I-DNA Phyto Stem Cell Therapy Miracle - Lily Khoo Testimonial
3 3 weeks, improving eye sight, skin tightening, solving triangular eyes...

By: I-DNA DEER PLACENTA SINGAPORE ORIGINAL

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Paul Laikind, CEO of ViaCyte, which is making a treatment for diabetes from human embryonic stem cells.

In an historic announcement for the stem cell field, San Diego's ViaCyte said Thursday it has applied to start human clinical trials of its treatment for Type 1 diabetes.

ViaCyte grows replacement insulin-producing cells from human embryonic stem cells. The cells are packaged while maturing in a semi-permeable device and implanted. In animal trials, the cells produce insulin, relieving diabetes.

Now the company proposes to take what could be a cure for diabetes into people. ViaCyte has asked to begin a Phase 1/2 clinical trial, which would assess both safety and efficacy of its product. ViaCyte is targeting Type 1 diabetes, in which the insulin-producing cells are destroyed. Patients require multiple injections of insulin daily to survive.

The announcement is good news for California's stem cell agency, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine. The agency has awarded nearly $39 million to ViaCyte to ready its device for human use.

Paul Laikind, ViaCytes chief executive, said if all goes smoothly, the first patients will be treated in August or September. Based on animal studies, it will take a few months to see results, and just a few patients will be treated at first.

CIRM itself, funded with $3 billion in state bond funds, has come under pressure to show results from its work. The money is projected to run out in 2017. Some supporters of the agency have proposed launching a new initiative to continue funding.

"This is a great example of how the investment that the voters made in creating CIRM is beginning to move from labs to patients," said Joe Panetta, a member of CIRM's governing board and chief executive of Biocom, the San Diego-based life science trade group. ""There are at least a dozen other clinical trials in progress. This is good for CIRM and San Diego."

Jonathan Thomas, chairman of CIRM's governing board, called the filing "a big step in developing therapies for Type 1 diabetes."

"The project is one that has been front and center for us for six years," Thomas said. "As a principal funder of Viacyte since 2008, we are delighted that they have taken this major step towards getting a Type 1 Diabetes therapy to patients."

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Diabetes stem cell therapy readied

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Phoenix, AZ (PRWEB) July 17, 2014

Arizona Pet Vet Family of Animal Hospitals is hosting San Diego, California based Regenerative Veterinary Medicine company, Vet-Stem, Inc., for a summer session of RACE approved Credentialing Courses and wet-labs on stem cell therapy. AZ Pet Vets Family of 17 Animal Hospitals has been offering Vet-Stems Regenerative Cell Therapy to its small animal patients since 2010, and continuously strives to educate their team members on cutting-edge services like stem cell therapy.

Since Vet-Stems last training session with AZ Pet Vet in the summer of 2013 the number of pets diagnosed with arthritis has increased as much as an estimated 13% say industry sources. As many as 65% of dogs between the ages of 7 and 11 years old will be inflicted with some degree of arthritis. For certain specific breeds the percentage is as high as 70%, with an additional estimated 7% remaining undiagnosed. AZ Pet Vets Family of Animal Hospitals equips their veterinarians with a complete package of services to help diagnose and treat dogs that are suffering pain or inflammation from osteoarthritis or polyarthritis. Stem cell therapy is one of these services, most commonly used to help decrease inflammation, help with the pain of osteo or polyarthritis, as well as other joint or ligament issues, and muscle injuries.

Vet-Stems Corey Orava, DVM will be leading a series of daily training sessions which include a RACE (Registry of Approved Continuing Education from the American Association of Veterinary State Boards) approved credentialing course, and the ability to consult on potential stem cell therapy cases with current patients of AZ Pet Vets Family of Animal Hospitals. Each of these sessions will help veterinarians and their staff to learn the ins and outs of stem cell therapy, as well as benefit from a hands-on experience to bring the best care to their patients and pet owners. Under the mentorship of Dr. Orava all of the 17 AZ Pet Vet Animal Hospitals will have the potential to collect fat and inject stem cells on qualifying pet patients.

AZ Pet Vet is a family of 17 animal hospitals with one vision: to provide the best comprehensive care for their highly valued patients. Whether it be routine wellness, or other type of medical care, AZ Pet Vet provides loving care and treatment for pets. As animal lovers and pet owners, they understand the connection owners have with your pet. The doctors and staff at each hospital strive to build a long term relationship with their client families and their pets, always making recommendations in the pets best health interest. The AZ Pet Vet Family of Animal Hospitals offer complete veterinary care from wellness, to vaccines, spays and neuters, dental, surgical and now regenerative medicine. Their animal hospital locations can be easily found at http://www.arizonapetvet.com/.

Since its formation in 2002, Vet-Stem, Inc. has endeavored to improve the lives of animals through regenerative medicine. As the first company in the United States to provide an adipose-derived stem cell service to veterinarians for their patients, Vet-Stem pioneered the use of regenerative stem cells for horses, dogs, cats, and some exotics. In 2004 the first horse was treated with Vet-Stem Regenerative Cell Therapy for a tendon injury that would normally have been career ending. Ten years later Vet-Stem celebrated its 10,000th animal treated, and the success of establishing stem cell therapy as a proven regenerative medicine for certain inflammatory, degenerative, and arthritic diseases. As animal advocates, veterinarians, veterinary technicians, and cell biologists, the team at Vet-Stem tasks themselves with the responsibility of discovering, refining, and bringing to market innovative medical therapies that utilize the bodys own healing and regenerative cells. For more information about Vet-Stem and Regenerative Veterinary Medicine, visit http://www.vet-stem.com or call 858-748-2004.

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Arizona Pet Vet, a Family of Animal Hospitals in Central Arizona, is Hosting Vet-Stem, Inc. for Continued Education ...

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PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

17-Jul-2014

Contact: Meng Zhao eic@nrren.org 86-138-049-98773 Neural Regeneration Research

Recent studies have demonstrated that glutamate receptor 2 gene (GRID2) is closely related to cerebellar functions in mice. This gene is predominantly located in postsynaptic dendrites of parallel fiberPurkinje cell synapses in the cerebellum and contains potential fragile sites within large introns. These fragile sites easily develop spontaneous mutation, which leads to Purkinje cell death, contributing to the manifestation of spinocerebellar ataxia in mice. The human GRID2 shares 90% homology with the orthologous mouse gene, and therefore it has become an important candidate gene for screening the virulence gene of spinocerebellar ataxia. Dr. Chaodong Wang, Affiliated Sanming First Hospital of Fujian Medical University, China and his team screened for mutations in the coding sequence of GRID2 in 24 patients with familial or sporadic spinocerebellar ataxia and in 52 normal controls. They detected no point mutations or insertion/deletion mutations in the 16 exons of GRID2. However, a polymorphic 4 nucleotide deletion (IVS5-121_-118 GAGT) and two single nucleotide polymorphisms (c.1251G>T and IVS14-63C>G) were identified. The frequency of these polymorphisms was similar between spinocerebellar ataxia patients and normal controls. These data indicate that spontaneous mutations do not occur in GRID2 and that the incidence of spinocerebellar ataxia in humans is not associated with GRID2 mutation or polymorphisms. Related results were published in Neural Regeneration Research (Vol. 9, No. 10, 2014).

###

Article: " The human 2 glutamate receptor gene is not mutated in patients with spinocerebellar ataxia," by Jinxiang Huang1, Aiyu Lin2, Haiyan Dong3, Chaodong Wang3 (1 Department of Neurosurgery, Changzheng Hospital, the Second Military Medical University, Shanghai, China; 2 Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, Fujian Province, China; 3 Department of Neurology, The Affiliated Sanming First Hospital, Fujian Medical University, Sanming, Fujian Province, China) Huang JX, Lin AY, Dong HY, Wang CD. The human 2 glutamate receptor gene is not mutated in patients with spinocerebellar ataxia. Neural Regen Res. 2014;9(10):1068-1074.

Contact: Meng Zhao eic@nrren.org 86-138-049-98773 Neural Regeneration Research http://www.nrronline.org/

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

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The human 2 glutamate receptor gene is not mutated in spinocerebellar ataxia patients

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The Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) on Friday gave the green signal for field trials of genetically modified (GM) rice, mustard, cotton, chickpea and brinjal at its meeting in Delhi.

Hem Kumar Pande, chairperson of the GEAC told The Hindu that meetings were not held for a year since March 2013 and there was a backlog of 70 applications pending since 2011-12 of which 60 have been cleared so far.

Fridays agenda dealt with 15 items and cleared field trials of rabi crops. In the three meetings since March 2014, the GEAC took up revalidation of data and approved kharif crops, Mr. Pande pointed out.

While the GEAC has approved the commercial release of Bt brinjal it has been stayed by the Ministry of Environment and Mr. Pande said the government would have to take a decision on this. The only genetically modified crop approved for release in India is cotton.

So far about 20 GM crops are under trial at various stages, he said and the new approvals were for the first stage of trials on one-acre plots. He said unless research in Indian conditions is allowed, the viability of these crops would not be known.

Meanwhile, Dr. Pushpa M. Bhargava, founder and former director, Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad and Supreme Court appointee to the GEAC told The Hindu that he was particularly concerned about the approval granted to import GM soyabean oil.

According to my technical information, no oil made from a GM product is free of foreign DNA. Even in small amounts, DNA is genetic material and can cause damage. There is incontrovertible evidence that oils made from GM material do contain foreign DNA, he said.

Three companies - Bayer Bio Sciences, Monsanto and BASF have been allowed to import the oil. The last time there was objection to the import of soyabean oil; samples were sent for testing to the Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI), which gave it a clean chit.

Dr. Bhargava questioned the sensitivity of the tests that were carried out. The next meeting of the GEAC will be held in August. However, the country is already using cotton seed oil after the advent of transgenic cotton.

Members who attended the meeting said that while companies provided data to support their proposals there was no system of verifying the validity of the data. They also objected to some dissenting voices, which were not recorded in the minutes of the meeting the last time and the Committee said it would be recorded now on.

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GEAC clears field trials for GM crops

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Aspirin is the gold standard for antiplatelet therapy and a daily low-dose aspirin is widely prescribed for the prevention of cardiovascular disease.

Now, a new study suggests that common genetic variation in the gene for catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) may modify the cardiovascular benefit of aspirin, and in some people, may confer slight harm. The findings, led by investigators at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) appear online in the American Heart Association journal Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology.

"This is one of the few cases where you can identify a single genetic polymorphism which has a significant interaction with aspirin such that it affects whether or not it protects against cardiovascular disease," says first author Kathryn Hall, PhD, MPH, an investigator in the Division of General Medicine and Primary Care at BIDMC and Research Fellow at Harvard Medical School.

COMT is a key enzyme in the metabolism of catecholamines, a group of hormones that include epinephrine, norepinephrine, and dopamine. "These hormones are implicated in a broad spectrum of disorders, including hypertension," explains Hall, "We were initially interested in finding out if the COMT gene affected people's susceptibility to incident cardiovascular disease such as myocardial infarction or ischemic stroke." Knowing that aspirin is commonly prescribed for the prevention of incident cardiovascular disease, the investigators also wanted to learn if genetic variation in COMT would influence aspirin's potential benefit.

To answer these questions, the researchers used data from the Women's Genome Health Study, a cohort of over 23,000 women who were followed for 10 years in a randomized double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of low-dose aspirin or vitamin E for the primary prevention of incident cardiovascular disease. Their analysis focused on val158met, a common variant in the COMT gene: Individuals who are homozygous for the enzyme's high-activity valine form, the "val/vals," have been shown to have lower levels of catecholamines compared to individuals who are homozygous for the enzyme's low-activity methionine form, the "met/mets,." The val/met heterozygotes are in between.

"When we examined women in the placebo arm of the trial, we found that the 23 percent of the women who were 'val/vals' were naturally protected against incident cardiovascular disease," explains senior author Daniel I. Chasman, PhD, a genetic epidemiologist in the Division of Preventive Medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. "This finding, which was replicated in two other population-based studies, was in itself of significant interest." But, he adds, the investigation further revealed the surprising discovery that when the women with the val/val polymorphism were allocated to aspirin, this natural protection was eliminated.

"As we continued to look at the effects of drug allocation, we found that val/val women who were randomly assigned to aspirin had more cardiovascular events than the val/vals who were assigned to placebo," says Chasman. Among the 28 percent of women who were met/met, the opposite was true, and these women had fewer cardiovascular events when assigned to aspirin compared to placebo. The benefit of aspirin compared to placebo allocation for met/mets amounted to reduction of one case of incident cardiovascular disease for 91 treated women over 10 years of study follow-up. By contrast, the harm of aspirin compared to placebo allocation for the val/val women was an increase of one case per 91 treated.

The researchers further found that rates of cardiovascular disease were also reduced in met/met women assigned to vitamin E compared to those assigned to placebo.

The authors stress that the findings will require further research and replication to understand their potential for clinical impact. Nonetheless they note that given that aspirin is preventively prescribed to millions of individuals and the COMT genetic variant is extremely common, this study underscores the potential importance of individualizing therapies based on genetic profiles.

"What this study suggests is that we can be smarter about the groups of patients that would most likely benefit from aspirin," says study coauthor Joseph Loscalzo, MD, PhD, Chairman of the Department of Medicine and Physician-in-Chief at BWH. "Rather than give aspirin to all patients with risk factors for heart disease, we need to use modern genomics and genetics to identify those individuals for whom aspirin has the greatest benefit and the lowest risk of adverse effects."

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Genetic variations may modify cardiovascular benefit of aspirin

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PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

18-Jul-2014

Contact: Charles Casey charles.casey@ucdmc.ucdavis.edu 916-734-9048 University of California - Davis Health System

(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) Researchers from UC Davis School of Medicine and Shriners Hospitals for Children Northern California have identified a group of cells in the brain that they say plays an important role in the abnormal neuron development in Down syndrome. After developing a new model for studying the syndrome using patient-derived stem cells, the scientists also found that applying an inexpensive antibiotic to the cells appears to correct many abnormalities in the interaction between the cells and developing neurons.

The findings, which focused on support cells in the brain called astroglial cells, appear online today in Nature Communications.

"We have developed a human cellular model for studying brain development in Down syndrome that allows us to carry out detailed physiological studies and screen possible new therapies," said Wenbin Deng, associate professor of biochemistry and molecular medicine and principal investigator of the study. "This model is more realistic than traditional animal models because it is derived from a patient's own cells."

Down syndrome is the most common chromosomal cause of mild to moderate intellectual disabilities in the United States, where it occurs in one in every 691 live births. It develops when a person has three copies of the 21st chromosome instead of the normal two. While mouse models have traditionally been used in studying the genetic disorder, Deng said the animal model is inadequate because the human brain is more complicated, and much of that complexity arises from astroglia cells, the star-shaped cells that play an important role in the physical structure of the brain as well as in the transmission of nerve impulses.

"Although neurons are regarded as our 'thinking cells,' the astroglia have an extremely important supportive role," said Deng. "Astroglial function is increasingly recognized as a critical factor in neuronal dysfunction in the brain, and this is the first study to show its importance in Down syndrome."

Creating a unique human cellular model

To investigate the role of astroglia in Down syndrome, the research team took skin cells from individuals with Down syndrome and transformed them into stem cells, which are known as induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC). The cells possess the same genetic make-up as the donor and an ability to grow into different cell types. Deng and his colleagues next induced the stem cells to develop into separate pure populations of astroglial cells and neurons. This allowed them to systematically analyze factors expressed by the astroglia and then study their effects on neuron development.

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'Support' cells in brain play important role in Down syndrome

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Let #39;s Play The Sims 3 - Perfect Genetics Challenge: Cowgirl and Horse Edition Episode 21
Come join me on my latest journey into the complex world of sims 3 genetics, as I try to get perfect foals and perfect children. Will I succeed in getting pe...

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Let's Play The Sims 3 - Perfect Genetics Challenge: Cowgirl and Horse Edition Episode 21 - Video

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Research Minute: Anne Kwitek, Genetics
Anne Kwitek is a genetics researcher at the University of Iowa. Her research is looking at how DNA changes can make individual #39;s more suseptible to common di...

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Conservation Genetics and the Search for a New Species | Todd Disotell | TEDxNYU
This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences. Todd Disotell, a biological anthropologist, investigates primate and human evolution. In this talk,...

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Proxy Plays Arkham: Origins #2 #39;Genetics #39;
Proxy opens his cape to the first time in the massive, yet cold city of Gotham! Arkham Origins just became my playground! The majority of this video consists of commentary of my own thoughts...

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Health: An Important Development For Heart Patients Who Need Pacemakers
Stephanie Stahl has more on what scientists are calling a new era of gene therapy. Official Site: http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/ Subscribe on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/cbsphilly Like...

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DNA animation
Blender animation for TV news story. About Gene therapy. Blender internal render, over sampled 200% to reduce aliasing. Fake Depth of field effect in compositing.

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Newswise Learning the role of immune system cells in healthy digestive tracts and how they interact with neighboring nerve cells may lead to new treatments for irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Researchers from Penn State College of Medicine, in collaboration with other scientists, have reported the role of macrophages in regulating the contractions of the colon to push digested material through the digestive tract.

The muscular lining of the intestine contains a distinct kind of macrophage, an immune system cell that helps fight infections. The role of these cells in normal colon function is not known, although they have been linked to inflammation after abdominal surgery.

Very little is known about the function of muscularis macrophages, mainly because these cells are difficult to isolate from intestinal tissue, said Milena Bogunovic, assistant professor of microbiology and immunology.

Digested material is moved through the intestines by the contraction and relaxation of intestinal muscles. The pattern and frequency of these contractions are controlled by the signals from the intestinal nervous system. In patients with diseases like IBS, the signals are overactive and stimulation is exaggerated.

The researchers developed a method to deplete muscularis macrophages in the intestines of mice to determine their function. They report their findings in Cell.

After macrophage depletion, we observed that the normal intestinal movements are irregular, probably because the muscular contractions were poorly coordinated, suggesting that intestinal movements are regulated by macrophages, Bogunovic said.

After confirming the role of the macrophages in the function of the digestive tract, the researchers looked for how the regulation happens. They compared the genetic code of different types of macrophages to find non-immune genes highly active in muscularis macrophages, identifying bone morphogenetic protein 2. BMP2 is one of a family of proteins thought to control organ development.

Blocking the effect of BMP2 mirrored the effects of the macrophage removal, confirming that the protein is used for regulation of intestinal movements. The BMP2 is used by neighboring nerve cells, intestinal neurons, which in turn secrete a protein called colony stimulatory factor 1 (CSF1) that supports macrophages.

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Immune Cell's Role in Intestinal Movement Could Lead to Better Understanding of IBS

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The Future of Oncology: Drugs, Genetic Testing and Personalized Medicine
Dr. Richard Schilsky discusses the curious history of cancer treatments, and their future direction based on new discoveries, and advances in genomics and pe...

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Spinal Cord BBQ July 15, 2014
Henry #39;s award from Spinal Cord Injury Ontario - BBQ.

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Doug Mowat Memorial Golf Tournament 2014
Doug Mowat had a vision for the how the world should beinclusive, engaging, and accessible. The first MLA in a wheelchair and a founding father of what is now Spinal Cord Injury BC, Mowat...

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Creating a job description
Paul describes the process of creating a job description that works for you.

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Regenerative Medicine at Healthpointe
http://jointreliefclinic.com http://healthpointemd.net/regenerative_medicine.shtml (714) 367-5046 Using the cells found in the human body that naturally restore tissue, regenerative medicine...

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A temporary drop-in clinic could be set up in Dundee for people to register as bone marrow donors.

Annie Irving, president of the Marrow Dundee student society, has offered to organise the clinic after more than 100 Tele readers registered to help those suffering from blood cancers.

The fantastic response is the result of an overflow of compassion towards baby Faith Cushnie, who, at nine months old, is losing her battle with leukaemia after her donor backed out.

A total of 142 people in Tayside have registered with Anthony Nolan since the article and 873 have visited the charitys website.

Annie, who studies medicine at Dundee University, said: A personal story reaches people more than numbers and statistics and the fact that the little girls chance has been taken away from her because there arent enough people on the register is very sad. Peoples responses have been brilliant though.

The society is affiliated to charity Anthony Nolan, which maintains a register of potential bone marrow donors. Stem cells from bone marrow are used to treat cancers like leukaemia, lymphoma and myeloma and blood disorders such as sickle cell disease.

Drop-in clinics allow people to take a spit test to determine whether they are suitable to be a donor. They also have the opportunity to speak to a trained counsellor.

Annie explained: When we counsel people we tell them about the likelihood of being called up and the process of donating.

Annie hopes to be able to organise a clinic as soon as possible and is in the process of contacting venues to find somewhere to host the drop-in.

She said: I want to have a clinic soon and encourage more people to join the register. Donating bone marrow is a chance to save a life.

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Bid for Dundee bone marrow clinic to meet donor demand

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Newswise Buffalo, NY BlueCross BlueShield of Western New York today has redesignated Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI) as a Blue Distinction Center for delivering quality transplant care as part of the Blue Distinction Centers for Specialty Care program. Approximately 100 Blue Distinction Centers for Transplants have been designated in the United States, with only four located in New York State.

Blue Distinction Centers are medical facilities shown to deliver quality specialty care based on objective, transparent measures for patient safety and health outcomes that were developed with input from the medical community. To receive a Blue Distinction Centers for Transplants designation, medical facilities must demonstrate success in meeting patient safety criteria as well as transplant-specific quality measures (including survival metrics). RPCI received the same Blue Distinction Center designation in 2011.

Blood and marrow hematopoietic stem-cell transplants, also known as bone-marrow transplants, are a common approach for treating many types of hematologic cancers, including forms of leukemia, lymphoma and multiple myeloma. They involve the transplant of blood or bone marrow stem cells from a donor or from the patients themselves as a way of sparing the patient the toxic effects of intensive chemotherapy and/or radiation.

Because blood and marrow transplant is such a highly complex procedure, a patients medical needs before, during and after a transplant procedure are extensive and labor-intensive, said Philip McCarthy, MD, Director of RPCIs Blood & Marrow Transplant Program. Given that context, were especially proud to once again earn Blue Distinction for our transplant program from BlueCross BlueShield.

More Research shows that Blue Distinction Centers demonstrate better quality and improved outcomes for patients with higher survival rates compared with their peers.

We are pleased that RPCI has been recognized for their quality transplant care, said Dr. Thomas Schenk, Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer, BlueCross BlueShield of Western New York. As part of the BCBS network they are a valued and once again nationally recognized provider of quality care.

Although rare, the number of transplants including heart, lung, liver, pancreas and bone marrow/blood stem cell in the nation have increased in recent years. There were 28,954 transplant procedures performed in 2013 compared to 28,052 in 2012. Today, more than 123,000 people are awaiting organ donations for transplants, according to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.

In 2006, the Blue Distinction Centers for Specialty Care program was developed to help patients find quality providers for their specialty care needs while encouraging healthcare professionals to improve the care they deliver.

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Roswell Park Recognized for Quality in Bone Marrow Transplant Care

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PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

17-Jul-2014

Contact: Tom Oswald tom.oswald@cabs.msu.edu 517-432-0920 Michigan State University

Not unlike looking for the proverbial needle in a haystack, a team of Michigan State University researchers have found a gene that could be key to the development of stem cells cells that can potentially save millions of lives by morphing into practically any cell in the body.

The gene, known as ASF1A, was not discovered by the team. However, it is at least one of the genes responsible for the mechanism of cellular reprogramming, a phenomenon that can turn one cell type into another, which is key to the making of stem cells.

In a paper published in the journal Science, the researchers describe how they analyzed more than 5,000 genes from a human egg, or oocyte, before determining that the ASF1A, along with another gene known as OCT4 and a helper soluble molecule, were the ones responsible for the reprogramming.

"This has the potential to be a major breakthrough in the way we look at how stem cells are developed," said Elena Gonzalez-Munoz, a former MSU post-doctoral researcher and first author of the paper. "Researchers are just now figuring out how adult somatic cells such as skin cells can be turned into embryonic stem cells. Hopefully this will be the way to understand more about how that mechanism works."

In 2006, an MSU team identified the thousands of genes that reside in the oocyte. It was from those, they concluded, that they could identify the genes responsible for cellular reprogramming.

In 2007, a team of Japanese researchers found that by introducing four other genes into cells, stem cells could be created without the use of a human egg. These cells are called induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPSCs.

"This is important because the iPSCs are derived directly from adult tissue and can be a perfect genetic match for a patient," said Jose Cibelli, an MSU professor of animal science and a member of the team.

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Discovery may make it easier to develop life-saving stem cells

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UNDATED (WJRT) - (07/17/14) - Would you poke your skin with pins if it meant you'd look years younger?

Last year, Americans underwent more than 11 million cosmetic procedures, and they spent nearly $12 billion on skin rejuvenation. Everyone wants their skin to look younger, healthier and better, but some are taking it to an extreme.

Cheri Kovacsev's face is dripping with blood - and she wouldn't have it any other way.

"I'm hoping to achieve smaller pores, the fine lines around my lips to improve over this process," she said.

Licensed paramedical aesthetician, Amaris Centofanti, is performing rejuvapen micro-needling.

"After you are done with the treatment, collagen elastin kicks in to heal the skin, so in a few days, your skin starts to look more flawless," she said.

Some, like professor of dermatology James Spencer, aren't sold on micro-needling - which costs about $350 a pop.

"There was just a study in the journal of the American Medical Association Dermatology, Jama Dermatology, last month, of three cases of allergy to the medication to the serum that was put on after micro-needling," he said.

Some other extreme beauty treatments:

- The bee venom facial. The theory is the venom tightens skin by pumping up collagen. It costs about $130.

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Bizarre beauty trends: are they safe?

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Genes for swatting tiger mosquitoes, defanging brown tree snakes, and deporting Asian carp, all nasty invasive species, sound like a swell idea. But the latest idea in eradicationgenetic engineeringposes its own risks, warn biotechnology experts.

Invasive species wreak havoc worldwide, disrupting native ecosystems and inflicting more than $120 billion in damages annually in the U.S. alone. Many economicallyand environmentallydamaging species, such as those mosquitoes, snakes, and carp, defy removal with existing technology.

But there is good news. "Gene drives"which could trigger a precipitous decline in invasive species by tinkering with their genetic machineryhave arrived as a fast-maturing technology, an international team of scientists announced on Thursday.

"Once an invasive species arrives in a new habitat and is driving native species extinct, we don't necessarily have a lot of solutions to that. Gene drive technology could potentially cause local extinction [of the invasive species] and restore the original ecosystem," says Kevin Esvelt, a genetic engineer at Harvard University and an author of tandem papers published this week in Science and eLife.

But he and his colleagues warn that we should tread cautiously; otherwise, the new technology may blow up in our face. "We want to make sure this technology is used responsibly to solve problems facing humanity and the natural world," Esvelt says. (See "Why the 67 Giant Snails Seized in L.A. Are Harmful.")

How It Works

The technology starts by identifying a genetic alteration that could reduce pesticide resistance, hinder a population's ability to reproduce, or have some other desirable impact on the target species.

Scientists could then insert that alteration into the genome of an invasive species, but there is no guarantee that it will propagate.

This is where the gene drives come in. Essentially, they act as chauffeurs that can "drive" a genetic alteration through a population, says Esvelt.

In most animals, there are two versions of a gene and each one has a 50-50 chance of being passed on to the next generation.

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Genetic Engineering to the Rescue Against Invasive Species?

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Researcher Frdric Choulet explains why mapping the bread genome is so important and discusses sequencing wheat chromosome 3B. (INRA)

Scientists announced Thursday that they are approaching a milestone in humanitys ability to improve bread wheat.

One of the most common and most versatile crops on the planet the main food staple for a third of the world population wheat is remarkably good at adapting to change. But efforts to grow higher-yielding, more nutritious and more resilient wheat in response to population growth and climate change have been slow for one simple reason. Its genes are a big, complicated mess.

Many scientists thought that it would be impossible to map the genome of wheat to figure out how its genes are ordered so that specific traits can be more quickly identified. But a group made up of scientists, breeders and growers say that theyre more than halfway there and that an entire sequence is on the horizon.

Genome sequencing has revolutionized the process of breeding corn and rice, experts said, and is especially important given the stress that climate change will put on the food supply as the worlds population booms.

Human civilization rests on a small handful of crops, all of which were developed with much more stable weather conditions than we see now, said Patrick Schnable, an Iowa State University professor who worked on the genome sequencing of corn. In a world with climate change, we need to help those crops adapt quickly. And to do that, he said, one needs the genome sequence.

I was told by a breeder that it was the single most valuable thing the government has ever done for them, Schnable said. The genetic information has been used to increase crop yields and make crops more resilient to stresses such as pests and weather change.

The same has been true for rice. Its accelerated the discovery of the genes involved in many traits, including those for higher yield and disease resistance, said Jan E. Leach, a Colorado State University professor who is not involved in the study. Its always boggled my mind how ridiculous it is to not have [a complete genome] for wheat, she said, so this is great news.

Thursdays announcement reported that about half of bread wheats genome has been sequenced, which might not sound impressive. But until recently, scientists had something like 5 percent of the information, said Kellye Eversole, executive director of the International Wheat Genome Sequencing Consortium (IWGSC), which organized the research.

She compared the sequencing thus far to a partially completed map. After starting with an empty map and a list of roads, she said, the researchers now have about half the highways in place. Its not very well ordered, she said. You might know theres a Route 1, and that its in Virginia, but you dont know exactly where it is. But its a guide, and its accelerating us towards that complete map.

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Scientists unlock the genetic secrets of bread wheat

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