Archive for March, 2017

Fort Lauderdale, FL Life Extension has partnered with Insilico Medicine to introduce Ageless Cell, the first supplement in its GEROPROTECT line to promote healthy aging by inhibiting cellular senescence.

Cellular senescence is a natural part of the aging process where cells no longer function optimally, affecting organ function, cellular metabolism, and the inflammation response. The accumulation of these senescent cells contributes to the process of aging. The Ageless Cell supplements inhibit the effects of cellular senescence by acting as geroprotectors, or interventions aimed to increase longevity and impede the onset of age-related diseases by targeting and inhibiting senescence-inducing pathways and inhibiting the development of senescent cells.

The partnership with Insilico Medicine allowed researchers to use deep learning algorithms to comb through hundreds of studies and thousands of data points a process that could have taken decades to identify four key anti-aging nutrients: N-Acetyl-L-Cysteine (NAC), myricetin, gamma-tocotrienol, and EGCG. These compounds target pathways that are known to contribute to or protect against the development of senescent cells.

Specifically, NAC upregulates signaling pathways that protect cells against oxidative stress, which promotes cellular senescence. It also reduces pathways that promote inflammation. Myricetin regulates a family of stress-responsive signaling molecules known to regulate aging in many tissues. It also promotes cell differentiation and self-repair. Gamma tocotrienol modulates the mevalonate pathway that controls cholesterol production, cancer promotion, and bone formation. And EGCG regulates the Wnt pathway that determines the fate of developing cells and also prevents sugar-induced damage to tissues, helping to suppress their pro-aging effects.

Clinical aging studies are extremely difficult, if not impossible, to perform at this time. Our collaboration with Insilico Medicine has allowed us to develop geroprotective formulations by using artificial intelligence to study very large data sets, said Andrew G. Swick, Ph.D., senior vice president of product development and scientific affairs for Life Extension.

Scientists found these four nutrients have various complementary and reinforcing properties to influence key anti-aging pathways and combat aging factors by modulating specific biological pathways. By rejuvenating near-senescent cells and encouraging the bodys healthy process for dealing with senescent cells, Ageless Cell turns back the clock at the cellular level, said Michael A. Smith, M.D., senior health scientist for Life Extension.

Alex Zhavoronkov, Ph.D., CEO of Insilico Medicine said, Together, these four natural compounds represent the beginning of the future anti-aging cocktails identified using artificial intelligence under expert human supervision.

See the rest here:
Life Extension and Insilico Medicine Use Artificial Intelligence to Develop Ageless - WholeFoods Magazine

A growing number of states are considering laws that would require abortion providers to tell women seeking a medical abortion that its possible to reverse the procedure a scientifically unsubstantiated claim that has been roundly rejected by the mainstream medical community.

Since 2012, a small group of doctors has promoted a method that they say can reverse a medical (non-surgical) abortion by flooding the body with the hormone progesterone. Two states Arkansas and South Dakota currently require abortion providers to tell women before they get a medical abortion that information is available about a way to reverse or stop the procedure.

Laws mandating that abortion providers tell women their abortion can be reversed have also been introduced this year in Georgia (the bill states, It may be possible to reverse the effects of a chemical abortion if the woman changes her mind, but that time is of the essence), North Carolina, Utah, and Idaho. In Arizona, lawmakers passed an abortion-reversal law in 2015, but the bill was quickly challenged in a lawsuit by Planned Parenthood and blocked.

On Feb. 27, Indiana lawmakers passed a bill in the House requiring that pregnant woman be informed orally and in writing before obtaining a medical abortion that the abortion may be possibly reversed. The patient must also be told that additional information about reversing medical abortions exists and should be sought as soon as possible.

At the same time, the Indiana measure seems to acknowledging the dubious science behind this information; it also requires women to be told that no scientifically validated medical study confirms that an abortion may be reversed after taking abortion-inducing drugs.

Nearly 3 million women have terminated pregnancies via medical abortion since the method was approved for use in the first 10 weeks of pregnancy in 2000. Patients take the drug mifepristone followed by a second drug, misoprostol, 24 to 72 hours later. Medical abortions, which now make up about a third of all abortions performed in the U.S., are safe and highly effective about 99 percent effective with almost zero complications, according to a 2012 study in the medical journal Obstetrics and Gynecology.

The mainstream medical community rejects claims that a medical abortion can be undone. The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists says that abortion-pill reversal is not supported by the body of scientific evidence and recommends against trying it. In up to 50 percent of cases where women dont follow up with the second pill (i.e., they take only mifepristone without taking the second dose of misoprostol), they still carry their pregnancies term, with or without taking progesterone, the group points out.

Taking a dose of progesterone in the hopes of reversing a medical abortion means that even if these doctors were to offer a large dose of purple Skittles, theyd appear to have worked to save the pregnancy about half the time, Cheryl Chastine, a formerabortion provider at South Wind Womens Center in Wichita, Kansas, told Talking Points Memo. Those numbers are consistent with what these people are reporting.

Most reproductive health experts point to the lack of scientific evidence on abortion reversal to criticize laws requiring doctors to tell women there is a way to stop the abortion pill. This is unethical and immoral legislation that makes women guinea pigs in an unmonitored, inappropriate experiment, said Vicki Saporta, the president of the National Abortion Federation.

The most visible proponent of abortion-pill reversal is George Delgado, a practicing family physician with the Culture of Life Family Services clinic in San Diego. He outlined the method in a 2012 paper, which remains the first and only study describing it. Delgados method consists of giving a woman a heavy dose of the hormone progesterone as soon as possible after taking mifepristone, the first pill in a medical abortion procedure. He says the progesterone counteracts the mifepristone by preventing the uterus from expelling its contents. The study, published in the medical journal Annals of Pharmacotherapy, was not a controlled trial and involved only six women, four of whom still carried their pregnancies to term after taking progesterone.

After publishing his study, Delgado founded the organization Abortion Pill Reversal to give women a second chance at choice if they so desire it, he said in an interview. APR is mainly a hotline that urges women who have taken the abortion pill to call and be connected with a network of more than 300 doctors Delgado says he has trained about the reversal method. We need to have a way for women to find out about this because women were not finding out about it in time, Delgado said.

Delgado is often cited as the face of abortion-pill reversal, but hes not the only doctor to promote the concept. The method was first put forward by Matthew Harrison, a practicing family doctor in North Carolina, who now works at Abortion Pill Reversal as the groups associate medical director. In 2006, Harrison was contacted by a woman who changed her mind after taking mifepristone and he says he came up with the idea to administer progesterone to stop the abortion. Two years later, Delgado said, he was approached by a woman in a similar situation and, without knowing about Harrisons case, had the same idea of giving the woman progesterone, which he says led to a successful reversal.

The research on the health effects of taking progesterone during pregnancy is mixed. Some doctors say that taking low doses of the hormone as a supplement can be beneficial, especially if a woman has had miscarriages in the past. But other research has shown that taking progesterone does basically nothing to improve a pregnancy and may come with some negative side effects. Progesterone, while generally well-tolerated, can cause significant cardiovascular, nervous system, and endocrine adverse reactions, as well as other side effects, according to ACOG.

The FDA has not approved the use of progesterone to reverse medical abortions, and Delgados 2012 study has been debunked and criticized by the mainstream medical community. In 2015, researchers examined the array of scientific literature concerning abortion reversal and found insufficient evidence to support any claims of the methods effectiveness. The study, published in Contraception Journal, criticized Delgados method and went so far as to write, in the conclusion: Legislation requiring physicians to inform patients about abortion reversal transforms an unproven therapy into law and represents legislative interference in the patientphysician relationship.

Delgado insists that there is plenty of evidence although none that has been tested in a controlled environment or peer reviewed to disprove these critiques. In 2015, he told MedPage that ACOGs criticisms in particular are biased, He said his next step is to submit his own research on the women hes treated through APR to a peer-reviewed medical journal.

Despite the lack of substantiated medical evidence to support it, Delgados organization is seeking to spread awareness of the abortion-pill reversal method. Some pregnancy resource centers organizations that offer anti-abortion counseling to pregnant women have started directing women to APR. Delgado says the organization has treated about 800 women, about 60 percent of whom carried their pregnancies to term, although he declined to provide any further evidence of reversed abortions.

Americans United for Life, one of the biggest anti-abortion organizations in the country, has lobbied hard for the passage of abortion-reversal information laws. AUL included abortion reversal in its 2016 model legislation handbook, which is the basis for many of the bills introduced in states this year.

Delgado said he did not have a direct role in drafting or lobbying for laws that require doctors to tell their patients about abortion reversal. But he did give expert testimony in favor of it in Colorado and Arizona when the bills in those states were being debated.

AUL repeatedly cites Delgado, his study, and his organization by name in its draft legislation. Delgados 2012 study is in fact the only citation AUL uses to back up its claims about abortion reversal.

AULs argument that women should know about the possibility of abortion reversal is the same argument behind other informed consent laws, which include measures requiring doctors to show women seeking abortions pictures of the fetus at its current point in gestation or to give medically disputed information about when the fetus can feel pain. Abortion-rights advocates say these regulations are merely another way to dissuade women from getting an abortion in the first place.

Moreover, reproductive rights experts say measures promoting the idea of abortion reversal, like many other informed consent regulations, offer a quasi-medical solution to a problem that doesnt actually exist. There is a misperception that women are uncertain about their abortion decisions, said Saporta, of the National Abortion Federation. The laws are based on a false premise. Women rarely change their minds after beginning a medical abortion.

One study published in 2013 found that 95 percent of women who decided to get an abortion felt it was the right decision a week later.

Follow Olivia Becker on Twitter: @oliviaLbecker

Clarification: An earlier version of this article referenced a Talking PointsMemo article quoting Cheryl Chastine, who was identified asanabortion provider at South Wind Womens Center in Wichita, Kansas. The center says Chastine is no longer affiliated with them.

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Some states are using junk science to require doctors to tell women they can reverse an abortion - VICE News

The bad doctor is in.

Matt Coker

"My vision is to create and share a meaningful and healthy life," reads Dr. Christopher Holden's "professional statement" for an online service that matches patients with physicians. "Imagine your life with higher standards, less clutter, less debt, less stress and less discontent."

Unfortunately, theOrange family medicine doctor could not live up to his vision for a 46-year-old woman with uterine cancer, according to court documents filed by theMedical Board of California, which placed Holden's license to practice in the state on probation for three years effective last Friday, March 24.

The discipline stems from Holden being "grossly negligent" in his care for thepatient identified only as "T.P.," according to the Medical Board. Her symptoms should have led the doctorto first exam her for uterine cancer before finding a basis to rule that out in favor of a diagnosis of something more benign, found the board, which notes he pretty much did the complete opposite. He never did diagnose the disease.

Since at least 2008, Holden saw T.P. at her home because she suffered from agoraphobia. It was early in these visits that she complained of vaginal bleeding, which Holden chalked up to her transitioning to menopause.However, he performed no tests to confirm his suspicions, with her Sept. 27, 2008, chart only noting a change in periods without stipulating the amount of bleeding or whether T.P. should be sent for a gynecological exam, the board points out. Holden diagnosed menometrorrhagiaheavy bleeding with prolonged and/or irregular menstrual periodsand prescribed a thyroid-stimulating hormone.

Irregular menses are included in the medical record for T.P.s Jan. 27, 2009, follow-up exam. Holden called for thyroid testing again, a female hormonal panel and neurotransmitter testing, although the Medical Board found he never documented whether those labs were completed.

On March 21, 2009, [Holden] diagnoses T.P. with piriformis syndrome, states the board in reference to a condition where a muscle in the buttocks region spasms and causes pain, but there is no history and no pertinent exam recorded.

Nine days later, T.P. was placed on iron medication for anemia, with Holden noting in her chart that her hypothyroidism was overcorrected. He also increased her thyroid medication and noted to check her labs in three months. At this point, the TSH [amount of thyroid-stimulating hormone in the blood] is 0.01, the board states. There is a span of two years before TSH is checked again. T.P.s TSH never normalizes while under the care of [Holden].

Duringa February 2010 examination,T.P. complained of increased bleeding, which Holden indicated was secondary to stress. On July 23 of that year, he diagnosed her with microcytic anemiausually an indication of an iron deficiencybut the board found he performed no rectal exam. Holden also diagnosed T.P. with a yeast infection in her intestines, but he did not state a basis for this conclusion in the history of present illness or in his exam, according to the board.

Dr. Christopher Holden

Zocdoc

T.P.s hemoglobin dropped dramatically in November 2010, as compared to the July visit, but all that was recommended for her was more iron. Holden told the board he advised the patient to see a gynecologist but no referral is documented in his records.

Noting T.P. was pale on Jan. 24, 2011, Holden ordered another complete blood count test. On Oct. 10, 2011, he stated she had seen a gynecologist and a PAP smear and ultrasound were planned, but for T.P.s next appointment a month later Holden did not follow up on whether she indeed saw the specialist. She had not, the board found. This time, Holden charted that T.P. had non-cancerous growths in her uterus.

Holden did not see T.P. on March 4, 2012, but he wrote in her chart that she was anemic and had low blood pressure and needed a transfusion. T.P. left Holden a message a week later saying she was still anemic and had been to the emergency room. The doctor did not indicate he planned to see his patient in light of this.

The last time Holden did see T.P. was on April 5, 2012, when he noted she had received a blood transfusion at Orange Coast Memorial Medical Center and was planning to go to a gynecologist for a possible procedure to treat abnormal uterine bleeding.

Twelve days later, a gynecologist could not perform a PAP smear nor a biopsy due to significant vaginal bleeding. That doctor suspected T.P. had cervical cancer, which was confirmed a month later.

According to the board's findingswhich Holdenand his attorneys Dennis K. Ames and Zarah B. Maginot accepted based on their signatures dated Jan. 3 on court documentsthe doctor had been grossly and repeatedly negligent when it came to T.P.'s care and had done a poor job of keeping records.

Under the terms of the probation, Holden mustobey all laws, refrain from supervising physician assistants, submit quarterly progress reports to the board, complete medical education and record-keeping courses and notify hospitals and other facilities where he has privileges of his probationary status.

Holden, who attended UC Irvine's medical school, writes near the end of his professional statement on the Zocdoc referral website with: "Imagine cultivating your passion until you cannot bare a day without pursuing it." Assuming his passion remains treating patients, he had better comply by the conditions of his probation if he wants to keep pursuing it.Failure to do so could result in board proceedings to revoke Holdens license to practice medicine in California.

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Dr. Christopher Holden's Medical License on Probation for "Grossly Negligent" Care - OC Weekly

Type 2 diabetes has been reversed in mice with a new, orally available drug, according to a study led by San Diego scientists. The study suggests a path for developing human therapies based on the drug.

The drug protected mice from high-fat induced diabetes without affecting body weight, according to the study. It also reversed signs of the disease in mice who already had it.

Type 2 diabetes is caused by insulin resistance. While the pancreatic islets still make insulin, the hormone doesnt work as well. Cells sense insulin through receptors, which become less effective in this type of diabetes.

Scientists led by physician-researcher Nunzio Bottini countered insulin resistance by designing a drug that restored the effectiveness of insulin receptors.

The scientists are seeking pharmaceutical industry partners to help turn the research into a commercializable drug, Botttini said. He estimated that once a deal is reached, it would take about two years to complete the additional work needed to get approval to start a human clinical trial.

Bottini conducted the research at the La Jolla Institute for Allergy & Immunology, where he holds an adjunct appointment, and at UC San Diego School of Medicine, his primary appointment.

The drug inhibits an enzyme called a low-molecular-weight protein tyrosine phosphatase, or LMPTP. Its part of a family of enzymes that inactivates the insulin receptor. By inhibiting this particular enzyme in the liver, insulin receptor effectiveness was restored.

Our findings suggest that LMPTP activity plays a key role in the development of insulin resistance and that LMPTP inhibitors would be beneficial for treating type 2 diabetes, the study stated.

The study was published Monday in Nature Chemical Biology. It can be found at j.mp/diabetestyr. Bottini was senior author. Stephanie M. Stanford, also of the La Jolla Institute and UCSD, was first author.

A choosy molecule

This work occurred through a wonderful collaboration between our group and a team led by Tony Pinkerton at the Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, Bottini said.

While the role of protein tyrosine phosphatases in Type 2 diabetes has been known for years, many enzymes in this family perform other functions,and drugs against these enzymes may also affect other targets.

They are traditionally considered very difficult enzymes to drug, because its very hard to get a compound which is selective for one of those enzymes vs. others, Bottini said.

The drug arising from the research is exceptionally selective in its activity, the researchers said, reducing the chance of side effects.

We envision that the information we collected about its mechanism of action and binding mode will pave the way for development of LMPTP inhibitors suitable for therapeutic testing in human diabetes, the study stated.

Since LMPTP has also been proposed to promote heart failure and tumor growth, such inhibitors are predicted to have a wide range of therapeutic applications.

Stroke, Alzheimers disease, cognitive decline and polycystic ovary syndrome are among the other diseases that have been linked to insulin resistance.

We hope there will be additional indications from this compound, Bottini said. We are looking into heart failure.

Deletion of the gene for LMPTP protects against heart failure, although the mechanism isnt clear, he said.

Promising outlook

The study points to an important potential route for relieving Type 2 diabetes, said Athena Philis-Tsimikas, M.D., corporate vice president for the Scripps Whittier Diabetes Institute.

Two defects underlie the development of diabetes; an increase in insulin resistance and, simultaneous reduction in insulin secretion from beta cells, said Philis-Tsimikas, who was not involved in the study, by email. So, any improvements in insulin resistance would be very valuable in improving diabetes. The mechanism described in the paper is fascinating and has potential for improving glucose control.

Some existing medications relieve insulin resistance and reduce blood sugar levels, she said, but they have unpleasant side effects such as fluid retention and weight gain. So new medications that can address the disease mechanism with fewer side effects are always needed.

Scripps Whittier Diabetes Institute does a lot of Phase 2 and 3 trials, and has seen a number of experimental drugs get marketing approval, she said.

The mechanisms for these new agents look promising, and it is encouraging that the science is progressing especially here in San Diego, she said.

Researchers started their search by screening 364,168 small-molecule compounds from the National Institutes of Health Molecular Libraries Small Molecule Repository. They found three hits, or molecules active against the target. One was selected for further study because of its potency and specificity.

Using medicinal chemistry, the researchers tweaked the molecule to make it more potent. One of the resulting compounds was then tested in live mice.

The La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology and Sanford Burnham Medical Discovery Institute hold a pending patent on the discovery.

The researchers were funded by grants from the National Institutes of Health and the American Diabetes Association.

bradley.fikes@sduniontribune.com

(619) 293-1020

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Scientists make advance against Type 2 diabetes - The San Diego Union-Tribune

You'll have less stress Marcos Mesa Sam Wordley/Shutterstock We're all pretty hard on ourselves, criticizing everything from our thighs to our parking job to our off-hand comments at work. And it's not without consequences. "Harsh self-criticism activates the sympathetic nervous systemfight or flightand elevates stress hormones such as cortisol in our bloodstream," says Emma Seppala, PhD, science director the Stanford University Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education, and author of The Happiness Track. Too much cortisol can lead to problems ranging from weight gain to cardiovascular trouble. Enter self-compassion, which means treating yourself the way you'd treat a friend who's going through a hard timewith support and understanding, instead of criticism. Studies have shown that using self-compassion techniques can reverse the negative trend of criticism and cortisol. "When you practice self-compassion, you reduce the stress hormone cortisol, which takes away the state of stress," says Deborah Serani, PsyD, award-winning author of Living with Depression and a psychology professor at Adelphi University. "The more you stay with positive thoughts, the more dopamine surges, which floods your body with feel-good hormones." How can you practice self-compassion? "Instead of saying things like, 'How could I have done this? I'm such an idiot!' you might say, 'I had a moment of absent-mindedness and that's okayit could have happened to anyone,'" Dr. Seppala says. Learn 15 five-second strategies for shutting down stress in the moment. You'll lower your heart rate poylock19/Shutterstock In fight-or-flight mode, your heart pounds and your blood pressure spikes. "People are threatened when they're struggling, so the natural threat response is to attack the problemwhich in this case is yourself," says Kristin Neff, PhD, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin, author of Self-Compassion and a pioneer in the field. This instinctive mechanism is why we're so apt to be hard on ourselves. But by shutting down your body's fight-or-flight response with kindness, you'll slow your heart rate and blood pressure, which helps your cardiovascular health. "When the heart rate is flexible, which means it can adjust to whatever's happening, that's a sign of not being in this fight or flight, so you aren't so reactive and you're able to actually adjust more," Dr. Neff says.Here are 9 ways to stop the damage of negative self-talk.

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The author in a full-leg knee brace one week after ACL and meniscus surgery. Crutches are mandatory for the first six weeks while the menisci heal.

The author's leg one week after ACL and meniscus surgery. The repair requires six holes: five standard cuts around the knee for the repair, and one ju...

Close-up of the author's leg one week after ACL and meniscus surgery. The repair requires six holes: five standard cuts around the knee for the repair...

Close-up of the author's leg one week after ACL and meniscus surgery. The repair requires six holes: five standard cuts around the knee for the repair...

KneeHab 101 series

Knee injuries are a part of sporting life in the mountains. Over the next few weekends, the Summit Daily sports section will print weekly articles about ACL/MCL injury, surgery, rehab, recovery and prevention, featuring interviews with local doctors, physical therapists and pro athletes. Theyre the only knees youve got show them some love.

Have a suggestion for the series? Email sports editor Phil Lindeman at plindeman@summitdaily.com.

Week 1 A club I never wanted to join, injury column

Week 2 Anatomy of an ACL/MCL injury

Week 3 Yoga for ACL/MCL recovery

Week 4 ACL surgery 101

Week 4 Slice, dice, make it nice, surgery thoughts and fears column

Week 5 Myth-busting for knee injuries

Week 6 Post-surgery recovery, rehab and physical therapy

Week 7 Man on the street: Summit locals talk knee injuries, video

Week 8 Long, hard road, recovery column

=========

Cost of an ACL repair

Lets be clear: without insurance, I wouldnt be getting my ACL surgically repaired. The total cost of the operation, surgery facilities and post-op rehab would be more than I could afford: nearly $42,500.

Luckily, I had insurance through my employer when I was injured. But even that didnt combat steep upfront costs, and I didnt add outside costs by seeking a second opinion or surgeon. Its the harsh reality of elective surgery in the U.S. right now: After talking with billing departments at local hospitals, I found that collecting 50 percent of all fees upfront has been standard since the introduction of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. I paid nearly $2,450 before going under the knife.

Insurance vitals

Provider Anthem BlueCross BlueShield

Plan type PPO (single person, no dependents)

My monthly cost $134, or $67 per paycheck

Deductible $650

Max out-of-pocket $5,650

My responsibility 20 percent of total charges until max out-of-pocket is met

Vail-Summit Orthopedics (surgeon, MRI, other scans)

MRI $845, paid half upfront ($422.50)

ACL and meniscus repair $10,848.64

My responsibility $2,169.70, paid half upfront ($1,084.85)

Remaining charges $1,507.35, including remaining MRI fees ($422.50)

Edwards Surgery Center (facility, anesthesia, etc)

Surgery fees $29,109

Facility co-pay $175

My responsibility $2,500, dropped from full 20 percent ($5,821) due to meeting out-of-pocket, paid half upfront ($1,250)

Remaining charges $1,250

Post-op therapy (Avalanche Physical Therapy)

PT sessions $120 for assessment session, $70 for all follow-up sessions

My responsibility $20 per session (paid full $190 upfront while insurance processes)

Total $960 and up, based on 3 sessions per week for 4 months (possibility of $0 after out-of-pocket is met through other fees)

Medical equipment (Medequip)

Full knee brace roughly $600

Crutches roughly $150

Movement machine roughly $900, declined

Total $750, pending insurance

Post-op prescription drugs

Oxycodone (5mg) $10, down from $33.29 without insurance

Morphine extended release (15mg) $23.49

Total $33.49

Totals

All items $42,546.13

My responsibility roughly $7,258 (before out-of-pocket)

Paid upfront $3,393.34, minus medical equipment ($750)

Balance remaining $3,864.66

=======

Helping Mother Nature help herself

For decades now, orthopedic surgeons have tried to answer a pressing question: How can we speed up Mother Nature for joint repairs?

The question begins with the ligaments, tendons and cartilage that combine to make joints. Unlike muscles and skin, these tissues dont have high blood flow the key to quick tissue recovery and so rehabilitation takes longer than for cuts, bruises and even broken bones.

At two ortho clinics in the Vail area, Vail-Summit Orthopedics and The Steadman Clinic, surgeons are on the cutting edge of joint repair thanks to a pair of acronyms: PRP and BMAC. Platelet-enriched plasma (PRP) and bone marrow aspirate concentrate (BMAC) are two relatively new biomedical solutions for the problem of tissue recovery. During ACL and other knee procedures, doctors at both clinics prefer using a combination of both solutions to give Mother Nature a helping hand long before sutures are healed.

Heres how it works: PRP and BMAC solutions are taken from the patient before an ACL repair, and then re-injected during the procedure. BMAC harnesses the power of stem cells for healing by mimicking other tissue: less than a year after surgery, bone marrow cells taken from the pelvis will show up as ACL cells in the knee. All BMAC cells are harvested from the patient, which skirts the touchy ethical issues that surround research with donor stem cells.

Dr. William Sterett at Vail-Summit Orthopedics admits the jury is still out on the efficacy of both solutions, but with strong evidence for positive results (and little evidence for negative ones), he recommends the duo for all ACL repairs.

Editor's note: This article is part of an eight-week series about ACL, MCL and other knee injuries, featuring professional and first-hand info on surgery, rehab, recovery and prevention. See the Summit Daily sports section every Friday or Saturday for the next installment, and head online to SummitDaily.com for past articles.

Take it from a freshly injured skier: shop around before you sign your name on the dotted line at a surgery center.

On June 24, 2016, longtime Breckenridge local Josh Barilar was skiing a steep northeasterly couloir on Fletcher Mountain one of several craggy peaks surrounding Breck's hometown 14er, Quandary Peak when the snow gave out beneath him. It wasn't quite a true avalanche, he remembers, but it was enough to pull him uncontrollably down the tight, rocky chute before slamming him into a craggy outcropping.

"The accident was pretty much a fluke, and that's what everyone agreed on," said Barilar, who was skiing that morning with two partners, including backcountry maven Aaron Rice. "If this had happened in an open snowfield, we'd be laughing. It was like having a carpet pulled out from under you."

When the snow settled, Barilar had no concussion and only a broken finger, but his knees had been brutalized. His left knee was bruised it didn't return to normal color for nearly five months and the cartilage in his left knee was horribly mangled. The rocks managed to miss his MCL, ACL and menisci, but the overall joint damage was just as severe. He was airlifted out of the couloir after five hours and taken immediately to the hospital, where he stayed for two days while doctors pondered the damage.

The first diagnosis was grim: Barilar might never walk again, and he surely wouldn't run again. That didn't sit well "I know I'll run again," he says and so he sought second opinions from Vail-Summit Orthopedics and The Steadman Clinic, both based in Vail.

In August, the Vail-Summit surgeons told him 16 months of recovery with one immediate procedure. Steadman surgeons told him two procedures one to see what's wrong, a second to repair the damage and a more palatable 10 months of recovery. Both clinics were confident he would walk, ski and bike again they just couldn't agree on a timeline.

"Just because one doctor says one thing, don't be afraid to get a second opinion," said Barilar, a 32-year-old who was on Vail Resorts insurance when he got injured. "I was torn and didn't know what to do, but I had a lot of good advice and good guidance because the therapists in this county are amazing. You really can't pick a better place to get injured."

Knees in need

Ask for an orthopedic surgeon in Vail or Breckenridge and you'll hear the same thing: they're the cream of the crop surgeons who regularly repair world-class athletes with the U.S. Ski Team, NHL, NBA, England's Premier League and other top-notch teams from across the globe.

But knee pain isn't limited to the pros. Every year, roughly 5.5 million Americans see orthopedic clinics for a knee problem and about 1 million opt for outpatient surgery, like an ACL, MCL or meniscus repair, according to an article in the March 2015 edition of Scientific American. Another 700,000 have one or both knees totally replaced, the article continued, with many cases traced to quick-cutting sports: tennis, soccer, basketball, skiing.

Of all the potential knee injuries, skiers are most susceptible to MCL and ACL damage. It comes down to the sport's movement: legs are attached to long, extended anchors (aka skis), and when these anchors get torqued, they can wrench and tear the intricate tissues of your knee joint. Because these tissues don't have good blood flow the key to quick healing they take months to mend. Some ligaments, like the ACL, won't heal at all if fully torn.

"Ultimately, if the knee is unstable, painful and there are functional limitations, the knee needs to be stabilized via a ligament reconstruction or repair," said Eric Dube, a physical therapist with Howard Head Sports Medicine. Without surgery, he continues, "there is a real risk of injuring other structures in the knee, like your menisci, cartilage, or other ligaments."

But recent studies suggest knee surgery isn't viewed the same across the world. In Europe, doctors are more likely to prescribe rehab instead of surgery for ACL injuries, while the opposite is true in the U.S. The findings are unusual: European studies show little difference between rehab-only and surgical patients, while American studies show that rehab-only patients are more likely than their surgical peers to develop meniscus issues after three to five years, according to physical therapist Paula Ashbaugh with Avalanche Physical Therapy.

"It's really interesting: In the long term, not everyone needs to get the ACL repaired," Ashbaugh said. "It depends on your sports and activity. Anything where you pivot and jump basketball, beach volleyball, tennis you want to get it fixed."

The $43K knee

So you've opted for surgery. Now you've got to pay for it.

Local ortho surgeons might be the best in the world, but that also means they charge more than surgeons in Denver or other regions. When paired with statewide increases for health care premiums jumps of 20-46 percent in 2017 alone, according to past Summit Daily reports even patients with health insurance need to brace for steep upfront costs from services like MRIs, prescription medication and post-operative equipment. Without insurance, an ACL repair in Summit County is unaffordable at roughly $43,000 (see sidebar).

But is it worth it? Yes, doctors agree. Sure, their livelihood is on the line, but veteran knee surgeon Rick Cunningham with Vail-Summit Orthopedics makes a compelling case.

First, ortho surgeons are better than ever before at placing new ACLs. Cunningham's colleague at the clinic, William Sterett, takes four X-rays of a patient's knees, calves, pelvis and femurs before an ACL repair. Together, he says the collection of images helps him match the new ACL to the patient's anatomy and posture.

"It comes down to placing the ACL anatomically," Cunningham said. "Here, where we are, there are doctors who do enough of these surgeries that we know what to look for right away."

Second, surgeons are discovering new and better ways to work with tissue. ACLs are repaired with one of several tendons, including those taken from cadavers, but Vail-Summit doctors are finding that the quadriceps tendon is best for young, active skiers. It lowers the chances your body will reject foreign tissue, he says, and boosts chances of long-term strength.

"We would hope that a repair is lifelong," Cunningham said. "There are some factors that help us achieve that and number one in my mind is using patient tissue instead of donor tissue for younger patients."

The meniscus question

But the biggest reason to repair a blown knee? Simple: another few decades of skiing with little residual pain, weakness or irritation.

"We're so much better at fixing ACLs than we were 10 or 15 years ago," Cunningham said. "We have a better understanding of where to place the ACL based on where it used to live. We're getting better than ever before."

So is technology. Along with improved techniques, ortho docs are also toying with biotech solutions for knee repair. The two most common platelet-enriched plasma and bone marrow aspirate concentrate (see sidebar) are taken from the patient and injected into the knee during the procedure to boost recovery. Another, more radical solution replicates tissue like the C-shaped meniscus with a 3-D printer. This option isn't approved for human patients yet, but researchers at Columbia University Medical Center say it could be the key to "true joint regeneration," according to the Scientific American article.

For ACL patients, the meniscus is a true wild card. Doctors won't know how badly it's damaged until they cut into a knee, and popular solutions have included shaving off entire portions of the tissue a harbinger of arthritis later in life. A 2013 study in The New England Journal of Medicine found that shaving the meniscus, known as a meniscectomy, was no more effective than a simulated operation for pain relief.

Now, to bridge the gap between meniscectomy and experimental implants, ortho surgeons are getting getter at stitching the menisci back together. This means no loss of natural tissue only an extra six weeks on crutches while the stitches heal.

"You hear horror stories on the internet all the time, but you can't get alarmed when you read these opinions because there's a whole history behind these things," skier Barilar said. "You have to do your own research to find out what you need."

Long road to normal

Because the damage to Barilar's knee was so complex and because he'd already been laid up for nearly three months he opted for the Steadman approach: two procedures, 10 months of recovery. Between and after each operation, he did physical therapy with Howard Head in Vail and the clinic's newest addition: KAATSU.

Barilar describes the KAATSU treatment system as a blood-pressure cuff for your leg. At PT, he wraps the cuff around his right leg and does the typical exercises, like calf pumps, lunges, squats and more. The KAATSU system tricks his body into thinking it's working harder than it is by slowing blood flow, which naturally produces human growth hormone.

"The best analogy I could come up with was like a donut on a baseball bat: you take it off and you can swing the bat faster," Barilar said. "I took off the cuff and it honestly felt easier to walk."

Barilar's first operation was in August 2016 and the second was in November. By February of this year he started walking again his first real steps after being on crutches for nearly seven months.

"It's pretty wild to think that my muscle is coming back very, very well," Barilar said. "I'm not even five months out and I'm already lifting 40 pounds in lunges. You listen to your body that's your best doctor and I've been able to do those exercises. It's crazy."

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KneeHab: Cadavar tissue, KAATSU and questions to ask before ACL surgery - Summit Daily News

The loss of pituitary gland hormone production also known as hypopituitarism can be a serious, life-long condition. The pituitary gland is our master gland. Ithelps to produce many hormones that are necessary for our bodies to function properly. Symptoms for this rare condition can be severe. However, with appropriate treatment, individuals with hypopituitarism should be able to live normal, productive lives. For some people, hormone replacement therapy may be necessary. There are also ways to balance your hormones naturallythat can beuseful as well.

Hypopituitarism refers to under-functioning of the pituitary gland. The pituitary gland is a tiny organ about the size of a pea. Its locatedat the base of the brain. Known as the master gland of the body, it produces many hormones that travel throughout the body. It directs certain processes andstimulates other glands to produce hormones.

A person with hypopituitarism has a pituitary gland that doesntproduce one or more of its hormones, or doesnt produce enough of them. This disorder can affect any number of the bodys routine functions, including growth, blood pressure and reproduction.

According to research published in Postgraduate Medical Journal, the prevalence of hypopituitarism is 45 cases per 100,000 people and the incidence rate is about 4 cases per 100,000 people, per year. Nearly 50 percent of patients have 3 to 5 pituitary hormone deficits. (1)

Hypopituitarism symptoms are sometimes not obviousand may be overlooked. The severity of symptoms typically depends on which pituitary hormones are lowand the extent of hormone deficiency. Some common signs and symptoms of hypopituitarism include:

Hypopituitarism symptoms depend on which hormone or hormones are missing. Symptoms associated with specific hormone deficiencies are listed below:

Adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) deficiency.Fatigue, low sodium in blood, weight loss and skin paleness.

Thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) deficiency. Fatigue, weight gain, dry skin, constipation, sensitivity to cold

Luteinizing hormone (LH), Follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) deficiency.Loss of periods for women, erectile dysfunction and impotence for men, loss of sex drive and infertility.

Growth hormone (GH) deficiency.Lack of growth (height) for children and adolescents, increased body fat, failure to achieve normal peak bone mass or decreased muscle and bone mass.

Prolactin (PRL) deficiency.Inability to breast feed

Oxytocin deficiency.Couldmake breastfeeding more difficult.

Antidiuretic hormone (vasopressin) deficiency.Frequent urination during the day and night, dilute urine and excessive thirst (3)

The progressive loss of pituitary hormone secretion is usually a slow process. Itcan occur over a period of months or years. However, occasionally hypopituitarism does start suddenly with a rapid onset of symptoms.

Generally, growth hormone is lost first. Then luteinizing hormone deficiency occurs. The loss of follicle-stimulating hormone, thyroid stimulating hormone, and adrenocorticotropin hormones and prolactin typically follow much later. (4)

Anumber of factors or health conditions can cause hypopituitarism. These include diseases of the pituitary gland or diseases of the hypothalamus that cause diminished secretion of hypothalamic releasing hormones. These hypothalamus diseases reduce the secretion of corresponding pituitary hormones.

Certain tumors can also affect pituitary gland function; this includes brain tumors, pituitary gland tumors and hypothalamus tumors. As a tumor gets bigger, it can compress and damage pituitary tissue, thereby interfering with hormone production. The most common cause of hypopituitarism is a pituitary tumor, also known as a pituitary adenoma. A pituitary tumor isalmost always benign. However,it puts pressure on the restof the pituitary gland. It also limits or even destroys the pituitary glandsability to produce hormones appropriately.

Your pituitary gland may also stop producing one or more of its hormones because of a traumatic injury. This can include brain surgery, a brain infection or a head injury.

Diseases caused by inflammation, impaired immune function or abnormal growth of tissue can causethe pituitary gland not to work properly. (5) This includes infections of the brain, such as meningitis, infections such as tuberculosis, syphilis and mycoses, and the following inflammatory diseases:

Other health issues that may lead to hypopituitarism include: a severe loss of blood during childbirth, which may cause damage to the front part of the pituitary gland (this is known Sheehans syndrome or postpartum pituitary necrosis), genetic mutations resulting in impaired pituitary hormone production, radiation damage and diseases of the hypothalamus.

Sheehans syndrome is a condition that affects women who lose a life-threatening amount of blood in childbirthand/or dont have enoughoxygen after childbirth. It is one of the most common causes of hypopituitarism in both underdeveloped and developing countries. (6)

Various studies have also looked into the effects of radiation damage and its link to hypopituitarism. Data shows that with low radiation doses, growth hormone deficiency usually occurs in isolation in about 30 percent of patients. With higher radiation doses (30 to 50 Gy), the incidence of growth hormone deficiency can reach 50 to 100 percent of patients. Researchers have also found that with higher dose cranial irradiation or following conventional irradiation for pituitary tumors, multiple hormonal deficiencies happenin 30 to 60 precent of patients after ten years of follow-up. (7)

Research shows that hypopituitarism is treatable. A patient with this condition should be able to perform normal activities as long as the appropriate hormonal therapy is used consistently and properly.

Hormone replacement therapyregulates circulating hormones, restores normal physiology as closely as possible and eliminates symptoms of hormone problems. To treat hypopituitarism, the replacement of deficient hormones is required for life. Thiscan be discouraging for patients who resist long-term therapy because of the fear of adverse effects. One rule of hormone replacement therapy is that no one dose will suit every patient. Because of this, when hormone replacement therapy is prescribed, the patient must be seen regularly to check see how they are responding to the treatment,and to change the dose if needed. (8)

Hormone replacement medications may include:

According to research published in Expert Opinion on Pharmacotherapy, lifelong therapeutic replacement of target hormonal deficiencies is necessary to avoid potentially life-threatening complications of hypopituitarism. But, there may be problems associated with administration and routine monitoring of this treatment. An ongoing challenge is to create and manage a helpfulplanof tailoring hormonal replacement regimens for individuals in order to avoid morbidity and mortality associated with hypopituitarism. (9)

Although the goal of hormone replacement therapy is to enable the patient to live a normal life, there are some risks involved in this type of therapy. Hormone replacement at doses that are higher than needed, especially in the case of cortisol, may harm the heart, bones and other organs. On the other hand, too low a dose of cortisol increases the risk of adrenal insufficiency, which is why patients must take additional cortisol when they are in stressful situations. (10)

Some medications, like human growth hormone replacement, may have side effects. These side effects include ankle swelling, joint aches and an increase in blood sugar levels.

People who havehypopituitarism a long time have a slight shorterlife span due to vascular causes, such as heart attacks and stroke, and infections. Although the reasons for this are not clear, patients with hypopituitarism should be screened for additional cardiovascular risk factors. They should also take steps to control their risk of developing cardiovascular issues. (11)

1. L-arginine

L-arginine is a type of amino acid that stimulates the production of certain hormones. These include especially beneficial growth hormones and insulin. L-arginine can help to reduce the symptoms of hypopituitarism, such as hair loss. It can also help to balance the bodys fluids, heal wounds, boost sperm production and allow for blood vessel relaxation.

A 2005 studypublished in Growth Hormone and IGF Research found that 5 to 9 grams of oral arginine caused a significant growth hormone response, which started approximately 30 minutes after ingestion and peaked approximately 60 minutes after ingestion. (12)

To naturally help your body make and use more L-arginine, eat clean sources of protein. These include cage-free eggs, cultured yogurt, grass-fed beef, pasture-raised poultry, liver and organ meats, wild-caught fish, walnuts and almonds.

2. Probiotics

The gut microflora has metabolic effects. This is why they are sometimes given to preterm infants. Research shows that young children who receive probiotic supplementation may achieve faster growth. (13) Research also suggests that probiotics cause significant elevations in growth hormone and testosterone levels in animals. (14)

Aside from taking a daily supplement, use probiotic foods to boost your intake of these healthy bacteria. This includes kefir, cultured vegetables, cultured yogurt, raw cheese, kombucha, apple side vinegar and miso. At the same time, its important that you steer clear of foods that can cause damage to your gut. These includeprocessed foods, hydrogenated oils and added sugar.

3. Copper

A severe copper deficiency may harm the body in multiple ways, including slowing growth. Research shows that adequate intake of copper and other micronutrients isneeded for childhood growth promotion. Copper plays an important role in bodily growth and repair. (15) The body uses copper frequently and it cannot store the mineral in sufficient amounts. Eating copper-rich foods like nuts, seeds, wild seafood, beans, liver and oysters can help you to prevent a copper deficiency and maintain hormone balance.

4. Glycine

Glycine is an amino acid that plays a role in the production of human growth hormone. Studies show that glycine increases growth hormone levels. Evidence is mixedabout its effectivenessfor people with an existing growth hormone deficiency. A 2003 study published in Nutritional Neuroscienceinvolved 42 healthy participants who received either five grams of a nutritional supplement containing glycine, glutamine and niacin, or placebo, twice daily for three weeks. The nutritional supplement containing glycine increased serum growth hormone levels by 70 percent relative to placebo. (16)

5. Adaptogen Herbs

Adaptogen herbs help to balance, restore and protect the body. They respond to any influence or stressor, normalizing your physiological functions. Research shows that adaptogen herbs have positive benefits on the reproductive health of both men and women. They can improve fertility and sexual desire. Adaptogens may also have beneficial effects on the cardiovascular system, helping to protect the heart and regulate blood pressure. This is important because people with hypopituitarism are at a greater risk of deathdue to cardiovascular issues. (17)

Some of the most powerful adaptogen herbs include ginseng, holy basil, rhodiola, ashwagandha and astragalus root. Because these herbs affectstress hormones, you should only use them under the care of your healthcare provider. This is especially important if you are already onhormone replacement therapy.

6. Healthy Fats

Eating healthy fats, such as coconut oil, avocados, grass-fed butter and wild-caught salmon, help to balance your hormones naturally. The body needs short, medium and long-chain fatty acids to create hormones. These essential fats are not only fundamental building blocks for hormone production. They also reduce inflammation and improve heart health. (18)

7. Exercise

One of the many benefits of exercise is its ability to increase growth hormone prevalence. Research conducted at Syracuse University suggests that exercise is a very potent stimulator of growth hormone release. There is considerable research documenting the dramatic rise of growth hormone. Studies suggest that exercise can increase growth hormone levels by 300 to 500 percent. (19)

8. Sleep

Adequate sleep, which means 7 to 8 hours every night, is essential for hormone balance. Your hormones work on a schedule. The body regulatescortisol levelsin the middle of the night. This helpsto give your bodya break from your flight or fight stress response. Sleep helps to keep stress hormones balanced. It also helps to build energy and allow the body to recover from stress properly. (20)

Hypopituitarism can be a life-threatening condition if its not regulated properly. Natural remedies should always be used under the care of your doctor. For some people, hormone replacement therapy may be a neededtreatment.

Leaky gut syndrome is a rapidly growing condition that millions of people are struggling with and dont even know it. From the sound of it, you might think leaky gut syndrome only affects the digestive system, but in reality it can lead to many other health conditions. Because Leaky Gut is so common, and such an enigma, Im offering a free webinar on all things leaky gut. Click here to learn more about the webinar.

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Hypopituitarism Symptoms, Causes & 8 Natural Remedies

Alexes Harris tells KUOW's Katherine Banwell her story.

When ProfessorAlexes Harris learned she had a rare form of leukemia, she knew she was in a fight for her life. But she didn't realize how difficult it would be to find a bone marrow match as a woman of color. This is her story.

I have a rare blood cancer called myelodysplastic syndrome.

I was diagnosed in May 2016 after a year of various tests.Prior to being diagnosed, my only health complaints were a random onset of what felt like asthma attacks during my cycling classes (the only reason I went to the doctor), feeling very tired, and not always thinking clearly. I was told that if I did not begin treatment right away I would have two years to live.

Im a 41-year-old mother of a 9 year old and 5 year old (and wife to an amazing husband), so my only true option was to begin treatment.

After being presented with treatment options, we opted for an intensive round of in-patient chemotherapy, which I underwent in June 2016 and managed symptoms in July, 2016.During my initial diagnosis I learned that I would eventually need a bone marrow or stem cell transplant. This would be my only hope of a cure.

We immediately started research to learn about how matches were found and I discovered that because I am a person with a mixed race and ethnic background (African American, Filipino and white) I would have a difficult time finding a full donor match.

While whites have a 75 percent chance of finding a full match in the existing bone marrow registry, African Americans only have a 19 percent likelihood of finding a match. African Americans comprise only 7 percent of the United States registry.

And, it is projected that by 2017 our likelihood of finding a match will only raise to 21 percent. Within the United States registry, the likelihood for finding a full match is higher for people of Mexican (37 percent), Chinese (41 percent), South Asian (33 percent), Hispanic Caribbean (40 percent) and Native American (52 percent) ancestry than for African Americans, but still significantly lower than the likelihood for whites.

Finding a non-related full match is difficult if you are a person of color, especially people of mixed race origin. Having a 100 percent match is crucial in predicting positive outcomes post-transplant. While the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance has been searching for a match, today, I still do not have a full bone marrow donor match and am moving forward with an alternative stem cell transplant using donated umbilical cord blood. My transplant for using cord blood was in September.

This is why we are organizing a national bone marrow donation registry campaign.I want to make my cancer matter, so my great friends stepped in to make this happen. Our goal is to have 4,000 new people registered by this effort. We need people of all backgrounds to become potential matches to help people like me live.

I am a professor of sociology and teach about social stratification, inequality and racial outcomes in institutional processing.I research class and racial differences in criminal justice processing and outcomes. I am the daughter of a black and Filipino man, wife to a black man, sister to black men, and mother of a black son and daughter.I live in the United States and, as many of us know, understand the racial inequalities in our broader society.Many times I feel overwhelmed about the lack of ability to make institutional differences, be it in our systems of education, criminal justice and health care.

Yet, when it comes to bone marrow donation, and other blood products and organ donation, we can make a difference. We can, for ourselves, save ourselves. Becoming involved in donation empowers us in a way like no other to alleviate health care disparities.

You can learn a lot about my story and this campaignatteamalexes.com. We had bone marrow registries in five cities last fall Seattle, Los Angeles, Houston, Washington, D.C., and New York.

Please consider signing up for the bone marrow registry. You can literally be a superhero and save someones life.

Dr. Alexes Harris is a professor of sociology at the University of Washington. This essay was originally published on her personal website.

Link:
I'm a woman of color with cancer. Here's why I can't find a bone marrow donor - KUOW News and Information

"Dancing With the Stars" pro Maksim Chmerkovskiy has been posting pictures on social media while getting treatment for his calf injury and now he's speaking out for the first time.

In exclusive video obtained by "Good Morning America," the past Mirror Ball champ is talking via video to his "DWTS" partner Heather Morris and telling her that he does not intend to lose this season.

Chmerkovskiy sat out Monday's show and Morris was paired up with pro stand-in Alan Bersten.

"I still feel like we have a chance," he tells Morris and Bersten in the video. "You deserve it and I want to give you 150 percent effort and be physically active as I was at my best."

"I want to come back and win," he says.

Chmerkovskiy has been posting several selfies from the hospital, with one captioned, "Gettin' un-broken."

Chmerkovskiy's fiancee Peta Murgatroyd previously told "Access Hollywood" that he is getting surgery for what could be tears in his calf muscle.

"It's gonna take a couple of weeks at least to get better," she said. "He's having a surgery done," but she added that he's a fighter and will be back as soon as he can.

"GMA" anchor Lara Spencer said today that doctors made a concentrate from Chmerkovskiy's bone marrow stem cells and injected them into his calf to speed up the recovery process.

Earlier in the week, the dancer thanked his fans for all their "love and support!"

"Please rest assured that I'm taking this thing very seriously and, although I don't have a concrete return date, I'll give it my all!" he said on Wednesday.

"Dancing With the Stars" returns Monday night on ABC.

Link:
Exclusive: 'Dancing With the Stars' pro Maksim Chmerkovskiy speaks out about injury - ABC News

Over the past three years, parent-led efforts have collectively raised half a million dollars to support gene therapy research at Nationwide Childrens Hospital (Columbus, Ohio) to treat the ultra-rare disease Hunter Syndrome (also known as Mucopolysaccharidosis or MPS II).

The research is led by Dr. Douglas McCarty and Dr. Haiyan Fu of Nationwide, and funding is expected to bring the research closer to a human clinical trial in late 2017 or early 2018.

To raise funds, the parent-led foundations organize local fundraisers. In Prosper, the Henriquez family hosts an annual family event called Dancing with Dominic, in honor of their 7-year old son Dominic who suffers from Hunter Syndrome. Dominic is a 1st grader at Baker Elementary in Prosper ISD. Without a cure or emerging treatment, Dominic may not live past his teenage years.Dancing with Dominic 2017 will be held on April 1, at Hughes Elementary in McKinney, Texas. Dr. McCarty and Dr. Fu are among the hundreds that plan to attend the event this year.

Hunter Syndrome is a rare, genetic condition that affects approximately 2,000 patients worldwide, almost exclusively young boys. Patients are missing an enzyme, resulting in the accumulation of cellular waste throughout the body.

Babies develop normally for the first few years, and then begin to experience progressive symptoms like stiff joints, enlarged liver and spleen, behavioral problems, constant ear infections and runny nose, and heart valve complications. The average life span for someone with the most common, severe form of the disease is in the early teens.

There is no cure for the disease, although once diagnosed, patients can begin receiving a weekly 4-hour infusion of an enzyme replacement therapy. This medication, Elaprase, is one of the most expensive in the world, often $500,000 or more per patient, per year, and only stabilizes some of the physical symptoms of the disease. Because it does not cross the blood-brain-barrier, it does nothing to prevent the progressive brain damage that occurs in most children affected by the disease.

This gene therapy for MPS II is the result of more than a decade of collaborative research efforts with support from MPS II patient family foundations, Dr. McCarty said. This gene therapy approach targets the root cause of MPS II by delivering the correct gene using a vector that can cross the blood-brain-barrier. Our preclinical data have shown great promise with lifelong benefits. We believe that we are well positioned to move forward towards a Phase 1/2 clinical trial in patients with MPS II.

About the Hunter Syndrome

Foundation

The Hunter Syndrome Foundation is a 501(c)3 non-profit corporation with a mission to fund potential therapies that will ultimately find a cure for this disorder.

The Foundation is part of a coalition of parent-led organizations that are supporting medical research for hunter syndrome. The Foundation was established in Prosper, Texas by the Henriquez family. For more information, visit http://www.huntersyndromefoundation.org.

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Prosper nonprofit brings gene therapy treatment closer to reality - Star Local Media

Dimas Padilla, 43, of Kissimmee, is in remission from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma after receiving an experimental cancer therapy called CAR-T. Here, he poses with his wife, Dimas Padilla. NBC News

"These are patients who really are without hope," Locke said.

"Patients who at best could expect to have a one in 10 chance of having a complete disappearance of their lymphoma," he added. "So the results are really exciting and remarkable."

More than 80 percent of the 101 patients who got the treatment were still alive six months later. "Only about half the patients who (went) on this study could expect to even be alive six months after the therapy," Locke said.

Padilla is one of them. When the cancer came back most recently time, his lymph nodes were bulging. "They were so bad that they moved my vocal cords to the side and I was without my voice for almost three months," he said.

"They kept growing and my face was swelling, and I thought I was going to choke while I was sleeping."

Padilla was among the last patients enrolled in the trial.

"Once they infused the cells in my body, within two to three days all my lymph nodes started melting like ice cubes," he said.

The treatment is no cake walk. Just as with a bone marrow transplant, the patient's immune system must be damaged so that the newly engineered T-cells can do their work. That involves some harsh chemotherapy.

It's so harsh that it killed three of the patients in the trial. Padilla says he still has some memory loss from his bout with the chemo.

Related:

"I had some fevers and I was shaking and a little bit of memory loss but it was temporary," he said. "I will say that it was pretty intense for like a week, but in my second week, second week and a half, I was starting to feel more normal. I was able to start walking and the shaking was not as bad as it was in the beginning," he said.

And when he got the news that his lymphoma was gone at least for now Padilla was delighted.

"I kissed my wife. I probably kissed the doctor," he said.

The company developing the treatment, Kite Pharma, sought Food and Drug Administration approval for the therapy on Friday.

It carries the tongue-twisting name of axicabtagene ciloleucel, and it's the first commercial CAR-T product to get into the FDA approval process.

It's far too early to say any of the patients were cured, Locke cautions. And such a difficult treatment course is really only for patients in the most desperate condition.

"The patients in this trial were really without options," he said.

But Locke is sold on the approach. "This is a revolution. It's a revolution in cancer care. This is the tip of the iceberg," he said.

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New Gene Therapy for Cancer Offers Hope to Those With No Options Left - NBCNews.com

Here's what bleeding or periods for more than five days or a week might indicate. Read to know more!

Periods typically occur once a month, which usually lasts for not more than 7 days (5 or 3 days for some). However, sometimes periods might last longer than the usual, which might indicate something is wrong with the body. Also known as menorrhagia, prolonged periods can indicate a hormonal imbalance or changes in the uterus, which should not be ignored. It is wise to consult a gynaecologist at the earliest to know the exact cause of it and get treated. Dr Nupur Gupta, Gynaecologist and obstetrician, Well Woman Clinic, Gurgaon, explains the common reasons for prolonged periods or menorrhagia. Also read about8 things your gynaecologist wants you to know.

1. Dysfunctional bleeding: Known as abnormal uterine bleeding, it is caused due to hormonal imbalance in the body. In most cases, it indicates an anovulatory cycle, a condition in which the ovaries do not produce egg but, there is bleeding from the uterus. It is common seen in a woman of reproductive age (mainly 18 years to 35 years). Here are10 commonly asked questions about periods answered.

2. Bleeding disorders: It is commonly seen in girls of adolescent age or puberty, then your doctor might recommend blood tests to rule out a bleeding disorder. In some cases, even an ultrasound of the lower abdomen might be recommended by your gynaecologist to look for changes in the uterus. Hence, if you have prolonged periods after menarche, it is wise to consult a doctor. If a bleeding disorder is ruled out, it might also indicate the lack of iron and vitamins. In such a case, you might also need counselling and prescription of multivitamins to improve your condition.

3. Thyroid disease: Yes, prolonged bleeding could be due to low levels of thyroid hormones in the body. Hence, if you have hypothyroidism or suffer from thyroid disorders, it is wise to consult a doctor get it treated as it could be due to the medications fo the hormonal changes that happen in the body due to low levels of thyroid hormones. To diagnose thyroid disease, your gynaecologist might recommend blood tests.

4. Hyperprolactinemia: It is a condition characterised by high-level of prolactin, a hormone which is needed for breast development during pregnancy and also to induce lactation in new mothers. Hyperprolactinemia is common during pregnancy, however, if pregnancy is ruled out and you have prolonged periods, get in touch with your gynaecologist to rule out hyperprolactinemia, which is seen in the case of stress, use of certain medications, kidneys disease and tumours.

5. Perimenopause: The right age of menopause in Indian women is 47 51 years. However, there are chances that you might suffer from early menopause or perimenopause. Hence, if you have prolonged periods at the age of 40 45 years, it might indicate perimenopause. Moreover, if you have postmenopausal bleeding (bleeding a year after your periods have stopped) do not ignore it. Your expert might recommend an endometrial biopsy to rule out cancer. Heres more on what is early menopause and how can I avoid it?

6. Uterine fibroids and polyps: Another cause of prolonged bleeding is uterine fibroids, which are benign growths of smooth muscles in the uterus, which are not cancerous. On the other hand, uterine polyps are an overgrowth of the cells in the lining of the endometrium, which are usually non-cancerous in nature. Moreover, chronic inflammation of the cervix, known as cervical erosion, might also lead to prolonged bleeding.

7. Cancer: Lastly, prolonged bleeding for more than a week, especially in women in the age group of 45 years and above might also be a sign of cervical cancer. Hence, your gynaecologist might recommend ultrasound and pap smear to rule out the cancer of the uterus and the cervix. In some cases, hysteroscopy (a procedure in which an endoscope is used to check the uterine cavity) is also advised to be on a safer side.

Hence. if you have periods for more than a week or bleed for long (with or without spotting), then it is wise to consult your gyanecologist to rule out cancer and other common gynaecological problems.

Image Source: Shutterstock

Published: March 31, 2017 10:55 am

Disclaimer: TheHealthSite.com does not guarantee any specific results as a result of the procedures mentioned here and the results may vary from person to person. The topics in these pages including text, graphics, videos and other material contained on this website are for informational purposes only and not to be substituted for professional medical advice.

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7 reasons you have prolonged periods (more than 5-7 days) - TheHealthSite

Ector Middle School student heading to state science fair Odessa American The Mayo Clinic website said Type 1 diabetes, previously known as juvenile diabetes or insulin-dependent diabetes, is a chronic condition in which the pancreas produces little or no insulin, a hormone needed to allow sugar (glucose) to enter cells to ...

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Ector Middle School student heading to state science fair - Odessa American

Stem cells under a microscope.

A newly published study shows for the first time that if cardiac stem cells are eliminated, the heart is unable to repair itself after damage.

Researchers at Kings College London have for the first time highlighted the natural regenerative capacity of a group of stem cells that reside in the heart. This new study shows that these cells are responsible for repairing and regenerating muscle tissue damaged by a heart attack which leads to heart failure.

The study, published in the journal Cell, shows that if the stem cells are eliminated, the heart is unable to repair after damage. If the cardiac stem cells are replaced the heart repairs itself, leading to complete cellular, anatomical and functional heart recovery, with the heart returning to normal and pumping at a regular rate.

Also, if the cardiac stem cells are removed and re-injected, they naturally home to and repair the damaged heart, a discovery that could lead to less-invasive treatments and even early prevention of heart failure in the future.

The study, funded by the European Commission Seventh Framework Program (FP7), set out to establish the role of cardiac stem cells (eCSCs) by first removing the cells from the hearts of rodents with heart failure. This stopped regeneration and recovery of the heart, demonstrating the intrinsic regenerative capacity of these cells for repairing the heart in response to heart failure.

Heart failure when the heart is unable to pump blood around the body adequately affects more than 750,000 people in the UK, causing breathlessness and impeding daily activities. Current treatments are aimed at treating the underlying causes, such as coronary heart disease, heart attack and blood pressure through lifestyle changes, medicines and in severe cases, surgery. These treatments are sometimes successful in preventing or delaying heart failure. However, once heart failure develops the only curative treatment is heart transplantation.

By revealing this robust homing mechanism, which causes cardiac stem cells to home to and repair the hearts damaged muscle, the findings could lead to less invasive treatments or even preventative measures aimed at maintaining or increasing the activity of the hearts own cardiac stem cells.

Dr Georgina Ellison, the first author of the paper and Professor Bernardo Nadal-Ginard, the studys corresponding author, both from the Center of Human & Aerospace Physiological Sciences and the Center for Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine at Kings, said: In a healthy heart the quantity of cardiac stem cells is sufficient to repair muscle tissue in the heart. However, in damaged hearts many of these cells cannot multiply or produce new muscle tissue. In these cases it could be possible to replace the damaged cardiac stem cells or add new ones by growing them in the laboratory and administering them intravenously.

Dr Ellison added: Understanding the role and potential of cardiac stems cells could pave the way for a variety of new ways to prevent and treat heart failure. These new approaches involve maintaining or increasing the activity of cardiac stem cells so that muscle tissue in the heart can be renewed with new heart cells, replacing old cells or those damaged by wear and tear.

The cardiac stem cells naturally home to the heart because the heart is their home they know to go there. Current practices involve major operations such as injection through the hearts muscle wall (intramyocardial) or coronary vessels (intracoronary). The homing mechanism shown by our research could lead to a less invasive treatment whereby cardiac stem cells are injected through a vein in the skin (intravenously).

Professor Nadal-Ginard added: Although an early study, our findings are very promising. Next steps include clinical trials, due to start early 2014, aimed at assessing the effectiveness of cardiac stem cells for preventing and treating heart failure in humans.

Publication: Georgina M. Ellison, et al., Adult c-kitpos Cardiac Stem Cells Are Necessary and Sufficient for Functional Cardiac Regeneration and Repair, Cell, Volume 154, Issue 4, 827-842, 2013; doi:10.1016/j.cell.2013.07.039

Source: Kings College London

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Cardiac Stem Cells Offer New Ways to Prevent and Treat ...

Junnan Tang Deliang Shen Thomas George Caranasos Zegen Wang Adam C Vandergriff Tyler A Allen Michael Taylor Hensley Phuong-Uyen Dinh Jhon Cores Tao-Sheng Li Jinying Zhang Quancheng Kan Ke Cheng PubMedID: 28045024

Tang J, Shen D, Caranasos TG, Wang Z, Vandergriff AC, Allen TA, Hensley MT, Dinh PU, Cores J, Li TS, Zhang J, Kan Q, Cheng K. Therapeutic microparticles functionalized with biomimetic cardiac stem cell membranes and secretome. Nat Commun. 2017;813724.

Stem cell therapy represents a promising strategy in regenerative medicine. However, cells need to be carefully preserved and processed before usage. In addition, cell transplantation carries immunogenicity and/or tumourigenicity risks. Mounting lines of evidence indicate that stem cells exert their beneficial effects mainly through secretion (of regenerative factors) and membrane-based cell-cell interaction with the injured cells. Here, we fabricate a synthetic cell-mimicking microparticle (CMMP) that recapitulates stem cell functions in tissue repair. CMMPs carry similar secreted proteins and membranes as genuine cardiac stem cells do. In a mouse model of myocardial infarction, injection of CMMPs leads to the preservation of viable myocardium and augmentation of cardiac functions similar to cardiac stem cell therapy. CMMPs (derived from human cells) do not stimulate T-cell infiltration in immuno-competent mice. In conclusion, CMMPs act as 'synthetic stem cells' which mimic the paracrine and biointerfacing activities of natural stem cells in therapeutic cardiac regeneration.

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SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwired - March 29, 2017) - VistaGen Therapeutics Inc. (VTGN), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing new generation medicines for depression and other central nervous system (CNS) disorders, announced today that the European Patent Office (EPO) has issued a Notice of Intention to Grant the Company's European Patent Application for AV-101, its oral CNS prodrug candidate in Phase 2 development for major depressive disorder (MDD). The granted claims covering multiple dosage forms of AV-101, treatment of depression and reduction of dyskinesias associated with L-DOPA treatment of Parkinson's disease will be in effect until at least January 2034.

"We are extremely pleased to receive the EPO's notice of intention to grant significant CNS-related patent claims for AV-101, another substantial step forward in our plan to secure a broad spectrum of intellectual property protection for AV-101 covering multiple CNS indications," stated Shawn Singh, Chief Executive Officer of VistaGen.

About AV-101

AV-101 (4-CI-KYN) is an oral CNS prodrug candidate in Phase 2 development in the U.S. as a new generation treatment for major depressive disorder (MDD). AV-101 also has broad potential utility in several other CNS disorders, including chronic neuropathic pain and epilepsy, as well as neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson's disease and Huntington's disease.

AV-101 is currently being evaluated in a Phase 2 monotherapy study in MDD, a study being fully funded by the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and conducted by Dr. Carlos Zarate Jr., Chief, Section on the Neurobiology and Treatment of Mood Disorders and Chief of Experimental Therapeutics and Pathophysiology Branch at the NIMH, as Principal Investigator.

VistaGen is preparing to advance AV-101 into a 180-patient, U.S. multi-center, Phase 2 adjunctive treatment study in MDD patients with an inadequate response to standard FDA-approved antidepressants, with Dr. Maurizio Fava of Harvard University as Principal Investigator.

About VistaGen

VistaGen Therapeutics, Inc. (VTGN), is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing new generation medicines for depression and other central nervous system (CNS) disorders. VistaGen's lead CNS product candidate, AV-101, is a new generation oral antidepressant drug candidate in Phase 2 development for major depressive disorder (MDD). AV-101's mechanism of action is fundamentally differentiated from all FDA-approved antidepressants and atypical antipsychotics used adjunctively to treat MDD, with potential to drive a paradigm shift towards a new generation of safer and faster-acting antidepressants. AV-101 is currently being evaluated by the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) in a Phase 2 monotherapy study in MDD being fully funded by the NIMH and conducted by Dr. Carlos Zarate Jr., Chief, Section on the Neurobiology and Treatment of Mood Disorders and Chief of Experimental Therapeutics and Pathophysiology Branch at the NIMH. VistaGen is preparing to launch a 180-patient Phase 2 study of AV-101 as an adjunctive treatment for MDD patients with inadequate response to standard, FDA-approved antidepressants. Dr. Maurizio Fava of Harvard University will be the Principal Investigator of the Company's Phase 2 adjunctive treatment study. AV-101 may also have the potential to treat multiple CNS disorders and neurodegenerative diseases in addition to MDD, including chronic neuropathic pain, epilepsy, Parkinson's disease and Huntington's disease, where modulation of the NMDAR, AMPA pathway and/or key active metabolites of AV-101 may achieve therapeutic benefit.

VistaStem Therapeutics is VistaGen's wholly owned subsidiary focused on applying human pluripotent stem cell technology, internally and with collaborators, to discover, rescue, develop and commercialize proprietary new chemical entities (NCEs), including small molecule NCEs with regenerative potential, for CNS and other diseases, and cellular therapies involving stem cell-derived blood, cartilage, heart and liver cells. In December 2016, VistaGen exclusively sublicensed to BlueRock Therapeutics LP, a next generation regenerative medicine company established by Bayer AG and Versant Ventures, rights to certain proprietary technologies relating to the production of cardiac stem cells for the treatment of heart disease.

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For more information, please visit http://www.vistagen.com and connect with VistaGen on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.

Forward-Looking Statements

The statements in this press release that are not historical facts may constitute forward-looking statements that are based on current expectations and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual future results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements. Those risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, risks related to the successful launch, continuation and results of the NIMH's Phase 2 (monotherapy) and/or the Company's planned Phase 2 (adjunctive therapy) clinical studies of AV-101 in MDD, and other CNS diseases and disorders, protection of its intellectual property, and the availability of substantial additional capital to support its operations, including the development activities described above. These and other risks and uncertainties are identified and described in more detail in VistaGen's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). These filings are available on the SEC's website at http://www.sec.gov. VistaGen undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements.

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VistaGen Therapeutics Receives European Patent Office Notice of Intention to Grant European Patent for AV-101 - Yahoo Finance

BRADENTON, Fla. By now, the time line for recovery from Tommy John surgery is familiar even to the casual baseball fan. It takes at least a year, usually more. It takes tedious, monotonous work on the part of the player.

Alternatives exist, but until now their use among established major leaguers has been limited if tried at all. This season could provide a referendum on two of them. One surgical procedure could cut the recovery time in half. Another treatment could help a player avoid surgery altogether.

I think it can definitely help the game, right-hander Seth Maness, who had a modified elbow ligament surgery in August, said by phone from spring training in Arizona. But the circumstances have to be right.

Maness had a surgery on his right elbow known as a primary repair or primary brace. The procedure reattaches the elbows ulnar collateral ligament to the bone with collagen-coated Arthrex tape. Los Angeles Angels starter Garrett Richards received a stem cell injection into his right elbow to heal his damaged UCL. So far, its working.

The last thing you want to do is have surgery, and if you do what your body does naturally, thats going to be stronger than any replacement surgery, Richards said, also by phone from spring training in Arizona. I just hope that this further gives guys a little bit of knowledge that you have options.

Neither procedure will replace Tommy John. Stem cells dont work in every case, and if the UCL is torn across the middle of the ligament, it needs to be replaced. The sample size for both is also small. But both provide options involving less recovery time for pitchers whose injuries fit a certain profile.

Maness, 28, spent four seasons pitching out of the St. Louis Cardinals bullpen and signed a minor league contract with the Kansas City Royals in February. Maness ligament had pulled away from the bone rather than tearing across the middle. Instead of needing a full Tommy John surgery, which requires grafting a tendon from the wrist or hamstring into the elbow to replace the UCL and at least a year of recovery, Maness was a candidate for a primary repair.

Really this primary brace technology had been used more widely in Europe, particularly for ligament injuries of the knee and the ankle, said Dr. George Paletta, St. Louis Cardinals head orthopedic surgeon who performed Maness surgery. So the concept or the idea was, OK, its working well there, is there a way to adapt it to the elbow?

Paletta had done roughly 60 primary repairs on amateur pitchers prior to operating on Maness and saw an average recovery time of 6 months. That background helped him establish three criteria he needed a young pitcher, an otherwise healthy ligament and, most importantly,the ligament needed to pull off the bone on one end rather than tear in the middle.

Weve had a lot of experience with ligaments healing directly to bone and we have a good understanding of that timetable, so we knew that by about 12 weeks after surgery, this repair should be pretty well healed and pretty solid at that point, Paletta said.

Cardinals reliever Mitch Harris also had the primary repair, as did a third pitcher with major league experience, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, with whom Maness first discussed the procedure in January. Cardinals non-roster outfielder/pitcher Jordan Schafer had the procedure this month.

The UCL in Richards right elbow had a tear running along the ligament, not across it. He sought second opinions from noted orthopedic surgeons Dr. James Andrews and Dr. Neal ElAttrache.

Dr. Andrews pretty much told me, Hey Garrett, if you were my son, I would try the stem cell first, Richards said.

Doctors removed stem cells from his pelvis and injected them into his elbow, in hopes the cells would heal the UCL. Stem cells, extracted from bone marrow, are able to develop into multiple different tissues and can promote healing.

It just feels tight. Youre putting fluid into a place that pretty much doesnt have any room for any more fluid, Richards said of the injection. If you can imagine youre just overfilling a certain area with this nice special sauce.

Teams sometimes use platelet-rich plasma injections, where blood is spun in a centrifuge to isolate growth factors Takashi Saitos PRP injection in 2008 was believed to be the first for a major league pitcher, and Masahiro Tanaka also has pitched successfully with a partially torn UCL after PRP treatment but stem cells are less common. Bartolo Colon, soldiering into his 20th major league season at 43 years old, had a stem cell treatment in 2010. Boston Red Sox left-hander Drew Pomeranz had a stem cell injection in his elbow this winter to address lingering soreness.But Pomeranz went on the disabled list Thursday with left forearm flexor strain.

It doesnt always work. Richards teammate, lefty Andrew Heaney, needed Tommy John last summer after stem cells didnt do the trick.

Richards six-week exam showed significant growth. His three-month check showed even more. He reported no issues this spring, his high-90s mph fastball is back and he is on track to open the season in the rotation.

Everything feels great, Richards said. Basically I took the year off, let my arm heal and now Im back doing what I always do. I just feel refreshed.

Bill Brink: bbrink@post-gazette.com and Twitter @BrinkPG.

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How new-age medicine is helping Major League Baseball pitchers avoid injury - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Adelaide woman Kate Rafertys son just started school, her daughter is two.

She doesnt like to speak about it with her doctors, but she may not get the chance to see them grow up.

Ms Raferty has a severe form of Leukaemia, which relapsed early in 2017.

She needs a life-saving bone marrow transplant a simple one-day procedure for the donor but of the millions of registered donors around the world, none are a match.

It was a bit hard to absorb because everything happened so fast when I was first diagnosed, she told SBS.

They focused on my sister being a match, and that took weeks to work out that she wasn't a match.

Only about 30 per cent of patients are able to find a match within their family - the chance of a single sibling being a match is 25 per cent.

At about the same time, they told me there wasn't a match worldwide, but never really worked out or advised why, MsRaferty said.

The likely reason is as uncomfortable one Ms Rafertys mother is Hungarian and her father is a white Australian.

The unique background is an inherent part of what makes Kate Raferty who she is, but it may have doomed her chances of finding a donor.

Bone marrow transplants require a partial genetic match relating to an array of genes known as the HLA system - family members are the best chance of a match, but failing that it's likely a donor will have to be found from people with a similar ethnic background.

People like us who have migrated to Australia, or are children of those who migrated and help make up multicultural Australia, have one of the worst chances of finding a match, Ms Rafertysaid.

Paul Berghoffer, Operations Manager with the Bone Marrow Donor Centre, says that while donor matching is based on a range of factors, a HLA match is critical - it's the system which your immune defences use to distinguish your own cells from foreign cells.

You inherit half of your HLA type from your mother and half from your father, and because it is an entirely inherited trait, we find there are HLA clusters within particular ethnic groups," he said.

Within Australia's 170,000-strong donor pool, northwest Europeans are probably over-represented, he said.

The challenge for donor registries in Australia and around the world is to build genetically diverse registries that are reflective of those who need help."

While factors vary case to case, those with a mixed genetic background, such as Kate Raferty, can have even rarer HLA types.

Looking at the law of averages, its definitely more challenging for people of mixed backgrounds to find a HLA match," he said.

"Given there are roughly 29 million donors registered world-wide, the fact that people still can't find a match just stands to show how variable HLA types are."

The answer, he says, is recruitment focused onethnic minorities and people with mixed backgrounds.

Kate Raferty and her husband and children, Christmas 2014.

In her desperation to stay alive to see her children grow up, Ms Raferty has taken to social media to raise awareness and increase donor registration.

Our cure is out there in someone else in the world, we just need them to register, she said.

The Raferty family isnt the only one looking.

Tania in South Australia has a mixed Balkan background.

Baby Ruby in the UK has a mixed Latin American background.

Six-month-oldAustin in the UKis of mixed Polish background.

Five-year-old Valerie in the UK has an African background.

Each family is desperate to find a match, andthey work with each other as part of an international drive to increase the genetic diversity of registered donors.

I am determined, determined to ask each and every one of you to help to save people like my son by signing up to become a stem cell donor for patients in need, said baby Austins father, Lewis.

Some campaigns have signed up thousands of extra donors, and turned up matches for multiple other patients.

Because people are often unaware of the diversity of their own genetic make-up, their campaigns target people very broadly.

My mum is from Hungary but thinks her grandma was from Czechoslovakia, Ms Rafferty said.

Possibly also any bordering country might share the same tissue types.

While doctors have toldMsRafterty her chances of finding a match are slim, she remains optimistic.

Others have found their matches by campaigning like this, but sadly others have died in their search, she said.

Enrolled in a drug trial and receiving blood cord transplants, she now has some extra time with her children, but she says her only hope of a cure is a transplant.

Someone with mixed Jewish-Chinese heritage just found their match, she said, so we live in hope.

You can join Australian Bone Marrow Donor Registry if you are aged between 18 and 45 years, in good health and meet the eligibility criteria. Joining the registry requires a blood test. If you are found to be a match, donating can be done through a blood donation or a relatively simple day procedure.

Find out more from the Australian Bone Marrow Donor Registry. To register call 13 14 95.

Excerpt from:
Why mixed-race minorities struggle to find life-saving transplant matches - SBS

JEROMESVILLE Heidi Steiber was 27 years old when she was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis.

MS is an unpredictable, often disabling disease of the central nervous system that disrupts the flow of information within the brain, and between the brain and body, according to the NationalMultiple SclerosisSociety.

"I've experienced various symptoms," Steiber said. "Loss of vision, my left and right hands and left leg don't work very well."

MS is a progressive ailment, Steiber added, which means the damage the disease causes can not be corrected.

Now, 15 years later, the 42-year-old Steiber is hoping to raise enough money to spend a month in Puebla, Mexico to undergo a hematopoietic stem cell transplant.

HSCT is a transplant of multipotent hematopoietic stem cells, usually derived from bone marrow, peripheral blood, or umbilical cord blood.

Steiber applied for a similar program in Chicago, but was turned away because they wanted to research MS patients who have had the disease for 10 or less years.

The treatment will cost $55,000 and will keep Steiber in isolation for a month, she said. The treatment will destroy her immune system after her stem cells are taken from her marrow. After the immune system is removed the stem cells will be replaced into her body. She hopes to make her appointment on June 19 at Clinica Ruiz

"It's like Heidi 2.0 or Heidi rebooted," she joked.

She is using a crowd sourcing website to gather donations. So far, she has been excited by the results in one month, raising $32,000 of the $70,000 she is looking for to pay for her treatments and the following recovery. Steiber said her insurance will not contribute to the medical expenses.

"People have been extremely generous. One of my donators did a matching donation, so I raised $3,000 in a day-and-a-half.

Steiber, now residing in Raleigh, North Carolina, will be heading back to her hometown of Jeromesville to the American Legion for a benefit dinner, May 13. It will run from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m.

"You know the expression, it takes a village? That's the village they were talking about Jeromesville," the Hillsdale High graduate said. "It's amazing to have people coming together for you."

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Hillsdale grad looks for medical help in Mexico, local support to get there - Richland Source

Screenshot of Taigas website.

A startup at University of Colorado Anschutz is in the middle of a substantial capital raise.

Taiga Biotechnologies, which is developing new therapies for cancer, HIV and other diseases, has raised $6 million and is looking for an additional $14 million, according to a recent SEC filing.

The date of the first sale was March 16, and so far, the startup has 14 individual investors.

Founded in 2006, Taiga creates therapies for cancer, immune diseases and other serious medical conditions using stem cells, proteins and other molecular compounds.

In 2012, the firmreceived a patent to produce significant amounts of adult blood stem cells using blood from umbilical cords or bone marrow. Blood samples could be stored and expanded to be used after chemotherapy or radiation treatment, instead of having multiple bone marrow transplants.

Last summer, Taiga developed a product to help children with severe immune deficiencies, forcing them to live in protected and sterile environments. The product, which garnered an Orphan Drug Designation from the Food and Drug Administration, was approved for clinical trial in Israel.

Taiga is led by co-founders Brian Turner and Yosef Refaeli.

The company received $12 million in a raise ending in 2015, as well as $246,000 in 2010, according to SEC filings.

Taiga is basedat 12635 E. Montview Blvd. at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus.

Kate Tracy is a BusinessDen reporter who covers nonprofits, startups and the outdoors industry. She is a graduate of Corban University. Email her at kate@BusinessDen.com.

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UC Anschutz startup gets $6M boost to fight disease with stem cells - BusinessDen

MAXWELL AIR FORCE BASE, Ala. --

With an upcoming permanent change of station, Maj. Mathew Carter, a Jeanne M. Holm Center for Officer Accessions and Citizen Development instructor at Air University, had hundreds of reasons to say no when he was asked to travel to Washington, D.C., to donate bone marrow to a complete stranger. Instead, he decided this opportunity was too important to loose.

Over the weekend of March 25, he underwent a bone marrow extraction procedure in the hope of helping a 7-year-old child he never met.

This story begins in 2003 when he registered with the Department of Defenses Salute to Life program.

Salute to Life, also known as the C.W. Bill Young Department of Defense Marrow Donor Recruitment and Research Program, was initiated in 1991 and is tailored to work exclusively with military members. Over time, the program has recruited more than 1 million donors.

Carter had registered for the program while his father was in the Army. His father was stationed at Ft. Sam Houston, Texas. Carter and his family attended a bone marrow drive held for their neighbor who was diagnosed with cancer.

After 14 years, he received not only a letter, but an email and a voicemail from the organization informing him of a match.

I was kind of caught off-guard by it. It was one of those things that had a lot of opportunities for me to say no, but I have a 5-year-old, and when they told me there was a child that has a very serious life-threatening disease, there was really no question. It was the right thing to do, so I said yes, said Carter.

Carter began the process in early February by being tested again to confirm the match and getting a physical. By late March he was ready for the procedure.

During the bone marrow extraction, the patient is under local anesthesia while the doctor uses a needle to remove the marrow from the back of the pelvic bone.

Initially before [the surgery] started I was a little anxious. Before you go into any surgery you get a little anxiety, but it was one of those things that I was ready to just do, he said. Afterward, it was just relief knowing that I had done all that I could possibly do to help this person out.

He compared bone marrow donation to other bodily donations in the sense that when you donate other organs, they are permanently removed. However, with bone marrow or stem cells, the body regenerates what is lost.

For the two to four weeks of being sore and tired after the procedure, you look at what the recipient is going through, and it pales in comparison, so having the opportunity to do something like that is just amazing, he said.

For the donor and the recipients safety, they are left completely anonymous.. Once a year has passed after the surgery, they are then given the choice to reach out to each other.

When asked what he would say to the child, he thought for a moment and said, Live your life to the fullest.

Carter hopes that through this experience he can help raise awareness about bone marrow and stem cell donation, and encourages other to sign-up as donors.

Youll be a little sore and tired, but have the opportunity to do something amazing, he said.

For more information about bone marrow or stem cell donation through Salute to Life, visit http://www.salutetolife.org.

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Maxwell Airman donates to stranger in need - Maxwell-Gunter Air Force Base

KAMLOOPS My curiosity was sparked when I read that a stem cell centre was opening in Kamloops (Kamloops This Week, March 21, 2017).

So I went to the location of the centre at 470 Columbia St only to find a parking lot. Thinking that the address might be wrong, I searched the directory of the medical building next door and found that no stem cell centre was listed.

The Stem Cell Centers website lists Kamloops as the only one in Canada. Dr. Richard Brownlee is named as the surgeon with more information coming soon.

Stem cell therapy, says the website, can help with orthopedic or pain management, ophthalmological conditions, cardiac or pulmonary conditions, neurological conditions, and auto-immune diseases, among many other conditions and disease that results in damaged tissue.

One of the ophthalmological conditions they treat is macular degeneration. If your vision is fading due to macular degeneration, you know its time to seek help. Our non-invasive Stem Cell Therapy treatment might be the solution for you.

I wanted get Dr. Brownlees reaction to news that an unproven stem cell treatment had resulted in blindness according to the New England Journal of Medicine as reported in the Globe and Mail, March 20, 2017.

This week, the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) reported on three individuals who went blind after receiving an unproven stem cell treatment at a Florida clinic. The patients paid thousands of dollars for what they thought was a clinical trial on the use of stem cells to treat macular degeneration.

The writer of the Globe and Mail article, Timothy Caulfield, Research Chair of the in Health Law and Policy at the University of Alberta, doesnt name the Florida clinic.

The Stem Cell Centers website refers optimistically to treatment for macular degeneration at a Florida clinic, although apparently not theirs since no Florida clinic appears on their list. It tells of how Doug Oliver suffered from macular degeneration before stem cells were extracted from his hip bone and injected them into his eyes. Almost immediately, Olivers eyesight started to improve. I began weeping, he said.

Caulfield encourages caution. Health science gets a lot of attention in the popular press. People love hearing about breakthroughs, paradigm shifts and emerging cures. The problem is, these stories are almost always misleading. It can also help to legitimize the marketing of unproven therapies.

Reports from the Stem Cell Centers own website are cautionary as well. It quotes an abstract from a study done by the Southern California College of Optometry on how stem cells might ultimately be used to restore the entire visual pathway.

The promise of stem cell research is phenomenal. Scientific American (Jan., 2017) reports that brains can be grown in a lab dish from stem cells taken from skin. These samples can be used to research brain disorders ranging from schizophrenia to Alzheimer's disease, and to explore why only some babies develop brain-shrinking microcephaly after exposure to the Zika virus.

However, Dr. George Daley, dean of Harvard Medical School, concludes that there are only a handful of clinical applications available and they are for skin and blood-related ailments.

Practice, it seems, has not yet matched the promise of stem cell research.

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Stem cell centre coming to Kamloops? | CFJC Today - CFJC Today Kamloops

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Nearly all research to date has made use of mouse embryonic stem cells (mES) or human embryonic stem cells (hES). Both have the essential stem cell characteristics, yet they require very different environments in order to maintain an undifferentiated state. Mouse ES cells are grown on a layer of gelatin as an extracellular matrix (for support) and require the presence of leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF). Human ES cells are grown on a feeder layer of mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) and require the presence of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF or FGF-2).[10] Without optimal culture conditions or genetic manipulation,[11] embryonic stem cells will rapidly differentiate.

A human embryonic stem cell is also defined by the expression of several transcription factors and cell surface proteins. The transcription factors Oct-4, Nanog, and Sox2 form the core regulatory network that ensures the suppression of genes that lead to differentiation and the maintenance of pluripotency.[12] The cell surface antigens most commonly used to identify hES cells are the glycolipids stage specific embryonic antigen 3 and 4 and the keratan sulfate antigens Tra-1-60 and Tra-1-81. The molecular definition of a stem cell includes many more proteins and continues to be a topic of research.[13]

There are currently no approved treatments using embryonic stem cells. The first human trial was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in January 2009.[14] However, the human trial was not initiated until October 13, 2010 in Atlanta for spinal injury victims. On November 14, 2011 the company conducting the trial announced that it will discontinue further development of its stem cell programs.[15] ES cells, being pluripotent cells, require specific signals for correct differentiationif injected directly into another body, ES cells will differentiate into many different types of cells, causing a teratoma. Differentiating ES cells into usable cells while avoiding transplant rejection are just a few of the hurdles that embryonic stem cell researchers still face.[16] Many nations currently have moratoria on either ES cell research or the production of new ES cell lines. Because of their combined abilities of unlimited expansion and pluripotency, embryonic stem cells remain a theoretically potential source for regenerative medicine and tissue replacement after injury or disease.

Human embryonic stem cell colony on mouse embryonic fibroblast feeder layer

The primitive stem cells located in the organs of fetuses are referred to as fetal stem cells.[17] There are two types of fetal stem cells:

Adult stem cells, also called somatic (from Greek , of the body) stem cells, are stem cells which maintain and repair the tissue in which they are found.[19] They can be found in children, as well as adults.[20]

Pluripotent adult stem cells are rare and generally small in number, but they can be found in umbilical cord blood and other tissues.[21] Bone marrow is a rich source of adult stem cells,[22] which have been used in treating several conditions including spinal cord injury,[23] liver cirrhosis,[24] chronic limb ischemia [25] and endstage heart failure.[26] The quantity of bone marrow stem cells declines with age and is greater in males than females during reproductive years.[27] Much adult stem cell research to date has aimed to characterize their potency and self-renewal capabilities.[28] DNA damage accumulates with age in both stem cells and the cells that comprise the stem cell environment. This accumulation is considered to be responsible, at least in part, for increasing stem cell dysfunction with aging (see DNA damage theory of aging).[29]

Most adult stem cells are lineage-restricted (multipotent) and are generally referred to by their tissue origin (mesenchymal stem cell, adipose-derived stem cell, endothelial stem cell, dental pulp stem cell, etc.).[30][31]

Adult stem cell treatments have been successfully used for many years to treat leukemia and related bone/blood cancers through bone marrow transplants.[32] Adult stem cells are also used in veterinary medicine to treat tendon and ligament injuries in horses.[33]

The use of adult stem cells in research and therapy is not as controversial as the use of embryonic stem cells, because the production of adult stem cells does not require the destruction of an embryo. Additionally, in instances where adult stem cells are obtained from the intended recipient (an autograft), the risk of rejection is essentially non-existent. Consequently, more US government funding is being provided for adult stem cell research.[34]

Multipotent stem cells are also found in amniotic fluid. These stem cells are very active, expand extensively without feeders and are not tumorigenic. Amniotic stem cells are multipotent and can differentiate in cells of adipogenic, osteogenic, myogenic, endothelial, hepatic and also neuronal lines.[35] Amniotic stem cells are a topic of active research.

Use of stem cells from amniotic fluid overcomes the ethical objections to using human embryos as a source of cells. Roman Catholic teaching forbids the use of embryonic stem cells in experimentation; accordingly, the Vatican newspaper Osservatore Romano called amniotic stem cells the future of medicine.[36]

It is possible to collect amniotic stem cells for donors or for autologuous use: the first US amniotic stem cells bank [37][38] was opened in 2009 in Medford, MA, by Biocell Center Corporation[39][40][41] and collaborates with various hospitals and universities all over the world.[42]

These are not adult stem cells, but rather adult cells (e.g. epithelial cells) reprogrammed to give rise to pluripotent capabilities. Using genetic reprogramming with protein transcription factors, pluripotent stem cells equivalent to embryonic stem cells have been derived from human adult skin tissue.[43][44][45]Shinya Yamanaka and his colleagues at Kyoto University used the transcription factors Oct3/4, Sox2, c-Myc, and Klf4[43] in their experiments on cells from human faces. Junying Yu, James Thomson, and their colleagues at the University of WisconsinMadison used a different set of factors, Oct4, Sox2, Nanog and Lin28,[43] and carried out their experiments using cells from human foreskin.

As a result of the success of these experiments, Ian Wilmut, who helped create the first cloned animal Dolly the Sheep, has announced that he will abandon somatic cell nuclear transfer as an avenue of research.[46]

Frozen blood samples can be used as a source of induced pluripotent stem cells, opening a new avenue for obtaining the valued cells.[47]

To ensure self-renewal, stem cells undergo two types of cell division (see Stem cell division and differentiation diagram). Symmetric division gives rise to two identical daughter cells both endowed with stem cell properties. Asymmetric division, on the other hand, produces only one stem cell and a progenitor cell with limited self-renewal potential. Progenitors can go through several rounds of cell division before terminally differentiating into a mature cell. It is possible that the molecular distinction between symmetric and asymmetric divisions lies in differential segregation of cell membrane proteins (such as receptors) between the daughter cells.[48]

An alternative theory is that stem cells remain undifferentiated due to environmental cues in their particular niche. Stem cells differentiate when they leave that niche or no longer receive those signals. Studies in Drosophila germarium have identified the signals decapentaplegic and adherens junctions that prevent germarium stem cells from differentiating.[49][50]

Diseases and conditions where stem cell treatment is being investigated include:

Stem cell therapy is the use of stem cells to treat or prevent a disease or condition. Bone marrow transplant is a crude form of stem cell therapy that has been used clinically for many years without controversy. No stem cell therapies other than bone marrow transplant are widely used.[64][65]

Research is underway to develop various sources for stem cells, and to apply stem cell treatments for neurodegenerative diseases and conditions, diabetes, heart disease, and other conditions.[66]

In more recent years, with the ability of scientists to isolate and culture embryonic stem cells, and with scientists growing ability to create stem cells using somatic cell nuclear transfer and techniques to created induced pluripotent stem cells, controversy has crept in, both related to abortion politics and to human cloning.

Stem cell treatments may require immunosuppression because of a requirement for radiation before the transplant to remove the patients previous cells, or because the patients immune system may target the stem cells. One approach to avoid the second possibility is to use stem cells from the same patient who is being treated.

Pluripotency in certain stem cells could also make it difficult to obtain a specific cell type. It is also difficult to obtain the exact cell type needed, because not all cells in a population differentiate uniformly. Undifferentiated cells can create tissues other than desired types.[67]

Some stem cells form tumors after transplantation; pluripotency is linked to tumor formation especially in embryonic stem cells, fetal proper stem cells, induced pluripotent stem cells. Fetal proper stem cells form tumors despite multipotency.[citation needed]

Hepatotoxicity and drug-induced liver injury account for a substantial number of failures of new drugs in development and market withdrawal, highlighting the need for screening assays such as stem cell-derived hepatocyte-like cells, that are capable of detecting toxicity early in the drug development process.[68]

Some of the fundamental patents covering human embryonic stem cells are owned by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) they are patents 5,843,780, 6,200,806, and 7,029,913 invented by James A. Thomson. WARF does not enforce these patents against academic scientists, but does enforce them against companies.[69]

In 2006, a request for the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to re-examine the three patents was filed by the Public Patent Foundation on behalf of its client, the non-profit patent-watchdog group Consumer Watchdog (formerly the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights).[69] In the re-examination process, which involves several rounds of discussion between the USTPO and the parties, the USPTO initially agreed with Consumer Watchdog and rejected all the claims in all three patents,[70] however in response, WARF amended the claims of all three patents to make them more narrow, and in 2008 the USPTO found the amended claims in all three patents to be patentable. The decision on one of the patents (7,029,913) was appealable, while the decisions on the other two were not.[71][72] Consumer Watchdog appealed the granting of the 913 patent to the USTPOs Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences (BPAI) which granted the appeal, and in 2010 the BPAI decided that the amended claims of the 913 patent were not patentable.[73] However, WARF was able to re-open prosecution of the case and did so, amending the claims of the 913 patent again to make them more narrow, and in January 2013 the amended claims were allowed.[74]

In July 2013, Consumer Watchdog announced that it would appeal the decision to allow the claims of the 913 patent to the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC), the federal appeals court that hears patent cases.[75] At a hearing in December 2013, the CAFC raised the question of whether Consumer Watchdog had legal standing to appeal; the case could not proceed until that issue was resolved.[76]

Read more: Stem cell Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Stem cell Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia IPS Cell ...

In Brief A Japanese man has become the first recipient of donated, reprogrammed stem cells as a treatment for macular degeneration. If the treatment proves effective against the age-related eye condition, it could halt or prevent the vision loss of the 10 million people in the U.S. who have macular degeneration. A New Treatment for Macular Degeneration

Macular degeneration is the leading cause of progressive vision loss with almost 10million Americans affected by the disease. Currently, there are no known cures for the conditionalthough stem cells might change that entirely.

Macular degeneration occurs when the central portion, the macula, of the retina is deteriorated. This is where our eyes record images and send them to the brain through the optic nerve. The macula is known for focusing our vision, controlling our ability to read, recognize faces, and see objects clearly.

A Japaneseman in his sixties is the worlds first person to receive induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells donated by a different individual. Rather than tip-toeing around the ethics of embryonic stem cells, scientists were able to remove mature cells from a donor and reprogram them into an embryonic state, which then could be developed into a specific cell-type to treat the disease. Physicians cultivated donated skin cells that were transplanted onto the mans retina to halt the progression of his age-related macular degeneration.

While the mans first surgery was a success, the doctors have said they will make no more announcements about his progress until they have completed all five of the planned procedures. While the effectiveness of this technique cannot be evaluated until the fate of the donated cells and the progression of the patientsmacular degenerationhave been fully monitored, there is increasing interest inusing iPScells for theraputic purposes.

A similar therapy was performed at the Kobe City Medical Center General Hospital in Japan in September 2014, but with a slight difference. In this case, the patient received her own skin cells reprogrammed into retinal cells. As hoped, a year after the surgery her vision had no decline, seemingly halting the macular degeneration. Four more patients in the clinical trial are expected to receive donor cells as well.

The donor-cell procedure, if successful, could help pave the way for the iPS cell bank thatShinya Yamanaka is establishing. An iPS cell bank would allow physicians find theperfect iPS donor per each patients biological signatures. Yamanaka is a Nobel-prizewinning scientist at Kyoto University who pioneered the iPS cells.

Yamanakas idea of a iPS cell bank has the potential torevolutionize modern medicine. It would provide patients with ready-made cells immediately, givinga widespread population access to more treatment options bylower all-around costs. While the risk of genetic defects or a poor donor match still remains, the new procedurecould offer enormous advantagescompared toother alternatives.

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A Japanese Man Has Become the First Recipient of Donated ... - Futurism

If death was imminent, would you consider cryogenically freezing yourself, with the hopes that one day future technology would bring you back to life? Battling with brain cancer, thats what 22 year old Kim Suozzi did, and there are others just like her! But does this have any basis in science? Trace has the answers!

Read More: http://www.wired.com/rawfile/2012/10/... http://www.kurzweilai.net/cryonics-ph... http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/200... http://www.kurzweilai.net/kim-suozzi-... http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/V... http://abcnews.go.com/Health/life-ice... http://cryonics.org/prod.html http://www.kurzweilai.net/a-chance-to... http://www.alcor.org/donate/KimSuozzi... http://venturist.info/kim-suozzi-char... http://io9.com/5940085/futurists-set-... http://io9.com/5977640/23+year-old-ki... http://science.howstuffworks.com/dict... http://betabeat.com/2013/01/cancer-su...

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