Joined: 26 Jun 2003 Posts: 3226 Location: Coral Springs, FL USA
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Beneficiaries of Stem Cell Research Posted: 06-25-07 10:25am
Do you know anyone personally who could
benefit from stem cell research. What,
particularly, could this person use?
Jules
Supporter
Joined: 19 Aug 2006 Posts: 3688 Location: Merrie Englande, UK
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Posted: 06-25-07 13:45pm
There is a condition in my family called
x-linked retinitis pigmentosa which is a
degenerative condition that means the
sufferer goes blind over a period of time,
usually years. Basically, the retinal
cells are dying and not being replaced,
unlike in normal people. If you look at a
photograph image of my brother's retina,
it is all covered in black marks, like ink
that won't rub off. Stem cell technology
could be used to allow the dying cells to
regenerate and, maybe, even grow new ones
so no more people would have to grow up
with this condition, helplessly watching
the tunnel close in around them.
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Tylanas
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Joined: 13 Jul 2005 Posts: 12985
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Posted: 06-25-07 23:29pm
My grandmother has Alzhiemers. Enough
said.
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Tmddyan
Moderator
Joined: 13 Jun 2006 Posts: 4108 Location: post falls, id usa
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Hey Posted: 06-26-07 13:46pm
my grandfather has alzimers too---hes 70
something. he isnt gonna last much longer.
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Tylanas
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Posted: 03-07-08 01:11am
Turns out my grandmother doesn't have
Alzheimers, which is rather a relief! Over
Christmas break the doctors and nurses at
her new care center decided to do a few
simple tests on her, based on the kinds of
symptoms she was exhibiting, such as loss
of balance, memory loss, and incontinence.
The concluded that she might actually have
hydrocephalus, aka water on the brain.
They went and did a test procedure where
they drained some of the cerebral fluid,
and she showed improvement! So they went
in this January and put in a full shunt
from her brain to her abdomen, allowing
the excess brain fluid to drain out. What
was happening is that too much fluid in
her brain was compressing it, causing many
problems.
Today, my grandmother is doing much
better. She can walk with a walker and a
little by herself! I'm not sure about the
other symptoms but I assume they've gotten
better as well!
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Tmddyan
Moderator
Joined: 13 Jun 2006 Posts: 4108 Location: post falls, id usa
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Posted: 03-19-08 21:04pm
ive heard that they can use this for eye
condidtions as well ----is that true?
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Tylanas
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Posted: 03-19-08 21:06pm
I can't understand how reducing pressure
on the brain would help cure eye
conditions, unless the condition is being
cause by pressure on the optical lobe.
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Tmddyan
Moderator
Joined: 13 Jun 2006 Posts: 4108 Location: post falls, id usa
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Posted: 03-19-08 21:12pm
lol i ment stem cells. i heard that stem
cells could be used to treat eye
condidtions
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Tylanas
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Posted: 03-19-08 21:14pm
oooo, I'm silly. Yeah, definitely it could
help. Grown a functional optic nerve, or
regrow an eye, etc.
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ri0tdorque
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Re: Beneficiaries of Stem Cell Research Posted: 05-15-08 17:29pm
admin
wrote:
Do you know anyone
personally who could benefit from stem
cell research. What, particularly, could
this person use?
As a matter a fact a two years ago I met a
wonderful little girl around the age of I
guess 10 months old. I was informed that
she has this rare thing where the muscles
in her legs will never be strong enough to
support her so she'll never be able to
walk, stand, run, nothing. She can sort of
sit up with her parent's help but she's
going to be confined to a wheelchair for
life.
They are *soooooooo* close to a cure but
thanks to our wonderful President and bans
on things research was cut so the wait is
on. I have a lot more in depth information
but I need to get it from my father it's
actually a close friend of his in Florida
their daughter.
She's the reason I donated my chord blood
and the reason I finally signed myself up
for organ donation I've always said donate
everything but now it says it on my
licence.
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aochriss
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Joined: 30 Apr 2008 Posts: 357
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Re: Beneficiaries of Stem Cell Research Posted: 06-04-08 14:44pm
admin
wrote:
Do you know anyone
personally who could benefit from stem
cell research. What, particularly, could
this person use?
It might be easier to answer this question
if some of the diseases stem cells are
targeting is listed.
The Promise of Stem Cells
Studying stem cells will help us
understand how they transform into the
dazzling array of specialized cells that
make us what we are. Some of the most
serious medical conditions, such as cancer
and birth defects, are due to problems
that occur somewhere in this process. A
better understanding of normal cell
development will allow us to understand
and perhaps correct the errors that cause
these medical conditions.
Another potential application of stem
cells is making cells and tissues for
medical therapies. Today, donated organs
and tissues are often used to replace
those that are diseased or destroyed.
Unfortunately, the number of people
needing a transplant far exceeds the
number of organs available for
transplantation. Pluripotent stem cells
offer the possibility of a renewable
source of replacement cells and tissues to
treat a myriad of diseases, conditions,
and disabilities including Parkinson's and
Alzheimer's diseases, spinal cord injury,
stroke, burns, heart disease, diabetes,
osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis.
http://stemcells.nih.g
ov/info/health.asp. What are the
potential uses of human stem cells?
Stem cell research contributes to a
fundamental understanding of how organisms
develop and grow, and how tissues are
maintained throughout adult life. This is
knowledge that is required to work out
what goes wrong during disease and injury
and ultimately how these conditions might
be treated. The development of a range of
human tissue-specific and embryonic stem
cell lines will provide researchers with
the tools to model disease, test drugs and
develop increasingly effective therapies.
Replacing diseased cells with healthy
cells, a process called cell therapy, is a
promising use of stem cells in the
treatment of disease; this is similar to
organ transplantation only the treatment
consists of transplanting cells instead of
organs. Currently, researchers are
investigating the use of adult, fetal and
embryonic stem cells as a resource for
various, specialized cell types, such as
nerve cells, muscle cells, blood cells and
skin cells that can be used to treat
various diseases.
In theory, any condition in which there is
tissue degeneration can be a potential
candidate for stem cell therapies,
including Parkinson's disease, spinal cord
injury, stroke, burns, heart disease, Type
1 diabetes, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid
arthritis, muscular dystrophies and liver
diseases.
In addition, retinal regeneration with
stem cells isolated from the eyes can lead
to a possible cure for damaged or diseased
eyes and may one day help reverse
blindness. Bone marrow transplantation
(transfers blood stem cells) is a
well-established treatment for blood
cancers and other blood disorders.
9. Are stem cells currently used in
therapies today?
Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) or blood
stem cells, present in the bone marrow are
the precursors to all blood cells. Blood
stem cells are currently the only type of
stem cells commonly used for therapy.
Doctors have been transferring blood stem
cells by bone marrow transplant for more
than 40 years. Advanced techniques for
collecting or "harvesting" HSCs are now
used to treat leukemia, lymphoma and
several inherited blood disorders. Cord
blood, like bone marrow, is stored as a
source of HSCs and is being used
experimentally as an alternative to bone
marrow in transplantation.
New clinical applications for stem cells
are currently being tested therapeutically
for the treatment of musculoskeletal
abnormalities, cardiac disease, liver
disease, autoimmune and metabolic
disorders (amyloidosis), chronic
inflammatory diseases (lupus) and other
advanced cancers. However, these new
therapies have been offered only to a very
limited number of patients.
10. Why is cord blood a valuable
resource?
Cord blood is rich in hematopoietic or
blood stem cells and is currently being
used as an experimental alternative to
bone marrow transplantation. The
collection process is completely
non-invasive, the host-donor match
required for transplantation is less
stringent and cord blood has fewer mature
immune cells and thus poses a lower risk
of graft vs. host disease.
Secondly, the resulting embryonic stem
cells could be developed into a needed
cell type, and if transplanted into the
original donor, would be recognized as
'self', thereby avoiding the problems of
rejection and immunosuppression that occur
with transplants from unrelated donors.
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