Monthly Archives: July 2015

Stem Cells | Cornerstone Family Council

Posted: July 2, 2015 at 12:53 am

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Focus on the Family: Position Statement

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

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

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

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

Links

A Tale of Two Lives

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

What The Media Will Not Tell You About Stem Cell Research

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Stem Cells | Cornerstone Family Council

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BLINDNESS vs CALIFORNIA STEM CELL PROGRAM: Disease-a-week …

Posted: July 2, 2015 at 12:52 am

BLINDNESS vs. THE CALIFORNIA STEM CELL PROGRAM: Disease-a-week Challenge #6

by Don C. Reed

When I was ten I fell on a bamboo stick, which penetrated my right eye. The doctor taped a patch over it and said that was all he could do, we would just have to wait and see. What did that mean? Losing one eye did not sound too bad, like a pirate in the movies, but what if I lost the other one too? To no longer read comic books, or watch expressions change on a persons face, or see the colors of the sky? I experimented with being blind, blindfolding myself with tied-together gymsocks, stumbling around the room.

In time I recovered partial vision (20/400), meaning I could see at twenty feet what others see at 400. With corrective lenses, all is wellbut I will never take vision for granted again.

Do you know the Saturday Night Live comedian Will Forte? The humorist was friends with another standup comedian, Dennis Rickman, Ph.D.. Rickmans day job was in medical research: trying to use stem cells to defeat blindness. Forte helped Rickman raise $10,000 to start a program called SCIfEyes (Stem Cell Initiative for Eyes) at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina.

http://dukeeyecenter.duke.edu/...

I spoke to Dr. Rickman and his wife, Dr. Catherine Bowes Rickman, a recognized authority on Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD), the most common form of adult blindness in Western society.

Dennis Rickman advocated the ethical use of both adult and embryonic stem cells for scientific research-- and had a very good reason for doing so.

In 1995, Dennis Rickman had been diagnosed with leukemia

After a two-year search, a young woman in Germany was found with bone marrow like Rickmans; she shared her stem cells with him.

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Beneficial use of stem cells and telomere science is to …

Posted: July 2, 2015 at 12:51 am

Stem cells hold a lot of potential to help the humans discover cures for different ailments that are responsible for the death of thousands every year.

With the passage of time, medical science is making great advances to come up with better treatment methods that have the capability of providing better results. The human body is designed to have limited age, and after the passage of this age it becomes to deteriorate and lose its youthful power and energy.

Scientists have been conducting different experiments on animals and humans to understand why do we age and how to stop this aging process some studies suggest that our cells are programmed to live only for a limited period of time and others believe that our cells have a limited division capability and after a certain period of time they can no longer replicate themselves and the individual starts to age.

But recently researchers have been able to increase the lifespan of lab rats by using a different combination of stem cell treatments. Stem cells are undistinguished cells in our body that have the potential to take form of different cells and perform different functions in the body, scientists have been able to replicate the stem cell to perform different functions of body to simulate better cell growth and help the mice to live longer.

Stem cells can be a very viable, cheap and safe method of treatment because stem cells are the part of the body and replicate the function of body they do not carry any contra-indications that may cause complications in the future but rather use the bodys natural healing and replicating power to cure the ailment that is present inside the host. Stem cells are widely used for organ regeneration, where a part or the entire organ has been lost due to some disease, doctors have been able to repair damage by injecting stem cells in the body. Several studies have been conducted where researchers have been able to cure blindness in old mice.

Cancer is one of the most evasive type of disease that affects millions of people around the world, it disrupts the balance of the body that may result in death but stem cell treatment has shown a lot of promise in this area and can help the doctors remove the faulty cells that have mutated using the stem cells therapy. Stem cells therapy is also widely used in dealing with sports related injuries, there have been hundreds of examples of athletes who have completed recovered without requiring any surgery by using stem cell treatment. Stem cells hold a lot of potential to help the humans discover cures for different ailments that are responsible for the death of thousands every year.

Distributed by NetJumps International

Media Contact Company Name: BioStem Technologies Contact Person: Jason Email: info@biostemtech.com Phone: (954) 380-8342 Country: United States Website: http://www.biostemtechnologies.com/

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The Irvine Stem Cell Treatment Center Announces the …

Posted: July 2, 2015 at 12:51 am

The Sacramento office is set to open in California on July 11, 2015.

Sacramento, California (PRWEB) June 30, 2015

The Irvine Stem Cell Treatment Center announces the opening of a new office in Sacramento, California on July 11, 2015, with Dr. Thomas A. Gionis, Surgeon-in-Chief.

Our new office is located at the New Body MD Surgical Center, 1111 Exposition Blvd., Suite 400B, Sacramento, CA 95815. If you have any questions or would like further information please call us at (949) 679-3889.

The Irvine Stem Cell Treatment Center (Irvine; Westlake Village; and Sacramento, California), along with sister affiliates, the Miami Stem Cell Treatment Center (Miami; Boca Raton; Orlando; The Villages; Sarasota, Florida) and the Manhattan Regenerative Medicine Medical Group (Manhattan, New York), abide by approved investigational protocols using adult adipose derived stem cells (ADSCs) which can be deployed to improve patients quality of life for a number of chronic, degenerative and inflammatory conditions and diseases. ADSCs are taken from the patients own adipose (fat) tissue (found within a cellular mixture called stromal vascular fraction (SVF)). ADSCs are exceptionally abundant in adipose tissue. The adipose tissue is obtained from the patient during a 15 minute mini-liposuction performed under local anesthesia in the doctors office. SVF is a protein-rich solution containing mononuclear cell lines (predominantly adult autologous mesenchymal stem cells), macrophage cells, endothelial cells, red blood cells, and important Growth Factors that facilitate the stem cell process and promote their activity.

ADSCs are the bodys natural healing cells - they are recruited by chemical signals emitted by damaged tissues to repair and regenerate the bodys injured cells. The Irvine Stem Cell Treatment Center only uses Adult Autologous Stem Cells from a persons own fat No embryonic stem cells are used; and No bone marrow stem cells are used. Current areas of study include: Emphysema, COPD, Asthma, Heart Failure, Heart Attack, Parkinsons Disease, Stroke, Traumatic Brain Injury, Lou Gehrigs Disease, Multiple Sclerosis, Lupus, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Crohns Disease, Muscular Dystrophy, Inflammatory Myopathies, and Degenerative Orthopedic Joint Conditions (Knee, Shoulder, Hip, Spine). For more information, or if someone thinks they may be a candidate for one of the adult stem cell protocols offered by the Irvine Stem Cell Treatment Center, they may contact Dr. Gionis directly at (949) 679-3889, or see a complete list of the Centers study areas at: IrvineStemCellsUSA.com.

Also, you can listen and call into our new radio show, The Stem Cell Show, hosted by Dr. Gionis on TalkRadio 790 AM KABC, Sundays @ 4pm PST, or worldwide on KABC.com ("Listen Live" at 4pm PST) or the KABC app available on the App Store or Google Play.

About the Irvine Stem Cell Treatment Center: The Irvine Stem Cell Treatment Center, along with sister affiliates, the Miami Stem Cell Treatment Center and the Manhattan Regenerative Medicine Medical Group, is an affiliate of the California Stem Cell Treatment Center / Cell Surgical Network (CSN); we are located in Irvine, Westlake, and now Sacramento, California. We provide care for people suffering from diseases that may be alleviated by access to adult stem cell based regenerative treatment. We utilize a fat transfer surgical technology to isolate and implant the patients own stem cells from a small quantity of fat harvested by a mini-liposuction on the same day. The investigational protocols utilized by the Irvine Stem Cell Treatment Center have been reviewed and approved by an IRB (Institutional Review Board) which is registered with the U.S. Department of Health, Office of Human Research Protection (OHRP); and our studies are registered with Clinicaltrials.gov, a service of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH). For more information, visit our websites: IrvineStemCellsUSA.com, MiamiStemCellsUSA.com, NYStemCellsUSA.com, or TheStemCellShow.com.

For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2015/06/prweb12760439.htm

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Wisconsin Roundup: VC Funding, StartUp Health, Stem Cells …

Posted: July 2, 2015 at 12:51 am

Heres a collection of recent headlines from Wisconsins innovation community:

Waukesha-based Elli Health has changed its name to Intellivisit and tacked nearly $400,000 on to a funding round that previously raised about $780,000, according to SEC filings. The companys software enables virtual doctor visits.

Madison-based Health eFilings raised $934,500 in a seed funding round that could reach $1.5 million, according to a new SEC filing. The company sells software that helps healthcare providers report care quality data as required by Medicare. The startup is led by Robert Hopton, whose previous company, Idle Free Systems, was acquired last year by Phillips & Temro Industries.

Madison-based Digsite raised $775,000 in a seed funding round, according to an SEC filing. The companys software provides private online forums for marketers, researchers, and digital agencies to interact with customers and share photos and videos from any device.

Aurora Health Care, the Milwaukee-based healthcare system serving eastern Wisconsin and northern Illinois, became a lead investor in StartUp Health, the New York-based company that invests in digital health startups and gives them access to mentors, industry connections, and business training services. The size of Auroras investment wasnt disclosed.

The Water Council received a $230,000 grant from JPMorgan Chase to continue providing specialized training for angel investors and programs to connect corporate innovation departments with water technology startups looking for investment capital. TheMilwaukee-based Water Council is in its second year of funding from a JPMorgan Chase small business funding program.

In other local water industry news, Milwaukee-based Rexnord (NYSE: RXN) announced its relocating the headquarters of its Zurn subsidiary from Pennsylvania to the Reed Street Yards near downtown Milwaukee, where a new water technology business park is being built next to The Water Councils Global Water Center. Zurn makes toilets, sinks, and a variety of other plumbing-related products.

Monona-based Shine Medical Technologies said it was awarded a $150,000 Phase 1 Small Business Innovation Research grant from the National Science Foundation. The money will go toward development of a process for extracting and purifying iodine-131, a type of medical isotope used in treating Graves disease and cancer, the company said. This is a potential product Shine could manufacture when it opens a facility in Janesville in a few years.

The primary material Shine has said it intends to produceat Janesville, though, is molybdenum-99, which then decays into technetium-99, the most common medical isotope injected into patients for medical scans to diagnose things like cancer and heart disease.

Madison-based WiCell, the nonprofit that provides stem cell banking and testing services, has been chosen to store and distribute the induced pluripotent stem cell lines from more than 1,500 donors as part of a five-year, $80 million program funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. The initiativedubbed Next Generation Genetic Association Studiesis investigating genetic variations in humans to learn more about diseases. Participating researchers hail from across the U.S., including the Medical College of Wisconsin, Boston University, Harvard University, Stanford University, UC-San Diego, and Scripps Research Institute.

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Is testosterone replacement therapy safe? Take a look at …

Posted: July 2, 2015 at 12:50 am

Millions of American men use a prescription testosterone gel, patch, or injection to boost levels of the manly hormone. The ongoing marketing blitz promises that treating "low T" this way can make men feel more alert, energetic, mentally sharp, and sexually functional. However, legitimate safety concerns linger, as explained in the February 2014 issue of the Harvard Men's Health Watch.

"Because of the marketing, men have been flooded with information about the potential benefit of fixing low testosterone, but not with the potential costs," says Dr. Carl Pallais, an endocrinologist and assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. "Men should be much more mindful of the possible long-term complications."

Some studies have found that men taking testosterone have more cardiovascular problems, like heart attacks, strokes, and deaths from heart disease. Some physicians also have a lingering concern that testosterone therapy could stimulate the growth of prostate cancer cells. Yet the evidence is mixed, with some studies showing a lower cardiac risk with testosterone therapy and no apparent effect on prostate cancer.

In such uncertain times, men should take a cautious approach, Dr. Pallais says.

"I can't tell you for certain that taking testosterone raises the risk of heart problems and prostate cancer, or that it doesn't," Dr. Pallais says. "We need a large study with multiple thousands of men followed for many years to figure it out."

Until then, here are some tips for taking a cautious approach to testosterone therapy:

Read the full-length article: "Is testosterone therapy safe? Take a breath before you take the plunge"

February 1, 2014

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