Have you recently been diagnosed with a chronic disease? Coming to terms with your diagnosis isn’t easy, but the best way to move forward is to focus on your next steps. What do you need to do now that you know about your condition? From learning about your illness to making impactful lifestyle changes to manage your symptoms, Immortality Medicine is here to share five important steps to take after receiving a chronic disease diagnosis.

Learn About Your Condition

After learning about your diagnosis, one of the first things you should do is research your condition. You want to become an expert on your illness! The more you know about what’s going on in your body, the better equipped you’ll be to make impactful decisions regarding your treatment and management strategies. It’s a good idea to talk to your doctor or nurse about your condition before turning to the internet. Ask them for trusted sources of medical information where you can read more on your own. There’s a lot of misinformation out there, so make sure you know how to spot it!

Review Your Health Insurance

Your health insurance coverage will save you a lot of money as you pursue treatment, tests, and other healthcare visits going forward. Take some time to review your coverage and see if you need to make any changes to your plan. If you don’t have health insurance because you’re self-employed, start looking into your options. Insurers can no longer deny you coverage due to an existing condition, so you shouldn’t have any trouble finding a suitable health insurance plan that will accommodate your diagnosis. Take a look at the Health Insurance Marketplace or the Freelancers Union to compare plans.

Move into an Accommodating Home

Depending on your condition, you may want to move into a new home that’s more accommodating. If, for example, your chronic condition will have an impact on your mobility, moving into an accessible home will help you maintain your independence. You might also want to move to be closer to a hospital or treatment center or live somewhere more supportive of a health-focused lifestyle.

Just remember that you may need some time to save up a down payment for your new home. The more money you can save, the lower your interest rate and monthly mortgage payment. Learn about the down payment process so you can make a realistic savings plan for your big move.

Create an Exercise Plan

Regular exercise will help you maintain mobility and ward off the negative symptoms of your condition. Everyday Health explains that exercise helps lessen the severity of fibromyalgia and improve the overall quality of life for people with chronic pain. Talk to your doctor for safe exercise recommendations. For example, these foam rolling exercises are great for loosening up tight muscles and improving flexibility, which can reduce pain and improve your range of motion.

Make Healthy Dietary Swaps

Like engaging in regular exercise, making healthy dietary swaps is a great way to manage your condition. The American Diabetes Association explains that making healthy lifestyle changes is often very difficult because people try to change too many things at once or choose changes that are too different from their normal routines. Sticking to smaller changes, like swapping a few foods from your diet, is a great place to start without getting overwhelmed. If you need to lower your cholesterol, for example, try swapping butter for olive oil, eating fish instead of red meat, and snacking on homemade popcorn instead of chips.

Receiving a diagnosis of a chronic illness isn’t fun. But with a solid plan of action, you can learn to live with your condition. Review your health insurance options, learn more about your diagnosis, and consider moving into a more accommodating home. Jumping into action after your diagnosis is a great way to move forward and avoid excessive worry.

Immortality Medicine is a science and medical news website for adults interested in the latest breakthroughs in human longevity. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out!

I bet you know that heart disease is common. I bet you even know it's deadly. But I have two questions for you:

1. Did you know it's the number one killer worldwide?
2. Did you know that almost all of it is entirely preventable?

It's true. Not only does cardiovascular disease kill millions of people worldwide each year, it's also almost entirely preventable.

The truth is, most people don't want to change their life. They have the power to change their life, to make themselves far less susceptible to cardiovascular disease, and they simply don't do it.

But why?

There are several reasons why people don't make those lifestyle changes. Let's look a little more closely at each one.

Lack of information

The truth is, plenty of people don't know the risk they are at, much less how to minimize those risks. Consider that in 2015, 82% of the 17 million premature deaths were in low- and middle-income countries, and 37% of those deaths were the result of cardiovascular disease.

Out of the 17 million premature deaths (under the age of 70) due to noncommunicable diseases in 2015, 82% are in low- and middle-income countries, and 37% are caused by CVDs. The truth is, many of those people simply haven't had access to the information because the medical education infrastructure simply isn't there. We have to believe that at least some of those people would make the necessary lifestyle changes if they knew they needed to make them.

Time, energy, and cost

While in the long-term it is quite obviously more expensive to not take care of yourself, many of us live in the short-term, day-to-day. Exercising, eating well, and taking care of our personal health can take time, energy, and cost not all of us are convinced we have. In the middle of a long week, our day may consist of getting up, driving to work, being stressed all day at work with the exception of a smoke break or two, then drive-through dinner on the way home before crashing after a long, hard day. While long-term that lifestyle is not at all sustainable, there are plenty of Americans who can't imagine living another way. This especially true as fast food is subsidized in ways that much healthier options often aren't, and both rural and urban food deserts can also contribute to difficulties in eating well.

Lack of motivation

Of course, some people know they could live healthier, and can afford the time, energy, and cost, and still choose not to make those lifestyle choices. This is likely the category most unhealthy Americans fall into, to be quite frank.

So what lifestyle changes would it take?

The truth is, it wouldn't take much to make a major dent in those risk factors. The following factors, referred to as “life's simple 7” by the American Heart Association, decrease the risk of heart disease by 80%, stroke by 50%, and cancer by 30%. So why wouldn't you make these seven changes?

Those simple seven?

• Manage blood pressure
• Control cholesterol
• Reduce blood sugar
• Get active
• Eat better
• Lose weight
• Stop smoking

None of those are hard steps to take, and each of them can help make the other steps easier. For instance, quitting smoking makes it easier to exercise, and exercising regularly makes it easier to lose weight. Losing weight has been shown to help with blood pressure, and also makes exercising easier. Eating better makes exercising easier and has been proven to help you lose weight. Reducing your blood sugar makes it easier to exercise, and helps you lose weight. These seven steps each make the other steps easier, so it really isn't nearly as big a step as you might at first think.

Yet most Americans fail at this simple checklist. Roughly one American dies every forty seconds from cardiovascular disease—that's more than 800,000 people each year! Put another way: Roughly the population of Charlotte, North Carolina dies each and every single year from cardiovascular diseases just in the United States.

So why don't we prevent heart disease? I don't know. But I bet we could all do a little better getting the information out there and helping people make healthier lifestyle choices.

Life-Saving Stem Cells - Discover, Learn, ShareNearly everyone inside and outside of the medical and scientific community agrees that stem cell research represents one of the most exciting and promising frontiers for treating people with a myriad of diseases and conditions. Stem cell research and treatments represent perhaps mankind's greatest opportunity to fulfill that ancient call to "heal the sick," relieve suffering and improve the quality of life for untold millions of people.

This website provides scientific facts and concise information for those of us who are not scientists, researchers or medical professionals. You will learn answers toquestions like ..."Who is benefitting from stem cell research and therapies today?" and "What types of stem cells are working?" In addition, basic questions such as"What is a stem cell?""Why do we need stem cell research?" are answered.

The video patient profiles featured on this site emphasize ADULT stem cell advances with the goal of informing and the hope of inspiring you to take action. These real-life stories represent a small sampling of people and the many diseases and conditions now being helped by adult stem cells naturally found in the human body. Stem Cell Research Facts illustrates how current adult treatments and therapies directly impact the lives of patients and their families today - as opposed to debating themerits of other types of stem cell research.

We invite you to discover, learn and share the incredible possibilites of stem cell research. We welcome your feedback and encourage you to return for the latest developments in the world of stem cell research. Thank you!

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Adult Stem Cells - Therapies and Treatments

Stem cell facts

Stem cells are cells that have the potential to develop into many different or specialized cell types. Stem cells can be thought of as primitive, "unspecialized" cells that are able to divide and become specialized cells of the body such as liver cells, muscle cells, blood cells, and other cells with specific functions. Stem cells are referred to as "undifferentiated" cells because they have not yet committed to a developmental path that will form a specific tissue or organ. The process of changing into a specific cell type is known as differentiation. In some areas of the body, stem cells divide regularly to renew and repair the existing tissue. The bone marrow and gastrointestinal tract are examples of areas in which stem cells function to renew and repair tissue.

The best and most readily understood example of a stem cell in humans is that of the fertilized egg, or zygote. A zygote is a single cell that is formed by the union of a sperm and ovum. The sperm and the ovum each carry half of the genetic material required to form a new individual. Once that single cell or zygote starts dividing, it is known as an embryo. One cell becomes two, two become four, four become eight, eight become sixteen, and so on, doubling rapidly until it ultimately grows into an entire sophisticated organism composed of many different kinds of specialized cells. That organism, a person, is an immensely complicated structure consisting of many, many, billions of cells with functions as diverse as those of your eyes, your heart, your immune system, the color of your skin, your brain, etc. All of the specialized cells that make up these body systems are descendants of the original zygote, a stem cell with the potential to ultimately develop into all kinds of body cells. The cells of a zygote are totipotent, meaning that they have the capacity to develop into any type of cell in the body.

The process by which stem cells commit to become differentiated, or specialized, cells is complex and involves the regulation of gene expression. Research is ongoing to further understand the molecular events and controls necessary for stem cells to become specialized cell types.

Medically Reviewed by a Doctor on 6/3/2015

Stem Cells - Experience Question: Please describe your experience with stem cells.

Stem Cells - Umbilical Cord Question: Have you had your child's umbilical cord blood banked? Please share your experience.

Stem Cells - Available Therapies Question: Did you or someone you know have stem cell therapy? Please discuss your experience.

Medical Author:

Melissa Conrad Stppler, MD, is a U.S. board-certified Anatomic Pathologist with subspecialty training in the fields of Experimental and Molecular Pathology. Dr. Stppler's educational background includes a BA with Highest Distinction from the University of Virginia and an MD from the University of North Carolina. She completed residency training in Anatomic Pathology at Georgetown University followed by subspecialty fellowship training in molecular diagnostics and experimental pathology.

Medical Editor:

Dr. Shiel received a Bachelor of Science degree with honors from the University of Notre Dame. There he was involved in research in radiation biology and received the Huisking Scholarship. After graduating from St. Louis University School of Medicine, he completed his Internal Medicine residency and Rheumatology fellowship at the University of California, Irvine. He is board-certified in Internal Medicine and Rheumatology.

Stem Cells: One of the human body's master cells, with the ability to grow into any one of the body's more than 200 cell types.

All stem cells are unspecialized (undifferentiated) cells that are characteristically of the same family type (lineage). They retain the ability to divide throughout life and give rise to cells that can become highly specialized and take the place of cells that die or are lost.

Stem cells contribute to the body's ability to renew and repair its tissues. Unlike mature cells, which are permanently committed to their fate, stem cells can both renew themselves as well as create new cells of whatever tissue they belong to (and other tissues).

Read more here:
Stem Cells: Get Facts on Definition, Types, and Research

Are there stem cell therapies available for eye diseases?

To our knowledge, no stem cell therapy has received Health Canada or U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for treatment of eye diseases at this time. Patients who are researching their options may come across companies with Web sites or materials that say otherwise and offer fee-based stem cell treatments for curing this disease. Many of these claims are not supported by sound scientific evidence and patients considering these therapies are encouraged to review some of the links below before making crucial decisions about their treatment plan.

For the latest developments read our blog entrieshere.

For more about stem cell clinical trials for eye diseasesclick here.(for printed version: http://goo.gl/2i14w)

There is currently no therapy for curing neurodegenerative eye diseases so the idea of transplanting stem cells to regenerate damaged cells holds great appeal. Stem cells have an unparalleled regenerative capacity and the flexibility to grow into hundreds of different types of cells. In theory, this means that they could be harnessed to produce an inexhaustible source of transplantable cells to repair the eye. This would be a tremendous boon in situations such as corneal transplants, where the demand overtakes the availability of donor tissue from cadavers. Other proposed strategies aim to take advantage of the properties of stem cells and their products to protect the many neurons in the eye responsible for vision.

There are countless research teams around the globe working to develop stem cell therapies for eye diseases. Their common goals are identifying the best stem cell contenders, understanding the environmental cues that can coax them into becoming photoreceptor neurons, and developing the large scale lab methods required for ramping up the cell production. Researchers agree that one of the biggest challenges will be to figure out how get the transplanted cells to make the right links with other neurons in the eye. These connections are an essential part of restoring the transmission of visual information to the brain.

One of the most important research contributions to date has come from Canadian researchers who identified retinal stem cells, first in the mouse and a few years later in humans. This discovery kindled hope in the research community that retinal damage, long considered permanent, might be reversible. The proof of principle for this concept came from experiments with mice and chicks, where transplanted retinal stem cells could integrate and make a variety of retinal cells, especially photoreceptor neurons.

Stem cell research for eye diseases is moving along a number of different routes and some of the successful stops along the way have been translated into early Phase 1 and 2 clinical studies. These are small trials designed to carefully test the safety of using stem cells to replace or protect cells within the eye. The advances to date in both pre-clinical and clinical studies are quite remarkable, and are providing the basis for a realistic future where stem cell therapies will be a viable option for restoring damaged vision.

Japan has approved the worlds first human tests using induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells to treat age-related macular degeneration. Find out morehere.

Before basic stem cell research can be translated into the clinic for patients, it must first be rigorously tested and validated. For eye diseases, this involves transplanting stem cells and their products into animal models to test if vision can be improved. Stem cells from a wide variety of sources are being considered, both from inside the eye (limbal and retinal stem cells) and outside the eye (embryonic, induced pluripotent stem cells or iPS cells, bone marrow and neural stem cells). One of the challenges researchers are finding is getting the transplanted stem cells to take. Some regions of the eye are more hospitable to transplants and successes have come relatively quickly, as in the case of grafting corneal tissue generated from limbal or embryonic stem cells. The retina, on the other hand, is not so welcoming to incoming cells. Researchers are working hard to overcome this by identifying the normal signals within the eye that work on stem cells to promote tissue repair. They are also developing new delivery methods (for example, biodegradable gels seeded with stem cells) that are able to promote more continuous integration of the transplanted cells into the eye.

The road to finding a stem cell therapy for eye diseases is paved with many challenges that will take time to overcome. But the wealth of information generated from labs around the globe is converging to help with the transition from basic research to the clinic. The results are very promising and in time may point to a viable stem cell therapy that accomplishes more than any of the current therapies by supplying an endless source of transplant material to restore vision in patients with injuries and diseases of the eye.

In nature, the master stem cell is the embryonic stem cell because it can make an entire human being. In 2006, scientists devised a method for turning human embryonic stem cells into the outer layer of the retina, called the RPE. This is the crucial layer that absorbs light. Scientists were able to transplant this layer just under the retina in mouse models of macular degeneration. Improved vision in the mice proved that the transplanted cells were able to rescue damaged photoreceptor neurons. Moving forward, researchers are tweaking protocols and adding factors that guide more precisely the way to making RPE cells. This process involves careful screening of any unwanted cells that could cause tumours. In a landmark trial in 2012, human embryonic stem cell-derived RPE were transplanted into two people with different forms of macular degeneration. The researchers are guarding their excitement, however, because although both patients have shown a degree of improvement in vision, it is still uncertain whether the transplanted stem cells are responsible and if they may yet be rejected.

Limbal stem cells are also being investigated for their ability to regenerate corneal tissue in people whose eyes have been badly burned. Provided that one of the eyes is undamaged, a sample of the patients limbal stem cells can be harvested, grown in the laboratory and transplanted back into the patients burned eye. A recent trial tested this approach in over 100 patients and the before and after pictures were remarkable: the cloudy corneas scarred by acid burns became clear, transparent corneas. So far, the effects appear to be long-lasting (up to 10 years) and this bodes well for the future of using this therapy to regenerate damaged corneas.

Technological advances are paving the way for studies with retinal stem cells. An implantable device has been developed that can be loaded with human retinal stem cells, genetically modified to make a factor that protects neurons and supports their survival. The device can be implanted into the back of the eye where it releases a continuous supply of the protective factor. A big advantage of this method is that graft rejection is minimized because the genetically modified cells are trapped in the device and do not come into contact with the immune system. Early clinical trials in patients with various eye diseases have shown that the device is well tolerated and appears to slow the rate of vision loss. Other trials are testing for adverse effects, rejection or shifting from the site of implantation. This method points to a pot
entially safe way of delivering stem cells that could make protective factors to treat diseases such as glaucoma or AMD.

Readers may wish to peruse the recommended sites and articles below for more information about eye disease and the possible applications of stem cells to treat these conditions.

AMD Alliance International(www.amdalliance.org) CNIB(www.cnib.ca) The Foundation Fighting Blindness (Canada)(www.ffb.ca) Foundation Fighting Blindness(www.blindness.org) The London Project (UK)(www.thelondonproject.org) National Eye Institute(www.nei.nih.gov) Vision Action Plan(www.who.int/blindness/Vision2020_report.pdf)

Originally posted here:
Eye Diseases | Canadian Stem Cell Foundation

The city of Oakland does not have the same snap and sizzle as San Francisco, but it will soon have something that the famed city-by-the-bay will not have the headquarters of an internationally known, $3 billion, stem cell research agency.

Californias taxpayer-financed program, which is arguably the largest, single source of stem cell research funding in the world, is leaving San Francisco this fall and moving across the bay to the sunnier and cheaper climes of Oakland.

The reason is that the agency is no longer the beneficiary of free space in San Francisco and cant afford to pay sky-high rent to stay there.

The stem cell agency enjoyed its rent free location as the result of a bidding war in 2005 among cities in California to acquire the agency headquarters. San Francisco offered a package that it calculated at $18 million. It also helped San Francisco that Bob Klein, the first chairman of the agency, lived on the San Francisco peninsula.

The agency and its auditor estimate that CIRM saved $12 million in rent and related benefits during the 10 years it has been in San Francisco. That money, however, will ultimately be spent on research or agency expenses.

That includes the rent for the new digs that will run $697,560 annually. The base rate for the 17,097 square feet is $3.40 a foot. The agency will have 14,411 square feet on the 16th floor of the 27-story building and 2,686 on the 15th.

In response to a query, Kevin McCormack, CIRMs senior director for communications, said,

The agency is expected to run out of cash for new awards in less than five years but will have ongoing functions related to its existing awards.

Costs for tenant improvements are still being calculated along with costs for the move.

Under the San Francisco lease, the owner provided free parking, a significant benefit for the agency employees, which number about 55. Parking can run to $15 to $20 a day in the agency's current neighborhood, according to sanfrancisco.bestparking.com.

In Oakland, employees will have to pay for their own parking, but the agency is looking into government assistance programs. The location is near a BART station, a mass transit overhead rail system that runs through much of the San Francisco Bay Area.

Over the years, Oakland has presented a changing face to the public. In World War II, it was part of what was described as a second gold rush as the result of defense plant operations. In 1966 , the city was the headquarters of the Black Panthers, whose co-founder, Huey Newton, attended high school there. Today Oakland is involved in a wave of gentrification that has created tension within the community.

It may be fitting for the agency to return to what is known as the East Bay area in California. Its first, temporary headquarter was located in Emeryville, just three miles up the road from its new space.

See the rest here:
California Stem Cell Report

Introduction Stem Cells are unique in that they have the potential to develop into many different cell types in the body, including brain cells, but they also retain the ability to produce more stem cells, a process termed self renewal. There are multiple types of stem cell, such as embryonic stem (ES) cells, induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, and adult or somatic stem cells. While various stem cells can share similar properties there are differences as well. For example, ES cells are able to differentiate into any type of cell, whereas adult stem cells are more restricted in their potential. The promise of all stem cells for use in future therapies is exciting, but significant technical hurdles remain that will only be overcome through years of intensive research.

The NINDS supports a diverse array of research on almost all stem cells, from studies of the basic biology of stem cells in the developing and adult mammalian brain to studies focusing on nervous system disorders such as ALS or spinal cord injury. For example, investigators are looking at how ES cells can be used to derive dopamine-producing neurons that might alleviate symptoms in patients with Parkinsons disease or how somatic stem cells can generate myelin producing oligodendrocytes for remyelination following acute and chronic brain injury. Although there is much promise for using stem cells to treat neurological diseases in humans, there is much work to be done before stem cell-based therapies are ready for the clinic.

The NIH Stem Cell Information Web page provides additional information about stem cell research at NIH. Also, see MedlinePlus for more health information regarding stem cells.

To learn more about investigational therapies, including stem cells, one can search the National Institutes of Health (NIH) online clinical trials database, which has information about federally and privately funded clinical research studies on a wide range of diseases and conditions. You can access this database at ClinicalTrials.gov to learn about the location of research studies in need of participants, as well as their purpose and criteria for patient participation. The NIH also maintains a clinical research website that has additional information and can be found here: NIH Clinical Research Trials and You

NINDS Repository The NINDS also supports a repository that offers human induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) lines for research on neurological disorders. A list of available cell lines can be found here: Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells

NINDS Stem Cell Research on CampusThe Intramural Research Program of NINDS is one of the largest neuroscience research centers in the world. Investigators in the NINDS intramural program conduct research in the basic, translational, and clinical neurosciences. Their specific interests cover a broad range of neuroscience research including stem cell biology. Listings of NINDS intramural researchers by laboratory affiliation and research areas are available online.

NIH Policy and ImplementationThe Director of the NINDS, Dr. Story Landis is the Chair of the NIH Stem Cell Task Force, which was created to enable and accelerate the pace of stem cell research and to seek the advice of scientific leaders in stem cell research. For comprehensive information on NIH policies related to stem cell research, visit the NIH Stem Cell Information web page.

NIH Center for Regenerative Medicine (NIH CRM)NIH CRM is a community resource that works to provide the infrastructure to support and accelerate the clinical translation of stem cell-based technologies, and to develop widely available resources to be used as standards in stem cell research. The Center provides services and information to both the intramural and extramural NIH communities that facilitate the use of stem cell technologies for therapeutic purposes and for screening efforts. Further information about NIH CRM can be found here: NIH Center for Regenerative Medicine

Funding OpportunitiesNINDS supports a wide array of stem cell research, both basic and disease-related. Funding mechanisms supported by NINDS can be found here: Funding Mechanisms

Additionally, those interested in targeted funding solicitations can search the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts. One can do key word searches for entries such as neurological disease and stem cell or regenerative medicine. A link to the NIH Guide can be found here: NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts

NINDS Contact InformationDavid Owens, Ph.D. Program Director do47h@nih.gov Phone: (301) 496-1447

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Information on Stem Cell Research: National Institute of ...

The physician-scientists and researchers at Childrens Hospital Boston believe that stem cell biology holds the key to treatments for a wide range of currently untreatable or incurable diseases. Much of our current work centers on specific diseases and the ways in which stem cells might be used to model and understand those diseases. Critical work is also underway to explore how the power and nature of stem cells might be harnessed in the development of general and patient-specific therapies.

To achieve this, we are intensively exploring all pathways availableincluding embryonic stem cells, induced pluripotent cells (iPS cells) and adult stem cells. By engaging on multiple fronts, we increase our ability and potential to unlock the door to treatments for many diseases. Already, clinical trials are underway on a drug discovered by the Zon Lab that has the potential to boost production of blood stem cells, with significant implications for the treatment of patients with leukemia. The Daley Lab has created more than 20 disease-specific iPS cell lines that will enable researchers to track the origins of a specific disease and to attempt to change its course. Many other exciting investigations are underway and are discussed in these pages.

Take a virtual tour through the Daley Lab to learn more:

Our team of scientists are exploring ways to understand and treat blood, neurological, kidney, lung and heart disease; cancer and diabetes; disorders of the muscular and immune systems; and congenital and genetic disorders. Every day brings the potential for new insights, new discoveries, and new hope that the vast promise of stem cells can be realized, and that people suffering from these diseases both children and adults can be cured. We are committed to the realization of that goal.

To date, there are more than a dozen diseases represented in the Stem Cell Programs research and the program is constantly adding new diseases to its research roster. Visit this page and our newsroom often for updates on our research.

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Research on Diseases | Boston Children's Hospital - Stem cell

Cord blood stem cell transplants have already changedand savedthousands of lives around the world. They have already been used to treat more than 75 diseases, including numerous types of malignancies, anemia's, inherited metabolic disorders and deficiencies of the immune system.

New medical technology may well use these cells to rebuild cardiac tissue, repair damage due to stroke or spinal cord injuries and reverse the effects of such diseases as multiple sclerosis or Parkinsons. While the research is still in its early stages, the possibilities are extremely promising. And, banking your childs stem cells increases access to any of these technologies in the future.

3/16/2012

Thanks to a re-infusion of cord blood stem cells, a little girl has recovered from a critical brain injury

12/5/2011

Umbilical Cord Blood Stem Cells: Prime Source for Transplants and Future Regenerative Medicine

11/18/2011

Improvement in Cardiac Function following Transplantation of Human Umbilical Cord Matrix-Derived Mesenchymal Cells

11/18/2009

Thanks to a transplant of stem cells from her brothers umbilical cord blood, eight-year-old Thamirabharuni Kumar is beating thalassemia.

More:
Diseases Treated Using Stem Cells - Stem Cell Disease ...

Dec. 20, 2014

Government-backed Japanese institute Riken accepts resignation of Haruko Obokata, one of its highest-profile scientists, after she fails to replicate research results that were once hailed as breakthrough in stem cell research. MORE

Experimental stem cell procedures, once talked about but not put into practice, are starting to be used in trial settings; as many as 4,500 clinical trials involving stem cells are under way in United States to treat patients with conditions such as heart disease, blindness, Parkinson's and spinal cord injury; enthusiasm for such procedures, however, sometimes outstrips supporting science. MORE

Colleagues of Yoshiki Sasai, leading Japanese life science researcher, say he has taken his own life; Sasai was co-author of discredited stem cell study published in journal Nature that was retracted due to factual errors and allegations of misconduct. MORE

Journal Nature retracts two scientific papers it published that initially electrified biologists by describing easy way to make stem cells; says papers were error-filled and had not been verified by anyone else. MORE

Op-Ed article by evolutionary geneticist Svante Paabo warns against using sequenced genomes of Neanderthals to re-create Neanderthal individuals; contends from an ethical perspective such an idea should be condemned, and argues that using stem cells to create cells and tissues in test tubes for research is far more ethically defensible and technically feasible. MORE

Scientists, reporting in journal Cell Stem Cell, move step closer to goal of creating stem cells perfectly matched to a patients DNA in order to treat diseases; say they have created patient-specific cell lines for 'therapeutic cloning' out of skin cells of two adult men. MORE

Japanese research institute concludes that study published in journal Nature that was once hailed as breakthrough in creating stem cells contains fabricated and doctored images that cast doubt on its findings; singles out study's lead author Haruko Obokata, stem cell biologist, saying she had altered or misrepresented illustrations in her research papers. MORE

Japanese research institute acknowledges that study billed as breakthrough in stem cell research contained spliced image, material recycled from lead author's doctoral thesis, and other mistakes; disclosure threatens to discredit newly acclaimed researcher Haruko Obokata, whose team found that simple acid bath might turn cells in the body into stem cells; findings appeared in journal Nature. MORE

Teruhiko Wakayama, one of the authors of startling study that claimed to have found a simple way to make stem cells, says he is no longer sure of its conclusions; calls for its retraction. MORE

Continue reading here:
Stem Cells - Times Topics

Stem cells are undifferentiated biological cells that can differentiate into specialized cells and can divide (through mitosis) to produce more stem cells. They are found in multicellular organisms. In mammals, there are two broad types of stem cells: embryonic stem cells, which are isolated from the inner cell mass of blastocysts, and adult stem cells, which are found in various tissues. In adult organisms, stem cells and progenitor cells act as a repair system for the body, replenishing adult tissues. In a developing embryo, stem cells can differentiate into all the specialized cellsectoderm, endoderm and mesoderm (see induced pluripotent stem cells)but also maintain the normal turnover of regenerative organs, such as blood, skin, or intestinal tissues.

There are three known accessible sources of autologous adult stem cells in humans:

Stem cells can also be taken from umbilical cord blood just after birth. Of all stem cell types, autologous harvesting involves the least risk. By definition, autologous cells are obtained from one's own body, just as one may bank his or her own blood for elective surgical procedures.

Adult stem cells are frequently used in medical therapies, for example in bone marrow transplantation. Stem cells can now be artificially grown and transformed (differentiated) into specialized cell types with characteristics consistent with cells of various tissues such as muscles or nerves. Embryonic cell lines and autologous embryonic stem cells generated through Somatic-cell nuclear transfer or dedifferentiation have also been proposed as promising candidates for future therapies.[1] Research into stem cells grew out of findings by Ernest A. McCulloch and James E. Till at the University of Toronto in the 1960s.[2][3]

The classical definition of a stem cell requires that it possess two properties:

Two mechanisms exist to ensure that a stem cell population is maintained:

Potency specifies the differentiation potential (the potential to differentiate into different cell types) of the stem cell.[4]

In practice, stem cells are identified by whether they can regenerate tissue. For example, the defining test for bone marrow or hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) is the ability to transplant the cells and save an individual without HSCs. This demonstrates that the cells can produce new blood cells over a long term. It should also be possible to isolate stem cells from the transplanted individual, which can themselves be transplanted into another individual without HSCs, demonstrating that the stem cell was able to self-renew.

Properties of stem cells can be illustrated in vitro, using methods such as clonogenic assays, in which single cells are assessed for their ability to differentiate and self-renew.[7][8] Stem cells can also be isolated by their possession of a distinctive set of cell surface markers. However, in vitro culture conditions can alter the behavior of cells, making it unclear whether the cells will behave in a similar manner in vivo. There is considerable debate as to whether some proposed adult cell populations are truly stem cells.

Embryonic stem (ES) cells are stem cells derived from the inner cell mass of a blastocyst, an early-stage embryo.[9] Human embryos reach the blastocyst stage 45 days post fertilization, at which time they consist of 50150 cells. ES cells are pluripotent and give rise during development to all derivatives of the three primary germ layers: ectoderm, endoderm and mesoderm. In other words, they can develop into each of the more than 200 cell types of the adult body when given sufficient and necessary stimulation for a specific cell type. They do not contribute to the extra-embryonic membranes or the placenta.

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Stem cell - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Australia - New Zealand - Asia & Pacific Rim - China - Italy

The Foundation is a privately funded philanthropic (non profit) organization advising un-well people about how to gain access to Adult Stem Cell Therapy (ASCT). The Foundation is also promoting a plan to its members on how to prevent or limit the progression of degenerative diseases and other conditions. Degenerative disease is an escalating world problem that, if not controlled, could bankrupt our health systems.

A major objective of the Foundation is to highlight that people suffering from degenerative conditions now have the option of considering Adult Stem Cell Therapy. This therapy may improve quality of life for sufferers of Arthritis, MS, Parkinsons, Diabetes, Stroke, Alzheimers, Spinal Cord injuries, Cancer or Chronic Pain to name a few. A stem cell transplant, instead of a joint replacement, is fast becoming the preferred first option for orthopedic surgeons.

The Foundation intends to educate parents/carers of children suffering from a debilitating or degenerative condition like Cerebral Palsy, Muscular Dystrophy, Autism, Spinal injuries, Cystic fibrosis, ADHD etc. Stem cell treatments have progressed in leaps and bounds for these conditions. There are now state of the art clinics that specialize in treating the afore-mentioned conditions. Children can usually benefit substantially from an early intervention by stem cell therapies and other protocols because they are still growing. As an example: spending time in a mild hyperbaric chamber (HBO) can also be beneficial. Just fill out the Application Form for an experimental transplant and we will be only too happy to advise.

The ASCF has become a global Information Centre for stem cell therapy. The centre will only support clinics that have demonstrated they abide by the highest medical standards and have a proven track record of administering these types of therapies, in Australia and overseas. We can now advise locally which gives peace of mind to our members who are contemplating a procedure of this nature.

Creating awareness of the availability of stem cell therapy and that it has become viable for consideration.

To raise money from benefactors, including private and commercial sponsorships.

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Adult Stem Cell Foundation

J Clin Neonatol. 2013 Jan-Mar; 2(1): 17.

Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and Laboratory of Neonatal Immunology, Fondazione IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo, Pavia, Italy

1Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Azienda Ospedaliera Santi Antonio e Biagio e Cesare Arrigo, Alessandria, Italy

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

In the last decades, the prevention and treatment of neonatal respiratory distress syndrome with antenatal steroids and surfactant replacement allowed the survival of infants born at extremely low gestational ages. These extremely preterm infants are highly vulnerable to the detrimental effects of oxidative stress and infection, and are prone to develop lung and brain diseases that eventually evolve in severe sequelae: The so-called new bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) and the noncystic, diffuse form of periventricular leukomalacia (PVL). Tissue simplification and developmental arrest (larger and fewer alveoli and hypomyelination in the lungs and brain, respectively) appears to be the hallmark of these emerging sequelae, while fibrosis is usually mild and contributes to a lesser extent to their pathogenesis. New data suggest that loss of stem/progenitor cell populations in the developing brain and lungs may underlie tissue simplification. These observations constitute the basis for the application of stem cell-based protocols following extremely preterm birth. Transplantation of different cell types (including, but not limited to, mesenchymal stromal cells, endothelial progenitor cells, human amnion epithelial cells) could be beneficial in preterm infants for the prevention and/or treatment of BPD, PVL and other major sequelae of prematurity. However, before this new knowledge can be translated into clinical practice, several issues still need to be addressed in preclinical in vitro and in vivo models.

Keywords: Bronchopulmonary dysplasia, bronchopulmonary, endothelial, EPC, mesenchymal, MSC, newborn, periventricular leukomalacia, preterm, progenitor cells, periventricular leukomalacia, stem cells

Very and extremely preterm infants suffer from severe diseases associated with premature birth, including bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD), periventricular leukomalacia (PVL), necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), patent ductus arteriosus (PDA), sepsis and retinopathy of prematurity (ROP). During the 90s, the universal introduction of antenatal steroids and surfactant replacement as standard therapies for the prevention and treatment of neonatal respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) in the neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) has dramatically changed the natural history of diseases affecting prematurely born infants.

Indeed, together with a reduction in the severity of neonatal RDS, the sequelae of perinatal lung and brain injury profoundly changed: The old BPD and cystic PVL were replaced by newly emerging diseases, the so-called new BPD and noncystic, diffuse PVL, respectively. These new sequelae differ from the old ones in severity (in general are less severe), pathogenesis, pathological features and clinical presentation.[1,2,3,4,5,6] In general, focal injury/necrosis and the consequent fibrosis/astrogliosis, the main components of old BPD and cystic PVL, appear to be milder and to contribute to a lesser extent to the pathogenesis of new BPD and noncystic PVL. Conversely, tissue simplification and developmental arrest (larger and fewer alveoli in the lungs and hypomyelination with defective white matter development and neuronal abnormalities in the brain) are the key and predominant components of new BPD and of the diffuse, noncystic form of PVL.[3,6]

While surfactant replacement and prenatal steroid proved revolutionary in changing the destiny of premature infants during the 90s, no preventive strategy is currently available to reduce the incidence of these emerging diseases, and the prevalence of all complications of prematurity has reached a steady state across the last decade []. Overall, the sequelae of prematurity still represent a burden for neonatal medicine and global health.

Incidence of major diseases associated with preterm birth in a population of very low birth weight infants (<1500 g)

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Stem Cell Therapy for Neonatal Diseases Associated with ...

What stem cells can do todayopens doorways to even more, tomorrow

Cord blood stem cell transplants have already changed and saved thousands of lives around the world. Science is developing other miraculous uses for these precious cells, potentially impacting countless numbers of lives in the future.

Cord blood stem cells have been used to treat nearly 80 diseases, including numerous types of malignancies, anemias, inherited metabolic disorders and deficiencies of the immune system. The majority of cord blood transplants to date have been performed in patients younger than 18 years old. However, with the advancement in regenerative medicine, it is foreseeable that individuals of all ages can benefit from stem cell therapy in the near future. The source of cord blood used in transplants can be autologous (self) or allogeneic (such as a sibling or an unrelated third party).

Graft-versus-host disease, a complication associated with stem cell transplant therapy, occurs less frequently with umbilical cord stem cells vs. other types of stem cells; and, it is even rarer when the cord stem cells come from a blood related family member.

Below are some diseases currently being treated with stem cells. Although many cord blood stem cell treatments today are allogeneic (non-self), leading scientists believe that autologous (self) cord blood will have a role in treating Type I diabetes, other autoimmune diseases, and brain and cardiac injuries.

Leukemias Leukemia is a cancer of the blood immune system, whose cells are called leukocytes or white cells(all therapies are allogeneic)

Autologous stem cells may not be useful in the treatment for certain diseases listed above -www.parentsguidecordblood.org/diseases.php

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Treating Diseases with Cord Blood Stem Cells | Diseases ...

This article is about the medical therapy. For the cell type, see Stem cell.

Stem cell therapy is the use of stem cells to treat or prevent a disease or condition.

Bone marrow transplant is the most widely used stem cell therapy, but some therapies derived from umbilical cord blood are also in use. Research is underway to develop various sources for stem cells, and to apply stem cell treatments for neurodegenerative diseases and conditions, diabetes, heart disease, and other conditions.

With the ability of scientists to isolate and culture embryonic stem cells, and with scientists' growing ability to create stem cells using somatic cell nuclear transfer and techniques to create induced pluripotent stem cells, controversy has crept in, both related to abortion politics and to human cloning. Additionally, efforts to market treatments based on transplant of stored umbilical cord blood have proven controversial.

For over 30 years, bone-marrow have been used to treat cancer patients with conditions such as leukaemia and lymphoma; this is the only form of stem cell therapy that is widely practiced.[1][2][3] During chemotherapy, most growing cells are killed by the cytotoxic agents. These agents, however, cannot discriminate between the leukaemia or neoplastic cells, and the hematopoietic stem cells within the bone marrow. It is this side effect of conventional chemotherapy strategies that the stem cell transplant attempts to reverse; a donor's healthy bone marrow reintroduces functional stem cells to replace the cells lost in the host's body during treatment. The transplanted cells also generate an immune response that helps to kill off the cancer cells; this process can go too far, however, leading to graft vs host disease, the most serious side effect of this treatment.[4]

Another stem cell therapy called Prochymal, was conditionally approved in Canada in 2012 for the management of acute graft-vs-host disease in children who are unresponsive to steroids.[5] It is an allogenic stem therapy based on mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) derived from the bone marrow of adult donors. MSCs are purified from the marrow, cultured and packaged, with up to 10,000 doses derived from a single donor. The doses are stored frozen until needed.[6]

The FDA has approved five hematopoietic stem cell products derived from umbilical cord blood, for the treatment of blood and immunological diseases.[7]

In 2014, the European Medicines Agency recommended approval of Holoclar, a treatment involving stem cells, for use in the European Union. Holoclar is used for people with severe limbal stem cell deficiency due to burns in the eye.[8]

Research has been conducted to learn whether stem cells may be used to treat brain degeneration, such as in Parkinson's, Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and Alzheimer's disease.[9][10][11]

Healthy adult brains contain neural stem cells which divide to maintain general stem cell numbers, or become progenitor cells. In healthy adult animals, progenitor cells migrate within the brain and function primarily to maintain neuron populations for olfaction (the sense of smell). Pharmacological activation of endogenous neural stem cells has been reported to induce neuroprotection and behavioral recovery in adult rat models of neurological disorder.[12][13][14]

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Stem cell therapy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia