StemCell Therapy

Stanford and Harvard Universities have announced some astounding breakthroughs in stem cell research which raise hopes that we may postpone death, perhaps indefinitely. We age because stem cells lose the ability to produce new cells to replace those which are dying. When the researchers introduced blood from young mice into the vascular systems of old mice, the results were rejuvenated hearts and muscles and enhanced endurance. The brains of the old mice also responded with a burst of neurons which greatly increased memory and smell. The secret seems to be a protein molecule named CDF11.

The researchers are excited, if cautious, about the implications for us humans. Astronauts headed for Mars around 2030 would benefit immensely because it will be a very long journey and space travelers are subject to great stress as well as extra radiation. The future possibilities for mankind as a whole are staggering. What if we could live two or five centuries or even longer? Therefore we must ask, What is life without the anticipation of death?

Obviously, our already overpopulated earth would be inundated in a few decades. There are at least three further implications.

First, Ernest Becker, in his award-winning The Denial of Death, claims that some of our greatest achievements in art, architecture and science as well as heroic deeds arise from a motivation, largely unconscious, to create symbolic immortalities which will outlast our brief lifetimes. It must be one of our reasons for having children. That could apply to other areas as well, such as establishing national parks or even the research indicated above.

A second response to our awareness that we are mortal is the form of love called Eros. From Plato to Freud, thinkers have recognized that Eros love, the yearning to fulfill the self by uniting with something other than self, is awakened most be the knowledge that we and those we care for will one day die. Eros love is deeply related to Thanatos, or death. Eros runs through the whole range of experience, from sexual desire to attraction to the beautiful to longing for the Divine. Prolonged life without Eros could be a protracted bore.

A third example of how death influences our consciousness is found in Martin Heigeggers influential Being and Time. Our consciousness is always tensing toward the future. Life is constantly running forward toward death. That anxiety, or care, can bring us back to the present and awaken in us care in another sense, as caring or responsibility. We can become shepherds of Being by actualizing our potential and by taking a courageous attitude toward non-Being experienced as guilt, emptiness and finitude. Further, we can go beyond imposing our constructs on nature and let it reveal its Being to us as beautiful, uncanny and embracing.

In summary, this research appears to have real implications for our future. We shall wait and see. Meanwhile, our attitude toward dying will probably be the usual, well expressed in the country western song: Lord, Im ready to go when you call me. Just give me a little more time.

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Might We Live Forever? - Ken Vos - Caledonian Record

Rebecca Wallersteiner reviews Fragile Lives: A Heart Surgeons Stories of Life and Death on the Operating Table by Stephen Westaby at the cutting edge of medical memoir.

The finest of margins separates life from death, triumph from defeat, hope from despair a few more dead muscle cells, a fraction more lactic acid in the blood, a little extra swelling of the brain. Grim Reaper perches on every surgeons shoulder and death is always definitive. There are no second chances, writes Professor Stephen Westaby in the opening sentence of his moving, brilliant memoir, published this spring. During the past twenty years Westaby has become internationally renowned for his pioneering heart surgery techniques including the use of heart pumps, artificial hearts and technology to circulate blood around the body and for dealing with complex congenital anomalies in babies and toddlers. He is famed for inventing the Westaby tube, an ingenious instrument shaped like a T on top of a Y which helps keep the entrances of badly damaged lungs open during surgery.

He is famed for inventing the Westaby tube, an ingenious instrument shaped like a T on top of a Y which helps keep the entrances of badly damaged lungs open during surgery.

All heart surgery is a risk. Those of us who make it as surgeons dont look back. We move on to the next patient, always expecting the outcome to be better, never doubting it, writes Westaby. Cardiac surgery is not for the timid or nervy. In the operating room there is no room for doubt. The balance between life and death is so delicate and the heart surgeon walks the tight-rope between the two. An off-day can have dire consequences this job has a steep learning curve, and the cost is measured in human life.

Professor Westably didnt come from a medical family. He was raised church-mice poor in a grimy council estate in 1950s Scunthorp. He decided to become a heart specialist at the age of seven after watching American surgeons perform hole-in-the-heart surgery in the classic BBC series, Your Life in Their Hands, and seeing his beloved grandfather, a steelworker, who had smoked twenty a day die of cardiac failure, at the age of 63. Aged sixteen he got a job as a hospital porter in the school holidays.

As a pre-clinical medical student, aged 18, he illicitly watched from the Ether Dome, in the then Charing Cross hospital, as a 26-year-old woman called Beth was operated on for a heart weakened by rheumatic fever. The woman died. Beth taught me a very important lesson that day in the ether dome. Walk away as her surgeons did and try again tomorrow, writes Westaby. He quotes his mentor Sir Russell Brock, the most renowned heart surgeon of the era, who was known for his bluntness about losing patients I have three patients on my operating table today. I wonder which will survive. Even though it may seem insensitive, the heart surgeon cannot afford to dwell on death as to indulge in sorrow or regret brings unsustainable misery. One the important things he learnt from Brock was to regard his very ill patients as puzzles.

Soon Westaby was obsessed with his work: Cardiac surgery is like quicksand. Once in it youre sucked deeper and deeper, and I struggled to leave the hospital in case something remarkable happened and I missed it.

Cardiac surgery is like quicksand. Once in it, youre sucked deeper and deeper, and I struggled to leave the hospital in case something remarkable happened and I missed it.

He worked for thirty five years at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford without being sued or suspended, an increasing rare species.

Later in his career Westaby grappled with necessary detachment when his interests veered towards complex cases: heart surgery for complex congenital anomalies in babies and young children. Some came toddling happily into hospital, teddy bear in one hand, Mummy holding the other. Blue lips, little chest heaving, blood thick as treacle. Theyd never known a different life and I strived to provide that for them. To make them pink and energetic and liberate them from impending doom. In Saudi Arabia he battled for the life of an 18-month-old-boy who had an engorged heart on the wrong side of his chest.

Professor Westaby took chances and pushed the boundaries of heart surgery, saving hundreds of lives over the course of a thirty-five year career and in his fascinating and vividly written memoir he describes some of his remarkable and poignant cases such as the baby who suffered multiple heart attacks by the age of six months, a woman who lived the nightmare of locked-in syndrome, and a man whose life was powered by a battery for eight years.

As he approaches his 69th birthday, Westaby continues to investigate the possibility that the adult heart might be regenerated with its own stem cells.

A powerful, important and riveting book, Fragile Lives offers an exceptional insight into the world of heart surgery and how it feels to hold someones life in your hands. Although its gory descriptions mean that it is not for the faint-hearted, it would make ideal summer holiday reading for doctors. Highly recommended!

Fragile Lives: A Heart Surgeons Stories of Life and Death on the Operating Table by Stephen Westaby, published by Harper Collins, 2017, 14.99

Rebecca Wallersteiner is a health and arts journalist, who writes for The Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday, NetDoctor, Telegraph, The Times, Traveller and The Oldie magazines. She also works for the NHS and is the Hippocratic Post's roving reporter.

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Life and death on the operating table - The Hippocratic Post (blog)

ABU DHABI: The Ministry of Healths decision concerning the criteria for diagnosing death supports the Decree of Organ and Human Tissue Transplantation, which was issued by Federal Law No. 5 of 2016, Dr. Ameen Hussein Al Amiri, Assistant Undersecretary for Public Health and Licenses Policy, said in a statement issued on Saturday.

The decisions provisions exclude the transfer and transplanting of stem cells, blood cells and marrow. It stands a sustainable solution for a large number of patients, especially those with cancer, heart disease, pulmonary failure, hepatic fibrosis and kidney failure, because the transplantation fully ends the issue, Al Amiri added.

He reiterated the UAEs commitment to criminalise organ trafficking, which completely abuses humanity.

Al Amiri explained that the transplantation and transfer of organs from the deceased will begin in public and private hospitals with approved standards from the MoH so as not to allow mafias of organs trafficking or any health facility to tamper with the laws. He explained that it is because the nature of operation requires prior approval of the competent authorities to ensure compliance with the standards.

He noted said that the decision detailed the methods of death diagnosis resulting from the total stopping of the heart, breathing, and all brain functions using cerebral evidence. This method has become possible at any hospital through the ICU. It is applied on any patient dies due to the previous causes. The death caused by stroke happens when all the brains functions completely stop, including its stem, he explained.

He also explained the conditions and exceptions for diagnosing death using cerebral standards, through the initial clinical examination, followed by testing the brain stem reflexes in terms of the visual response to the light test and the period of observation (between the two test). The result shall be recorded on the stork death document by doctors who examined the case. The observation period is determined according to age of the patient. It is 48 hours for the infants between 7 to 60 days, 24 hours for the infants between 60 days to one year, and 12 hours for the children between 1 year to 16-18 and 6 hours for the adults.

Diagnosis of death using cerebral criteria shall be completed by other verification tests namely the EEG or the cerebral vasodilatation test and the apnea test with the explanation of how it is performed and the general considerations. The apnea test is positive. unless there is no respiratory signs during separation of the patient from the ventilator, he added.

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MoH issues new criteria for death diagnosis - Gulf Today

2017-05-13 08:57:41 2017-05-13 08:55:00 The Standard : Eve Woman 40 58 Catherine Mwayonga, 63, with her grand children, Mary Wambui (left) Christopher Mwayonga and Esther Njeri (right) during an interview with The Standard at her home in Thika

"You're a great mother!" These are words I hear almost every day from my children. The combination of widowhood, blindness and HIV sero-positive status has never been stigmatising enough to make me lose my self esteem as a woman and as a mother.

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Over the years, I have convinced myself that despite my blindness, which I got when I was only 7 years old, I have a right to do everything that a normal woman does. This includes a right to good education, falling in love, marriage, enjoying sex and having children. Even though my husband died, leaving me with school-going children and a HIV sero-positive status over 20 years ago, I am now the proud mother of eight very successful children and as they call me, a grand woman.

I wasn't born blind, neither was I born with HIV; but since this happened to me, I had to take control of my life knowing only too well that my life solely depended on my positive attitude. Brooding and murmuring about how life is unfair has never been part of me.

I became my own activist at an early age of seven when blindness struck me and since then I made up my mind to live life to the fullest. Though it hadn't occurred to me how challenging life would be as a blind girl then, I settled for nothing short of a happy life. I had to succeed like all the other girls who had their sight. Though I couldn't go dancing or do other outdoor social things that girls do, I made myself beautiful everyday for my own gratification.

I was born in Gatundu, Kiambu County 63 years ago and was the only girl among four brothers. I knew my rights long before I joined school and would never allow my brothers to bully me. When I look back today, I think I would see admiration in their eyes. It was so tragic then when one day a cow whose calf I was playing with charged and hit me throwing me up a nearby mango tree.

I screamed and people came to rescue me from the charging cow but I didn't feel hurt and had no visible injuries so the issue was ignored. It would later complicate my sight and gradually drive me to a total darkness for the rest of my life. Back-and-forth visits to the then King George hospital (now Kenyatta National Hospital) bore no fruit hence my parents resorted to enrolling me to the Thika School for the Blind though I could see dimly. I gradually lost my sight completely.

My adolescence was normal and I desired to love and be loved. Since the nearest is the dearest, I felt loved and appreciated when an older student in the school developed good interest in me. Christopher Mwayonga was older than me by ten years but he would later make my husband, father of my children and my best friend.

I was young and nave and enjoyed the way he held me and told me sweet nothings. He joined college and studied telephone operation and soon got a job at the then Kenya Canners Company (now Delmonte Kenya LTD). I felt safe and loved in Christopher's arms and before I knew it I was pregnant with our first son. Though generally I was a lover of babies, it dawned on me that I was in real trouble because my parents wanted me to join college.

ALSO READ: Taking personal responsibility of your career

Like any other young girl, I blamed Christopher and refused to involve him in my pregnancy journey. Though my mother was very tough, she supported me and mentored me on how to clean the baby on my own, feed him and to understand the different types of crying. After one year with the baby, I joined Kilimambogo Teachers College. Chris loved me so much that he pursued me to the college and soon our love was rekindled; this time from a more informed perspective.

My real experience in pregnancy and as a mother was with my second son whom I got shortly after I graduated from Kilimambogo. Being, blind, pregnant and a student was not an easy task for me at all but other students who of course had sight at the college were very supportive. I was posted at Likoni in Mombasa with a one month old baby.

I had thought Likoni was an appropriate place for me because Chris was from the Duruma Community in the then Coast province so we both thought it was good to be nearer home. How wrong we were! First his family couldn't accept a Kikuyu claiming that I was out to steal their land and on the other hand my family refused his community claiming that people from Coast were engaged in witchcraft. Life became so hostile for me at Likoni and Chris had to come for me to start teaching at the Thika School for the Blind to be near him and more so to bring up a family together.

Against all odds, we solemnised our marriage and life because so good for us and our children. Having grown up among boys, I was determined to have a daughter, so I kept trying but I ended up getting six sons! I didn't want the "men" to have the notion of me as the only woman in the house so I adopted two daughters.

After almost ten years of happiness, my husband suddenly developed a stroke which threw him on a sick bed for four years. I was the sole bread winner and most of all; I had to deal with his tantrums when he felt so helpless. To date, my payslip has never been without a loan. I was determined to have my children complete their studies and never to feel the impact of my blindness. I also had to pay for my husband's therapies. When my husband later died, I also started falling sick and was in and out of the hospital.

I would never have imagined I had HIV because Chris was my first boyfriend and to me he was an angel. Even today, I don't ever like to imagine that Chris may have cheated on me and contracted HIV. I had no one to cry to when I finally got my HIV results; Chris was long gone.

My eldest son had already completed university and so he took charge of his siblings. He denied himself the privilege of even getting married so he could help educate his siblings. Seeing his efforts gave me the passion to live though the doctors had given me only six months to live. "I have to live for my children!" I kept reassuring myself.

ALSO READ: I got stuck with a Sh6,800 dinner bill - We wined and dined but he could not pay

I fought for my life with all my strength. I started attending HIV related clinics and meetings and buying medication which was very expensive that time at the same time looking for sponsors for my children's school fees. I made rapport with the head-teachers and as a result two of my sons got bursaries. My elder son and I continued to work hard to pay for the others.

That was the toughest time of my life. Most of my in-laws from whom I expected help were either unwilling or were genuinely unable to help. I am glad that looking back at what happened; the whole experience made me a stronger person and made my children more responsible.

Today, all my sons have completed colleges and universities and are already married. The little girls are both in colleges and are doing very well. My eldest son still plays the head of the family though he has since married and has his own family.

He assigns his siblings responsibilities for taking care of me. I am a very happy mother and grandmother and now I live only with my househelp and her child. I am the national chairperson of the Disabled Infected and HIV Affected (DIAHA) Winners network and a board member of Kenya Network of Positive Teachers (KENEPOTE) among other positions.

"You're a great mother," are words I hear every day from my sons, their wives and my daughters!

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Blindness and my HIV status did not stop me from raising 8 great children - The Standard

Prana Biotechnology Limited (NASDAQ:PRAN) are being monitored closely by investors today as the name is currently priced at$2.22, a-1.77% difference from where it most recently opened. So where is the stock headed from here? We will take a quick look here at how the stock has performed recently.

Most investors are likely looking for that next stock that is ready to take off running. Maybe the focus is on finding a stock that has recently taken a turn for the worse for no real apparent reason. As we all know, as quickly as a stock can drop in price, it can bounce back just as fast.

Although the popular stocks that receive a high level of media coverage tend to recover quicker after a sell-off, there may be plenty of under the radar stocks that are ripe for buying. Scoping out these potential market gems may help repair a portfolio that has taken a hit for any number of reasons.

Is Prana Biotechnology Limited Ready to Move higher? Sign Up For Breaking Alerts on this Stock Before the Crowd.

The average investor might not have the time to monitor every single tick of a given stock, but taking a look at historical performance may help provide some valuable insight on where the stock may be trending in the future. Over the past week, Prana Biotechnology Limited (NASDAQ:PRAN) has performed -9.76%. For the past month, shares are -22.38%. Over the last quarter, shares have performed -2.20%. Looking back further, Prana Biotechnology Limited stock has been -10.48% over the last six months, and 36.20% since the start of the calendar year. For the past full year, shares are -39.01%.

There is rarely any substitute for diligent research, especially when it pertains to the equity markets. No matter what strategy an investor employs, keeping abreast of current market happenings is of the utmost importance. Everyone wants to see their stock picks soar, but the stark reality is that during a market wide sell-off, this may not be the case. Recently, shares of Prana Biotechnology Limited (NASDAQ:PRAN)have been seen trading -29.89% away from the 200-day moving average and -14.88% off the 50-day moving average. The stock is currently trading -66.82% away from the 52-week high and separated 46.05% from the 52-week low. Prana Biotechnology Limiteds RSI is presently sitting at 34.71.

New investors may sometimes be working with limited capital. Choosing which stocks to own can be a tough decision. Individuals may be deciding on whether to buy 10 shares of a stock trading at $100 as opposed to purchasing 100 shares of a stock trading at $10. We have recently been focusing on stocks that are trading under the $10 price level. We are constantly monitoring technical and fundamental factors that may lead to breakouts for these relatively cheap (in terms of price) stocks.

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At the Focal Point, Checking in on Prana Biotechnology Limited (NASDAQ:PRAN) - Morgan Research

Diabetes is an epidemic in the United States, with about 29 million people who have it, another 8 million who are undiagnosed and 86 million who are considered pre-diabetic, according to the American Diabetes Association.

Type 2 diabetes, the most common form, is a disease in which the bodys cells dont use insulin properly. At first, the pancreas makes more insulin to get glucose into the cells, but over time, the pancreas cant make enough to keep blood glucose levels normal and the result is type 2 diabetes.

Type 2 diabetes increases a persons risk for several health conditions including high blood pressure, heart disease and stroke. Its also responsible for as many as 12 percent of deaths in the U.S., three times higher than previous estimates, a January 2017 study in the journal PLOS ONE found.

7 HEALTHY MIDNIGHT SNACKS TO HELP YOU GET BACK TO SLEEP

Although genetics can increase your chances of developing type 2 diabetes, both diet and exercise also play a big role.

In fact, people with pre-diabetes who lost just 5 to 7 percent of their body weight reduced their risk by 54 percent, a study out of John Hopkins in July 2013 found.

Here, experts weigh in with 10 foods that balance your blood sugar and can prevent diabetes:

1. Apples You might think fruit is off the menu because of its sugar content, but fruit is filled with vitamins and nutrients that can help ward off diabetes.

Apples are one of the best fruits you can eat because theyre rich in quercetin, a plant pigment. Quercetin helps the body secrete insulin more efficiently and wards off insulin resistance, which occurs when the body has to make more and more insulin to help glucose enter the cells. Insulin resistance is the hallmark characteristic of type 2 diabetes.

Its filled with antioxidants, and also theres fiber in the fruit that naturally slows the digestion of the sugars, Karen Ansel, a registered dietitian nutritionist in Syosset, New York, and author of Healing Superfoods for Anti-Aging, told Fox News.

But be sure to eat apples with the skin because this park of the fruit has six times more quercetin than its flesh.

6 COMMON FOODS WITH HIDDEN SUGAR

2. Yogurt Eating a serving of yogurt every day can cut your risk for type 2 diabetes by 18 percent, a November 2014 study out of the Harvard School of Public Health found.

Although its not clear whether thats because yogurt has probiotics, one thing is for sure: The snack, especially the Greek variety, is high in protein, which makes you feel satiated and prevents large blood sugar spikes, Marina Chaparro, a spokeswoman for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (AND), and a certified diabetes educator in Miami, Florida, told Fox News.

Although yogurt contains natural sugars, be sure to read labels to avoid excess sugar, and select varieties that have 12 to 15 grams of carbohydrates.

3. Asparagus Low in calories and high in fiber, asparagus and other types of green leafy vegetables are rich in antioxidants, which reduce inflammation and can balance blood sugar levels.

In fact, people who ate one and half extra servings of green leafy vegetables a day cut their risk for type 2 diabetes by 14 percent, an August 2010 meta-analysis in the British Medical Journal found.

FOODS THAT CAN HELP IMPROVE YOUR EYESIGHT

4. Beans and legumes Studies suggest that people who follow a vegetarian or vegan diet are less likely to develop type 2 diabetes than their meat-eating counterparts.

Chickpeas, lentils and beans are all low in calories and saturated fat, have a low glycemic index and a ton of fiber, which takes a long time to digest, so blood sugar doesnt rise as quickly, Chaparro said.

In fact, eating a cup of beans a day has been shown to reduce blood sugar, an October 2010 study published in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine found.

5. Chia seeds Because type 2 diabetes can lead to heart disease and stroke, its also a good idea to eat foods like chia seeds. Two tablespoons of chia seeds provides 4 grams of protein and 11 grams of fiber, as well as heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids.

Chia seeds are also versatile: Add them to oatmeal or muffins, blend them into a smoothie, or make a chia pudding.

6. Berries Strawberries, raspberries, blackberries and blueberries are all low in calories and carbohydrates, and have a low glycemic index to keep your blood sugar steady. Although they all contain fiber, raspberries and blackberries in particular take the lead to fill you up.

5 SURPRISING FOODS TO HELP YOU SLEEP BETTER

7. Coffee When it comes to preventing type 2 diabetes, coffee remains controversial, but some studies suggest a coffee habit can be a good thing for preventing diabetes.

In fact, people who drank more than one and a half cups a day for 10 years were 54 percent less likely to develop diabetes than non-coffee drinkers, a July 2015 study in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition found.

However, if youre going to drink coffee, enjoy it black or with a small amount of milk, but skip the sugar. Those fancy sugar-laden drinks at Starbucks will definitely spike your blood sugar and negate any benefit, Chaparro said.

8. Pumpkin seeds Pumpkin seeds are rich in plant chemicals known as lignans, as well as magnesium, both of which help the body use insulin more efficiently. They also contain globulins, or proteins that help lower blood sugar.

Pumpkin seeds are an excellent source of protein, which is slowly digested so it keeps blood sugar stable, and fiber, which curbs hunger, can prevent overeating and help you lose weight.

Enjoy them as a snack, or add them to a salad or baked goods.

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9. Brown rice People who ate three to five servings of whole grains per day were 26 percent less likely to develop type2 diabetes in a July 2012 study published in the Journal of Nutrition. One of the best types of whole grains is brown rice, which is rich in magnesium and fiber, and has a low glycemic index.

If you havent been able to make the switch, try medium-grain brown rice, which has a more tolerable texture than the whole-grain variety. Or mix brown and white rice together until youre able to nix the white rice altogether.

10. Vinegar Vinegar has acetic acid, a compound that can lower blood sugar and insulin levels after you eat carbohydrates.

Its suspected to reduce the activity of enzymes in your gut that break down sugars, Ansel said. So those sugars are being broken down much more slowly [and] released into your blood stream at a much more gradual pace.

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

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10 foods that can help prevent diabetes - Fox News

We are saddened by Mr. Mulvaney's comments, and we look forward to working closely with the White House and the Department of Health and Human Services to dispel the erroneous stigma around diabetes and the millions of Americans living with this disease.

About the American Diabetes AssociationMore than 29 million Americans have diabetes, and every 23 seconds, another person is diagnosed with diabetes. Founded in 1940, the American Diabetes Association (Association) is the nation's leading voluntary health organization whose mission is to prevent and cure diabetes, and to improve the lives of all people affected by diabetes. The Association drives discovery by funding research to treat, manage and prevent all types of diabetes, as well as to search for cures; raises voice to the urgency of the diabetes epidemic; and works to safeguard policies and programs that protect people with diabetes. In addition, the Association supports people living with diabetes, those at risk of developing diabetes, and the health care professionals who serve them through information and programs that can improve health outcomes and quality of life. For more information, please call the American Diabetes Association at 1-800-DIABETES (1-800-342-2383) or visit diabetes.org. Information from both of these sources is available in English and Spanish. Find us on Facebook (American Diabetes Association), Twitter (@AmDiabetesAssn) and Instagram (@AmDiabetesAssn).

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/american-diabetes-association-extremely-disappointed-and-saddened-by-comments-about-people-with-diabetes-from-white-house-office-of-management-and-budget-director-mick-mulvaney-300456896.html

SOURCE American Diabetes Association

http://www.diabetes.org

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American Diabetes Association Extremely Disappointed and Saddened by Comments About People with Diabetes ... - PR Newswire (press release)

Manuelas most recent email set my skeptic senses tingling. This worried Colombian wife had reached out to me across the transom of the World Wide Web emphasis on the World Wide because of my personal experience and extensive research into awareness in vegetative states. Yet in this instance, I think my skeptical chops may be more helpful, as I attempt to get between her and predatory stem cell regeneration quacks.

Youll see why Im so concerned when you read her message:

Thanks for replying to my emails, this also helps me a lot [after I sent her a list Kate Allatt prepared for people in a locked-in or minimally conscious state].

I think my Husband (His name is Felipe [my pseudonym for him])is in that period of the coma [referring to my last email, in which I described my partial awareness during my coma, as my consciousness flickered in and out], he seem to be conscious some times, but other times he looks like he is somewhere else. He also has against his health that he has lost so much weight, he was 185 pounds, and today he is 125. We are looking for other options too, there is something called cells regeneration, it is very expensive, but I think is a good option. I will check out your blog.

Have a great day!

You may have picked this up by now, but my diplomacy skills are so atrocious that I could qualify for a position in the Trump administration diplomatic corps if I werent such a liberal. Thus, this was my typically too-blunt reply:

Manuela,

I would highly recommend against trying stem cell regeneration! Its not only unproven, but is potentially extremely dangerous. Read this article about three women who lost their all or part of their sight after having stem cells injected in their eyes in an attempt to cure macular degeneration:Patients Lose Sight After Stem Cells Are Injected Into Their Eyes. I think that in many cases, stem cell regeneration therapy is performed by quacks or at least unlicensed doctors pushing an unproven therapy, often exploiting desperate people.

If I were you, I would first try Ambien. Its harmless, inexpensive to try, and has had a few but remarkable successes (it was a small study). Zolpidem is the drugs name. Its available in a cheap generic. I used to take it myself before my coma.

Another technique that has shown temporary effectiveness is deep brain stimulation. I put some links into my first email, but here they are again (actually, this time the Ambien link is more specific to the drug treatment). Ambien:Sleeping pill may rouse coma patientsand deep brain stimulation:Electric brain stimulation rouses some people in a minimally conscious or vegetative state. The other thing that might help Felipes would be the physical therapy youve already said you were committed to beginning. If careful enough, that should be harmless as well.

As for Felipes weight, I myself lost a lot of weight and became dangerously skinny while being fed through my gastric tube. Perhaps you can request the high calorie liquid food I was eventually put on (if he isnt on it already).

Also, would you like me to put you in contact with the woman I mentioned who was in a locked-in state, Kate Allatt? (The link is Kates website, so you can contact her yourself if you like.) Kate is much more experienced in directing patients to resources than I am! In her memoir, by the way, she advocates for sometimes going against doctors wishes when you know whats best for your own body. She wasnt talking about a loved ones body, but you are Felipes voice right now.

At any rate, I hope you have a great day, as well, and that Felipe continues to improve!

There are further medical steps Manuela could take beyond the ones I had already suggested to her, though some involve slightly more powerful drugs. (Shes a looong way away from worrying about Ambien affecting Felipes driving.) These drugs at least have the advantage of having shown clinical effectiveness, albeit in studies that were small by necessity.

While stem cell regeneration is a promising area of legitimate medical research, these unlicensed clinics are a whole other kettle of fishiness. I had read about these scammers before, including an article about threewomen who lost their eyesight in whole or in part in an attempt to forestall their macular degeneration (which I linked to in my email).

I had also read about the sad case of Jim Gass, who had traveled to Mexico, China, and Argentina and paid tens of thousands of dollars to have stem cells injected into his spine in order to help him recover from a stroke.

Instead, he developed a huge tumor on his spine.

Whereas Gass was hampered before with a disabled arm and weakness in one of his legs, hes now a quadriplegic with the exception of one arm. And the growth of his spinal tumor continues unabated.

It may be too late for Jim Gass to learn this lesson about the dangers of unlicensed and unregulated stem cell regeneration clinics. But how can I impress that on Manuela without sounding paternalistic?

On the one hand, shes obviously a dogged online researcher. Thats how she found my coma recovery blog in the first place. But theres a reason why these scammers have a continual stream of victims beating down their doors to be fleeced.

There are a lot of desperate patients out there with no legitimate medical treatments, and theyre grasping for treatment options. Ive only been able to sense secondhand what my loved ones went through as I lay near death, with my doctors telling them to give up hope for my full recovery.

Or any recovery at all.

Keith did what Manuela is doing now, researching online. He found Dr. Adrian Owens tennis study, in which Dr. Owen and his team managed to communicated with a few people judged to be in persistent vegetative states.

That gave Keith the encouragement to continue trying to stimulate my mind as best he could without access to the expensive fMRI scanners Dr. Owen et al used.

What kind of desperately-needed hope can I offer Manuela?

Well, Ill probably send her a few more links to clinically tested treatments. Amantadine,a flu-fighting medication used as well for tremor in Parkinsons patients, and Levadopa(also used for Parkinsons disease) have both helped to improve awareness, increase periods of wakefulness, or even sparked awakening. While use of these drugs would be off label, at least there is clinical if limited data to back up their potential effectiveness.

Indeed, this is what the International Brain Injury Association had to say regarding patients in developing countries:

The situation gets worse in undeveloped countries where one can hardly find a brain trauma neurorehabilitation unit and exceptionally few patients can access them.

These treatment studies of course need to be replicated to spread more widely. But given that they employ tested treatments/drugs that are being used off label by specialists in the developed world, theyre certainly safer than stem cell regeneration, which is at best worthless and at worst has caused proven harm to many.

Manuela is already determined to take the matters into her own hands by giving Felipe physical therapy, despite his doctors dismissal of its utility. (My doctors said the same thing, and I believe that passive exercise wouldve at the very least shortened my recovery time. And given that my awareness and movement improved every time I was significantly stimulated, the physical therapy might well have hastened my awakening.)

In the end, all I can do is to try to gently encourage Manuela to try these safer and much cheaper interventions, which have show actual clinical effectiveness. With my decided lack of diplomatic skill, Im far from the best person to attempt this.

The stem cell regeneration clinic scammers will be waiting to pounce if I fail.

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Stem Cell Regeneration Clinics: Waiting to Pounce on the Desperate - Patheos (blog)

Home Cancer New cancer treatment targeting cancer stem cells shows positive result in animal studies

Cancer is characterized by abnormal cells in the body that divide uncontrollably and have the ability to infiltrate and destroy normal body tissue. It is estimated that about 171 per 100,000 men and women will die from cancer every year, and it is considered the second leading cause of death in the U.S. Researchers estimate that approximately 39.6 percent of men and women will be diagnosed with cancer at some point in their lives. While treatment does exist to help fight off these cellular abnormalities, they often come at a price, severely incapacitating the body and opening the potential for more opportunistic infections to occur. However, new research in the field of cancer study has uncovered new therapy in the form of a tumor vaccine that may shrink cancer, limiting the amount of side effects.

Researchers at the University of Cincinnati have created a vaccine that promotes that production of cancer-fighting immune cells in animal models. This was the effort of many years of research and development whereby cancer stem cells were engineered to express a pro-inflammatory process called interleukin-15 (IL-15) and its receptor (IL-15Ralpha). These proteins increase the production of immune cells previously mentioned, called T cells, which could lead to new immunotherapy treatments for cancer with improved side effects, according to the researchers.

The researchers go on to say that T cells and natural killer cells of the body are greatly stimulated by IL-15 and that they recognize and attack tumor cells. This pro-inflammatory protein was initially used in previous studies for the treatment of cancers such as melanoma and kidney cancer but caused a number of intolerable side effects in patients. So, the researchers found a way to transfer genes from IL-15 with its receptor into cancer cells, thereby increasing the tumors cell surface presentation of IL-15 to T cells. In animal models, this stopped the tumor cells from reproducing with little evidence of side effects.

These findings further support evidence of IL-15s ability as a cancer treatment. We are continuing vaccination studies in animal models with hopes of moving this research to a Phase I trial in humans to see if side effects are reduced, said John Morris, MD, co-author of this study and clinical co-leader of the Molecular Therapeutics and Diagnosis Program for the Cincinnati Cancer Consortium

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New cancer treatment targeting cancer stem cells shows positive result in animal studies - Bel Marra Health

In Kitwe, the second largest city in Zambia, young mother Verah is carrying her one-year-old daughter, Racheal, into the consultation room at the eye annexe. The only dedicated paediatric eyecare centre in the country, the Kitwe annexe also attracts patients from neighbouring Angola and Congo. Racheal is here for surgery to remove the bilateral cataracts that prevent her from seeing.

A few months after Racheal was born, Verah noticed that something didnt seem right with her vision. I would move my hands in front of her face but she would not react. I would move things past her eyes but she would not follow them, she explains.

The team of nurses, anaesthetists and paediatric ophthalmologists treating Racheal have been trained and are being continually supported by peers from some of the worlds most respected eye hospitals, who fly in on a specially adapted plane the flying eye hospital thanks to an initiative of Orbis, an international blindness prevention charity.

Orbis volunteers who come to share their knowledge and give technical support are very good most of them have been working for a long time so they have very good experience, says Chineshe Mboni, the paediatric ophthalmologist treating Racheal. So we have some from the US, Britain and Israel etc. Techniques are different around the world, so we get a mix of everything.

Sharing experiences and discussing cases with the visiting Orbis medical volunteers raises your confidence, to see that what you are doing is what everyone else is doing around the world, Mboni concludes.

Globally, 285 million people are blind or visually impaired and yet for 80% of them, this could be prevented with access to the right treatment like the surgery Mboni is able to give Racheal. Orbis focuses its efforts in Africa, Asia and Latin America because 90% of the worlds 39 million blind people live in developing countries. Many of the conditions causing blindness such as cataract and trachoma can be easily treated. The loss of sight these conditions can cause have a huge impact as it will impede a persons ability to gain an education, prevent them from finding employment and can plunge families into a life of poverty.

Ann-Marie Ablett, a nurse from the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff, has been giving up four weeks of her annual leave to volunteer with Orbis since 2003. You cant change everything overnight but you can start with one patient and help them, she says. If everyone plays their small part together, you can make changes.

Ablett is speaking in a terminal at Stansted Airport and just outside is the flying eye hospital, here for a short promotional visit. The white MD-10 aircraft on the tarmac looks like a typical passenger plane. In fact, this is a 46-seat classroom complete with audio-visual equipment that transmits live surgeries that can be watched in 3D. The lead surgeon, who is just next door in a state-of-the-art operating theatre, can be asked questions throughout the procedure. The aircraft, donated by FedEx, also features pre- and post-op spaces and a laser suite.

Orbiss main aim is to train eyecare teams and strengthen hospitals in the 92 countries where it works. Its for this reason that Ablett first chose to volunteer. She says: Were not in the developing country just for numbers, were there to teach so that means we do less surgeries but when we fly off to the next country, the local doctors have got the skills to treat their own patients because they were trained up.

Dr Jonathan Lord, global medical director for Orbis, went from being a regular volunteer to giving up his position as a consultant at Moorfields eye hospital in London and becoming a staff member for the charity before being promoted to his current role.

I was just hooked after my visit trip, he says. Seeing the flying eye hospital work in real life, in the field with the patients being treated on the plane and that treatment being part of a really comprehensive training package that is upskilling all the groups of staff that are needed for each surgery, is amazing.

The need round the world is huge. You realise the magnitude when you look at some of the statistics. In Ethiopia, there is a population of over 80 million, but [until recently] there was little over 80 ophthalmologists practising in the whole country. When I left Moorfields, it had over 150 covering just the catchment area of London.

Programmes usually last two weeks, and require a lot of pre-planning with a team from Orbis flying in ahead to consult on what would be most helpful to the healthcare professionals in that country. The plane will land at a local airport and the team of local surgeons, nurses and anaesthetists board to join their volunteer counterparts. Meanwhile, another team of volunteers goes to the local hospital to provide training using the equipment in situ. At the end of the week, the teams swap.

Becoming hooked after stepping foot on the plane is a running theme among staff and volunteers, including the pilots, all FedEx employees who volunteer their time. Gary Dyson, who has been involved since 2001, says: On my first trip, which was to China, I saw a child who couldnt see on Monday but could see on Wednesday. Its such a life-changing event for them.

For Racheal, the short surgery will have undoubtedly had that effect. As Mboni removes the patches, she blinks a few times and waves her hands in front of her eyes, before looking up and seeing her mother for the first time.

News is spreading across Zambia of successes like this, Mboni says. [People] know we can act fast, so they are telling patients with eye conditions This problem? Go to Kitwe central hospital.

Join the Healthcare Professionals Network to read more pieces like this. And follow us on Twitter (@GdnHealthcare) to keep up with the latest healthcare news and views.

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The life-changing flying eye hospital treating blindness across the globe - The Guardian

A groundbreaking experiment conducted at Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem using embryonic stem cells has succeeded in preventing blindness in the elderly. The researchers used stem cells to transplant retinal pigment cells into older patients with vision impairment.

Retinal degeneration in older age is a particularly common disease in the Western world. 30 percent of adults older than 75 suffer from it, and 6 to 8 percent of them suffer from total vision loss.

(Photo: Shutterstock)

Embryonic stem cells are harvested from in vitro fertilized embryos. When the couple decides they do not want to expand the family unit anymore, frozen embryos can be used to isolate the stem cells. These cells are unique because during pregnancy they are the ones that actually form the body of the fetus, and they can serve as a source of transplantation for every cell in the human body.

Prof. Benjamin Reubinoff, director of the Hadassah Center for Embryonic Stem Cell Research and an expert in obstetrics and gynecology, founded a company called Cellcure, which focuses on developing embryonic stem cell transplantation in patients with incurable diseases in the nervous system and the eyes.

Prof. Reubinoff and Prof. Eyal Banin, director of the Center for Retinal Degeneration Diseases at Hadassah's Department of Ophthalmology, began performing transplantations in five patients. Using imaging, they found that the transplanted cells were successfully absorbed into the retina.

"This is a great achievement for us. The vision of the elderly has remained stable and has not deteriorated as it would have without the transplant," explained Prof. Reubinoff. "If the treatment is proven to be effective, we will implant the cells at an early stage of the disease, thereby preventing millions of elderly people around the world from losing their sight."

Despite the success of the trial, the researchers believe it will take more time for the treatment to be available to all patients. "We will also have to prove safety and efficacy before we make it effective for everyone," concluded Prof. Reubinoff.

(Translated and edited by N. Elias)

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The Israeli breakthrough that will prevent blindness in the elderly - Ynetnews

Often the first step in diagnosing arthritis is recognising the signs at home. If you see any of the subtle signs, its a good idea to have your cat examined by your vet. They may be able to detect swelling, pain and inflammation or take a radiograph to confirm any suspicions.

The good news for cats and their owners is that arthritis can be managed successfully with appropriate treatment and simple changes to your cats environment.

Medication for arthritis can help reduce pain and inflammation to improve your cats quality of life, though it will not cure arthritis. In many cases, animals affected by arthritis will need to be on medication for the rest of their lives.

The most commonly used drugs for managing arthritic pain are called non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). These drugs can be very effective at controlling the pain and inflammation associated with arthritis, but pet owners must take proper care when administering them and they should always be used under direct veterinary supervision to avoid the risk of side effects.

Usually, a combination of medication and complementary approaches, including diet and weight management and physiotherapy is used to treat arthritis.

Every cat requires a specific treatment plan. Your veterinarian will be in the best position to discuss a tailored treatment plan for your cat.

Omega-3 fatty acids

Disease ModifyingAgents, Nutraceuticals

Weight reduction, diet management

Physiotherapy, gentle exercise, massage, Hydrotherapy, Heat and cold therapy

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, the cornerstone of arthritic pain management

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Cats with Arthritis -Cats with Arthritis

On "Fox & Friends" today, we heard the story of a mother who went beyond modern medicine to help cure her young son of a painful arthritic condition.

Susannah Meadows lays out the details of her son's case, and others, in her book, "The Other Side of Impossible." She told Ainsley Earhardt and Janice Dean, who lives with multiple-sclerosis, how her son was diagnosed with juvenile idiopathic arthritis at age three.

The condition causes painful swelling in the joints and can lead to disability. The medication he was prescribed did little to help the arthritis and made him feel sick.

"As I watched him lie on the couch, I could not accept that that was going to be his life," she said.

Meadows then pursued a non-traditional course of treatment, approved by her son's doctor. The idea came from another mother who said her son's arthritis improved with doses of probiotics and fish oil and by removing gluten and dairy from his diet.

Meadows said her son, now 9, is totally healthy and does not need medication anymore.

Watch the interview above and learn more about the book, here.

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Author-Mom Goes Beyond Modern Medicine to Cure Son's Arthritis - Fox News Insider

(Reuters Health) - Osteoarthritis, a painful condition in which the tissue between bones wears down, frequently affects people in old age and a new study finds that as many as 4 in 10 people may develop the condition in their hands.

Among women, researchers found the lifetime risk was 47 percent while for men it was about 25 percent. Obese people also had 11 percent higher lifetime risk than those who were not obese.

Hand osteoarthritis can cause disability and problems with daily living, but is not often a subject of research, the study team writes in the journal Arthritis and Rheumatology.

Past research shows the lifetime risk for arthritis of the knee to be 45 percent and 25 percent for the hip, they write.

These findings indicate that symptomatic hand osteoarthritis is very common, and affects a substantial proportion of the population in their lifetimes, lead author Jin Qin told Reuters Health by email.

Given the aging population and increasing life expectancy in the United States, it is reasonable to expect that more Americans will be affected by this painful and debilitating condition in the years to come, said Qin, an epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

The researchers analyzed data from a North Carolina-based study of more than 2,000 people over age 45. The study collected data between 1999 and 2010, using self-reports of arthritis symptoms and X-ray images of the participants hands.

Based on this group, researchers estimated the proportion of people who will develop osteoarthritis in at least one hand by age 85 to be 39.8 percent.

Whites were at greater risk, at 41 percent, for hand osteoarthritis than blacks, with 29 percent. Obese people had a lifetime risk of 47 percent, compared to 36 percent among the non-obese.

Some people with hand osteoarthritis have minimal or no symptoms. But for many, symptomatic hand osteoarthritis greatly affects their everyday lives, with few options for improving their symptoms, Dr. Fiona Watt, a research lecturer and honorary consultant rheumatologist at the University of Oxford in the UK, said by email.

The pain can vary and tends to be worse the more people use their hands, flaring up during daily activity like carrying heavy shopping bags or typing on keyboards or phones, said Watt, who was not involved in the study.

Our hands are so important, and we need to look after them, Watt said, adding that doing aerobic exercise and watching our weight can help protect against all types of osteoarthritis.

We know that injury can increase the risk of osteoarthritis, Watt said. Although we cant always prevent hand injuries, wearing supporting and protective gloves in occupations with heavy use of the hand is important.

Preventing injuries and maintaining a healthy weight may lower the risk of osteoarthritis, Qin said. Earlier diagnosis allows earlier use of interventions (e.g. physical/occupational therapy), that may help manage symptoms, maintain better function, and improve quality of life, she said.

SOURCE: bit.ly/2qVwAsy Arthritis and Rheumatology, online May 8, 2017.

LONDON A trial of AstraZeneca's key immunotherapy drug durvalumab showed it reduced disease progression in lung cancer patients, sending the company's shares higher and giving it a lead over rivals as it seeks to transform its oncology business.

KINSHASA At least one person has died from the Ebola virus in Democratic Republic of Congo, the Health Ministry and the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday, signaling a new outbreak of the disease which killed thousands in West Africa.

(Reuters Health) - Surgery wont cure chronic knee pain, locking, clicking, a torn meniscus, or other problems related to knee arthritis, according to a panel of international experts.

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Lifetime risk of hand arthritis may be over 40 percent | Reuters - Reuters

Japanese drugmaker Seikagaku has taken a step towards lining up a big pharma partner for its phase 3 osteoarthritis drug SI-613, with Ono taking an option on the drug.

SI-613 draws on Seikagaku's long-standing experience with hyaluronic acid, which is widely used in preparations used to treat osteoarthritis and is thought to improve the functioning of joints. The company's scientists have bound hyaluronic acid to a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) using a proprietary linker technology to add long-lasting pain relief and anti-inflammatory properties to the molecule.

Importantly, the drug keeps the NSAID localized within the joint, with little escaping into the circulation to cause systemic side effects such as gastric irritation, according to its developer.

Seikagaku has already completed phase 2 trials of the drug in patients with osteoarthritis of the knee, showing a significant improvement in symptoms following direct injection into the affected joint. The phase 3 trial is enrolling patients with arthritis of the hip, ankle, elbowand shoulder as well.

Describing the current deal as a "basic agreement", the two companies saidthey are now in discussions about firming up the terms into a definitive licensing deal.

The prospect of signing up larger pharma group Ono is a boost for Seikagaku, which started pivotal trials of the drug in Japan earlier this year but has made no secret of its ambition to bring it forward onto the global stage. That would prove tough for the small drugmaker without the help of a larger partner.

If the phase 3 trial proves the worth of SI-613, the drug could emerge as a new treatment option in the osteoarthritis market, which is valued at around $3.5 billion a year in the seven countries with the largest pharma markets, according to GlobalData.

Why so little? Despite millions of sufferers around the worldaround 9 million in Japan aloneosteoarthritis treatment still largely relies on cheap generic drugs that have been around for decades. SI-613 could provide a shakeup in the market, although the need for injections into the joints may reduce its use in patients with less severe symptoms who may prefer to take tablets.

In the meantime, after years of stagnation there are some emerging biologic drugs for osteoarthritis that for the first time promise to affect the underlying disease process, rather than simply alleviating symptoms.

One of these is TissueGene's Invossa, a cell-based disease-modifying osteoarthritis drug that requires a single injection into the affected joint and has been filed for approval in South Korea by licensee Kolon Life Sciences. It is currently in phase 3 trials in the U.S., and was recently licensed in Japan to Mitsubishi Tanabe in a $434 million deal last November.

GlobalData also tips Nordic Bioscience/Merck KGaA's sprifermin as another candidate to watch. The drug, a recombinant form of fibroblast growth factor 18 (FGF18), is in phase 2 testing for osteoarthritis and is thought to stimulate joint repair.

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Ono takes a long look at Seikagaku arthritis candidate | FierceBiotech - FierceBiotech

May 12, 2017

Researchers have pinpointed a key enzyme that is vital for the production of fresh blood cells in the body. The enzyme is essential for the survival of specialised stem cells that give rise to new blood cells, the study found. Experts say the findings could help to improve the success of stem cell therapies that are being developed to treat some blood cancers and disorders of the immune system.

Enzyme

Scientists focused on an enzyme called fumarase, which is known to play a key role in the generation of energy inside cells. Children with gene mutations that affect fumarase have blood defects, which prompted researchers to investigate its function.

The mouse study found that deletion of fumarase from blood cells causes major defects in new blood cell production. These defects could be traced back to defects in the specialised stem cells that give rise to new blood cells. Blocking the enzyme causes a molecule called fumarate to build up inside the cells, which has wide-ranging toxic effects.

Stem cells

The study sheds new light on the conditions that blood stem cells need to survive, which could help to boost the success of stem cell therapies, the researchers say. Stem cell metabolism is an emerging field of research with an immense therapeutic potential. In future, we hope to identify the biochemical pathways affected by fumarate in stem cells and, by manipulating these pathways, improve the success of stem cell transplant therapies.

Professor Kamil Kranc says, "The research was prompted when researchers noticed that children with genetic mutations in the fumarase gene have blood defects."

The research was prompted when researchers noticed that children with genetic mutations in the fumarase gene have blood defects.

Scientists from the Medical Research Council Centre for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Edinburgh led the study.

The research is published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine and was funded by The Kay Kendall Leukaemia Fund, Cancer Research UK, Bloodwise, Tenovus Scotland and Wellcome.

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Blood study insight could improve stem cell therapy success - Medical Xpress

It is the "shock absorber" between the vertebrae of the spine, cushioning every step, bend and jump: the intervertebral disc. If the fibrocartilage tissue in the spine degenerates over time, an intervertebral disc can "slip" -- pinching the medulla or nerves. The consequences include intense pain or even paralysis. Not only people, but also dogs are often susceptible to this disease. Since intervertebral discs themselves cannot regenerate, the affected disc material is removed in an operation that can be performed on both people and animals. The pressure on the nerves and medulla disappears, but the degeneration of the disc remains.

Great hope has thus been placed on stem cell therapy as practiced by Frank Steffen, neurologist at the Clinic for Small Animal Surgery at the Vetsuisse Faculty of the University of Zurich. Stem cells are multipotent cells that can be differentiated into various cell types. Steffen hopes that the stem cells will possibly form new disc cartilage once injected into a damaged disc. His study on three sick German shepherds demonstrate that a treatment with the body's own stem cells are well tolerated -- an important first step.

Gaining knowledge directly from the afflicted animal

Research on intervertebral disc regeneration is frequently performed using animal testing. At the Clinic for Small Animal Surgery in Zurich, researchers have taken another path: "Since we treat numerous dogs who spontaneously sustain a slipped disc every year, we have been able to gain important knowledge directly from animals that are actually afflicted with this disease," Frank Steffen explains. "Due to the similarity in pathology and the course of the illness, conclusions can presumably be drawn for the treatment of affected persons as well." The project for the development of stem cell therapy in dogs is being conducted in cooperation with Swiss Paraplegic Research (SPR) in Nottwil, Switzerland.

The study on the sick German shepherds was organized as follows: With the permission of the dog owners, neurologist Frank Steffen and his team removed stem cells from the marrow of the pelvic bone of the affected animals. After the cleaning and preparation of the cell material in the laboratory, the stem cells were injected into the degenerated intervertebral disc during a disc operation that had become necessary for the animal in question. "Our objective is for the stem cells to trigger cellular and molecular repair processes and, ideally, to form new intervertebral disc cells in order to contribute to the regeneration of the tissue," Steffen says.

After tolerability, check effectiveness

The results are pleasing: The three dogs well tolerated the injections of their own stem cells and the researchers have determined no negative effects. However, later X-rays and magnetic resonance tomographies did not show clear indications that the damaged discs have already regenerated in comparison with the control group.

Not yet -- of that, Steffen is confident. "Proving the tolerability of the therapy was our first important step." Now he is working on the effectiveness of the stem cell injections, for example, with the targeted addition of growth factors. "If our method proves successful one day, it would be a pioneering step -- for human medicine as well," the neurologist says.

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Materials provided by University of Zurich. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

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New intervertebral discs from stem cells - Science Daily

Scientists report a step forward in the plan to create a truly artificial pancreas, offering new hope to people withtype 1 diabetes.

A 43-year-old single mother with dangerously difficult-to-control diabetes had insulin-producing islet cells transplanted into her omentum -- a fatty membrane in the belly.

The cells began producing insulin faster than expected, and after one year she is doing well and doesn't need insulin injections, the University of Miami researchers said.

"We're exploring a way to optimize islet cell therapy to a larger population. This study gives us hope for a different transplant approach," said the study's lead author, Dr. David Baidal. He's an assistant professor in the university's Diabetes Research Institute.

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Some diabetes patients are begging doctors for free samples of life-saving insulin because of costs. Between 2002 and 2013, the price of insulin ...

Others voiced optimism as well. "This study was a good start at evaluating a novel site for transplant," said Julia Greenstein, vice president of discovery research for JDRF (formerly the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation).

Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease. That means the body's immune system mistakenly damages healthy cells -- in this case, the islet cells found in the pancreas. This leaves people with type 1 diabetes without enough insulin to convert sugars from foods into energy for the body.

As a result, they must take multiple daily insulin injections, or use a pump that delivers insulin via a tube inserted under the skin that must be changed every few days.

Currently, islet cells from deceased donors are transplanted into the liver, but that's not an ideal option.

This new research was a proof-of-concept study expected to be the first step on a path toward developing a mini-organ called the BioHub.

In its final stages, the BioHub would mimic a pancreas and act as a home for transplanted islet cells, providing them with oxygen until they could establish their own blood supply.

The hope is that the BioHub also would attempt to tackle the autoimmune attack that causes type 1 diabetes.

But, the first step in developing the BioHub was to find a suitable location in the body. When the liver is used for islet cell transplants, only a limited amount of islet cells can be transplanted. There's also a risk of bleeding when the transplant is done and the possibility of other complications, the researchers said.

"For most people, the liver isn't a problem. It's a great source of blood. It's a good place for insulin to be made. But, there are rare complications that can occur and we want to be able to explant [take the cells out] in case something does happen," said Greenstein, adding that you can't take the cells out of the liver.

Also, with islet cell transplants in the liver, the underlying autoimmune condition is still there. And, if people didn't take immune-suppressing medication, the new islet cells would likely be destroyed.

Because of these and other issues, islet cell transplantation is generally reserved for people whose diabetes is very difficult to control or who no longer have an awareness of potentially dangerous low blood-sugar levels (hypoglycemia unawareness).

The woman in the current study had a 25-year history of type 1 diabetes. She also had severe hypoglycemia unawareness.

"Her quality of life was severely impacted. She had to move in with her parents. And, if she traveled, she had to travel with her father" in case her blood sugar levels dropped dangerously low, Baidal explained.

The surgery was minimally invasive, and the islet cells were placed on a "scaffold" that eventually dissolved. There were no complications, the researchers said.

"We were happily surprised when her glucose [blood sugar] profile improved quite dramatically," Baidal said.

Normally, after a transplant, doctors wait a while before stopping insulin to give the new islet cells a chance to rest. But the new islet cells worked so well that the injected insulin was causing low blood sugar levels.

"We were able to discontinue insulin sooner than we thought we would. And, the glucose control was very stable," Baidal said.

Baidal said the study results need to be replicated in other patients, and the researchers want to see what happens post-treatment over a longer time. The researchers plan to test the omentum as a site in five more patients.

Greenstein said a big clinical trial isn't necessary because "either the transplant works or it doesn't work," so only a small number of people is needed.

The study's findings were published online May 10 in theNew England Journal of Medicine.

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Woman with type 1 diabetes still off insulin one year after cell transplant - CBS News

Despite declining rates of diagnosis, the number of diabetes cases in America is still high.

In 2016, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported more than 29 million citizens are living with diabetes and 86 million are living with pre-diabetes, which increases the risk of being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and other chronic diseases.

Diabetes was the seventh leading cause of death in the United States in 2013 (and may be underreported), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states on its website. It is the leading cause of kidney failure, lower-limb amputations and adult-onset blindness.

Twin Towns Area residents can learn if theyre at risk for diabetes by taking the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions screening test. The test, available at https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/prevention/pdf/prediabetestest.pdf, consists of seven yes or no questions with point values ranging from 1-9, as well as a chart to compare when your weight is potentially too high for your height.

Residents with high scores are invited to join Weight 2 Change, a free, weekly one-hour class held by Essentia Health and the NDSU Extension office, Richland County. Starting Thursday, June 15, Weight 2 Change classes will be held at 1 p.m. at ComDel Innovation/Heartland Precision building 10, 2200 15th St. N. in Wahpeton.

This free 16-week series is a community-based wellness program that offers education and support to maintain a healthy lifestyle. (It meets) once a week with a lifestyle coach to learn about maintaining a healthy weight, choosing and preparing healthy meals and ways to increase activity levels, states materials for the class.

Requirements for taking Weight 2 Change classes are:

One of the following: a history of gestational diabetes, a doctors diagnosis of pre-diabetes within the last year or a score of nine or more on the screening test

Your healthcare provider can refer you to the program, but a referral is not required, said Deb Evenson, an administrative assistant with NDSU Extension.

Following the 16 weekly sessions, an additional eight sessions will be held each month.

According to the NDSU Extension, Weight 2 Change was developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and has a proven track record of preventing diabetes in people who are at risk.

Results showed participants who made lifestyle changes reduced their risk of type 2 diabetes by 58 percent, stated information Evenson shared. Participants age 60 or older reduced their risk by 71 percent.

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'Weight 2 Change' class offers support on lowering diabetes - Wahpeton Daily News

With a stack of small, brown envelopes in hand, Li Jianyue trudges through a rice field in southern China to gather grain specimens she hopes might one day fight diabetes.

The obesity-linked disease is on a tear in China, and rice -- the countrys favorite staple -- is showing up in studies as an important contributor. The black kernels Li pinches off mature stalks with her fingers and drops into paper sachets have been bred to avoid causing the high spikes in blood-sugar when eaten that can eventually lead to type-2 diabetes.

China tops the world in the number of adults living with diabetes: 109.6 million as of 2015. Another 40 million could join the ranks by 2040 unless preventative steps are taken. Refined white rice is seen as an obvious target because the majority of the nations 1.4 billion people consume it at least once a day, and eating it has a similar effect on blood-sugar levels as gorging on white bread.

Photographer: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg

The number of people with diabetes is surging, said Li, a professor of life and environment sciences at Shanghai Normal University, treading between muddy rows of rice in green rubber boots. Still, healthier rice alone wont tackle the problem -- it has to taste good too, she said. So, were also trying to improve the texture.

The rice experiments Li is working on -- under a giant bird net at a plant-breeding site about 20 kilometers (12 miles) from Sanya city, on the southern tip of Hainan island -- are part of an international effort to improve the nutritional value of rice.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, for example, is working with rice researchers in the Philippines and Bangladesh on rice enriched with vitamin A to tackle blindness.

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Australias Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, or CSIRO, is developing rice with more fiber so that its broken down in the lower digestive tract, where it can aid gut health and avoid the glucose-surge that can weaken the bodys response to insulin and eventually lead to type-2 diabetes. A separate program underway with the Chinese Academy of Sciences is seeking to pack rice with more vitamin B and E, iron, and zinc.

Middle-class Chinese are now very focused on nutrition, said Phil Larkin, a chief research scientist with the CSIRO in Canberra. The rate of increase in type-2 diabetes in China is very frightening.

A study released in 2013 estimated that China had 114 million people living with diabetes, or 21.6 million million more than a study three years earlier.

Lis experimental rice has a larger germ -- the embryonic part of the kernel -- than normal rice, she explains. That feature gives it more protein and less carbohydrate, which is converted into glucose during digestion. Her current work involves creating hybrids that combine that property with the taste and texture of the rice varieties popular on Chinas populous eastern seaboard.

A rice sample developed by Li.

Photographer: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg

Black rice from her lab grown on a 1-hectare (2.5-acre) plot last year was sold to two local companies. Shanghai Microwells Biotechnology Co. removed the hull and blended it unpolished with white rice in a 20 percent blend. General Manager He Jianhui said it was a potentially risky move since most Chinese prefer eating white rice and believe that unpolished rough rice is inferior.

But, now that more Chinese are seeking a healthy diet, we hope the unpolished rice can help people with the potential to develop diabetes, and that by improving their diet, they can avoid turning to doctors for medicine, He said.

Refined white rice -- even varieties bred to have less of a detrimental effect on blood-sugar -- is still a nutrient-poor food, said Sun Qi, an assistant professor at Harvard Universitys T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston. Whereas whole grains, including brown rice, are rich in cereal fiber, minerals, vitamins, and beneficial phytochemicals.

Hybrid varieties with increased vigor and disease-resistance have helped China achieve some of the worlds highest rice yields among major producers and remain largely self-sufficient in the cereal, even as consumption advanced 13 percent over the past decade driven by population growth.

Until recently, nutritional and processing quality had been overlooked in striving for yield improvement, said Zhongyi Li, a plant molecular biologist with the CSIROs in Canberra.

Annual per-capita consumption slipped to 104.8 kilograms in China last year, from a peak of 109.7 kilograms in 1997, as diets changed and improved food transportation gave consumers more choice. The nations wheat-based bakery industry expanded about 10 percent last year.

Making rice more nutritious and less likely to accumulate heavy metals, like cadmium, may help reverse the decline in per-capita consumption, and boost prices.

In the Philippines, the International Rice Research Institute, or IRRI, has identified the genetic basis of a component of starch that may be used to counter the cereals glycemic impact -- or propensity to spike blood-sugar, said Nese Sreenivasulu, head of the institutes grain quality and nutrition center.

IRRI found in 2012 that the glycemic index, or GI, of riceranges from 48 to 92 across more than 200 varieties from around the world. The sugars of low-GI food are absorbed more slowly, resulting in a gradual and sustained release of glucose in the blood, reducing the need for a surge of insulin that can eventually lead to insulin-resistance and diabetes.

As of today, more than 430 million cases of type-2 diabetes occur worldwide and the problem is severe in developing countries like China and India, Sreenivasulu said. Many modern varieties have a high to intermediate glycemic index, hence breeding for low-GI is an important trait.

With assistance by Shuping Niu

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New Strains of Rice May Help Fight China's Diabetes Scourge - Bloomberg