute (ISCI), apremier provider of point-of-care, stem cell-based therapies, has initiatedits first clinical study in Degenerative Neuromuscular Diseases (DNMD).

The clinical studies will be conducted at the ISCI facility in the Hospital Galenia in Cancun, Mexico and will consist of an integrative approach that will combine autologous, adult progenitor (stem) cells with physical therapy, nutrition and other complementary treatments to multiple sclerosis (MS),Alzheimer'sand Parkinson's disease.Patients will spend up to three weeks in Cancun for the therapies. The patient's own cells will be processed in the ISCI's state-of-the-art laboratory with a class 10,000, ISO 7 clean room.As part of the study protocol all patients will have to meet a strict set of inclusion and exclusion criteria and be evaluated by a 3rd party physician prior to treatment who will also serve to provide long-term and independent collection of outcome data, and the reporting of any adverse event or complication stemming from the treatment.

"Today there are literally hundreds of thousands of people living with DNMD," says David Audley, CEO of the ISCI. "Estimates from the National Institutes of Health provide a grim reminder to what many already know: these diseases touch many people." The National Institutes for Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) estimates that there are currently 250,000 people in the US alone with MS(1), while the University of Kansas Institute for Neurological Discoveries believes thatParkinson's disease affects nearly 1.5 million(2) and the National Institutes forAging estimates that over 5 million Americans may suffer fromAlzheimer's.(3) "And while conventional medicine may provide relief for many," continues Mr Audley, "Thousands of others find themselves suffering with limited or no options for treatment. It is for these patients that we have initiated these studies."

About The Integrative Stem Cell Institute (ISCI)The Integrative Stem Cell Institute (ISCI) is a premier provider of point-of-care, stem cell-based therapies for patients from around the world. With a state of the art laboratory housed within the Hospital Galenia in Cancun, Mexico, the ISCI combines the most advanced scientific application of stem cells with second to none medical care within the structure of adaptive clinical trials to effectively track long term outcomes and assure patient safety. More information on the Integrative Stem Cell Institute is available at http://www.iscelli.com

SAFE HARBOR STATEMENT

This press release may contain certain forward-looking statements and information, as defined within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and is subject to the Safe Harbor created by those sections. Forward-looking statements are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties, some of which cannot be predicted or quantified. This material contains statements about expected future events and/or financial results that are forward-looking in nature and subject to risks and uncertainties. Future events and actual results could differ materially from those set forth in, contemplated by, or underlying the forward-looking statements. The risks and uncertainties to which forward-looking statements are subject include, but are not limited to, the effect of government regulation, competition, adequate financing, and other material risks. Such forward-looking statements by definition involve risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause the actual results, performance, or achievements to be materially different from the statements made herein.

(1) NINDS: http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/multiple_sclerosis/detail_multiple_sclerosis.htm

(2) Univ of Kansas: http://www.indkc.org/neuromuscular_and_movement.html

(3) NIA: http://www.nia.nih.gov/alzheimers/publication/alzheimers-disease-fact-sheet

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YaFarm Technologies Announces ISCI Clinical Study

'Future of medicine' comes to Nelson

MARION VAN DIJK/FAIRFAX NZ

OFFERING HOPE: Robert DeBoyer and his wife, Rhona, who together run Stem-Cell NZ, offer experimental stem cell treatment.

An experimental stem cell treatment for joint and tendon regeneration is being offered in Richmond.

Doctor Robert DeBoyer, is providing the treatment where a patient's own stem cells are used to treat disease or injury.

The treatment can be controversial as it is still largely experimental.

Dr DeBoyer, who runs Stem-Cell NZ with his wife, Rhona, has been offering the treatment in New Zealand for six months from the Lower Queen St medical centre in Richmond, and in Wellington.

He said it had about an 80 per cent efficacy rate and could provide relief for some patients that meant they did not need surgery.

The treatment involved extracting 30-60ml of blood from a patient and putting it through a "highly sophisticated" centrifuge.

Dr DeBoyer said a rich plasma, containing about 170,000 stem cells, was obtained. It was injected into the joints or tendons, where it helped replicate new cartilage and, over time, relieved symptoms.

He said the treatment had a 24-hour recovery time and most patients only needed one treatment. It cost about $1400.

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'Future of medicine' comes to Nelson

Safety And Stem Cell Procedures (last of two parts)

Stem Cell Therapy is a promising avenue for medicine, with potential as a cure for a host of illnesses and conditions, and is seen as a way to counteract the effects of aging on the human body. As such, it has become the buzzword in social circles, with youthful-looking celebrities being whispered about as having undergone the treatment abroad.

Now that there are already several facilities that are offering Stem Cell treatments right here in the country, Dr. Cristina Puyat of the Anti-Aging Sciences & Cosmetic Institute (ASCI) in Pasig City gives a lowdown on what to expect with your "get-well" shots.

Prepping for the procedure

From the outset, Puyat presents this caveat: "The only stem cells that have been shown to be safe are the stem cells derived from autologous sources (stem cells from the patients themselves). As any medical or experimental procedure carries a risk, patients should be well informed before embarking on any therapy or procedure and discuss concerns with the physician conducting such procedure. At the ASCI, only those patients who are well informed and who qualify for the stem cell treatment may receive such treatment. Comprehensive laboratory results, a thorough history, and a physical must be reviewed prior to any procedure."

Those who think the stem cell syringes can plunge in right away should think again; and clinics offering a one-day affair are definitely a no-go, since preparations are required. Aside from screening and consultations prior to the treatment, Puyat cautions that several measures should be taken before the stem cells are extracted and transplanted. "There are many preparations needed before treatment, but most simply: It is recommended that the qualifying patient abstain from any excessive alcohol and tobacco consumption. Patients are nutritionally prepared prior to the treatments and cleared by other attending physicians if needed."

During and after treatment

As treatments are done in a clinical setting, questions of a need for hospital stay may arise. Confinement is not necessary. Puyat continues: "Depending on the treatment desired and determined jointly via the patient and attending physicians, the entire treatment is via an outpatient setting where patients arrive for the stem cell extraction and are cleared to depart later in the day." And one must not simply rely on the treatment to do its restorative job alone. "As with any medical procedure, stem cell patients should eat a healthy diet and rest. The medical staff of reputable clinics should be available to answer any question or concern following the procedure."

She adds that, depending on the results, this may be a one-shot event. "Repeated procedures are never mandatory and must be addressed with the attending physician on a case-to-case basis. Results from the first procedure, successes and failures will be assessed and addressed prior to any approval for a repeated treatment."

Not from online shopping!

A quick glance at online selling sites shows establishments offering everything from stem cell injection kits to stem cell capsules. And the question is, are these safe? "Safety and effectiveness are both a concern for such capsules and kits. At this point, if it is not autologous, we cannot consider it to be safe or effective until further studies are performed," the doctor cautions. "Whereas some may be a waste of money, others like embryonic and genetically manipulated stem cells like induced pluripotential stem cells (IPCs) from skin can be outright dangerous and teratogenic (cancer forming) because of their innate ability to replicate indefinitely. Additionally, IPCs have cancer genes that have been inserted into them via retroviruses to make them pluripotential. Neither type of stem cell has been proven safe."

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Safety And Stem Cell Procedures (last of two parts)