By this week, you will find some relief from morning sickness, but you still appear as tired, moody and nauseated. You may begin to notice some blotchiness on your face. You can also recognize the skin problems to the changes in your body’s level of hormones.
What are the physical changes that occur [...]
Perry Cross, a ventilator-dependent quadriplegic, traveled to India to receive daily injections of stem cells. He claims that, owing to the stem cell treatment, he is now able to breathe on his own for the first time since a rugby injury made him a quadriplegic 14 years ago. The breakthrough is likely to fire up [...]
(HealthDay News) -- A multinational team of researchers has succeeded in turning human embryonic stem cells into three types of human heart muscle cells.
When transplanted, the cells also improved...<br/>
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U.S. scientists say they've reprogrammed human skin cells into ones with the same blank-slate properties as embryonic stem cells, a breakthrough that could aid in treating many diseases while sidestepping controversy.Human embryonic stem cells have the ability to become every cell type found in the human body. Being able to create these cells en masse and without using human eggs or embryos could generate a potentially limitless source of immune-compatible cells for tissue engineering and transplantation medicine, said the scientists, from the University of California, Los Angeles.The researchers genetically altered human skin cells using four regulator genes, according to findings published online in the Feb. 11 edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of the Sciences.Th
Charles Krauthammer has a great column on Bush's principled stance on embryonic stem cells and his current vindication by advances in technology by the very same scientist who first isolated human embryonic stem cells.
Technology Vindicates MoralityBy Charles KrauthammerFriday, November 30, 2007
"If human embryonic stem cell research does not make you at least a little bit uncomfortable, you have not thought about it enough."
-- James A. Thomson
WASHINGTON -- A decade ago, Thomson was the first to isolate human embryonic stem cells. Last week, he (and Japan's Shinya Yamanaka) announced one of the great scientific breakthroughs since the discovery of DNA: an embryo-free way to produce genetically matched stem cells.
Even a scientist who cares not a whit about the morality of embryo destruction will adopt this technique because it is so simple and powerful. The embryonic stem cell debate is over.
Which allows a bit of reflection on the storm that has raged
ScienceDaily (2007-10-19) — By injecting embryonic stem cells from a wood mouse into the early embryo of a house mouse, scientists have produced normal healthy animals made up of a mixture of cells from each of the two distantly related species. This is the first time that stem cells from one mammalian species have been shown to contribute extensively to development when introduced into the embryo of another, very different species. Although both are rodents, the wood mouse and the house mouse have evolved separately for up to 20 million years. Their genes differ by as much as 18 percent, about 12 times the difference between human and chimpanzee.
Read more here.
Embryonic stem cells have been making headlines recently. But among the talk, there is rarely a pause to explain what embryonic stem cells are, what makes them unique, and why they stir up so much debate.Stem cells, unlike other cells, can renew themselves for long periods of time though cell division, and under certain laboratory conditions, they can be stimulated into becoming cells with special functions, like insulin producing cells normally found in the pancreas. One of the major hopes is that researching stem cells is they could potentially offer a renewable source of a transplantable tissues, and have a significant impact on the treatment of Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, diabetes, spinal cord injures, and other diseases. Recent research at Johns Hopkins University shows however that spinal cord injuries, for example, can heal through normal patterns of activity without the need for stem cells.There are both embryonic stem cells, which are derived from embryos that have been fertil
Thump, thump, ... The beating of the heart begins again. Laboratory rats, sick, have regained their well-being.. The reason for this convalescence: their defective heart cells have been, in a fashion, replaced by stem cells from human embryos, specially prepared to become healthy heart cells. This is a first. In a report in Stem Cells co-signed by the teams of Michel Pucéat at INSERM and of Philippe Menasché, cardiac surgeon at the Georges-Pompidou Hospital, this research promises some benefits for therapy. Cardiac insufficiency is in effect one of the principal causes of death in rich countries. And if one could treat a heart damaged by a heart attack, using stem cells ? Patience! ... Bear in mind that the stem cells of the human embryo, capable of becoming cells of the heart, the blood, the nerves, are a bit more reticent to specialize than are their animal homologues. To differentiate, say the specialists. The team of Michel Pucéat, one of the first to be permitted to experiment
WASHINGTON (AP) - Vetoing a stem cell bill for the second time, President Bush on Wednesday sought to placate those who disagree with him by signing an executive order urging scientists toward what he termed “ethically responsible” research in the field.
Bush announced no new federal dollars for stem cell research, which supporters say holds the promise of disease cures, and his order would not allow researchers to do anything they couldn’t do under existing restrictions.
Announcing his veto to a roomful of supporters, Bush said, “If this legislation became law, it would compel American taxpayers for the first time in our history to support the deliberate destruction of human embryos. I made it clear to Congress and to the American people that I will not allow our nation to cross this moral line.”
Source
Well, that’s good news. After all of the other things he has been willing to cave in to liberals on, it’s good to know that at least he will s
During the Senate’s debate on federal funding of stem cell research it seems as though John Kerry may have twisted the truth a little bit. He spoke about a mouse being cured in Massachusetts using embryonic stem cells. There was a couple of problems with his statements though. One is that the mouse was never cured from an immune system problem, it’s immune system was partially restored. The second issue was that the stem cell were not embryonic cells they were adult stem cells.
Now either he was ignorant of the facts in this case or he deliberately mis-represented the facts of the case to further his agenda. Either way, it doesn’t matter, it still makes him look bad. Either he spoke on an issue without the facts or he lied. Which is worse?
Giving his history, like coming back from Veitnam and testifying that he saw American soldiers torturing people when he never actually saw this activity, I know which option I’m going with in his latest Senate debate.
The truth about the embryonic stem cell research debate is that it is not about stopping the research. The way it is always talked about in the media you would think that the debate is about whether this research should be legal or not.
Here are a three excerpts from this article that show what the debate is about:
The Senate will consider two bills, one virtually identical to a bill vetoed by President George W. Bush last year that would have expanded and encouraged federal funding of human embryonic stem cell research.
The United States has no restrictions on research funded by private sources or by states and several, including California, are actively funding embryonic stem cell research.
The House of Representatives passed a bill in January that would expand federal funding of stem cell research
As you can see the true debate is over federal money to fund stem cell research. There are no restrictions on stem cell research, and there will be no restrictions on stem cell resear
About that being gone for the weekend thing, it didn't work out so good. Don't ask.I just got word that today is the last day to sign the American Center for Law and Justice's petition to the congress against embryonic stem cell research.I could have a lot of arguments with Jay Sekulow and his team about politics and theology, but fortunately, Christians of different sects can unite on issues like this. I encourage all of you to sign the petition.Here's the link:https://www.aclj.org/Petition/Default.aspx?&ac=1&Zip=*Zip&sc=3261
Cambridge scientists have discovered the stage at which some of the cells of a fertilised mammalian egg are fated to develop into stem cells and why this occurs. The findings of the study, which overturn the long-held belief that cells are the same until the fourth cleavage (division) of the embryo, are reported in today's edition of Nature.
After fertilisation, the cells of the embryo at first undergo equal, symmetrical divisions and unequal, asymmetrical ones that direct smaller daughter cells towards the inside of the embryo. These become the inner cell mass of stem cells. Previously, it was believed that the mammalian embryo starts its development with identical cells and only as these inside and outside cells form do differences between cells first emerge.
However, research led by Professor Magdelena Zernicka-Goetz (homepage), University of Cambridge, has revealed evidence to suggest that differences between the embryonic cells are already apparent at the 4-cell-stage.
Continued
Researchers offer proof-of-concept for Altered Nuclear Transfer
Rudolf Jaenisch featured on NOVA scienceNOW. FULL STREAMING VIDEO. (Ed. Note - file is .MOV format, streaming in rtsp protocol may be "buggy" for some viewers, view in embedded viewer here), Video length: 8:00.
NOVA scienceNOW interview with Whitehead Member Rudolf Jaenisch and MIT graduate student Alexander Meissner. This segment
It looks like embryonic stem cell treatments--just like laudanum, radium, "vitamin" B17, and all the other snake oil miracle cures that came before them--could actually be harmful, according to a new study:
Injecting human embryonic stem cells into the brains of Parkinson's disease patients may cause tumors to form, U.S. researchers reported on Sunday.
Steven Goldman and colleagues at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York said human stem cells injected into rat brains turned into cells that looked like early tumors.
Stem cells might cause brain tumors, study finds
It's too bad they had to destroy embryos just to figure out what the opponents of this pseudoscience have been saying all along--that embryonic stem cell research is not the promising field that its grant-hungry supporters claim it is.
Researchers generated "natural killer" cells from the human embryonic stem cells. As part of the immune system, natural killer cells normally are present in the blood stream and are play a role in defending the body against infection and against some cancers.
"This is the first published research to show the ...
