Stem Cell Therapy: Dr. Roberta Shapiro - A NY Physician #39;s Path to Panama
Special Guest Speaker, Roberta F. Shapiro DO, FAAPM R speaks about: A New York Doctor #39;s Path to Panama at the Stem Cell Institute #39;s Stem Cell Therapy Publi...
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Stem Cell Therapy: Dr. Roberta Shapiro - A NY Physician's Path to Panama - Video
Buddy the beagle can walk again
Buddy the beagle wasn #39;t able to walk when he first arrived at the University of Minnesota Veterinary Medical Center. With the help of U of M veterinarians and staff, using stem-cell therapy,...
By: UMN Veterinary Medical Center
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Nov. 23, 2014, 3:05 p.m.
It is hoped that a trial due to start next year, and involving about 20 Australian children with cerebral palsy, will show the benefits of using stem cells from their own umbilical cord blood to treat the condition.
About 20 Australian children with cerebral palsy will be infused with their own umbilical cord blood in a trial due to start next year, as physicians warn families against travelling overseas for experimental stem cell treatments.
The long-awaited Australian trial will provide some of the world's first evidence about the safety and effectiveness of using stem cells from umbilical cord blood to repair brain injury that leads to cerebral palsy.
Researchers are waiting on ethics approval for the trial which will provide treatment to families who have chosen to store their child's cord blood at private banks.
In some cases, children with cerebral palsy will be able to receive a sibling's cord blood if this is available.
Cerebral Palsy Alliance head of research Iona Novak said the study, led by the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, will recruit children from around Australia who have access to privately banked cord blood.
Children aged one to 10 will receive infusions at private blood banks in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, and will be assessed before and after the treatment to check for improvements.
Researchers will be unable to access cord blood from a public bank, which collects blood to treat blood disorders such as leukaemia and cannot be used for untested new therapies.
Associate Professor Novak said the trial was an important first step towards establishing whether stem cells could help repair the brain injury that leads to cerebral palsy, a series of disabilities associated with movement and posture.
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Stem cell trial to begin for children suffering from cerebral palsy
AVON LAKE, OH (WOIO) - When Shannon Goulding's bloodhound Butler tore a ligament in his knee his entire personality changed.
"He was sedentary, and he wasn't as active as before," said Goulding.
Dr. Petti a veterinarianat the Avon Lake Animal Clinic told Goulding, who also works at the clinic, suggested that stem cell therapy could help.
"Watching him walk he looked stiff and uncomfortable," said Petti.
The therapy was successful. Goulding said after four weeks after the surgery she could see a change the way Butler moved.
Stem cell therapy helps animals suffering from sore knees and joints by using their own fat cells.
"You take them from the patient, you process them, make them active, and then you re inject them into the parts of the animal that are giving them problems," said Petti.
Petti said Avon Lake Animal Clinic has helped about 15 animals with stem cell therapy and people from all over the country have been calling.
One injection of stem cells can last up to three years, and after that a second injection may be needed.
Stem cell therapy is also an expensive procedure. It ranges from $2,000-2,500, but for Goulding she says seeing Butler run free without pain is worth it.
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Researchers of CEU Cardenal Herrera University (CEU-UCH) for the first time transplanted bone marrow stem cells into damaged brain tissue while applying lipoic acid (a potent antioxidant), with the aim of improving neuroregeneration in the tissue. This new way of repairing brain damage, which combines cellular treatment with drug therapy, has shown positive results, especially in forming blood vessels (a process called angiogenesis) in damaged areas of the brains of adult laboratory mice. Angiogenesis is a process that is essential to the recovery of damaged neural tissues. The investigation was led by Jos Miguel Soria Lpez, deputy director of the Institute of Biomedical Sciences at CEU-UCH, and its results were published in the international medical journal Brain Injury.
Professor Soria, who is affiliated to the Department of Biomedical Sciences at CEU-UCH, heads the investigative group 'Strategies in Neuroprotection and Neuroreparation', which carried out the investigation in cooperation with the Andalusian Molecular Biology and Regenerative Medicine Centre (CABIMER), located in Sevilla, and the Mediterranean Ophthalmological Foundation, located in Valencia. The research team used the experience they obtained from their previous investigations on the neuroregenerative efficiency of lipoic acid to develop a new remediation strategy for patients of brain damage. This new therapy combines the transplantation of bone marrow stem cells into the brain -- in this case, the brains of adult rats -- with the administration of the potent antioxidant lipoic acid.
Lipoic acid is already used in the treatment of degenerative diseases such as multiple sclerosis or diabetic neuropathy. Professor Soria concluded from previous researches he conducted at CEU-UCH that it has the ability to increase the creation of blood vessels, which speeds up cerebral immune response after an injury and stimulates the restoration of damaged tissues. Several other researches, for their part, proved that after brain damage stem cell therapies using a patient's own bone marrow induce functional improvements. The two therapies -- one cellular; the other one pharmacological -- were both applied in this research so as to evaluate their combined effect.
New blood vessels
Angiogenesis -- the process that forms new blood vessels -- in the treated neuronal tissue began only eight days after the application of this new, combined therapy. CEU-UCH professor Soria says that "although bone marrow stem cells disappear from the brain tissue where they were transplanted after only 16 days, new cells keep forming. To put it another way, brain tissue is regenerated by new cells that appear in the brain as a result of stem cell transplantation. This proves the regenerative efficiency of the new combined therapy."
The research also shows how the blood vessels that formed after the treatment grow into the damaged area of the brain. "They act as a kind of scaffolding to that area that allows microglia cells to migrate," professor Soria says. "In the damaged area, they contribute to regeneration." He adds that "the application of both treatments results into high angiogenic activity, which is crucial for an efficient recovery of the damaged brain area." According to Soria, "the laboratory mice that recovered fastest from brain injuries were those that had a higher density of regenerated blood vessels."
Taking into consideration brain damage is, especially among children and adolescents, one of the leading causes of disability and death in the developed world, the good results that were obtained from the combination of the two therapies make the research team very hopeful. "Combining an antioxidant such as lipoic acid with bone marrow stem cells has proven to be an effective remedy," Soria observes. The team plans to conduct future research into similar combined therapies.
The image above shows the transplant of bone marrow stem cells from transgenic mice under the effects of cerebral cortex after suffering local brain damage. Also visible is a neuroprotective drug therapy.
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Brain injuries in mice treated using bone marrow stem cells, antioxidants
Elite Emage Stem Cell Therapy
Elite Emage Stem Cell Therapy.
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Kilian Before After Stemlogix Stem Cell Therapy
dog with arthritis treated with autologous stem cells.
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Low back, neck, hip, shoulder, and knee arthritis 7 months after stem cell therapy by Adelson
Spence describes his outcome from his "full-body make-over" by Harry Adelson, N.D.. Seven months ago, Spence had his own bone marrow stem cells injected into his low back, neck, hips, shoulders,...
By: Harry Adelson, N.D.
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PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:
19-Nov-2014
Contact: Lauren Woods lauren.woods@mountsinai.org 646-634-0869 The Mount Sinai Hospital / Mount Sinai School of Medicine @mountsinainyc
Delivering stem cell factor directly into damaged heart muscle after a heart attack may help repair and regenerate injured tissue, according to a study led by researchers from Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai presented November 18 at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions 2014 in Chicago, IL.
"Our discoveries offer insight into the power of stem cells to regenerate damaged muscle after a heart attack," says lead study author Kenneth Fish, PhD, Director of the Cardiology Laboratory for Translational Research, Cardiovascular Research Center, Mount Sinai Heart, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.
In the study, Mount Sinai researchers administered stem cell factor (SCF) by gene transfer shortly after inducing heart attacks in pre-clinical models directly into damaged heart tissue to test its regenerative repair response. A novel SCF gene transfer delivery system induced the recruitment and expansion of adult c-Kit positive (cKit+) cardiac stem cells to injury sites that reversed heart attack damage. In addition, the gene therapy improved cardiac function, decreased heart muscle cell death, increased regeneration of heart tissue blood vessels, and reduced the formation of heart tissue scarring.
"It is clear that the expression of the stem cell factor gene results in the generation of specific signals to neighboring cells in the damaged heart resulting in improved outcomes at the molecular, cellular, and organ level," says Roger J. Hajjar, MD, senior study author and Director of the Cardiovascular Research Center at Mount Sinai. "Thus, while still in the early stages of investigation, there is evidence that recruiting this small group of stem cells to the heart could be the basis of novel therapies for halting the clinical deterioration in patients with advanced heart failure."
cKit+ cells are a critical cardiac cytokine, or protein receptor, that bond to stem cell factors. They naturally increase after myocardial infarction and through cell proliferation are involved in cardiac repair.
According to researchers there has been a need for the development of interventional strategies for cardiomyopathy and preventing its progression to heart failure. Heart disease is the number one cause of death in the United States, with cardiomyopathy or an enlarged heart from heart attack or poor blood supply due to clogged arteries being the most common causes of the condition. In addition, cardiomyopathy causes a loss of cardiomyocyte cells that control heartbeat, and changes in heart shape, which lead to the heart's decreased pumping efficiency.
"Our study shows our SCF gene transfer strategy can mobilize a promising adult stem cell type to the damaged region of the heart to improve cardiac pumping function and reduce myocardial infarction sizes resulting in improved cardiac performance and potentially increase long-term survival and improve quality of life in patients at risk of progressing to heart failure," says Dr. Fish.
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Delivering stem cells into heart muscle may enhance cardiac repair and reverse injury
Last year Vicki Pegalow, Buffalo, received bad news that she needed to have her left knee replaced. Having experienced total knee replacement of her right knee 14 years earlier, she was distressed about the anticipated surgery and the road to recovery she would be facing.
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By: Adam Feuerstein | 11/18/14 - 10:16 AM EST
Inject a cocktail of undifferentiated stem cellsinto a patient who has suffered a heart attack, and days or even weekslater, the stem cells transform into cardiac cells and rebuild the damaged heart muscle. Months later, the patient has a "new" healthy heart.It's a great story. But so far, the proof remains elusive though not for a lack of trying.
The latest company to fulfill this ambitious scenario is NeoStem (NBS) which presented disappointing (but not surprising) results from a small study of its proprietary cardiac stem-cell therapy NBS10 at the American Heart Association annual meeting Monday. NeoStem tried to put some positive spin on the bad news but shares are down 25% to $5.10.
NBS10, formerly known as AMR-001, is an autologous stem-cell therapy derived from a patient's own bone marrow. When injected back into patients following a heart attack, the stem cells are supposed torestore blood flow, rebuild damaged cardiac muscle and improve function.
Except in NeoStem's study, NBS10 fell short on two primary endpoints designed to assess the therapy's efficacy. The study used non-invasive imaging to assess blood flow through the heart, six months after a single infusion of NBS10 or a placebo. There was no difference between NBS and placebo, NeoStem said.
The study's other co-primary efficacy endpoint was a measurement of adverse cardiac "MACE" events --defined as cardiovascular death, a repeatheart attack, heart failure hospitalization and coronary revascularization. To date, 17% of patientstreated with NBS10 have suffered a MACE event compared to 19% of patients in the placebo arm -- a difference which was not statistically significant.
NeoStem said NBS10 therapy was safe relative to placebo and that no patients treated with the stem cells have died compared to three deaths in the placebo patients. But with only one year of follow up on a small number of patients, any claims about a mortality benefit are clinically meaningless.
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NeoStem's Stem Cell Therapy Fails Mid-Stage Heart Attack Study
Researchers at the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute have found that injections of cardiac stem cells might help reverse heart damage caused by Duchenne muscular dystrophy, potentially resulting in a longer life expectancy for patients with the chronic muscle-wasting disease.
The study results were presented today at a Breaking Basic Science presentation during the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions in Chicago. After laboratory mice with Duchenne muscular dystrophy were infused with cardiac stem cells, the mice showed steady, marked improvement in heart function and increased exercise capacity.
Duchenne muscular dystrophy, which affects 1 in 3,600 boys, is a neuromuscular disease caused by a shortage of a protein called dystrophin, leading to progressive muscle weakness. Most Duchenne patients lose their ability to walk by age 12. Average life expectancy is about 25. The cause of death often is heart failure because the dystrophin deficiency leads to cardiomyopathy, a weakness of the heart muscle that makes the heart less able to pump blood and maintain a regular rhythm.
"Most research into treatments for Duchenne muscular dystrophy patients has focused on the skeletal muscle aspects of the disease, but more often than not, the cause of death has been the heart failure that affects Duchenne patients," said Eduardo Marbn, MD, PhD, director of the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute and study leader. "Currently, there is no treatment to address the loss of functional heart muscle in these patients."
During the past five years, the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute has become a world leader in studying the use of stem cells to regenerate heart muscle in patients who have had heart attacks. In 2009, Marbn and his team completed the world's first procedure in which a patient's own heart tissue was used to grow specialized heart stem cells. The specialized cells were then injected back into the patient's heart in an effort to repair and regrow healthy muscle in a heart that had been injured by a heart attack. Results, published in The Lancet in 2012, showed that one year after receiving the experimental stem cell treatment, heart attack patients demonstrated a significant reduction in the size of the scar left on the heart muscle.
Earlier this year, Heart Institute researchers began a new study, called ALLSTAR, in which heart attack patients are being infused with allogeneic stem cells, which are derived from donor-quality hearts.
Recently, the Heart Institute opened the nation's first Regenerative Medicine Clinic, designed to match heart and vascular disease patients with appropriate stem cell clinical trials being conducted at Cedars-Sinai and other institutions.
"We are committed to thoroughly investigating whether stem cells could repair heart damage caused by Duchenne muscular dystrophy," Marbn said.
In the study, 78 lab mice were injected with cardiac stem cells. Over the next three months, the lab mice demonstrated improved pumping ability and exercise capacity in addition to a reduction in heart inflammation. The researchers also discovered that the stem cells work indirectly, by secreting tiny fat droplets called exosomes. The exosomes, when purified and administered alone, reproduce the key benefits of the cardiac stem cells.
Marbn said the procedure could be ready for testing in human clinical studies as soon as next year. The process to grow cardiac-derived stem cells was developed by Marbn when he was on the faculty of Johns Hopkins University. Johns Hopkins has filed for a patent on that intellectual property and has licensed it to Capricor, a company in which Cedars-Sinai and Marbn have a financial interest. Capricor is providing funds for the ALLSTAR clinical trial at Cedars-Sinai.
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Cardiac stem cell therapy may heal heart damage caused by Duchenne muscular dystrophy
NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares ofNeoStem (NBS) plummeted 25.52% to $5.05 in late morning trading Tuesdayafter the biotech company announced poor results from a trial of its proprietary cardiac stem-cell therapy NBS10.
NBS10, which used to be called AMR-001, missed two primary endpoints in the study to test the therapy's efficacy.The stem-cell therapy comesfrom a patient's own bone marrow and is injected into patients after a heart attack. The stem cells are then supposed to help blood flow and build cardiac muscle.
NeoStem's trial used non-invasive imaging to monitor blood flow through the heart six months after a one dose of NBS10 or a placebo. The study showed no difference between NBS and placebo, NeoStem said.
Must Read:NeoStem's Stem Cell Therapy Fails Mid-Stage Heart Attack Study
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NeoStem (NBS) Stock Plummets Today on Disappointing Cardiac Stem-Cell Therapy Data
Stem Cell Therapy for Labrador Retriever with Ruptured Tendon
Marc Smith DVM of Natchez Trace Veterinary Services and Pet-Tao Pet Foods explains how he utilizes VetraGenics Stem Cell Therapy to regenerate tissue and heal the tendon.
By: Marc Smith
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Stem Cell Therapy for Labrador Retriever with Ruptured Tendon - Video
A large-scale trial conducted in India has shown that stem cell therapy does not work in stroke patientsREUTERS
A study conducted on 120 patients in India has shown that stem cell treatment is not effective in treating paralysis resulting from a stroke.
The research which is thefirst large-scale study conducted in Indiacompared outcomes in those treated with stem cells to others and found no difference, reports Down to Earth.
While 60 patients with some form of disability of limbs caused by a stroke were given conventional treatment, an equal number received bone marrow stem cells in addition. All had experienced a stroke 3-4 weeks before the trial.
"We found that at the end of the first month, patients with stem cells showed more improvement compared to the control group. But at the end of the third month and one year, there was no difference," said Kameshwar Prasad, head, Department of Neurology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), who led the study.
On an average 280 million bone marrow cells were injected, of which blood forming stem cells were around 2.9 million per patient.
The average age of patients in the study was around 50.
The study, published in the current issue of American journal Stroke, was conducted at AIIMS in New Delhi and four other hospitals covering four cities.
The study comes when many others have been suggesting that stem cells could help treat paralysis in stroke patients. The earlier study was done on a small number of patients as compared to the AIIMs study.
More research needs to be done, before stem cells are used in therapy as in India, many private clinics are openly offering stem cell treatment for various diseases.
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Stem Cells Treatment Not Useful In Stroke Patients Finds Indian Study
Beverly Hills, California (PRWEB) November 17, 2014
Veteran television and movie actor Darius McCrary has received a revolutionary stem cell procedure for his painful knee and ankle. The regenerative medicine procedure with stem cells was performed by Dr. Raj, a top orthopedic doctor in Beverly Hills and Los Angeles.
Darius McCrary is well known for his decade long stint on Family Matters as character Eddie Winslow. He won a Best Young Actor Award for this role along with movie roles in both Mississippi Burning and Big Shots. Currently, Darius appears along with Charlie Sheen in the show Anger Management.
While staying in tip top shape for his career, Darius has developed persistent pain in his right knee and ankle. Rather than seek a regular cortisone injection for pain relief or opt for surgery, he desired the ability to repair the joint damage and achieve pain relief. "I couldn't imagine being immobilized because of injury, so I opted for a stem cell procedure."
The procedures were performed by Dr. Raj, who is a prominent Beverly Hills orthopedic doctor with extensive experience in regenerative medicine. The procedure consisted of a combination of platelet rich plasma therapy along with amniotic derived stem cell therapy. Anecdotal studies are showing that the stem cell procedures for extremity joints allow patients to achieve pain relief and often avoid the need for potentially risky surgery.
Dr. Raj has performed over 100 stem cell procedures for patients who have degenerative arthritis or sports injuries. "Patients do extremely well with the procedures. Minimal risk and there's a huge potential upside!"
With an active acting career, Darius McCrary cannot afford to be distracted with chronic pain. "I'm looking forward to getting back in the gym and going hard without this pain," he stated excitedly. The procedure was filmed and can be seen on Dr. Raj's Facebook page.
To discuss stem cell procedures at Beverly Hills Orthopedic Institute and how they can benefit, call (310) 247-0466.
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Lumbar Disc Stem Cell Therapy Request for Funding
By: Connor Malander
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Why Stem Cells Aren #39;t Being Tested in the US
Stem cell treatment is restricted in the United States, and we discuss the reasons the FDA has been so restrictive about the game-changing research and thera...
By: TheLipTV
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Dr Saw Khay Yong Stem Cell Therapy for the Musculoskeletal System
By: Admin KLSMC
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Dr Saw Khay Yong Stem Cell Therapy for the Musculoskeletal System - Video
4 hours ago
New research in flies shows how cells in adult reproductive organs maintain their sexual identity. The study, publishing online on November 13 in the Cell Press journal Developmental Cell, also identified a mutation that can switch the cells' sexual identity. The findings could lead to new insights on how to alter cells for therapeutic purposes.
Sperm and eggs are made from germ cells, but instructions from their neighboring support cellscalled somatic cellsare also essential for their development. By studying the formation of sperm in fruit flies, which is remarkably similar to the process that occurs in people, investigators serendipitously found a mutation that gave testes a very unusual appearance. "Rather than becoming sperm, germ cells were stuck at an early stage, and they were surrounded by support cells that looked suspiciously like those belonging in an ovary," says senior author Dr. Erika Matunis of The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Her research team found that the mutation blocked the function of a specific gene in the stem cells that becomes support cells in the testis, causing the fruit flies to change from a male to a female identity.
The research is the first to show that adult stem cells actively maintain their sexual identity. The mutation the investigators found causes the stem cells in males to switch their sexual identities and start making support cells that belong in the ovary. This ultimately derails the production of sperm. "The molecules that govern this process are highly conserved, which suggests that similar mechanisms could operate in human testes," says Matunis.
The changes seen in this study are an example of transdifferentiation, or the conversion from one cell type to another. The topic is of considerable interest because promoting transdifferentiation in a directed manner may be useful for regenerating damaged organs or tissues. Doing so will require a thorough understanding of how cell fate conversions are regulated. "We are excited to have a powerful genetic system for studying transdifferentiation of stem cells at the mechanistic level," says Matunis. The research might also provide insights into how cells transform from a normal state to a cancerous one.
Explore further: Surprise: Lost stem cells naturally replaced by non-stem cells, fly research suggests
More information: Developmental Cell, Ma et al.: "The Jak-STAT target Chinmo prevents sex transformation of adult stem cells in the Drosophila testis niche" http://www.cell.com/developmental-cel 1534-5807(14)00628-5
Journal reference: Developmental Cell
Provided by Cell Press
Johns Hopkins researchers have discovered an unexpected phenomenon in the organs that produce sperm in fruit flies: When a certain kind of stem cell is killed off experimentally, another group of non-stem cells can come out ...
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