Isn't he so cute......................
Monday, December 31, 2007
Sunday, December 30, 2007
VERY GREAT ARTICLE
FROM K-AS ALWAYS.
AT LEAST CHINA IS DOING SOMETHING IN THE FIGHT AGAINST THIS AWFUL DISEASE. YA HEAR THAT USA-THEY ARE DOING, NOT SITTING ON THERE ASS HOPING! MAYBE YOU SHOULD TAKE A PAGE OUT OF THERE BOOK!
Note that China has been providing this treatment for MS and ALS for months now and it became our “official” treatment protocol for MS and ALS as of December 1st, 2007
Mesenchymal ALS & MS
Hadassah's Innovative Treatment for Multiple Sclerosis: Transplanting Stem Cells from Patient's Bone Marrow New Multiple Sclerosis Center Launched at Hadassah
Nov 22, 2007
A treatment developed at Hadassah, still in the research stage, has been tested on 25 multiple sclerosis and ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease) patients. Professor Dmitrius Karussis, a senior neurologist at Hadassah and the director of the new Multiple Sclerosis Center, working in collaboration with the University of Athens, and Professor Shimon Slavin, the former director of the Department of Bone Marrow Transplantation (BMT) and the BMT Laboratory at Hadassah, discovered that it is possible to remove stem cells from a patient's bone marrow, to isolate these cells under special conditions and to generate over 50 million cells within two months. As part of this process, mesenchymal cells (mature stem cells) are extracted from the patient and transplanted by a lumbar injection in the spinal column (into the spinal fluid of the central nervous system), with each patient serving as his/her own donor. The transplanted cells are marked in order to track and verify that they reach the intended destination in the patient's body.
"During the initial stage, our research included studying the effectiveness of stem cells in laboratory animals. We found that stem cells from bone marrow can reduce cerebral damage and improve the animal's functioning," Professor Karussis said. Professor Karussis has conducted clinical trials during the past two years with patients suffering from multiple sclerosis and ALS. "Most of the patients who underwent this process report an improvement in their condition,"
Professor Karussis said.
There are 3,000-4,000 multiple sclerosis patients in Israel and about a third of them are treated at Hadassah. Many patients also come to Hadassah from around the world. Multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune inflammatory disease of the central nervous system in which the immune system attacks the myelin insulation of neurons. As a result, the nervous system is damaged at a number of levels, leading to functional deficiencies in a number of neurological systems: sensory, motor, balance, sphincteral, and vision. "The onset of the disease is usually between the ages of 20 to 40, and can continue for 30 or more years. Thus, the center we opened is important for treating the patient over the course of years," said Professor Tamir Ben-Hur, the director of the Department of Neurology at Hadassah.
The new Multiple Sclerosis Center at Hadassah provides innovative treatments and is operated by neurologists who are world leaders in research, as well as rehabilitation physicians and advisors in the fields of urology, ophthalmology and social work.__._,_.___
AT LEAST CHINA IS DOING SOMETHING IN THE FIGHT AGAINST THIS AWFUL DISEASE. YA HEAR THAT USA-THEY ARE DOING, NOT SITTING ON THERE ASS HOPING! MAYBE YOU SHOULD TAKE A PAGE OUT OF THERE BOOK!
Note that China has been providing this treatment for MS and ALS for months now and it became our “official” treatment protocol for MS and ALS as of December 1st, 2007
Mesenchymal ALS & MS
Hadassah's Innovative Treatment for Multiple Sclerosis: Transplanting Stem Cells from Patient's Bone Marrow New Multiple Sclerosis Center Launched at Hadassah
Nov 22, 2007
A treatment developed at Hadassah, still in the research stage, has been tested on 25 multiple sclerosis and ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease) patients. Professor Dmitrius Karussis, a senior neurologist at Hadassah and the director of the new Multiple Sclerosis Center, working in collaboration with the University of Athens, and Professor Shimon Slavin, the former director of the Department of Bone Marrow Transplantation (BMT) and the BMT Laboratory at Hadassah, discovered that it is possible to remove stem cells from a patient's bone marrow, to isolate these cells under special conditions and to generate over 50 million cells within two months. As part of this process, mesenchymal cells (mature stem cells) are extracted from the patient and transplanted by a lumbar injection in the spinal column (into the spinal fluid of the central nervous system), with each patient serving as his/her own donor. The transplanted cells are marked in order to track and verify that they reach the intended destination in the patient's body.
"During the initial stage, our research included studying the effectiveness of stem cells in laboratory animals. We found that stem cells from bone marrow can reduce cerebral damage and improve the animal's functioning," Professor Karussis said. Professor Karussis has conducted clinical trials during the past two years with patients suffering from multiple sclerosis and ALS. "Most of the patients who underwent this process report an improvement in their condition,"
Professor Karussis said.
There are 3,000-4,000 multiple sclerosis patients in Israel and about a third of them are treated at Hadassah. Many patients also come to Hadassah from around the world. Multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune inflammatory disease of the central nervous system in which the immune system attacks the myelin insulation of neurons. As a result, the nervous system is damaged at a number of levels, leading to functional deficiencies in a number of neurological systems: sensory, motor, balance, sphincteral, and vision. "The onset of the disease is usually between the ages of 20 to 40, and can continue for 30 or more years. Thus, the center we opened is important for treating the patient over the course of years," said Professor Tamir Ben-Hur, the director of the Department of Neurology at Hadassah.
The new Multiple Sclerosis Center at Hadassah provides innovative treatments and is operated by neurologists who are world leaders in research, as well as rehabilitation physicians and advisors in the fields of urology, ophthalmology and social work.__._,_.___
ANOTHER RANT IS GROWING IN THE GARDEN I LIKE TO CALL "MY CHALLENGE"
STAY TUNED
ON A GOOD NOTE: I HAD A WONDERFUL CHRISTMAS-I HOPE IT WENT WELL FOR YOU.
ON A GOOD NOTE: I HAD A WONDERFUL CHRISTMAS-I HOPE IT WENT WELL FOR YOU.
VERY INTERESTING!
SKoreans claim to create cloned pigs through stem cells
Thu Dec 27, 2:08 AM ET
South Korean scientists said Thursday that they had developed a more efficient way to produce cloned pigs suitable for organ transplants for humans.
Unlike the traditional cloning method using somatic cells, the scientists said they had used stem cells extracted from pigs' bone marrow to obtain cloned embryos -- much improving the success rate.
The scientists wanted to clone smaller-than-normal pigs weighing between 60-80 kilogrammes (132-176 pounds) when adult, since their organs would be a similar size to human ones.
They said it was the first time such pigs had been cloned using stem cells.
"This is a highly efficient method to produce cloned mini-pigs," said Seong Hwan-Hoo, a senior researcher with the National Institute of Animal Science.
Embryos cloned using somatic cells have only a one to five percent chance of survival, the team said. Using stem cells, this can be increased to 20 percent.
Four baby pigs cloned through stem cells were born on December 3. One was killed for DNA analysis, one was crushed to death while feeding and the remaining two are growing well.
"This technology will be useful to produce mini-pigs with modified genes, whose organs may cause little resistance when transplanted into human beings," Seong told AFP.
South Korea's bio-engineering industry suffered a setback after a much-touted achievement by cloning expert Hwang Woo-Suk turned out to have been faked.
Hwang, who is on trial for fraud, embezzlement, ethical breaches and other charges, has been banned from research using human eggs after his claims that he created the first human stem cells through cloning were ruled to be bogus.
Thu Dec 27, 2:08 AM ET
South Korean scientists said Thursday that they had developed a more efficient way to produce cloned pigs suitable for organ transplants for humans.
Unlike the traditional cloning method using somatic cells, the scientists said they had used stem cells extracted from pigs' bone marrow to obtain cloned embryos -- much improving the success rate.
The scientists wanted to clone smaller-than-normal pigs weighing between 60-80 kilogrammes (132-176 pounds) when adult, since their organs would be a similar size to human ones.
They said it was the first time such pigs had been cloned using stem cells.
"This is a highly efficient method to produce cloned mini-pigs," said Seong Hwan-Hoo, a senior researcher with the National Institute of Animal Science.
Embryos cloned using somatic cells have only a one to five percent chance of survival, the team said. Using stem cells, this can be increased to 20 percent.
Four baby pigs cloned through stem cells were born on December 3. One was killed for DNA analysis, one was crushed to death while feeding and the remaining two are growing well.
"This technology will be useful to produce mini-pigs with modified genes, whose organs may cause little resistance when transplanted into human beings," Seong told AFP.
South Korea's bio-engineering industry suffered a setback after a much-touted achievement by cloning expert Hwang Woo-Suk turned out to have been faked.
Hwang, who is on trial for fraud, embezzlement, ethical breaches and other charges, has been banned from research using human eggs after his claims that he created the first human stem cells through cloning were ruled to be bogus.
Monday, December 24, 2007
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL
MERRY CHRISTMAS
Hey, I just made a total elf of myself. Check it out by clicking the link below.
http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1452907718
Hey, I just made a total elf of myself. Check it out by clicking the link below.
http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1452907718
Sunday, December 23, 2007
China has ethical guidelines for research on stem cell, genetic modification
China has worked out bio-safety and ethical guidelines to regulate the research on stem cell and genetic modification, said Vice Minister of Science and Technology Li Xueyong on Tuesday. "We attach great importance to moral and ethical issues in the research on stem cell and genetic modification," said Li, a delegate to the 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), on the sidelines of the five-yearly CPC conference. "The Chinese government has a clear-cut stand on the research of stem cell and genetic modification and pays much attention to bio-safety while actively and carefully promoting the industrialization of the technologies," the official said.
Saturday, December 22, 2007
GREAT ARTICLE
Chinese scientists take lead in developing "omnipotent cells"
November 26, 2007
On the morning of November 21, two research teams – one from the University of Wisconsin at Madison in the United States (US), and the other from Japan 's Kyoto University – both announced a new development in stem cell research. The US team is led by Yu Junying, a Chinese scientist who graduated from Beijing University . Both research teams applied genetic rescheduling technology. They used this technology to implant a group of four genes into skin cells and endowed the skin cells with embryonic stem cell functions by rescheduling the genes.
These kinds of cells are known as "iPS cells." By using these cells, scientists hope to avoid the ethical controversy in embryonic stem cell research; and promote the research of stem cell therapy on disease. The two research teams implanted genes of slightly different composition. And they used different types of human skin cells. Whereas the American research team used fibroblasts; the Japanese group chose facial skin cells. Experiments show that "iPS cells" and embryonic stem cells function similarly. "iPS" cells can now be translated into a variety of human cells.
Both research groups said they will continue to study these "imitating embryonic stem cells" in order to determine if significant differences exist between these cells and genuine embryonic stem cells in clinical applications. They believe that it is still too early to halt human embryonic stem cell research because humans are a long way from applying "iPS cells" to practical situations. Scientific community gives high marksThe two research teams published their respective reports in two authoritative scientific journals. The US report was published in "Science" magazine. The research team is led by Chinese scientist Yu Junying. The Japanese team, led by Professor Shinya Yamanaka, published their report in "Cell" magazine.
Robert Lanza, chief scientist of the American Institute of Advanced Technology – an institute engaged in human embryo cloning technology – said: "This study is a remarkable scientific milestone. It is comparable to the invention of the first aircraft by the Wright Brothers in the field of biology.
"British scientist Ian Wilmut, "midwife" of the world's first cloned sheep called Victoria , stated: "Now we can imagine an era in which we can create stem cells in a simple way and produce any organs by using specimens from any human organism."On the phone with Yu JunyingOn the morning of November 21, reporters contacted Chinese scientist Dr. Yu Junying. Dr. Yu said that the breakthrough is in fact the beginning of a broader study on the use of human cells. Yu Junying graduated from Beijing University and became a student of the University of Pennsylvania in the United States in 1997. After graduating in 2003, she received a position at the Thomson Laboratory of the University of Wisconsin at Madison , and started a new project on stem cell research. According to Yu, there are other Chinese researchers on the team.
By People's Daily Online
November 26, 2007
On the morning of November 21, two research teams – one from the University of Wisconsin at Madison in the United States (US), and the other from Japan 's Kyoto University – both announced a new development in stem cell research. The US team is led by Yu Junying, a Chinese scientist who graduated from Beijing University . Both research teams applied genetic rescheduling technology. They used this technology to implant a group of four genes into skin cells and endowed the skin cells with embryonic stem cell functions by rescheduling the genes.
These kinds of cells are known as "iPS cells." By using these cells, scientists hope to avoid the ethical controversy in embryonic stem cell research; and promote the research of stem cell therapy on disease. The two research teams implanted genes of slightly different composition. And they used different types of human skin cells. Whereas the American research team used fibroblasts; the Japanese group chose facial skin cells. Experiments show that "iPS cells" and embryonic stem cells function similarly. "iPS" cells can now be translated into a variety of human cells.
Both research groups said they will continue to study these "imitating embryonic stem cells" in order to determine if significant differences exist between these cells and genuine embryonic stem cells in clinical applications. They believe that it is still too early to halt human embryonic stem cell research because humans are a long way from applying "iPS cells" to practical situations. Scientific community gives high marksThe two research teams published their respective reports in two authoritative scientific journals. The US report was published in "Science" magazine. The research team is led by Chinese scientist Yu Junying. The Japanese team, led by Professor Shinya Yamanaka, published their report in "Cell" magazine.
Robert Lanza, chief scientist of the American Institute of Advanced Technology – an institute engaged in human embryo cloning technology – said: "This study is a remarkable scientific milestone. It is comparable to the invention of the first aircraft by the Wright Brothers in the field of biology.
"British scientist Ian Wilmut, "midwife" of the world's first cloned sheep called Victoria , stated: "Now we can imagine an era in which we can create stem cells in a simple way and produce any organs by using specimens from any human organism."On the phone with Yu JunyingOn the morning of November 21, reporters contacted Chinese scientist Dr. Yu Junying. Dr. Yu said that the breakthrough is in fact the beginning of a broader study on the use of human cells. Yu Junying graduated from Beijing University and became a student of the University of Pennsylvania in the United States in 1997. After graduating in 2003, she received a position at the Thomson Laboratory of the University of Wisconsin at Madison , and started a new project on stem cell research. According to Yu, there are other Chinese researchers on the team.
By People's Daily Online
Six U.S. institutions cooperate in stem cell research
Six U.S. institutions cooperate in stem cell research
Six medical, research and educational institutions of the United States announced on Thursday they have established a partnership to conduct and advance stem cell research. The partners of the Southern California Stem Cell Scientific Collaboration, or SC3, are University of Southern California (USC), Children Hospital Los Angeles, City of Hope , University of California in Santa Barbara, California Technological Institute and the Los Angeles-based House Ear Institute. "The potential applications for stem cell research in medicine are enormous," Martin Pera, director of USC's Center for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine, said in a statement. "Tackling these complex problems requires scientists with diverse expertise. We are delighted to have an opportunity to work with such an outstanding collection of scientists to really accelerate the pace of discovery and translational research in regenerative medicine."
A statement announcing the formation of the partnership called it "a major step forward in supporting potential significant stem cell findings by allowing members to share training programs, scientific core facilities and expertise, and to team up on a wide range of research programs." Added Dr. Michael A. Friedman, City of Hope 's president and chief executive Officer: "For patients and their families, cures for cancer, HIV/AIDS and other diseases cannot come soon enough." "We believe the SC3 collaboration provides a critical mass of expertise that will create new knowledge and significantly accelerate treatments for diseases that impact so many," Friedman said. Each institution will appoint a faculty member to serve on a joint scientific advisory committee, which will serve as a forum to develop collaborative research ventures, facilitate access to scientific resources and provide expertise, a statement said. Source: Xinhua
Six medical, research and educational institutions of the United States announced on Thursday they have established a partnership to conduct and advance stem cell research. The partners of the Southern California Stem Cell Scientific Collaboration, or SC3, are University of Southern California (USC), Children Hospital Los Angeles, City of Hope , University of California in Santa Barbara, California Technological Institute and the Los Angeles-based House Ear Institute. "The potential applications for stem cell research in medicine are enormous," Martin Pera, director of USC's Center for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine, said in a statement. "Tackling these complex problems requires scientists with diverse expertise. We are delighted to have an opportunity to work with such an outstanding collection of scientists to really accelerate the pace of discovery and translational research in regenerative medicine."
A statement announcing the formation of the partnership called it "a major step forward in supporting potential significant stem cell findings by allowing members to share training programs, scientific core facilities and expertise, and to team up on a wide range of research programs." Added Dr. Michael A. Friedman, City of Hope 's president and chief executive Officer: "For patients and their families, cures for cancer, HIV/AIDS and other diseases cannot come soon enough." "We believe the SC3 collaboration provides a critical mass of expertise that will create new knowledge and significantly accelerate treatments for diseases that impact so many," Friedman said. Each institution will appoint a faculty member to serve on a joint scientific advisory committee, which will serve as a forum to develop collaborative research ventures, facilitate access to scientific resources and provide expertise, a statement said. Source: Xinhua
Friday, December 21, 2007
I'M STILL ANGRY BUT TRYING NOT BE
TODAY I will lift up my thoughts.
In expecting nothing but good to come to me, that is exactly what I will receive.
In expecting nothing but good to come to me, that is exactly what I will receive.
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
2007 stem cell breakthrough is 'like turning lead into gold'
2007 stem cell breakthrough is 'like turning lead into gold'
by Mira ObermanWed Dec 19, 8:42 AM ET
It was the kind of breakthrough scientists had dreamed of for decades and its promise to help cure disease appears to be fast on the way to being realized. Researchers in November announced they were able to turn the clock back on skin cells and transform them into stem cells, the mutable building blocks of organs and tissues.
Then just earlier this month a different team announced it had cured sickle cell anemia in mice using stem cells derived from adult mouse skin.
"This is truly the Holy Grail: To be able to take a few cells from a patient -- say a cheek swab or few skin cells -- and turn them into stem cells in the laboratory," said Robert Lanza, a stem cell pioneer at Advanced Cell Technology.
"This work represents a tremendous scientific milestone - the biological equivalent of the Wright Brothers' first airplane," he told AFP.
"It's bit like learning how to turn lead into gold."
Stem cells offer enormous potential for curing and treating disease because they can be transformed into any cell in the body and then hopefully used to replace damaged or diseased cells, tissues and organs.
But stem cell research has been highly controversial because -- until now -- viable embryos had to be destroyed to extract the stem cells.
US President George W. Bush has banned all federal funding for research on human embryonic stem cells and access to stem cells in other countries has also been restricted because of the difficulty in finding women willing to donate their eggs.
The new technique, while far from perfected, is so promising that the man who managed to cl
one the world's first sheep, Dolly, is giving up his work cloning embryos to focus on studying stem cells derived from skin cells.
"The fact that (the) introduction of a small number of proteins into adult human cells could produce cells that are equivalent to embryo stem cells takes us into an entirely new era of stem cell biology," said Ian Wilmut, the Scottish researcher who first created a viable clone by transferring a cell nucleus into a new embryo.
One of the greatest advantages of the new technique is its simplicity: it takes just four genes to turn the skin cell back into a stem cell.
This, unlike the complex and expensive process developed by Wilmut, can be done in a standard biological lab. And skin cells are much easier to harvest than embryos.
"It's an explosion of resources," said Konrad Hochedlinger, of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute.
Prior to this discovery, researchers who wanted to look at how diseases developed would usually have to study animals or organs harvested from cadavers because embryonic stem cells were so hard to use and access.
But with stem cells derived from skin, tissues and organs can be grown in a petri dish, making it easier for researchers to map the genetic structure of diseased cells, a process which could unlock a cure.
They could also allow researchers to do chemical screens to identify drugs which may cure or treat a disease, a process which could significantly speed up the process of bringing life-saving drugs to the market.
The use of skin cells will eventually allow doctors to create stem cells with a specific patient's genetic code, eliminating the risk that the body would reject transplanted tissues or organs.
Researchers have already shown this is possible when they cured sickle cell anemia in mice.
They used skin cells taken from the tails of sick mice, transformed them into stem cells, manipulated those stem cells into healthy bone marrow cells and then transplanted them into the sick mice.
And since the new cells came from the sick mice, there was also no need for dangerous immunosuppressant drugs to prevent rejection.
But leading stem cell researchers warned that the skin cells are not yet -- and might never be -- a substitute for embryonic stem cells.
"This new research is just the beginning -- we hardly understand how these cells work," said James Thomson of the University of Wisconsin at Madison, who led one of the two teams which made the simultaneous discoveries.
"It is not the time to abandon stem cell research," Thomson said, adding that embryonic stem cells will remain the "gold standard" by which other research is measured.
Further research is also needed to find a safer way to transform the skin cells and to make sure that the cells do not deteriorate over time.
by Mira ObermanWed Dec 19, 8:42 AM ET
It was the kind of breakthrough scientists had dreamed of for decades and its promise to help cure disease appears to be fast on the way to being realized. Researchers in November announced they were able to turn the clock back on skin cells and transform them into stem cells, the mutable building blocks of organs and tissues.
Then just earlier this month a different team announced it had cured sickle cell anemia in mice using stem cells derived from adult mouse skin.
"This is truly the Holy Grail: To be able to take a few cells from a patient -- say a cheek swab or few skin cells -- and turn them into stem cells in the laboratory," said Robert Lanza, a stem cell pioneer at Advanced Cell Technology.
"This work represents a tremendous scientific milestone - the biological equivalent of the Wright Brothers' first airplane," he told AFP.
"It's bit like learning how to turn lead into gold."
Stem cells offer enormous potential for curing and treating disease because they can be transformed into any cell in the body and then hopefully used to replace damaged or diseased cells, tissues and organs.
But stem cell research has been highly controversial because -- until now -- viable embryos had to be destroyed to extract the stem cells.
US President George W. Bush has banned all federal funding for research on human embryonic stem cells and access to stem cells in other countries has also been restricted because of the difficulty in finding women willing to donate their eggs.
The new technique, while far from perfected, is so promising that the man who managed to cl
one the world's first sheep, Dolly, is giving up his work cloning embryos to focus on studying stem cells derived from skin cells.
"The fact that (the) introduction of a small number of proteins into adult human cells could produce cells that are equivalent to embryo stem cells takes us into an entirely new era of stem cell biology," said Ian Wilmut, the Scottish researcher who first created a viable clone by transferring a cell nucleus into a new embryo.
One of the greatest advantages of the new technique is its simplicity: it takes just four genes to turn the skin cell back into a stem cell.
This, unlike the complex and expensive process developed by Wilmut, can be done in a standard biological lab. And skin cells are much easier to harvest than embryos.
"It's an explosion of resources," said Konrad Hochedlinger, of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute.
Prior to this discovery, researchers who wanted to look at how diseases developed would usually have to study animals or organs harvested from cadavers because embryonic stem cells were so hard to use and access.
But with stem cells derived from skin, tissues and organs can be grown in a petri dish, making it easier for researchers to map the genetic structure of diseased cells, a process which could unlock a cure.
They could also allow researchers to do chemical screens to identify drugs which may cure or treat a disease, a process which could significantly speed up the process of bringing life-saving drugs to the market.
The use of skin cells will eventually allow doctors to create stem cells with a specific patient's genetic code, eliminating the risk that the body would reject transplanted tissues or organs.
Researchers have already shown this is possible when they cured sickle cell anemia in mice.
They used skin cells taken from the tails of sick mice, transformed them into stem cells, manipulated those stem cells into healthy bone marrow cells and then transplanted them into the sick mice.
And since the new cells came from the sick mice, there was also no need for dangerous immunosuppressant drugs to prevent rejection.
But leading stem cell researchers warned that the skin cells are not yet -- and might never be -- a substitute for embryonic stem cells.
"This new research is just the beginning -- we hardly understand how these cells work," said James Thomson of the University of Wisconsin at Madison, who led one of the two teams which made the simultaneous discoveries.
"It is not the time to abandon stem cell research," Thomson said, adding that embryonic stem cells will remain the "gold standard" by which other research is measured.
Further research is also needed to find a safer way to transform the skin cells and to make sure that the cells do not deteriorate over time.
A RANT
I'M ANGRY TODAY:
FOR ALL OF THE THINGS THIS "DEBACLE" OF A DISEASE HAS TAKEN FROM ME:
MY ABILITY TO BUTTON MY FREAKIN' PANTS-IT TOOK ME 18 TRIES-BUT I GOT IT
MY ABILITY TO HAVE REGULAR LIFE
MY ABILITY TO HAVE A FAMILY
MY ABILITY TO BE GREAT AT SOMETHING AGAIN
MY ABILITY TO BELIEVE IN GOD AT THE MOMENT-HOW I LET GO AND LET GOD YESTERDAY -- I'M THINKING WHY-WHY ME-WHY THIS DISEASE-WHY IF I'M GOING TO DIE-JUST MAKE IT QUICK-INSTEAD I'M GOING TO MELT AWAY-SLOWLY
MY ABILITY TO SPEAK CLEARLY
MY ABILITY TO RUN-CATCH-SKATE-PLAY-EVEN WALKING FAST IS A CHALLENGE
MY ABILITY TO BELIEVE AT THIS MOMENT I WILL BE OKAY
THIS IS BULLSHIT ON THE GRANDEST OF SCALES THAT ANYONE HAS TO GO THROUGH THIS.
I'N ANGRY AT THE MOMENT-SORRY-TOMORROW I COULD BE HAPPY-THIS DISEASE IS LIKE HAVING MULTIPLE PERSONALITIES!! I HAVE MY ANGRY FACE ON AT THE MOMENT.
LOVE YA,
DREW
FOR ALL OF THE THINGS THIS "DEBACLE" OF A DISEASE HAS TAKEN FROM ME:
MY ABILITY TO BUTTON MY FREAKIN' PANTS-IT TOOK ME 18 TRIES-BUT I GOT IT
MY ABILITY TO HAVE REGULAR LIFE
MY ABILITY TO HAVE A FAMILY
MY ABILITY TO BE GREAT AT SOMETHING AGAIN
MY ABILITY TO BELIEVE IN GOD AT THE MOMENT-HOW I LET GO AND LET GOD YESTERDAY -- I'M THINKING WHY-WHY ME-WHY THIS DISEASE-WHY IF I'M GOING TO DIE-JUST MAKE IT QUICK-INSTEAD I'M GOING TO MELT AWAY-SLOWLY
MY ABILITY TO SPEAK CLEARLY
MY ABILITY TO RUN-CATCH-SKATE-PLAY-EVEN WALKING FAST IS A CHALLENGE
MY ABILITY TO BELIEVE AT THIS MOMENT I WILL BE OKAY
THIS IS BULLSHIT ON THE GRANDEST OF SCALES THAT ANYONE HAS TO GO THROUGH THIS.
I'N ANGRY AT THE MOMENT-SORRY-TOMORROW I COULD BE HAPPY-THIS DISEASE IS LIKE HAVING MULTIPLE PERSONALITIES!! I HAVE MY ANGRY FACE ON AT THE MOMENT.
LOVE YA,
DREW
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
THOUGHT
AS MUCH AS I AM MAD AT MY HIGHER POWER --------I FEEL THE NEED TO LET GO AND LET GOD!
Today, I let my Higher Power work in my life. I have the courage to have faith.
Today, I let my Higher Power work in my life. I have the courage to have faith.
Saturday, December 15, 2007
A brave new future for China in science
A brave new future for China in scienceBy MARY BROWN BULLOCKPublished on: 12/14/07
My introduction to Chinese scientists was at Dulles Airport in April 1974, two years after President Nixon's historic visit. My assignment — actually my very first job — was to escort Chinese seismologists around the United States for a month, one of the first scientific exchanges between the two previously estranged nations.
The delegation had traveled by way of Moscow and was clearly exhausted when they landed: I found the 10 men totally uncommunicative. We traveled by bus in near silence to the Mayflower Hotel in Washington where I had arranged a welcoming dinner. The elegant service was interminably slow. When the waitress asked us if we would have dessert, I responded — no — everyone is tired and needs a rest. Whereupon the 65-year-old delegation head, Gu Gongxu, suddenly came alive. In perfect English he called the waitress back to the table: "We'll all have pie, apple pie, apple pie a la mode — I've waited 25 years for a piece of American apple pie." The ice was broken.
Mary Brown Bullock is president emerita of Agnes Scott College in Decatur . This column was adapted from a recent speech.
Gu was one of several thousand Chinese students who had studied in the United States before l949, returned to China and, after suffering for their American training in Mao's China , led in re-connecting American and Chinese science in the l970s and l980s. When he returned to Cal Tech and the Colorado School of Mines, Gu was received as a distinguished alumnus. His visit paved the way for the United States Geological Survey to establish seismological monitoring stations in China which provide real time information about movements in the Earth's crust.
Today, more than 30 years after Gu's visit, China 's science and technology are driving its economic modernization. It is a developing country with Nobel aspirations.
The Chinese people are acutely aware that China 's science led the world until about the l8th century: Chinese invented paper, gunpowder, moveable type and accurately predicted Halley's comet — all hundreds of years before the West. For the last 150 years, all of China 's leaders have aspired to regain their rightful intellectual place in the world.
After the devastation of the Cultural Revolution, Deng Xiaoping recognized that China needed to both train scientists and engineers abroad. Since 1979, more than 700,000 students and visiting scholars have studied in the West.
While many of the younger scientists have yet to return to China , most of the visiting scholars have done so. Today, this western educated group is leading China 's scientific development. Information, space and environmental science are among China 's top priorities. It has become a global leader in nanotechnology and stem-cell research. A new system of national laboratories includes major global diseases and plant-breeding. China 's investment in research and higher education has increased at a higher rate than its 10 percent economic growth: Its R&D spending now ranks third, behind the United States and Japan .
China's science and technology is not yet a powerhouse, but American universities and corporations believe that within a quarter of a century it will be. Accordingly, collaboration with Chinese scientists and investments in jointly operated research facilities has been accelerating. Today, there are more than 1,000 foreign-funded R&D centers in China , compared to fewer than than 200 in India . Likewise, universities are scrambling to set up collaborative research labs in China . Georgia Tech was one of the earliest American universities to establish collaborative programs with China . Why should we be collaborating with a potential competitor?
Universities and corporations give the same answer: American science and technology will benefit from collaboration with China 's rapidly developing scientific community. The U.S. government takes a somewhat different position. Aware of both the commercial advantages but also the challenge of strategic competitiveness it maintains tough export controls on dual-use technology.
America's scientific relationship with China will be both challenging and promising in the years ahead. Whether the problem is global health or climate change or the exploitation of space China will be a major player.
My message to the young scientists today is: Take advantage of any opportunity to travel to China . You will keep pace with global science, and you will be ready, in an informed way, to influence U.S.-China policy. With luck, you will also forge professional friendships that last for decades, and that may, like those of professor Gu Gongxu, ultimately help both nations transcend political differences and contribute to world peace.
My introduction to Chinese scientists was at Dulles Airport in April 1974, two years after President Nixon's historic visit. My assignment — actually my very first job — was to escort Chinese seismologists around the United States for a month, one of the first scientific exchanges between the two previously estranged nations.
The delegation had traveled by way of Moscow and was clearly exhausted when they landed: I found the 10 men totally uncommunicative. We traveled by bus in near silence to the Mayflower Hotel in Washington where I had arranged a welcoming dinner. The elegant service was interminably slow. When the waitress asked us if we would have dessert, I responded — no — everyone is tired and needs a rest. Whereupon the 65-year-old delegation head, Gu Gongxu, suddenly came alive. In perfect English he called the waitress back to the table: "We'll all have pie, apple pie, apple pie a la mode — I've waited 25 years for a piece of American apple pie." The ice was broken.
Mary Brown Bullock is president emerita of Agnes Scott College in Decatur . This column was adapted from a recent speech.
Gu was one of several thousand Chinese students who had studied in the United States before l949, returned to China and, after suffering for their American training in Mao's China , led in re-connecting American and Chinese science in the l970s and l980s. When he returned to Cal Tech and the Colorado School of Mines, Gu was received as a distinguished alumnus. His visit paved the way for the United States Geological Survey to establish seismological monitoring stations in China which provide real time information about movements in the Earth's crust.
Today, more than 30 years after Gu's visit, China 's science and technology are driving its economic modernization. It is a developing country with Nobel aspirations.
The Chinese people are acutely aware that China 's science led the world until about the l8th century: Chinese invented paper, gunpowder, moveable type and accurately predicted Halley's comet — all hundreds of years before the West. For the last 150 years, all of China 's leaders have aspired to regain their rightful intellectual place in the world.
After the devastation of the Cultural Revolution, Deng Xiaoping recognized that China needed to both train scientists and engineers abroad. Since 1979, more than 700,000 students and visiting scholars have studied in the West.
While many of the younger scientists have yet to return to China , most of the visiting scholars have done so. Today, this western educated group is leading China 's scientific development. Information, space and environmental science are among China 's top priorities. It has become a global leader in nanotechnology and stem-cell research. A new system of national laboratories includes major global diseases and plant-breeding. China 's investment in research and higher education has increased at a higher rate than its 10 percent economic growth: Its R&D spending now ranks third, behind the United States and Japan .
China's science and technology is not yet a powerhouse, but American universities and corporations believe that within a quarter of a century it will be. Accordingly, collaboration with Chinese scientists and investments in jointly operated research facilities has been accelerating. Today, there are more than 1,000 foreign-funded R&D centers in China , compared to fewer than than 200 in India . Likewise, universities are scrambling to set up collaborative research labs in China . Georgia Tech was one of the earliest American universities to establish collaborative programs with China . Why should we be collaborating with a potential competitor?
Universities and corporations give the same answer: American science and technology will benefit from collaboration with China 's rapidly developing scientific community. The U.S. government takes a somewhat different position. Aware of both the commercial advantages but also the challenge of strategic competitiveness it maintains tough export controls on dual-use technology.
America's scientific relationship with China will be both challenging and promising in the years ahead. Whether the problem is global health or climate change or the exploitation of space China will be a major player.
My message to the young scientists today is: Take advantage of any opportunity to travel to China . You will keep pace with global science, and you will be ready, in an informed way, to influence U.S.-China policy. With luck, you will also forge professional friendships that last for decades, and that may, like those of professor Gu Gongxu, ultimately help both nations transcend political differences and contribute to world peace.
Stem cell therapy counters muscular dystrophy in mice: study
WASHINGTON (AFP) - Scientists have demonstrated that a combination of stem cell and gene therapy can be used to correct the devastating hereditary disease of muscular dystrophy, according to a new study published Wednesday.
the link:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071212/ts_afp/ushealthstemcelldystrophyresearch;_ylt=AlI7OA81qCTZbkDpQBBflv2JhMgF
Working with mice but using human cells, a team led by Yvan Torrente of the University of Milan, Italy showed that they could spark the most common form of the muscle-wasting disease, Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), and then reverse it, offering hope to millions of sufferers world-wide.
They also showed that a DMD sufferer's own cells might be used for the therapy, reducing the possibility of rejection.
DMD is a hereditary affliction in which the gene which helps synthesize the key muscle protein dystrophin is mutated. Dystrophin is essential to preventing damage to the muscles as they are used, and so with the presence of the defective gene, its production is disturbed and the muscles deteriorate.
In their experiment, Torrente and his team obtained muscle stem cells, labelled CD133+, from human DMD patients. The cells were implanted into mice where they generated defective muscle tissue resembling that in the human DMD patients.
The researchers then took more muscle stem cells from the humans and repaired the damaged dystrophin gene in them, so that dystrophin production would be normalized.
Those cells were implanted in the same mice, and began producing healthy muscle tissue, helping the mice begin to recover from the induced DMD.
"These data demonstrate that genetically engineered blood or muscle-derived CD133+ cells represent a possible tool for future stem cell-based autograft applications in humans with DMD," Torrente said in a summary of the research.
"Additional research will substantially enhance our understanding of the mechanisms underlying this effect, and may lead to the improvement of gene and cell therapy strategies for DMD," he added.
The research is published in the December issue of the journal Cell Stem Cell.
the link:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071212/ts_afp/ushealthstemcelldystrophyresearch;_ylt=AlI7OA81qCTZbkDpQBBflv2JhMgF
Working with mice but using human cells, a team led by Yvan Torrente of the University of Milan, Italy showed that they could spark the most common form of the muscle-wasting disease, Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), and then reverse it, offering hope to millions of sufferers world-wide.
They also showed that a DMD sufferer's own cells might be used for the therapy, reducing the possibility of rejection.
DMD is a hereditary affliction in which the gene which helps synthesize the key muscle protein dystrophin is mutated. Dystrophin is essential to preventing damage to the muscles as they are used, and so with the presence of the defective gene, its production is disturbed and the muscles deteriorate.
In their experiment, Torrente and his team obtained muscle stem cells, labelled CD133+, from human DMD patients. The cells were implanted into mice where they generated defective muscle tissue resembling that in the human DMD patients.
The researchers then took more muscle stem cells from the humans and repaired the damaged dystrophin gene in them, so that dystrophin production would be normalized.
Those cells were implanted in the same mice, and began producing healthy muscle tissue, helping the mice begin to recover from the induced DMD.
"These data demonstrate that genetically engineered blood or muscle-derived CD133+ cells represent a possible tool for future stem cell-based autograft applications in humans with DMD," Torrente said in a summary of the research.
"Additional research will substantially enhance our understanding of the mechanisms underlying this effect, and may lead to the improvement of gene and cell therapy strategies for DMD," he added.
The research is published in the December issue of the journal Cell Stem Cell.
Friday, December 14, 2007
WE MADE IT HOME............
Living in the Present
One day at a time,This is enough. Do not look back and grieve over the past. For it is gone. . .And do not be troubled about the future. For it has not yet come. Live in the present, and make it so beautiful. That it will be worth remembering
PICS TO COME
JET-LAGGED
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
PICS GOING DOWN THE LIFT
mom and the guide karen
andra was freakin' out on the lift-I was shaking itPICS FROM THE LIFT
IT'S AMAZING HOW THE HECK THEY BUILT IT THAT HIGH
THE LIFT DIDN'T STOP SO TRYING TO GET ME ON WAS COMICAL
GREAT WALL PICS
THEY WERE SELLING EVERYTHING AND I'M A SUCKER-I BOUGHT TEN T-SHIRTS THAT SAID "I CLIMBED THE GREAT WALL"
THIS WAS ALL KINDS OF DRIED FRUIT-I KEPT SAYING NO BUT I TALK FUNNY SO IT WAS A FREAKIN' COMEDY SHOW.
THAT IS WHERE YOU PAY-THE FIRST OF AROUND 300 STEPS WE HAD TO CLIMB AND THEN A SKI LIFT!
PICS OF OUR JOURNEY TO THE GREAT WALL
the parking lot but way up there is the wall
just woke up
roadkill on the head
IT STARTED OUT ON OUR OWN PRIVATE MINI BUS W/ OUR PRIVATE GUIDE KAREN. IT WAS A TWO HOUR RIDE THROUGH BEIJING'S COUNTRYSIDE. BREATHE TAKING IS THE ONLY ADJECTIVE TO DESCRIBE THE SCENARY. AND THEN TO SEE THE GREAT WALL WAY UP IN THE MOUNTAINS. IT'S REALLY HARD TO DESCRIBE IT --BREATHE TAKING AGAIN!!!
Sunday, December 9, 2007
Laughing
Laughter takes the pressure off and lightens the load. We can actually feel our body and our chemistry change when the corners of the mouth turn upward toward the heavens in a smile
Saturday, December 8, 2007
THIS IS AN ARTICLE ON WHAT I HAVE ALREADY DONE-BONE MARROW TRANSPLANT
SENT TO ME FROM MY FRIEND, K:
A study carried out by researchers at the Kyoto University School of Medicine and published in the current issue of CELL TRANSPLANTATION (Vol.16 No. 8) has shown that when transplanted bone marrow cells (BMCs) containing adult stem cells are protected by a 15mm silicon tube and nourished with bio-engineered materials, they successfully help regenerate damaged nerves. The research may provide an important step in developing artificial nerves.
"We focused on the vascular and neurochemical environment within the tube," said Tomoyuki Yamakawa, MD, the study's lead author. "We thought that BMCs containing adult stem cells, with the potential to differentiate into bone, cartilage, fat, muscle, or neuronal cells, could survive by obtaining oxygen and nutrients, with the result that rates of cell differentiation and regeneration would improve."
Nourished with bioengineered additives, such as growth factors and cell adhesion molecules, the BMCs after 24 weeks differentiated into cells with characteristics of Schwann cells - a variety of neural cell that provides the insulating myelin around the axons of peripheral nerve cells. The new cells successfully regenerated axons and extended their growth farther across nerve cell gaps toward damaged nerve stumps, with healthier vascularity.
"The differentiated cells, similar to Schwann cells, contributed significantly to the promotion of axon regeneration through the tube," explained Yamakawa. "This success may be a further step in developing artificial nerves." Grafting self-donated (autologous) nerve cells to damaged nerves has been widely practiced and considered the "gold standard." However, autologous cells for transplant are in limited supply. Allologous cells, donated by other individuals, require the host to take heavy immunosuppressant drugs. Artificial nerves, cultured from a variety of cells and transplanted to nerve damaged areas, have been considered as alternatives to nerve grafting. However, prior to this research, cells cultured for this purpose have generally not been very successful in regenerating axons with sufficient vascularity or length to bridge nerve gaps.
"This technique for implanting BMCs containing adult stem cells at damaged nerve sites as employed by the Kyoto researchers has opened up new possibilities for nerve regeneration, " said Paul Sanberg, PhD, D.Sc., Distinguished Professor at University of South Florida Health and co-editor-in- chief of Cell Transplantation.
A study carried out by researchers at the Kyoto University School of Medicine and published in the current issue of CELL TRANSPLANTATION (Vol.16 No. 8) has shown that when transplanted bone marrow cells (BMCs) containing adult stem cells are protected by a 15mm silicon tube and nourished with bio-engineered materials, they successfully help regenerate damaged nerves. The research may provide an important step in developing artificial nerves.
"We focused on the vascular and neurochemical environment within the tube," said Tomoyuki Yamakawa, MD, the study's lead author. "We thought that BMCs containing adult stem cells, with the potential to differentiate into bone, cartilage, fat, muscle, or neuronal cells, could survive by obtaining oxygen and nutrients, with the result that rates of cell differentiation and regeneration would improve."
Nourished with bioengineered additives, such as growth factors and cell adhesion molecules, the BMCs after 24 weeks differentiated into cells with characteristics of Schwann cells - a variety of neural cell that provides the insulating myelin around the axons of peripheral nerve cells. The new cells successfully regenerated axons and extended their growth farther across nerve cell gaps toward damaged nerve stumps, with healthier vascularity.
"The differentiated cells, similar to Schwann cells, contributed significantly to the promotion of axon regeneration through the tube," explained Yamakawa. "This success may be a further step in developing artificial nerves." Grafting self-donated (autologous) nerve cells to damaged nerves has been widely practiced and considered the "gold standard." However, autologous cells for transplant are in limited supply. Allologous cells, donated by other individuals, require the host to take heavy immunosuppressant drugs. Artificial nerves, cultured from a variety of cells and transplanted to nerve damaged areas, have been considered as alternatives to nerve grafting. However, prior to this research, cells cultured for this purpose have generally not been very successful in regenerating axons with sufficient vascularity or length to bridge nerve gaps.
"This technique for implanting BMCs containing adult stem cells at damaged nerve sites as employed by the Kyoto researchers has opened up new possibilities for nerve regeneration, " said Paul Sanberg, PhD, D.Sc., Distinguished Professor at University of South Florida Health and co-editor-in- chief of Cell Transplantation.
Friday, December 7, 2007
THE "ANONYMOUS" EMAILER WROTE ME BACK ABOUT THE 12 YEAR OLD
I RECEIVED A WONDERFUL EMAIL REGARDING THE COMMENT ABOUT THE 12 YR OLD
THANK YOU:
I found a website back in 2002 that mentioned the 12 year old with ALS. I had read a novel called May I Cross Your Golden River? by Page Dixon that was about a young man (18 or 20 I think) that was diagnosed with ALS and, as I hadn't heard of it before that time, I did some Internet research and came across a website that was called ALS Survival Guide. The website address, at that time, was http://www.alssurivalguide.com and also http://www.lougehrigsdisease.net It was run by an ALS sufferer named Doug Eshleman. He had onset of the disease in his late '30s and died at 43 in November 2001. The site has been offline for a little while, but you can still access copies of it by going to http://www.archive.org and typing in lougehrigsdisease.net. I have copied the direct link to the page the mentions the 12 year old with ALS. Her name was Patty and the information reads that she was from Chicago.
Here's the page http://web.archive.org/web/20020619050624/www.lougehrigsdisease.net/als_pages/journal2000-07.htm . As far as I'm aware, Doug Eshleman was from Ohio.
THANK YOU:
I found a website back in 2002 that mentioned the 12 year old with ALS. I had read a novel called May I Cross Your Golden River? by Page Dixon that was about a young man (18 or 20 I think) that was diagnosed with ALS and, as I hadn't heard of it before that time, I did some Internet research and came across a website that was called ALS Survival Guide. The website address, at that time, was http://www.alssurivalguide.com and also http://www.lougehrigsdisease.net It was run by an ALS sufferer named Doug Eshleman. He had onset of the disease in his late '30s and died at 43 in November 2001. The site has been offline for a little while, but you can still access copies of it by going to http://www.archive.org and typing in lougehrigsdisease.net. I have copied the direct link to the page the mentions the 12 year old with ALS. Her name was Patty and the information reads that she was from Chicago.
Here's the page http://web.archive.org/web/20020619050624/www.lougehrigsdisease.net/als_pages/journal2000-07.htm . As far as I'm aware, Doug Eshleman was from Ohio.
A GREAT ARTICLE-Researchers use new stem cell method to treat mice
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Using a new type of stem cells made from ordinary skin cells, U.S. researchers said on Thursday they treated mice with sickle cell anemia, proving in principle that such cells could be used as a therapy.
FOR THE REST:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071206/sc_nm/stemcells_mice_dc;_ylt=Al66MXcny9mXWq732XPDk9KJhMgF
FOR THE REST:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071206/sc_nm/stemcells_mice_dc;_ylt=Al66MXcny9mXWq732XPDk9KJhMgF
PICS OF ME IN TRAINING
I TOOK THESE TO SHOW MY THERAPISTS AT HOME-THE WOOD I'M STANDING ON IS CURVED ON THE BOTTOM-SO IT MOVES BACK AND FORTH-MY FIRST WEEK THEY HAD 3 PEOPLE AROUND ME-ONLY ONE NOW AND HE DIDN'T HAVE TO BE THERE!!
THIS IS WHY I WRITE MY BLOG
TO EDUCATE-TO INSPIRE-TO FEEL-
I FIGHT HARDER BECAUSE OF THESE EMAILS-I HAVE RECEIVED EMAILS FROM EVERY CONTINENT-WE ARE ALL CONNECTED BY THIS CHALLENGE.
THIS CAME TO MY INBOX LAST NIGHT FROM A TOUGH HOCKEY PLAYER FROM MICHIGAN. JUST A GUY AND HIS FAMILY GOING THROUGH WHAT I'M GOING THROUGH-EXPERIENCING ALL THE HIGHS AND LOWS BUT KEEPING HIS HEAD HELD HIGH-AND MOST IMPORTANTLY- KEEPING IT ALL TOGETHER AND FIGHTING IN THE BOLD FACE OF ADVERSITY:
Hey Drew. Just wanted to thank you for doing your blog. Came across it when I was looking into stem cells. We have a lot of similarities. I'm 34, married w/ kids, a hockey player, have done stem cell treatment, and most importantly am going to beat this disease just like you are. I find myself addicted to your blog and check it daily. I feel even more motivated to fight each time I read your stuff. I also love your rants. There right on. The comments on assisted walker or cane are my thoughts as well. It may help physically, but would be too damaging mentally. I'd rather move at a snail's pace than give in to a wheelchair. Keep up the positive attitude and I'm sure you'll move this mountain. This disease might be able to take away your physical abilities and much more but don't let it take your spirit, which is most important. Holding on to that is a daily, sometimes hourly battle as we both know, and it sounds to me like this disease picked the wrong person to mess with. Thanks again for your blog. Dave (Grand Rapids, MI)
I WANT A FAMILY!
I FIGHT HARDER BECAUSE OF THESE EMAILS-I HAVE RECEIVED EMAILS FROM EVERY CONTINENT-WE ARE ALL CONNECTED BY THIS CHALLENGE.
THIS CAME TO MY INBOX LAST NIGHT FROM A TOUGH HOCKEY PLAYER FROM MICHIGAN. JUST A GUY AND HIS FAMILY GOING THROUGH WHAT I'M GOING THROUGH-EXPERIENCING ALL THE HIGHS AND LOWS BUT KEEPING HIS HEAD HELD HIGH-AND MOST IMPORTANTLY- KEEPING IT ALL TOGETHER AND FIGHTING IN THE BOLD FACE OF ADVERSITY:
Hey Drew. Just wanted to thank you for doing your blog. Came across it when I was looking into stem cells. We have a lot of similarities. I'm 34, married w/ kids, a hockey player, have done stem cell treatment, and most importantly am going to beat this disease just like you are. I find myself addicted to your blog and check it daily. I feel even more motivated to fight each time I read your stuff. I also love your rants. There right on. The comments on assisted walker or cane are my thoughts as well. It may help physically, but would be too damaging mentally. I'd rather move at a snail's pace than give in to a wheelchair. Keep up the positive attitude and I'm sure you'll move this mountain. This disease might be able to take away your physical abilities and much more but don't let it take your spirit, which is most important. Holding on to that is a daily, sometimes hourly battle as we both know, and it sounds to me like this disease picked the wrong person to mess with. Thanks again for your blog. Dave (Grand Rapids, MI)
I WANT A FAMILY!
Thursday, December 6, 2007
ME GETTING THINGS OFF MY CHEST AND MAKING FUN OF MYSELF
December 4, 2007
Ni HA-(hello in Chinese-pronounced-nee how)
I got an anonymous comment that said the youngest spontaneous case of ALS was a boy that was 12 years old. CAN THE ANONYMOUS “FIGURE”, PLEASE EMAIL ME AT SCHEMERA@YAHOO.COM. WE HERE ARE VERY CURIOUS IF THIS IS ON RECORD AND IF SO, WHERE AND WHEN. EVEN THE TOP NEUROLOGIST IN CHINA IS BAFFLED THAT A 20 YEAR OLD HAS IT LET ALONE A 12 YEAR OLD. AND I’M GOING TO EMAIL MY TWO NEUROLOGISTS AT YALE AND COLUMBIA AND ASK THEM-ANYTHING’S POSSIBLE. ONE OTHER THING, IF YOU’RE GOING TO LEAVE SUPPOSED FACTOID-PLEASE LEAVE YOUR NAME. I WANT TO BE ABLE TO RESPOND TO EVERYONE.
I GOT A SURPRISE VISIT DURING MY OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY. THIS GENTLEMEN NAMED DB FROM CALIFORNIA FOUND MY EMAIL AND BLOG ON GOOGLE AND HE EMAILED ME. ASKING WHAT I THOUGHT OF STEM CELLS AND IS IT HELPING. HIS FATHER HAS ALS.
SO I WROTE HIM A 3 PAGE LETTER ANSWERING ALL HIS QUESTIONS AND GIVING MY OPINION ON HIS FATHER COMING HERE AND THE BENEFITS. I EVEN EMAILED A FRIEND THAT IS AROUND HIS FATHER’S AGE. THIS GUY (BOB) HAS HAD ALS 10 YEARS AND STILL DRIVES AND GETS AROUND. HE’S ONE OF THE FEW THAT HAS HAD ALS FOR THIS LONG AND STILL MAINTAINS A HIGH QUALITY OF LIFE. BOB EMAILED DB AND ECHOED THE SAME MESSAGE THAT I SENT HIM. “WHAT OTHER OPTIONS DO YOU HAVE AND WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO LOSE”. SO, I AM DOING MY FINGER EXERCISES AND IN WALKS DB AND HIS MOTHER. NICEST GUY. HE IS FROM SHENYANG BUT MOVED TO CALIFORNIA SOME TIME AGO. I WAS SO EXCITED THAT I HAD THAT KIND OF IMPACT ON SOMETHING AS GRAND AS STEM CELLS.
IT MEANS A LOT TO ME TO HELP AND EDUCATE.
I AM GOING TO MAKE FUN OF MYSELF NOW:
I WAS HANGING WITH MICHAEL FROM THE UK-THE 20 YEAR OLD. I WAS TELLING HIM WHAT I DO AT HOME TO MAINTAIN A STEADY LEVEL IN MY CHALLENGE. EATING, EXERCISE, STRETCHING, ACUPUNCTURE, BELIEVING, AND HOW I DON’T USE ANY ASSISTANCE WHEN I WALK-I TOLD HIM THE DAY I USE A WALKER OR A CANE IS THE DAY I GIVE IN OR I’M CRAWLING. THAT PART FOR ME IS A MENTAL GAME I HAVE PLAYING IN MY HEAD-AND I DON’T LOSE!! YOU CAN FEEL WHAT’S COMING-I LEAVE THE ROOM FOR LUNCH AND AS I DO I BUMP MY RIGHT SHOULDER INTO THE DOOR. WELL, THAT THROWS ME OFF BALANCE AND I KNOW I’M GOING TO FALL BUT I HAVE LEARNED HOW TO FALL. SO I TWIST MY BODY TO LAND ON MY SHOULDER TO SOFTEN THE BLOW. BUT I GO DOWN HOLDING A BRAND NEW COLLECTION OF DVD’S AND THEY GO FLYING AND BREAK!! MAN IF THEY HAD AN OLYMPIC EVENT FOR HOW TO FALL GRACIOUSLY-I WOULD HAVE WON THE GOLD. WHILE I’M DOWN I START LAUGHING. IT WAS FUNNY! THERE MUST HAVE BEEN 10 NURSES AND 20 PEOPLE THAT RUSHED OVER AND HELPED ME UP which was awesome.
I SAID TO MIKE AFTER, “I WILL FALL AGAIN AND AGAIN BUT THE KEY W/ME IS ALWAYS GETTING UP-SHRUGGING IT OFF AND MOVING ON”.
AFTER ALL THAT JARGON ABOUT NOT USING ASSISTANCE WHEN I WALK-MY FOOT WAS DEEP IN MY MOUTH.
SO I FELL, BIG DEAL!!
December 5, 2007
NI-HA
I COULDN'T SLEEP AND I’M WRITING TO CLEAR MY HEAD. WHAT A SHOCK-THE INTERNET IS ONCE AGAIN-DOWN.
YOU KNOW THAT I HAVE THINKING A LOT ABOUT LEAVING HERE AND IF I WILL MAINTAIN THE POSITIVE SIDE AFFECTS FROM THE TREATMENT. WHEN I LEFT NANSHAN HOSPITAL IN JUNE I REALLY HAD NO EXPECTATIONS ON HOW LONG IT WILL LAST. AND WHEN I CAME THIS TIME MY EXPECTATIONS WERE LOW BECAUSE I KNOW MY BODY AND THIS CHALLENGE ALL TOO WELL. YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO DECLINE-SO I HAD IT IN MY MIND THAT IF I CAN JUST MAINTAIN WHAT I HAVE THEN I WOULD BE WINNING BUT NOT SATISFIED. AND I DON’T LIKE TO THINK THAT WAY-BEING COMPLACENT IS FOR PEOPLE WITH ABSOLUTELY NO DRIVE-SORRY IF I OFFENDED ANYONE BUT THAT’S NOT A WORD IN MY VOCABULARY!!!!!!! GETTING BETTER AND STAYING ALIVE IS THE ONLY GOAL AND IF THAT MEANS MAINTAINING WHAT I HAVE THEN I’M FINE WITH THAT-MAINTAINING IS BY NO MEANS A LACK OF EFFORT-IT’S WINNING IN MY WORLD FOR NOW. WHAT F-IN’ CHOICE DO I HAVE.
I’M IN A WORLD WHERE YOU’RE MEASURED BY MAINTAINING AND BY HOW MUCH WORSE YOU GOT SINCE YOUR LAST VISIT-THAT SCREWED UP-WHEN MY DOCTORS SMILE AT ME AND SAYS, “WELL YOUR LEGS ARE A LITTLE WEAKER THAN 2 MONTHS AGO-WAY TO GO DREW”. I WANT TO KNOCK HIM OUT! BUT AT LEAST IT’S WINNING-FOR NOW. I’M FIGHTING WITH ALL THE MENTAL AND PHYSICAL STRENGTH I HAVE TO GET BETTER AND MAINTAIN. I WENT INTO THIS W/THE ATTITUDE OF CARRYING AWAY SMALL ROCKS TO EVENTUALLY MOVE THE MOUNTAIN. LIKE MY BALANCE AND HANDS. SMALL THINGS LIKE, TYING MY SHOES AND BUTTONING MY PANTS. I HAVE EXPECTATIONS FOR MYSELF THAT I DON’T SHARE W/ANYONE BECAUSE THEY’RE MINE AND NO ONE WILL NOTICE ANYWAY BUT I DO AND THAT COUNTS TO ME. I HAVE IMPROVED BEYOND MY EXPECTATIONS AND IT’S BECAUSE OF MY DIET-THERAPY AND THE STEM CELLS. ASIDE FROM TWO FALLS-MY BALANCE HAS BEEN SO TIGHT. I CAN BASICALLY RUN UP THE HALLWAY AND THROW AND CATCH AND I’VE HAVEN’T COME CLOSE TO FALLING. SO THOSE TWO FALLS WERE TWO ISOLATED INCIDENTS. THAT’S ALL.
I CAN DO SOME OF THE LITTLE THINGS AND THAT’S FINE W/ME. FOR NOW----AND I WILL BE BACK HERE IN THE LATE SUMMER OR IF I START GET WORSE-SOONER.
BYE FOR NOW-HOPE YOU ENJOY THE PICS
LOVE YA-KEEP THE SUPPORT COMING,
DREW
THESE ARE FROM A GREAT FRIEND OF MINE-JEN
"Whatever the mind can conceive it can achieve"
"Whether you think that you can or you can not, either way you are right"
Ni HA-(hello in Chinese-pronounced-nee how)
I got an anonymous comment that said the youngest spontaneous case of ALS was a boy that was 12 years old. CAN THE ANONYMOUS “FIGURE”, PLEASE EMAIL ME AT SCHEMERA@YAHOO.COM. WE HERE ARE VERY CURIOUS IF THIS IS ON RECORD AND IF SO, WHERE AND WHEN. EVEN THE TOP NEUROLOGIST IN CHINA IS BAFFLED THAT A 20 YEAR OLD HAS IT LET ALONE A 12 YEAR OLD. AND I’M GOING TO EMAIL MY TWO NEUROLOGISTS AT YALE AND COLUMBIA AND ASK THEM-ANYTHING’S POSSIBLE. ONE OTHER THING, IF YOU’RE GOING TO LEAVE SUPPOSED FACTOID-PLEASE LEAVE YOUR NAME. I WANT TO BE ABLE TO RESPOND TO EVERYONE.
I GOT A SURPRISE VISIT DURING MY OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY. THIS GENTLEMEN NAMED DB FROM CALIFORNIA FOUND MY EMAIL AND BLOG ON GOOGLE AND HE EMAILED ME. ASKING WHAT I THOUGHT OF STEM CELLS AND IS IT HELPING. HIS FATHER HAS ALS.
SO I WROTE HIM A 3 PAGE LETTER ANSWERING ALL HIS QUESTIONS AND GIVING MY OPINION ON HIS FATHER COMING HERE AND THE BENEFITS. I EVEN EMAILED A FRIEND THAT IS AROUND HIS FATHER’S AGE. THIS GUY (BOB) HAS HAD ALS 10 YEARS AND STILL DRIVES AND GETS AROUND. HE’S ONE OF THE FEW THAT HAS HAD ALS FOR THIS LONG AND STILL MAINTAINS A HIGH QUALITY OF LIFE. BOB EMAILED DB AND ECHOED THE SAME MESSAGE THAT I SENT HIM. “WHAT OTHER OPTIONS DO YOU HAVE AND WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO LOSE”. SO, I AM DOING MY FINGER EXERCISES AND IN WALKS DB AND HIS MOTHER. NICEST GUY. HE IS FROM SHENYANG BUT MOVED TO CALIFORNIA SOME TIME AGO. I WAS SO EXCITED THAT I HAD THAT KIND OF IMPACT ON SOMETHING AS GRAND AS STEM CELLS.
IT MEANS A LOT TO ME TO HELP AND EDUCATE.
I AM GOING TO MAKE FUN OF MYSELF NOW:
I WAS HANGING WITH MICHAEL FROM THE UK-THE 20 YEAR OLD. I WAS TELLING HIM WHAT I DO AT HOME TO MAINTAIN A STEADY LEVEL IN MY CHALLENGE. EATING, EXERCISE, STRETCHING, ACUPUNCTURE, BELIEVING, AND HOW I DON’T USE ANY ASSISTANCE WHEN I WALK-I TOLD HIM THE DAY I USE A WALKER OR A CANE IS THE DAY I GIVE IN OR I’M CRAWLING. THAT PART FOR ME IS A MENTAL GAME I HAVE PLAYING IN MY HEAD-AND I DON’T LOSE!! YOU CAN FEEL WHAT’S COMING-I LEAVE THE ROOM FOR LUNCH AND AS I DO I BUMP MY RIGHT SHOULDER INTO THE DOOR. WELL, THAT THROWS ME OFF BALANCE AND I KNOW I’M GOING TO FALL BUT I HAVE LEARNED HOW TO FALL. SO I TWIST MY BODY TO LAND ON MY SHOULDER TO SOFTEN THE BLOW. BUT I GO DOWN HOLDING A BRAND NEW COLLECTION OF DVD’S AND THEY GO FLYING AND BREAK!! MAN IF THEY HAD AN OLYMPIC EVENT FOR HOW TO FALL GRACIOUSLY-I WOULD HAVE WON THE GOLD. WHILE I’M DOWN I START LAUGHING. IT WAS FUNNY! THERE MUST HAVE BEEN 10 NURSES AND 20 PEOPLE THAT RUSHED OVER AND HELPED ME UP which was awesome.
I SAID TO MIKE AFTER, “I WILL FALL AGAIN AND AGAIN BUT THE KEY W/ME IS ALWAYS GETTING UP-SHRUGGING IT OFF AND MOVING ON”.
AFTER ALL THAT JARGON ABOUT NOT USING ASSISTANCE WHEN I WALK-MY FOOT WAS DEEP IN MY MOUTH.
SO I FELL, BIG DEAL!!
December 5, 2007
NI-HA
I COULDN'T SLEEP AND I’M WRITING TO CLEAR MY HEAD. WHAT A SHOCK-THE INTERNET IS ONCE AGAIN-DOWN.
YOU KNOW THAT I HAVE THINKING A LOT ABOUT LEAVING HERE AND IF I WILL MAINTAIN THE POSITIVE SIDE AFFECTS FROM THE TREATMENT. WHEN I LEFT NANSHAN HOSPITAL IN JUNE I REALLY HAD NO EXPECTATIONS ON HOW LONG IT WILL LAST. AND WHEN I CAME THIS TIME MY EXPECTATIONS WERE LOW BECAUSE I KNOW MY BODY AND THIS CHALLENGE ALL TOO WELL. YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO DECLINE-SO I HAD IT IN MY MIND THAT IF I CAN JUST MAINTAIN WHAT I HAVE THEN I WOULD BE WINNING BUT NOT SATISFIED. AND I DON’T LIKE TO THINK THAT WAY-BEING COMPLACENT IS FOR PEOPLE WITH ABSOLUTELY NO DRIVE-SORRY IF I OFFENDED ANYONE BUT THAT’S NOT A WORD IN MY VOCABULARY!!!!!!! GETTING BETTER AND STAYING ALIVE IS THE ONLY GOAL AND IF THAT MEANS MAINTAINING WHAT I HAVE THEN I’M FINE WITH THAT-MAINTAINING IS BY NO MEANS A LACK OF EFFORT-IT’S WINNING IN MY WORLD FOR NOW. WHAT F-IN’ CHOICE DO I HAVE.
I’M IN A WORLD WHERE YOU’RE MEASURED BY MAINTAINING AND BY HOW MUCH WORSE YOU GOT SINCE YOUR LAST VISIT-THAT SCREWED UP-WHEN MY DOCTORS SMILE AT ME AND SAYS, “WELL YOUR LEGS ARE A LITTLE WEAKER THAN 2 MONTHS AGO-WAY TO GO DREW”. I WANT TO KNOCK HIM OUT! BUT AT LEAST IT’S WINNING-FOR NOW. I’M FIGHTING WITH ALL THE MENTAL AND PHYSICAL STRENGTH I HAVE TO GET BETTER AND MAINTAIN. I WENT INTO THIS W/THE ATTITUDE OF CARRYING AWAY SMALL ROCKS TO EVENTUALLY MOVE THE MOUNTAIN. LIKE MY BALANCE AND HANDS. SMALL THINGS LIKE, TYING MY SHOES AND BUTTONING MY PANTS. I HAVE EXPECTATIONS FOR MYSELF THAT I DON’T SHARE W/ANYONE BECAUSE THEY’RE MINE AND NO ONE WILL NOTICE ANYWAY BUT I DO AND THAT COUNTS TO ME. I HAVE IMPROVED BEYOND MY EXPECTATIONS AND IT’S BECAUSE OF MY DIET-THERAPY AND THE STEM CELLS. ASIDE FROM TWO FALLS-MY BALANCE HAS BEEN SO TIGHT. I CAN BASICALLY RUN UP THE HALLWAY AND THROW AND CATCH AND I’VE HAVEN’T COME CLOSE TO FALLING. SO THOSE TWO FALLS WERE TWO ISOLATED INCIDENTS. THAT’S ALL.
I CAN DO SOME OF THE LITTLE THINGS AND THAT’S FINE W/ME. FOR NOW----AND I WILL BE BACK HERE IN THE LATE SUMMER OR IF I START GET WORSE-SOONER.
BYE FOR NOW-HOPE YOU ENJOY THE PICS
LOVE YA-KEEP THE SUPPORT COMING,
DREW
THESE ARE FROM A GREAT FRIEND OF MINE-JEN
"Whatever the mind can conceive it can achieve"
"Whether you think that you can or you can not, either way you are right"
THIS IS AN ARTICLE ON THE BEIKE BIOTECH COMPANY THAT OVERSEES MY TREATMENT
Firm uses stem cells to develop treatments not available in U.S.
By DOUGLAS JORDAN
Beike Biotech is a China-based company that has made national news in this country for its innovative new treatments offering hope to patients previously considered beyond the capability of a medical cure. Many American patients have gone overseas to Beike for treatments not available in the U.S.
Those treatments involve the use of stem cells, which can potentially be used to repair and replace damaged human tissue. Stem cell research and treatment is legally limited in this country due to political and philosophical debate.
However, most of the debate revolves around the use of embryonic stem cells, which are obtained from human embryos and often result in the loss of the donor embryo. Beike uses stem cells obtained from the blood of umbilical cords from live births, material that has historically been discarded as medical waste.
"By using cord stem cells, it takes the controversy out of the process," said Carol Petersen, whose grandson, Cameron, received the treatment in September. "I'm an advocate for this now, and I think we need to build a government-funded, for the public, cord blood bank."
Petersen said that Cameron's treatment was "extremely successful" and that the results were better than she had anticipated.
"He could not see at all before this procedure," she said. "Now, he sees and recognizes faces, and responds to visual stimulation from up to two feet away.
"We won't know the full extent of the improvement until he is old enough to communicate better, but it's clear that it's a miraculous difference."
In addition to ONH, Beike has used stem cells to treat other conditions, such as Alzheimer's, ataxia, autism, ALS, brain trauma, cerebral infarction, cerebral hemorrhage, cerebral palsy, Guillain-Barre, encephalatropy and spinal cord injury.
Some in the U.S. medical community have been skeptical about the new treatments. However,
Kirshner Ross-Vaden, vice president of foreign patient relations for Beike Biotech, said that 86 out of 100 foreign patients with spinal cord injury have improved, such as regaining control of bowel movements and being able to sense hot and cold.
"The doctors who actually have experience in this field, and who know something about what stem cells can do, have been very supportive," Ross-Vaden said. "Because what we do is new, it's bound to arouse some criticism, and there's nothing wrong with that."
Dr. Shalesh Kaushal is a professor of opthalmology at the University of Florida 's Vitreoretinal Service and director of the UF Retina Service. He has worked extensively with research involving stem cells taken from bone marrow.
"From what I've seen so far of what Beike Biotech is doing, I would say that I am cautiously optimistic," Kaushal said. "There appears to be no overt danger to the patient from this procedure, and stem cells have shown an ability to rejuvenate or regenerate tissue."
Kaushal also said that umbilical cord blood banks are becoming more prevalent in the U.S. , and that many doctors advocate that parents save their children's cord blood in these banks.
He said that foreign medicine is not backward, as some people in this country seem to think.
"Many of them are better clinicians than those trained in the U.S. ," he said. "Because they simply see more patients. If you have a billion people in your country, how can you not have more experience?"
Dr. David Klein, a Port Charlotte ophthalmologist who has also studied the procedure, said what he's seen of Beike's work has been very good.
"From what I've seen, this is not some fly-by-night operation," he said. "There's a lot of good science behind what they're doing. I think they're on the brink of some wonderful things."
Beike was founded in 2005 with funding from Beijing University , Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and the City of Shenzhen . It is also supported by the China State National Fund. Beike supplies stem cells for treatment at 11 hospitals in China and one in Thailand .
Firm uses stem cells to develop treatments not available in U.S.
By DOUGLAS JORDAN
Beike Biotech is a China-based company that has made national news in this country for its innovative new treatments offering hope to patients previously considered beyond the capability of a medical cure. Many American patients have gone overseas to Beike for treatments not available in the U.S.
Those treatments involve the use of stem cells, which can potentially be used to repair and replace damaged human tissue. Stem cell research and treatment is legally limited in this country due to political and philosophical debate.
However, most of the debate revolves around the use of embryonic stem cells, which are obtained from human embryos and often result in the loss of the donor embryo. Beike uses stem cells obtained from the blood of umbilical cords from live births, material that has historically been discarded as medical waste.
"By using cord stem cells, it takes the controversy out of the process," said Carol Petersen, whose grandson, Cameron, received the treatment in September. "I'm an advocate for this now, and I think we need to build a government-funded, for the public, cord blood bank."
Petersen said that Cameron's treatment was "extremely successful" and that the results were better than she had anticipated.
"He could not see at all before this procedure," she said. "Now, he sees and recognizes faces, and responds to visual stimulation from up to two feet away.
"We won't know the full extent of the improvement until he is old enough to communicate better, but it's clear that it's a miraculous difference."
In addition to ONH, Beike has used stem cells to treat other conditions, such as Alzheimer's, ataxia, autism, ALS, brain trauma, cerebral infarction, cerebral hemorrhage, cerebral palsy, Guillain-Barre, encephalatropy and spinal cord injury.
Some in the U.S. medical community have been skeptical about the new treatments. However, Kirshner Ross-Vaden, vice president of foreign patient relations for Beike Biotech, said that 86 out of 100 foreign patients with spinal cord injury have improved, such as regaining control of bowel movements and being able to sense hot and cold.
"The doctors who actually have experience in this field, and who know something about what stem cells can do, have been very supportive," Ross-Vaden said. "Because what we do is new, it's bound to arouse some criticism, and there's nothing wrong with that."
Dr. Shalesh Kaushal is a professor of opthalmology at the University of Florida 's Vitreoretinal Service and director of the UF Retina Service. He has worked extensively with research involving stem cells taken from bone marrow.
"From what I've seen so far of what Beike Biotech is doing, I would say that I am cautiously optimistic," Kaushal said. "There appears to be no overt danger to the patient from this procedure, and stem cells have shown an ability to rejuvenate or regenerate tissue."
Kaushal also said that umbilical cord blood banks are becoming more prevalent in the U.S. , and that many doctors advocate that parents save their children's cord blood in these banks.
He said that foreign medicine is not backward, as some people in this country seem to think.
"Many of them are better clinicians than those trained in the U.S. ," he said. "Because they simply see more patients. If you have a billion people in your country, how can you not have more experience?"
Dr. David Klein, a Port Charlotte ophthalmologist who has also studied the procedure, said what he's seen of Beike's work has been very good.
"From what I've seen, this is not some fly-by-night operation," he said. "There's a lot of good science behind what they're doing. I think they're on the brink of some wonderful things."
Beike was founded in 2005 with funding from Beijing University , Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and the City of Shenzhen . It is also supported by the China State National Fund. Beike supplies stem cells for treatment at 11 hospitals in China and one in Thailand .
There is no surgery involved in most of the treatments, which were pioneered in part by Ross-Vaden, who is a nurse and medical researcher. Stem cells, sometimes in the millions, are delivered through intravenous injections into the spinal cord fluid. In some cases of spinal cord injury, surgical injections are necessary.
As of Oct. 15, Beike had treated more than 2,000 patients with stem cell injections for diseases.
"Beike's greatest strength, and what differentiates it from other research groups, is that Beike specializes in clinical applications," Ross-Vaden said. "There are many people in countries around the world who could have a better quality of life and live longer with this technology, but they don't have the chance because of politics, religion and bureaucracy."
Ross-Vaden said China is the leader in stem cell research.
"The Chinese government is pouring billions of dollars into research," she said. "They court doctors from other countries to come to China ."
While they do not track the exact number of Americans who leave the country for stem cell injections. Ross-Vaden estimates the number to be "hundreds per year and growing."
For people such as Petersen, and St. Augustine 's Rylee Lovett, Beike offers hope.
Klein said that eventually this form of treatment should be available in the U.S.
"What you want to do is get away from the political debate and let the science take over," Klein said. "Because the bottom line is that the medical community is here to help people get better."
__._,_.___
By DOUGLAS JORDAN
Beike Biotech is a China-based company that has made national news in this country for its innovative new treatments offering hope to patients previously considered beyond the capability of a medical cure. Many American patients have gone overseas to Beike for treatments not available in the U.S.
Those treatments involve the use of stem cells, which can potentially be used to repair and replace damaged human tissue. Stem cell research and treatment is legally limited in this country due to political and philosophical debate.
However, most of the debate revolves around the use of embryonic stem cells, which are obtained from human embryos and often result in the loss of the donor embryo. Beike uses stem cells obtained from the blood of umbilical cords from live births, material that has historically been discarded as medical waste.
"By using cord stem cells, it takes the controversy out of the process," said Carol Petersen, whose grandson, Cameron, received the treatment in September. "I'm an advocate for this now, and I think we need to build a government-funded, for the public, cord blood bank."
Petersen said that Cameron's treatment was "extremely successful" and that the results were better than she had anticipated.
"He could not see at all before this procedure," she said. "Now, he sees and recognizes faces, and responds to visual stimulation from up to two feet away.
"We won't know the full extent of the improvement until he is old enough to communicate better, but it's clear that it's a miraculous difference."
In addition to ONH, Beike has used stem cells to treat other conditions, such as Alzheimer's, ataxia, autism, ALS, brain trauma, cerebral infarction, cerebral hemorrhage, cerebral palsy, Guillain-Barre, encephalatropy and spinal cord injury.
Some in the U.S. medical community have been skeptical about the new treatments. However,
Kirshner Ross-Vaden, vice president of foreign patient relations for Beike Biotech, said that 86 out of 100 foreign patients with spinal cord injury have improved, such as regaining control of bowel movements and being able to sense hot and cold.
"The doctors who actually have experience in this field, and who know something about what stem cells can do, have been very supportive," Ross-Vaden said. "Because what we do is new, it's bound to arouse some criticism, and there's nothing wrong with that."
Dr. Shalesh Kaushal is a professor of opthalmology at the University of Florida 's Vitreoretinal Service and director of the UF Retina Service. He has worked extensively with research involving stem cells taken from bone marrow.
"From what I've seen so far of what Beike Biotech is doing, I would say that I am cautiously optimistic," Kaushal said. "There appears to be no overt danger to the patient from this procedure, and stem cells have shown an ability to rejuvenate or regenerate tissue."
Kaushal also said that umbilical cord blood banks are becoming more prevalent in the U.S. , and that many doctors advocate that parents save their children's cord blood in these banks.
He said that foreign medicine is not backward, as some people in this country seem to think.
"Many of them are better clinicians than those trained in the U.S. ," he said. "Because they simply see more patients. If you have a billion people in your country, how can you not have more experience?"
Dr. David Klein, a Port Charlotte ophthalmologist who has also studied the procedure, said what he's seen of Beike's work has been very good.
"From what I've seen, this is not some fly-by-night operation," he said. "There's a lot of good science behind what they're doing. I think they're on the brink of some wonderful things."
Beike was founded in 2005 with funding from Beijing University , Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and the City of Shenzhen . It is also supported by the China State National Fund. Beike supplies stem cells for treatment at 11 hospitals in China and one in Thailand .
Firm uses stem cells to develop treatments not available in U.S.
By DOUGLAS JORDAN
Beike Biotech is a China-based company that has made national news in this country for its innovative new treatments offering hope to patients previously considered beyond the capability of a medical cure. Many American patients have gone overseas to Beike for treatments not available in the U.S.
Those treatments involve the use of stem cells, which can potentially be used to repair and replace damaged human tissue. Stem cell research and treatment is legally limited in this country due to political and philosophical debate.
However, most of the debate revolves around the use of embryonic stem cells, which are obtained from human embryos and often result in the loss of the donor embryo. Beike uses stem cells obtained from the blood of umbilical cords from live births, material that has historically been discarded as medical waste.
"By using cord stem cells, it takes the controversy out of the process," said Carol Petersen, whose grandson, Cameron, received the treatment in September. "I'm an advocate for this now, and I think we need to build a government-funded, for the public, cord blood bank."
Petersen said that Cameron's treatment was "extremely successful" and that the results were better than she had anticipated.
"He could not see at all before this procedure," she said. "Now, he sees and recognizes faces, and responds to visual stimulation from up to two feet away.
"We won't know the full extent of the improvement until he is old enough to communicate better, but it's clear that it's a miraculous difference."
In addition to ONH, Beike has used stem cells to treat other conditions, such as Alzheimer's, ataxia, autism, ALS, brain trauma, cerebral infarction, cerebral hemorrhage, cerebral palsy, Guillain-Barre, encephalatropy and spinal cord injury.
Some in the U.S. medical community have been skeptical about the new treatments. However, Kirshner Ross-Vaden, vice president of foreign patient relations for Beike Biotech, said that 86 out of 100 foreign patients with spinal cord injury have improved, such as regaining control of bowel movements and being able to sense hot and cold.
"The doctors who actually have experience in this field, and who know something about what stem cells can do, have been very supportive," Ross-Vaden said. "Because what we do is new, it's bound to arouse some criticism, and there's nothing wrong with that."
Dr. Shalesh Kaushal is a professor of opthalmology at the University of Florida 's Vitreoretinal Service and director of the UF Retina Service. He has worked extensively with research involving stem cells taken from bone marrow.
"From what I've seen so far of what Beike Biotech is doing, I would say that I am cautiously optimistic," Kaushal said. "There appears to be no overt danger to the patient from this procedure, and stem cells have shown an ability to rejuvenate or regenerate tissue."
Kaushal also said that umbilical cord blood banks are becoming more prevalent in the U.S. , and that many doctors advocate that parents save their children's cord blood in these banks.
He said that foreign medicine is not backward, as some people in this country seem to think.
"Many of them are better clinicians than those trained in the U.S. ," he said. "Because they simply see more patients. If you have a billion people in your country, how can you not have more experience?"
Dr. David Klein, a Port Charlotte ophthalmologist who has also studied the procedure, said what he's seen of Beike's work has been very good.
"From what I've seen, this is not some fly-by-night operation," he said. "There's a lot of good science behind what they're doing. I think they're on the brink of some wonderful things."
Beike was founded in 2005 with funding from Beijing University , Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and the City of Shenzhen . It is also supported by the China State National Fund. Beike supplies stem cells for treatment at 11 hospitals in China and one in Thailand .
There is no surgery involved in most of the treatments, which were pioneered in part by Ross-Vaden, who is a nurse and medical researcher. Stem cells, sometimes in the millions, are delivered through intravenous injections into the spinal cord fluid. In some cases of spinal cord injury, surgical injections are necessary.
As of Oct. 15, Beike had treated more than 2,000 patients with stem cell injections for diseases.
"Beike's greatest strength, and what differentiates it from other research groups, is that Beike specializes in clinical applications," Ross-Vaden said. "There are many people in countries around the world who could have a better quality of life and live longer with this technology, but they don't have the chance because of politics, religion and bureaucracy."
Ross-Vaden said China is the leader in stem cell research.
"The Chinese government is pouring billions of dollars into research," she said. "They court doctors from other countries to come to China ."
While they do not track the exact number of Americans who leave the country for stem cell injections. Ross-Vaden estimates the number to be "hundreds per year and growing."
For people such as Petersen, and St. Augustine 's Rylee Lovett, Beike offers hope.
Klein said that eventually this form of treatment should be available in the U.S.
"What you want to do is get away from the political debate and let the science take over," Klein said. "Because the bottom line is that the medical community is here to help people get better."
__._,_.___
PICS
LONG DUCK DONG'S LONG LOST FATHER
THIS IS FROM THE FRONT WINDSHIELD OF A CAB-DO YOU SEE THE BICYCLES COMING AT US
ME LOOKING LIKE COOLIO-THIS WAS AFTER MY BONE MARROW TRANSPLANT-SO EXCUSE ME IF I LOOK LIKE ASS-LONG HARD MORNING
THE FROZEN RIVER
MOM AND BRIAN IN THE BACK OF A 3 WHEELER CABquotes from afriend
these are ...Both by Ralph Waldo Emerson
What lies behind us and what lies before us are small compared to what lies within us.
Challenges are what make life interesting:overcoming them is what makes life meaningful.
What lies behind us and what lies before us are small compared to what lies within us.
Challenges are what make life interesting:overcoming them is what makes life meaningful.
Monday, December 3, 2007
pics
PT TIME
MOM SURPRISED!
HAVING A COLD ONE
A TASTE OF ITALY!!
PHIL AND BARB FROM PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND CANADA
THE GANG STARING AT...............
THIS IRISH GUY
RYAN GIVING DIANA A SHOW
AAAAWWWW
THIS IS THE HEAD NURSE-SHE WEARS COMBAT BOOTS
DIANA AND SUNEEL AND I THINK YOU KNOW THE OTHER TWO
BRIAN, THOMAS, RYAN, DONNA, DREW AND FERLITA
ANDRA
DONNA AND THOMAS
BRIAN
ANDRA AND RYAN STRIKING A POSE
CHINESE VENDING MACHINES
A NO. 463 ARMY HOSPITAL FEAST
DONNA AND MARIA DOING THE DISHES
LISA AND TIM FROM FLORIDA
MOM TRYING TO TEACH THE PROPER WAY TO USE CHOP STICKS
ME HOLDING COURTNOTICE NO ONE IS LISTENING
DESSERTS
THE GANG
DESSERTS
THE GANGWE ALL BECAME LIKE FAMILY
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