Category Archives: Idaho Stem Cells

Nearly one year after Jerika Bolen, the Appleton teenager with an incurable genetic disease, announced her intention to go without a life-sustaining ventilator, experts say her case has had surprisingly minimal impact on the right-to-die debate.

"I fully expected it to continue in the dialogue," said Paul J. Ford, director of the NeuroEthics Program at Cleveland Clinic, about Jerika's story.

Bolen died last September after a lifelong battle with spinal muscular atrophy type 2, which destroys nerves cells in the brain stem and spinal cord that control voluntary muscle activity. She died at Sharon S. Richardson Hospice in Sheboygan Falls, after a final summer that included a prom in her honor in July.

"When I decided, I felt extremely happy and sad at the same time," Jerika told USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin in July 2016. "There were a lot of tears, but then I realized I'm going to be in a better place, and I'm not going to be in this terrible pain."

Jerika's decision drew national attention, including an overwhelming amount of support from well-wishers worldwide. But her story also drew the ire of disability rights groups who attempted to intervene in Jerika's decision to stop treatment.

"It was an exceedingly complicated case," said Arthur Caplan, head of the division of bioethics at New York University's School of Medicine. "(Jerika) was 14, so not quite old enough to be legally able to make her decisions, but old enough that many (medical experts) would say she was old enough to help determine her care."

Jerika was mostly immobile and in chronic pain from SMA. She ranked her pain as a seven on a scale of one to 10 on her best days.

Medications had damaged her body. She had more than 30 visits to operating rooms. She had her spine fused in 2013 and the heads of her femurs removed in 2015.

The day of Jerika's death, Jen Bolen, who declined to be interviewed for this story, told USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin that "no one in their right mind would let someone suffer like she was."

"Suffering is a pretty strong, compelling reason to back away," Caplan said.

Not Dead Yet, a national disability rights group, was one of five disability rights groups that asked authorities to conduct an investigation into Jerika's care.

Diane Coleman, Not Dead Yet's president and CEO, said the groups questioned Jerika's decision to die, as well as the public's response.

"We were trying to be gentle and respectful, but also to say that Jerika had a lot to live for, even if she couldn't yet see that herself," Coleman said.

A letter Not Dead Yet and other disability rights groups wrote in early August 2016 raised questions about Jerika's care and said the teenager was "clearly suicidal." Disability Rights Wisconsin also wrote a letter to Outagamie County child protection authorities.

"For Jerika's case, it really pushes the boundaries between the right to refuse treatment and assisted suicide," Coleman said. "If she had continued using her (ventilator)...things would be different, and she didn't get to get there.

"Almost all of the coverage supported her death. That's what's wrong."

Ford said it's difficult from the outside to understand a person's life and level of suffering.

"(Jerika) went through a lot," Caplan said. "She knows more about that than many people weighing in on what should happen."

Caplan said Jerika's story didn't take on the dimension of Terry Schiavo, a Florida woman who remained in a "persistent" vegetative state for 15 years, or Brittany Maynard, a 29-year-old with brain cancer who relocated to Oregon so she could legally kill herself with medication.

"(Jerika) was saying, 'I've been through so much. I don't want to do this anymore,'" Caplan said. "Which is an important question, but it isn't quite analogous to what happens either when someone requests help in dying or says, 'I don't want to be maintained because I'm so old and so frail that there's no point.' She was in a different situation."

Caplan said Americans are "completely and utterly confused" about right-to-die issues, including how to deal with mental impairment in dying, whether to honor a child's request and even what constitutes death.

"Where views diverge is saying how much suffering is too much to ask someone to bear, and whose responsibility is it to partake in ending a life if it's more suffering than anyone ought to bear," Ford, the Cleveland Clinic ethicist, said.

One of those issues is physician-assisted suicide. Public opinion about the practice remains divided: a 2013 Pew Research Center survey found that 47 percent of Americans approve of laws to allow the practice for the terminally ill, while 49 percent disapprove.

Five states California, Colorado, Oregon, Vermont and Washington and Washington, D.C., have legalized the practice, and Montana recognized it following a state Supreme Court ruling.

Ford said there was "a great energy among states" to continue the legislation for terminally ill adults a year ago.

"Those have sort of taken a backseat, recently," he said.

Earlier this year, Wisconsin State Rep. Sondy Pope introduced legislation, modeled closely after other physician-assisted suicide laws, that would allow terminally ill Wisconsin adults to receive medication to end their lives.

"It's about as restrictive as it could be. ... There are so many safeguards that it's almost impossible to use," Pope said.

Pope, who conceded that the legislation has no immediate chance of becoming law, said she would support legislation to allow a minor who isn't terminal to die with "very, very thoughtful safeguards that include input from loved ones."

"That's way down the road in a case-by-case individual basis ... It doesn't seem right, morally, to say, 'I'm sorry. You're not 18. You have to suffer.'"

___

Information from: Post-Crescent Media, http://www.postcrescent.com

An AP Member Exchange shared by the Post-Crescent.

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Continuing the debate about right-to-die issues in Appleton - Idaho Statesman

National 0Updated at 3:22 pm, August 30th, 2017 By: Michael Nedelman, CNN We Matched

(CNN) The US Food and Drug Administration approved a new leukemia treatment, which the agency considers the first gene therapy it has cleared to hit the market in the United States.

The treatment, called Kymriah, aims to give some patients a second chance after first-line drugs have failed. This may happen in up to a fifth of patients, according to the FDA.

Each dose of Kymriah contains a patients own immune cells, which are sent to a lab to be genetically modified using a virus. This therapy known as chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy, or CAR-T gives the cells the ability to recognize and kill the source of the cancer.

Were entering a new frontier in medical innovation with the ability to reprogram a patients own cells to attack a deadly cancer, FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb said in a statement.

Weve never seen anything like this before and I believe this therapy may become the new standard of care for this patient population, said Dr. Stephan Grupp, director of cancer immunotherapy at Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia, which spearheaded this research.

An FDA advisory committee had recommended the therapy for approval in July to treat the relapse of a blood cancer known as B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia, or ALL.

Based on available data, patients on the treatment have had an 89% chance of surviving at least six months and a 79% chance of surviving at least a year, with most being relapse-free at that point.

Almost 5,000 people were diagnosed with ALL in 2014, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More than half were children and teens. ALL is the most common type of cancer among children, according to the National Cancer Institute.

Most patients with ALL recover through other treatments such as radiation, chemotherapy and stem cells. But if the cancer recurs, the prognosis is poor.

There has been an urgent need for novel treatment options that improve outcomes for patients with relapsed or refractory B-cell precursor ALL, Novartis, the drug company that makes Kymriah, said in a statement.

Kymriah is a first-of-its-kind treatment approach that fills an important unmet need for children and young adults with this serious disease, Dr. Peter Marks, director of the FDAs Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said in a statement.

The one-time treatment has a boxed warning for cytokine release syndrome or CRS, a life-threatening side effect that can cause blood pressure to drop dangerously low. It is caused by overactive genetically modified immune cells. The FDA said hospitals and clinics must become certified to distribute the treatment, meaning they are prepared to recognize and treat CRS and other potentially fatal neurological events. Novartis said it hopes to have an initial network of 20 treatment centers within a month with plans to expand that to 32 by the end of the year.

Kymriah has a $475,000 price tag; however, patients who do not respond within a month of treatment will not be charged, according to Novartis.

Novartis is collaborating with (Centers for Medicaid Services) to make an outcomes-based approach available to allow for payment only when pediatric and young adult ALL patients respond to Kymriah by the end of the first month. Future potential indications would be reviewed for the most relevant outcomes-based approach, the drug company said in a statement.

On Wednesday, the FDA also expanded approval for another drug, tocilizumab, to treat CRS in patients 2 and older.

In the main study that informed the advisory committees decision in July, roughly half of 68 patients experienced high-grade CRS, though none died from it. Slightly fewer patients experienced neurological events, such as seizures and hallucinations.

Novartis is required to conduct followup study to assess the safety of the treatment long-term.

CNN Wire and the CNN Video Affiliate Network is an online syndication service providing text and video versions of CNN's award-winning news coverage. Articles featured include reporting on world news, politics, finance, health, entertainment and technology.

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FDA announces first US gene therapy approval for cancer treatment - East Idaho News

Idaho National Laboratory Motto The energy of innovation Established 1949 Researchtype Nuclear energy, national security, energy, and environment Budget ~ $1 billion (2010) Director Mark Peters Staff ~ 4,000 (2016) Location Idaho Falls, Idaho, U.S. & a large area to the west Campus 890sqmi (2,310km2)

Operating agency

Idaho National Laboratory (INL) is an 890-square-mile (2,310km2) complex located in the high desert of eastern Idaho, between the town of Arco to the west and the cities of Idaho Falls and Blackfoot to the east. It lies within Butte, Bingham, Bonneville, and Jefferson counties. The lab currently employs approximately 4,000 people.

The federal research facility was established in 1949 as the "National Reactor Testing Station" (NRTS).[1] In 1975, the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) was divided into the Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA) and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). The Idaho site was for a short time named ERDA and then subsequently renamed to the "Idaho National Engineering Laboratory" (INEL) in 1977 with the creation of the Department of Energy (DOE) under President Carter. After two decades as INEL, the name was changed again to the "Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory" (INEEL) in 1997. Throughout its lifetime, there have been more than 50 one-of-a-kind nuclear reactors built by various organizations at the facility for testing; all but three are out of service.

On Feb. 1, 2005, Battelle Energy Alliance took over operation of the lab from Bechtel, merged with Argonne National Laboratory-West, and the facility name was changed to "Idaho National Laboratory" (INL).[2] At this time the site's clean-up activities were moved to a separate contract, the Idaho Cleanup Project, which is currently managed by Fluor Idaho, LLC. Research activities were consolidated in the newly named Idaho National Laboratory.

In the Snake River Plain, most of INL is desert with scrub vegetation and a number of facilities scattered throughout the area; the average elevation of the complex is 5,000 feet (1,520m) above sea level. A few publicly accessible highways go through the vast INL, but most of the area (except EBR-I) is restricted to authorized personnel and requires appropriate security clearance. The tiny town of Atomic City is on the INL's southern border, and the Craters of the Moon National Monument is to the southwest.

One part of this program to develop improved nuclear power plants is the Next Generation Nuclear Plant or NGNP, which would be the demonstration of a new way to use nuclear energy for more than electricity. The heat generated from nuclear fission in the plant could provide process heat for hydrogen production and other industrial purposes, while also generating electricity. And the NGNP would use a high-temperature gas reactor,[3] which would have redundant safety systems that rely on natural physical processes more than human or mechanical intervention.

INL is working with private industry to design, plan and eventually build the NGNP. It was commissioned to lead this effort by the U.S. Department of Energy as a result of the Energy Policy Act of 2005.[4]

The Fuel Cycle Research & Development program aims to help expand nuclear energys benefits by addressing some of the issues inherent to the current life cycle of nuclear reactor fuel in the United States. These efforts strive to make nuclear energy's expansion safe, secure, economic and sustainable.

Currently, the United States, like many other countries, employs an open-ended" nuclear fuel cycle, whereby nuclear power plant fuel is used only once and then placed in a repository for indefinite storage. One of the primary FCRD goals is to research, develop and demonstrate ways to close the fuel cycle so fuel is reused or recycled rather than being shelved before all of its energy has been used. INL coordinates many of the FCRD's national research efforts, including:

The Light Water Reactor Sustainability Program supports national efforts to do the research and gather the information necessary to demonstrate whether it is safe and prudent to apply for extensions beyond 60 years of operating life.

The Program aims to safely and economically extend the service lives of the more than 100 electricity-generating nuclear power plants in the United States. The program brings together technical information, performs important research and organizes data to be used in license-extension applications.[6]

INLs Advanced Test Reactor is a unique research reactor located approximately 50 miles (80km) from Idaho Falls, Idaho.

The Department of Energy named Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) a National Scientific User Facility in April 2007. This designation opened the facility to use by university-led scientific research groups and gives them free access to the ATR and other unique resources at INL and partner facilities.[7] In addition to a rolling proposal solicitation with two closing dates each year, INL holds an annual "Users Week" and summer session to familiarize researchers with the user facility capabilities available to them.

DOE's Nuclear Energy University Programs provides funding for university research grants, fellowships, scholarships and infrastructure upgrades.

For example, in May 2010, the program awarded $38 million for 42 university-led R&D projects at 23 U.S. universities in 17 states. In FY 2009, the program awarded about $44 million to 71 R&D projects and more than $6 million in infrastructure grants to 30 U.S. universities and colleges in 23 states.[8] INL's Center for Advanced Energy Studies administers the program for DOE. CAES is a collaboration between INL and Idaho's three public research universities: Idaho State University, Boise State University and University of Idaho.

The Multiphysics Methods Group (MMG) is a program at Idaho National Laboratory (under the U.S. Department of Energy) begun in 2004. It uses applications based on the multiphysics and modeling framework MOOSE to simulate complex physical and chemical reactions inside nuclear reactors . The ultimate goal of the program is to use these simulation tools to enable more efficient use of nuclear fuel, resulting in lower electricity costs and less waste products.[9] The MMG is made up of 11 members, and is led by Glen Hansen. It coordinates efforts with other specialists in academia and industry.[10]

The MMG focuses on problems within nuclear reactors related to its fuel and how heat is transferred inside the reactor. "Fuel degradation" refers to how uranium pellets and the rods they are encased in (several rods bundled together is what makes a "fuel assembly") eventually wear out over time due to high heat and irradiation inside a reactor. The group states three main objectives: "The mission of the MMG is to support the INL goal to advance the U.S. nuclear energy endeavor by:[11]

The work done by the group directly supports programs such as the Light Water Reactor Sustainability Program's research into advanced nuclear fuels.

INL's National and Homeland Security division focuses on two main areas: protecting critical infrastructure such as electricity transmission lines, utilities and wireless communications networks, and preventing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

For nearly a decade, INL has been conducting vulnerability assessments and developing innovative technology to increase infrastructure resiliency. With a strong emphasis on industry collaboration and partnership, INL is enhancing electric grid reliability, control systems cybersecurity and physical security systems.[12]

INL conducts advanced cyber training and oversees simulated competitive exercises for national and international customers.[13] The lab supports cyber security and control systems programs for the departments of Homeland Security, Energy and Defense. INL staff members are frequently asked to provide guidance and leadership to standards organizations, regulatory agencies and national policy committees.

In January 2011, it was reported by the New York Times that the INL was allegedly responsible for some of the initial research behind the Stuxnet virus which allegedly crippled Iran's nuclear centrifuges. The INL, which teamed up with Siemens, conducted research on the P.C.S.-7 control system to identify its vulnerabilities. According to the Times, that information would later be used by the American and Israeli governments to create the Stuxnet virus.[14]

The Times article was later disputed by other journalistsincluding Forbes blogger Jeffrey Carras being both sensational and lacking verifiable facts.[15] In March 2011, Vanity Fair Magazine's cover story on Stuxnet carried INL's official response stating, "Idaho National Laboratory was not involved in the creation of the stuxnet worm. In fact, our focus is to protect and defend control systems and critical infrastructures from cyber threats like stuxnet and we are all well recognized for these efforts. We value the relationships that we have formed within the control systems industry and in no way would risk these partnerships by divulging confidential information."[16]

Building on INL's nuclear mission and legacy in reactor design and operations, the lab's engineers are developing technology, shaping policy and leading initiatives to secure the nuclear fuel cycle and prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.[17]

Under the direction of the National Nuclear Security Administration, INL and other national laboratory scientists are leading a global initiative to secure foreign stockpiles of fresh and spent highly enriched uranium and return it to secure storage for processing .[18] Other engineers are working to convert U.S. research reactors and build new reactor fuels that replace highly enriched uranium with a safer, low-enriched uranium fuel.[19] To protect against threats from the dispersal of nuclear and radiological devices, INL researchers also examine radiological materials to understand their origin and potential uses. Others have applied their knowledge to the development of detection technologies that scan and monitor containers for nuclear materials.

The laboratory's expansive desert location, nuclear facilities and wide range of source materials provide an ideal training location for military responders, law enforcement and other civilian first responders. INL routinely supports these organizations by leading classroom training, conducting field exercises and assisting in technology assessments.

INLs Advanced Vehicle Testing Activity gathers information from more than 4000 plug-in-hybrid vehicles. These vehicles, operated by a wide swath of companies, local and state governments, advocacy groups, and others are located all across the United States, Canada and Finland. Together, theyve logged a combined 1.5 million miles worth of data that is analyzed by specialists at INL.

Dozens of other types of vehicles, like hydrogen-fueled and pure electric cars, are also tested at INL. This data will help evaluate the performance and other factors that will be critical to widespread adoption of plug-in or other alternative vehicles.[20][21]

INL researchers are partnering with farmers, agricultural equipment manufacturers and universities to optimize the logistics of an industrial-scale biofuel economy. Agricultural waste products such as wheat straw; corncobs,[22][23] stalks or leaves; or bioenergy crops such as switchgrass or miscanthus could be used to create cellulosic biofuels. INL researchers are working to determine the most economic and sustainable ways to get biofuel raw materials from fields to biorefineries.[24]

INLs robotics program researches, builds, tests and refines robots that, among other things, clean up dangerous wastes, measure radiation, scout drug-smuggling tunnels, aid search-and-rescue operations, and help protect the environment.

These robots roll, crawl, fly,[25] and go under water, even in swarms[26] that communicate with each other on the go to do their jobs.

The Biological Systems department is housed in 15 laboratories with a total of 12,000 square feet (1,100m2) at the INL Research Center in Idaho Falls. The department engages in a wide variety of biological studies, including studying bacteria and other microbes that live in extreme conditions such as the extremely high temperature pools of Yellowstone National Park.[27] These types of organisms could boost the efficiency of biofuels production. Other studies related to uncommon microbes have potential in areas such as carbon dioxide sequestration and groundwater cleanup.[28]

INL is pioneering the research and testing associated with hybrid energy systems that combine multiple energy sources for optimum carbon management and energy production. For example, a nuclear reactor could provide electricity when certain renewable resources aren't available, while also providing a carbon-free source of heat and hydrogen that could be used, for example, to make liquid transportation fuels from coal.[29]

The Integrated Waste Treatment Unit (IWTU)

Construction of a new liquid waste processing facility is nearly completed at INTEC on the INL Site. It will process approximately 900,000 gallons of liquid nuclear waste using a steam reforming process to produce a granular product suitable for disposal. The facility is the first of its kind and based on a scaled prototype. The project is a part of the Department of Energy's Idaho Cleanup Project aimed at removing waste and demolishing old nuclear facilities at the INL site.[30][31][32][33]

The Instrumentation, Control and Intelligent Systems (ICIS) Distinctive Signature supports mission-related research and development in key capability areas: safeguards and control system security, sensor technologies, intelligent automation, human systems integration, and robotics and intelligent systems. These five key areas support the INL mission to ensure the nations energy security with safe, competitive, and sustainable energy systems and unique national and homeland security.[citation needed] Through its grand challenge in resilient control systems, ICIS research is providing a holistic approach to aspects of design that have often been bolt-on, including human systems, security and modeling of complex interdependency.

INL supports science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education in classrooms across the state. Each year, the lab invests nearly $500,000 in Idaho teachers and students. Funding goes toward scholarship programs for high school graduates, technical college students and teachers who want to integrate more hands-on science activities into their lessons. INL also provides thousands of dollars worth of classroom grants to teachers seeking to upgrade their science equipment or lab infrastructure.[34]

The lab hires more than 300 interns each summer to work alongside laboratory employees. INL is listed by Vault, the online job resource site, as one of the best places in the U.S. to get an internship[35] Internships are offered to high school, undergraduate, graduate and post-graduate students in applicable fields including science, engineering, math, chemistry, business, communication and other fields.

In addition to subcontracting more than $100 million worth of work from Idaho's small businesses,[36] INL technologies are often licensed to new or existing companies for commercialization. In the past 10 years, INL has negotiated roughly 500 technology licenses. And INL technology has spawned more than 40 start-up companies since 1995.[37]

Small businesses that contract with the lab can participate in a Department of Energy program designed to enhance their capabilities. INL has worked with a variety of small businesses in this mentoring capacity, including International Management Solutions and Portage Environmental.[38]

INLs Advanced Test Reactor is much smaller than the more common electricity-producing reactors the reactor vessel measures 12 feet (3.7m) across and 36 feet (11m) high, with the core a mere 4 feet (1.2m) tall and 50inches across, and it does not generate electricity. As a special feature, it allows scientists to simultaneously test materials in multiple unique experimental environments. Research scientists can place experiments in one of the more than 70 test positions in the reactor. Each can generate unique experimental conditions.

Some have called the reactor a virtual time machine,[39] for its ability to demonstrate the effects of several years of radiation on materials in a fraction of the time.

The ATR allows scientists to place a great variety of materials in an environment with specified intensities of radiation, temperature and pressure. Specimens are then removed to examine how the time in the reactor affected the materials. The U.S. Navy is the facility's primary user, but the ATR also produces medical isotopes that can help treat cancer patients and industrial isotopes that can be used for radiography to x-ray welds on items such as skyscrapers, bridges and ship holds.

Many ATR experiments focus on materials that could make the next generation of nuclear reactors even safer and longer lasting.[40]>

The Hot Fuel Examination Facility (HFEF) gives INL researchers and other scientists the ability to examine and test highly radioactive irradiated reactor fuel and other materials.

HFEF provides 15 state-of-the-art workstations known as hot cells. For windows, each cell has leaded glass panes layered 4 feet (1.2m) thick and separated by thin layers of oil. Remote manipulators allow users to maneuver items inside the hot cell using robotic arms. And special filtered exhaust systems[41] keep indoor and outdoor air safe. At these stations, scientists and technicians can better determine the performance of irradiated fuels and materials. Scientists can also characterize materials destined for long-term storage at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico.

The New Horizons mission to Pluto, which launched in 2006, is powered by a device fueled at the INL Space and Security Power Systems Facility. The Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator (RTG) uses nonweapons-grade plutonium to produce heat and electricity for deep space missions such as this one.

Using the RTG on the New Horizons mission is a more practical power source for the satellite than solar panels because the satellite will travel to such a great distance that energy from the sun would provide insufficient power for the craft.[42] Work on the project started in late 2004 and ended with the January 2006 successful rocket launch. The team implemented the fueling, testing and delivery of the RTG for the Pluto New Horizons mission and for the next Mars rover.[43]

INL's Fuel Conditioning Facility uses electrolysis to separate certain components from used nuclear fuel rods. Unlike traditional aqueous reprocessing techniques, which dissolve the fuel rods in acid, "pyroprocessing" melts the rods and uses electricity to separate components such as uranium and sodium out of the mix. INL is using this technique to remove the sodium metal from EBR-II fuel rods so they can be safely stored in a national repository.[citation needed]

The Transient Reactor Test Facility (TREAT) is a reactor designed specifically to test new reactor fuels and materials.

The Critical Infrastructure Test Range at INL's 890-square-mile (2,300km2) Site allows researchers to conduct resiliency exercises and experiments from conceptual design to full-scale demonstration. INL also has access to a utility-scale power grid, substations, unique real-time modeling and simulation systems, and vendor-supplied Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems for demonstration and deployment exercises.[citation needed]

In addition, INL owns and operates a communications network designed to research and test cellular, mobile and emerging Internet communication protocols and technology, with both fixed and mobile 3-G platforms that allow testing and demonstration within a range of experimental frequencies in a low-background environment.

This unique partnership between INL and Idaho's three public research universities Idaho State University, University of Idaho and Boise State University boasts a wealth of research expertise. Its researchers, who have access to each partner institutions equipment and infrastructure, have competed for and won millions of dollars in national funding for their projects. CAES possesses capabilities and infrastructure unique to the region and nation. The centers laboratories are equipped with state-of-the-art research instruments and tools, including a Local Electrode Atom Probe (LEAP) and a Computer Assisted Virtual Environment (CAVE).

The Matched Index of Refraction facility is the largest such facility in the world. Using light mineral oil, the facility allows researchers to use fused quartz models built to scale to study the flow of liquids inside and around objects with complicated geometries, such as the core of a nuclear reactor. The facility is basically a giant loop through which the mostly transparent oil is pumped at variable speeds. Special lasers perform Doppler velocimetry, that produces a 3-D image allowing inspection of an objects flow properties. Observers can also watch the flow themselves through the polycarbonate viewing panes near the laser equipment.[44]Video: Matched Index of Refraction Flow Facility

INLs geocentrifuge helps researchers, among other efforts, improve models of how liquids and contaminants move through engineered caps and barriers used in underground waste disposal facilities.[45]

The INL centrifuge is one of fewer than 25 geocentrifuges larger than two meters (about 6 feet) in the United States.[45] The centrifuge, located next to the INL Research Center in Idaho Falls, can be operated remotely by computer and is capable of applying 130 times the force of earths gravity on a sample.[46]

Many of the experiments that use the geocentrifuge require it to run for hundreds of hours in order to correctly simulate several years worth of gravitational effects. The payload is monitored by an onboard computer and can be relayed to a remote monitoring station outside the centrifuges chamber where technicians can observe developments.[46]

Much of current knowledge about how nuclear reactors behave and misbehave was discovered at what is now Idaho National Laboratory. John Grossenbacher, former INL director, said, "The history of nuclear energy for peaceful application has principally been written in Idaho."[47]

More than 50 reactors have been built by various organizations at what is commonly called the Site, including the ones that gave the world its first usable amount of electricity produced from nuclear power and the power plant for the worlds first nuclear submarine. Although many are now decommissioned, these facilities represent the largest concentration of reactors in the world.[48]

Experimental Breeder Reactor Number 1 in Idaho, the first reactor to provide electricity for public use.

What is now Idaho National Laboratory in southeastern Idaho began its life as a U.S. government artillery test range in the 1940s. Shortly after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, the U.S. military needed a safe location for performing maintenance on the Navys most powerful turreted guns (16-inch diameter). The guns were brought in via rail to near Pocatello, Idaho, to be re-sleeved, rifled and tested.[49]

In 1949, the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission established the National Reactor Testing Station or NRTS at the site.

As the Navy began to focus on post-World War II threats, the types of projects worked on in the Idaho desert changed, too. Perhaps the most well-known was the building of the prototype reactor for the worlds first nuclear-powered submarine, the USS Nautilus

In the early afternoon of Dec. 20, 1951, Argonne National Laboratory scientist Walter Zinn and a small crew of assistants witnessed a row of four light bulbs light up in a nondescript brick building in the eastern Idaho desert.[50] Electricity from a generator connected to Experimental Breeder Reactor-I (EBR-I) flowed through them. This was the first time that a usable amount of electrical power had ever been generated from nuclear fission.

Only days afterward, the reactor produced all the electricity needed for the entire EBR complex.[51] One ton of natural uranium can produce more than 40 million kilowatt-hours of electricity this is equivalent to burning 16,000 tons of coal or 80,000 barrels of oil.[52]

More central to EBR-Is purpose than just generating electricity, however, was its role in proving that a reactor could create more nuclear fuel as a byproduct than it consumed during operation. In 1953, tests verified that this was the case.[50] The site of this event is memorialized as a Registered National Historic Landmark, open to the public every day Memorial Day through Labor Day.

On January 3, 1961, the only fatal nuclear reactor incident in the U.S. occurred at the NRTS. An experimental reactor called SL-1 (Stationary Low-Power Plant Number 1) was destroyed when a control rod was pulled too far out of the reactor, leading to core meltdown and a steam explosion. The reactor vessel jumped up 9feet 1inch (2.77m).[53] The concussion and blast killed all three military enlisted personnel working on the reactor. Due to the extensive radioactive isotope contamination, all three were buried in lead coffins. The events are the subject of two books, one published in 2003, Idaho Falls: The untold story of America's first nuclear accident,[54] and another, Atomic America: How a Deadly Explosion and a Feared Admiral Changed the Course of Nuclear History, published in 2009.[53]

On November 8, 2011 in the Zero Power Physics Reactor (ZPPR) in the afternoon a container leaked "plutonium-related" materials, when it was opened by one of the workers. All 17 workers at the incident were immediately taken to have testing done by the Idaho Cleanup Project in the form of Whole Body Counts (scans the body for any internal radiation exposure) and were required to submit urine and fecal samples to further test for internal radioisotopes . Six of them proved to be exposed to "low-level-radiation", two of them fairly extensively. All workers were kept under close observation afterwards with repeated Whole Body Counts and urine and fecal sampling. The Idaho National Laboratory insisted that no radioactivity leaked outside the facility.[55]

From 1969 to 1994, Argonne National Laboratorys EBR-II produced nearly half of the electricity needed for test site operations.

In 1964, Experimental Breeder Reactor II and the nearby Fuel Conditioning Facility proved the concept of fuel recycling and passive safety characteristics. So-called passive safety includes systems that rely on natural physics laws such as gravity rather than systems that require mechanical or human intervention.

In a landmark test on April 3, 1986, such systems in EBR-II demonstrated that nuclear power plants could be designed to be inherently safe from severe accidents.

De-commissioning of EBR-II began in October 1994 with the removal of the 637 fuel assemblies.[56]

The worlds first Loss-of-Fluid-Test reactor started up at INL on March 12, 1976. It repeatedly simulated loss-of-coolant accidents that could potentially occur in commercial nuclear power plants. Many safety designs for reactors around the world are based on these tests. LOFT experiments helped accident recovery efforts after the Three Mile Island accident in 1979.[57]

In 1949, an area of the fringe of the NRTS property named "Test Area North", or TAN, was developed by the U.S. Air Force and the Atomic Energy Commission to support the Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion program's attempt to develop a nuclear-powered aircraft. The programs' Heat Transfer Reactor Experiments (HTRE) were conducted here in 1955 by contractor General Electric, and were a series of tests to develop a system of transferring reactor-heated air to a modified General Electric J47 jet engine. The planned aircraft, the Convair X-6, was to be test flown at TAN, and a large hangar with radiation shielding was built on the site. The program was cancelled, however, before the accompanying 15,000-foot (4,600m) runway was built.

In the early 1950s, the very first full-scale prototype nuclear plant for shipboard use, called S1W Prototype, was constructed to test the feasibility of using nuclear power aboard submarines. It was the predecessor to a similar nuclear plant of S2W design installed in the first nuclear-powered ship, the submarine USSNautilus(SSN-571). Later, two more prototype plant facilities, A1W and S5G, were built at this location called the Naval Reactors Facility (NRF for short). There is also an Expended Core Facility (ECF for short) also at NRF as well as administrative buildings/facilities. NRF's chemistry lab was located at the S1W prototype. By now, the prototype plants for shipboard use development have been shut down. Only the Expended Core Facility / Dry Storage Area is in use.

When the nuclear industry was just getting started in the early 1950s, it was difficult to predict exactly how different kinds of metals and other materials would be affected by being used in a reactor for prolonged periods of time. MTR was a research reactor jointly designed by Argonne and Oak Ridge National Laboratories that operated until 1970 and provided important data, helping researchers make nuclear power reactors safer and longer lasting.[58]

The Boiling Water Reactors (BORAX) experiments were five reactors built between 1953 and 1964 by Argonne National Laboratory. They proved that the boiling water concept was a feasible design for an electricity-producing nuclear reactor. One of the BORAX reactors (III) was also the first in the world to power a city (Arco, Idaho) on July 17, 1955.[59][60]

The Idaho Chemical Processing Plant chemically processed material from used reactor cores to recover reusable nuclear material. It is now called the Idaho Nuclear Technology and Engineering Center.

The Materials Test Area tested materials' exposure to reactor conditions. The Materials Test Area is part of the Advanced Test Reactor Complex.

Central Facilities Area where whole body counts for radioactivity are done for INL employees.

Idaho National Laboratorys Advanced Vehicle Testing Activity (AVTA) about plug-in hybrids (PHEVs).

The New York Times reported in 2005 that a reactor at INL would be used to manufacture plutonium-238, most of it for classified national security purposes.[61] This isotope is known for its intense alpha decay, which is useful in making extremely long-lived power sources such as radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTG)s for deep space probes and heart pacemaker batteries. INL has 52 reactors, three of which are reportedly still operating (see list of nuclear reactors). The Idaho State Journal reported that the batteries would be used for a voyage to Jupiter's moons and the New Horizons trip to Pluto.[62]

Coordinates: 433200N 1125641W / 43.53333N 112.94472W / 43.53333; -112.94472

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Idaho National Laboratory - Wikipedia

Chronic pain is a problem that sadly affects most people within their lifetime. There are patients who fall into the category of not responding to noninvasive therapies but they decline or are not candidates for joint or spine surgery. Some clinicians are turning to autologous stem cell therapy and they are seeing benefits.

Evidence of the effectiveness of the pain relief seen by the therapy have been reported to be at least 50% in relative consistency in some correlational studies, meaning the treatments may be working fairly well for a number of patients. A significant number of results have been seen in patients as much as 3 years after the procedure is performed, meaning that recuperation is highly likely for all types of pain and injuries.

Promising application of stem cell therapy resides within the treatment of degenerative disc disorder, which affects millions of people within the United States. In 2015, Pettine, Murphy, Suzuki et al. found that by using autologous stem cells to treat discogenic low back pain, they were able to improve pain scores in 21 of 26 patients within their study. Rehydration of the discs in eight of twenty patients according to MRI in conjunction with sustained pain relief through 12 months represents promise for the use of this regenerative medicine approach (Pettine, Murphy, Suzuki et al, 2014). Results such as these are promising and are currently encouraging larger clinical trials in order to generalize results across a very extensive breadth of patients.

Teton Spine and Sports Pain Center utilizes stem cells for the treatment of:

Repeat treatment can be initiated after 6 months for optimal results for patients with severe symptoms.

Stem cells have been clinically and scientifically proven to effectively treat chronic and acute pain. Stem cells are the bodys master cells. They are undifferentiated cells that have the ability to transform into a variety of different cells, replace dying cells, and regenerate damaged tissue. Stem cells are derived from your own bodys bone marrow or fat deposit (adipose).

An alternative method for regenerative medicine is through allograft tissues (from a purified amniotic source). These tissues have a high concentration of collagens, structural proteins and growth factors that support healing. This immune-privileged tissue can have some advantages over other regenerative therapies. Speak with our physician about which regenerative medicine technique would be right for you and your injury.

Stem cell therapy is a very simple and safe outpatient procedure that is performed by a qualified physician. Its easy as 1, 2, 3!

Removal of bone marrow or fat tissue. If you choose to use amniotic stem cells, half the battle is already over.

Once a sample of your bone marrow or fat tissue has been obtained, the cells are isolated with a specialized centrifuge. If you decide to use amniotic stem cells, they are delivered to the doctors office ready for injection.

The stem cells are then carefully injected into the site where the injury exists and the healing and regeneration begins!

Two advantages of a stem cell injection over surgery are:

Most patients find themselves back in their daily routine the day after the procedure. Healing gradually happens over the course of 2-6 weeks and can continue for up to 12+ months.

If you havent already learned all the wonderful benefits of stem cell therapy, here they are listed out for you:

Stem cell therapy procedures can treat the following conditions (but not limited to):

If you don't see your condition, please contact us. You may still be a candidate for stem cell therapy.

Stem cells are harvested and concentrated from amniotic fluid, bone marrow, or fat to be re-injected directly into damaged or degenerated tissues. This procedure is performed on the same day for the patients convenience and stem cells are minimally altered so as to advance the healing process for each patient. Since cells are obtained from the patient and returned to the patient within a single surgical procedure in most procedures, there are no issues with immune rejection or increased risk of infection.

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Stem Cell Therapy | Stem Cell Treatments | Idaho Falls ...

Creating a presentation is just the first step. Making it available for someone else has always been a challenge, especially when you need to present to someone who doesn't have the presentation making software similar to yours. It is even more challenging when you need to send your presentation to multiple recipients, each with their own software bundle, OS etc.

SlidePlayer turns this process into a piece of cake. Now you make your presentation available worlwide in 3 simple steps: social network login, uploading and sharing! SlidePlayer features a unique built-in presentation player with no specific software requirements. Thanks to that, your presentation will be successfully running on Mac, Windows, Android etc. so that you no longer need to go nuts trying to adapt your presentation to various platform and software requirements.

If you are a visitor seeking for a good presentation or just a nice idea, SlidePlayer will serve you well. You can download the presentations you like in .ppt (Microsoft PowerPoint) format after you preview them with the built-in presentation player. Therefore you can avoid downloading the trash you don't need as one should usually do when searching for a presentation online.

Please note that all the presentations published on SlidePlayer are for the informational purpose only and can not be used as commercial tools.

Don't forget to share the presentations you have liked in various social networks. That's how you can present a useful service to your friends and colleagues and help SlidePlayer grow and increase the number of good presentations available.

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SlidePlayer - Upload and Share your PowerPoint presentations

Weekend hikes gradually turn into strolls around the block. Joyful games of fetch or Frisbee are rare. Even standing up after a nap becomes a daunting task for your faithful friend.

Anyone who has had a lifelong canine companion has also had the difficult experience of watching that companion age, becoming increasingly stiff and less interested in play. The cause is usually osteoarthritis, which affects nearly one in every five dogs. The progressive, chronic degeneration of cartilage characteristic of this condition can occur in various joints and at almost any age, and the pain that results can be debilitating.

Geriatric pets most commonly develop it in the hip, stifle (knee) or elbow; however, it is also often seen in dogs with hip or elbow dysplasia as early as one to two years of age. Treatments range from supplements and antiinflammatory medications to surgical intervention and, increasingly, stem cell therapy.

Over the last decade, regenerative medicine, which has been around in the human sphere for nearly a quarter of a century, has become more common in veterinary medicine, and stem cell therapy is at the forefront. Stem cells are the bodys way of regenerating itself. Biological blank slates, they have the potential to specialize into one of many types of cellsskin, muscle, nerve, bone, tendon or ligamentand virtually any organ, and can be found in every organ in the body.

According to Dr. Samuel Franklin, assistant professor of small animal orthopedic surgery at the University of Georgia, a good candidate for the therapy has failed treatment with less invasive and less expensive treatment and has arthritis that does not benefit from surgery. Franklin also notes that while stem cell therapy helps modulate inflammation, stem cells do not regenerate cartilage.

In 2005, Dr. Brian Voynick of the American Animal Hospital in Randolph, N.J., was the first U.S. veterinarian to use stem cell therapy in dogs. He recommends it for young dogs with early signs of hip dysplasia and lameness because it is less invasive and more proactive than surgery.

In cases of hip dysplasia, we see [improvement in] greater than 90 percent of casesbetter mobility, less or no lameness, and increased quality of life. Sometimes, we see improvement on radiographs, says Voynick. These results are typical when the therapy is used in conjunction with platelet rich plasma (PRP), a concentrated mix of platelets and growth factors taken from the patients own blood. According to Voynick, PRP turbocharges the cells activation. Once injected, stem cells have an anti-inflammatory effect within the joint and contribute to the reformation and architectural organization of the tissues.

Voynick recalls a case of a dog with severe hip osteoarthritis treated with stem cell therapy and PRP. [Before treatment] she could not stand up from a lying position. Three days later, she was walking and wagging her tail.

Normally, however, the response is not quite so dramatic. Though improvement in lameness and pain is sometimes seen within the first week, it more commonly comes within a period of about 90 days. The exact duration of the injections effectiveness is not known, but it is thought that, at least initially, monthly injections are most beneficial. Patients are rechecked at 30, 60 and 90 days post-treatment, and injections may be repeated if lameness returns.

Stem cell therapy is also being used for osteoarthritis resulting from cranial cruciate ligament (CCL) injuries. This common injury of the canine knee is more often seen in large-breed dogs but can affect dogs of all sizes. CCL injuries may be treated medically with rest and medication, or they may require surgery.

With a full [CCL] tear, we want the stabilization of surgery, says Voynick, adding that stem cell therapy can be beneficial post-operatively during rehabilitation, especially if the injury is accompanied by muscle loss.

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Stem Cell Therapy For Treating Canine Osteoarthritis | The ...

The Brain

The brain is one of the most amazing parts of your body. Everyday it allows us to do activities that we determine and many that we don't. Our brain can:

It's true! Inside your skull your brain controls everything you do!!! It is more powerful and faster than any computer. Your brain is the most important part of you and it is very complicated.

In the book, The Great Brain Book: An Inside Look At The Inside Of Your Head, (Scholastic Reference, 2002) author, HP Newquist said, "Understanding the brain is one of the biggest challenges facing scientists. We're just now beginning to figure out how all the pieces of the brain work, but we have a long way to go. We still don't know how it creates thoughts or how it stores pictures in your hear. It's not a photo album or a CD player that just files your favorite images and songs. It's a complicated organ that does billions of things every second that you're alive. That makes it the most powerful organ on earth."

Your brain fills the upper part of your bony head which is called the skull. The top part of the skull, called the cranium, is made of 8 bones. The rest of your skull includes 14 bones in the face and 3 small bones in each ear. How about that! There are 28 bones in your skull and your brain is tucked safely inside, protected by this vast number of bones. Learn more about the skull here.

The brain is always working, even while you sleep.

Your brain can go without oxygen for 3-5 minutes before injury will occur.

Scientists aren't sure how many brain cells you lose each day because of decay and misuse but you don't need to worry. You have enough to last for your whole lifetime!

Here are some more fascinating facts about the brain.

How does a human's brain size compare with other animals' brain sizes?

The right hemisphere controls the left side of the body, the left hemisphere controls the right side. These two hemispheres are connected by nerves through the corpus callosum.

Your brain is the size of a large grapefruit but it looks like a large pinkish-gray walnut. There are many folds and creases and it feels soft and squishy. It weighs about 1 pound at birth, 2 pounds at elementary age, and 3 pounds as an adult.

HUMAN BRAIN TISSUE

The cerebrum is the largest part of the brain the outer part is called the cerebral cortex

The cerebellum is about the size of a pear

The brain stem is located at the bottom of the brain, above the neck where it connects the brain to the spinal cord

divided into 2 parts called the right and left hemispheres

tucked under and behind the cerebrum

controls reflexes such as sneezing, swallowing, coughing

responsible for: thinking, senses, producing and understanding language, memories, eating, emotions, body temperature, drinking, sleeping, hormones

controls muscle movement, balance, coordination

responsible for automatic survival functions such as breathing, heartbeat, digestion, and keeping your body alive while you sleep

You can't understand what the brain does without knowing about the spinal cord. The spinal cord is an extension of the brain that runs down the middle of the back. The spinal cord is about 44 cm (19 in) long in adults. It is protected by 33 bones called vertebrae. The brain and the spinal cord are called the central nervous system. The central nervous system is one part of the nervous system. The rest is called the peripheral nervous system.

The wires of the nervous system are called neurons. The brain and the spinal cord contain billions of neurons. They send and receive information throughout your body.

All kinds of messages travel in neurons. If you touch a hot stove, neurons send a pain message from your finger to your brain. Your brain then sends a message through neurons, and through your spinal cord to the muscles in your arm to pull your hand away. Neurons can send signals to thousands of other neurons at a rate of about 200 miles per hour.

The point of connection between two neurons is called a synapse - from the Greek word "synaptein" meaning to fasten together. Chemicals and/ or electricity flow across this connection to communicate with the brain.

We don't really know how all parts of the brain work together. Scientists, called neuroscientists, are doing experiments every day to try to solve these and other mysteries of the brain.

Your brain contains approximately 100 billion neurons. They each link to as many as 10,000 other neurons.

If you could line up all the neurons in your body end to end, they would stretch almost 600 miles.

More than 30,000 neurons can fit on the head of a pin.

Some areas of the cerebral cortex are important for thinking and reasoning, some for voluntary movements and speech. There are also areas for your senses. You see, hear, smell, taste and feel because of your brain. Your senses; touch, ear, eye, nose, and tongue gather information about your surroundings and send this information through sensory neurons to special areas in the cerebral cortex. Take a closer look at the cerebral cortex to see where the signals go to from each sense.

Some parts of the body such as your hands and lips have more sensory neurons than other parts. They are for detecting touching, pressure, roughness, smoothness, dry, wet, cold, hot, and pain. This body map, called an homunculus shows you how much of the cerebral cortex is responsible for processing touch receptor information.

Unlike a cut, some scraped skin, or torn and broken bones that can heal and mend, your brain cannot repair itself. It is very important for you to keep it healthy and to take care of it. Protecting your brain from accidents is very important. Take a look here for ways to keep your brain healthy.

Exercise your brain...THINK

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Brain Facts - Dialogue for Kids (Idaho Public Television)

Resources

Focus on the Family: Position Statement

Stem cell research is a new frontier in medical science. This type of research made headlines in late 1998 when scientists succeeded in isolating and culturing stem cells from human embryos. Scientists have also derived stem cells from aborted fetuses (fetal stem cells), umbilical cord blood (cord blood stem cells) as well as skin cells, bone marrow, and body fat (adult stem cells).

Embryonic stem cells are the earliest cells from which body organs are developed and grow into the more than 200 types of tissue in the human body. Initial medical research indicates that embryonic stem cells may hold promise for treating such conditions as heart disease, cancer and diabetes. So far, success with animal embryonic stem cell experiments is limited and researchers have been unable to move beyond animal studies because of the unpredictability and tumor-causing propensity of these cells.

Focus on the Family opposes stem cell research that destroys embryonic humans. In order for scientists to isolate and culture embryonic stem cells, a living, human embryo must be killed. It is never morally or ethically justified to kill one human being in order to help benefit another. By requiring the destruction of embryos, the tiniest human beings, embryonic stem cell research violates the medical ethic of "Do No Harm."

Opposing the willful destruction of human embryos for medical research does not mean that stem cell research cannot proceed. Focus on the Family encourages scientists to continue to explore stem cells found in other sources, including blood and skin cells, bone marrow and umbilical cord blood. Patients have benefited from treatments using these alternative stem cell sources for more than twenty years. Today, researchers are successfully treating patients with Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, heart damage and spinal cord injuries using non-embryonic stem cell sources.

Links

A Tale of Two Lives

Adult Stem Cells: It's Not Pie-In-The-Sky

What The Media Will Not Tell You About Stem Cell Research

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Stem Cells | Cornerstone Family Council