Scientists create stem cells for 10 disorders By STEPHANIE NANO, Associated Press Writer

Scientists create stem cells for 10 disorders
By STEPHANIE NANO, Associated Press Writer1 hour, 3 minutes ago
Harvard scientists say they have created stems cells for 10 genetic disorders, which will allow researchers to watch the diseases develop in a lab dish.
This early step, using a new technique, could help speed up efforts to find treatments for some of the most confounding ailments, the scientists said.
The new work was reported online Thursday in the journal Cell, and the researchers said they plan to make the cell lines readily available to other scientists.
Dr. George Daley and his colleagues at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute used ordinary skin cells and bone marrow from people with a variety of diseases, including Parkinson's, Huntington's and Down syndrome to produce the stem cells.
The new cells will allow researchers to "watch the disease progress in a dish, that is, to watch what goes right or wrong," Doug Melton, co-director of the institute, said during a teleconference.
"I think we'll see in years ahead that this opens the door to a new way to treating degenerative diseases," he said.
The new technique reprograms cells, giving them the chameleon-like qualities of embryonic stem cells, which can morph into all kinds of tissue, such as heart, nerve and brain. As with embryonic stem cells, the hope is to speed medical research.
Research teams in Wisconsin and Japan were the first to report last November that they had reprogrammed skin cells, and that the cells had behaved like stem cells in a series of lab tests. Just last week, another Harvard team of scientists said they reprogrammed skin cells from two elderly patients with ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease, and grew them into nerve cells.
Melton said the new disease-specific cell lines "represent a collection of degenerative diseases for which there are no good treatments and, more importantly, no good animal models for the most part in studying them."
A new laboratory has been created to serve as a repository for the cells, and to distribute them to other scientists researching the diseases, Melton said.
"The hope is that this will accelerate research and it will create a climate of openness," said Daley.
He expects stem cell lines to be developed for many more diseases, noting, "this is just the first wave of diseases." Other diseases for which they created stem cells are Type 1, or juvenile, diabetes; two types of muscular dystrophy, Gaucher disease and a rare genetic disorder known as the "bubble boy disease."
Daley stressed that the reprogrammed cells won't eliminate the need or value of studying embryonic stem cells.
"At least for the foreseeable future, and I would argue forever, they are going to be extremely valuable tools," he said.
The reprogramming work was funded by the National Institutes of Health and private contributions to the Harvard Stem Cell Institute.
___
On the Net:
Harvard Stem Cell Institute: http://www.hsci.harvard.edu

Skin cells produce library of diseased stem cells By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor

Skin cells produce library of diseased stem cells
By Maggie Fox, Health and Science EditorThu Aug 7, 12:01 PM ET
U.S. stem cell experts have produced a library of the powerful cells using ordinary skin and bone marrow cells from patients, and said on Thursday they would share them freely with other researchers.
They used a new method to re-program ordinary cells so they look and act like embryonic stem cells -- the master cells of the body with the ability to produce any type of tissue or blood cell.
The new cells come from patients with 10 incurable genetic diseases and conditions, including Parkinson's, the paralyzing disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, juvenile diabetes and Down's Syndrome.
Writing in the journal Cell, the team at Harvard Medical School and Children's Hospital in Boston said the point is not yet to treat anyone, but to get as many researchers as possible experimenting with these cells in lab dishes to better understand the diseases.
"This is just the first wave of diseases," said Dr. George Daley, who is also a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator.
The new cells are called induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPS cells, and are made using four genes that reprogram an ordinary adult cell into a primitive stage resembling the first days of a human embryo -- a method pioneered by Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto University in Japan.
WHAT GOES WRONG
"They allow researchers ... to watch the disease progress in a dish, to watch what goes right or wrong," said Harvard's Dr. Doug Melton, who will head up the distribution of the cells. "I think we'll see in the years ahead that this opens the door to a new way of treating degenerative diseases."
Every cell in the human body contains the same genetic instructions, and in people with inherited genetic diseases, every cell carries the same mistakes, Daley and Melton said.
Stem cells -- and the new iPS cells -- will grow virtually immortal in the lab, and given the right conditions, can be made to form any desired tissue, from heart muscle to brain cells.
One day these might be used as tailor-made patches to fix diseased or damaged organs, but right now Melton said it is important to simply understand the diseases.
"We don't even know when a patient gets diabetes if each patient gets it the same way," Melton said. "There could be 50 different ways."
One thing his lab will do is try to make pancreatic beta cells -- the cells that make insulin and are destroyed in type 1 diabetes -- and study them to see what may be different among patients with the disease.
While the cells are an alternative to the more controversial embryonic stem cells, taken from a human embryo, Daley and Melton are adamant that they do not replace them.
For one thing, viruses are used to carry the transformative genes to make the iPS cells. Daley says cloning technology is still superior. "The egg does it faster and better," he said.
The federal government severely restricts embryonic stem cell research because of moral objections, but the Harvard lab works with private funding.
Melton said researchers can get batches of cells from the lab to grow on their own. Other cell types they have made to date include samples from people with Huntington's disease, a form of combined immunodeficiency commonly known as "bubble boy's disease," Lesch-Nyhan syndrome, Gaucher's disease, and two forms of muscular dystrophy.
(Reporting by Maggie Fox; editing by Julie Steenhuysen and Stacey Joyce)

Beike Uses Research Forum to Showcase its Stem Cell Therapies

Beike Uses Research Forum to Showcase its Stem Cell Therapies
Friday, August 01, 2008 9:53 PM
Recently, Shenzhen’s Beike Biotechnology held the first annual 2008 China Stem Cell Stem Cell Technology Forum, a gathering that was attended by over 300 of the world’s most renowned stem cell biologist and researchers. The Mandarin-language conference included many participants from China , while others attended from the United States , Canada , India , Australia , and Malaysia . The focus of the conference was on advanced induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell research and therapeutic uses of stem cells. The event was held at the China Medical City complex in Taizhou , China and chaired by Dr. Sean Hu, who also serves as Chairman of Beike Biotechnology Co., Ltd. Beike is a controversial company because it has already begun treating patients with injections of stem cells, usually a combination of umbilical cord cells and stem cells derived from each patient. Beike claims to treat over 250 patients per month, a total of more than 3,000 so far. Approximately 70% to 80% of the patients report themselves satisfied with their treatments, and the treatments have the ability to produce at least some therapeutic effect in 86% of its patients, according to statistics provided by Beike. Beike has not submitted its techniques to the rigors of a double-blind clinical test. Nor has it done the otherwise necessary animal testing. Nevertheless, the company points to its success with the majority of its patients as sufficient proof that its stem cell therapies are a valuable addition to the medical arsenal. Beike charges its patients between $20,000 and $30,000 for several rounds of stem cells injections, which it says can help cure diseases such as Alzheimer’s, atoxia, multiple sclerosis, optic nerve hypoplasia, and spinal muscular atrophy . Although most patients come from China , its therapies draw significant numbers of patients from the West. The former Lord Mayor of Manchester , Audrey Jones, for example, flew to China for a round of stem cell injections to treat her cerebellar atrophy and came back to England proclaiming herself much improved. Before the Beike therapy, she was confined to a wheelchair. Now she plans to walk into Manchester City Hall without aid. Beike’s web pages are replete with similar success stories for a wide variety of diseases (www.stemcellschina. com). Stem cells are commonly used for bone marrow transplants in the West, but experts say that bone marrow, which constantly undergoes renewal, is a better candidate for basic stem cell injections than Beike’ specialties of nerve/heart/ spinal cord problems. Stem cells will not necessarily find the correct nerve to repair without coaxing, according to the experts. They believe a set of simple stem cell injections is unlikely to correct septo-optic dysplasia, for example. On the other hand, Dr. Hu does not claim to know the mechanism behind Beike’s treatments, but he points to the results. Adding to Beike’s credibility is the high quality of its academic affiliations. Beike was founded with capital from Beijing University , Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and Shenzhen City Hall . It is also supported with funds from the China State National Fund. Its research and clinical work benefits from collaborations with Beijing University , Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, No. 3 Army Medical University, Zhongshan Medical University , Guiyang Medical College and Zhengzhou University . Beike has over 60 PhD researchers focusing on stem cell research in its labs. In November 2007, Beike Biotechnology teamed up with the Szenzhen Graduate School of Tsinghua University to establish a laboratory that will research cell reprogramming and gene engineering. The lab will conduct research on stem cells, the nuclear transfer and reprogramming of cells, and monoclonal antibodies. The new lab was honored with the “China Key Laboratory” designation and given a grant worth $4 million for equipment from the Shenzhen Municipal Government. The grant was part of $12 million given out in 2007 by Shenzhen to encourage innovative technologies. In June of this year, Beike announce it began outfitting a 21,500 square foot comprehensive medical stem cell storage and processing facility in Jiangsu province. When completed, the Jiangsu Stem Cell Storage Facility will boast the technology to freeze, store, and process a broad range of human stem cell samples for clinical application. Initially, the facility will provide stem cell banking for human umbilical cord blood stem cells, placenta stem cells, amniotic membrane stem cells, bone marrow stem cells, and later it will also be able to house induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS). The facility is expected to begin operations later this year, adding another dimension to Beike’s manifold stem cell-related activities
http://www.istockan alyst.com/ article/viewarti cle+articleid_ 2466354&title=Beike_ Uses_Research. html

Cell changes may help Lou Gehrig's research

Cell changes may help Lou Gehrig's research

YouNewsTV™
Story Published: Jul 31, 2008 at 11:22 AM PDT

By Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) - Using a new technique to reprogram cells, scientists are growing neurons from people with Lou Gehrig's disease, a possible first step in understanding how the deadly illness develops.Technically known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, the disease damages the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, eventually leading to death. The ALS Association estimates that as many as 30,000 Americans may have the disease at any given time."What we now have in the culture dish is cells that have the same genetic makeup as the ALS patient and they are the same cells that are affected by the disease," said Dr. Chris Henderson, co-director of the Center for Motor Neuron Biology and Disease at Columbia University.That means that, for the first time, scientists hope to be able to observe the development of the disease in the cells and, from that, possibly begin studies of treatments."There is no way we could go to an ALS patient and take these cells," Henderson pointed out.Instead, they used skin cells from two patients, aged 82 and 89, and were able to reprogram the cells into a type of adult stem cell, and from that into nerve cells, the researchers report in Friday's edition of the journal Science.Co-author Dr. Kevin Eggan of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute said what they hope to do next is study the cells in the lab and compare them with cells of someone who doesn't have that disease.ALS is a slowly developing disease and the test cells have not yet begun to show illness, they noted. But in similar studies in mouse cells the cultured neurons did develop the disease.Dr. Lucie Bruijn, science director and vice president of the ALS Association, called the work a first step."This is the beginning," she said in a telephone interview. "It's a most important approach.""Now we have to figure out whether these motor neurons are able to mature," she added. "For these to be useful for drug development we need mature motor neurons."The researchers worked with a form of ALS that is caused by a defect in a single gene, a rare form of the disease.But Henderson said that they even though the vast majority of cases are caused by different triggers, they hope to learn about the mechanism of the disease, how it develops after being triggered."Up until now, it's been impossible to get access to the neurons affected by ALS and, although everyone was excited by the potential of the new technology, it was uncertain that we would be able to obtain them from patients' skin cells," Henderson said. "Our paper now shows that we can generate hundreds of millions of motor neurons that are genetically identical to a patient's own neurons. This will be an immense help as we try to uncover the mechanisms behind this disease and screen for drugs that can prolong life."The research was supported by the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, Project ALS, the SMA Foundation, MDA Wings Over Wall Street, the Spina and Bowen families, the New York Stem Cell Foundation, the National Science Foundation and the John D. and Catherine T. McArthur Foundation

World Stem Cell Summit

There is a World Stem Cell Summit held in Madison by the Waisman Center on September 22 -24. There are several therapies under discussion for human trial in early 2009.
Here is a link to the program: http://www.worldstemcellsummit.com/

these are some of the answers people gave to the question: What is your biggest ALS fear?

I'M SHARING SOME OF THE MIND SETS OF PEOPLE WHO ARE FACING THE FUTURE W/ THIS DISEASE. THIS DISEASE HAS DEPLETED OUR PHYSICAL ABILITIES. AND IT DOES NOT STOP.

1. Total paralysis, I'm scared of it
2. losing the ability to walk.
3. I'm with Sheila on this one. Total paralysis. I nearly drowned when I was a kid, and I've had a fear of being helpless ever since. I've become claustrophobic because of this. The idea of being trapped in my body, not even able to move my head, scares the crap out of me. I believe this will drive me insane.
4. my mother having to watch me die.
5. No cure.
6. I can't spend time fearing what is ahead for me...I'll go nuts. I only focus on today and what I can still do. Everyday I pray for 3 things...strength, courage, and inner peace.
7. I fear being alive when the body bag is zipped!
8. A long drawn-out diminishing until I actually die. I have a slow form of MND - that is great in the earlier stages as I have longer to enjoy doing the things I can still do but that benefit is amply balanced by the fact that the later stages when total paralysis kicks in will last much longer too. I have no fear of death itself but I certainly fear the stage before when I am unable to do anything except just be there.

Jul 22 What is your biggest ALS fear?

Jul 22
What is your biggest ALS fear?
Created by TipaCow on www.patientslikeme.com


my answer:
it is not DYING that scares-i'm okay w/ that. it's GETTING dead that keeps me awake at night....

World’s First Genome-Wide Spinal Cord Atlas Unveiled

July 21, 2008
World’s First Genome-Wide Spinal Cord Atlas Unveiled

Co-Funded by The ALS Association
The ALS Association has joined a funding consortium of non-profit and private organizations to fund the Allen Spinal Cord Atlas, which was unveiled as the world’s first genome-wide map of the mouse spinal cord, key to the study of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and other diseases, disorders and traumatic injuries of the spinal cord.
Created by the Seattle, Wash.-based Allen Institute for Brain Science, the atlas enables researchers to access the free online data to advance their research surrounding these conditions.
“The atlas enables scientists to determine the location of genes and their expression patterns at the cellular level in the spinal cord,” said Lucie Bruijn, Ph.D., science director and vice president of The Association. “This will provide an important reference when trying to understand gene changes and how these are linked to disease in mouse models of ALS.”
From Lou Gehrig’s Disease (ALS) to Spinal Muscular Atrophy, spinal cord related diseases and disorders affect people of all ages. As many as 30,000 Americans, including military veterans, suffer from ALS at any given time; and multiple sclerosis affects 2.5 million people worldwide, to name a few. Nearly one-quarter of a million Americans—including several thousand troops who have served in Iraq—have suffered or suffer from a spinal cord injury.
The Institute’s unique funding model, designed to transform public, private and foundation funds into breakthrough scientific discoveries, supported the Spinal Cord Atlas’ dedicated consortium of public and private entities—including The Association, PVA Research Foundation, Wyeth Research, PEMCO Insurance, National Multiple Sclerosis Society, International Spinal Research Trust and philanthropist and Institute founder Paul G. Allen, as well as numerous anonymous donors.
“We were so thrilled to work with such a diverse array of funders with a shared goal of supporting this important project—which the Institute would never have completed without their support,” said Elaine Jones, chief operating officer at the Allen Institute. “The Allen Spinal Cord Atlas serves as a successful example of how major scientific projects can be funded, and we are eternally grateful to our partners.”
The atlas will be completed in a 12-month time frame. While inaugural data—approximately 2,000 genes—from the Allen Spinal Cord Atlas is now available (http://mousespinal.brain-map.org), the Institute will continue to follow its founding mission and upload additional information until the projected completion by the end of 2008. It is estimated that hundreds of users from universities, research institutes, pharmaceutical companies and government organizations will use the atlas.
When completed, the Allen Spinal Cord Atlas will detail approximately 20,000 genes including data from youth and adult developmental stages. It will also feature data across the full length of the spinal cord as well as anatomical reference sections.
The ALS Association is the only not-for-profit voluntary health organization dedicated solely to the fight against ALS through research, patient care, advocacy and public education. The mission of The Association is to lead the fight to cure and treat ALS through global, cutting-edge research, and to empower people with Lou Gehrig’s Disease and their families to live fuller lives by providing them with compassionate care and support.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLXeAm_Bo00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLXeAm_Bo00
a 16 yr old w/ ALS

If everyone cared and nobody cried
If everyone loved and nobody lied
If everyone shared and swallowed their pride
Then we'd see the day when nobody died

When nobody died....We'd see the day,
we'd see the day
When nobody died
We'd see the day, we'd see the day
When nobody died
We'd see the day when nobody died

it's at the 9-12 month mark when will know if it works

Dear all,

You are receiving this message because you or your PALS are participating in or have participated in or requested information about the online worldwide ALS lithium study. We wanted to let you know that the preliminary three month study report is now available for download. Please go to http://alslithium.atspace.com/ and download the report from the latest "updates" link at the bottom of the page. Please note that this is a preliminary report which has not yet been edited or approved by PatientsLikeMe.We will continue to collected data through the 6 month point after which we will write up a final report. All data collection and analysis after that point will be done by PatientsLikeMe.Our basic results so far are, in summary:At the three month point:

Lithium does not affect ALS progression rates, at least for most PALS

Taking riluzole with lithium does not make a difference

Reaching a blood level of 0.4 does not make a difference

The ALSFRS-R score when lithium was started doesn't make a difference

Lithium may relieve cramps and fascics and spasticity for some at low doses (0.2 mmol/l blood concentration)Although not in the 3 month report, it seems that PALS who are taking an Omega 3 supplement are progressing a bit more slowly. There was also an interesting research report that came out yesterday that calcium supplements may be helpful (Medications and laboratory parameters as prognostic factors in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Qureshi M, Shui A, Dibernardo AB, Brown Jr RH, Schoenfeld DA, Cudkowicz ME.) The research abstract didn't give the dosage, but a quick search of PLM indicated that many PALS on calcium are taking ~1200 mg/day.

Thank you so, so much to everyone who has provided data for the lithium trial. So far our research results have been disappointing, but it is so much better to get results quickly so that we can move onto the next thing rather than to have to wait 2 to 3 years for the traditional research machinery to do its work. You have shown what a dedicated groups of PALS and CALS can do!Best wishes to everyone -- I'll be in touch,Karen

Hope is the Thing with Feathers
Posted: 15 Jul 2008 03:21 PM CDT
“Hope” is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul
And sings the tune without the words
And never stops at all,
And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.
I’ve heard it in the chillest land
And on the strangest sea,
Yet never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.
By: Emily Dickinson
- Emily Dickinson

Life is not about waiting for the storm to clear, it's about learning to dance in the rain

a great friend sent this to me

makes sense.....

I can see clearly now, the rain is gone,
I can see all obstacles in my way
Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind
It's gonna be a bright (bright), bright (bright)Sun-Shiny day. (I FUCKING HOPE SO!!)

Johnny Nash ~ I Can See Clearly Now

good news

Michigan stem cell research proposal advances
By TIM MARTIN,
Associated Press WriterTue Jul 8, 4:06 AM ET
Supporters of a ballot measure that would loosen Michigan's restrictions on embryonic stem cell research took a big step toward placing it on the November ballot.
The Stem Cell Research Ballot Question Committee said Monday it turned in more than 570,000 voter signatures backing the measure. More than 380,000 of them must be ruled valid for the proposal to reach voters.
Backers say embryonic stem cell research holds the potential to help treat or cure diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, cancer, sickle cell anemia and diabetes.
The politically diverse group that helped launch the campaign Monday included former Republican U.S. Rep. Joe Schwarz and former Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Larry Owen.
"It is research that we know has a high chance of curing many diseases and saving many lives," said Owen, the campaign chairman.
Opponents raise ethical concerns because the research involves the use and destruction of human embryos. The Michigan Catholic Conference and Right to Life of Michigan oppose the proposal and an opposition group called Michigan Citizens Against Unrestricted Science and Experimentation is forming.
"The proposal is deliberately deceptive," group spokesman David Doyle said. "It's the confusing legalese that is the problem."
Ballot proposal supporters countered that their opponents are the ones misrepresenting the issues. Supporters are trying to make the ballot because their efforts to change state law have failed in the Legislature.
Some embryonic stem cell research is allowed in Michigan. But the state's laws related to the research are among the nation's most restrictive, allowing only the use of stem cell lines from California, Illinois or other states with less restrictive laws. Those lines sometimes are patented by other researchers.
Ballot proposal supporters say changing Michigan's law would help broaden the type of available stem cell lines, opening up new avenues for potential cures and eventually drawing more research money to the state.
The proposal would change Michigan law to allow research on donated embryos created during fertility treatments that otherwise would be discarded. It's now a state felony to use new embryonic stem cells for research.
Supporters of the proposal to amend the constitution say it protects and strengthens Michigan's ban on human cloning. The proposal says nothing in it "shall alter Michigan's current prohibition on human cloning."
Opponents say the proposal does not explicitly put a ban on human cloning in the state constitution, so cloning could be allowed if state law is ever changed to permit it.
Stem cells are rare cells in tissues that give rise to most other cells. While many scientists say embryonic stem cell research holds the most medical versatility and potential, critics are upset that stem cells are harvested from adults or umbilical cords.
___
On the Net:
Stem Cell Research Ballot Question Committee: http://www.curemichigan.com
Michigan Citizens Against Unrestricted Science and Experimentation: http://www.micause.com

A POEM: — anon·y·mous·ly SENT TO ME

Three Little Letters
In Honor of Robert J Cram

A life altering change at a blink of an eye,
a debilitating disease can leave you wondering “Why”?

Weakness and Strength is the bodies constant fight,
no cure to the illness leaves a future un-bright.

Speaking with no words is a challenge to conquest,
faith and patience is what does it best.

Courage and Hope is your medication for pain,
time is the enemy with nothing to gain.

Day to day struggles makes it difficult to see,
that God has a plan and knows what’s best for me.

Education and awareness is priority no less,
with hopes to finding a cure and strike out ALS.



-Ashley Meadows
June 2008

Turning an adversity into opportunity is possible

ALS Association Wins Fight for Power Wheelchairs

ALS Association Wins Fight for Power Wheelchairs
Dear Drew,
Thanks to the outreach of ALS advocates in key states across the country, the U.S. Senate this afternoon passed legislation (HR 6331) that would exclude power wheelchairs from Medicare's new competitive bidding program. The bill, which passed by a 69-30 vote, also would delay implementation of the program for 18 months. This is a tremendous victory for people with ALS and their families and helps to ensure PALS will continue to have access to needed power wheelchairs!
For nearly two years, The ALS Association has worked with Congress to exclude high-end power chairs from the new program for fear that it would limit the types of chairs available to PALS, reduce services and force PALS to obtain chairs from suppliers who do not know the unique medical needs of people with ALS.
The Association held a breakout session on competitive bidding during our Advocacy Conference in May and worked closely with PALS and Chapters to educate Congress on the unique needs of people with ALS, making it clear that one-size-fits-all policies like competitive bidding are not appropriate when it comes to this disease. In fact, the participation of PALS at a press conference on competitive bidding last year helped to highlight the concerns of the ALS community and clearly demonstrated that the chairs needed by PALS are much different than those used by most Medicare beneficiaries.
With today's vote, we are one step closer to ensuring that competitive bidding will not limit the ability of PALS to access to the power chairs they need when they need them.
The House of Representatives already has passed HR 6331 with broad support so the bill now heads to the President for his signature. The President has signaled that he may veto the bill due to concerns about other unrelated provisions. However, both the Senate and House passed the bill with enough support to override a veto and enact HR 6331 into law.
We would like to thank all of the PALS, families and Chapters who have helped to reach out to Congress in support of this issue over the past two years. Your outreach has continued to make a difference!
If you have any questions about today's vote or would like additional information, please contact the Advocacy Department at advocacy@alsa-national.org or 1-877-444-ALSA.
Thank you!

Stem cells 'halt nerve disease'

Stem cells 'halt nerve disease'

The injection contained immature foetal glial cells
An injection of stem cells has been used to cure mice with a normally fatal nervous system condition.
The therapy which helped repair faulty nerve wiring raises hopes of treatments for children with rare and deadly nervous leukodystrophy disorders.
A UK expert said human treatments were still some way off - but potentially the technique could be used to treat conditions such as multiple sclerosis.
The US study features in the journal Cell: Stem Cell.
It's extremely exciting to think about not only treating but actually curing a disease, particularly an awful disease that affects children Professor Steven GoldmanUniversity of Rochester Medical Center
The scientists from the University of Rochester Medical Center believe it may be the first time that this type of "shiverer" mouse has been cured.
Its genetic makeup means that its nerve cells do not have enough myelin, a fatty coating which acts like the sheath on an electrical wire.
Without it, nerve signals do not travel properly from cell to cell, causing the trademark shaking and wobbling symptoms, and normally death within four months.
There are dozens of rare human disorders which involve genetic myelin-related faults in the nervous system, most of which are fatal in childhood or young adulthood.
One of the most well-known of these affected Lorenzo Odone, who died last week after decades battling adrenoleukodystrophy.
Surviving minority
The US team did not use "true" stem cells, which have the ability to turn into any cell in the body, but precursor stem cells, which can become one of a limited number of cell types.
The "glial cells" used here can become among other things, oligdendrocytes, the cells which produce the myelin sheath.
The cells were injected in different places in the central nervous system in a bid to see if this could make any difference to the overall symptoms.
For most, it made none, with three-quarters of the 26 mice injected dying around the same time as mice who had received no treatment.
However, for six mice, the difference was stark - in just two months, the cells had spread around, multiplying, and covering nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, and producing myelin to coat them.
Two of the mice lived longer than usual, but the other four were still alive a year later, free from virtually all symptoms.
'Awful disease'
Professor Steven Goldman, who led the study, said: "We kept expecting them to die, but not only did they not die, they improved day by day.
"It's extremely exciting to think about not only treating but actually curing a disease, particularly an awful disease that affects children.
Professor David Attwell, from University College London, said the study represented an "important proof of principle" that transplantation of these "precursor" cells could help restore myelin not only within people with leukodystrophies, but in theory within those affected by other conditions involving loss of myelin, such as multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy and spinal cord injury.
However, he said: "The work is still a long way from being applied in humans, and the paper raises several issues which could affect the chances of that happening.
"Only a small fraction of the mice were cured, and it is unclear why."
He said that other potential hurdles were whether within humans, defective myelin-producing cells would be as readily replaced by the new transplanted in versions, and whether, as in the mice, the immune system would have to be suppressed prior to treatment. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7435137.stm
6 Mark this post as helpful

ALS toxic assault

ALS toxic assault
Date: 07/04/2008

Leaky blood vessels that lose their ability to protect the spinal cord from toxins may play a role in the development of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, better known as ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease, according to research published in the April issue of Nature Neuroscience.
The results mark the first time that scientists have witnessed molecular changes occurring long before key nerve cells start dying. The unexpected finding opens up a new front in studies of ALS, a disease in which motor neurons in the spinal cord die off for unknown reasons, resulting in dramatically weakened muscles. Patients lose their strength, their ability to move or swallow, and eventually lose their ability even to breathe. Most patients live only a few years after diagnosis.
"We believe these changes contribute to or possibly initiate the onset of ALS," said lead author Berislav Zlokovic, M.D., Ph.D., of the University of Rochester Medical Center. "It's clear that these changes occur before the loss of neurons, and it's well known that the types of changes we are seeing certainly injure or kill these types of cells, which are extremely sensitive to their biochemical environment."
The results, discovered by studying mutant mice that have an inherited form of the disease, were made by a collaboration of neuroscientists from the University of Rochester Medical Center working together with a team of ALS experts from the University of California at San Diego. Zlokovic, a pioneer in learning how the body's vascular system plays a role in neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's disease and ALS, led the team, and the first author is post-doctoral researcher Zhihui Zhong, Ph.D.
While it's unlikely the new findings will help ALS patients immediately, the results open up a new and unexpected way to think about the disease. Zlokovic's team is currently testing in the laboratory a compound that may help seal up leaky vessels and protect the neurons targeted by ALS.
The team studied mice with a mutation in a gene for superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD-1), which in healthy people and mice plays an important role keeping cells safe from damaging molecules known as free radicals. Scientists estimate that SOD-1 mutations play a role in a small number of cases of ALS overall in people, about one-quarter of the 10 percent or so of cases that are inherited. But those cases provide a unique window to study the disease's initial steps.
In the Nature Neuroscience paper, the group from Rochester's Center for Neurodegenerative and Vascular Brain Disorders and UCSD showed that a breakdown in the natural barrier between the blood and the spinal cord breaks down early on in mice destined to get ALS, long before nerve cells appear sick or die.
In this work, the team showed that the barrier between the blood and the spinal cord weakens in all three types of genetically based ALS cases that involve SOD-1 mutations, allowing toxic substances to flood into the spinal cord and directly affect neurons.
That barrier is crucial for the health of our central nervous system, which is treated like the inner sanctum of the body. Like a high-performance race car that demands a choice fuel, our neurons work well only if the chemical environment in the brain and spinal cord is precisely maintained within a strict, narrow set of conditions.
To maintain that select environment, the body has strict barriers or gateways for substances entering or exiting the central nervous system. Blood vessels run through our brain and spinal cord and supply oxygen and other nutrients, and the lining of those blood vessels constitutes a biochemical barrier to protect the central nervous system from toxins, inflammatory cells, red blood cells, blood products, and a variety of other potential toxic insults.
The barrier between the blood and the spinal cord isn't some stand-alone structure that keeps all substances away from the spinal cord. Rather, the word "barrier" describes an elaborate molecular lattice that lines the insides of the blood vessels that weave throughout the spinal cord. The lattice controls which molecules can cross from the blood to the neurons in the spinal cord, and which cannot. It's a bit like netting with very small openings that line the inside of blood vessels.
Oxygen and many nutrients get the OK to pass through the barrier in measured amounts. And the barrier readily accepts waste products from the spinal cord, transporting them away from the central nervous system and eventually out of the body. But the "netting" should be taut and should bar substances in the blood that have no business being near neurons.
The team found that a SOD-1 mutation disrupted key building blocks in the barrier. Essentially, the mutations loosened the lattice, creating bigger holes in the barrier that allowed molecular interlopers to pass from the blood to the spinal cord.
Mice with the mutation had lower levels of three types of "tight junction proteins" that are key components of the barrier: ZO-1, occludin and claudin-5. In mice just two months old, the numbers of those important tight junction proteins in the linings of blood vessels were reduced by about half, by 40 to 60 percent, allowing the lattice to loosen abnormally.
The weakened barrier brought about several problems. Neurons were exposed directly to biochemical byproducts of haemoglobin, which forms reactive oxygen molecules that injure neurons. Where the barrier had weakened, tiny hemorrhages dotted the spinal column. The smallest blood vessels crucial to nerve health shrunk: Mice with the mutation had total capillary length in the spinal cord 10 to 15 percent less than healthy mice, and their blood flow in the spinal cord was reduced by 30 to 45 percent.
Scientists must investigate whether the same processes happen in forms of ALS that are not inherited. Zlokovic notes that from what is known so far, the disease progresses exactly in inherited forms and forms that are not inherited.
"The vascular system is crucial to health - it's how oxygen and other nutrients are delivered to cells, and how toxins are removed," said Zlokovic, who is professor of Neurosurgery and Neurology and director of the Center for Neurodegenerative and Vascular Brain Disorders. "Any damage to the vascular system is a serious threat to the organism. It's clear now that the vascular system is certainly involved in the development of ALS."
Zlokovic first began doing research on the disease in 2004, when a former classmate from medical school who had been diagnosed with ALS and was looking for new treatments contacted him. By the time his friend died two years later, Zlokovic was well underway in studies investigating the possible role of the vascular system.
During the last 15 years, Zlokovic has pioneered the view that the vascular system plays a central role in many neurodegenerative diseases. He has found that a breakdown in the barriers between the blood and the central nervous system may be at the root of diseases like Alzheimer's. In January, Zlokovic reviewed the evidence for involvement of the barrier in diseases like Alzheimer's, ALS, and multiple sclerosis in a 24-page review in Neuron.

A SONG.....

It used to seem to me
That my life ran on too fast
And I had to take it slowly
Just to make the good parts last
But when youre born to run
Its so hard to just slow down
So dont be surprised to see me
Back in that bright part of town
Ill be back in the high life again
All the doors I closed one time will open up again
Ill be back in the high life again
All the eyes that watched me once will smile and take me in

appropriate for my challenge

There are really only two ways to approach life - as victim or as gallant fighter - and you must decide if you want to act or react, deal your own cards or play with a stacked deck. And if you don't decide which way to play with life, it always plays with you.--Merle Shain

If you're never scared or embarrassed or hurt, it means you never take any chances.--Julia Soul

If you're never scared or embarrassed or hurt, it means you never take any chances.--Julia Soul

Devices known as brain-machine interfaces could someday be used routinely to help paralyzed patients and amputees control prosthetic limbs with just t

Devices known as brain-machine interfaces could someday be used routinely to help paralyzed patients and amputees control prosthetic limbs with just their thoughts.

--Now, University of Florida researchers have taken the concept a step further, devising a way for computerized devices not only to translate brain signals into movement but also to evolve with the brain as it learns.
Instead of simply interpreting brain signals and routing them to a robotic hand or leg, this type of brain-machine interface would adapt to a person's behavior over time and use the knowledge to help complete a task more efficiently, sort of like an assistant, say UF College of Medicine and College of Engineering researchers who developed a model system and tested it in rats.
Until now, brain-machine interfaces have been designed as one-way conversations between the brain and a computer, with the brain doing all the talking and the computer following commands. The system UF engineers created actually allows the computer to have a say in that conversation, too, according to findings published this month online in the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers journal IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering.
"In the grand scheme of brain-machine interfaces, this is a complete paradigm change," said Justin C. Sanchez, Ph.D., a UF assistant professor of pediatric neurology and the study's lead author. "This idea opens up all kinds of possibilities for how we interact with devices. It's not just about giving instructions but about those devices assisting us in a common goal. You know the goal, the computer knows the goal and you work together to solve the task."
Scientists at UF and other institutions have been studying and refining brain-machine interfaces for years, developing and testing numerous variations of the technology with the goal of creating implantable, computer-chip-sized devices capable of controlling limbs or treating diseases.
The devices are programmed with complex algorithms that interpret thoughts. But the algorithms, or code, used in current brain-machine interfaces don't adapt to change, Sanchez said.
"The status quo of brain-machine interfaces that are out there have static and fixed decoding algorithms, which assume a person thinks one way for all time," he said. "We learn throughout our lives and come into different scenarios, so you need to develop a paradigm that allows interaction and growth."
To create this type of brain-machine interface, Sanchez and his colleagues developed a system based on setting goals and giving rewards.
Fitted with tiny electrodes in their brains to capture signals for the computer to unravel, three rats were taught to move a robotic arm toward a target with just their thoughts. Each time they succeeded, the rats were rewarded with a drop of water.
The computer's goal, on the other hand, was to earn as many points as possible, Sanchez said. The closer a rat moved the arm to the target, the more points the computer received, giving it incentive to determine which brain signals lead to the most rewards, making the process more efficient for the rat. The researchers conducted several tests with the rats, requiring them to hit targets that were farther and farther away. Despite this increasing difficulty, the rats completed the tasks more efficiently over time and did so at a significantly higher rate than if they had just aimed correctly by chance, Sanchez said.
"We think this dialogue with a goal is how we can make these systems evolve over time," Sanchez said. "We want these devices to grow with the user. (Also) we want users to be able to experience new scenarios and be able to control the device."
Dawn Taylor, Ph.D., an assistant professor of biomedical engineering at Case Western Reserve University, said the results of the study add a new dimension to brain-machine interface research. That UF researchers were able to train rats to use the robotic arm and then obtain significant results from animals lacking the mental prowess of primates or humans is also impressive, she said.
"It's a clear demonstration of a methodology that will work in situations when other implementations would fall apart," Taylor said.
Source : University of Florida

Nerve Cells Derived From Stem Cells And Transplanted Into Mice May Lead To Improved Brain Treatments

Nerve Cells Derived From Stem Cells And Transplanted Into Mice May Lead To Improved Brain Treatments
ScienceDaily (June 26, 2008)
- Scientists at the Burnham Institute for Medical Research have, for the first time, genetically programmed embryonic stem (ES) cells to become nerve cells when transplanted into the brain, according to a new study published in The Journal of Neuroscience.
See also:
Health & Medicine
Stem Cells
Brain Tumor
Nervous System
Mind & Brain
Brain Injury
Dementia
Neuroscience
Reference
Embryonic stem cell
Stem cell treatments
Astrocyte
Peripheral vision
The research, an important step toward developing new treatments for stroke, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and other neurological conditions showed that mice afflicted by stroke showed tangible therapeutic improvement following transplantation of these cells. None of the mice formed tumors, which had been a major setback in prior attempts at stem cell transplantation.
The team was led by Stuart A. Lipton, M.D., Ph.D., professor and director of the Del E. Webb Neuroscience, Aging, and Stem Cell Research Center at Burnham. Dr. Lipton is also a clinical neurologist who treats patients with these disorders. Collaborators included investigators from The Scripps Research Institute.
"We found that we could create new nerve cells from stem cells, transplant them effectively and make a positive difference in the behavior of the mice," said Dr. Lipton. "These findings could potentially lead to new treatments for stroke and neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's disease."
Conditions such as stroke, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Huntington's disease destroy brain cells, causing speech and memory loss and other debilitating consequences. In theory, transplanting neuronal brain cells could restore at least some brain function, just as heart transplants restore blood flow.
Prior to this research, creating pure neuronal cells from ES cells had been problematic as the cells did not always differentiate into neurons. Sometimes they became glial cells, which lack many of the neurons' desirable properties. Even when the neuronal cells were created successfully, they often died in the brain following transplant--a process called programmed cell death or apoptosis. In addition, the cells would sometimes become tumors.
Dr. Lipton solved these problems by inducing ES cells to express a protein, discovered in his laboratory called myocyte enhancer factor 2C (MEF2C). MEF2C is a transcription factor that turns on specific genes which then drive stem cells to become nerve cells. Using MEF2C, the researchers created colonies of pure neuronal progenitor cells, a stage of development that occurs before becoming a nerve cell, with no tumors. These cells were then transplanted into the brain and later became adult nerve cells. MEF2C also protected the cells from apoptosis once inside the brain.
"To move forward with stem cell-based therapies, we need to have a reliable source of nerve cells that can be easily grown, differentiate in the way that we want them to and remain viable after transplantation," said Dr. Lipton. "MEF2C helps this process first by turning on the genes that, when expressed, make stem cells into nerve cells. It then turns on other genes that keep those new nerve cells from dying. As a result, we were able to produce neuronal progenitor cells that differentiate into a virtually pure population of neurons and survive inside the brain."
The next step was to determine whether the transplanted neural progenitor cells became nerve cells that integrated into the existing network of nerve cells in the brain. Performing intricate electrical studies, Dr. Lipton's investigative team showed that the new nerve cells, derived from the stem cells, could send and receive proper electrical signals to the rest of the brain.
They then determined if the new cells could provide cognitive benefits to the stroke-afflicted mice. The team executed a battery of neurobehavioral tests and found that the mice that received the transplants showed significant behavioral improvements, although their performance did not reach that of the non-stroke control mice. These results suggest that MEF2C expression in the transplanted cells was a significant factor in reducing the stroke-induced deficits.
The work was supported in part by National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants and a Senior Scholar Award in Aging Research from the Ellison Medical Foundation.

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

me doing aqua therapy......

A HAM FOR THE CAM

LIKE ALWAYS...



I RECIEVED EMAILS FROM FRIENDS YESTERDAY LIVING IN ITALY, MALDOVA (boris' DAUGHTER ALINA), CANADA, KENTUCKY, STAMFORD, NORWALK, BOCA ROTON-FLA., WILTON, HANGZHOU-CHINA AND AUSTIN-TEXAS. AND IT MADE MY DAY WHEN I REALLY NEEDED IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!
THANK YOU-THANK YOU-THANK YOU
LOVE,
DREW

love

Love doesn't demand; love compromises. It doesn't possess; it frees. Love doesn't gloat; it praises. Love makes friends of strangers. It softens our rough edges and strengthens our assets. Knowing we're loved inspires us and invites forth our best effort. Offering our love humbles us and cultivates an inner joy.

pics from gaylord rehab

i'm really taking a poop.........

taking a nap

that is tony-my OT

In life, the difficult periods are the best periods to gain experience and shore up determination. As a result, my mental status is much improved because of them.--The Dalai Lama

Lou Gehrig’s Disease Protein Found Throughout Brain, Suggesting Effects Beyond Motor Neurons, Find Penn Researchers

New research findings - new Hope !!!The link:http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2008/06/als-tdp43-throughout-brain.htmlThe article:NEWS RELEASE --------------------------------------------------------------------------------JUNE 16 , 2008

Lou Gehrig’s Disease Protein Found Throughout Brain, Suggesting Effects Beyond Motor Neurons, Find Penn Researchers

PHILADELPHIA –Two years ago researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine discovered that misfolded proteins called TDP-43 accumulated in the motor areas of the brains of patients with amyotropic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig's disease. Now, the same group has shown that TDP-43 accumulates throughout the brain, suggesting ALS has broader neurological effects than previously appreciated and treatments need to take into account more than motor neuron areas. Their article appeared in last month’s issue of the Archives of Neurology.Image of TDP-43 distribution. Red, orange, and yellow depict areas of highest density of TDP-43 pathology.Click on thumbnailto view full-size image (the image is awesome)“The primary implication for ALS patients is that we have identified a molecular target for new therapies," says co-author John Q. Trojanowski, MD, PhD, Director of Penn’s Institute on Aging. "The other implication is that new therapies for ALS now need to go beyond treating only motor neurons.”Traditionally, ALS has been diagnosed based on muscle weakness and neurodegeneration of the upper and lower motor neurons that extend from the motor cortex to the spinal cord and brainstem motor neurons, which directly innervate voluntary muscles. For example, if you want to wiggle your big toe, the signal travels from the motor neuron in the cortex at the top of your head to a synapse on the lower spinal cord motor neurons in the lower back, which, in turn transmit the “wiggle” command by sending a signal to the muscles that move your big toe. Patients with ALS cannot wiggle their big toe or complete other voluntary muscle movements, including those carried out by their other extremities and eventually, by the diaphragm that moves air in and of their lungs.The study was conducted by examining post-mortem brain tissue of 31 ALS patients. The accumulation of TDP-43 was imaged by detecting TDP-43 with an antibody specific for this protein. TDP-43 pathology was observed not only in the areas of the brain and spinal cord that control voluntary movements, as expected, but also in regions of the brain that involve cognition, executive functioning, memory, and involuntary muscle control. TDP-43 pathology was not observed in any of the controls that did not have ALS.The pathological TDP-43 observed in ALS brains is different in two ways from normal TDP-43 that is found in most cells. The ALS-associated TDP-43 includes fragments of normal TDP-43 as well as other abnormally modified forms of TDP-43, and it is located in the cytoplasm of neurons; whereas, normal TDP-43 is found almost exclusively in the cell nucleus. In ALS, the pathological TDP-43 accumulates in large “globs,” mainly in cell bodies.“Our observation of TDP-43 in the brains of ALS patients suggests that ALS and two other neurodegenerative diseases called ALS- PLUS [ALS with cognitive impairments] and FTLD [frontotemporal lobar disease] may all have the same underlying molecular pathology involving abnormal TDP-43,” says Trojanowski. “This constitutes a paradigm shift in the way we think about these diseases.”Current research is focused on understanding the basic biology of TDP-43 in cell culture systems. The research team is now trying to find out whether pathological TDP-43 causes nerve cells to lose their normal function or if they take on a toxic function. “The over-riding goal that drives our work is helping ALS patients,” says Trojanowski.Felix Geser, of Penn, was lead author on this study. Linda Wong, Maria Martinez-Lage, Lauren Elman, Leo McCluskey, Sharon Xie, and Virginia Lee, all of Penn, and Nicholas Brandmeir, of Albany Medical College, Albany, NY were co-authors. This research was supported by grants from the National Institute on Aging.### Posted by Anonymous to The Journey at June 22, 2008 10:16 AM

Bishops condemn stem cell research

what a joke..............if they were in my FUCKING shoes, I guarantee they would reconsider

Bishops condemn stem cell research

By Barbara ListonFri Jun 13, 2:45 PM ET

Catholic bishops on Friday condemned the destruction of human embryos for stem cell research as a "gravely immoral act" in the organization's first formal statement on the issue. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops voted 191-1 to adopt the statement, without debate or discussion. "Harvesting these 'embryonic stem cells' involves the deliberate killing of innocent human beings, a gravely immoral act," the organization said. The identity of the one dissenter or the reason for his dissent was not made public at the gathering in Orlando. Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City, Kansas, said ballots are signed but are destroyed after they are counted. Naumann said the reason for the 'no' vote could be as simple as a disagreement with the phrasing in the document. "I'm assuming the person isn't going against the pope's teaching," Naumann said. The bishops' vote to adopt the statement, which will be distributed to Catholics in a brochure, came without debate. Hot button issues like abortion and stem cell research mobilized the Republican Party's conservative Christian base to help keep President George W. Bush in the White House in 2004. They may not have the same impact in the November election, as Republican candidate John McCain is viewed by many religious conservatives as soft on core issues like gay marriage and stem cell research. Individual bishops and conference officials have spoken out regularly over the years on embryonic stem cell research. But Bishop Arthur Seratelli of Paterson, New Jersey, said Catholics and the public generally remained confused about the moral and ethical implications of the research, and on the church's position. "U.S. Catholics and the general public deserve a clear, concise and unambiguous statement," Seratelli said. The formal statement on embryonic stem cell research is planned as the first of two related documents to be brought forward from the bishops' Committee on Pro-Life Activities, according to Archbishop John Myers of Newark. Myers said a forthcoming longer, more pastoral statement directed especially toward married Catholics and those dealing with infertility will tackle the issues of in vitro fertilization and the adoption of embryos by couples. The spare embryos eyed by scientists for research are a byproduct of in vitro fertilization. Myers said the Holy See is studying the issue of embryo adoption. The bishops cautioned that stem cell harvesting from spare embryos will spur the creation of additional embryos for scientific purposes and cloning, which the bishops said "reduces human procreation to a mere manufacturing process." "It now seems undeniable that once we cross the fundamental moral line that prevents us from treating any fellow human being as a mere object of research, there is no stopping point," the statement said. "We therefore urge Catholics and all people of good will to join us in reaffirming, precisely in this context of embryonic stem cell research, that 'the killing of innocent human creatures, even if carried out to help others, constitutes an absolutely unacceptable act,"' it added, quoting Pope John Paul II in "The Gospel of Life." (Editing by Michael Christie)

This is an article I was asked to be a part of--More patients seek experimental stem cell therapy-the boston globe

More patients seek experimental stem cell therapy
Boston Globe
US physicians warn of dangers
By Neil Munshi
Globe Correspondent / June 13, 2008
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2008/06/13/more_patients_seek_experimental_stem_cell_therapy/


Drew Schemera's blog, "The Journey," begins, appropriately enough, with a post detailing preflight jitters.
"I have been tossing and turning all night wondering where I get my strength, but I dig deep and find the answer, always, somewhere in my mind's abyss," he wrote just about a year ago. "A friend told me yesterday that this will be my calling when I get better to breathe life back into people and talk about my experience with this illness and my journey to get better."

Schemera, 35, was on his way to Beike Biotechnology in China for experimental stem cell therapy six months after being diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly known as ALS, and given a life expectancy of 2 1/2 years. His seven injections cost $42,500, including travel and food expenses, and he wrote that he noticed his breathing and swallowing improved afterward.
The Connecticut resident is part of a growing - and potentially dangerous - trend that has seen Americans traveling abroad for experimental stem cell treatments not allowed in the United States.
Leading stem cell researchers say the centers that offer these treatments are exploiting desperate patients. Research, they say, has not yet yielded treatments for diseases such as Parkinson's, ALS, or spinal cord injuries.
Yesterday, members of the International Society for Stem Cell Research began the process of setting professional standards for stem cell research. The guidelines, which will be finalized by year's end, advocate peer review for research, the informed consent of all patients involved in research, and scientific justification for the work. When finalized, the guidelines may help patients decide whether the treatment they seek meets professional standards.
"Because of the spotlight on stem cells, there's been a misconception by some patients that the cure is already here," said Dr. George Q. Daley, president of the research society and head of the stem cell program at Children's Hospital Boston. "We need to be clear that the path to cures is a long and arduous one."
Eden Laboratories, which runs a clinic in Belize, would not meet the stem cell society's proposed guidelines, but still supports them.
"These standards are being put out there to help patients and help the doctors become more educated when they are helping patients," decide whether to get stem cell treatment, said William Bodley, the company's chief operating officer. "The guidelines are absolutely critical and necessary to help in this process."
The clinic has not submitted research for peer review because it hasn't seen enough patients, Bodley said. Eden's website offers patient testimonials for its treatment of ALS, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's, and skin cancer that has spread, among other ailments.
Still, Daley cautions against any expensive, experimental treatments that offer only anecdotal evidence.
"Patients should be highly suspicious if they are being asked to fly off to far-off places that don't operate under the jurisdiction of any regulatory agency," Daley said, given that only blood stem cell transplants have demonstrated any proven treatment benefits for diseases, including leukemia.
"When we move outside that realm, everything becomes highly experimental," Daley said.
Schemera feels he did the right thing by getting treatment, he wrote in an e-mail (because speaking is difficult for him).
There were "no clinical trials in the USA of any significance and no cure on the horizon," he wrote. "I made a choice to come to China and work my butt off in therapy and change my diet, and I'm slowing it (ALS) down. I'm realistic [enough] to know that I probably will die from ALS, but I'll be damned if I'm not going down swinging! What do I have to lose?"
Daley said the task force that issued the guidelines struggled with the notion that if patients are terminally ill, they should be allowed to choose experimental treatments. Ultimately, the task force had to decide whether the risk of taking such experimental therapy outweighed the benefits - and decided it was important to emphasize how dangerous such treatment can be.
Which is exactly what Dr. Jang-Ho Cha, a neurologist at Massachusetts General Hospital, does when dealing with his terminally ill patients, many of whom suffer from Parkinson's and Huntington's disease. He has never had a patient make the trip overseas for treatment after seeking his advice, but he can understand the mindset of those who do.
"I can't completely blame people because I think it's reasonable and normal to feel very frustrated at the pace of advancement," he said. "I really believe [stem cell therapy] is going to be very powerful one day, but there are a lot of people out there who feel like they don't have time to wait."
© Copyright 2008 Globe Newspaper Company.
more stories like this

Stem cell field grows despite controversy: experts

Stem cell field grows despite controversy: experts
By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor Sat Jun 14, 4:13 PM ET
Political controversy may have slowed the pace of stem cell science, but the field is still promising enough to attract many talented researchers, stem cell experts said on Saturday.
A meeting of the International Society for Stem Cell Research in Philadelphia this week attracted 2,500 delegates, something ISSCR president Dr. George Daley finds encouraging.
"Despite the political opposition to parts of stem cell therapy, the entire field has grown in a healthy way," Daley said in a telephone interview.
Stem cells are the body's master cells, giving rise to tissues, organs and blood. Scientists hope to harness their power to create a new field of regenerative medicine, offering cures for diseases of the brain, cancer and serious injuries.
Stem cells from bone marrow can reconstitute the immune systems of patients with leukaemia and rare diseases, but other uses of the cells are experimental.
The only controversial stem cells are those taken from human embryos. Most stem cells have partially differentiated -- started down a clear developmental pathway to becoming a blood cell or a muscle cell, for instance.
Stem cells taken from balls of cells that develop days after conception are far more powerful, giving rise to all tissues in the body. President George W. Bush and some religious conservatives oppose their use because they involve destruction of the human embryo.
The issue has led to annual battles in Congress, with Bush vetoing legislation to require more federal funding of such research. Many experts feared the field would wither, or that expertise would flee to places such as Britain or Singapore that actively encourage embryonic stem cell research.
Instead, it is flourishing, Daley said.
PENT-UP DESIRE
"There obviously has been a pent-up desire to do this work," Daley said.
The discovery last year of induced pluripotent stem cells -- ordinary skin cells that can be transformed into something that looks very much like an embryonic stem cell -- has energized the field, Daley said.
"Now that the technology is easy and free of any political complications, you have got hundreds of new scientists jumping in and calling themselves stem cell biologists," Daley said.
However, experts speaking at the conference agreed that work needs to continue on stem cells from all sources, including embryonic stem cells.
Researchers learned how to make induced pluripotent stem cells or iPS cells by studying which genes were turned on and off as embryonic stem cells developed.
One big hurdle with iPS cells is that they can only be transformed by using viruses to carry in new genes. Applications for adult stem cells are limited because they do not live for long in the body.
"This will require serious work over quite a long time before we can take it to the clinic," said Olle Lindvall of the University of Lund in Sweden.
"Most of the experience we have in treating patients with cells has involved short-term successes," added Ira Fox of the University of Nebraska.
Researchers reported on progress in regenerating pancreatic cells to treat diabetes, using stem cells in gene therapy and in creating new nerve cells.
Others are studying the role of cancer stem cells in a range of tumours. Los Angeles-based ImmunoCellular Therapeutics, Ltd. reported on an experimental a cancer stem cell vaccine aimed at treating deadly brain tumours called glioblastomas.
(Editing by Xavier Briand)

hope........................

most recent pic of me at a pizza joint

sorry..........

hail the wings

sorry i haven't written!

i'm away till thursday and i will have quite the update on myself.......

Genetics Behind Lou Gehrig's Disease Progression Uncovered

http://www.medindia.net/news/Genetics-Behind-Lou-Gehrigs-Disease-Progression-Uncovered-37520-1.htm


Genetics Behind Lou Gehrig's Disease Progression Uncovered

The genetics behind Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) or Lou Gehrig's disease has been identified by University of Tokyo researchers.
Lead researchers Dr. Hidenori Ichijo and Dr. Hideki Nishitoh describe ALS as a rapidly progressive, fatal neurological disease involving the degeneration and death of motor neuron cells. In their study paper, the researchers have highlighted how mutations in the superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1) enzyme lead to motor neuron cell death and the progression of ALS. The researchers say that they have characterized a molecular pathway by which mutated SOD1 contributes to the accumulation of malformed proteins inside the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) compartment of motor neuron cells. They point out that beyond a certain threshold, the ER stress induces cell death. Dr. Ichijo says that the study has revealed that the inactivation of certain key factors in the pathway could mitigate neurodegeneration, and prolong survival in a mouse model of inherited ALS. The researchers admit that all familial ALS cases are not due to the SOD1 mutation, and that all persons with a mutated form of SOD1 do not develop ALS. They, however, insist that further insights into the mechanism of the disease could aid in the development of an effective treatment for the disease.Source-ANIRAS/L

THANKS ROBYN............

~~ When we choose to place our lives on hold until we think we are good enough or attractive enough or thin enough or rich enough or wise enough, we quite often discover, to our dismay, that life simply isn’t long enough. You did not come here to wait. You came to live. Start living today! ~~

How Stem Cells Could Fight Lou Gehrig's Disease

How Stem Cells Could Fight Lou Gehrig's Disease

Kerry A. Dolan and Robert Langreth
Used with permission from Forbes.com
Patients with Lou Gehrig's disease face a dismal prognosis. The only approved drug, Sanofi-Aventis's Rilutek, slows the fatal muscle-wasting disease by just a few months. Numerous experimental drugs have flopped in trials.
Can stem cells break the logjam?
That's the hope behind a path-breaking new collaboration between California Stem Cell, a biotech company in Irvine, Calif.; the charitable ALS Association; and a small Belgian drug discovery company. The concept is to use motor neuron cells the biotech firm has generated from embryonic stem cells to hunt for new drugs to treat amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, more commonly called ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease.
The ALS Association, a patient advocacy group based in Calabasas Hills, Calif., will fund the research as part of its initiative to speed up the discovery of new drugs and therapies for ALS. Funding could amount to several million dollars if the research proceeds as planned, says Dr. Lucie Brujin, science director for the ALS Association.
"We're very excited about what this can do for us," says Brujin. "Before, we were using motor neurons from mice or rats."
Even then, adds Brujin, it was difficult to get a large enough quantity of the cells to use for research purposes. California Stem Cell's ability to deliver large quantities of human motor neuron cells is "a valuable new tool to use in the drug discovery process," says Brujin.
Embryonic stem cells offer the hope of providing an unlimited supply of living human cells for use in drug discovery and cell transplant therapy. The hard part is coaxing stem cells to turn into the various types of cells that are needed for research--muscle, bone, neuron, liver cell pancreas and so on.
"The hope of stem cells is just a hope and nothing more" without an efficient method of turning them into different types of adult cells, says Hans Keirstead, a stem cell researcher at University of California, Irvine, and a member of California Stem Cell's scientific advisory board.
He says the premise behind California Stem Cell is to create an efficient process for generating large, pure batches of various types of brain cells and other cells from embryonic stem cells. So far, his company has created motor neurons, heart muscle cells, neuronal progenitors and heart pacemaker cells.
Under the deal, California Stem Cell will ship batches of its motor neuron cells to BioFocus DPI, a U.K. company that provides research services to pharmaceutical and biotech companies. (BioFocus is a unit of Belgian drug discovery company Galapagos.) BioFocus will develop a test to screen the motor neurons against some 11,000 different gene-silencing fragments that will shut off a gene in the motor neuron cells.
"The aim is to rescue the cells from cell death, since ALS is a disease of cell death," says Katherine Hilyard, vice president for biological sciences at BioFocus DPI.
This process, which should take about a year, should allow BioFocus DPI to come up with a handful of drug targets. The next steps would be to determine if they translate into good drugs and, if so, develop a drug aimed at one or more targets.
Hilyard says BioFocus DPI previously worked with another company attempting to produce human motor neurons, but that company couldn't successfully turn the embryonic stem cells into motor neuron cells. "It would be impossible to do this research" without these motor neuron cells, she says. "We're all very pleased with this development."
Separately, the New York-based charity Project ALS is independently working on a similar project with researchers at Columbia University and the Harvard Stem Cell Institute. The Columbia and Harvard researchers it sponsors have already made billions of motor neurons from embryonic stem cells and hope to begin using them in drug screens this year, says Project ALS Research Director Valerie Estess.
With Kevin Eggan, a cellular biologist at Harvard, Project ALS is also making progress in taking skin biopsies from ALS patients and reprogramming those to become motor neurons. This will create cells in the lab dish that are genetically identical to those in the spines of ALS patients.
Until now, Estess notes, researchers have had to test their experimental ALS drugs on mice that have been genetically engineered to get the disease. Too often, the drugs work great in the mice and then "failed miserably in people," she says. "What stem cells will provide us in the very short term is much better disease models. They will allow us to screen drugs more effectively … and will represent human disease more accurately."
Patients with ALS typically live for a mere three to five years after the disease is diagnosed. The disease attacks and kills motor neurons, the nerve cells responsible for movement. As motor neurons die, muscles grow weaker, and ALS patients have trouble speaking, chewing, swallowing and breathing. In its devastating last stages, people can become "locked in"--alive and conscious but unable to move an eyelash or communicate with the outside world in any way. ALS affects an estimated 30,000 people in the U.S.
There are several drugs now being tested to treat ALS, but all of them were first approved for some other disease. With any sort of luck, this new initiative could eventually lead to the first drug developed specifically to treat ALS.
In addition to its work in ALS, California Stem Cell is working with another charity, Families of Spinal Muscular Atrophy, to use motor neuron progenitor cells made from embryonic stem cells to treat this disease. SMA is a genetic disease that strikes children and causes muscles to waste away because they cannot make a crucial protein needed for motor neurons to survive. A trial for this therapy could begin next year.

Brazil's top court approves stem cell research

Brazil's top court approves stem cell research
By MARCO SIBAJA, Associated Press WriterThu May 29, 10:31 PM ET
Brazil's Supreme Court ruled Thursday that scientists can conduct embryonic stem cell research, which holds the promise of curing Parkinson's disease and diabetes but raises ethical concerns about the limits on human life.
Six of the court's 11 justices upheld a 2005 law allowing embryonic stem cell research and turned down a petition filed that same year by then-Attorney General Claudio Fontelles, who argued the law was unconstitutional because it violates the right to life.
The remaining five judges argued that while the 2005 law is constitutional, research should only be carried out "with restrictions" such as not allowing the embryo to be destroyed and submitting each case for the approval of an ethics commission.
The ruling drew immediate fire from church officials in the world's largest Roman Catholic country.
The National Conference of Brazilian Bishops issued a statement saying it "regretted" the ruling, comparing it to a death sentence. The bishops' conference said its position "is not a matter of religion, but of the defense of human life, beginning with conception."
The law opens the way for research with embryos resulting from in-vitro fertilization that have been frozen for at least three years.
Advocates have said that a favorable Supreme Court ruling could make Brazil Latin America's leader in stem cell research.
They praise Brazilian scientists for their work with adult stem cells for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases and Type 1 diabetes, and have said that similar breakthroughs could be achieved with embryonic stem cells.

ALS breakthrough holds hope

ALS breakthrough holds hope
Canwest News ServicePublished: Tuesday, May 27, 2008
VANCOUVER -- Researchers say it might be possible to slow, maybe treat, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis -- a fatal neurodegenerative disease known as ALS -- by stimulating the body's own stem cells.
A team, led by neurologist Dr. Neil Cashman at the University of British Columbia, announced yesterday that it has found a "safe pathway" for activating bone-marrow stem cells in ALS patients.
The idea is to use a growth-factor stimulant to increase the number of stem cells in the body, in the hope they will travel to the site of motor-neuron injury and slow down the disease's progression, says Cashman.
His team recently completed a small trial involving eight patients that showed a growth stimulant is well tolerated and can be safely used in people with ALS. Cashman says he's working to build support for a much larger trial involving ALS treatment centres across Canada to see whether there is a therapeutic benefit.
If it works, Cashman says the treatment could sidestep the use of stem cells made from human embryos, which is fraught with ethical problems.
But much research is needed to find out if stimulating the body's own stem cells will work.
ALS is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that kills one in 1,000 adult Canadians. Most die within five years of their first symptom.
There is no cure for ALS, and Cashman says finding one is "a very tall order."
© Times Colonist (Victoria) 2008

Stem Cell Research Goes Beyond Biology

Stem Cell Research Goes Beyond Biology
Todd McDevitt

The Georgia Institute of TechnologyLiveScience.comSat May 24, 10:41 AM ET
This Behind the Scenes article was provided to LiveScience in partnership with the National Science Foundation.
Why is an engineer studying stem cells? This is a question I have routinely been asked during my first three and a half years as an assistant professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University. The answer: the field of stem cell research needs engineers to translate the potential of stem cells into regenerative therapies and novel diagnostic technologies for biological sensing and pharmaceutical screening.Today, donated organs and tissues are used to replace ailing or injured tissues, but the need for transplantable tissues and organs far exceeds the available supply. Stem cells, directed to differentiate into specific cell types, offer the possibility of a renewable source of replacement cells to treat many chronic and degenerative diseases including Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases, spinal cord injury, stroke, heart disease, diabetes, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, muscular dystrophy and ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease).The potential of stem cells is endless - which is why I became increasingly interested in the role of stem cells within regenerative medicine and tissue engineering as I neared the completion of my Ph.D. in bioengineering from the University of Washington. As a result of my curiosity, I immersed myself in stem cell biology research during my postdoctoral fellowship in a cardiac pathology laboratory that focused on cell replacement therapies for myocardial repair.During my postdoctoral fellowship, I would often find that the outcomes of my experiments varied dramatically from week to week even though I followed the same procedures for growing and differentiating the cells. Sometimes my cultures contained many spontaneously and rhythmically beating foci of differentiating cells (evidence of primitive heart muscle formation in a dish), but other times I strained to find a single area of contracting cells and I was left pondering, "What was different this time?"
As an engineer, I was accustomed to controlled systems. The lack of consistency I frequently encountered in my experimental studies while working in this cell and molecular biology laboratory caused me a lot of frustration. General trends and significant differences were clear, but the more subtle changes that frequently seemed to occur went undetected. At the time, I accepted the limitations of the systems we were working with in order to complete my studies and publish the data, but those experiences shaped my views and vision for the future.I began to view stem cell differentiation studies differently. While most investigators studying stem cells were choosing a target cell population a priori and focusing their outcome assessments solely on their ability to obtain a specific cell type of interest, I wasn't. Any instance of failure to differentiate stem cells to a specific cell type represented a potential success in deriving other cell types. This "glass-half-full" perspective suggested to me that global analysis methods are required to truly comprehend how any one stem cell differentiates. Also, if a population of stem cells starts at the same initial point, how do they simultaneously diverge into a broad array of different cell types and what can be done to improve the homogeneity of differentiation?Now that I am an independent investigator with my own laboratory, I try to address these questions through various research projects. I want to better understand the extracellular environmental cues that regulate stem cell fate and develop engineering approaches to exploit these mechanisms to better control stem cell differentiation. For one project, we are studying how different mixing conditions modulate early embryonic stem cell commitment and subsequent downstream differentiation. To do this, we shake a petri dish of embryonic stem cells in suspension culture at different speeds while they are differentiating. We examine how different speeds modify the size, internal morphology and gene expression in "embryoid bodies" - the three-dimensional clumps of embryonic stem cells undergoing differentiation. The results suggest that designing bioreactors to shake at the optimal speed could generate increased yields of desired cell types from embryonic stem cells. In another project, we've developed a method of controlling the presentation of molecules within aggregates of embryonic stem cells to enhance the efficiency and purity of differentiation. Using biodegradable microspheres to release the molecules allows us to control when and where these factors are presented to the stem cells. Engineering the amounts and sequences of certain molecules released from the microspheres may direct differentiation to a specific cell type.We are also examining the molecules that embryonic stem cells spontaneously synthesize during differentiation to see if they can promote tissue regeneration in adult organisms. To do this, we are developing acellular matrices containing these unique factors and assessing their ability to promote tissue regeneration in a variety of wound-healing environments. These studies represent a new application for stem cells that could have broad implications.All of these projects help us better understand the mechanisms regulating stem cell fate and suggest new applications for stem cells to stimulate tissue regeneration. Although we still experience unexplained inconsistencies during the course of our studies because many unknowns remain, the future is bright for stem cell research and particularly for engineers to contribute to translating the potential of stem cells into viable regenerative therapies. (McDevitt presented his stem cell research on April 9 at the 235th American Chemical Society National Meeting. More details about his presentation are available here.) Video: Organ Repair Top 10 Mysterious Diseases What is a Stem Cell?
Editor's Note: This research was supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the federal agency charged with funding basic research and education across all fields of science and engineering. See the Behind the Scenes Archive. Original Story: Stem Cell Research Goes Beyond Biology
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