stemcellsGIVElife!'s topics - tribe.net

Antibody 'fixes internal bleeds'

2009-10-26T19:06:14Z

A bit off topic, but this looks really promising.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8322454.stm

Antibody 'fixes internal bleeds'

Scientists say they have discovered an antibody that could minimise the major internal bleeding seen in traumas like bullet wounds and car crashes.

The team at Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation (OMRF) has discovered that a protein called histone is responsible for much of the damage.

They say they have found a specific type of antibody that can block the ability of histone to cause damage.

They say it could lead to new ways to treat diseases and serious injuries.

'Life threatening'

Writing in the journal, Nature Medicine, the OMRF researchers found that when mice had a bad blood stream infection (sepsis), their blood contained high levels of histones.

They checked this in primates and humans and found the same result.

The histone protein normally sits in the nucleus of a cell, packed around the strands of DNA.

It regulates the DNA, causing it to fold and form the characteristic double helix.

When the cell is damaged by injury or disease, the histone is released into the blood system where it begins to kill the lining of blood vessels, causing damage, the OMRF researchers said.

This, they believe, results in uncontrolled internal bleeding and fluid build-up in the tissues, which are life threatening.

Dr Charles Esmon, of OMRF who led the research, said: "When we realised that histones were so toxic, we immediately went to work looking for a way to stop their destructive tendencies."

Mouse antibody

Marc Monestier, a colleague at Temple University in Philadelphia, had already discovered a specific type of antibody known as a monoclonal antibody that could block the histones.

It had been observed that patients with auto-immune diseases make antibodies to the proteins in their cell nuclei but it was not known why.

This antibody came from a mouse with an auto-immune disease.

The OMRF team have tested the antibody in mice with sepsis and it does stop the toxic effects of the histones and they recover, the researchers say.

They now want to test it in primates and eventually humans.

Dr Esmon said histones were similar in all mammals because they were such basic building blocks.

So a mouse antibody should work equally well in a human.

He said: "We think it was an adaptation during evolution.

"Millions of years ago, when people and animals got ill, they did not die of heart attacks or car accidents they died of infectious diseases.

"Their immune systems went into overdrive throwing everything at it and we believe the histones in the cell nucleus, part of the basic building blocks of life, were the last resort."

Dr Stephen Prescott, president of OMRF, said: "These findings offer some clues as to why people suffering from one traumatic injury often experience a catastrophic 'cascade' of secondary traumatic events.

"If we can figure out how to control the initial injury, perhaps that will stop the domino effect that so often follows."

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HealthCare NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-09-30T19:19:49Z

The Truth About Health Care Insurance Reform

Source: www.youtube.com

In this video, Linda Douglass, the communications director for the White Houses Health Reform Office, addresses a story that makes it look like the President intends to eliminate private coverage, when the reality couldnt be further from the truth.

posted in stemcellsGIVElife! - 6 replies

what we MUST focus on now:

2009-06-23T20:09:31Z

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/climatecrises/

posted in stemcellsGIVElife! - 4 replies

‘Cancer vaccines’ offer new way to fight disease

2009-06-07T22:35:32Z

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31019270/

‘Cancer vaccines’ offer new way to fight disease
Treatment using immune system to battle 3 types of cancer shows promise

Associated Press
updated 11:33 a.m. PT, Sun., May 31, 2009

ORLANDO, Fla. - First there was surgery, then chemotherapy and radiation. Now, doctors have overcome 30 years of false starts and found success with a fourth way to fight cancer: using the body’s natural defender, the immune system.

The approach is called a cancer vaccine, although it treats the disease rather than prevents it.

At a cancer conference Sunday, researchers said one such vaccine kept a common form of lymphoma from worsening for more than a year. That’s huge in this field, where progress is glacial and success with a new treatment is often measured in weeks or even days.

Experimental vaccines against three other cancers — prostate, the deadly skin disease melanoma and an often fatal childhood tumor called neuroblastoma — also gave positive results in late-stage testing in recent weeks, after decades of struggles in the lab.

“I don’t know what we did differently to make the breakthrough,” said Dr. Len Lichtenfeld of the American Cancer Society.

Instead of a single “A-Ha!” moment, there have been many “ah, so” discoveries about the immune system that now seem to be paying off, said Dr. John Niederhuber, director of the National Cancer Institute.

It’s way too soon to declare victory. No one knows how long the benefits will last, whether people will need “boosters” to keep their disease in check, or whether vaccines will ever be a cure. Many vaccines must be custom-made for each patient. How practical will that be, and what will it cost?

Those are all good questions — but there are no answers yet, said Dr. Richard Schilsky, a University of Chicago cancer specialist who is president of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

Several vaccine studies were reported over the weekend at the oncology group’s annual meeting in Florida.

A big problem has been getting the immune system to “see” cancer as a threat, said Dr. Patrick Hwu, melanoma chief at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. Viruses like the flu or polio are easily spotted by the immune system because they look different from human cells.

“But cancer comes from our own cells. And so it’s more like guerrilla warfare — the immune system has trouble distinguishing the normal cells from the cancer cells,” he said.

To help it do that, many cancer vaccines take a substance from a cancer cell’s surface and attach it to something the immune system already recognizes as foreign — in the lymphoma vaccine’s case, a shellfish protein.

“It’s a mimic to what you’re trying to kill, a training device to train the immune system to kill something,” Hwu explained.

Putting immune system on high alert
To make the attack as strong as possible, doctors add a substance to put the immune system on high alert.

Dr. Stephen Schuster of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine led a study testing BiovaxID, an experimental vaccine against follicular lymphoma developed by the National Cancer Institute. Rights to it are now held by Biovest International Inc. of Worcester, Mass., and some of his co-researchers have financial ties to the company.

To be in the study, patients had to have achieved a remission for at least six months with standard chemo. This often occurs with this type of lymphoma, but the disease usually comes back.

Researchers gave 41 patients the shellfish protein and an immune booster; 76 other patients were given those plus the vaccine. After nearly five years of followup, the average time until the cancer worsened was 44 months in the vaccine group and 30 months in the others.

Big gains also were seen with a neuroblastoma vaccine developed by the cancer institute. In a study of 226 patients, 86 percent of vaccine recipients were still alive after two years versus 75 percent of others not given the vaccine. Results were released by the oncology society two weeks ago.

The benefits from a melanoma vaccine developed by the cancer institute were more modest. It extended the time until patients relapsed — three months versus one and a half for those not given the vaccine.

Hilde Stapleton, 53, of suburban Houston, is one of the lucky ones it helped. Still, she found what many other vaccine recipients have learned: The vaccine had few side effects, but the immune system boosters were “like the worst case of flu you’ve ever had,” she said.

The prostate cancer vaccine, Provenge, is farthest along. Its maker, Seattle-based Dendreon Corp., is seeking federal Food and Drug Administration approval for it. A study last month found that it extended survival by four months in men with very advanced disease.

Doctors unconnected with these experiments are cautiously optimistic.

“We’ve raised so many false hopes in the past,” said Lichtenfeld of the Cancer Society. “What’s different this time is we have the science reports to back up improvements.”

posted in stemcellsGIVElife! - 3 replies

Eczema's link to asthma uncovered

2009-05-26T21:17:37Z

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8055038.stm

Page last updated at 00:51 GMT, Sunday, 24 May 2009 01:51 UK

Eczema's link to asthma uncovered

Scientists believe they have found what triggers many children with eczema to go on to develop asthma.

The Public Library of Science Biology study points to a way to stop what is known as the "atopic march".

The US team at the Washington University School of Medicine showed that a substance made by the damaged skin triggered asthma symptoms in mice.

The same substance, thymic stromal lymphopoietin (TSLP), is also produced in the lungs of asthma patients.

Early treatment of the skin rash and blocking TSLP production might stop asthma developing in young patients with eczema, they hope.

Drugs that act on TSLP might also protect against asthma development even in cases that are not linked to eczema.

Atopic march

Allergies and asthma often occur together. Studies show that 50-70% of children with severe allergic skin problems - atopic dermatitis - go on to develop asthma.

The researchers studied mice bred with a genetic defect that made them develop a condition similar to eczema in humans.

The defective skin secreted TSLP, which the researchers believe alerts the body that its protective barrier has failed.

When they tested the lungs of the mice, they found this tissue also responded strongly to the TSLP signal and had the hallmark traits of asthma - mucous secretion, airway muscle contraction and invasion of white blood cells.

They did more experiments and found that even mice with normal skin but bred to overproduce TSLP also developed asthma-like symptoms, suggesting TSLP is indeed the culprit.

Lead researcher Dr Raphael Kopan said: "We are excited because we've narrowed down the problem of atopic march to one molecule.

"We've shown that the skin can act as a signalling organ and drive allergic inflammation in the lung by releasing TSLP.

"Now it will be important to address how to prevent defective skin from producing TSLP. If that can be done, the link between eczema and asthma could be broken."

Dr Elaine Vickers of Asthma UK said: "This is the first piece of research to suggest that the natural protein TSLP could play a direct role in causing people with eczema to develop asthma.

"These results were obtained from studies with mice, so it is important to establish whether the same causal link exists in humans.

"Scientists are already exploring the potential of targeting TSLP to create new treatments for eczema, asthma and other allergic conditions.

"Although it is still a long way off, this research raises the exciting possibility that as well as improving symptoms, these treatments might be able to limit, or even prevent, the development of asthma."

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Ed Rosenthal takes Time 4 Hemp PLUS Audio remarks from President Obama!

2009-05-07T03:02:59Z

Featured writer in CANNABIS CULTURE and SKUNK magazines as well as the author of more than a dozen books on growing marijuana - Ed Rosenthal takes 'Time 4 Hemp' and it's free to download at http://www.Time4Hemp.com Also included in this segment are audio recordings of President Obama talking about his use of marijuana and his approach to the War On Drugs.

Musical artists (in order of appearance):

Luke Scarmazzo - Pato Banton
Red Dirt - The Blaxicans

Please pass this information on to everyone you feel would enjoy this show.

Keep Strong!
Casper Leitch
Host/Creator: Time 4 Hemp
http://www.Time4Hemp.com

P.S. - Time 4 Hemp has a MySpace group - if you'd like to join, visit:
http://groups.myspace.com/ATime4Hemp

If you have time to surf the net, take a minute to say 'high' to all our friends at the Marijuana Music Awards:
http://www.marijuanamusicawards.com and
http://www.myspace.com/marijuanamusicawards

posted in stemcellsGIVElife! - 0 replies

WE ARE getting there!

2009-04-30T16:37:24Z

Studying stem cells will help us understand how they transform into
the dazzling array of specialized cells that make us what we are.
Some of the most serious medical conditions, such as cancer and
birth defects, are due to problems that occur somewhere in this
process. A better understanding of normal cell development will
allow us to understand and perhaps correct the errors that cause
these medical conditions.

Another potential application of stem cells is making cells and
tissues for medical therapies. Today, donated organs and tissues are
often used to replace those that are diseased or destroyed.
Unfortunately, the number of people needing a transplant far exceeds
the number of organs available for transplantation. Pluripotent stem
cells offer the possibility of a renewable source of replacement
cells and tissues to treat a myriad of diseases, conditions, and
disabilities including Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases, spinal
cord injury, stroke, burns, heart disease, diabetes, osteoarthritis
and rheumatoid arthritis.

Have human embryonic stem cells successfully treated any human
diseases?
Scientists have been able to do experiments with human embryonic
stem cells (hESC) only since 1998, when a group led by Dr. James
Thomson at the University of Wisconsin developed a technique to
isolate and grow the cells. Moreover, Federal funds to support hESC
research have been available since only August 9, 2001, when
President Bush announced his decision on Federal funding for hESC
research. Because many academic researchers rely on Federal funds to
support their laboratories, they are just beginning to learn how to
grow and use the cells. Thus, although hESC are thought to offer
potential cures and therapies for many devastating diseases,
research using them is still in its early stages.

Adult stem cells, such as blood-forming stem cells in bone marrow
(called hematopoietic stem cells, or HSCs), are currently the only
type of stem cell commonly used to treat human diseases. Doctors
have been transferring HSCs in bone marrow transplants for over 40
years. More advanced techniques of collecting, or "harvesting," HSCs
are now used in order to treat leukemia, lymphoma and several
inherited blood disorders.

The clinical potential of adult stem cells has also been
demonstrated in the treatment of other human diseases that include
diabetes and advanced kidney cancer. However, these newer uses have
involved studies with a very limited number of patients.

Participating in Research Studies
Scientists are testing the abilities of adult stem cells to treat
certain diseases. You can search for clinical trials using stem
cells (or other methods) to treat a specific disease at
ClinicalTrials.gov.

posted in stemcellsGIVElife! - 0 replies

find & give ways help the planet ;)*

2009-04-29T23:10:58Z

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/climatecrises/

posted in stemcellsGIVElife! - 0 replies

HOPE IS on the way!

2009-03-08T22:05:11Z

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MVtE7C-YVc

posted in stemcellsGIVElife! - 1 reply

Obama to lift ban on stem cell research soon

2009-02-17T19:37:08Z

http://www.newsdaily.com/stories/tre51e122-us-usa-obama-stemcells/

Posted 2009/02/16 at 3:40 pm EST
WASHINGTON, Feb. 16, 2009 (Reuters) — President Barack Obama will soon issue an executive order lifting an eight-year ban embryonic stem cell research imposed by his predecessor, President George W. Bush, a senior adviser said on Sunday.

"We're going to be doing something on that soon, I think. The president is considering that right now," Obama adviser David Axelrod said on "Fox News Sunday."

In 2001, Bush limited federal funding for stem cell research only to human embryonic stem cell lines that already existed. It was a gesture to his conservative Christian supporters who regard embryonic stem cell research as destroying potential life, because the cells must be extracted from human embryos.

Embryonic stem cells are the most basic human cells which can develop into any type of cell in the body.

Scientists believe the research could eventually produce cures for a variety of diseases, including Parkinson's disease, diabetes, heart disease and spinal cord injuries.

Obama vowed to reverse Bush's ban during his presidential campaign and in his inaugural address last month promised to return science to its proper place in the United States.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration last month cleared the way for the first trial to see if human embryonic stem cells could treat people safely.

The trial will try to use stem cells from already existing lines to regrow nerve tissue in patients with crushed spinal cords.

Stem cells are the body's master cells, giving rise to all the tissues, organs and blood. Embryonic stem cells are considered the most powerful kinds of stem cells, as they have the potential to give rise to any type of tissue.

(Reporting by Alan Elsner; Editing by Eric Beech)

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Stem Cells In Hair Follicles Point To General Model Of Organ Regeneration

2009-02-17T19:28:53Z

from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/090213112923.htm

ScienceDaily (Feb. 16, 2009) — Most people consider hair as a purely cosmetic part of their lives. To others, it may help uncover one of nature’s best-kept secrets: the body’s ability to regenerate organs. Now, new research from Rockefeller University gets to the root of the problem, revealing that a structure at the base of each strand of hair, the hair follicle, uses a two-step mechanism to activate its stem cells and order them to divide.

The mechanism provides insights into how repositories of stem cells may be organized in other body tissues for the purpose of supporting organ regeneration.

“The hair follicle is like a mini-dispensable organ,” says Elaine Fuchs, head of the Laboratory of Mammalian Cell Biology and Development. “Throughout our lifetime, each hair follicle undergoes cyclical bouts of growth, destruction and rest through an intrinsic stem cell population. It provides an excellent opportunity to investigate the molecular process of tissue regeneration and stem cell self-renewal.”

For a new round of hair growth to begin, stem cells in the hair follicle must receive a signal to divide. In response to this signal, the hair follicle regenerates first by growing downward through the skin’s middle layer, the dermis, and then producing the specialized cells that form the hair. After a period during which the hair grows longer, stem cells stop dividing, and the hair follicle gradually retracts again. There is then a period of rest and the cycle repeats.

Fuchs and her team have for several years been exploring the infrequently dividing stem cells located near the base of the hair follicle in a compartment known as the bulge. This time they focused on a much smaller cluster of often-ignored cells called the hair germ, located at the very bottom of this structure. Although little is known about the hair germ, scientists postulate that it emerges from the bulge at the end of the destructive phase of the hair cycle.

In their work, to be highlighted in the February 6 issue of Cell Stem Cell, Fuchs and her team scrutinized the hair cycle through the resting phase and discovered that during most of this time, both the bulge and the hair germ remain dormant. By isolating cells from both the hair germ and the bulge, they also confirmed that the two are molecularly very similar, suggesting that the germ does indeed originate from the bulge. The researchers believe, however, that toward the end of the resting phase, the hair germ gets activated to proliferate before the bulge. Moreover, the team showed that the activating signal comes from a structure known as the dermal papilla.

“We discovered that the dynamics of the hair follicle regeneration is a two-step process,” says Valentina Greco, a visiting postdoctoral fellow who, along with postdoctoral associate Ting Chen, spearheaded the project. “The hair germ, which is in constant contact with the dermal papilla, gets activated first and the bulge is then called to contribute later during growth.”

“Because the germ is in closer proximity to the dermal papilla, it may achieve a threshold of stimulatory signals sooner than the bulge,” explains Fuchs, who is also a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator. Previous work by her team has shown that two inhibitory signals, known as Wnts and BMP, are needed for hair follicle stem cells to activate. They have now identified an additional activation signal, a growth factor called FGF7, that is made by the dermal papilla and steadily increases throughout the resting phase. “We think that FGF7 might contribute, along with the Wnts and BMP inhibitory signals, to coax the hair germ to divide and proliferate,” says Fuchs.

The dual organization makes sense, explains Greco, since unlike the bulge stem cells, hair germ cells respond and proliferate quickly but soon exhaust their proliferative potential. “This organization prevents depletion of the bulge stem cells, which are long-lived,” says Greco. “It also allows a rapid initial proliferation of the hair follicles.”

Fuchs and her team believe that this dual organization of the stem cell niche could apply to other organs. “It could be that the two-step process we’ve identified is needed to achieve optimal organ regeneration, not only in the skin but also in the blood and intestine,” says Greco. “These organs have slow- and fast-cycling cells — much like the hair germ and the bulge — and have the capacity to self-renew and regenerate.”

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Suspension of Reason

2009-01-31T05:14:15Z

http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=right+wing&hl=en&emb=0&aq=f#

posted in stemcellsGIVElife! - 0 replies

FDA allows first test of human stem cell therapy

2009-01-25T15:48:47Z

http://www.newsdaily.com/stories/tre50m2u9-us-stemcells/

By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor

WASHINGTON, Jan. 23, 2009 (Reuters) — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has cleared the way for the first trial to see if human embryonic stem cells can treat people safely, a company involved in the controversial research on Friday.

Geron Corp, a California biotechnology company, said it plans a clinical trial to try to use the stem cells to regrow nerve tissue in patients with crushed, but not severed, spinal cords.

The issue of human embryonic stem cell research has been a political touchstone, with anti-abortion forces backed by former president George W. Bush arguing the technique involves the destruction of human embryos. Advocates say it could transform medicine.

"For us, it marks the dawn of a new era in medical therapeutics. This approach is one that reaches beyond pills and scalpels to achieve a new level of healing," Geron Chief Executive Dr. Thomas Okarma said in a telephone briefing.

Shares of Geron rose more than 53 percent to $8 in mid-morning trading on Nasdaq after touching $8.38.

Geron will recruit eight to 10 recently injured patients and inject them with small numbers of human embryonic stem cells manipulated to become the oligodendrocyte cells that insulate nerves, and that produce compounds to stimulate the growth of nerve cells.

Okarma said there was no political significance to the announcement coming the same week as President Barack Obama took office. Obama has been widely expected to lift restrictions on federal funding and support of human embryonic stem cell research.

An FDA spokeswoman said, "Before FDA allowed the study to proceed, Geron worked with FDA to address important scientific questions."

CHEAP AND EASY

Okarma said the treatment should eventually become cheap and easy to mass produce because the cells can be grown in vats. He believes the cells may be useful for other diseases such as multiple sclerosis, in which nerve cells are stripped of their insulating sheaths, and perhaps strokes.

Financial analysts celebrated. Stephen Brozak and Daniel Mallin of WBB Securities LLC said it could "as important to drug therapy as the discovery of ... penicillin."

Dr. Robert Lanza of the rival Massachusetts-based Advanced Cell Technology, which is also seeking to create therapies using human embryonic stem cells, called the decision a "huge advance for the entire field". This sends a message that we're ready at last to start helping people," he said.

Stem cells are the body's master cells, giving rise to all the tissues, organs and blood. Embryonic stem cells are considered the most powerful kinds of stem cells, as they have the potential to give rise to any type of tissue.

Researchers are also trying to find ways to use so-called adult stem cells, taken from bone marrow and elsewhere in the body, and have learned how to transform ordinary skin cells into stem-like cells. But scientists argue that no one knows which route will work so all avenues must be pursued.

The Phase I trial will be designed to show that patients do not develop tumors, or damage to their nervous systems. But Okarma believes it will also indicate whether the stem cells might repair the damaged spinal cords.

"These are living cells that will divide, make more of themselves and migrate throughout the lesion after injection," he said.

While the patients will get low doses of immune-suppressing drugs for the first two months, Okarma is confident the cells will escape immune system recognition and patients will not have to endure the treatments that organ and tissue transplant recipients usually do. Treatment on the first patient should begin this summer.

Okarma said the company has a strong balance sheet, free of debt, and "ample to fund the company through this trial".

(Additional reporting by Susan Heavey, Doina Chiacu and Toni Clarke; Editing by Alan Elsner and Julie Steenhuysen)

posted in stemcellsGIVElife! - 1 reply

TO REACH ME: lmbfreespirrit@yahoo.com

2008-07-06T16:35:13Z

any place I am: I am lmbfreespirit ~so try me!

I am trying to create new accounts! WE'LL SEE ;)*"

love ya bye! ;)*

posted in stemcellsGIVElife! - 0 replies

Clone cell cancer 'cure' hailed

2008-06-21T07:35:41Z

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7460743.stm

Scientists claim they have cured advanced skin cancer for the first time using the patient's own cells cloned outside the body.

The 52-year-old man involved was free of melanoma two years after treatment.

US researchers, reports the New England Journal of Medicine, took cancer-fighting immune cells, made five billion copies, then put them all back.

Scientists in the UK warned that further trials would need to be done to prove how well the treatment worked.

......................................................................................................................................................................
"This is another interesting demonstration of the huge power of the immune system to fight some types of cancer"
Spokesman
Cancer Research UK
.....................................................................................................................................................................

The body's immune system plays a significant role in the battle against cancer, and doctors have been looking for ways to boost this tumour-killing response.

The 52-year-old man had advanced melanoma which had spread to the lungs and lymph nodes.

Scientists at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle concentrated on a type of immune system cell called a CD4+ T cell.

From a sample of the man's white blood cells, they were able to select CD4+ T cells which had been specifically primed to attack a chemical found on the surface of melanoma cells.

These were then multiplied in the laboratory, and put back in their billions to see if they could mount an effective attack on the tumours.

Two months later, scans showed the tumours had disappeared, and after two years, the man remained disease-free.

The new cells persisted in the body for months after the treatment.

'Immune power'

While claiming this as a world first, the study authors pointed out that their technique applied only to a patient with a particular type of immune system and tumour type, and could work for only a small percentage of people with advanced skin cancer.

..................................................................................................................................................................
" Patients will live with their cancer, and die with their cancer, but not of their cancer - it will be like diabetes today"
Professor Karol Sikora
Imperial College London
...................................................................................................................................................................

Dr Cassian Yee, who led the project, said: "For this patient we were successful, but we would need to confirm the effectiveness of therapy in a larger study."

Professor Karol Sikora, a cancer expert at Imperial College in London, described the research as "pretty exciting" with potentially wide application.

He said the researchers had focused on melanoma because the disease was well understood compared with other cancers, but other cancers could potentially be targeted.

He said: "I think we will be able to harness the power of the immune system. Eventually we will learn how to control cancer, in other words we will suppress it.

"Patients will live with their cancer, and die with their cancer, but not of their cancer - it will be like diabetes today."

A spokesman for Cancer Research UK also said more research would be needed, adding: "This is another interesting demonstration of the huge power of the immune system to fight some types of cancer.

"Although the technique is complex and difficult to use for all but a few patients, the principle that someone's own immune cells can be expanded and made to work in this way is very encouraging for the work that ourselves and others are carrying out in this field."

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/health/7460743.stm

Published: 2008/06/18 23:42:04 GMT

© BBC MMVIII

posted in stemcellsGIVElife! - 2 replies

repost by Brittany from another tribe!

2008-06-15T00:32:18Z

Not sure if you've saw this yet, but today's show on democracynow.org is fabulous! They had Kucinich on talking about his articles of impeachment, they also had this guy who's a renowned prosecutor with his new book on how Bush is guilty of murder and who could try him...

posted in stemcellsGIVElife! - 0 replies

TOO.IMPORTANT ~ THANX, SunburnSarah!!!!!!!!

2008-06-12T23:30:36Z

http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/fightthesmearshome/

posted in stemcellsGIVElife! - 0 replies

John McCain Would Repeal the Right To An Abortion

2008-06-11T02:30:42Z

For all the coverage of Senator John McCain's background, there are some important things you won't learn about him from the TV networks. His carefully crafted positive image relies on people not knowing this stuff—and you might be surprised by some of it.

Please check out the list below, and then forward it to your friends, family, and coworkers. We can't rely on the media to tell folks about the real John McCain—but if we all pass this along, we can reach as many people as CNN Headline News does on a good night.

SEE #4 BELOW

10 things you should know about John McCain (but probably don't):

1. John McCain voted against establishing a national holiday in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Now he says his position has "evolved," yet he's continued to oppose key civil rights laws.1

2. According to Bloomberg News, McCain is more hawkish than Bush on Iraq, Russia and China. Conservative columnist Pat Buchanan says McCain "will make Cheney look like Gandhi."2

3. His reputation is built on his opposition to torture, but McCain voted against a bill to ban waterboarding, and then applauded President Bush for vetoing that ban.3

4. McCain opposes a woman's right to choose. He said, "I do not support Roe versus Wade. It should be overturned."4

5. The Children's Defense Fund rated McCain as the worst senator in Congress for children. He voted against the children's health care bill last year, then defended Bush's veto of the bill.5

6. He's one of the richest people in a Senate filled with millionaires. The Associated Press reports he and his wife own at least eight homes! Yet McCain says the solution to the housing crisis is for people facing foreclosure to get a "second job" and skip their vacations.6

7. Many of McCain's fellow Republican senators say he's too reckless to be commander in chief. One Republican senator said: "The thought of his being president sends a cold chill down my spine. He's erratic. He's hotheaded. He loses his temper and he worries me."7

8. McCain talks a lot about taking on special interests, but his campaign manager and top advisers are actually lobbyists. The government watchdog group Public Citizen says McCain has 59 lobbyists raising money for his campaign, more than any of the other presidential candidates.8

9. McCain has sought closer ties to the extreme religious right in recent years. The pastor McCain calls his "spiritual guide," Rod Parsley, believes America's founding mission is to destroy Islam, which he calls a "false religion." McCain sought the political support of right-wing preacher John Hagee, who believes Hurricane Katrina was God's punishment for gay rights and called the Catholic Church "the Antichrist" and a "false cult."9

10. He positions himself as pro-environment, but he scored a 0—yes, zero—from the League of Conservation Voters last year.10

John McCain is not who the Washington press corps make him out to be. Please help get the word out—forward this email to your personal network. And if you want us to keep you posted ..On's work to get the truth out about John McCain, sign up here:

http://pol.moveon.org/mccaintruth/

Sources:
1. "The Complicated History of John McCain and MLK Day," ABC News, April 3, 2008
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/04/the-complicated.html

"McCain Facts," ColorOfChange.org, April 4, 2008
http://colorofchange.org/mccain_facts/

2. "McCain More Hawkish Than Bush on Russia, China, Iraq," Bloomberg News, March 12, 2008
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aF28rSCtk0ZM&refer=us

"Buchanan: John McCain 'Will Make Cheney Look Like Gandhi,'" ThinkProgress, February 6, 2008
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/02/06/buchanan-gandhi-mccain/

3. "McCain Sides With Bush On Torture Again, Supports Veto Of Anti-Waterboarding Bill," ThinkProgress, February 20, 2008
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/02/20/mccain-torture-veto/

4. "McCain says Roe v. Wade should be overturned," MSNBC, February 18, 2007
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17222147/

5. "2007 Children's Defense Fund Action CouncilÂ® Nonpartisan Congressional Scorecard," February 2008
http://www.childrensdefense.org/site/PageServer?pagename=act_learn_scorecard2007

"McCain: Bush right to veto kids health insurance expansion," CNN, October 3, 2007
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/10/03/mccain.interview/

6. "Beer Executive Could Be Next First Lady," Associated Press, April 3, 2008
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5h-S1sWHm0tchtdMP5LcLywg5ZtMgD8VQ86M80

"McCain Says Bank Bailout Should End ..Systemic Risk,'" Bloomberg News, March 25, 2008
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aHMiDVYaXZFM&refer=home

7. "Will McCain's Temper Be a Liability?," Associated Press, February 16, 2008
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=4301022

"Famed McCain temper is tamed," Boston Globe, January 27, 2008
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/01/27/famed_mccain_temper_is_tamed/

8. "Black Claims McCain's Campaign Is Above Lobbyist Influence: 'I Don't Know What The Criticism Is,'" ThinkProgress, April 2, 2008
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/04/02/mccain-black-lobbyist/

"McCain's Lobbyist Friends Rally 'Round Their Man," ABC News, January 29, 2008
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=4210251

9. "McCain's Spiritual Guide: Destroy Islam," Mother Jones Magazine, March 12, 2008
http://www.motherjones.com/washington_dispatch/2008/03/john-mccain-rod-parsley-spiritual-guide.html

"Will McCain Specifically 'Repudiate' Hagee's Anti-Gay Comments?," ThinkProgress, March 12, 2008
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/03/12/mccain-hagee-anti-gay/

"McCain 'Very Honored' By Support Of Pastor Preaching 'End-Time Confrontation With Iran,'" ThinkProgress, February 28, 2008
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/02/28/hagee-mccain-endorsement/

10. "John McCain Gets a Zero Rating for His Environmental Record," Sierra Club, February 28, 2008
http://www.alternet.org/blogs/environment/77913/

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posted in stemcellsGIVElife! - 1 reply

THE.HOPE! ;)*

2008-06-09T00:27:31Z

Playing (0:04 / 0:30)

Regenerated Body Parts
Scientists are calling regenerative medicine the "Holy Grail" of stem-cell research. Wyatt Andrews reports on how tissue re-growth could make invasive surgeries a thing of the past.

posted in stemcellsGIVElife! - 5 replies

stemcells SAVE lives!

2008-05-31T19:05:57Z

April 27 and June 8, 2008
Eight-year-old Joseph Davis Jr. is a healthy boy – but at birth he was diagnosed with sickle cell anemia, a chronic blood disorder that deprives cells of proper oxygen, causes periodic painful episodes and reduces life expectancy. Only a bone marrow transplant could help him. Every day, thousands of people with a blood disease search the registry for life-saving bone marrow and cord blood donors because they can't find a match within their families. The Davises also discovered there was a shortage of African-American donors who might provide a match of bone marrow or cord blood. Cord blood comes from a newborn's umbilical cord or placenta and contains a high concentration of the hematopoietic stem cells that can help generate new, healthy cells in transplant recipients. The search dragged on for over a year to find a matching donor. Then, a miracle happened: Joseph's mom, previously told she could not have more children, became pregnant. The remarkable result? Not only a new life in the form of a second son, but the stem cells from his umbilical cord turned out to be a match for Joseph, eventually curing him of sickle cell and giving him a healthy life. Doctors – and the Davises – highly recommend that the time of birth, a child's cord blood is saved and frozen, just in case it can be used for life-saving transplants in the future.

Click here for a parents' guide to cord blood and cord blood donation: www.parentsguidecordblood.org

Click here for an FAQ about cord blood: www.marrow.org

Click here for an information kit on banking your child's cord blood: www.cordblood.com/lifetime

More Stories on Organ and Blood Donation

Curing Blood Diseases: How Cord Blood Saves LivesDiscover how a "miracle" saved the life of a young boy with sickle cell anemia.
More Organ Donations: Health StoryThe wife of a football legend carries on her husband's remarkable legacy.
More Organ & Tissue Donation: Dr. Lisa's InterviewDispelling the myths of organ donation with the director of the Gift of Hope.
More Give Blood, Give Life: Health StoryHow Hometown Heroes Saved a Young Girl.
More Kidney Transplants: Health StoryAn innovative drug therapy gives transplant patients their lives back.
More

© 2007 Walgreen Co. All Rights Reserved. Submit A Story IdeaOrder DVD/VHSWalgreens Store LocatorPrivacy PolicyTerms of Use
This web site was produced using Titan CMS by Northwoods Software.

April 27 and June 8, 2008
Eight-year-old Joseph Davis Jr. is a healthy boy – but at birth he was diagnosed with sickle cell anemia, a chronic blood disorder that deprives cells of proper oxygen, causes periodic painful episodes and reduces life expectancy. Only a bone marrow transplant could help him. Every day, thousands of people with a blood disease search the registry for life-saving bone marrow and cord blood donors because they can't find a match within their families. The Davises also discovered there was a shortage of African-American donors who might provide a match of bone marrow or cord blood. Cord blood comes from a newborn's umbilical cord or placenta and contains a high concentration of the hematopoietic stem cells that can help generate new, healthy cells in transplant recipients. The search dragged on for over a year to find a matching donor. Then, a miracle happened: Joseph's mom, previously told she could not have more children, became pregnant. The remarkable result? Not only a new life in the form of a second son, but the stem cells from his umbilical cord turned out to be a match for Joseph, eventually curing him of sickle cell and giving him a healthy life. Doctors – and the Davises – highly recommend that the time of birth, a child's cord blood is saved and frozen, just in case it can be used for life-saving transplants in the future.

Click here for a parents' guide to cord blood and cord blood donation: www.parentsguidecordblood.org

Click here for an FAQ about cord blood: www.marrow.org

Click here for an information kit on banking your child's cord blood: www.cordblood.com/lifetime

More Stories on Organ and Blood Donation

Curing Blood Diseases: How Cord Blood Saves LivesDiscover how a "miracle" saved the life of a young boy with sickle cell anemia.
More Organ Donations: Health StoryThe wife of a football legend carries on her husband's remarkable legacy.
More Organ & Tissue Donation: Dr. Lisa's InterviewDispelling the myths of organ donation with the director of the Gift of Hope.
More Give Blood, Give Life: Health StoryHow Hometown Heroes Saved a Young Girl.
More Kidney Transplants: Health StoryAn innovative drug therapy gives transplant patients their lives back.
More

© 2007 Walgreen Co. All Rights Reserved. Submit A Story IdeaOrder DVD/VHSWalgreens Store LocatorPrivacy PolicyTerms of Use
This web site was produced using Titan CMS by Northwoods Software.

April 27 and June 8, 2008
Eight-year-old Joseph Davis Jr. is a healthy boy – but at birth he was diagnosed with sickle cell anemia, a chronic blood disorder that deprives cells of proper oxygen, causes periodic painful episodes and reduces life expectancy. Only a bone marrow transplant could help him. Every day, thousands of people with a blood disease search the registry for life-saving bone marrow and cord blood donors because they can't find a match within their families. The Davises also discovered there was a shortage of African-American donors who might provide a match of bone marrow or cord blood. Cord blood comes from a newborn's umbilical cord or placenta and contains a high concentration of the hematopoietic stem cells that can help generate new, healthy cells in transplant recipients. The search dragged on for over a year to find a matching donor. Then, a miracle happened: Joseph's mom, previously told she could not have more children, became pregnant. The remarkable result? Not only a new life in the form of a second son, but the stem cells from his umbilical cord turned out to be a match for Joseph, eventually curing him of sickle cell and giving him a healthy life. Doctors – and the Davises – highly recommend that the time of birth, a child's cord blood is saved and frozen, just in case it can be used for life-saving transplants in the future.

Click here for a parents' guide to cord blood and cord blood donation: www.parentsguidecordblood.org

Click here for an FAQ about cord blood: www.marrow.org

Click here for an information kit on banking your child's cord blood: www.cordblood.com/lifetime

More Stories on Organ and Blood Donation

Curing Blood Diseases: How Cord Blood Saves LivesDiscover how a "miracle" saved the life of a young boy with sickle cell anemia.
More Organ Donations: Health StoryThe wife of a football legend carries on her husband's remarkable legacy.
More Organ & Tissue Donation: Dr. Lisa's InterviewDispelling the myths of organ donation with the director of the Gift of Hope.
More Give Blood, Give Life: Health StoryHow Hometown Heroes Saved a Young Girl.
More Kidney Transplants: Health StoryAn innovative drug therapy gives transplant patients their lives back.
More

© 2007 Walgreen Co. All Rights Reserved. Submit A Story IdeaOrder DVD/VHSWalgreens Store LocatorPrivacy PolicyTerms of Use
This web site was produced using Titan CMS by Northwoods Software.

April 27 and June 8, 2008
Eight-year-old Joseph Davis Jr. is a healthy boy – but at birth he was diagnosed with sickle cell anemia, a chronic blood disorder that deprives cells of proper oxygen, causes periodic painful episodes and reduces life expectancy. Only a bone marrow transplant could help him. Every day, thousands of people with a blood disease search the registry for life-saving bone marrow and cord blood donors because they can't find a match within their families. The Davises also discovered there was a shortage of African-American donors who might provide a match of bone marrow or cord blood. Cord blood comes from a newborn's umbilical cord or placenta and contains a high concentration of the hematopoietic stem cells that can help generate new, healthy cells in transplant recipients. The search dragged on for over a year to find a matching donor. Then, a miracle happened: Joseph's mom, previously told she could not have more children, became pregnant. The remarkable result? Not only a new life in the form of a second son, but the stem cells from his umbilical cord turned out to be a match for Joseph, eventually curing him of sickle cell and giving him a healthy life. Doctors – and the Davises – highly recommend that the time of birth, a child's cord blood is saved and frozen, just in case it can be used for life-saving transplants in the future.

Click here for a parents' guide to cord blood and cord blood donation: www.parentsguidecordblood.org

Click here for an FAQ about cord blood: www.marrow.org

Click here for an information kit on banking your child's cord blood: www.cordblood.com/lifetime

More Stories on Organ and Blood Donation

Curing Blood Diseases: How Cord Blood Saves LivesDiscover how a "miracle" saved the life of a young boy with sickle cell anemia.
More Organ Donations: Health StoryThe wife of a football legend carries on her husband's remarkable legacy.
More Organ & Tissue Donation: Dr. Lisa's InterviewDispelling the myths of organ donation with the director of the Gift of Hope.
More Give Blood, Give Life: Health StoryHow Hometown Heroes Saved a Young Girl.
More Kidney Transplants: Health StoryAn innovative drug therapy gives transplant patients their lives back.
More

© 2007 Walgreen Co. All Rights Reserved. Submit A Story IdeaOrder DVD/VHSWalgreens Store LocatorPrivacy PolicyTerms of Use
This web site was produced using Titan CMS by Northwoods Software.

April 27 and June 8, 2008
Eight-year-old Joseph Davis Jr. is a healthy boy – but at birth he was diagnosed with sickle cell anemia, a chronic blood disorder that deprives cells of proper oxygen, causes periodic painful episodes and reduces life expectancy. Only a bone marrow transplant could help him. Every day, thousands of people with a blood disease search the registry for life-saving bone marrow and cord blood donors because they can't find a match within their families. The Davises also discovered there was a shortage of African-American donors who might provide a match of bone marrow or cord blood. Cord blood comes from a newborn's umbilical cord or placenta and contains a high concentration of the hematopoietic stem cells that can help generate new, healthy cells in transplant recipients. The search dragged on for over a year to find a matching donor. Then, a miracle happened: Joseph's mom, previously told she could not have more children, became pregnant. The remarkable result? Not only a new life in the form of a second son, but the stem cells from his umbilical cord turned out to be a match for Joseph, eventually curing him of sickle cell and giving him a healthy life. Doctors – and the Davises – highly recommend that the time of birth, a child's cord blood is saved and frozen, just in case it can be used for life-saving transplants in the future.

Click here for a parents' guide to cord blood and cord blood donation: www.parentsguidecordblood.org

Click here for an FAQ about cord blood: www.marrow.org

Click here for an information kit on banking your child's cord blood: www.cordblood.com/lifetime

More Stories on Organ and Blood Donation

Curing Blood Diseases: How Cord Blood Saves LivesDiscover how a "miracle" saved the life of a young boy with sickle cell anemia.
More Organ Donations: Health StoryThe wife of a football legend carries on her husband's remarkable legacy.
More Organ & Tissue Donation: Dr. Lisa's InterviewDispelling the myths of organ donation with the director of the Gift of Hope.
More Give Blood, Give Life: Health StoryHow Hometown Heroes Saved a Young Girl.
More Kidney Transplants: Health StoryAn innovative drug therapy gives transplant patients their lives back.
More
© 2007 Walgreen Co. All Rights Reserved. Submit A Story IdeaOrder DVD/VHSWalgreens Store LocatorPrivacy PolicyTerms of Use
This web site was produced using Titan CMS by Northwoods Software.

posted in stemcellsGIVElife! - 0 replies

GETTING THE WORD OUT!

2008-05-31T00:56:55Z

http://tribes.tribe.net/eckarttolle

posted in stemcellsGIVElife! - 0 replies

~YA, Obamma!!!!!

2008-05-30T19:30:02Z

we are ON the bandwagon of HOPE ;)*

posted in stemcellsGIVElife! - 8 replies

you know...

2008-05-27T23:57:41Z

Stemcells were discovered~ their healing attibutes~ in '98
My head INJURY was in March of '99!
WHAT I'M SAYING IS: our guiding power, WHATEVER YOU CALL IT, had this in it's plan!
& SO, I will spending time to research & post for you!
I appreciate your committment to learn!
& PLEASE...INVITE YOUR PEEPS ;)***********

posted in stemcellsGIVElife! - 0 replies

http://tribes.tribe.net/eckarttolle

2008-05-25T23:13:09Z

http://tribes.tribe.net/eckarttolle

posted in stemcellsGIVElife! - 0 replies

from medical news today!

2008-05-13T21:51:27Z

California Stem Cell Research Program Approves Statewide Laboratory Construction Program
Main Category: Stem Cell Research
Also Included In: Women's Health / Gynecology
Article Date: 12 May 2008 - 0:00 PDT

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The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine's Independent Citizens' Oversight Committee on Wednesday approved $271 million in grants to build 12 stem cell laboratories at academic and not-for-profit research institutions in the state, the New York Times reports. The grants represent the largest amount of money awarded at one time by the program. The approval has sparked debate as to whether it is unnecessary because of possible changes to the ban on federal funding on research that uses embryonic stem cell lines created after August 2001. According to the Times, all three main presidential candidates have expressed support for expanded funding for the research.

According to the Times, one reason CIRM distributed the grants for construction is because research on embryonic stem cell lines created after August 2001 "cannot share even a microscope with a project that is federally financed." However, Jesse Reynolds -- a policy analyst at the Center for Genetics and Society, which supports stem cell research but has criticized CIRM -- said that now that "the money is flowing" in California, those federal restrictions are going to be removed." Robert Klein, chair of CIRM, argued that the state could not take for granted that the federal restrictions would be lifted by the next president. He added that Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) has expressed opposition to some types of stem cell research. Klein said that even if the restrictions are lifted, new laboratory space will be needed to expand research and to recruit scientists.

Some CIRM officials also said the construction would provide an economic stimulus during a time of a large state budget deficit and a weak economy (Pollack, New York Times, 5/8). California voters in 2004 approved a plan to invest $3 billion of tax funds over 10 years into embryonic stem cell research, and CIRM has already approved 156 research grants totaling $260 million (Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 2/13). The new grant recipients include nine of the 10 University of California campuses, Stanford University and the San Diego Consortium for Regenerative Medicine.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) in a statement released after the board's decision said, "[T]his kind of public-private investment in a growing jobs section is exactly the kind of good news our economy needs right now." He added, "This will go a long way toward medical research that could save lives and improve them for people with chronic diseases" (Mohajer, AP/Examiner.com, 5/7). Wesley Smith -- a fellow of the Discovery Institute in Seattle and critic of CIRM -- said the spending is irresponsible. "Whether one supports or opposes the CIRM, the voters were told that their borrowed money would be used to pay for research into cures, not the construction of high-end luxury buildings," Smith said, adding, "And this at a time when [California] is drowning in $20 billion of red ink" (Russell, San Francisco Chronicle, 5/8).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.nationalpartnership.org. You can view the entire Daily Women's Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Daily Women's Health Policy Report is a free service of the National Partnership for Women & Families, published by The Advisory Board Company.

© 2008 The Advisory Board Company. All rights reserved.

posted in stemcellsGIVElife! - 0 replies

we MUSTbegin to tackle this FIRST ~ or what's the pont?????????

2008-05-08T17:03:50Z

http://tribes.tribe.net/stopglobalwarming

posted in stemcellsGIVElife! - 3 replies

HELP for MS

2008-05-03T22:21:14Z

Stem cells help mice with muscular dystrophy: study
Sun Jan 20, 2008 5:15pm EST
By Julie Steenhuysen

CHICAGO (Reuters) - A therapy using embryonic stem cells helped restore muscle function in mice with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, the most common form of muscular dystrophy in children, U.S. researchers said on Sunday.

They said the study is the first to show that transplanted embryonic stem cells can restore muscle in genetically engineered mice with the disease.

Stem cells are the body's master cells, acting as a source for the various cells and tissues in the body. Those taken from days-old embryos, called embryonic stem cells, can produce all of the body's cell types.

Many researchers have tried different stem cell strategies in the hopes of treating muscular dystrophy, a genetic disease that occurs when the cells can no longer regenerate after injury. These studies have often been disappointing.

And one problem with embryonic stem cells is they want to form all the tissues in the body, often in a type of tumor called a teratoma. Getting them to differentiate -- to become only certain cell types -- has been difficult.

"The problem had been that embryonic stem cells make everything," said Dr. Rita Perlingeiro of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, whose study appears in the journal Nature Medicine.

"We know with embryonic stem cells you have to find a way to pull out the cells you want," Perlingeiro said in a telephone interview. "How to dig them out -- that is the problem."

Perlingeiro's team experimented with stem cells taken from mouse embryos. Mice in the study lacked dystrophin, a protein that is lacking in humans with muscular dystrophy.

Perlingeiro knew it was important to isolate just the cells that would become muscle because early transplant attempts that included other undifferentiated cells had caused the mice to develop teratomas.

GREEN DYE

Her team developed a painstaking technique using fluorescent dyes to sort through the cells, allowing them to isolate only the cells destined to become muscle.

They injected these cells into the hindquarters of mice with the disease. After a month, the dyed cells had made their way deep into the muscle, suggesting they had started to grow new muscle cells. Many muscle fibers also contained dystrophin.

At three months, the mice showed no signs of tumors. Tests showed the muscles were significantly stronger than in untreated mice with the condition and they performed better than other mice in tests of coordination.

"We have now looked for over four months and there has been no tumor formation," Perlingeiro said. "We're very excited to see the fibers were green and you could see dystrophin."

Perlingeiro said her team hopes eventually to develop a stem-cell therapy for humans with muscular dystrophy using a new approach for making human stem cells from reprogrammed skin cells.

This approach involves tricking human skin cells into behaving like embryonic stem cells. But the technique is far from perfected.

Perlingeiro said her research is early but holds promise. "You go brick by brick to build something," she said.

Duchenne muscular dystrophy is one of nine types of muscular dystrophy, a group of degenerative diseases. It affects 1 out of every 3,500 to 5,000 boys in the United States.

(Editing by Maggie Fox and Vicki Allen)

© Reuters 2007. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.

Reuters journalists are subject to the Reuters Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests.

http://www.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUSN2038250420080120

posted in stemcellsGIVElife! - 0 replies

stemcells playing major roll in cancer research!

2008-05-03T15:46:11Z

RICHARD LAUTENS/TORONTO STAR
Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty greets researchers at MaRS in Toronto, where he announced Ontario would contribute $10 million to the International Cancer Genome Consortium. April 29, 2008
STEP BY STEP

Studying cancer genomes helps scientists understand the disease. Here's how they'll do it:

• Collect tissue samples from tumours from at least 500 patients

• Extract DNA and RNA from each tissue sample

• Analyze the genetic material in "next-generation" DNA sequencing machines

• Input, crunch and compare the findings in an international informatics database

• Catalogue and analyze genetic mutations to look for which ones drive cancer growth

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

HIGH PRAISE

In just two years the OICR has earned an international reputation for unique and innovative research, attracting many top researchers from around the globe. John Wilkinson, Minister of Research and Innovation

The consortium's commitment to making its data rapidly available in public databases will serve to accelerate research into the causes and control of cancer . . . throughout the world.
Dr. Elias A. Zerhouni, director of the National Institutes of Health, which is the U.S. research organization taking part in the ICGC

International co-operation in health research is essential to maximize the opportunities that we have to find the cures and treatments for some of the most serious diseases which we face. I am pleased to support the International Cancer Genome Consortium as it builds on the success of the UK's own Cancer Genome Project.
Gordon Brown, British Prime Minister

Apr 30, 2008 04:30 AM
Megan Ogilvie
Health Reporter

More than any other time in this city’s history, world-class scientists are flocking to our labs en masse with the hope of cracking medical mysteries.

Yesterday, Ontario researchers announced they will take a lead role with the International Cancer Genome Consortium, one of the largest global research efforts since the Human Genome Project. Within 10 years, the consortium plans to map the genetic mutations that drive 50 of the most common cancers.
Delving into cancer genomes will help scientists understand the complex biological mechanisms that cause cancers to grow and spread

Experts say it will likely lead to new ways to diagnose, treat and prevent the disease.

And just last week, a Toronto-led team of stem cell scientists reported a critical breakthrough towards one day using stem cells to repair damaged heart tissue.
Many of the city’s top scientists, from oncologists to statisticians, stem cell whizzes to genome experts, have been recruited to Toronto within the last two years. They have come from big city hospitals, Ivy League institutions and international research hubs.

And they say Toronto has become a magnet for the best because of new government money earmarked for innovation, a collegial atmosphere among colleagues, and a critical mass of scientists that lures others to tricked-out labs stacked along University Ave.

“There are, I think, somewhere between 5,000 and 10,000 researchers in the biomedical field here,” said Dr. John McPherson, director of the cancer genome program at the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR) and himself a new recruit. “There are 5,000 labs within a 20-minute walk of OICR. . . . There are some other places like this in the world, but they are very few.”

McPherson, who landed in Toronto in July from Houston’s Baylor College of Medicine, will lead the province’s plan to map the genetic mutations involved in pancreatic cancer. While another recruit, Dr. Lincoln Stein, a world leader in genome informatics, will lead from Toronto the consortium’s data coordination centre — predicted to be the largest health informatics database in the world.

"There is a real collaborative spirit here that I haven’t seen in other places,” said McPherson about Toronto’s research community. “It’s this collaboration that really drives research these days.”

The scientists involved with the International Cancer Genome Consortium
say a combined global assault on cancer is the best way to halt the world’s leading killer. Last year, more than 7.5 million people worldwide died of the disease and more than 12 million new cases were diagnosed.

Cataloguing the genetic mutations involved in 50 types of cancer is too large a project to be undertaken by one country alone, said Dr. Tom Hudson, president and scientific director of OICR and an executive member of the consortium’s interim executive committee.

The 10-year project will generate 25,000 times more data than the Human Genome Project, said Hudson, who was involved in leading that landmark project.

Not only will the consortium boost understanding of how different cancers grow, Hudson said it may also help pinpoint environmental factors, including viruses, that contribute to cancers.

Research organizations that join the consortium sign on to study one specific type of cancer and must contribute at least $20 million to sequence 500 unique samples. Members must also agree to rapidly release data to the public and not make intellectual property claims on their findings.
Ten countries have already enlisted, including China, France, Japan, India, the United Kingdom and the United States. Hudson expects others to join soon.

Researchers from India which has higher rates of oral cancers, will tackle that particular cancer type. The U.S. has agreed to look at lung cancer, among others.

Hudson said Ontario researchers wanted to tackle the “very tough” pancreatic cancer. “It has improved the least in its survival rates in the last 20 years and the mortality rate is very high, close to 98 per cent.”
McPherson, who will head up the project, said sequencing pancreatic cancer will uncover the early stages of the disease.

And, he added, it may also reveal why pancreatic cancer cells are resistant to chemotherapy.

“The DNA in all tumours is different than the DNA of the normal tissue next to it,” he said. “We’re trying to catalogue all of those variants to see what is different about the tissue. From that we can hopefully determine what is the mechanism that causes the cancer.”

In 2005, the Ontario government launched OICR with a five-year, $347-million budget to speed up cancer research from the lab to bedside. And recently the institute pledged $30 millio n to help build the cancer genomics atlas.

Speaking at MaRS yesterday, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty committed $10 million over the next decade to the consortium.

“Competition was fierce,” said McGuinty, noting Ontario was the only “sub-national” jurisdiction competing to work on the massive undertaking.

Toronto is now North America’s fourth-largest biomedical research centre and the sector is growing by 18 per cent each year.

Today’s announcement means Ontario will remain at the forefront of cancer research and that’s good news for families. One in three Ontarians are now being diagnosed with cancer. One in four Ontarians are dying of cancer,” he said.

Some of the $10 million will go towards storing and organizing the massive amounts of data generated by the consortium.

“We need one large data set that researchers can mine for relationships among many distinct types of cancers, rather than a hundred small, unconnected databases that disguise the commonality among the information,” Stein said.

“It is very powerful to put the information together in an integrated way because you can start to see relationships between cancers.”

With files from Robert Benzie

http://www.thestar.com/article/419916

Thu May 1, 2008 5:24 am

posted in stemcellsGIVElife! - 0 replies

UCTV

2008-04-14T21:22:04Z

UCTV--University of California Television The Diversity of Development: Embryos and Evolution.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Diversity of Development: Embryos and Evolution
(#13545; 58 minutes; 2/20/2008)
How does variation in genes generate the beautiful diversity of animal body shapes that fill the world? UCSD Biologist William McGinnis explains that all animals, whether fish, fowl, or fly, share similar architectural control genes called Homeobox genes. The discovery and study of these genes has led to an understanding of how subtle changes in Homeobox genes can lead to changes in animal form during evolution.
For all programs in this series, visit:
Evolution Matters

Current Schedule on UCTV:
4/11/2008, 2:00 AM pacific time zone
4/11/2008, 12:00 PM pacific time zone
4/12/2008, 8:00 AM pacific time zone
4/13/2008, 11:00 AM pacific time zone
http://www.uctv.tv/search-details.asp?showID=13545

posted in stemcellsGIVElife! - 0 replies

potential to control adult stemcells

2008-04-14T21:08:18Z

Research being presented at the UK National Stem Cell Network Annual Science Meeting in Edinburgh represents a step towards the use of Adult Stem Cells (ASCs) to repair damaged tissue. Speaking at the conference in Edinburgh, Professor Cay Kielty of the University of Manchester described how she and her team have uncovered a messaging system that instructs ASCs to contribute to tissue repair in response to chemical signals in the body. This work, funded by the Medical Research Council, holds great hope for the development of techniques by which ASCs could be instructed to repair damaged tissues.

ASCs have potential for therapeutic use and avoid many of the ethical issues associated with embryonic stem cells. However, at present it is necessary to gain a better understanding of how, from first principles, ASCs can be controlled based on signalling systems that normally give instructions within the body. There is the potential in the future to apply such understanding to the generation of cells for transplant.

Professor Kielty's team study stem cells that are found in human bone marrow called mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). MSCs have the ability to relocate and develop into several different types of cells and tissue and are very promising as a source of cells for transplant in tissue repair. As well as offering the potential for bespoke treatments derived from a person's own cells, MSCs are unlikely to trigger a severe immune response, and may be suitable for "off-the-shelf" treatments for tissue repair. This research focuses on the details of a messaging system that leads to the development of blood vessels from MSCs in the body. This system is called 'PDGF receptor signalling'.

In PDGF receptor signalling, receptors on the surface of the MSCs receive messages in the form of molecules that are involved in directing human growth and development - 'growth factors'. It has been found that there is a complex messaging system that relays and coordinates the signals from certain growth factors to the MSCs, which encourage their recruitment to new blood vessels. This involves cooperation between two types of receptor called 'PDGF receptor' and 'neuropilin-1' that respond to growth factors called PDGF and VEGF-A arriving at the cell surface, as well as sensing close proximity to other cells that make up the blood vessel.

As well as offering insights into the use of ASCs for tissue repair therapies, a better knowledge of how blood vessels develop is crucial to understanding and treating a huge range of diseases such as cancer, diabetic retinopathy and cardiovascular disease.

Professor Kielty said: "What we have shown is that adult stem cells respond in particular ways to some of the chemical signals in the body. The next stage will be to understand how this messaging system regulates relocation of the MSCs and instructs them to become blood vessel cells. After that, we can look at applying our understanding to develop stem-cell derived therapies for tissue repair."

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Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release.
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This research was presented at the UK National Stem Cell Network Inaugural Science Meeting at the Edinburgh Conference Centre on 10 April 2008.

The conference is a showcase of the best and latest UK stem cell science across all stem cell disciplines.

The UK National Stem Cell Network acts as a network of the existing regional stem cell networks in the UK, to bring coordination and coherence to a range of national and regional activities in the field of stem cell research.

The UKNSCN secretariat receives financial support from four of the UK Research Councils:
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)

Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)

Medical Research Council (MRC)
The Network represents the UK stem cell research community and is run through an independent Steering Committee. Initially, the secretariat is operated by BBSRC on behalf of all the Government sponsors of stem cell research, including the Research Councils, the Department of Health and the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills.

Source: Matt Goode
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council

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GIVE to stemcells!

2008-03-29T23:29:37Z

http://apps.facebook.com/causes/view_cause/212

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stemcells ARE BLANK cells!

2008-03-06T02:50:15Z

Stemagen via Bloomberg NewsStem cells are how we all begin: undifferentiated cells that go on to develop into any of the more than 200 types of cell the adult human body holds.

Few quarrel with predictions of the awesome potential that stem cell research holds. One day, scientists say, stem cells may be used to replace or repair damaged cells, and have the potential to drastically change the treatment of conditions like cancer, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease and even paralysis. But the divisions over how to conduct that research have been deep and bitter. Most research has been conducted on embryonic stem cell lines -- cultures of cells derived from four- or five-day-old embryos, or fertilized cells. Opponents of embryonic stem cell research, which often uses embryos discarded by fertility clinics, want it to be severely restricted or banned outright as inhumane. In August 2001, President Bush limited the use of federal funds to research involving cell lines that already existed, a restriction that many researchers called excessively limiting.

As Congress considered legislation to allow broader use of embryonic stem cells, members were swamped with calls from people suffering from diseases for which stem cells research might be the only hope, and from equally vehement opponents. In 2006, the Republican-controlled Congress passed a bill to expand research. In response, Mr. Bush issued the first veto of his presidency. In 2007, Congress, now in Democratic hands, passed a similar bill by a larger margin, but still not by enough to override the veto that Mr. Bush announced on June 20. (- Anahad O'Connor, June 20, 2007)

News about stem cells, including commentary and archival articles published in The New York Times.

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Embryonic--VS--Adult stemcells:

2007-11-22T22:21:20Z

Embryonic Stem Cells are removed from the inner cell mass of a blastocyst---not an embryo...

Other Important Links...
www.cirm.ca.gov

www.stemcells.cam.ac.uk

www.bioethics.umn.edu

www.web.uconn.edu/crb/

http://www.pdc.magee.edu

www.stemcellnetwork.ca

Extremely Limited Potential.
Multipotent Stem Cell.

Slow Growth.

Skin Bone Eye Spine Pancreas Bone Blood

Heart Liver Brain Blood Kidney

What are embryonic stem cells, and what can they do for humanity?
With the first instance of embryonic stem cells being isolated in 1998 by Dr James Thompson, and his research team at the University of Wisconsin the whole research community has been very excited with the possibility of not just treating diseases, but for the first time in history curing them as well.

Embryonic stem cells are derived from a blastocyst around day 5 post fertilization. The cells are removed from the inner cell mass and placed in a special culture to allow the stem cells to multiply, and to prevent the stem cells from differentiating. These cells are the essential building blocks of all life on this planet.

Before the isolation of embryonic stem cells in 1998.....embryonic stem cells were known to exist, and the evidence for their existence came from 3 areas of speculation. (1) The ability of plants and animals of many types to regenerate one or more body parts, such as a crabs ability to re-grow a lost claw. (2) The ability of the human body to continually regenerate skin, blood, and the lining of the stomach. (3) The existence of taratomas--a cancerous tumor which contains teeth, hair, beating heart tissue, primitive eyes, nerves, neurons, brain tissue etc... the word teratoma comes from two greek words which translated means "Monstrous Tumor". This tumor will grow so large that it will eventually kill it's host.

Fact: An embryonic stem cell is so small that it would take 10,000 of them to fill the period at the end of this sentence.
An embryonic stem cell consists of DNA molecules which tells the stem cell how to behave, and gives instructions as to which cell or tissue type it is to become. These instructions come in the form of genes which are encoded within the DNA. However when an embryonic stem cell resides in the inner cell mass, and after it is removed---The only genes which are "working" are the ones which tell the stem cells to divide, divide, divide, and divide some more. At some point on or around day 14 post fertilization the genes begin to tell the embryonic stem cells to become nerve cells, neurons, cardiac muscle cells, skin cells, etc....

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DIRECT route from brain to Immune system!

2007-11-20T21:25:29Z

Scientists discover a direct route from the brain to the immune system
– It used to be dogma that the brain was shut away from the actions of the immune system, shielded from the outside forces of nature. But that’s not how it is at all. In fact, thanks to the scientific detective work of Kevin Tracey, MD, it turns out that the brain talks directly to the immune system, sending commands that control the body’s inflammatory response to infection and autoimmune diseases. Understanding the intimate relationship is leading to a novel way to treat diseases triggered by a dangerous inflammatory response.

Dr. Tracey, director and chief executive of The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, will be giving the 2007 Stetten Lecture on Wednesday, Oct. 24, at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD. His talk – Physiology and Immunology of the Cholinergic Anti-inflammatory Pathway – will highlight the discoveries made in his laboratory and the clinical trials underway to test the theory that stimulation of the vagus nerve could block a rogue inflammatory response and treat a number of diseases, including life-threatening sepsis.

With this new understanding of the vagus nerve’s role in regulating inflammation, scientists believe that they can tap into the body’s natural healing defenses and calm the sepsis storm before it wipes out its victims. Each year, 750,000 people in the United States develop severe sepsis, and 215,000 will die no matter how hard doctors fight to save them. Sepsis is triggered by the body’s own overpowering immune response to a systemic infection, and hospitals are the battlegrounds for these potentially lethal conditions.

The vagus nerve is located in the brainstem and snakes down from the brain to the heart and on through to the abdomen. Dr. Tracey and others are now studying ways of altering the brain’s response or targeting the immune system itself as a way to control diseases.

Dr. Tracey is a neurosurgeon who came into research through the back door of the operating room. More than two decades ago, he was treating a young girl whose body had been accidentally scorched by boiling water and she was fighting for her life to overcome sepsis. She didn’t make it. Dr. Tracey headed into the laboratory to figure out why the body makes its own cells that can do fatal damage. Dr. Tracey discovered that the vagus nerve speaks directly to the immune system through a neurochemical called acetylcholine. And stimulating the vagus nerve sent commands to the immune system to stop pumping out toxic inflammatory markers. “This was so surprising to us,” said Dr. Tracey, who immediately saw the potential to use vagus stimulation as a way to shut off abnormal immune system responses. He calls this network “the inflammatory reflex.”

Research is now underway to see whether tweaking the brain's acetylcholine system could be a natural way to control the inflammatory response. Inflammation is key to many diseases - from autoimmune conditions like Crohn's disease and rheumatoid arthritis to Alzheimer's, where scientists have identified a strong inflammatory component.

Dr. Tracey has presented his work to the Dalai Lama, who has shown a great interest in the neurosciences and the mind-body connection. He has also written a book called “Fatal Sequence,” about the double-edge sword of the immune system.

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About The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research

Headquartered in Manhasset, NY, The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research is home to international scientific leaders in Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer’s disease, psychiatric disorders, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, sepsis, inflammatory bowel disease, diabetes, human genetics, leukemia, lymphoma, neuroimmunology, and medicinal chemistry. The Feinstein Institute, part of the North Shore-LIJ Health System, ranks in the top 6th percentile of all National Institutes of Health grants awarded to research centers. Feinstein researchers are developing new drugs and drug targets, and producing results where science meets the patient. For more information, please visit www.FeinsteinInstitute.org or http://feinsteininstitute.typepad.com/feinsteinweblog/

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stemcell treatments ARE vast: heart, kidney, eyes, lungs, brain, muscular~YES!

2007-10-30T22:12:12Z

Regenecell was founded with the mission of becoming a leader in the field - affording patients the very best regenerative treatments that biology and science have to offer.

We are committed to bringing the benefits of bioscience to our patients, by providing umbilical stem cells of the highest quality possible.

Treatment is delivered by medical practitioners who are guided by strict protocols, ensuring an uncompromising level of quality care for an optimal outcome.

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stemcell cures aids patient!

2007-10-30T22:08:07Z

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/8/9/203239/7450

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Harvard: unlocking the promise of stemcells!

2007-10-07T19:40:23Z

http://athome.harvard.edu/programs/psc/psc_video/psc_4.html

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