California voters two years ago approved the idea of the state supporting stem cell research–though federal legal wrangles have been holding things up. Now a couple of philanthropists have given the University of Southern California $25 million to build a stem cell center.

Federal law authorizes states to do what they want with stem cell research (you can read all about the NIH’s position on this issue in their FAQs here)–unless it decides to issue a ban on what they decide.

So with this separation of powers, we have states that pass laws and then have to engage in battles with specific groups of citizens and legislators about whether they can use embryonic stem cells in addition to adult stem cells. This battle is being waged along the fine line between legislating “morality” and hampering American scientists and researchers–I say hampering and not stopping because, in fact, they can do research with embryonic stem cells if they go to a non-federally funded laboratory to do the work. And of course they have to invest a bunch of time studying the minute fine points of how stem cell funding must be applied for and used.

Almost makes it look like lip service that we’re objecting to using embryonic stem cells. And the fact that legal, legitimate in vitro fertilization labs are already freezing and eventually discarding lots of unused embryos also makes writing all these convoluted regulations seem a bit like creating a tempest in a teacup…and possibly even a less-than-ideal use of taxpayer dollars.

But oh, well. How often do people agree on anything anyway? Each person wants to defend his position against the “other” –and so it goes.

Sorry for the protracted failure to post. Been doing the overworked-entrepreneur-cum-road-warrior thing lately…

Following the latest trend toward non-invasive tests and procedures, Mayo Clinic researchers made an exciting discovery, albeit with a small test population. They found that a simple “aortic pulse wave velocity test” was able to detect stiffness in arterial veins “after adjusting for age, male sex, total cholesterol, HDL, diabetes, history of smoking, systolic blood pressure, body mass index, and use of hypertension and statin medications.”

Whew. They sure eliminated a lot of variables there.

As our knowledge expands and our technology grows ever wiser and kinder, it may be that our hearts will have more room for recognizing the spiritual/emotional aspects of illness–and discover that they are often the first line of defense against the germs and viruses that make us sick.

If you haven’t seen the movie “What the Bleep Do We Know?” yet, set aside an hour and a half. It’s an eye-opener. And check out this book, Molecules of Emotion, by Candace Pert, one of the participants in the movie. You’ll love her description of her discovery that emotions actually reside physically within our bodies (riding around on items called neuropeptides).

I have long been a believer in the power of my inner wisdom to guide me. In fact, in the book I co-authored with Brian Tracy and other thought leaders, I suggest that to know the deepest reasons for being in your business, you do a simple meditation exercise and when possible, perform it before you go to sleep at night.

Now a group of Dutch scientists has put together an experiment proving that people tend to make better decisions about complex matters after “sleeping on it” than they do after spending hours trying to evaluate every factor.

From Einstein to quantum physics, from solving a ponderous life problem like “should I get married to this person?” to coming up with the right opening for a scientific white paper (as I often do after I’ve slept on it), our subconscious is a great power that’s completely at our disposal if we only learn to access it.

I wrote the eulogies for both my mother and my father when I awoke on the day of their funerals. How could I ever divine the right things to say about them by thinking about it? There was too much water, flowing too fast, beneath those bridges. But when I trusted it to my subconscious mind, the words that came were full of truth and tempered by a deep and benevolent understanding.

It’s nice to know science is putting together hard data to prove that we don’t need to rely on outside sources to learn the truths that will make our lives better.

I hate when that happens, don’t you? When somebody runs a study–a huge, long-term, well-funded study–that makes a liar out of me for what I’ve been telling people for years?

Apparently, such a study (with nearly 50,000 subject, 8 years in the making) concluded recently has definitively determined that low-fat diets are not protective against heart disease or several cancers. This reminds me of the time my dad was told he could no longer eat eggs for breakfast after his open-heart surgery–and oh, what cruel and unusual punishment that was for this burly, hard-working, oatmeal’n’eggs’n’bacon-lovin’ man…only to be told after 7 long years of suffering and denial that, well, “they” didn’t think maybe cholesterol was all that they had been making it out to be.

You know, the same thing happened to dad with the Catholic Church. He lost his faith for a while after they announced that doing something that had been condemning people to hell for centuries–eating meat on Friday–was no longer a mortal sin. “Make a fool out of a man,” he said.

So, hey, just take what your doctors tell you with a grain of salt. We may find lots of other things that seem unnatural (how do you like eating your meals with absolutely no fat?) aren’t really all that beneficial for you either.

Nobody wants to talk about what we’re going to do to handle the massive influx of 60-somethings hitting the economy these days. On one hand, many of these boomers are still contributing significant amounts of intellectual capital to the workplace and money to the economy. And because most of these “seasoned citizens” are healthier, they’re like to be able to go on doing that well beyond the magical old retirement numbers of 62 and 65.

President Bush acknowledges government programs will reel under the tidal wave of boomers. Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid will stagger under the weight of claims for which there is no money.

The U.S. comptroller says it’s gonna take a miracle– that we’ve got to look at “overhauling the country’s non-system of health care, revising tax policies, shoring up pensions and designing strategies to boost savings for retirement.”

Given the dynamic energies here and the race among states to attract and finance the bioscience community, wouldn’t it be nice if its members would set an example for the rest of the business community? Bio-executives could use their massive collective brainpower to envision steps that private companies can take–design innovative programs to boost employee savings and encourage the same tough-love independence in employees that they themselves showed to get their companies up and running.

What about a special retirement savings account into which the boss could put a small bonus each time an employee did an exceptionally good job? The key is to make the solutions win-win-win–for the company, the employee, and the straining economy.

People have been saying this for years, but we are daily gaining more scientific evidence to back it up. Here’s a University of Maryland School of Medicine study that shows—ta-da–laughter helps blood vessels function better.

Seems the endothelium (lining of the blood vessels that helps maintain their tone, regulates blood flow, controls thickening and helps heal wounds) expands when you laugh. Stress does the opposite. In fact, the study concluded that laughter has approximately the same effect on your system as aerobic activity!

So instead of worrying that your employees are wasting time, let ’em keep those email jokes comin’, folks.

Blood vessels grow progressively more rigid with diabetes–often leading to severe consequences including heart disease, stroke, blindness and kidney failure. Now researchers have found that adding nitric oxide gas to the cells restores some flexibility.

Amazing to think that a simple thing like stiffness can wreak such havoc on so many of your body systems when it occurs in your blood vessels. What a blessing this discovery may prove for those who must battle relentlessly to keep ahead of this disease that so often demands drastic lifestyle changes.

Just look at the number of graphical images (803 Internet pagesful!)that show up in a simple search for statistics on the pervasiveness and growing incidence of diabetes. And none too soon, researchers have gotten preliminary approval for the use of insulin delivered by inhaler–a vast improvement over current intrusive and painful injection methods.

Not a bad number–and some private companies don’t even talk about how much money their financing efforts garner.

“Based on reported financings, Minnesota, Ohio and Missouri are top-ranked in the Midwest, with respective totals of $151 million, $86 million, and $80 million invested. Those states were followed by Michigan ($53 million), Wisconsin ($39 million), Illinois ($39 million), Indiana ($23 million), and Kentucky ($19 million). In addition, Western Pennsylvania attracted $58 million in financing. In Iowa, Kansas, and West Virginia, no health care sector investments were reported.”

And now, one of the classic competitor city pairs, Cleveland (the Browns) and Pittsburgh (the Steelers), are actually starting to be referred to as a “tech belt” of sorts. According to BioEnterprise, the nonprofit group dedicated to furthering Ohio as a bioscience center, their 2-hour distance from each other and their solid performance in attracting health care companies qualifies them as a small corridor.

With the unending discoveries and the vast potential of modern scientific endeavors, just as with Silicon Valley and technology, we’ll likely see no end in sight for growth in these industries.

A small study has indicated that fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) can detect differences in brain physiology long before people at risk come down with Alzheimer’s. The study looked at genetic factors to see who was at risk, and then it used fMRI to identify multiple areas of the brain that differed in people with high-risk factors.

The mere fact of knowing that we can identify prospective sufferers way ahead of time should automatically steer scientists into researching more-preventive approaches–finding, for example, agents that can be used in medications to protect neurological systems. As with all things, when we open one door, the light comes in and we can see many more doors to open.

You know, I hate it when I lose a whole big long post. Sigh. Ah, well, here’s another shot:

Bariatric surgery–especially among young people (especially women)–rose sevenfold from 1996 to 2002. More insurance companies are covering it (so far, if you live through it, it’s the most successful intervention available to prevent the multiple problems associated with obesity), and hospitals make a fortune on it ($2 billion in 2002 alone). And then there’s the plastic surgery that many want afterwards…

The lines between ethics and income get blurrier with every increase in the number of patients who seek potentially dangerous surgery rather than choose healthier lifestyles–and considering it’s mostly women who seek surgical solutions, this option further reinforces our society’s already unrealistic demands for female thinness without regard to health consequences.

But good news. An NIH-funded consortium is studying the the causes of and potential treatments for obesity. One study is examining “the impact of restrictive (laparoscopic banding) versus malabsorptive (gastric bypass or biliopancreatic diversion) surgical procedures on hormones presumed to affect appetite may provide insights leading to new, non-surgical obesity treatments that mimic the appetite-suppressive effects of surgery.” [emphasis mine]

It’ll be great if scientists can find these treatments soon–many diabetes sufferers will be able to experience greater control of their critical blood sugar levels. But I’m also glad that we’re taking steps to deal with the fundamental causes of increases in obesity among a larger percentage of Americans (and Canadians, too)–high levels of fat, sugar and corn syrup (glucose syrup) in practically everything we buy in the store–and, oh, yeah…

…not enough exercise. Look at these recommendations for activity from the U.S. government in 2005.

• That 30-minutes-most-days of moderate-intensity physical activity–that’s just to reduce the risk of chronic disease.
• To have any effect at all on weight and prevent gradual gain, they say you need 60 minutes of moderate- to vigorous-intensity activity on most days of the week (oh, and you can’t eat too many calories).
• Get ready now. To sustain weight loss in adulthood you’ve go to do 60 to 90 minutes of daily moderate-intensity physical activity .

Okay, I don’t know about you, but I’ve got to rethink my gym schedule. Let’s see, an hour and a half a day to exercise, an hour to shower and do the hair, an hour to reset up… Gosh. Our next goal is going to have to be getting the American workweek down–by several hours at least.