Lonza, a life sciences company located in Maryland, has created an infographic that clearly and simply illustrates a simple history of stem cell research. The graphic allows researchers to pinpoint areas their work is focused on and helps them more easily differentiate it from work being done elsewhere.
The Genetic Engineering and BioTechnology News website says the graphic illustrates a system approach that allows researchers to better control variables involved (between kits, media, cell batches). The hope is it will help them make sure data from their studies is accurate and reproducible.
English: DNA replication or DNA synthesis is the process of copying a double-stranded DNA molecule. This process is paramount to all life as we know it. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
All the headlines are shouting: “Cancer due to bad luck!” after a recent Science magazine article proclaimed that lifestyle and environmental factors may account for only about one-third of cancers. The study cited states that two-thirds of all cancers are likely caused by random mutations during DNA replication in normal, non-cancerous cells.
Does this surprise anyone, really? To me it simply reinforces the idea that science is continually demonstrating the reality of such random events – “misfortune” the name we give the hated surprise and “miracle” the name for the lucky one (e.g., spontaneous remission).
The definition of miracle that’s most apt for this situation reads: “a highly improbable or extraordinary event, development, or accomplishment that brings very welcome consequences.”
The definition of misfortune, on the other hand, is basically “bad luck.” The events are equally random. The main difference is in how we react to them – sadness, fear and anger versus joy and relief. As science delves ever deeper into the mysteries of the universe – the impossible “miracles” of quantum physics and the impenetrable mysteries of black holes – it discovers whole new sets of seemingly inexplicable rules of order.
A favorite axiom of mine: Whereas science for a couple of centuries was all-powerful in disproving so-called naive religious beliefs, it is now the vehicle by which we continue to unearth, and be baffled by, a growing pool of phenomena that look suspiciously like some of those mysteries religion’s been talking about for centuries.
Body mass index (BMI) values (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
They discovered a while ago that patients who were obese before they were diagnosed with heart failure tended to live significantly longer than patients who were just overweight or of normal weight. You know how many doctors automatically tell you to lose weight, no matter what condition you’re dealing with? Accordingly they’ve named this the “obesity paradox.” And now another study has solidly confirmed this apparent contradiction in regard to heart failure. The conclusion is so sure that at this point some researchers are even suggesting they ought to start considering how to identify an ideal BMI and potentially begin suggesting to patients ways to maintain that BMI.
Just imagine. Doctors telling you to gain weight and advising you what to eat to keep the weight on. Almost inconceivable. But hey, don’t most people – with many exceptions of course – start putting on significant weight when they hit a certain age? Most baby boomers will be nodding their heads vigorously at this point.
Makes me wonder if Nature doesn’t know something we don’t know about weight in older people – or something we simply haven’t been willing to consider before.
We’ve known for some time that pluripotent stem cells can become almost any type of cell in the human body. Working with these cells means scientists can experiment with drugs and study diseases on real human cells that are not attached to a real human being. They can learn so much without ever endangering or harming a person. These amazing cells are also responsible for the growing field of regenerative medicine in which researchers look for ways to restore lost or damaged organs and tissues.
Now scientists have discovered a new type of stem cell they have created in the lab from mouse cells and can engineer into any type of stem cell they want. They’re called F type (can you believe it? – they call them “F” because these cells tend to hang out in “fuzzy” colonies). It will take a lot more money and research to see what they can accomplish with the F type, but this points the way to the potential for discovering other classes of stem cells.
Almost limitless. That’s what stem cell research begins now to look like in earnest.
One of the toughest challenges to meeting the many exciting goals scientists have set is getting stem cells to grow into precisely the types of cells needed for the particular illness or condition. Now a researcher has discovered a way to do just that and is waiting for a patent to be granted.
This Rutgers professor Ki-Bum Lee and colleagues at Rutgers and Kyoto University in Japan have invented a platform they call NanoScript. It represents a breakthrough in the area of gene expression. The way genes express themselves encodes information in a gene specifically to direct how a protein molecule gets assembled. That process is integral to developing tissue through stem cell therapeutics. Stem cells divide and replenish other cells, serving as an almost unlimited internal repair system.
Anything we can do to speed human knowledge along this extraordinary and exciting pathway to better healing and health is very welcome. Let’s hope – as often happens when a patent is involved – they don’t charge too much of an arm and a leg to get to the end-products.
Well, I’m glad to read about this recent study saying sun exposure may play a role in preventing obesity and diabetes. They used mice, and those little guys are covered with fur and don’t spend a lot of time in the sun. But in many ways their bodies operate a lot like ours, so the study conclusions can reasonably be expected to apply to humans in some way. But a lot more study is needed to confirm the theory behind this experiment.
The mice were given a high-fat diet to trigger the beginnings of diabetes and obesity. One set of mice got vitamin D supplements, and the other set got a cream with nitric oxide rubbed on them. The vitamin D group did get fat and start developing diabetes, while the nitric oxide group did not.
Moderate sun exposure gives us a dose of good vitamin D, so maybe the sudden shortages of vitamin D everyone is having may be related to the no-sun policy. And vitamin D is also apparently not the only thing the sun does for us. It also gives us extra nitric oxide. By complying with the stern warnings about no sun, we might be denying ourselves – and our kids – the very real benefits of sunshine.
A little sun is good for you? Yep. Like that babies generally love sleeping on their stomachs – and aren’t meant to grow up with flat heads from sleeping on their backs all the time – this one just makes sense. I hope they’ll replicate these results soon and people can start throwing away those 35+ level sunscreens.
Have you had one? Worse yet, two or more colonoscopies? Although most doctors will put you out for the procedure itself, the test carries its own risks – anesthesia reaction, bleeding from biopsy, perforation of the colon. And the preliminary cleansing ritual is a test of one’s capacity to endure the humiliation of deliberating imbibing nasty-tasting substances for the express purpose of irritating your stomach and bowels.
Now a new DNA test can detect potential colorectal cancers earlier than fecal occult tests alone – and I hope that with negative results, perhaps make some colonoscopies unnecessary. Called the Cologuard test, it detects hemoglobin and mutant DNA in cells sloughed into stool by cancers and adenomatous polyps. The test is so well-thought-of that it achieved a first: approved by the FDA and proposed as a test to be covered by Medicare on the same day.
“…DNA test detected 92% of colon cancers and 42% of advanced adenomas, as compared with 74% and 24% for FIT. The fecal occult blood test did have a higher specificity, correctly ruling out colon lesions 95% of the time versus 87% for the DNA test.
“The CMS proposal calls for coverage of the DNA test once every 3 years for beneficiaries who meet specific criteria: ages 50 to 85, asymptomatic (including negative FIT or guaiac fecal occult blood test), and average risk of colorectal cancer.”
Talk to your doctor about whether this test might be useful for you.
A 70-year-old Japanese woman with a debilitating eye disease (macular degeneration) has just received the first implant of stem cells created from her own cells. Called induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), these can become any type of cell in the body, obviating the moral debate about embryonic stem cells and promising to help the body just as effectively to regenerate tissue – without fear of rejection.
This pilot study that will be done with six patients and include regular monitoring for a year after each procedure. Safety testing for rejection and possible tumor formation was conducted with mice and monkeys before the human pilot.
At last, a decisive step in breaking the stem cell research field wide open.
Even though the HPV vaccine is said to be extremely effective, almost 40% of young women who start the three-dose inoculation program never complete the series, according to results published in the journal Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics (HV&I).
The study found that minority backgrounds, low income, and low education were associated with non-completion. Why? A team of researchers, led by Dr. Abbey Berenson from the University of Texas Medical Branch, studied the possible reasons using data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), a cross-sectional telephone health survey conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Based on data from 2008-2010, about 25% of the 2,700 respondents, who ranged in age from 18-26, initiated HPV vaccination. While being poor, less-educated and non-white were strong negative influences, a predictor for higher vaccine series completion was whether the woman had had a routine medical check-up during the previous year.
HPV vaccine is said to be a highly effective vaccines, and one of only two vaccines (along with hepatitis B) that have been shown to prevent an infection that can result in cancer, as well as morbidity and mortality. HPV vaccines Cervarix (types 16 and 18) and Gardasil (types 6, 11, 16 and 18) are recommended for girls 11-12 years of age and may be given from age 9-26. Some evidence says they are effective in protecting against precancerous lesions and genital warts and are even effective for men.
The hope is that knowing why the vaccine series is not being completed will help health authorities address the issues and increase the rate of completed vaccinations. And this study’s findings may have applicability for many other preventive health measures.
