Category Archives: Kentucky Stem Cells

Paula Grisanti, Opinion contributor Published 6:20 a.m. ET Nov. 9, 2020

This year, Nov.17 has been designated World Cord Blood Day, an annual event to raise awareness for the life-saving benefits of cord blood transplants while educating parents, health professionals and the general public about the need to preserve these precious cells.

Cord blood transplants are being used to treat more than 80 different diseases and conditions including blood cancers like leukemia and lymphoma, neuroblastoma (the most common cancer in infants), bone-marrow failure disorders, inherited blood disorders and rare immune system disorders. They are also showing new promise for conditions that have never had treatment options, like autism and brain injury.

The first cord blood stem cell transplant, an international effort between physicians in the U.S. and Europe, was performed in France in 1988. Stem cells collected from a newborns umbilical cord blood were used to save the life of her brother, a 5-year-old with Fanconi Anemia. Since then, there have been more than 40,000 cord blood transplants performed worldwide.

Now standard of care for cancers of the blood and a host of other life-threatening diseases, blood forming stem cells for transplantation can be collected from bone marrow, circulating bloodor a newborn babys umbilical cord blood. Some experts believe cord blood contains nearly 10 times the number of stem cells found in bone marrow.

Because umbilical cord stem cells are less mature than adult bone marrow stem cells, they are also less likely to be rejected and can be used when there isnt a perfect match.

Between these threeoptions, the easiest collection by far is from umbilical cord and placental tissue after a baby is born and the umbilical cord has been cut, at no risk to mother or child, in a process that typically takes 5 to 10 minutes. The cells are then frozen in liquid nitrogen and can be stored indefinitely in private or public cord blood banks.

To store your babys cord blood for use by your child and your family only, you make arrangements with a private cord blood bank ahead of delivery to collect and store the cells; the cost to you includes a collection fee of $1,500 to $2,000 and an annual storage fee of $100 to $125.

If you cant afford or dont wish to save your babys cord blood stem cells, you can donate them to a public cord blood bank at no cost to you or your family.

Its the equivalent of registering these potentially life-saving cells with the national bone marrow registry; they will be available to the families of other children who need to find a bone marrow match after a devastating diagnosis. Without information and education, however, 95% of all cord blood is discarded as medical waste.

Right now, there is no public cord banking option in Kentucky, although public cord blood banking is highly recommended by both the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the American Medical Association (AMA). There are fewer than 25 public or hybrid cord blood banks in the U.S., many limited to a specific geographic area. None of them include Kentucky.

The chances of finding a bone marrow match in your family are only about 25%, making the bone marrow and umbilical cord blood registries a lifeline in desperate situations. Odds are worse for African Americans and other ethnic minorities who are underrepresented on the registry and ethnicity matters in a bone marrow transplant.

Donating cord blood cells to a public bank adds to the library of cells that may save someones life and increases the chance of a match for all of us. Who benefits most? Children, patients with rare human leukocyte antigen (HLA) types and ethnic minorities.

We need to do two things: Make public cord blood banking an option in the commonwealth of Kentucky, and then encourage conversations between health care providers and expectant parents about preserving these life-saving cells.

There are 28 states with legislation that ask or mandates physicians to talk to expectant parents about cord blood banking. Kentucky is not one of them, but most of our surrounding states have such legislation in place.

Through a long-standing relationship between the National Stem Cell Foundationand world-renowned cord blood expert Dr. Joanne Kurtzberg, we have a path forward for training hospitals and collecting cells for storage at the Carolinas Cord Blood Bank (CCBB), one of the largest public cord blood banks in the world. Dr. Kurtzberg directs both the Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplant (PBMT) program at Duke University and the CCBB.

She performed the worlds first unrelated cord blood transplant in 1993, paving the way for this now routine source of donor cells for children who need a bone marrow transplant and dont have a matched donor. She established the CCBB in 1998.

Paula Grisanti is CEO of the National Stem Cell Foundation.(Photo: provided)

While weve initiated discussions between Louisville hospital systems and the CCBB, we need to begin the process of education for parents, nursing and medical school students, residents, midwives, practicing OB-GYNs and the general public.

What a waste to discard these life-saving cells the future of current and developing therapies for disabling and life-threatening diseases depends on our ability to make sure that doesnt happen.

Dr. Paula Grisanti is CEO and a founding member of the National Stem Cell Foundation, headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky. She holds a D.M.D. and MBA from the University of Louisville and has been actively involved in new venture start-ups for most of her career.

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It's time for Kentucky to talk to expectant parents about benefits of cord blood banking - Courier Journal

Photo courtesy of Talaris.

Talaris Chief Executive Officer Scott Requadt sees FCR001, the companys investigational cell therapy, as a potential pipeline in a product (an experimental treatment that could have multiple uses across a number of indications).

In fact, it was that versatility of the products potential that caused Requadt to join the company as CEO in 2018 after the company, known then as Regenerex, secured $100 million in financing. At the time, Requadt helmed the venture capital group Claris that backed the Series A.

I was really enthusiastic about the company and FCR001, Requadt told BioSpace in an interview.

FCR001, an investigational, allogeneic cell therapy, was previously part of Novartis gene and cell therapy unit, until it was dissolved in 2016. When that unit dissolved, rights to FCR001 reverted to Regenerex. With the return of those rights came multiple opportunities in organ transplant and severe autoimmune disorders. Cell therapies can address complex, multi-pathway diseases and Talaris has big plans for the future of FCR001 to help patients acquire or restore immune tolerance.

Our goal is to basically do for immune tolerance what CAR-T has done for oncology, Requadt said. The same product and the same basic biology will be used. We can treat organ transplant and autoimmune diseases in the same manner.

Through FCR001, Talaris will be able to change the underlying pathology of the disease so the immune system no longer sees it as a threat, Requadt said. The companys lead program is in kidney donor transplant, but FCR001, a one-time stem cell therapy, is also being explored as a treatment for scleroderma, a multi-system autoimmune disease. If FCR001 is effective in these areas, Requadt said those successes will pave the way for use in other indications.

This is a pipeline from a single product, Requadt said of FCR001, which has received a Regenerative Medicine Advanced Therapy designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

In July, Kentucky-based Talaris dosed the first patient in its Phase III FREEDOM-1 study of FCR001 in living donor kidney transplant (LDKT) recipients. The trial is expected to enroll 120 adult patients who will receive kidney donations from living donors. The primary endpoint of the study will be the proportion of FCR001 recipients who are free from necessary drugs to maintain immunosuppression without biopsy proven acute rejection at 24 months post-transplant.

Organ transplant patients are required to continue taking drugs to suppress their immune systems to protect the new organ from immune system responses. However, those immunosuppressant treatments drugs are toxic to the kidney and can ultimately kill the transplanted organ in 10 to 15 years. The drugs can also lead to metabolic disorders and cardiovascular issues, Requadt said.

In 2018, Talaris posted positive Phase II data in LDKT recipients, with 70% of patients who received the treatment able to discontinue the use of immunosuppressant drugs. The Phase II data showed that every tolerized patient has been able to remain free of the use of chronic immunosuppressants for up to 10 years. The median follow-up following transplant was five years, with the longest case being a decade. Additionally, Requadt said the company has also seen better kidney functions in recipients who received FCR100 due to the lack of toxicity issues.

While there are other companies exploring similar approaches, Requadt said to his knowledge, no other group has a 10-year data set that demonstrates the safety and efficacy of a treatment like FRC001.

Not only has Talaris seen the impressive results in removing patients from the anchor of immunosuppressant drugs, Requadt said the use of FCR001 decreased the risk of rejection in patients whose biomarkers did not have as high a match with the kidney donors.

In addition to the Phase III study in LDKT patients, Talaris also has plans to conduct a Phase II study in LDKT Delayed Tolerance Induction and will begin research in Deceased Donor Kidney Transplant patients.

Talaris will also use FCR001 in the treatment of diffuse systemic sclerosis (SSc), a severe form of the rare autoimmune disease scleroderma, a rare and potentially fatal chronic autoimmune disease which causes progressive scarring, or fibrosis, of the bodys connective tissues. Autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplant has been shown to halt organ damage and induce remission of the disease. However, with the use of a patients own stem cells, there is a risk of disease recurrence. Also, some patients must undergo full myeloablative conditioning with or without total body irradiation, which is associated with direct organ toxicity and increased risk of future cancers. Talaris aims to harness the power of FCR001 and use stem cells from donors to lower those risks and provide an opportunity for these patients, Requadt said.

For all of these indications were using the same product and were using the same protocols with patients and were treating the patients in the same way. This has the potential to be paradigm shifting, Requadt said.

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Does Talaris' Investigational Cell Therapy Have Potential to Be a 'Pipeline in a Product'? - BioSpace

By Neeli Bendapudi and Eli Capilouto

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit the Commonwealth this spring, Kentuckys research universities the University of Kentucky and the University of Louisville answered the call.

Local and state leaders turned to us to lead the way in identifying and treating patients, addressing shortages in testing and protective equipment and conducting research close to home to aggressively attack a global health crisis.

We quickly began offering tests for health care workers and Kentuckys sickest patients. Our hospitals dedicated clinicians and caregivers to this fight, and we supported other hospitals by rapidly processing their tests as well.

Neeli Bendapudi

UK set up the states first field hospital on its campus to handle potential surge of infections and established a team of researchers to focus on potential vaccines and therapies, one of which is about to start its first clinical trial.

UofLs Center for Excellence in Research in Infectious Diseases and its Center for Predictive Medicine, as part of the national CDC network, are testing potential vaccines and treatments to stop COVID in its tracks. And UofL researchers have developed a technology that appears to block the novel coronavirus from infecting human cells.

Under unprecedented conditions, we are taking unprecedented steps to help and heal, protect and provide solutions.

But theres another important way we are leading, too. Now, more than ever, the future our future will depend on highly skilled workers and deep thinkers. We will need graduates, who not only compete for jobs, but create new jobs, new ideas and new approaches to both old and new challenges.

So much in our world is still so uncertain. But the necessity of thinkers and doers who can compete and thrive in an interconnected and diverse global economy will be even more important.

In this area as well, our two universities are leading our state toward a better, brighter and more certain future.

Consider these markers and milestones of progress from our two universities from 2016 to 2019 that underscore our commitment to charting that path forward:

We increased bachelors degree annual production by 909 students, 99 percent of all bachelors degree growth among Kentuckys public universities still, and perhaps even more so in the future, the entry point into the global economy

We increased the number of STEM+H degrees awarded annually by 654 graduates, 86 percent of Kentuckys increase in areas that are, in so many ways, the foundation of economic growth

We boosted degrees awarded annually to underrepresented minorities by 273, or 60 percent of the states total growth, critical to our states ability to thrive in an increasingly diverse world.

And while the overall number of bachelors degrees awarded annually to students from low-income families dropped, UK and UofL awarded 142 more degrees annually to these students, an increase of 5.5 percent growth that signifies our commitment to all students and their families. We may be forced to separate, rather than congregate, right now. But our commitment to all students, regardless of who they are or where they come from, must be stronger and broader than ever before.

Eli Capilouto

None of us knows what that will look like. But we do know what that world will require students with varied backgrounds and skills, comfortable with grappling with complex ideas and solutions more often found at the intersection of disciplines.

We are seeking and finding solutions at the cellular level to community challenges. With a deep bench of supportive world-class teachers and researchers, we will be prepared for what lies ahead. And we are poised to prepare young students with fertile minds and boundless potential to lead us.

While the COVID-19 pandemic has, for the moment, taken away their commencement ceremonies planned for this past weekend, nearly 10,000 degrees will have been awarded from the University of Louisville and the University of Kentucky this year.

These graduates will be our teachers, our health care providers, our engineers and our artists. They will build companies, invest in their communities and lead our Commonwealth through public service.

Long after our current short-term crisis has dissipated, these graduates will push Kentucky toward a brighter future. They will be prepared to tackle and solve the next pandemic and the next global crisis.

And they, too, will look to our research universities the University of Kentucky and the University of Louisville to continue to lead the way.

Eli Capilouto is president of the University of Kentucky. Neeli Bendapudi is the president of the University of Louisville.

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Commentary: Kentucky's research universities UK and UofL answering the call now and for the future - User-generated content

Years after the United States elected a president with the motto America First, we just pulled ahead in a race no one wants to win: the most deaths from the novel coronavirus. In order to limit casualties from a catastrophic second wave, states have enacted measures of differing severity, from shutting down some businesses to move severe shelter in place orders mandating citizens stay in their homes.

However, months into this disruption, some restless Americans are looking for a way out and there are Republican politicians eager to placate them. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky bemoaned the lack of commerce on Twitter and threw his support behind re-opening the economy. Georgia Governor Brian Kemp is way ahead of him, announcing plans to lift restrictions on businesses from bowling alleys to hair salons amidst widespread pushback in his own state. Lt. Governor Dan Patrick of Texas skipped the subtext and went straight to the point with the breathtaking assertion that there are more important things than living, a statement that presumably doesnt include himself or his loved ones.

Its puzzling how these politicians think re-opening will lead to business as usual with an unpredictable contagion floating around. Commerce relies on consumers, and if a majority of those consumers are rightfully afraid for themselves and their families, how exactly is the government supposed to put things back to pre-pandemic levels without forcing us to go to the mall on pain of arrest?

Sharing the full story, not just the headlines

Even if they just intend to let those who dont care about the risks shop, go to work and pretend everything is normal, theres a very real danger that way more Americans will die as a result. But according to Lt. Gov. Patrick, its a justifiable sacrifice for the good of the nations GDP.

This is fascinating coming from a party that has long labeled itself as pro-life over the years when it suits them. Lets look at one of the most extreme examples: Terri Schiavo, a woman whose private medical battle became a tool for the Republican party during the early 2000s. After a Florida trial court concluded that Schiavo was in a persistent vegetative state and would have wanted the feeding tube keeping her alive to be removed, Republicans at all levels became involved. Governor Jeb Bush pulled in everyone from his brother in the White House to the United States Congress to unsuccessfully fight the trial courts order for years. It would seem to a casual observer that this was a political party that would stop at nothing to save a life.

This wasnt the first time Republicans (or the Bushes) were performatively pro-life. During his first year in office President George W. Bush severely limited federal funding for research involving embryonic stem cells, giving evangelical conservatives an important win. Bush continued to oppose bills to loosen these restrictions, citing concerns that taxpayers would be funding the destruction of potential life. Again, if you didnt know anything else about the GOP you would think that their concerns were so pure as to encompass cells that could become a human being someday.

This stated concern for life didnt stop with the Bush brothers. Republicans took a stand during debates surrounding President Obamas signature legislation, the Affordable Care Act. This proposed legislation aimed to increase the amount of people with health insurance (which is positively correlated with life preservation). However, former GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin asserted repeatedly that the law would lead to death panels that would decide whether elderly Americans would live or die. Inspired by Palin, the right painted a dystopian picture of a future where liberal judges would decide grandmas fate. A decade later and pearl-clutching at treatment of older Americans has taken a turn since they are inconveniently deemed to be more at risk of dying of Covid-19. Now the elderly, it seems, are at best inessential to public life and, at worst, expendable sacrifices to the gods of capitalism.

Here is whats revealing in each of those episodes: championing the life of Terri Schiavo, or the potential life of stem cells, or the imaginary life of a condemned grandma didnt cost Republicans a nickel. But the people who would potentially die if re-opening measures are scaled back are expensive. Theyre also inconvenient for the partys narratives. They include the medical workers who counter-protest the Confederate flag-wavers who want to be able to get a haircut. They are immigrants who risk their lives to provide you with food. They are, disproportionately, black, indicative of the virulent racism in our country.

Championing their lives means economic sacrifice with no legislative gain. That is, apparently, a bridge too far.

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The Republicans who were once so pro-life they fought over one woman on life support now want to sacrifice grandma for the economy - The Independent

With New York at the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic, Gov. Andrew Cuomos daily press briefings have become essential viewing in many households across the U.S. as the death toll ticks up. Over 23,000 lives have already been lost to COVID-19 10,000 in New York state alone.

When recently asked by a reporter if he was becoming numb to the numbers, the Democratic governor said, Although you cannot save everyone, the question is are you saving everyone you can save? And there, the answer is yes. And I take some solace in that.

Yet there is one group whom Cuomo has not yet saved through his efforts to stem the pandemic the 43,000 people in New York state prisons. On March 30, Juan Mosquero, a 58-year-old incarcerated at Sing Sing Prison in Ossining was the first person to die in custody from complications related to COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. Since then, two more incarcerated people and one prison officer have died. As of April 13, there were 720 positive cases of COVID-19 among corrections staff and people incarcerated across the 52 state prisons.

The growing pandemic in our prisons is a matter of life-and-death urgency. Iknowthe urgency -- I spent the last 12 years of my 24-and-a-half years in prison at Sing Sing.

I knew Juan Mosquero. During my time in prison, my two greatest fears were getting sick or dying there. Juan suffered both.

As our country grapples with this unprecedented crisis, we cant leave behind the incarcerated people who are members of our community and are equally deserving of care as all of our neighbors and friends.

There is a prison saying that goes like this: If I am going to die in prison, please give me a chance to fight. There is no fight to be waged against COVID-19 behind bars. Prisons are not designed for any of the policies we rely on to flatten the curve.

Social distancing is impossible when 500 people move in a line from housing units to the mess hall or the yard. Going into lockdown mode containing people inside single cells is not a viable option when many people in prison are in dorm-style housing. Staff shortages and the risk of virus transmission by the thousands of workers who come in and out of the prisons daily make it impossible to create a sealed environment. I can tell you that even in ordinary times, every cough or sneeze causes stress and fear of illness among the men and women incarcerated. That is multiplied exponentially in the face of this extraordinary crisis.

During my time in prison, I earned a bachelors degree in behavioral science and graduated summa cum laude and as valedictorian. I obtained a masters degree in professional studies and a host of other certificates. I co-founded, along with 10 other men, Voices From Within, a multimedia and educational initiative to combat gun violence in underserved communities.

Some of my classmates, my colleagues, my mentors and friends are still at Sing Sing today. They are worried, just as I am, that they will contract coronavirus and die. Every day, they are using communal bathrooms, showers, tables and kitchens. Friends have told me they are covering phones with a personal sock so they can find out if family members are healthy and safe during these chaotic times. Do they not also deserve to be protected from a virus we know kills?

Yes, some people in prison have been convicted of a serious crime, just like I was. In fact, many people reading this right now may think I should have never been released. But in New York, and many other states, more than 90% of those incarcerated will eventually be released back into our communities, regardless of the designated status of the crime they have been convicted of.

That we have instituted a one-size-fits-all paradigm between good and bad, criminal and innocent, incarcerated and free as the deciding criterion to determine who lives or dies in this pandemic is not only seriously problematic, but morally wrong. And our complacency in this crisis toward incarcerated people is made even more corrupt considering what we know about the American justice system, and how our history of racial terror and disproportionate harm toward low-income communities has skewed who has entered our prisons in the first place.

It is time for action. Cuomo can take immediate steps to release people from prison. He can grant good-time credit to over 7,000 people within a year of the end of their sentences. He can consider release for the 5,182 people incarcerated in state prison solely on technical parole violations. He can use medical parole. He can conduct an expedited review for release of the 9,550 incarcerated individuals aged 50 and above who have already spent years behind bars. Finally, the governor can and should exercise his power of clemency to release men and women whose decades of good conduct in prison indicate that they will add to not detract from the safety of their families and communities.

If he acts, Cuomo will be in good company. Already, California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) hasfast-tracked the release of almost 3,500 people from prison. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D) releasedmore than 900 prisoners in response to the pandemic. Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) authorizedmedical furloughs. The constant refrain against such measures is that releasing people will compromise public safety. Yet history tells us otherwise. Over two decades, New York reduced its prison population by 41% and crime dropped, as well.

In the face of COVID-19, public health is public safety. Our nations overall success in battling the coronavirus depends on how we respond, not just in communities, but also behind the walls of jails, prisons and detention centers. Cuomo can save people in prison by being more aware of that and taking action now.

Sean Kyler is an associate on the Vera Institute of Justices Strategy and New Initiatives team. He earned a bachelors from Mercy College and a masters from New York Theological Seminary. He lives in New York City.

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The One Crucial Step Gov. Cuomo Hasn't Taken That Could Save Thousands Of Lives - HuffPost

At the March for Life rally, Washington, D.C., January 27, 2017(The Washington Post/Contributor/Getty Images)Its not just white Christian conservatives

When Ryan Bomberger, an African-American pro-life activist and the founder of the Radiance Foundation, launched one of his groups first major advertising campaigns drawing attention to the disproportionate effect of abortion on black communities National Public Radio produced a segment covering it and interviewed him extensively before the segment was finalized.

When the show came out, they had omitted me from the entire piece, Bomberger says. This was a segment about a campaign that I had designed, that my group had put together. They didnt mention me at all. They had three pro-abortion perspectives, and one of our colleagues who is pro-life, Catherine Davis. I was cut out completely.

For black pro-lifers, this is a common problem. Abortion-rights advocates often have an advantage in the public debate because, with the help of media allies, they disregard anti-abortion activists whose witness undercuts their narrative. They claim that the pro-life movement is a monolith uniformly conservative, white, religious, and male and ignore or dismiss all evidence to the contrary.

In reality, the anti-abortion movement is one of the most diverse political coalitions in the nation, united by a belief in the sanctity of every human life. For decades, groups and individuals with vastly different cultural backgrounds, religious views, and political goals have set aside their conflicting preferences on other issues to campaign against abortion.

One of the best modern examples of this reality is Katrina Jackson, who, as an African-American Democrat in Louisianas state legislature, sponsored a bill to extend basic medical-safety standards to abortion clinics. In early March, she addressed supporters in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, surrounded by signs reading Protect Women, Protect Life, as the justices heard oral arguments in June Medical Services v. Russo, in which abortion clinics are challenging her legislation.

Interviews with more than a dozen anti-abortion leaders with stories like those of Bomberger and Jackson underscore that, far from being dominated by Republican men with traditional Christian values, the pro-life movement features prominent female leaders and black activists, and it has far more support from Democrats and non-religious Americans than abortion supporters admit.

In November, the Church of God in Christ unveiled its Resolution on the Sanctity of Human Life. It is the largest Pentecostal denomination in the United States, with more than 5 million members, overwhelmingly African-American and Democratic.

Abortion is genocide. Abortion must end to protect the life of the unborn. The Church of God in Christ opposes elective abortions, the resolution reads. This issue of personhood has haunted America since the Dred Scott, Plessy v. Ferguson and Roe v. Wade decisions. Just as slavery was overturned in America, Jim Crow was defeated, and Nazi Germany was overthrown, it is our prayer that the heinous industry of abortion will become morally reprehensible worldwide.

Reverend Dean Nelson, executive director of the pro-life Human Coalition, tells me that the resolution is historic and phenomenal. Nelson is one of a number of African-American leaders who work with the National Black Pro-Life Coalition, a network of groups seeking to restore life, family and hope in the Black community, according to its website.

As far as Im aware, you havent seen a major black denomination have a pro-life resolution since 1973, Nelson adds. Those of us in the black pro-life movement have already begun to use this as leverage to get some of the other black denominations to make similar resolutions. The Church of God in Christ is one of the largest and most influential, so I think it was good for us to start there.

Catherine Davis, another pro-life activist who partners with the National Black Pro-Life Coalition, worked with Nelson to bring about the Church of God in Christ resolution. Both of them helped one of the churchs bishops, Vincent Matthews Jr., to write the resolutions language.

Their denomination is going to offer alternatives to abortion, as well as counseling and support for women and men who have post-abortive trauma, Davis says. Davis often speaks about her own experience of having had two abortions. She is the founder of the Restoration Project, which, she explains, educates about abortion and the genocidal impact that it is having in the black community.

Several of the leaders with whom I spoke mentioned the deep ties between the earliest legal-abortion advocates and the eugenics movement, noting that Planned Parenthoods founder, Margaret Sanger, wanted to decrease what she saw as unfit populations, including, in her view, blacks. Though she wasnt an abortion proponent, she promoted birth control as a means of limiting low-income and minority groups and proposed a regime of mandatory sterilization for those she deemed feeble-minded. Those views were widely shared among the earliest abortion advocates.

Their vision has been realized to some extent: White women are underrepresented among abortion patients, while black and Hispanic women are overrepresented. Abortion in the U.S. is also highly concentrated among low-income women; it is not privileged white progressives who most often avail themselves of this right they so zealously champion.

Roland Warren is another African-American activist. He became pro-life after his college girlfriend became pregnant and was encouraged by a nurse to abort. Instead, she and Warren got married, she went on to become a doctor, and their first child graduated from Harvard. Today Warren leads CareNet, a network of pregnancy-resource centers.

He laments that people support abortion despite its disproportionate effect on minorities. Theres a view that on average theres nothing good that can come from a black child coming into the world as opposed to a white child, he says, noting that this makes it more difficult for pro-choice people to acknowledge that black pro-lifers exist.

The black community doesnt have another 46 years to suffer at the hands of Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers, because 20 million black lives have already been lost to abortion since 1973, Davis says. Thats more than the entire black population in 1960s America.

Polling shows that black Democrats tend to be more opposed to abortion than white Democrats are. A 2017 Pew Research Center poll found that while 83 percent of white Democrats support legal abortion, only 66 percent of black Democrats do. Thirty-five percent of white Democrats say voters should support only candidates who favor legal abortion; only 7 percent of black Democrats say the same.

Since African Americans perceive the Democratic Party as the facilitator of their civil rights and the party that would represent them the best, they have turned a deaf ear and accepted abortion as a part of their political platform, says Reverend Clenard Childress, who founded the group Black Genocide to publicize the negative effects of widespread abortion in black communities.

Ryan Bomberger of the Radiance Foundation has similar concerns. It is mystifying to me that even with decades of the results of undying devotion toward the Democratic Party, African Americans still give the party of slavery, the party of Jim Crow, the party of separate and unequal, the party of unlimited abortion their allegiance, he says.

Bomberger has a compelling personal story: He was conceived in rape and adopted into a multiracial family as one of 13 children, most of whom also were adopted, and he and his wife are adoptive parents. He says that because his foundation publicizes information that abortion-rights advocates try to downplay such as the fact that Planned Parenthood facilities are highly concentrated in neighborhoods with low-income, minority populations they often accuse him of racism.

The Left demonizes people based on whatever group theyve shoved them into, Bomberger says, explaining why abortion-rights supporters often pretend that black pro-lifers dont exist. They talk about nuances, but they never act as if there are any. To them, all black people think alike. All black people do the same thing.

According to many of these leaders, people in their communities realize that abortion is not the boon that its advocates attest. Abortion supporters talk about things like reproductive justice or reproductive freedom, but this language doesnt trickle down, says Christina Bennett, a pro-life activist of more than a decade who worked for several years as a counselor at a pregnancy-resource center in Connecticut. The women having the abortions arent thinking in this language. Its really the elite, privileged women who push this message that abortion is health care.

I cant tell you how many women have fallen into my arms in tears because their significant other put a gun to their head or threatened to kill them or had someone escort them into an abortion clinic to keep them there to make them have an abortion, Catherine Davis, founder of the Restoration Project, says of her work with post-abortive women, especially those in black communities.

Bennett relates the story of a pro-choice group that recently created candles marked with the phrase Abortions are magical to give to volunteers. If I was to take those to the inner-city abortion clinic in Hartford and try to hand them out, Bennett says, the girls actually getting abortions wouldnt want those candles. Thats not their reality. Theyre getting an abortion because they have to feed their kids. They already have another child at home or theyre thinking about how their man is going to leave if they have that kid.

If black women are aborting their children at a disproportionately high rate, why is the response that we must need more abortion clinics so they can do this even more? Warren muses. We wouldnt do that with animals. Wed say we need to figure out whats happening in this environment thats causing this animal to believe they have no choice but to end the life of their offspring. Why would we not say that about my people? Arent we worth that much?

Over the last couple of decades, it has become increasingly common to see signs at anti-abortion events with messages such as I am an atheist, and I am pro-life. Though supporters of legal abortion often claim that efforts to limit it stem from a theocratic desire to impose the religious views of some on the rest of the country, the existence of a growing number of secular pro-lifers undercuts this assertion.

One of the largest groups representing them is Secular Pro-Life, founded in 2009 by Kelsey Hazzard, who says she noticed the need for a non-religious pro-life group during college.

You would find a prenatal-development pamphlet, and it would have all these wonderful pictures, but then it would have that quote from Jeremiah about Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, she recalls. These encounters inspired her to make brochures aimed at informing readers from an exclusively secular perspective, and she went on to create a group with the same purpose.

For people who are religiously unaffiliated, its so needed, Hazzard says. We became a gathering place for people who didnt feel at home in the religious-Right label, whether thats members of liberal Christian denominations, Catholics disillusioned by the Republican Party, religious-minority groups such as atheists, agnostics, Mormons, Buddhists, Jews, Wiccans people who could all put aside their differences and work together on this because we werent making it a God thing.

Today, Hazzard leads the group with the help of two fellow atheist Millennials, Monica Snyder and Terrisa Bukovinac, the latter of whom is a member of Democrats for Life and the founder of Pro-Life San Francisco, which aims to galvanize young people on the West Coast.

Bukovinac says she was instinctively pro-choice growing up but changed her mind after seeing videos of what happens during an abortion procedure. You cant justify abortion any more than you can justify the killing of a born person, she says. There is no consistent, objective distinction between an unborn person and a human being.

This insight drives much of the work that pro-life atheists do in the anti-abortion movement, aiming to refute the notion that religious dogma animates policies to restrict abortion. A recent Gallup poll found that about 20 percent of Americans who are either non-religious, atheist, or agnostic say theyre pro-life, which translates to roughly 15 million people in the U.S.

Aimee Murphy, who leads the group Rehumanize International, is another activist with this perspective. Murphy became strongly pro-life as a teenager after she was raped by an ex-boyfriend and became pregnant. She said that at the time she felt she should consider abortion, but after her rapist threatened to kill her if she didnt abort, she realized she was pro-life.

There was something about my own life being threatened that I felt a solidarity with the preborn child, Murphy explains. I said to myself, If I were to be killed by my rapist, I would be victim to this gruesome violence. If it turns out I am pregnant, then who am I to threaten this same sort of violence against a completely defenseless human being? Who am I to perpetuate that same cycle of oppression and violence against someone else?

Her organization promotes the consistent life ethic, which embraces the central principles of human dignity and nonviolence, including protection of unborn human beings.

The dominant narrative is either youre pro-choice or youre a person of faith pick your tribe, is how Kelsey Hazzard puts it. Its refreshing for people to know, okay, maybe Im having some doubts about supernatural claims or the Bible, but that doesnt mean I have to be in favor of killing babies now.

In late January, hundreds of thousands of demonstrators gathered in Washington, D.C., for the March for Life, marking the 47th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion in Roe v. Wade. The theme for this years march was Life Empowers: Pro-Life Is Pro-Woman. In conjunction with the event, the March for Life organization produced a series of articles highlighting how the earliest feminists in the U.S. suffragists such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Alice Paul opposed abortion, calling it an exploitation of women (I co-authored one such article with March for Life president Jeanne Mancini). This has long been a central contention of the pro-life movement, perhaps best synthesized in a line coined by Feminists for Life president Serrin Foster: Women deserve better than abortion.

Foster has been president of Feminists for Life since 1994, when she began visiting college campuses to deliver a speech called The Feminist Case against Abortion. In her speech, Foster contends that feminism properly understood embraces basic rights for all human beings without exception and rejects the use of force to dominate, control, or destroy anyone.

Along with many in the pro-life movement, she objects to the way that feminism and abortion rights have become synonymous in the U.S. since second-wave feminists drove pro-life women out of their movement in the 1960s and 70s.

Whos having abortions? The majority of them are the financially challenged, Foster says in an interview with National Review. In this country, its students. Its young women who are challenged in the workplace. We are here to end the feminization of poverty that leads to abortion. We want to make abortion unthinkable through resources and support.

If we want to build a future thats abortion-free, where we have completely not only legally abolished abortion but really made it unthinkable, Aimee Murphy says, you need everyone to believe that abortion is a crime against mothers and their preborn children.

Todays pro-life movement is predominantly represented by leaders and groups that use this language, talking not only about the violence done to the unborn child but also about the harm that it does to mothers. Many of the most prominent groups in the movement are led by women: Marjorie Dannenfelser of the Susan B. Anthony List, Jeanne Mancini of the March for Life, Carol Tobias of the National Right to Life Committee, Kristan Hawkins of Students for Life of America, Penny Nance of Concerned Women for America, Lila Rose of Live Action, and several others.

The notion that its just a white, male, conservative, Republican movement is just an old way of thinking and not the reality of today, says Kristen Day, executive director of Democrats for Life. On the subject of feminism, Day pointed to a recent controversy over a Kentucky bill requiring abortionists to describe ultrasound imaging to pregnant women: The abortion-rights side and even the Democrats are taking the position that we shouldnt show this information to women. . . . Women fought hard for rights, and they deserve the right to know exactly whats going on. They deserve to know that its a baby growing inside them, not a clump of cells. Its so anti-feminist to say they shouldnt.

Another controversy illuminates just how much abortion-rights advocates want to squelch pro-life feminists: In 2017, the leadership of the first anti-Trump Womens March on Washington removed the group New Wave Feminists from its sponsor list after discovering that the organization opposes abortion.

Destiny Herndon-De La Rosa, founder of New Wave Feminists, calls that incident one of the best things that ever happened to us, saying it brought attention to pro-life feminism. Her opposition to abortion stems from the fact that her mother became pregnant with her at the age of 19. She chose life for me even though I know that was really hard and ended up leading to her having a decade of trials and failed marriages, and it took her that long to finish her degree, she says.

De La Rosa herself also became pregnant as a teenager and was a single mom for two years: I saw from a feminist perspective the world is not built for mothers, . . . and I didnt see feminists talking about that.

Like most pro-life feminists, De La Rosa is frustrated by the way abortion forces women to deal with the consequences of pregnancy alone and allows men to avoid taking responsibility. Abortion culture has allowed us to let men off the hook, because women have their choice and so men should have their choice, too, she says. They can decide to step away from parenthood even though they participated in the act that created this life.

Despite the hostility they encounter from the other side, most of these leaders remain hopeful. For black pro-life leaders, the Church of God in Christ resolution illustrated that their quiet lobbying is bearing fruit and that more African Americans will discover the ways in which abortion is devastating their communities. For secular, pro-life Millennials, it is polling data that have been most heartening: Young people by and large dont call themselves pro-life, but scientific developments have made it more difficult for them to deny the humanity of the unborn child. For the female leaders of the pro-life movement, pregnancy-resource centers and growing programs to help young mothers stay in school are signs of cultural change.

Powerful supporters of abortion dismiss or attack these voices because their witness undercuts the false narrative underlying the case for abortion. Pro-choice advocates insist that feminism requires women to have the right to abortion, that it is racist to lament the disproportionate abortion rate among black women, and that only religious zealots would oppose abortion rights. There are thousands of people in the pro-life movement who prove each of these claims wrong.

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The Pro-Life Movement Youve Never Heard Of - National Review

The global longevity and anti-senescence therapies market should grow from $329.8 million in 2018 to $644.4 million by 2023 with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14.3% during 2018-2023.

Report Scope:

The scope of this report is broad and covers various therapies currently under trials in the global longevity and anti-senescence therapy market. The market estimation has been performed with consideration for revenue generation in the forecast years 2018-2023 after the expected availability of products in the market by 2023. The global longevity and anti-senescence therapy market has been segmented by the following therapies: Senolytic drug therapy, Gene therapy, Immunotherapy and Other therapies which includes stem cell-based therapies, etc.

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Revenue forecasts from 2028 to 2023 are given for each therapy and application, with estimated values derived from the expected revenue generation in the first year of launch.

The report also includes a discussion of the major players performing research or the potential players across each regional longevity and anti-senescence therapy market. Further, it explains the major drivers and regional dynamics of the global longevity and anti-senescence therapy market and current trends within the industry.

The report concludes with a special focus on the vendor landscape and includes detailed profiles of the major vendors and potential entrants in the global longevity and anti-senescence therapy market.

Report Includes:

71 data tables and 40 additional tables An overview of the global longevity and anti-senescence therapy market Analyses of global market trends, with data from 2017 and 2018, and projections of compound annual growth rates (CAGRs) through 2023 Country specific data and analysis for the United States, Canada, Japan, China, India, U.K., France, Germany, Spain, Australia, Middle East and Africa Detailed description of various anti-senescence therapies, such as senolytic drug therapy, gene therapy, immunotherapy and other stem cell therapies, and their influence in slowing down aging or reverse aging process Coverage of various therapeutic drugs, devices and technologies and information on compounds used for the development of anti-ageing therapeutics A look at the clinical trials and expected launch of anti-senescence products Detailed profiles of the market leading companies and potential entrants in the global longevity and anti-senescence therapy market, including AgeX Therapeutics, CohBar Inc., PowerVision Inc., T.A. Sciences and Unity Biotechnology

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Summary

Global longevity and anti-senescence therapy market deals in the adoption of different therapies and treatment options used to extend human longevity and lifespan. Human longevity is typically used to describe the length of an individuals lifetime and is sometimes used as a synonym for life expectancy in the demography. Anti-senescence is the process by which cells stop dividing irreversibly and enter a stage of permanent growth arrest, eliminating cell death. Anti-senescence therapy is used in the treatment of senescence induced through unrepaired DNA damage or other cellular stresses.

Global longevity and anti-senescence market will witness rapid growth over the forecast period (2018-2023) owing to an increasing emphasis on Stem Cell Research and an increasing demand for cell-based assays in research and development.

An increasing geriatric population across the globe and a rising awareness of antiaging products among generation Y and later generations are the major factors expected to promote the growth of global longevity and anti-senescence market. Factors such as a surging level of disposable income and increasing advancements in anti-senescence technologies are also providing traction to the global longevity and anti-senescence market growth over the forecast period (2018-2023).

According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the total geriatric population across the globe in 2016 was over REDACTED. By 2022, the global geriatric population (65 years and above) is anticipated to reach over REDACTED. An increasing geriatric population across the globe will generate huge growth prospectus to the market.

Senolytics, placenta stem cells and blood transfusions are some of the hot technologies picking up pace in the longevity and anti-anti-senescence market. Companies and start-ups across the globe such as Unity Biotechnology, Human Longevity Inc., Calico Life Sciences, Acorda Therapeutics, etc. are working extensively in this field for the extension of human longevity by focusing on study of genomics, microbiome, bioinformatics and stem cell therapies, etc. These factors are poised to drive market growth over the forecast period.

Global longevity and anti-senescence market is projected to rise at a CAGR of REDACTED during the forecast period of 2018 through 2023. In 2023, total revenues are expected to reach REDACTED, registering REDACTED in growth from REDACTED in 2018.

The report provides analysis based on each market segment including therapies and application. The therapies segment is further sub-segmented into Senolytic drug therapy, Gene therapy, Immunotherapy and Others. Senolytic drug therapy held the largest market revenue share of REDACTED in 2017. By 2023, total revenue from senolytic drug therapy is expected to reach REDACTED. Gene therapy segment is estimated to rise at the highest CAGR of REDACTED till 2023. The fastest growth of the gene therapy segment is due to the Large investments in genomics. For Instance; The National Human Genome Research Institute (U.S.) had a budget grant of REDACTED for REDACTED research projects in 2015, thus increasing funding to REDACTED for approximately REDACTED projects in 2016.

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Longevity And Anti-Senescence Therapy Market Overview, Consumption, Supply, Demand & Insights - Kentucky Journal 24

About Us

Stem Cell Therapy Center of Kentucky is a team of doctors dedicated to provide cutting-edge, FDA approved stem cell treatments that can help the body heal due to the regeneration of new cells and tissues which were damaged from age, diseaseor degeneration.

This new treatment has been effective in supporting soft tissue repair, reduced inflammation and pain, and minimized scar tissue formation. This effective new treatment helps amplify your own stem cells ability to heal and regenerate most of the joints of the body.

Our treatment harnesses the remarkable powers of stem cells to promote actual healing. Clinical studies have demonstrated that this additional treatment helps improve overall patient recovery and healing, allowing patients to more quickly regain their previous mobility.

Meet The Team

Dr. Anthony McEldowney is board-certified in Orthopedics andis a Certified IME Physician.

Dr. Blaine Lisneris Board Certifiedon Neurology and Neurosurgery and have more than 20 years of experiencein related field.

Dr. Dawn Wietfeldt is highly experienced chiropractic Physician and conducts training and seminars onStem Cell Therapy

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About Us | Stem Cell Therapy | Stem Cell Treatment ...

Stem Cell Therapy

Stem Cell Therapy treatment focuses on boosting the natural healing process of damaged tissues, and stimulating the bodys own repair mechanisms to functionally heal previously irreparable tissues.

State-of-the-art technologies and cutting-edge treatment options are available to help the body heal itself. Various therapies are utilizing regenerative medicine to provide definitive, affordable solutions to help your body heal from within. This includes therapies that utilize stem cells to promote natural healing.

Stem cell injection therapy is known as the gold standard of regenerative medicine due to the greater concentration of cells that proliferate at the treatment site. As such, stem cell therapy provides quicker renewal and repair response times.

Stem cells are naturally occurring mother cells that have the capacity to develop into any type of cell in your body. They are tasked with healing injured tissues, bones, ligaments, and tendons. Our body is continuously rebuilding itself with the help of stem cells.

Cells are derived from donated amniotic membrane and tissue. These cells are obtained during scheduled Cesarean sections not embryos. Then epithelial cells are added. By combining amniotic cells with epithelial cells, growth factors that stimulate the healing process are greatly magnified. The cells then undergo rigorous processing and testing at an FDA approved lab. Amniotic cells contain no DNA or steroids, therefore making them incredibly safe and effective. This effective treatment has been used extensively in the United States with no reported side effects or patient rejection.

we are excited to offer new, cutting-edge, FDA approved stem cell treatments that can help the body heal itself. This new treatment has been effective in supporting soft tissue repair, reduced inflammation and pain, and minimized scar tissue formation. This effective new treatment helps amplify your own stem cells ability to heal and regenerate soft knee tissue.

Our treatment harnesses the remarkable powers of stem cells to promote actual healing. Clinical studies have demonstrated that this additional treatment helps improve overall patient recovery and healing, allowing patients to more quickly regain their previous mobility.

Stem cell technology is unlocking the regenerative power of the human body. Arthritis & Knee Pain Center is proud to offer this proprietary Stem Cell Therapy to patients in Kentucky.

Achilles Tendinitis and Tears Ankle Pain/Sprains and Instability ArthritisRheumatoid and Osteoarthritis Bursitis Foot Pain/Plantar Fasciitis Back Pain Neck Pain

Hand/Wrist pain

Hip Pain

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Peripheral Neuropathy

Plantar Fasciitis

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Repetitive Motion Injuries Rotator Cuff Injury Runners Knee Sacroiliac Joint Pain Tendinitis Trigger Points Golfers Elbow Tennis Elbow Post-operative Inflammation

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Stem Cell Therapy | Stem Cell Therapy | Stem Cell ...

Stem cell therapy is the use of cells derived from a different tissue to aid in regeneration of another through implantation. Stem Cells are young cells that have not yet become specialized to serve a specific purpose or perform a certain function.Technically stem cell could become any type of tissue in the body. Any given tissue must have specialized cells that can maintain, build, and function as needed. The process of cells becoming specialized to a specific tissue is called differentiation (Barrett). It is difficult to identify when cells have differentiated to tendon lineage due to absence of a definite tendon protein marker, like other tissue types, which would easily allow scientists to figure out how stem cells aid in tendon regeneration. Also, stem cells contain growth factors, which are growth stimuli that trigger cellular reproduction and may also serve a purpose in the healing process. Stem cells may also influence the already present cells to produce better quality tissue matrix, a process known as a paracrine effect (Smith 2008). Commercial companies are beginning to offer stem cell services, but critics argue that there is not enough evidence yet to support the benefits, and it is unclear how stem cells actually work. Dr.Wesley Sutter of the University of Kentucky stated that, the biggest challenge is that the availability and client acceptance and demand for them have far outpaced the scientific evidence of their efficacy. Stem cell companies and lay horse journals have done an excellent job marketing stem cells but the scientific evidence to support them is weak, (Sutter 2012). Through more in-depth research, it has been found that stem cells do in fact benefit the healing process, though it is unclear in what way, and which tissue provides the most efficient cell base. Despite the lack of evidence to directly support equine stem cell therapies, research supports using stem cells in the future to treat tendon overstrain injuries in horses, as well as humans, because of improved fiber structure and re-injury rate in treated horses.

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Equine Stem Cell Therapy: The Future of Tendon Treatment ...