Stem Cell Clinic

Shady Stem Cell Therapies Can Cause Tumors, Infections, and Death, Doctors Report – Gizmodo

A researcher holding up a container of stem cells.Photo : Spencer Platt (Getty Images )

A team of neurologists are raising a red flag over risky and unproven stem cell therapies. Their new study suggests that their fellow doctors are frequently asked about these controversial procedures by desperate patients. Many doctors are also seeing patients with serious complications from stem cell therapy, including seizures, infections, and spinal tumors.

Stem cells are the raw material that our body uses to replace other damaged or aging cells. Scientists have been hopeful about the potential to use these cells as a way to surpass the bodys natural regenerative ability and treat currently incurable diseases, including degenerative neurological disorders like multiple sclerosis.

But so far, there are only a few proven uses in medicine for stem cells, such as bone marrow transplants to treat certain blood cancers. Most of the evidence for their claimed benefits elsewhere is either limited or entirely lacking. These caveats havent stopped the consumer stem cell industry from growing, though, with clinics offering treatments on an experimental basis, often without express approval from the Food and Drug Administration.

This new study, published Wednesday in the Annals of Neurology, was a survey of over 200 neurologists across the country, including a third who specialize in multiple sclerosis. Among other questions, the neurologists were asked if they had ever come across patients who had used or wanted to use stem cells to treat their health problems. For those with patients previously given stem cells, they were also asked about any health complications they had seen that were possibly linked to stem cell treatment.

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Almost 90% of the neurologists surveyed said they had been asked by a patient or a close family member about stem cells, a rate that was slightly higher for those with patients who had incurable conditions like multiple sclerosis. Many of those conversations involved patients asking for the neurologists blessing to go ahead with stem cell therapy. But only 28% of the doctors reported feeling completely prepared to talk to their patients about the topic.

One of the studys points is that these discussions are happening in more than 90% of every outpatient neurology clinic, but many of the doctors are not ready, said senior author Jamie Imitola, a neuroscientist at the University of Connecticut who specializes in multiple sclerosis and stem cell research. And if theyre not fully prepared, then thats shocking, because these are the doctors that should be up to date.

Two-thirds of neurologists also said they had treated someone who had already gotten a stem cell therapy, while 25% of respondents said they had come across a patient with complications thought to be related to a stem cell therapy. Some of the specific complications listed have been reported before, but Imitola said the percentage of doctors who reported any at all is much higher than you would expect from the small number of case reports available. It suggests that side-effects linked to these procedures may be more common than previously thought.

Ive had doctors call us and tell us that patients dont want to report problems with their stem cell treatment, he added. They feel embarrassed, number one, because they have a complication or two, because they feel they were ripped off.

The long list of complications reported by doctors in the survey included stroke, paralysis, bloodborne infections like hepatitis C, and several deaths. In two cases, doctors reported the emergence of a tumor along the spinal cord; in one case, the tumor had cells that didnt seem to belong to the patient, suggesting the donors cells had somehow turned cancerous. In other cases, the therapy seemed to worsen the progression of the disease it was meant to treat. Still other patients had spent tens of thousands of dollars on their treatment, with no lasting improvement.

The surveys findings are limited, especially when it comes to the reported complications, since theyre reliant on the recollection of doctors rather than medical records or other verified information. But the study points to all sorts of systemic problems, Imitola said. Many of these patients are understandably looking for a miracle, and theres a growing mistrust of science in general, he noted. That makes the wondrous claims peddled by many clinics selling stem cell therapy look all the more appealing. And it makes the relationship between a doctor and their patient all the more important to get right.

There is a sense around the country that scientists are hiding new therapies for this or that. That we dont want people to get stem cell therapy, because there is some ulterior motive, he said. The reality is that for us to translate stem cells into something real, its going to require a great deal of work. Because, ultimately, we want to provide people the best therapy, the best opportunities.

To help neurologists be more prepared to talk about stem cells, the researchers have created a patient-friendly handout based on their findings, translated into 17languages. Imitola has also set up a patient registry where doctors and patients can anonymously report any possible complications linked to stem cell therapy.

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Shady Stem Cell Therapies Can Cause Tumors, Infections, and Death, Doctors Report - Gizmodo

Digong forgot to mention the cure for Covid-19 The Manila Times – The Manila Times

ONE of the highlights in President Rodrigo Digong Dutertes fifth State of the Nation Address (SONA) was his proposal to Congress to revive the death penalty through lethal injection.

The death penalty law was passed during the term of President Fidel Ramos, but was scrapped by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who gave in to pressure from the Catholic Church.

The death penalty could decrease the commission of heinous crimes.

Digong said drug offenses would be covered by his proposed death penalty.

But how about rape with homicide, rape of a minor, murder, robbery with homicide and large-scale estafa?

How about law enforcers who commit grave offenses using their badges as a shield? Among the serious crimes by law enforcers is planting evidence on innocent citizens.

How about government officials who coddle big-time criminals?

The above-cited offenses should have been included by Digong as punishable by lethal injection.

If Congress considers the Presidents proposal to restore the death penalty, it should include the other heinous crimes mentioned above.

* * *

Congress should not listen to bleeding hearts like Amnesty International since they refuse to see the real crime situation in the Philippines.

Bleeding hearts were not able to stop the death penalty in many countries, including some states in the United States.

Why should they stop our country from restoring the death penalty?

* * *

I was expecting the President to announce the discovery by Filipino doctors of a cure for seriously ill coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) patients in the SONA.

The citizenry, cowering in fear of the dreaded illness, would have appreciated the Presidents speech more if he had included the medical breakthrough.

The medical breakthrough was announced by Palace spokesman Harry Roque Jr. in a virtual press conference in Malacaang several days before the SONA.

However, the story was buried in the inside pages of major newspapers, a treatment it did not deserve.

The discovery of the cure for Covid-19 was made by scientists at The Medical City hospital through its Institute of Molecular Medicine stem cell program.

Stem cells taken from the blood of preserved umbilical cords worked their magic on six patients about to be intubated through intravenous injections.

I wrote about the medical breakthrough in my column last Tuesday, July 28.

For those who missed that column, you may want to read it at the Manilatimes.net.

* * *

A big supply of umbilical cords would bring down the cost of the stem cell therapy for Covid-19.

Tens of thousands of women give birth in the country and the umbilical cords of the newborns are thrown away.

The possible sources of umbilical cords are government hospitals and paanakan (maternity) centers.

The Philippines is a big manufacturer of babies.

Proof is that for a small country, our population has ballooned to 110 million.

To digress, I was a medical representative (detailman) in 1973 and one of the hospitals in Metro Manila that I was assigned to cover was the Fabella Memorial Hospital, a maternity hospital, in Sta. Cruz, Manila.

As I was fixing the promotional medicines I would give to some doctors at Fabella, I heard the screams of pain by a woman about to give birth at the delivery room.

Armando, Armando! P****g i*a mo! the woman was shouting, apparently referring to her husband.

I heard the nurse or midwife tell the woman, Tumigil ka nga diyan! Huwag mong sisihin ang asawa mo. Taun-taon nandito ka (Shut up! Dont blame your husband. Youre here every year).

See what I mean by the country being a manufacturing center of babies?

* * *

Another highlight of the Presidents SONA was his plan to establish the Coconut Farmers Trust Fund.

That part of Digongs speech was near to my heart as I come from Davao Oriental, a province where the main livelihood of the people is harvesting coconuts and turning them into copra.

Coconut farmers are the poorest in the country.

It was not so before, say, in the 1960s, when the price of copra was very high and coconut farmers in my hometown Manay could send their children to very good schools in Davao City and elsewhere.

But the price of copra in the world market is now very low and Filipino coconut farmers have become impoverished as a result.

However, the dying coconut industry might soon come to life again and the farmers could be rich once more.

An American friend of mine, Matt Grecsec, has invented a machine that converts coconut husk into hardwood for construction materials.

Grecsec, whos from Florida and married to a Filipina, has been coming to the Philippines looking for a place to set up his plant to make hardwood out of coconut husk.

Coconut husk is thrown away by farmers who make copra.

Grecsec has been meeting with Agriculture Secretary William Dar who has expressed enthusiasm for his project.

The rest is here:
Digong forgot to mention the cure for Covid-19 The Manila Times - The Manila Times