stem cells offer the potential for development of new therapies for a wide range of diseases and injuries.?

Question

do you agree?

Answer 1

Absolutely. Promising results with stem cell treatments are published more and more often. For example, sight was recently restored in a blind mouse.

Answer 2

hell yea! if there is a problem, and a possible cure, then surely it must be looked into allowing. Definatley. 1 in 4 people have carry the gene for cystic fibrosis. Although, it is a recessive gene, if 2 people came together who had the gene, then the liklihood of them having a child with the disease is high. Stem cell research could help provide a cure. People who are disabled from being paralysed could have their life completely changed by stem cells injected, to renew nerves. If the quality of life of a person can be enhanced then surely the technology should be made available?

Answer 3

Yes, but there is also the potential for malignancies. A stem cell gone wrong makes the ideal tumor cell.


eg ....According to this hypothesis, on post-pubertal exposure to an initiating factor, such as a carcinogen, high levels of hormones and radiation, the mammary epithelial targets, perhaps stem cells, in terminal end buds/terminal ductal lobular units would be at an increased risk of malignant transformation.
....

Answer 4

Medical science has known for years that the human body produces it's own stem cells when you give it the right nutrients.

With this discovery it is known world wide that the right nutrients helps the body heal itself from virtually All disease.

MIT says this new discovery will change the world of health care.

Answer 5

Stem cell therapy after getting over the teething troubles is going to revolutionise medical practice.

Answer 6

An emphattic YES! Check out the site below. There are many good things happening with 'stem cell research'...

example;

By Julie Marks, Ivanhoe Health Correspondent

CHICAGO (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- They're always a hot topic of discussion in medicine and politics. Stem cells hold the promise of helping the body repair itself. Now, researchers at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2006 in Chicago are reporting on three breakthrough ways to use a patient's own stem cells to help repair heart damage.

Amniotic Stem Cells

Swiss researchers say they've grown the first-ever "living" heart valves using stem cells that were harvested from amniotic fluid in an unborn child.

Simon Hoerstrup, M.D., Ph.D., from the University Hospital in Zurich, Switzerland, says amniotic fluid appears to be a rich source of stem cells that can be used in prenatal prefabrication of heart valves with the ability to grow and function as healthy valves once a child is born. He and colleagues "seeded" tiny heart valve scaffolds and watched them grow into functioning valves that may one day be used to replace defective ones in newborns.

This technique offers a possible way of "growing" replacement valves in infants with congenital valve defects. In his presentation, Dr. Hoerstrup said about 1 percent of infants are born with these defects. He concluded, "This potential therapy may open a whole new treatment option in congenital heart valve disease."

Fat Stem Cells

It may sound odd, but researchers are experimenting with isolating and growing stem cells from fat.

Paul J. DiMuzio, M.D., from Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, says one problem with using stem cells from bone marrow or blood is that the amount of cells decreases as the patient ages. That's why he and his colleagues wanted to know if the same would happen if cells were taken from fat.

The researchers studied 49 heart disease patients. They extracted about 15 grams of fat by performing liposuction on the patients' abdominal walls.

They found as patients got older, there was no significant difference in the number of stem cells found in the fat. Patients with diabetes, however, had decreased amounts of stem cells in their fat.

Dr. DiMuzio says the stem cell isolation was equally fruitful in patients older than 70 as it was for younger patients. He concluded, "This study suggests that fat may be a viable source of stem cells for use in patients with cardiovascular disease."

Human and Animal Stem Cells

Discovering a source of "universal donor" stem cells that would not trigger immune rejection is, perhaps, the Holy Grail of stem cell research. Now, Canadian scientists may have found such a source.

Ray C .J. Chiu, M.D., Ph.D., from McGill University Health Center and colleagues infused human bone marrow stromal stem cells into rats with induced heart attacks. They found the stem cells appeared to be uniquely immune tolerant in both laboratory cell cultures and cross-species transplant experiments. The stem cells survived in the rats without triggering an immune response, which would indicate rejection.

Within eight weeks, the animals experienced significant improvements in heart function. Researchers say this study suggests stromal stem cells might serve as "universal donor" cells for heart repairs in humans.

http://stemcells.nih.gov/ check it out!

Frank C