Posted: August 26, 2014 at 8:48 am
Mayor Bob Campbell ALS Ice Bucket Challenge
DeFuniak Springs, FL - Mayor Bob Campbell takes ALS Ice Bucket Challenge at City Hall on Friday, August 22nd, 2014. "My hope is that any stem cell research done, does not include an aborted...
By: DFSPOLICE
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Mayor Bob Campbell ALS Ice Bucket Challenge - Video
Posted: August 26, 2014 at 5:53 am
PHILADELPHIA Given the amount of angst over male pattern balding, surprisingly little is known about its cause at the cellular level. In a new study, published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, a team led by George Cotsarelis, MD, chair of the Department of Dermatology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, has found that stem cells play an unexpected role in explaining what happens in bald scalp.
Using cell samples from men undergoing hair transplants, the team compared follicles from bald scalp and non-bald scalp, and found that bald areas had the same number of stem cells as normal scalp in the same person. However, they did find that another, more mature cell type called a progenitor cell was markedly depleted in the follicles of bald scalp.
The researchers surmised that balding may arise from a problem with stem-cell activation rather than the numbers of stem cells in follicles. In male pattern balding, hair follicles actually shrink; they dont disappear. The hairs are essentially microscopic on the bald part of the scalp compared to other spots.
We asked: Are stem cells depleted in bald scalp? says Cotsarelis. We were surprised to find the number of stem cells was the same in the bald part of the scalp compared with other places, but did find a difference in the abundance of a specific type of cell, thought to be a progenitor cell, he says. This implies that there is a problem in the activation of stem cells converting to progenitor cells in bald scalp.
At this point, the researchers dont know why there is a breakdown in this conversion. However, the fact that there are normal numbers of stem cells in bald scalp gives us hope for reactivating those stem cells, notes Cotsarelis.
In 2007, the Cotsarelis lab found that hair follicles in adult mice regenerate by re-awakening genes once active only in developing embryos. The team determined that wound healing in a mouse model created an embryonic window of opportunity to manipulate the number of new hair follicles that form. By activating dormant embryonic molecular pathways stem cells were coaxed into forming new hair follicles.
In the JCI study, the group also found a progenitor cell population in mice that is analogous to the human cells; these cells were able to make hair follicles and grow hair when injected into an immunodeficient mice.
The researchers say their next steps will be to study the stem and progenitor populations in other types of hair loss, including female pattern hair loss. The information may assist in developing cell-based treatments for male pattern baldingby isolating stem cells and expanding them to add back to the scalp directly.They will also focus on identifying factors that could be used topically to convert stem cells to progenitor cells to generate normal large hairs.
First author Luis Garza, MD, PhD, a dermatologist and former postdoctoral fellow in the Cotsarelis lab, performed much of the work and is now an assistant professor of Dermatology at Johns Hopkins University.
The research was funded in part by the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases; the Pennsylvania Department of Health; theFannie Gray Hall Center for Human Appearance; and LOreal.
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Posted: August 26, 2014 at 5:53 am
PHILADELPHIA - Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have devised a totally new and far more efficient way of generating induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), immature cells that are able to develop into several different types of cells or tissues in the body. The researchers used fibroblast cells, which are easily obtained from skin biopsies, and could be used to generate patient-specific iPSCs for drug screening and tissue regeneration.
iPSCs are typically generated from adult non-reproductive cells by expressing four different genes called transcription factors. The generation of iPSCs was first reported in 2006 by Shinya Yamanaka, and multiple groups have since reported the ability to generate these cells using some variations on the same four transcription factors.
The promise of this line of research is to one day efficiently generate patient-specific stem cells in order to study human disease as well as create a cellular "storehouse" to regenerate a person's own cells, for example heart or liver cells.Despite this promise, generation of iPSCs is hampered by low efficiency, especially when using human cells.
"It's a game changer," says Edward Morrisey, PhD, professor in the Departments of Medicine and Cell and Developmental Biology and Scientific Director at the Penn Institute for Regenerative Medicine. This is the first time we've been able to make induced pluripotent stem cells without the four transcription factors and increase the efficiency by 100-fold. Morrisey led the study published this week in Cell Stem Cell.
Generating induced pluripotent stem cells efficiently is paramount for their potential therapeutic use, noted James Kiley, PhD, director of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institutes Division of Lung Diseases. This novel study is an important step forward in that direction and it will also advance research on stem cell biology in general.
Before this procedure, which uses microRNAs instead of the four key transcription factor genes, for every 100,000 adult cells re-programmed, researchers were able to get a small handful of iPSCs, usually less than 20. Using the microRNA-mediated method, they have been able to generate approximately 10,000 induced pluripotent stem cells from every 100,000 adult human cells that they start with. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are short RNA molecules that bind to complementary sequences on messenger RNAs to silence gene expression.
The Morrisey lab discovered this new approach through studies focusing on the role of microRNAs in lung development. This lab was working on a microRNA cluster called miR302/367, which plays an important role in lung endoderm progenitor development. This same microRNA cluster was reported to be expressed at high levels in embryonic stem cells, and iPSCs and microRNAs have been shown to alter cell phenotypes.
The investigators performed a simple experiment and expressed the microRNAs in mouse fibroblasts and were surprised to observe colonies that looked just like iPSCs. "We were very surprised that this worked the very first time we did the experiment," says Morrisey. "We were also surprised that it worked much more efficiently than the transcription factor approach pioneered by Dr. Yamanaka."
Since microRNAs act as repressors of protein expression, it seems likely that they repress the repressors of the four transcription factors and other factors important for maintaining the pluripotent-stem-cell state. However, exactly how the miRNAs work differently compared to the transcription factors in creating iPSCs will require further investigation.
The iPSCs generated by the microRNA method in the Morrisey lab are able to generate most, if not all, tissues in the developing mouse, including germ cells, eggs and sperm. The group is currently working with several collaborators to redifferentiate these iPSCs into cardiomyocytes, hematopoietic cells, and liver hepatocytes.
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Penn Medicine News: A New Way to Make Reprogrammed Stem Cells
Posted: August 26, 2014 at 5:52 am
Famous for its first in the nation presidential primary, New Hampshire has traditionally been a conservative enclave compared with its more liberal neighbors of Vermont and especially Massachusetts. Its all-American reputation is underscored by its inspiration for the settings for Thornton Wilders Our Town, Grace Metaliouss Peyton
Place, John Knowless A Separate Peace, and the Archie comics Riverdale High School. Its Live Free or Die motto and lack of broad-based taxes have attracted a variety of summer and permanent residents, from the bikers who converge on the Lakes Region for Bike Week to the libertarian Free State Initiative, which plans to have 20,000 members move to the state with the intent of influencing local politics in their favor. Since the Cold War, southern New Hampshire has been home to many giants of the technology and defense industries, many of whom relocated their plants to the state to take advantage of its proximity to Boston and the local tax benefits.
Since the start of the Republican Party, only five non-Republican presidential candidates have won New Hampshires support: John Kerry, Bill Clinton, Lyndon Johnson, Franklin Roosevelt, and Woodrow Wilson. The inclusion of Kerry and Clinton on that list may be an indication of the states slow softening and liberalizing as a school funding crisis forces a reexamination of the state tax structure that has been so key to New Hampshires identity. As of the 2006 midterm elections, for the first time since 1915, all of the representatives from New Hampshire are Democrats. As of 2008, the state has legalized same-sex civil unions, though whether that is a sign of liberalism or old-fashioned libertarianism is debatabletradition-ally hands-off, the state is the only one with no seatbelt law and also lacks motorcycle helmet laws, mandatory automobile insurance, sales tax, and personal income tax.
The senior senator from New Hampshire Republican Judd Gregg has voted solidly pro-life and against fetal tissue research, a stance he has upheld since his days as a congressman and the states governor. However, in April 2007, he was one of the few Republicans to support the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act, having also supported the 2005 Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act. Each act sought to broaden the number of embryonic stem cell lines available for federally funded research to include stem cells derived from embryos created for fertility treatments and then discarded, while continuing to forbid such funding for embryos created specifically for research. Both acts passed the House and Senate but were vetoed by President Bush. The chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee when former president Ronald Reagan died after a decade-long struggle with Alzheimers, Greggs views on stem cell research may have been affected by the conservative icons illness; he had come of political age in Reagans America, was elected to the House of Representatives for his first term on the same day Reagan was elected to the presidency, and was elected as governor in 1988 while endorsing Vice President George Bush as Reagans successor. When Reagans widow Nancy made a plea on behalf of embryonic stem cell research, Gregg acknowledged to the press that her support would undoubtedly influence the debate.
Junior Senator John E. Sununu (son of George H. W. Bushs chief of staff John H. Sununu) is more conservative than Gregg in science and technology issues and was among the hardline Republicans opposing the various stem cell bills drafted after the August 9, 2001, executive order.
Though New Hampshire has no legislation on stem cell research, its laws on surrogate parenthood are relevant. By New Hampshire law, the preembryothat is, the cell mass resulting from a fertilized ovum, before being implantedmust not be kept ex utero (unimplanted) for more than 14 days after being fertilized without being cryogenically preserved, and no preembryo that has been donated for use in research can then be used for in vitro fertilization.
New Hampshire has no legislation on cloning. A 2004 Research America survey found that 79 percent of New Hampshire respondents opposed the use of cloning for reproduction (16 percent supported it), whereas 74 percent supported therapeutic cloning (20 percent were opposed). A poll conducted for Boston television station WBZ in advance of the 2008 New Hampshire primary found that, when asked about specific issues, most New Hampshire respondents opposed stem cell research (presumably embryonic stem cell research) by a small margin. The exceptions were supporters of Barack Obama, Rudolph Giuliani, and John
McCain, who supported stem cell research by an equally small margin.
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Posted: August 26, 2014 at 5:49 am
Ten grants awarded to Illinois hospitals and universities to conduct critical stem cell research
CHICAGO, Ill. Governor Rod R. Blagojevich and Comptroller Dan Hynes today announced ten grants worth a total of $10 million for the life-saving work of stem cell research at several Illinois hospitals and research institutions. Last summer by Executive Order, Governor Blagojevich and Comptroller Hynes created the Illinois Regenerative Medicine Institute (IRMI), making Illinois the first state in the Midwest, and only the fourth state in the nation, to commit public funds to stem cell research. Researching and studying stem cells allows scientists and doctors to better understand what causes serious medical illnesses and conditions such as Alzheimers, diabetes, spinal cord injury, stroke, and heart disease, in hopes of discovering new ways to treat or even cure them.
This is the first time Illinois is awarding state funded grants for stem cell research and that makes today an important day for our state. The promise of stem cell research is unlimited. We need to do everything we can to help our scientists and researchers make the most of it, said Governor Blagojevich.
In the world of medical research, the fight for cures is waged one grant at a time. Today, I am proud to say weve given our scientists ten million more weapons to win that fight. In so doing, we are also giving hope to the millions of Americans who suffer from debilitating diseases that stem cell research has the potential to defeat, said Comptroller Hynes.
Today's investments in stem cell research are vital to finding cures for life threatening diseases that afflict thousands of Illinois citizens, said Lt. Governor Pat Quinn, whos also been a steadfast supporter of stem cell research in the state.
"Today marks an important step not only for the medical research community in Illinois, but also for the many people who hope to one day benefit from the cures and treatments their research will help develop, said Representative Sara Feigenholtz (D-Chicago). I am pleased to stand with Governor Blagojevich and Comptroller Hynes in affirming the state's commitment to this potentially life-saving research."
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Posted: August 26, 2014 at 5:49 am
Hawaii has a growing biomedicine industry that is important to the states economy and to researchers performing fundamental research on stem cells. Progress is possible through appropriate legislation and public funding. As no federal legislation in the United States regulates stem cell research (except by an executive order to not allow federal funding to be used for embryonic stem cell research except on human embryonic stem cell lines created before August 9, 2001), each state is responsible for determining policy and funding for stem cell research. In 2007 Hawaii approved H.B. No. 364 to establish stem cell research policy and form an institute for regenerative medicine at the University of Hawaii.
The institute is assigned the goals of supporting stem cell and related research, translating innovation into clinical therapies through development and clinical trials, and establishing appropriate regulation and oversight. The state will benefit monetarily from royalties, patents, and licensing fees from the institutes discoveries and innovations. Funding provided to the institute is not to be used for human reproductive cloning.
The bill permits derivation of human embryonic stem cells and somatic cell nuclear transfer, as well as research on human embryonic stem and germ cells and human adult stem cells. This research requires institutional board review to consider ethical and medical implications. Excess embryos from in vitro fertilization may be donated by the parents with informed consent and the understanding that their confidentiality is to be maintained. The bill bans the sale of embryonic or fetal tissue directly, though handling fees are permissible.
To support stem cell and other biomedical research, the state offers high technology investment tax credits; other funding must be applied for through various sources such as the National Institutes of Health and private grant and foundation money, though there is extensive competition.
The Kakaako Biomedical Park in Honolulu is home to the University of Hawaiis John A. Burns School of Medicine, including an academic building and a research building. The complex is located near Waterfront Park and has views of Waikiki and Diamond Head. The park is meant to attract biotech companies for economic growth by increasing jobs and expanding the tax base. One such company located at Kakaako is Tissue Genesis, Inc. The company was established in 2001 to research bioengineering to create vascular and musculoskel-etal tissue and cell therapies for regenerative medicine with the hope of using a patients own cells.
The John A. Burns School of Medicine was founded in 1965. The schools mission is to train biomedical and allied health professionals in addition to physicians. Among the 14 departments are the departments of biochemistry, physiology and reproductive biology, and cell and molecular biology. The school also has centers on aging and clinical research and an Institute for Biogenesis Research.
Research at the University of Hawaii relating to stem cells includes work by the cell and molecular biology department (offering undergraduate and graduate courses and a broad range of research opportunities in cell differentiation in early development, DNA structure of germ cells and somatic cells, germ cells, and cloning).
Research at the Cardiovascular Research Center is being done to identify genetic mutations in mice leading to abnormal skin cell (keratinocyte) stem cell differentiation, genetic links to cardiovascular disease, and a study to determine the relationship between white blood cells and the replenishing of brain neural stem sells. Research by the Institute for Biogenesis Research includes studies on assisted fertilization and cloning, cell aging, and rejuvenescence.
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Posted: August 26, 2014 at 2:45 am
Q: My daughter plays college soccer and ruptured her ACL. The coaches mentioned stem cell injections that some big-name athletes have used to recover from injuries. Should we consider them? Paige R., Chicago
A: Professional athletes are always looking for the fastest way to heal their injuries. In 2010, Yankees pitcher Bartolo Colon was treated for a torn rotator cuff with injections of fat and bone marrow adult stem cells; he's playing for the Mets this season. And in 2011, Denver Broncos' Peyton Manning opted for injections of his own fat stem cells to try to get over a neck injury. Two years later, he had a record-breaking season and took the Broncos to the Super Bowl. But does this mean the injections worked? Nope.
Colon's agent attributes the pitcher's career turnaround to a re-dedication to the game, not the injections, and Manning followed up his stem cell treatment with major surgery and intense rehab (done in secret).
There's just no solid evidence yet that injections of adult bone marrow (or fat) stem cells effectively regenerate and repair damaged tendons or ligaments, and you cannot be certain of what the injections contain or their side effects. They often are delivered in an unregulated environment and aren't FDA-approved.
We suspect your daughter is headed for reconstructive surgery and six months of rehab. Then she needs to learn new ways to move so she reduces stress on her knees. One metastudy found that two ACL-injury-prevention regimens were effective: Sportsmetrics promotes leg and core strength, increases vertical jump height and may improve speed and agility; the Prevent Injury and Enhance Performance (PEP) program, makes a big difference in the flexion strength of the knee. Both improve athletic performance tests and reduce injury rates. Rehab is tough, and there are no shortcuts, but we bet your daughter has the grit to do it!
Q: I had Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery last year, and my blood glucose levels were almost normal even before I lost any weight. How is that possible? Marty Z., Jupiter, Florida
A: Congrats, Marty. We hope you're continuing to have such good results. It is amazing that bypassing part of your stomach and intestine could have such an immediate effect on your blood sugar levels, and just recently researchers have figured out why that happens sometimes. It seems to have something to do with the bacteria that live in your digestive tract, also called your gut biome.
Roux-en-Y surgery bypasses most of the stomach and the first part of the small intestine, called the duodenum. That's where a lot of your gut bacteria live and where they influence gut hormones that regulate appetite, insulin use, glucose levels and more. So right away, the surgery decreases levels of hormones that regulate appetite; you can eat less without being hungry. That alone lowers glucose levels and increases the effectiveness of your body's insulin supply.
Also, when you have diabetes, your gut bacteria are thrown out of balance; the bad guys overwhelm the good guys (like bifidobacteria and lactobacillus). And that means the hormones that affect how cells get and use glucose can't do their job. The glucose stays in your bloodstream instead of being used as fuel by your cells. But once a lot of the bad gut bacteria are bypassed, your gut biome snaps back into balance and the bacteria and hormones work together to regulate blood sugar levels.
So we suggest you keep your gut biome balanced and happy with a healthy diet of five or more servings of fruits and veggies a day. Asparagus, garlic, cooked onions and dandelion greens deliver prebiotics that help good-for-you gut bacteria thrive. Fermented foods like nonfat kefir and kimchi contain healthful probiotics. Also, avoid saturated fats and added sugars they just make your biome miserable. And we like daily spore probiotic supplements containing bacillus coagulans GBI-30, 6086 and lactobacillus GG.
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Stem cells for sports injuries; gastric bypass and the gut biome
Posted: August 26, 2014 at 2:45 am
Canadian doctors have begun using stem cell transplants to treat stiff person syndrome, a rare neurological condition in which a patients leg and other muscles suddenly contract painfully, often leaving them immobilized like a tin soldier.
The disorder, which affects an estimated one in a million people, occurs when the immune system turns against a persons own tissues, in this case attacking cells in the brain and spinal cord.
Stem cell transplants have been used to treat patients with other auto-immune diseases, among them multiple sclerosis, scleroderma and Crohns disease, but this may be the first time the procedure has been employed to alleviate the symptoms of stiff person syndrome, or SPS, the researchers reported Monday in the journal JAMA Neurology.
SPS is characterized by episodes of stiffness in the muscles and painful muscle spasms, which can be brought on by stress, loud noises or emotional distress. Some people with the disorder are so disabled they are unable to walk or move and may isolate themselves at home to avoid triggering an attack.
Sometimes this happens when theyre startled, said Dr. Harry Atkins of the Blood and Marrow Transplant Program at the Ottawa Hospital, who headed a team that transplanted stem cells into two women with the disease.
So you can imagine walking across the street and someone honks the horn and you cant move, or you start falling and because your muscles cant move, you just fall and you hurt yourself, Atkins said Monday from Ottawa.
It really does provide a barrier with just going on with your life.
Tina Ceroni of Toronto is one of the two SPS patients who had the stem-cell transplant and she said it has given back her life.
The personal fitness trainer, now 36, started getting severe symptoms in her late 20s. Initially she was diagnosed with hyponatremia, or low blood sodium, thought to be related to her heavy training schedule for a half-ironman competition.
But when she tried to water-ski at a friends cottage and had to be helped from the water because she was unable to move, Ceroni knew that there was something definitely not right.
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Stem-cell transplant eases symptoms of rare stiff person syndrome: study
Posted: August 26, 2014 at 2:45 am
Update On Stem Cell Research
Regenerative medicine and stem cell technology is revolutionizing the medical field. Kristin Comella, Chief Science Officer for Bioheart (BHRT), explains the growth of the industry and the potential.
By: Bioheart Inc.
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Update On Stem Cell Research - Video
Posted: August 26, 2014 at 2:45 am
Learn about Bioheart Inc. (BHRT)
Kristin Comella, Chief Science Officer for Bioheart (BHRT), discusses the company #39;s research using stem cell technology and regenerative medicine products.
By: Bioheart Inc.
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Learn about Bioheart Inc. (BHRT) - Video
