Archive for March, 2017

National News

Mar 10, 2017

DEAR DR. ROACH: My husband acquired a drug-resistant E. coli infection from a prostate biopsy. His urologist initially treated him with gentamicin injections and cephalexin. Two days after discontinuing the cephalexin, the infection returned (chills, fever, malaise and pain in the urinary tract). He got more gentamicin injections and more cephalexin. Finally, the doctor read the lab results and discontinued the gentamicin, which was shown to not be effective. He had 10 more days of cephalexin, and after a few days off the drug, the infection was back. Finally, the urologist switched him to amoxicillin-clavulanate, and he got better. Its been three weeks since his last pill. Can we be confident that the infection wont return?

I did some reading right after he got sick and learned about the increasing number of men becoming ill after prostate biopsies with drug-resistant E. coli nearly 4 percent. I assumed the urologist had tested him and that it was not this strain. I was wrong. He waited nearly two weeks before ordering a urinalysis and another week to carefully read it. My husband spent two months getting shots and taking oral meds.

On the plus side, the prostate biopsy was negative.

I hope you can print this as a cautionary tale for anyone considering this procedure. Anon.

ANSWER: A prostate biopsy is most commonly done to confirm suspected prostate cancer after an abnormal PSA test or physical exam. Antibiotics commonly are given before the biopsy to prevent urine infections, but that has increased the likelihood of resistance.

There are several lessons to be learned from your letter. The first is that an infection that returns immediately after stopping an antibiotic should raise the possibility of resistance, and a culture should promptly be performed and susceptibilities should guide future antibiotic treatment. Seven to 10 days of an effective antibiotic should be curative in nearly all cases, and in those in which it isnt, another solution should be sought.

Getting many biopsies increases risk of infection. The increasing use of MRI scanning to guide prostate biopsy may decrease the need for so many biopsies, and hopefully decrease infection rates.

DEAR DR. ROACH: I would like to get off levothyroxine 0.05 mg daily. Would that be possible? J.

ANSWER: Levothyroxine, a synthetic form of thyroid hormone, is used in people who are unable to make enough thyroid hormone. There are many reasons why. People who have had complete surgical removal of the thyroid are absolutely dependent on taking the replacement and would be seriously ill and eventually die if they were to stop taking a replacement. People who are taking it after thyroid cancer often are given slightly high amounts, in order to suppress TSH, the regulatory hormone. This, in turn, reduces the likelihood of cancer recurrence. I would never consider stopping replacement.

In people with Hashimotos thyroiditis, an autoimmune thyroid disease, the thyroid often is unable to make hormone but eventually, after months or years, can recover. In the U.S., we usually keep people on replacement hormone for life, but I have seen instances where people have gotten off their medication. This requires your physician to agree (some wont, because not everyones thyroid will recover) and very close management of both lab tests and symptoms for an extended period of time. The low dose you are taking suggests a good chance that you could get off it. I would ask you to think twice, though, as to why you want to stop taking it.

(Roach is a columnist for the North American Press Syndicate. Write to him at 628 Virginia Drive, Orlando, FL 32803.)

D.C. Capitol Switchboard: (202) 224-3121 Ohio House U.S. Rep. Bill Johnson, 6th District, 1710 Longworth House ...

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DEAR DR. ROACH: I have chewed nicotine gum for 15 years with tea or coffee. What are the dangers? ...

TODAYS BIRTHDAY (March 14). Theres sunshine in your mind this year, and the cheerfulness you feel will touch ...

International Womens Day is a once-a-year acknowledgment of what women do every day of the year, which is to ...

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Reader has lingering E. coli post-biopsy - The Steubenville Herald-Star

Monday, March 13, 2017 3 a.m. CDT

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Belgian biotech group Tigenix said on Monday its medical trial with a novel treatment for patients at risk of heart failure after a coronary attack was successful.

The group said patients treated in its PhaseI/II trial of donor-derived expanded cardiac stem cells (AlloCSC) showed no side-effects and all of them continued to live after 30 days, six months and a year.

Tigenix added that in one subgroup of trial patients associated with a poor long-term outlook, there was a larger reduction in the size of infarction, tissue death due to inadequate blood supply.

"This is the first trial in which it has been demonstrated that allogeneic cardiac stem cells can be transplanted safely through the coronary tree," one of the doctors in the trial said.

The group said it would now analyze the data from the trial and decide on how to proceed with its research.

(Reporting by Robert-Jan Bartunek; editing by Philip Blenkinsop)

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Belgium's Tigenix says heart attack stem cell trial successful - KFGO

TiGenix Announces Top-Line Phase I/II Results of AlloCSC-01 in Acute Myocardial Infarction P&T Community "This is the first trial in which it has been demonstrated that allogeneic cardiac stem cells can be transplanted safely through the coronary tree, and in the worst possible setting represented by patients with an acute heart attack with left ... and more »

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TiGenix Announces Top-Line Phase I/II Results of AlloCSC-01 in Acute Myocardial Infarction - P&T Community

SPOKANE, Wash. - A simple cheek swab and a few minutes of your time could save the life of someone in need of a bone marrow transplant.

In 2015, 34-year-old Danielle Vaughan had a stem cell transplant to save her life. For nearly a decade she suffered from mysterious symptoms and illnesses.

"So I had these spin and brain lesions that were very scary," said Danielle Vaughan of Spokane. "I had seizures. I was seeing doctors at Stanford, University of Washington and in Spokane, trying to figure out what was going on."

Eventually, doctors diagnosed Vaughan with Common Variable Immune Deficiency. Her sister, Dina Medin, also had the disorder and underwent a bone marrow transplant a few years ago. The sisters are two of six people in the world with CVID who have had transplants.

"All other treatment options had failed. There was nothing else, that was the only option," said Vaughan.

In September of 2015, Vaughan traveled to Seattle to prepare for the transplant. Vaughan's medical team turned to Be The Match, a national bone marrow donor registry to find her a match. Vaughan said 44 people came back as a perfect match. Her donor was a 27 year old man from the United States. She'd love to meet him one day.

"I would like to say thank you for really giving me a second chance at life. But mostly giving me the opportunity to watch my kids grow," said Vaughan.

Vaughan is now encouraging others to join Be The Match.

"You don't know who you could be helping and you are going to save that person's life," said Vaughan.

The Dairy Queen in Post Falls at 3560 E Seltice Way is hosting a Be The Match donor sign up on Thursday, March 16th from 1:45 p.m.- 4:00 p.m. To register all you need to do is fill out paperwork and swab the inside of your cheek with a special Q-tip.

Link:
Bone marrow recipient encouraging others to "Be the Match" - KXLY Spokane

New Delhi [India]: Bura na mano holi hai., said Reena and ran away smearing a fistful of artificial colours on her sisters face.

Reena could have never imagined the after-effect this little prank would have on her sisters skin.

The festival of Holi can be a nightmare for people who are allergic to colours. While a couple of measures can be taken beforehand to prevent the skin from any damage, artificial colours can be nasty and can take time to leave your skin.

While a few like to protect themselves from the harsh colours and chemicals, fewer still, pay any heed to the potential skin damage before setting out to have fun.

Most of the inorganic colours have harmful chemicals that can cause allergies, reddening of the skin and burning sensation. Therefore, in order to usher in the festival of colours with pomp and celebration, it is essential to make sure that your skin comes out of the colour explosion perfectly fine.

Instead of scrubbing too much soap or heading to a beauty salon to get rid of the stubborn colours, this Holi, try your hand at Dead Sea Minerals that are high on magnesium, sodium and potassium, says Manisha Chopra, Co-Founder, SeaSoul Cosmeceuticals.

Dead Sea salts can act as an effective exfoliating agent and cleanser. To remove the stubborn colours, try out the dead sea facial mud mask that is loaded with essential ingredients such as Moroccan Argan oil, plant stem cells, noni fruit, goji berries, dead sea minerals, squalane, Aloe Vera, grape seed oil, sodium hyaluronate and Glycerin.

They dramatically help to clear the skin of all impurities and give a transformative effect on the face. Dead Sea Minerals help to get rid of the nasty colours and let you gain back smooth and healthy skin.

The products infused with Dead Sea salts are gentle and safe for all skin types as they are free of parabens and sulphates. Several medical journals have long exalted Dead Sea muds ability to promote radiance as well as its other therapeutic benefits for chronic skin conditions.

A facial polish works amazingly to get rid of the Holi colour as it removes the dead skin which has colours & then polishes the skin & cleanses the skin removing off the Holi colours. After removal of the colour, apply Dead Sea mud mask.

After removing the mask, apply Vitamin C serum to save your skin from after effects of Holi colours.

According to researchers, the Dead Sea water consists of 32% salts with a relatively high concentration of 21 minerals such as magnesium, calcium, bromide and potassium. The calcium present in the Dead Sea salt helps to cleanse pores and soothes and relieves the skin cells.

Magnesium works as an anti-allergic agent and boosts the metabolism of cells. The bromide present in the salt heals and relieves skin disorders and acts as an anti-inflammatory agent.

Sodium Chloride nourishes and hydrates skin cells and removes toxic waste, improving its permeability. Zinc promotes the natural regulation of cell growth and regeneration. It also aids in cell renewal and stimulates collagen and renews skin.

A great antioxidant, this mineral is a free-radical scavenger. It also improves anti-acne properties, anti-inflammatory properties and is a natural UV-rays blocker.

Thus, this Holi, steer clear of any rashes or breakouts on your skin as a result of stubborn colours and opt for miraculous Dead Sea products and play Holi stress-free.

Dead Sea salts can be found in facial care products such as cleansers, toners, moisturizers and masks. Avail the benefits of the wonderful minerals present in the Dead Sea and get ready to celebrate Holi to the fullest. (ANI)

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This Holi, let your skin soak in benefits of Dead Sea Minerals - The Siasat Daily

An important step in developing a therapy for a given disease is understanding exactly how the disease works: what exactly goes wrong in the body? To do this, researchers need to study the cells or tissues affected by the disease, but this is not always as simple as it sounds. For example, its almost impossible to obtain genuine brain cells from patients with Parkinsons disease, especially in the early stages of the disease before the patient is aware of any symptoms. Reprogramming means scientists can now get access to large numbers of the particular type of neurons (brain cells) that are affected by Parkinsons disease. Researchers first make iPS cells from, for example, skin biopsies from Parkinsons patients. They then use these iPS cells to produce neurons in the laboratory. The neurons have the same genetic background (the same basic genetic make-up) as the patients own cells. Thus scientist can directly work with neurons affected by Parkinsons disease in a dish. They can use these cells to learn more about what goes wrong inside the cells and why. Cellular disease models like these can also be used to search for and test new drugs to treat or protect patients against the disease.

iPS cells - derivation and applications:Certain genes can be introduced into adult cells to reprogramme them. The resulting iPS cells resemble embryonic stem cells and can be differentiated into any type of cell to study disease, test drugs or-after gene correction-develop future cell therapies

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iPS cells and reprogramming: turn any cell of the body into a stem ...

NEDERLAND, Colo. -- The16thannual Frozen Dead Guy Days begins Friday in Nederland, inspired by the bizarre tale of the town's most famous -- albeit deceased -- resident.

For 27 years, "The Frozen Dead Guy's" body has, in theory, been cryogenically preserved on dry ice in the mountains overlooking the town, and the only way to see him is to go with the man paid to keep him on ice.

"I'm supposedly the only guy with keys," said Brad Wickham, opening the door to the now world-famous Tuff Shed. "I hope some day when he is reanimated, we can talk about all the fun we had bringing ice up here every two weeks."

The story goes something like this:Bredo Morstoelwas a minor public official in Norway, and when he died in 1989 his grandson, TrygveBauge, had him cryogenically preserved in the hopes he could one day be re-animated.

The body was eventually moved to Nederland, where Baugehad plans to build his own cryonics lab unit he was deported.

Now, Bauge pays Wickham $9,000 per year to buy and deliver between 900 to 1,200 pounds of dry ice every two weeks and cover his grandfather's frozen sarcophagus.

"It's basically a thin metal casket. It's been chained down to prevent theft," said Wickham, who said Bredo has never thawed out on his watch, but the previous iceman may have missed some runs. "He may have gotten pretty warm by cryonic standards, let's just put it that way. But I don't think ever over 32 degrees."

Next to the Tuff Shed, the abandoned cryonics lab is filled with boxes of notes, worthy of a mad scientist.

"I picture him sitting over a dim light bulb, Archimedesstyle, scribbling," said Wickham with a smile, pointing to the painting that was done by Bredo. "Trygve was really close to his grandfather."

And while the town fought having a frozen body in a neighborhood, it has since embraced the idea, naming an annual festival after it.

"It's not much, but I guess it suits him," said Wickham, closing the shed. "Stay cool, grandpa!"

Fore more on Frozen Dead Guy Days,click here.

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Frozen Dead Guy Days: The story behind Nederland's most famous ... - The Denver Channel

After nearly two years of debate about its possible benefits and risks, the gene editing technique is now here to stay.

An article in the December 27, 2015 edition of the Sunday Observer told of the first recorded use of the inexpensive CASPR-Cas9 gene editing technology to cut and splice out bad genes and replace them with healthy genes.

INHERITED DISEASE

A gene is a unit of heredity that is passed down from parent to child, and which carries characteristics that become apparent in the child. Each cell of the human body has around 25,000 genes, and each of those genes carry information that determines the individual traits or features of the person. So there is a gene for eye colour, hair colour, skin colour, and so on.

However, when some genes are defective or they undergo changes or mutation, illnesses can occur. Illnesses may also occur when there are missing genes which should have played a particular role. Some of the problems with genes may also be inherited from a parent.

One such illness well known to us in Jamaica is sickle cell disease. This is a severe hereditary disease in which the haemoglobin protein that is present in red blood cells to carry oxygen around the body is mutated and abnormal. Red blood cells are customarily round and circular in shape to flow smoothly through our blood vessels, but when oxygen levels are low in the bloodstream, the abnormal haemoglobin that is present in people with sickle cell disease cause the red blood cells to bend into a sickle crescent shape, making it difficult for them to flow through the tiny blood vessels of the body, and consequently may cause severe joint pains and other complications.

GENE THERAPY

The concept behind gene therapy is to use the technology of genetic engineering to replace abnormal genes with healthy ones.

Whilst this concept has been around for 30 years, the process became much more accessible with the development of the inexpensive CASPR-Cas9 gene editing technology around two years ago.

In April 2015, scientists in China were able to use the technology to splice out bad genes that were present in human embryonic stem cells and replace them with healthy ones. The stem cells, however, were never implanted into women at the time for their development into humans.

In December 2015, a speaker at the annual symposium of the American Society of Hematology described possible work in which an infant with sickle cell disease would have his or her blood stem cells edited to repair the haemoglobin gene, thereby preventing the formation of blood cells that would have caused sickling. The specific work would involve harvesting the blood stem cells of the diseased infant, editing them outside the body with a normal DNA sequence, then returning them to the infant in a bone marrow transplant.

ETHICAL CONCERNS

As this technique involved editing the haemoglobin gene within the somatic stem cell rather than in the embryonic stem cell, this choice was deemed by many to be the more ethically acceptable approach. Many people are very concerned that the gene editing technique may be used to make long-lasting hereditable changes at the embryo stage or on germ cells (human sperm or eggs), and some find this unacceptable.

This notwithstanding, in February 2016, the United Kingdom Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, who are the UK regulators on fertility matters, granted permission for scientists in London to edit the genomes (the complete set of genetic instructions, which includes all genes) of human embryos for research purposes. The developmental biologists were allowed to use the gene editing technique in healthy embryos to alter genes that are active within the first few days after fertilisation of the egg.

The approved research would utilise healthy human embryos that had been left over from in vitro fertilisation procedures performed in fertility clinics. However, the caveat was that the researchers should stop the research after seven days of study, and the researched embryos destroyed. The study would illuminate how the modification of genes could assist in developing treatments for infertility.

MOST RECENT SUCCESS

A report in the most recent edition of the New England Journal of Medicine informed that a teenage boy with sickle cell disease appeared to have been cured using the gene therapy technique. The treatment had stopped the painful symptoms of the disease, and the teenager was doing well.

Success stories such as this are normally the first step in efforts to reproduce the benefits obtained in individual cases by conducting clinical trials of the treatment on large groups of affected people. Hopefully we will hear of such studies and their outcomes in the near future.

Until preliminary results are verified, however, scepticism will exist regarding whether the positive results obtained in one person will be translated to many more people. Time will tell.

Derrick Aarons MD, PhD is a consultant bioethicist/family physician, a specialist in ethical issues in medicine, the life sciences and research, and is the Ethicist at the Caribbean Public Health Agency CARPHA. (The views expressed here are not written on behalf of CARPHA)

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Treating sickle cell disease with gene therapy - Jamaica Observer

Brandon Ramirez, 28, of Colonial Heights, has exceeded expectations with help from his mother and family

COLONIAL HEIGHTS Sitting in her dining room on a warm February afternoon, LaDonna DeStazio reflects on her familys journey that has led them to Colonial Heights. Her son, Brandon Ramirez, 28, sits beside her, confined to a special wheelchair. He was not expected to live past the age of 12.

It was emotionally hard, but never physically hard, said LaDonna DeStazio on having to care for her son. People used to say all the time gosh it must be so hard for you. You do what you do as a mom.

LaDonna has given Brandon round-the-clock care for many years of his life, as his condition has deteriorated.

He can use his voice sometimes, mentally hes all there, but physically he has declined, she said.

What Brandon Ramirez has is called 4H syndrome, a rare genetic disorder with only 40 known cases in the U.S. The name 4H is short for hypomyelination, hypogonadotropic hypogonadism, and hypodontia. According to the Leukodystrophy Resource and Research Foundation, hypomyelination means there is a lack of myelin in the central nervous system. Hypogonadotropic hypogonadism results in a lack of normal puberty development because the central nervous system is not working properly. Hypodontia means that not all teeth are present.

Symptoms of 4H include late walking, problems with balance and motor skills, and an absence of normal development during puberty. Due to the rarity of the syndrome, there is no known cure.

For the first decade of his life, doctors were unable to pinpoint Brandons disorder. LaDonna DeStazio first went to doctors in 1994 when Brandon was in kindergarten and he first started having tremors. Her family was living in Colorado at the time.

When we first took him to the doctors, they had no clue, said LaDonna. He was at the childrens hospital and they were doing all these tests. They said he had something called essential tremors.

When Brandon began struggling with his walking when he was 8, LaDonna took him back to the doctors.

At that point, thats when they said he had some form of vanishing white matter disease, said LaDonna.

Vanishing white matter refers to the deterioration of tissue in the brain, which is normally due to aging. Doctors told LaDonna that kids with that type of disease dont normally live past the age of 12. Despite the dire diagnosis, Brandon was still able to live a relatively normal childhood.

By the time he was 12, he really hadnt declined, said LaDonna. He was still able to ride a bike, his walking was fine. He did everything a normal kid could do, the only sign was really the gait when he walked.

At that point, when LaDonna took Brandon back to the doctors, they found no vanishing white matter. Doctors were again at a loss.

They were like We dont know what to tell you, we dont know what he has, said LaDonna. And at that point, I had done all this research, trying to figure out what the heck is going on with him, and was coming up with nothing. Nobody knew.

Brandon began to decline as he entered high school, as he had not properly gone through puberty due to the 4H. Despite his situation, Brandon was able to persevere with the help of his family and his mother, who attended school with him for the last three months before he graduated from Rangeview High School in Aurora, Colorado in 2007. Brandon was able to walk across the stage to receive his diploma. Brandon is proudly able to nod his head as his mother mentions that he had one of the highest SAT scores of all the students in his high school. Though despite the joy, he continued to worsen.

We were basically told in 2007 that he wouldnt make it, said LaDonna.

In 2008 after Brandon had declined to almost nothing according to LaDonna, she received an email from Dr. Adeline Vanderver of the Childrens National Health System in Washington D.C. Vanderver confirmed that the diagnosis that had eluded doctors was most likely 4H syndrome, and advised the family to relocate to the East Coast.

In the years after the diagnosis, Brandon was able to bounce back, even graduating from college with a degree in horticulture in 2009.

LaDonna having to move Brandon from Colorado coincided with her being introduced to Jeff DeStazio, who she met through a mutual friend. By then, LaDonna (who changed her last name from Ramirez) had been divorced from her first husband. Her other two children, Elizabeth and Anthony, are grown and still live in Colorado.

I really dont recall how it all happened. I needed to be on the East Coast: I basically called and was like Im coming to stay with you said LaDonna smiling. He was fresh off a divorce at the time, and I knew how to be a mom. So I would help him out with his girls.

LaDonna and Jeff were married in 2012. Along with Brandon, LaDonna and Jeff reside in their Colonial Heights home with Jeffs daughter Paige, who is 19. Jeffs other daughter Kylie is currently serving in the Marines.

The DeStazio household could certainly be described as unique. Two service dogs, Laychey and Bryndal, help Brandon with some of his day-to-day activities. Though the little puppies are not what you would normally tag as service dogs, with both of them being about a foot long and maybe 15 pounds. Brandons comfort kitties - Rizzie and Stash rest sleepily on his lap.

The DeStazios cant go out as much in recent years: LaDonna notes that car rides are a big thing, but the family still frequents occasional trips to goodwill and the mall. Brandon also enjoys watching the birds of local Buddy Waskey when he free-flies his Blue Throated Macaws. Paige DeStazio noted that she and Brandon often watch movies together.

I try to listen to music with him, and show him whats current, said Brandons cousin James Molica. Though its hard sometimes to tell what hes thinking.

Treating Brandon remains a challenge, as there is no set medication or treatment that works definitively for 4H.

A lot of it is still a guessing game, said LaDonna.

He has been taking testosterone and growth hormone on and off for many years. Brandon has also used a feeding tube at various times.

LaDonna also credits some Colonial Heights residents for assisting the family, as the ramp leading into the house and the stair chair that gets Brandon up the stairs were donated.

Despite the long road her family has taken, LaDonna firmly believes that the upbeat spirit they carry has led to Brandon reaching a point doctors never thought he would.

We chose to not let it be disruptive in our lives, said LaDonna. Not to let it change us as a family. We chose to focus on what he can do and not get depressed over the fact that oh Im not doing this.'

John Adam may be reached at jadam@progress-index.com or 804-722-5172.

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Family strength helps Brandon Ramirez persevere - Progress Index

Jonathan Pitre with his Boston terrier, Gibson. Tina Boileau / -

Bracing for his second stem-cell transplant in seven months, Jonathan Pitre knows all too well the mountain in front of him, its hardships and precipices.

So hes doing what he always does when confronted with such a steep challenge. Its all about staying positive, I think, Pitre, 16, said in a telephone interview from Minneapolis.

Theres no checklist to prepare for his perilous journey, and no book that can calm all his misgivings.

Its mostly thinking about sticking together with the people you care about, your family, he said of his preparation. You have to stick to them very, very tightly and tell each other that, Its going to be OK and that were stronger than this. Were going through this together, not just alone.

Pitre will face the transplant alongside his mother, Tina Boileau, who will also be his stem-cell donor.

Boileau has taken a second leave of absence from her government job to be at her sons side for a treatment that could keep them in Minnesota for six months or more.

Later this month, Pitre will undergo a series of tests to ensure his heart, kidneys and other organs are healthy enough to withstand the rigours of the transplant. Hes still fighting the effects of a cold, but the blood infection that put him in hospital last month has been brought under control.

According to his current treatment schedule, Pitre will be admitted to the University of Minnesota Masonic Childrens Hospital on March 28. Then, in early April, hell begineight days of high-dose chemo followed by one day of full-body radiation before his stem-cell transplant.

The chemo and radiation are designed to destroy his immune system and prevent it from attacking the donor cells.

Pitre is the first Canadian to take part in the clinical trial operated by the University of Minnesotas Dr. Jakub Tolar, a pediatric transplant specialist who has adapted stem-cell therapy as a treatment for the most severe forms of epidermolysis bullosa (EB). Its the only facility in the world that offers the treatment for EB patients.

Pitre suffers from recessive dystrophic EB, a rare, painful and deadly form of the disease.

Last September, Pitre suffered nausea, raging fevers and exhaustion in the aftermath of his first transplant, which ultimately failed when his own stem cells recolonized his bone marrow.

Pitre said he knows what to expect this time, but that doesnt necessarily make it easier. I know a lot of it was unpleasant. I know its going to happen again, he said. So I know a lot of that unpleasantness is going to come.

The Russell teenager, however, said hes prepared to face that future considering the promise that the transplants holds for him.

I think of my family, I think of Gibson (his Boston terrier) and I think of all the good things that will come from this procedure, and after the procedure, how much more Im going to be able to enjoy life, how much more Im going to be able to enjoy time with my family, with Gibson.

Although the procedure comes with life-threatening complications, it has produced dramatic improvements in two-thirds of those EB patients who have survived the transplant: tougher skin, reduced blistering and better wound healing.

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'Butterfly Boy' steels himself for second stem-cell transplant - Ottawa Citizen

That is not dead which can eternal lie. And with strange aeons even death may die.

Cryonics is the practice of freezing[1] clinically-dead people in liquid nitrogen (N2) with the hope of future reanimation.

Scientists will admit that some sort of cryogenic preservation and revival does not provably violate known physics. But they stress that, in practical terms, freezing and reviving dead humans is so far off as to hardly be worth taking seriously; present cryonics practices are speculation at best, and quackery and pseudoscience at worst.

Nevertheless, cryonicists will accept considerable amounts of money right now for procedures based only on vague science fiction-level speculations, with no scientific evidence whatsoever that any of their present actions will help achieve their declared aims. (Cryonicists often point to presently-nonexistent "sufficiently advanced" nanotechnology or mind uploading as favored methods for revival.) They sincerely consider this an obviously sensible idea so common-sense that one would have to be stupid not to sign up.

Cryonics should not be confused with cryobiology (the study of living things at low temperatures), cryotherapy (the use of cold in medicine), cryogenics (subjecting things to cold temperatures in general) or Whole-body cryotherapy (alternative medicine for the living).

Robert Ettinger, a teacher of physics and mathematics, published The Prospect of Immortality in 1964. He then founded the Cryonics Institute and the related Immortalist Society. Ettinger was inspired by "The Jameson Satellite" by Neil R. Jones (Amazing Stories, July 1931).[2] Lots of science fiction fans and early transhumanists then seized upon the notion with tremendous enthusiasm.

Corpses were being frozen in liquid nitrogen by the early 1960s, though only for cosmetic preservation. The first person to be frozen with the aim of revival was James Bedford, frozen in early 1967. Bedford remains frozen (at Alcor) to this day.

New hope came with K. Eric Drexler's Engines of Creation, postulating nanobots as a mechanism for cell repair in 1986. That Drexlerian nanobots are utterly impossible has not affected cryonics advocates' enthusiasm for them in the slightest, and they remain a standard proposed revival mechanism.[3]

A major advance in tissue preservation came in the late 1990s with vitrification, where chemicals are added to the tissue so as to allow it to freeze as a glass rather than as ice crystals. This all but eliminated ice crystal damage, at the cost of toxicity of the chemicals.

Upon his death in 2011, Ettinger himself was stored at the Cryonics Institute in Detroit, the 106th person to be stored there. In all, about 250 people had been "preserved" as of 2015.[4] There are about 2000 living people presently signed up with Alcor or the Cryonics Institute the cryonics subculture is very small for its cultural impact.

Cryonics, in various forms, has become a theme in science fiction,[5], either as a serious plot device (The Door into Summer, the Alien tetralogy), or a source of humor (Futurama, Sleeper). Its usual job is one-way time travel, the cryonics itself being handwaved (as you are allowed to do in science fiction, though not in reality) as a pretext for one of various Rip Van Winkle scenarios.

As a fictional concept, "cryogenics" generally refers to a not-yet-invented form of suspended animation rather than present-day cryonics, in that the worst technical issue to be resolved (if at all) in the far future is either aging, or the cause of death/whatever killed you.

Timothy Leary, the famous LSD-dropper, was also famously interested in the "one in a thousand" chance of revival. He signed up with Alcor soon after it opened.[6] Eventually, the cryonicists themselves creeped him out so much[7] that he opted for cremation.[8]

Walt Disney often believed (in urban legend) to have had his head or body frozen died in December 1966, a few weeks before the first cryonic freezing process in early 1967.

Hall of Fame baseball player and all-time Red Sox great Ted Williams was frozen after he died in 2002. A nasty fight broke out between his oldest children, who had a will saying he wished to be cremated, and his youngest son John-Henry who produced an informal family agreement saying he was to be frozen. This resulted in a macabre family feud for much of the summer of 2002. Williams was eventually frozen.[9]

Cryonics enthusiasts will allow that a person is entirely dead when they reach "information-theoretic death", where the information that makes up their mind is beyond recovery.

The purpose of freezing the recently dead is to stop chemistry. This is intended to allow hypothetical future science and technology to recover the information in the frozen cells and repair them or otherwise reconstruct the person, or at least their mind. We have literally no idea how to do the revival now or how it might be done in the future but cryonicists believe that scientific and technological progress will, if sustained for a sufficient time, advance to the point where the information can be recovered and the mind restarted, in a body (for those who see cryonics as a medical procedure) or a computer running an emulator (for the transhumanists).

Most of the problems with cryonics relate to the massive physical damage caused by the freezing process. Attempts to alleviate this cause chemical damage.

Whoo-hoo-hoo, look who knows so much. It just so happens that your friend here is only mostly dead. There's a big difference between mostly dead and all dead.

Cryonics for dead humans currently consists of a ritual that many find reminiscent of those performed by practitioners of the world's major religions:

As the Society for Cryobiology put it:

The Society does, however, take the position that cadaver freezing is not science. The knowledge necessary for the revival of whole mammals following freezing and for bringing the dead to life does not currently exist and can come only from conscientious and patient research in cryobiology, biology, chemistry, and medicine.

In the US, cryonics is legally considered an extremely elaborate form of burial,[10] and cannot be performed on someone who has not been declared medically dead (i.e., "brain dead"). Once you are declared legally dead, your fellow cryonicists swoop in to preserve you as quickly as possible.

The body, or just the head, is given large doses of anti-clotting drugs, as well as being infused with cryoprotectant chemicals to allow vitrification. It is then frozen by being put into a bath of liquid nitrogen at -196C. At this temperature chemical reactions all but stop.

Long-term memory is stored in physical form in the neural network as proteins accumulated at a chemical synapse to change the strength of the interconnection between neurons. So if you freeze the brain without crystals forming, the information may not be lost. As such. Hopefully. Though we have no idea if current cryonics techniques preserve the physical and chemical structure in sufficient detail to recover the information even in principle. Samples look good, though working scientists with a strong interest in preserving the information disagree.[11][12]

Recovering the information is another matter. We have not even the start of an idea how to get it back out again. No revival method is proposed beyond "one day we will be able to do anything!" Some advocates literally propose a magic-equivalent future artificial superintelligence that will make everything better as the universal slam-dunk counterargument to all doubts.[13]

Ben Best, CEO of the Cryonics Institute, supplies in Scientific Justification of Cryonics Practice[14] a list of cryobiology findings that suggest that cryonicists might not be completely wrong; however, this paper (contrary to the promise of its title) also contains a liberal admixture of "then a miracle occurs." His assertions as to what cited papers say also vary considerably from what the cited papers' abstracts state.

Alcor Corporation calls cryonics "a scientific approach to extending human life" and compares it to heart surgery.[15] This is a gross misrepresentation of the state of both the science and technology and verges on both pseudoscience and quackery. Alcor also has a tendency to use invented pseudomedical terminology in its suspension reports.[16][17]

Keeping the head or entire body at -196C stops chemistry, but the freezing process itself causes massive physical damage to the cells. The following problems (many of which are acknowledged by cryonicists[18]) would all need to be solved to bring a frozen head or body back to life. Many would need breakthroughs not merely in engineering, but in scientific understanding itself, which we simply cannot predict.

This is the big problem. The existing cryonics facilities are charities with large operational expenses run by obsessive enthusiasts. They are small and financially shaky.[28][29] In 1979, the Chatsworth facility (Cryonics Company of California, run by Robert Nelson) ran out of money and the frozen bodies thawed.[30][31] The cryonics movement as a whole was outraged and facility operators are much more careful these days. But it's an expensive business to operate as a charity.

The more general problem is that many cryonicists are libertarians and, unsurprisingly, have proven rather bad at putting together highly social nonprofits designed well enough to work in society on timescales of decades, let alone centuries. The movement has severe and obvious financial problems the cash flows just aren't sustainable, and Alcor relies on occasional large donations from rich members to make up the deficit.[32][33]

Insurance companies are barely willing to consider cryonics. You will have to work rather hard to find someone to even sell you the policy. There are, however, cryonicist insurance agents who specialise in the area.[34]

Furthermore, Alcor are distressingly slapdash and amateur in their procedures, as per the famed case of Kim Suozzi's 2013 cryopreservation:[35]

Eliezer Yudkowsky of LessWrong signed up with the Cryonics Institute, but recommends Alcor as the "high-priced high-quality organization".[36]

Of the early frozen corpses, only James Bedford remains, due to tremendous effort on the part of his surviving relatives. Though they didn't do anything to alleviate ice crystals, so his remains are likely just broken cell mush by now.

Terry [dramatically]: Welcome to the world of tomorrow!! Lou: Why do you always have to say it that way?

There are many medical issues connected with reanimation, but it is worth pointing out that a reanimated person faces numerous non-medical issues after returning to society. These might include:

All of these could cause the person great social, not to mention psychological, problems after revival. The person may also experience an identity crisis or delusions of grandeur.

Cryonics is not considered a part of cryobiology, and cryobiologists consider cryonicists nuisances. The Society for Cryobiology banned cryonicists from membership in 1982, specifically those "misrepresenting the science of cryobiology, including any practice or application of freezing deceased persons in anticipation of their reanimation."[38] As they put it in an official statement:

The act of freezing a dead body and storing it indefinitely on the chance that some future generation may restore it to life is an act of faith, not science.

The Society's planned statement was actually considerably toned down (it originally called cryonics a "fraud") after threats of litigation from Mike Darwin of Alcor.[39]

It can be difficult to find scientific critics willing to bother detailing why they think what the cryonics industry does is silly,[40] though some will detail just why the fundamental notions of present-day cryonics practice are biologically ludicrous.[12] Mostly, scientists consider that cryonicists are failing to acknowledge the hard, grinding work needed to advance the several sciences and technologies that are prerequisites for their goals.[41] Castles in the air are a completely acceptable, indeed standard, part of turning science fiction into practical technology, but you do have to go through the brick-by-brick slog of building the foundations underneath. Or, indeed, inventing the grains of sand each brick is made of. (Some cryonicists are cryobiologists and so are personally putting in the hard slog needed to get there.)

Cryonicists, like many technologists, also frequently show arrogant ignorance of fields not their own not just sciences[42] but even directly-related medicine[43][44] leaving people in those fields disinclined to take them seriously.

William T. Jarvis, president of the National Council Against Health Fraud, said, "Cryonics might be a suitable subject for scientific research, but marketing an unproven method to the public is quackery."[45] Mostly, doctors ignore cryonics and consider it a nice, but expensive, long shot.

Demographically, cryonics advocates tend to intersect strongly with transhumanists and singularitarians: almost all well-educated, mostly male to the point where the phrase "hostile wife syndrome" is commonplace[46] mostly atheist or agnostic but with some being religious, and disproportionately involved in mathematics, computers, or physics.[47] Belief in cryonics is pretty much required on LessWrong to be accepted as "rational."[48]

Hardly any celebrities have signed up to be frozen in hopes of being brought back to life in the distant future.[49] (This may be a net win.)

Cryonicists are some of the smartest people you will ever meet and provide sterling evidence that humans are just monkeys with shiny toys, who mostly use intelligence to implement stupidity faster and better.

When arguing their case, cryonics advocates tend to conflate non-existent technologies that might someday be plausible with science-fiction-level speculation, and speak of "first, achieve the singularity" as if it were a minor detail that will just happen, rather than a huge amount of work by a huge number of people working out the many, many tiny details.

The proposals and speculations are so vague as to be pretty much unfalsifiable. Solid objection to a speculation is met with another speculation that may (but does not necessarily, or sometimes even probably) escape the problem. You will find many attempts to reverse the burden of proof and demand that you prove a given speculation isn't possible. Answering can involve trying to compress a degree in biology into a few paragraphs.[42] Most cryonicists' knowledge of biology appears severely deficient.

Cryonicists also tend to assert unsupported high probabilities for as-yet nonexistent technologies and as-yet nonexistent science.[50][51][52] Figures are derived on the basis of no evidence at all, concerning the behaviour of systems we've built nothing like and therefore have no empirical understanding of they even assert probabilities of particular as-yet unrealised scientific breakthroughs occurring. (Saying "Bayesian!" is apparently sufficient support with no further working being shown under any circumstances.) If someone gives a number or even says the word "probable," ask them to show their working.

One must also take care to make very precise queries, distinguishing between, "Is some sort of cryogenic suspension and revival not theoretically impossible with as yet unrealised future technologies?" and "Is there any evidence that what the cryonics industry is doing right now does any good at all?" Cryonics advocates who have been asked the second question tend to answer the first, at which point it is almost entirely impossible to pry a falsifiable claim out of them.

When you ask about a particularly tricky part and the answer is "but, nanobots!" take a drink. If it's "but, future nigh-magical artificial superintelligence!", down the bottle.

Cryonicists are almost all sincere and exceedingly smart people. However, they are also by and large absolute fanatics, and really believe that freezing your freshly-dead body is the best current hope of evading permanent death and that the $30200,000 this costs is an obviously sensible investment in the distant future. There is little, if any, deliberate fraud going on.

Some cryonicists considered the Chatsworth facility going broke to be due to fraud, but there's little to suggest it wasn't primarily the owner just being out of his depth.

Alcor have multiple reports of being incredibly careless with the frozen heads in their care.[53] Despite suing to get a book on the subject dropped from publication[54] and threating further legal action, their carelessness further came to light in the case of Kim Suozzi, a breathtaking saga of slapdash amateurism, particularly for an organisation that has been doing this for four decades.[35]

Cryonics enthusiasts are fond of applying a variant of Pascal's wager to cryonics[55] and saying that being a Pascal's Wager variant doesn't make their argument fallacious.[51][52][56] Ralph Merkle gives us Merkle's Matrix:

The questionable aspect here is omitting the bit where "sign up" means "spend $30,000 (at the Cryonics Institute), $80,000 (at Alcor; head-only), or $200,000 (at Alcor; whole-body) of your children's inheritance for a spot in the freezer and a bunch of completely scientifically unjustified promises from shaky organizations run by strange people who are medical incompetents." It also assumes that living at some undetermined future date is sufficiently bonum in se that it is worth spending all that money that could be used to feed starving children now.

When you freeze a steak and bring it back to edible, I'll believe it.

The basic notion of freezing and reviving an animal, e.g. a human, is far from completely implausible.

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Cryonics - RationalWiki

Women's Health

What You Need To Know About Gwyneth Paltrow's New Supplements Women's Health We asked Jessica Hutchins, M.D., a functional medicine pro at the Cleveland Clinic, to check out three of Gwyneth Paltrow's Goop Wellness supplement blendsBalls In The Air, Why Am I So Effing Tired, and The Mother Load. She evaluated the ingredients ... and more »

Read more here:
What You Need To Know About Gwyneth Paltrow's New Supplements - Women's Health

Our understanding as to how the brain works has developed over the years with medical research. It is an extremely complex organ and when trauma happens it can be very unpredictable as to how the injured person will be affected and what treatment they will require. The problems that can occur are generally split into three areas:

Another area which can be affected following a brain injury which is less commonly understood is hormonal. The pituitary gland is found at the base of the brain. It is approximately the size of a pea and is attached to the brain by a thin stalk. This gland is often referred to as the master gland and is very important in that as well as producing hormones it regulates and controls the other glands in the body which produce hormones.

The pituitary gland is vulnerable to damage if someone suffers trauma to their brain given its location at the base of the brain. Damage to the pituitary gland can result in the gland failing to produce sufficient amount of hormones and this is known as hypopituitarism.

Symptoms of hypopituitarism

It is often not immediately apparent that someone has suffered damage to the pituitary gland and developed hypopituitarism. This is because the symptoms may not develop for a number of weeks, months or even years.

When the symptoms become apparent it is often the case that these can overlap with those suffered as a result of the actual brain injury and be overlooked and therefore misdiagnosed. The symptoms are often subtle and difficult to distinguish meaning treatment can therefore be delayed.

The most common symptoms of hypopituitarism are:

If you display some of these symptoms and your doctor suspects you may be suffering from hypopituitarism they can carry out blood tests to identify any abnormalities. A CT scan may also be carried out to rule out the possibility of a growth or tumour on the pituitary gland. You may then be referred to an endocrinologist a specialist doctor who diagnoses and treats hormone imbalances. Dependant on the particular imbalance you are suffering from, the treatment should aim to return the balance to your hormone levels.

You may be prescribed hormone replacement medication. The endocrinologist will then have to monitor your hormone levels regularly to ensure the levels are kept at a normal level and hopefully ensuring normal hormonal function can resume. Medication may require adjustment to ensure the correct dosage is found and the prescribed treatment acts in conjunction with any other medication which the person may be prescribed to deal with the other symptoms of their brain injury. Hormone replacement treatment will likely be life-long if the damage to the pituitary gland is significant.

Our understanding as to the frequency at which hypopituatarism develops following traumatic brain injury is still in its early stages. We do not yet have accurate statistics to illustrate the likelihood of developing hypopituitarism following brain injury however it is beginning to become clear that it may be more common than previously thought. It is important that patients are warned prior to discharge from hospital following a brain injury to be vigilant as to the symptoms of hypopituitarism. The danger of misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis could lead to serious consequences however, if identified, hormone replacement treatment is often very successful.

If you have any concerns that you are experiencing symptoms of hypopituitarism following a brain injury it is important that you speak to your GP or other treating doctors. The blood test is quick and easy to undertake to diagnose the condition.

If you have been diagnosed with this condition as a result of an accident, and have suffered a traumatic brain injury, then this condition ought to be taken into account when bringing your personal injury claim. If your medical team have delayed in diagnosing or misdiagnosed your hypopituitarism then you may have a claim for medical negligence.

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Hypopituatarism - a lesser-known effect of traumatic brain injury - Lexology (registration)

March 10, 2017 15:16 ET | Source: NASDAQ, Inc.

ADVISORY, March 10, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --

What:VistaGen Therapeutics Inc. (Nasdaq:VTGN), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing new generation medicines for depression and other central nervous system (CNS) disorders, will visit the Nasdaq MarketSite in Times Square.

In honor of the occasion, Shawn K. Singh, CEO & Director, will ring the Closing Bell.

Where:Nasdaq MarketSite 4 Times Square 43rd & Broadway Broadcast Studio

When:Monday, March 13, 2017 3:45 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. ET

VistaGen Contact:Mark A. McPartland (650) 577-3600 IR@vistagen.com

Nasdaq MarketSite:Emily Pan (646) 441-5120 emily.pan@nasdaq.com

Feed Information:Fiber Line (Encompass Waterfront): 4463

Gal 3C/06C 95.05 degrees West 18 mhz Lower DL 3811 Vertical FEC 3/4 SR 13.235 DR 18.295411 MOD 4:2:0 DVBS QPSK

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About VistaGenVistaGen Therapeutics, Inc.(NASDAQ: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. 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 2a 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 280-patient Phase 2b study of AV-101 as an adjunctive treatment for MDD patients with inadequate response to standard, FDA-approved antidepressant therapies. Dr. Maurizio Fava of Harvard University will be the Principal Investigator of the Phase 2b 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(hPSC)technology, internally and with third-party 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.

For more information, please visitwww.vistagen.comand connect with VistaGen onTwitter,LinkedInandFacebook.

About NasdaqNasdaq (Nasdaq:NDAQ) is a leading provider of trading, clearing, exchange technology, listing, information and public company services across six continents. Through its diverse portfolio of solutions, Nasdaq enables clients to plan, optimize and execute their business vision with confidence, using proven technologies that provide transparency and insight for navigating today's global capital markets.As the creator of the world's first electronic stock market, its technology powers more than 85 marketplaces in 50 countries, and 1 in 10 of the world's securities transactions. Nasdaq is home to approximately 3,800 listed companies with a market value of $10.1 trillion and nearly 18,000 corporate clients. To learn more, visit: business.nasdaq.com.

-NDAQA-

Related Articles

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VistaGen Therapeutics Inc. (Nasdaq: VTGN) to Ring The Nasdaq ... - GlobeNewswire (press release)

A Thursday evening stem cell swab event aimed at finding a match for an eight-year-old Edmonton boy with leukemia was so successful, it ran out of kits.

Brady Mishio has acute myeloid leukemia, a cancer of the blood, and has undergone three rounds of chemotherapy since being diagnosed in November 2016. Doctors say he needs a bone marrow transplant in order to live.

Brady and his dad Terry Mishio.

The transplant needs to come from someone who is a match to Bradys stem cells. What Canadian Blood Services tells, and told me from the beginning, is that the odds are about 50/50 that Brady will find a match, said his father, Terry Mishio.

Matches are made via the Canadian Blood Services (CBS)OneMatch stem cell and marrow network. Its a database that pairs volunteer donors to patients who require stem cell transplants.

According to CBS, donors and patients are matched according to the compatibility of inherited genetic markers called human leukocyte antigens. A perfect stem cell match can be difficult to find, which is why the push is on to get more people registered.

The more people that are in this bank and they check it every 24 hours the more chances that he or some other Edmontonian kids are going to find that match, Mishio said.

READ MORE:Could you save his life? Edmonton boy needs to find stem cell match

Joining the bank is quick, simple and non-invasive: the potential donor just fills out some paperwork and swabs the inside of their mouth with a buccal swab (similar to a Q-Tip.)

A massive swabbing event to potential stem cell donors took place Thursday evening at the Holy Cross Ukrainian Catholic Parish in north Edmonton. Mishio is on leave from his job as a recruiter with the Edmonton Police Service, and several of his policing coworkers were expected to come out in support.

Organizers expected a big turnout, but the response was even greater than they hoped for.

A big crowd of potential stem cell donors getting swabbed at Holy Cross Ukrainian Catholic Parish in north Edmonton. March 9, 2017.

The event was scheduled from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m., but 100 people showed up before the doors were set to open. Mishios co-worker Trishia Comeau said by 7 p.m., 1,100 people had been swabbed and Canadian Blood Services had used up all of the swabbing kits in Edmonton.

Thanks people of Edmonton for helping, we are going to keep this momentum going, Comeau said early Friday morning.

WATCH ABOVE:Terry Mishio talks to Gord Steinke on Global News at 5 from Thursday evenings swabbing event.

If you couldnt make Thursdays event, visit Canadian Blood Servicesfor more information or to set up an appointment. You need to be between 17 and 35 to register.

2017Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

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Stem cell swabbing for cancer-stricken Edmonton boy so successful it ran out of kits - Globalnews.ca

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A blood and marrow transplant replaces abnormal blood-forming stem cells with healthy cells. These are commonly used to treat blood cancers or other kinds of blood diseases that decrease the number of healthy blood cells in the body.

Dr. Stephanie Williams, specialist in blood and marrow transplant and Lindsay Syswerda, event coordinator talk about blood and marrow transplants, and some upcoming events around the topic.

People who receive a blood and marrow transplants are patients with life-threatening blood cancers, diseases that cause bone marrow failure, and other immune system or genetic diseases

However in order for transplants to take place, cells need to be donated from someone else. Transplants can be donated by either an adult donor, a cord blood unit, or a patient can use their own blood-forming cells.

Spectrum Health works closely with a registry for blood and bone marrow donors called Be The Match, which connects patients searching for a cure and life-saving bone marrow donors. As the largest and most diverse marrow registry, it helps patients get the transplant they need.

Anyone between the ages of 18 and 44 can join the registry, but there are guidelines that are in place to protect potential donors. When there's a possible match for a patient, Be The Match discusses the donor's health history and arranges a thorough physical exam.

If potential donors don't meet the medical requirements to join, there are other ways to help contribute to a cure.

One of the ways people can help with the cause is to join Spectrum Health and the Grand Rapids Griffins in their "Road to Recovery," which celebrates patients, families, and their healthcare team's journey at the Griffin's next home game. On March 31, at the Griffin's next home game, they'll be raising awareness for blood cancers and hope to educate others of the importance to join the Be The Match registry.

To learn more about Be The Match, visit BetheMatch.org and use the codeSHGRG.

If you have been diagnosed with cancer and would like a second opinion or consultation, call 1.855.SHCANCER (855.742.2623).

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Be The Match registry seeking blood and bone marrow donors - Fox17

PUBLISHED: 12:56 10 March 2017 | UPDATED: 13:06 10 March 2017

Sophie Morton

Tommy Simpson, five, was diagnosed with leukaemia last year

Nigel Simpson and Maxine Francis

The family of a five-year-old boy battling leukaemia have thanked prospective donors for coming forward after a stem cell match was found.

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Little Tommy Simpson was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia in January 2016, with his parents launching an appeal to find a lifesaving stem cell donor.

His mixed race heritage - his Stratford-based firefighter dad Nigel Simpson is white British and his events manager mum Maxine Francis is black Carribean meant that the odds of finding a compatible donor were stacked against him.

The couple teamed up with the African Caribbean Leukaemia Trust (ACLT), who launched the #Match4Tommy campaign - and a year on, it has proved successful.

Maxine said: It means many things to Tommys dad and me, to know our son has a matched stem cell donor.

It means in the event of Tommy ever requiring a stem cell transplant; there would be no long agonising wait to find a match for our beautiful son.

It means we can move forward, knowing, we have done everything to make sure that whatever happens in the future, our son has all systems in place.

It means peace of mind.

Throughout the search, Tommy has been receiving treatment, to which he is responding well.

But should he relapse, having a stem cell donor already found would mean that he could be treated quickly, offering him a much better chance of survival.

Thousands of people signed up to the stem cell register during the course of the campaign, including at a donor drive held at Nigels workplace, Stratford fire station, which also raised 700 for ACLT.

Maxine, who lives in Barkingside, will be aiming to raise even more money for the charity when she takes on the London Marathon next month.

She said: ACLT supported my family and me throughout Tommys illness, and I want to raise as much funds as possible for them, to enable them to assist much more families in need with their lifesaving work.

Thank you to everyone who helped make this a reality for our small family. We couldnt have got this far without your help.

To sponsor her, visit uk.virginmoneygiving.com/MaxineFrancis. For details on how to join the register, visit aclt.org

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Success for Match4Tommy as bone marrow match found for ... - Newham Recorder

Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma is a highly invasive form of cancer and frequently spreads to the cervical lymph nodes. Currently, cisplatin is the standard therapeutic drug used for people with HNSCC. Yet, more than 50 percent of people who take cisplatin demonstrate resistance to the drug, and they experience a recurrence of the cancer. The five-year survival rates remain sorely low and researchers still don't understand the underlying mechanisms behind head and neck squamous carcinoma. Therefore, said UCLA cancer biologist Dr. Cun-Yu Wang, who led the study, there's an urgent need to understand why people with this type of cancer are resistant to therapy and to develop new approaches for treating it.

Wang's research is published online in the peer-reviewed journal Cell Stem Cell.

Cancer stem cells are known to be responsible for tumor formation and development; they also self-renew and tend to be unresponsive to cancer therapy. These cells have been found in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. Given the unique challenges that cancer stem cells pose for oncologists, it remains unclear what the optimal therapeutic strategy is for treating HNSCC.

To address this, Wang, who holds the Dr. No-Hee Park Endowed Chair in Dentistry at UCLA and holds a joint appointment in the UCLA Department of Bioengineering, and his research team first developed a mouse model of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma that allowed them to identity the rare cancer stem cells present in HNSCC using in vivo lineage tracing, a method to identify all progeny of a single cell in tissues.

The researchers found that the cancer stem cells expressed the stem cell protein Bmi1 and had increased activator protein-1, known as AP-1, a transcription factor that controls the expression of multiple cancer-associated genes. Based on these new findings, the UCLA team developed and compared different therapeutic strategies for treating head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. They found that a combination of targeting cancer stem cells and killing the tumor mass, consisting of high proliferating cells, with chemotherapy drugs resulted in better outcomes.

The team further discovered that cancer stem cells were not only responsible for squamous cell carcinoma development, but that they also cause cervical lymph node metastasis.

"This study shows that for the first time, targeting the proliferating tumor mass and dormant cancer stem cells with combination therapy effectively inhibited tumor growth and prevented metastasis compared to monotherapy in mice," said Wang, who is a member of the UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center and of the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCLA. "Our discovery could be applied to other solid tumors such as breast and colon cancer, which also frequently metastasizes to lymph nodes or distant organs."

"With this new and exciting study, Dr. Wang and his team have provided the building blocks for understanding the cellular and genetic mechanisms behind squamous cell carcinoma," said Dr. Paul Krebsbach, dean of the UCLA School of Dentistry. "The work has important translational values. Small molecule inhibitors for cancer stem cells in this study are available or being utilized in clinical trials for other diseases. It will be interesting to conduct a clinical trial to test these inhibitors for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma."

Story Source:

Materials provided by University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Health Sciences. Original written by Brianna Aldrich. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

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Targeting cancer stem cells improves treatment effectiveness, prevents metastasis - Science Daily

This week, lets move totechnology integration in a field that tons of people have an interest in study: biology and medicine. Everyone has a fear of dying to some degree, so lets take a look at living. How long are we actually capable of living? The maximum lifespan of a human is thought to be 125, but will it be possible to go beyond that using technology?

One method would simply be some form of advanced cell repair. During death, cells are effectively dead: they cannot function anymore. If some form of rapid cell repair can be developed, death can be prevented on the moment and in the future with each failing body part. Unsurprisingly, while we are forming more synthetic organs successfully, they are not perfect. All of them have a high chance of failure; there is no guarantee of success yet. Nanotechnology has also not progressed enough to be able to able to rapidly repair cells, nor have medical devices progressed enough to form fully authentic organs. Synthetic organs also cannot replace some functions of the body; a synthetic brain is essentially a robot in a human shell.

On a different method, a possible solution towards living longer is a brain or full body transplant. A brain transplant puts the brain of one person into the whole body of another person. While this may not be able to directly extend someone lifespan beyond normal means, it can help someone with a life-threatening disease continue their life. In their new body, they would have the same personality and the same memories, but without any of the health issues. The slight problem is that a brain transplant hasnt been accomplished yet even in test organisms such as mice. The closest thing was a head transplant involving monkeys; however, the monkey still died after a few days. Work still needs to be done on this front.

Evidently, there isnt a way to boost our lifespan (easily) via technology right now, but what about in the future? Cryonics prepares us now for that future. Cryonics is the preservation of living or recently dead humans or animals for a possible revival in the future. Cryonics focuses on preserving information in the brain, as supporters believe that the information stored within the brain is key for future revival. During cryonics, a body is drained of all liquids, filled with a sort of anti-freeze mixture, and stored at temperatures typically under negative 200 degrees Celsius in order to freeze it and prevent any information loss in the brain. From the information in the brain, a new being can be formed with all of the same information. Of course, currently, there is no way to resurrect someone who has been frozen via cryonics. Additionally, there isnt a guarantee that the futureconscious being will be the same as the one that is frozen. Would they lose their personality after their brain is not active for such a long time? In essence, they would be a newborn with lots of knowledge available to them?

Now, a discussion on boosting our lifespan wouldnt be complete without talking about the ethics involved. Obviously, reviving someone or boosting a lifespan will cost a great deal of money, and if it doesnt, it will likely be limited in some manner. For many people, overpopulation is an issue. Either way, the only people who will be able to live longer are either extremely wealthy or extremely powerful. There will be no way for the average joe to be able to live longer. It will be limited to a select few the wealthy and powerful such as Donald Trump. In addition, life preservation will not be based purely on this, but on the political agenda. If someone who is extremely wealthy dies but isnt supported by the political regime, their money may not be accepted for the life extension. Also, lets not forget about the religious opposition because it might go against Gods word. Going against the teachings of God is an issue for many people. Its one of many barriers that artificial life extension would need to pass.

Freshman Computational Science who explores the issues of integrating technology within society in "Technically Speaking" Current Outreach Chair

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Stayin' Alive - The Stute

A provocative new study looking at postmenopausal women who underwent coronary artery calcium (CAC) scanning indicates that hormone replacement therapy (HRT) use is associated not only with lower CAC scores but also lower all-cause mortality over a mean follow-up of 8 years.

The study, say investigators, should reopen the question of whether hormone replacement, according to contemporary guidance, may be useful in the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease.

This is not a closed issue, senior author Daniel Berman, MD (Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA), told TCTMD, noting that baseline amounts or changes in atherosclerosis may be useful in determining a role for HRT. Further studies should be performed, he said.

The study by Berman and colleagues will be presented by first author Yoav Arnson, MD (Cedars-Sinai Medical Center), at the upcoming American College of Cardiology (ACC) 2017 Scientific Sessions and was released early to the media this week.

HRT: A Rocky Road

The theory that hormone replacement in postmenopausal women could help prevent cardiovascular disease first evolved out of observational studies in the 1980s and 1990s, leading to widespread use of HRT and the launch of the massive Womens Health Initiative (WHI) study in 1991. HRTs popularity plummeted, however, after an interim analysis of the combination therapy estrogen/progestin arm of the study in 2002 showed an increased risk of breast cancer, coronary heart disease, stroke, and pulmonary embolism. Later, an analysis of the estrogen-only arm, in women who had undergone prior hysterectomy, showed no effect of HRT on coronary heart disease risk.

In the wake of WHI, current recommendations for HRT specify that it is to be used only for the relief of menopausal symptoms and that therapy should be at the lowest dose, for the shortest period of time, Virginia Miller, PhD (Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN), stressed to TCTMD. The North American Menopause Society and the international menopause societies all do not recommend use of hormone replacement therapy to decrease cardiovascular disease. That's just a given. So this paper kind of opens up that whole argument again, in a new way.

CAC Imaging and HRT

Arnson and colleagues retrospectively analyzed medical records for 4,286 postmenopausal women with no symptoms of cardiovascular disease who had undergone CAC scanning at their institution between 1998 and 2012. Forty-one percent of patients were taking HRT at the time of their CAC scan. Arnson et al then followed the women for a mean of 8.4 years.

They found that women using HRT were younger, with less hypertension and diabetes, and had similar LDL cholesterol levels but higher HDL cholesterol levels than women not taking HRT. Of note, however, average CAC scores were significantly lower in the HRT group (119.2 vs 322.2, P < 0.001), with significantly more women on HRT having CAC scores of 0 (HR 1.2; 95% CI 1.03-1.41). Also, CAC scores above 399 were less common in the HRT group (HR 0.63; 95% CI 0.44-0.88).

Over the follow-up period, HRT usage was associated with lower mortality (5.8% vs 6.8%), even after controlling for age, cardiac risk factors, and CAC score (HR 0.7; 95% CI 0.49-0.98).

There has a lot of controversy about hormone replacement therapy, Berman observed. There have been randomized trials that have shown that there is no benefit in terms of cardiovascular events and there have been observational studies that have shown there is benefit, so it's a controversial area.

Whats different about the current study, he continued, is that the authors were able to stratify patients according to the amount of baseline plaque. This has never been done before, he said. It appears that women who started off with moderate-to-extensive amounts of coronary calcium, or coronary atherosclerosis, are the ones in whom the greatest benefit of HRT was observed. Previously it's just been divided up by age and by time of onset of the treatment.

Cautious Hope, and Confusion

Miller, who reviewed the abstract for TCTMD, called the findings encouraging, pointing out that they corroborate results from the Kronos Early Estrogen Prevention Study (KEEPS), for which she herself was an investigator. KEEPS showed a signal of benefit for HRT in terms of coronary calcium, but because the study enrolled healthy womenin part, she said, due to the increased risk of cardiovascular events seen in WHI among older women with existing CVDKEEPS was underpowered. Even WHI, she noted, suggested that women early in menopause or those with hysterectomy taking estrogen alone had less coronary calcification if they took HRT.

As such the current study is consistent with pieces of the other studies, Miller observed. The key thing still missing is: which target group is HRT really going to help their cardiovascular risk factors?

Also, Miller pointed to other missing details that need answers, including what formulations of hormone therapy the women were taking, how long they had been taking it for, and whether they had undergone previous hysterectomy. Like Berman, however, Miller believes HRT may yet have a role in preventing atherosclerosis.

Also contacted by TCTMD, Lori Mosca, MD (NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University, New York, NY), was less sanguine. The study is observational and suffers from the same potential selection bias that previously epidemiological studies of HRT and CVD risk were susceptible to, she said in an email. This, she continued, caused tremendous public confusion when clinical trials showed discrepant results. The potential benefits and risks of HRT can only be definitely determined in prospective randomized controlled trials, [and] women should discuss their individual situation and weigh potential overall benefit and risks with their healthcare providers.

Asked whether retrospective studies such as the one Arnson will present next week at ACC sow damaging confusion in a field that has already seen its fair share, Berman disagreed.

I don't think that we should hold back science by saying that we're going to add confusion with new evidence, he said carefully. I think we have something here that is not completely solved, or else we wouldn't be having these individual patient discussions. This [study] provides a piece of evidence that suggests that women who have a moderate amount of plaque in their arteries might be appropriate people to consider taking this medication.

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Does Hormone Replacement Therapy Curb Atherosclerosis? New Imaging Study Opens Old Questions - TCTMD

Dear Editor: I am writing this after reading Karl Curtis' column on brain injuries in the hope that it may be helpful to some of your readers.

Our son Chris committed suicide eight years ago at the age of 31. He'd had a head injury long ago, in childhood, which he'd seemed to recover from fine. But we discovered after his death that he'd never been able to have full sex with his girlfriend, and also that his depression had been far worse than we knew, going back 10 years at least.

We looked it up and found that head injury, even mild (which Chris' wasn't; he fractured his skull) can cause damage to the pituitary gland, and the effects can be depression, lost sex drive, lost fertility, obesity and chronic fatigue, plus less serious symptoms like intolerance of heat or cold. The pituitary disorder (post-traumatic hypopituitarism or PTHP) may show immediately, or not until many years later. It is treatable by replacing the hormones which the pituitary can no long make.

Cranial irradiation can cause hypopituitarism also.

Growth hormone replacement can restore clear thought and energy levels, and may reduce weight. It can also help fatigue and depression. The other pituitary hormones that may need replacing are ACTH, LH/FSH, and TSH. LH/FSH replacement can restore sex drive and fertility.

For more detail plus the research see my book "Mother of a Suicide" available from Amazon.

Joanna Lane

London, UK

Send your letter to the editor to tctvoice@madison.com. Include your full name, hometown and phone number. Your name and town will be published. The phone number is for verification purposes only. Please keep your letter to 250 words or less.

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Joanna Lane:: Brain injury can cause treatable pituitary disorder - Madison.com

Numerous people may say they want to grow up to be a heart surgeon, but very few actually achieve that goal. Holly Mewhort, MD, PhD, is one who has done so. And thats not the only thing Mewhort, who is part of the Libin Cardiovascular Institute of Albertas cardiac surgical residency program, has accomplished.

She has also excelled in basic and translational research. She recently received international recognition for her work in cardiac research, winning the Vivien Thomas Young Investigator Award from the American Heart Association, a prestige award given to early investigators who are focusing on fundamental and applied surgical research.

That research was done as part of her PhD program, which she completed in June 2016 under the supervision of Libin Institutes Paul Fedak, MD, PhD. Fedak is a cardiac surgeon and basic/translational researcher who directs the Marlene and Don Campbell Family Cardiac Research Laboratory at the Cumming School of Medicine.

Research shows biomaterial can trigger healing in damaged heart muscle

Mewhorts research investigates the use of biomaterial in regenerating and restoring heart tissue in patients who had previously suffered a heart attack. The material, CorMatrix-ECM, is a connective tissue matrix surgically applied to damaged heart tissue to trigger healing.Mewhort describes the material as providing the scaffolding that holds cells together and influences their behaviour and survival.

Her research in this area began four years ago in the lab and has had great success. In preclinical trials, the project has shown that this bio-material can restore function to damaged heart muscle by promoting the formation of new blood vessel networks a process called vasculogenesis.

The investigators have completed a pilot clinical trial, which saw the patch applied to the heart tissue of a handful of patients during coronary bypass surgery. The results havent been published yet, but the data looks promising.

Mewhort is thrilled to be part of a research project that has been successfully translated from bench to bedside. If it works at the clinical trial level, this could be a game-changer for patients who have suffered a heart attack, she says, noting until now, there hasnt been a way of restoring function to damaged heart tissue in those patients.

Cardiac surgery research program is 'cutting edge'

Its also exciting for Mewhort to win the same award her mentor, Dr. Paul Fedak, received 14 years ago. He was also a cardiac surgery trainee pursuing a PhD, investigating stem cell regeneration of heart tissue. The fact that two researchers connected with the University of Calgary earned the same international award is impressive, as competition is stiff. Past winners have studied at such institutions as the University of Toronto, Duke and Stanford.

Fedak, who studied at the University of Toronto, was recruited to come to Calgary about a decade ago and has since set up a cutting-edge cardiac surgery research program. Mewhort is the first PhD graduate of his laboratory. As her mentor, Fedak, who, besides being an academic researcher is a full-time clinical heart surgeon, is pleased to see the program turning out well-respected young academic surgical scientists.

He says Mewhorts award fulfils another career goal, explaining that when he won the Vivien Thomas Young Investigator Award his desire became to see one of his students do the same. For Fedak, the award signifies the coming-of-age of academic cardiac surgeon training in Calgary.

This shows us how far we have come with our program, he says.

Receiving her mentors praise is a big deal for Mewhort, as Fedak was one of the reasons she chose to pursue her surgery training and PhD in Calgary. Mewhorts future looks bright as she continues her residency in cardiac surgery on campus with the ultimate goal of having an active surgical and research career, much like her mentor.

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Cardiac research nets Holly Mewhort prestigious heart association award - UCalgary News

TiGenix Announces Positive Topline Week-104 Data for Cx601 ADMIRE-CD Trial P&T Community Effective July 31, 2015, TiGenix acquired Coretherapix, whose lead cellular product candidate, AlloCSC-01, is currently in a Phase II clinical trial in Acute Myocardial Infarction (AMI). In addition, the second product candidate from the cardiac stem ... and more »

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TiGenix Announces Positive Topline Week-104 Data for Cx601 ADMIRE-CD Trial - P&T Community

By studying the cannabilistic tendency of cancer cells, my research team has made some progress in finding out why.

The chances of recurrence and disease outcome vary with cancer subtype. About one-third of patients diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer, the most aggressive subtype, may experience a recurrence in another part of the body. This is called distant recurrence.

It has been difficult, if not impossible, to predict if and when the same cancer will recur and to stop it. Recurrent disease may arise from just a single cancer cell that survived the initial treatment and became dormant. The dormancy allowed it to hide somewhere in the body, not growing or causing harm for an unpredictable amount of time.

Determining what puts these dormant cells to sleep and what provokes them to wake up and begin multiplying uncontrollably could lead to important new treatments to prevent a demoralizing secondary cancer diagnosis.

Recently, my research team and I uncovered several clues that might explain what triggers these breast cancer cells to go dormant and then reawaken. We showed that cell cannibalism is linked to dormancy.

How do bone stem cells affect breast cancer?

Breast cancer can recur in the breast or in other organs, such as the lungs and bone. Where breast cancer decides to grow depends largely on the microenvironment. This refers to the cells that surround it, including immune cells, cells comprising blood vessels, fibroblasts and the select proteins they produce, among other factors.

Over a century ago, a surgeon named Stephen Paget famously compared the organ-specific prevalence of cancer metastasis to seeds and soil. Because breast cancer often relapses in bones, in this metaphor, which still holds forth today, the bone marrow provides a favorable microenvironment (the soil) for dormant breast cancer cells (the seeds) to thrive.

Just as seeds need soil to provide an environment for growth, cancer cells need an environment to grow. From http://www.shutterstock.com

Thus, a substantial amount of recent work has involved trying to determine the role in cancer dormancy of a special type of cell, called mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). These are found in bone marrow.

MSCs in bone marrow are highly versatile. They are able to form bone, cartilage and fibrous tissue, as well as cells that support the immune system and formation of blood. They are also known to travel to sites of tissue injury and inflammation, where they aid in healing.

Breast cancer cells readily interact with MSCs if they meet in the bone marrow. They also readily interact if the breast cancer cells recruit them to the site of the primary tumor.

My research team and I recently focused on potential outcomes of these cellular interactions. We found an odd thing happens, which may provide insight into how these breast cancer cells hide for a long time.

In the laboratory setting, we produced breast tumor models containing MSCs. We also re-created the hostile conditions that naturally challenge developing tumors in patients, such as localized nutrient deficits caused by rapid growth of cancer cells and overcrowding.

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How 'Cannibalism' By Breast Cancer Cells Promotes Dormancy: A Possible Clue Into Cancer Recurrence - IFLScience

An adult stem cell center established by the Kansas Legislature in 2013 is almost ready for its first clinical trial.

Buddhadeb Dawn, executive director of the Midwest Stem Cell Therapy Center, told legislators Tuesday that the trial will focus on treating graft-versus-host disease and will begin after final approvals from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Our goal was to do this (trial) in January, but we got delayed because of different things, Dawn said during a hearing of the House Health and Human Services Committee. So we are now hoping to start it perhaps in summer.

Based at the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City, the stem cell center has analyzed trials done elsewhere and hosted a clinical trial sponsored by a biotech company that uses modified stem cells from bone marrow to treat stroke.

But the graft-versus-host disease trial would be the first homegrown one.

Graft-versus-host disease is a potential complication when a patient receives a transplant of tissue, like an organ or bone marrow, from another person.

The disease occurs when transplanted tissue fights the patients natural immune system, potentially damaging the liver, skin or other areas. Its a rare illness, with about 20,000 cases in the United States each year.

Rep. Randy Powell, a Republican from Olathe, said the trial was a welcome and exciting development. He said his wife is at risk for the illness following treatment for leukemia.

I know that graft-versus-host is a big thing, Powell said. I think my wife still has an annual checkup where they keep their eye out (to make sure) thats not sticking its head up and causing issues.

Dawn said the center would like to take the next step and move into clinical trials using adult stem cells to treat things like joint ailments, diabetes and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrigs disease.

But the regulatory process takes time.

Wed like to be able to offer a portfolio of different disease conditions that adult stem cells can benefit, Dawn said. Im hoping that within the next five years we would at least have some FDA approval for treatment with adult stem cells for other conditions.

Dawn said successful trials could lead to more private investment dollars so we are self-sustaining at some point in the future.

The centers reliance on state funds has been a point of contention for fiscally conservative legislators in the past. Most of the facilitys budget still comes from the states payment, which was reduced by about $28,000 to $754,500 last year.

Thats far less than what stem cell research facilities in other states receive.

Doug Girod, executive vice president of the KU medical center, said that given the budget, Dawn and his small team have done remarkable work.

We could be 10 times bigger than we are and doing 10 times as much if we had the resources, Girod said. But I think were maximizing every opportunity we can with what we have right now.

The center was spearheaded by socially conservative legislators, including Sen. Mary Pilcher-Cook, to showcase adult stem cell research as an alternative to using stem cells derived from human embryos.

About $56,000 of its annual budget goes to educating the public about the differences between embryonic stem cells and adult cells and hosting an annual conference about advances in adult stem cell treatment.

Rep. John Wilson, a Democrat from Lawrence, said he initially was skeptical about the facility because he thought the Legislature was inserting itself into a religious or philosophical fight. But he said his attitude has changed.

Im glad that despite my opposition to it the state has gone forward with funding some really terrific research, Wilson said. My concern now is how do we take it to the next level so all of this hasnt been for nothing.

Andy Marso is a reporter for KMUW's Kansas News Service, a collaboration of KMUW, Kansas Public Radio and KCUR covering health, education and politics in Kansas. You can reach him on Twitter@andymarso.

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Kansas Stem Cell Center Close To First Clinical Trial - KMUW