Genetic Testing, Personalized Medicine, Stem Cell

Stem cells injected into the brain of a stroke patient in world first
Researchers hope the brain stem cells will stimulate the growth of new neurons and reduce inflammation caused by the stroke
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/nov/16/stem-cells-injected-brain-stroke


The stem cells will release chemicals that may help heal brain damage resulting from the stroke. Photograph: Bbs United/Getty Images

Doctors have injected stem cells into a man's brain as part of the world's first clinical trial of the cells in stroke patients.

The former truck driver, who is in his 60s, was severely disabled by a stroke 18 months ago and requires continuous care from his wife.

Doctors injected around two million cells into a healthy region of his brain called the putamen, close to where neurons were damaged by the stroke. They hope the injected cells will release chemicals that stimulate new brain cells and blood vessels to grow, while healing scar tissue and reducing inflammation.

what company made that?

Kazakhstan's president urges scientists to find the elixir of life

Cleopatra may have bathed in asses' milk to preserve her youth but Nursultan Nazarbayev, the autocratic president of Kazakhstan, wants nothing less than an elixir of life to keep him going.

Not satisfied with 19 years in charge of the gas-rich central Asian state, Nazarbayev urged scientists today to unlock the secret to immortality.

The 70-year-old leader stressed in a speech that a new scientific research institute in the capital Astana should study "rejuvenation of the organism," as well as "the human genome, production of human tissue and creation of gene-based medicines".

In an aside to students, Nazarbayev added: "As for the medicine of the future, people of my age are really hoping all of this will happen as soon as possible."

Two months ago an ethnic Korean delegate at Kazakhstan's people's assembly proposed that Nazarbayev should stay in power until 2020. The president answered: "Maybe, then, you'll offer me an elixir of youth and energy – maybe you have such potions in Korea … I'm willing to go on until 2020, just find me an elixir."

Today was the third time in just over a year that Nazarbayev has urged scientists to find a way to stave off death.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/07/kazakhstan-president-scientists-research-ageing

sign me up...

posting that story, crazy shit

Watson Graduates From Game Contestant to Physician Assistant

Fresh from a super-sized "Jeopardy" victory where it looked suspiciously like President Obama's ubiquitous teleprompter, IBM (NYSE: IBM) supercomputer Watson is about to become Dr. Watson, M.D. assistant.

A joint venture will combine IBM's question-answering, language-processing, and machine-learning capabilities with Nuance Healthcare's speech-recognition and clinical-language understanding solutions to assist physicians in patient diagnosis and treatment, the two companies announced Thursday.

snip
"Next generation" electronic medical records and computer diagnostic tools ushering in a "new era of computer assisted personalized medicine" represent the Watson project's greatest potential, said Eliot Siegel, M.D., Director of the Maryland Imaging Research Technologies Laboratory at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.

"The implications of Watson indeed go far beyond a popular television show, and the consequences for the future are extraordinary," said Darren Hayes, who chairs the Pace University Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems computer information systems program.

"Healthcare and medicine will definitely benefit," Hayes told TechNewsWorld. "Intelligent systems will one day be able to accurately provide diagnoses based upon symptoms, medical tests, medical history, family history and reference journals."


snip
"There's a tremendous amount of medical information for physicians to search, process and sort, and Watson provides a powerful way to do all that automatically," he said.

"Watson has the potential to help doctors reduce the time needed to evaluate and determine the correct diagnosis for a patient," noted Herbert Chase, M.D., professor of clinical medicine at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/Watson-Graduates-From-Game-Contestant-to-Physician-Assistant-71888.html

A computer will be diagnosing our health. I wonder who is doing the programming? SCARY

a computer is..

Monsanto seeks investments in life sciences

Monsanto Co, the world's largest seed company, said Thursday it was pursuing investments into life sciences companies to stay on the edge of new technologies that could be applied to agriculture.

St. Louis-based Monsanto said it was collaborating with venture capital firm Atlas Venture, for a multiyear deal in which Atlas will identify strategic investments in "early-stage" life sciences companies whose technology could be applied to agriculture.

Continued innovation for agriculture is "critical," said Steve Padgette, Monsanto's research and development investment strategy lead.

"Our collaboration with Atlas will provide a great opportunity for us to get an early look at promising new technologies that could potentially be introduced into our biotechnology, breeding and agronomic practices work to drive yields even further," he said in a statement.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/14/us-monsanto-idUSTRE73D40U20110414

I trust these guys about as far as I could throw them

i agree..

Vatican Stem Cell Conference Gets Thin Coverage


This past week’s international stem cell conference held at the Vatican offered a lot of hope for adult stem cell therapies.

snip
Judging from the Catholic Press in the U.S., the Vatican seems to be more interested in showing the world it is not “against” science than the actual merits of the different types of stem cell research itself.

Our Sunday Visitor correspondent Brian Fraga interviewed Smith. Her enthusiasm for the promise of adult stem cell therapies and induced pluripotent stem cells (adult cells that have been reprogrammed into stem cells) was evident.

“We want to create the road map of the future of adult stem cell research. We want to lay the groundwork of a collaboration between the patrons and the scientists to advance research and reduce human suffering. This is a five-year partnership between NeoStem and the Vatican. We want to be able to educate society’s understanding of what an adult stem cell is and what its promises are by supporting scientific research in accord with ethical values.

The long- and short-term initiatives around this partnership is that they can also help Church leaders, politicians and educators to understand this cultural paradigm shift, regenerative medicine, that is arising in medicine. We hope that we can get not just Church leaders, but also ministers of health and the scientific community to work together to advance the research and transfer stem-cell therapies safely from the laboratory to the clinic.

Vatican Insider provided its own over-dramatic take (with boldface):

“The “regenerative medicine” that promises to rebuild organs damaged by illness or by age, is one of the most advanced frontiers in medical research today. But it presents huge ethical dilemmas because the stems are obtained from human embryos at the price of destroying them.

For Pope Ratzinger, who today gave an audience for the participants of the Conference, (the result of the partnership between the Pontifical Council for Culture and the American pharmaceutical company NeoStem), those who justify these actions with the possibility of saving human lives and curing illnesses that are currently incurable commit “the grave mistake of denying the inalienable right to life of every human being, from the moment of conception to their natural death.”

But Arthur Caplan, who also spoke at the conference, was not as persuaded in his assessment at MSNBC. He was particularly critical of claims of any “paradigm shift” in stem cell research.

“While some top-tier science was presented at the conference, there was too much time given to claims of cure that had little to support them but patient testimonials, small studies with no long-term follow-up, and, to be blunt, some science that has nothing but the backing of a single very optimistic scientist looking to attract a grant or an investor.

This sounds harsh, but I think Caplan raises a good point: embryonic stem cell research needs to be discussed more broadly, even by institutions or groups that have ethical questions about it.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/johnfarrell/2011/11/15/vatican-stem-cell-conference-gets-thin-coverage/

the Vatican is the last group I would trust with stem cell research. No thanks. I bet Stem cell research is on the USCCB agenda.

i follow a stock involved in this called mesoblast..