The False Controversy of Stem Cells. Congratulations to representative Dana Rohrabacher, 56, and his wife Rhonda, 34, who gave birth to triplets last month. As we tend to suspect when a couple has triplets, the new parents used the services of a fertility clinic. Modern in-vitro techniques generally involve creating multiple embryos in the laboratory, transferring two or three and hoping that at least one will make it through to birth. Often it doesn't work. Sometimes it works unexpectedly well. Successful or not, the process creates many more embryos than babies. So it's interesting that Rohrabacher has changed his position on the medical use of embryonic stem cells. "Embryonic stem-cell studies are controversial because they involve the destruction of human embryos," the New York Times explained in a May 6 article reporting on the shifting politics of stem-cell research.
Stamping some issue as controversial can be a substitute for thinking it through. It's not complicated. StemCellControversy_Article.pdf (application/pdf Object) Ethical concerns about embryos in fertility clinics. Handling surplus embryos in fertility clinics Sponsored link. In order to understand why the surplus embryos represent a serious concern to some people, it is necessary to study the basics of human personhood, the activities of the pro-life community, and procedures performed in fertility clinics: When does personhood begin? No consensus exists about when human life becomes a human person. Human life can be defined as any living entity that contains human DNA. Thus, each adult or child skin cell, spermatozoa, an ovum, a just-fertilized ovum, a pre-embryo which consists of a group of identical stem cells, an embryo which consists of differentiated cells, a fetus, a newborn, and even a human cancer are all forms of human life.
But human life is not necessarily considered to be a human person by everyone; in many cases it is not even regarded as particularly valuable. Many pro-lifers look at the inventory of frozen embryos in a fertility clinic as a potential adoption facility. Sponsored link: Human stem cell research: all viewpoints. Morality; controversial topics Menu Sponsored link. About stem cells: Stem cells are a special form of human life: they are alive and contain human DNA. They have a unique feature in that they can be coaxed into developing into some or all of the 220 cell types found in the human body. Eventually, stem cells may be routinely used by doctors to generate new organs or new replacement body parts for people: They might become a new pancreas to cure a person with diabetes, or new nerve cells to cure a paralized person, etc.
There are three types of stem cells: Embryonic stem cells: A pre-embryo -- a just fertilized embryo called a blastocyst -- consists of many undifferentiated stem cells surrounded by a covering. The National Institutes of Health web site states: Topics covered in this section: Reference used: The following information source wasused to prepare and update the above essay. David Cyranoski, "Acid bath offers easy path to stem cells," Nature, 2-14-JAN-29, at: McLaren-EthicalAndSocialDimensions-Nature.pdf (application/pdf Object) Oct‐4‐expressing cells in human amniotic fluid: a new source for stem cell research? + Author Affiliations 1To whom correspondence should be addressed. e‐mail: markus.hengstschlaeger@akh‐wien.ac.at Received October 2, 2002. Revision received February 13, 2003. Accepted March 18, 2003. BACKGROUND: It is the hope of investigators and patients alike that in future the isolation of pluripotent human stem cells will allow the establishment of therapeutic concepts for a wide variety of diseases.
Key words: human amniotic fluid/Oct‐4/pluripotency/stem cells. Seeking superior stem cells. 10 October 2011 New technique produces one hundred-fold increase in efficiency in reprogramming human cells A SH-iPSC Colony on STO feeders. [Genome Research Limited] zoom Researchers from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute have today (10/10/2011) announced a new technique to reprogramme human cells, such as skin cells, into stem cells. Until now cells have been reprogrammed using four specific regulatory proteins. "This research is a milestone in human stem cells," explains Wei Wang, first author on the research from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute.
Stem cells are unspecialized cells that are able to renew themselves through cell division and can be induced to become functional tissue- or organ-specific cells. With more than 20 years of research, gold standard stem cells are derived from mice, largely because they are easy to work with and provide accurate and reproducible results. Dr Pentao Liu. Drug May Dampen Dangerous Side Effect of Stem Cell Transplants. The United Nations report into the 14-month uprising against President Bashar al-Assad said government forces routinely drew up lists of wanted people and their families before blockading then attacking a village or neighborhood.
"Entire families were executed in their homes - usually the family members of those opposing the government such as the family members of Colonel Riad al-Asaad," it said, referring to relatives of the head of the rebel Free Syrian Army. The rebels, who are increasingly armed and well-organized, have executed or tortured soldiers and government supporters, said the U.N., whose investigators were not allowed into Syria and relied on interviews of victims and witnesses. Violence has raged despite a U.N. -brokered agreement on April 12 aimed at halting the bloodshed in Syria, where Assad is confronting an uprising which began with peaceful protests but has become increasingly militarized. Opposition activists reported fighting in several regions on Thursday. Scalable amounts of liver and pancreas precursor cells created using new stem cell production method.
Scientists in Canada have overcome a key research hurdle to developing regenerative treatments for diabetes and liver disease with a technique to produce medically useful amounts of endoderm cells from human pluripotent stem cells. The research, published in Biotechnology and Bioengineering, can be transferred to other areas of stem cell research helping scientists to navigate the route to clinical use known as the 'valley of death'. "One million people suffer from type 1 diabetes in the United States, while liver disease accounts for 45,000 deaths a year," said Dr Mark Ungrin from the University of Toronto. "This makes stem cells, and the potential for regenerative treatments, hugely interesting to scientists. Laboratory techniques can produce thousands, or even millions, of these cells, but generating them in the numbers and quality needed for medicine has long been a challenge.
" "Our results showed significant increases in the amount of endoderm cells generated," said Ungrin. Why Would the Leader in Embryonic Stem Cell Research Drop Out? Translating Theory Into Treatments More Difficult Than Expected | 3593 hits WASHINGTON, D.C., NOV. 30, 2011 (Zenit.org).- Here is a question on bioethics asked by a ZENIT reader and answered by the fellows of the Culture of Life Foundation. Q: Now that Geron has discontinued its embryonic stem cell research, while at the same time adult stem cell experiments have had a number of successful trials, what does this mean for the stem cell debate? - FJF, Australia. E. Christian Brugger replies: Two weeks ago a bombshell exploded on the field of human embryonic stem cell (hESC) medicine. The name Geron had become synonymous with hESC-based treatments, especially after the Menlo Park, California, company announced in October 2010 that it had begun the first clinical trials in the United States using hESCs.
Geron built its reputation over the last decade -- and its shareholder portfolio -- hyping the miraculous promise of hESCs. Defenders of human embryos must continue to do two things. E. GERON GIVES UP on EMBRYONIC STEM CELLS! « The Stem Cell Blog. If stem cell treatments were a boxing match, Embryonic stem cell treatments would be the 500 lb Gorilla and Adult stem cell treatments would be the small, unknown underdog. Today, that Gorilla threw in the towel! Despite the huge disparity in their media coverage, with positive Embryonic stem cell potential articles outnumbering all Adult stem cell articles by 1,000 to one, only Adult stem cells have a proven history of safety and efficacy, only Adult stem cell treatments are available today. Click here to see if your condition can be treated with Adult stem cells: While Geron and the US media, big Pharma, the AMA and the FDA have all given Embryonic stem cell their full throated support, the number of patients helped with adult stem cells is in the 10s of thousands while the number of patients helped by Embryonic stem cells in zero.
If Embryonic treatments were a horse race, Geron would be the strongest horse in the field. Via Geron.com Dr. I do have to applaud their spin department. Ageing stem cells from centenarian rejuvenated. Human embryonic stem cells that have not yet been differentiated. Researchers in France have demonstrated a new technique to rejuvenate age-degraded stem cells in elderly patients to a near-embryonic state. Credit: Wikimedia/Russo E/PLoS Biology PARIS: Age-degraded cells from elderly patients upwards of 100 years old have been successfully transformed into rejuvenated stem cells “indistinguishable” from those found in their embryonic state. The technical feat was described in the peer-reviewed journal Genes & Development and opens a new path toward regenerative medicine, especially for the elderly, the researchers said. “This is a new paradigm for cell rejuvenation,” said Jean-Marc Lemaitre, a researcher at the Institute of Functional Genomics at the University of Montpellier in France and the main architect of the study.
“The age of cells is definitely not a barrier to reprogramming.” Ineffective on the elderly New ingredients defeat cell degradation Ageing markers reset. Scientists Create Brain Cells From Skin Cells - Stanford breakthrough in mice skips stem cell stage | User Submitted. Operation marks another step forward in stem cell research. Dr. Nicholas Boulis adjusts the device that injects stem cells into the cervical area of the spinal cord. For the first time, stem cells are injected into the spinal cord in the neckIt is part of a trial to see if the procedure can be safely done "I feel like we finally arrived," says the surgeon who invented a key structure Atlanta (CNN) -- A 50-year-old man from Trion, Georgia, is the first person to be injected with stem cells in the upper part of the spinal cord, making him yet another pioneer in the scientific quest to use stem cells to heal.
Richard Grosjean received the treatment Friday. He is part of an ongoing FDA-approved clinical trial that is testing the safety of injecting stem cells into the spinal cords of patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. ALS patient Richard Grosjean, the first patient in an approved clinical trial to have stem cells injected into the cervical area of the spinal cord. "We're moving forward," he said.