Category Archives: Stem Cell Therapy

28-02-2012 12:11 Joyce Evans shows us a type of therapy that some athletes swear by. Using stem cells to heal sports and tissue related injuries. Fox 29, WTXF Reports.

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Stem Cell Therapy With Wraps - Video

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LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's Nuffield Council on Bioethics, which examines ethical issues raised by new developments in biology and medicine, launched a consultation on Thursday on the ethics of new technologies and devices that intervene in the human brain.

The three main areas of the group's focus are brain-computer interfaces, neurostimulation and neural stem cell therapy.

Here are some details about each area of research and how it is being explored.

* Brain computer interfaces (BCIs)

BCIs measure and analyze a person's brain signals and convert them into an output such as movement.

A paralyzed person, for example, could use a BCI to operate a wheelchair, or someone who has extreme difficulty speaking could use a BCI to communicate via a computer voice.

These sorts of applications have been shown to be successful in a few reported cases, but the technology has not yet been developed for regular clinical use and there are questions over whether these technologies are reliable enough for use in everyday life.

Military applications, such as remote control of vehicles and machinery are not yet in wide use but are being researched and tested, mainly in the United States.

Some commercial BCI developments are already on the market in the gaming sector. Gamers can buy a wireless headset that aims to replace a joystick by controlling game play through brain signals.

The use of BCIs sometimes require surgery to implant electrodes into a person's brain, although the most successful current developments are less invasive ones That detect brain signals from the scalp.

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Factbox: Neurotechnologies in spotlight of UK ethics review

Research on preventing breast cancer recurrence, using organ regeneration to combat obesity-related diseases, and enabling vascular repair for patients suffering from cardiovascular disease has received awards at the ongoing Qatar International Conference on Stem Cell Science and Policy 2012. The award ceremony hosted by Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development at Qatar National Convention Centre recognised two professional researchers and one student researcher for excellence in stem cell research, with the research exhibited through poster presentations during the conference. Leaders from QF and top figures in the stem cell science and ethics field congratulated the award recipients. Dr Abdelali Haoudi, vice president for research at QF, said: We are truly impressed with the research presented this year in poster presentations, as well as in the oral presentations and panel discussions taking place throughout the conference. He added: Through this conference, we hope to drive further exploration in this field that will lead to even greater progress in applying stem cell science to prevent and treat diseases afflicting communities both in Qatar and around the world. The three posters were selected for recognition by a review committee, comprised of academics, researchers and scientists, including Nobel Laureates and international experts. Pegah Ghiabi, a researcher at the Stem Cell & Microenvironment Laboratory at Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar, received an award for her poster presentation on research into therapy to inhibit the cancer stem cell population to prevent the recurrence of breast cancer. Research by Lara Bou-Khzam of the McGill University Health Centre Research Institute in Montreal, Canada, also received recognition. The poster focused on her stem cell research towards vascular repair for patients suffering from cardiovascular disease, one of the worlds leading causes of mortality. The final award was presented to Dr Heba al-Siddiqui for her research at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute on preventing chronic obesity-related diseases through tissue engineering and organ regeneration. Dr al-Siddiqui is a trainee in the Qatar Science Leadership Programme, a QF initiative aimed at equipping rising Qatari generations for leading roles in the countrys scientific and research endeavours. The Qatar International Conference on Stem Cell Science and Policy, organised through a partnership between QF and the James A. Baker III Institute of Public Policy at Rice University, will conclude today. The four-day conference, which featured expert panels and presentations on the latest opportunities and challenges in stem cell research, was attended by top figures in the fields of science, ethics and policy of stem cell research from across the Middle East region and around the world.

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QF honours stem cell researchers

DEERFIELD, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Baxter International Inc. (NYSE:BAX - News) announced today that it has initiated a phase III pivotal clinical trial to evaluate the efficacy and safety of adult autologous (an individuals own) CD34+ stem cells to increase exercise capacity in patients with chronic myocardial ischemia (CMI).

Chronic myocardial ischemia (CMI) is one of the most severe forms of coronary artery disease, causing significant long-term damage to the heart muscle and disability to the patient. It is often diagnosed based on symptoms of severe, refractory angina, which is severe chest discomfort that does not respond to conventional medical management or surgical interventions.

The prospect of using a persons own adult stem cells to restore and repair blood flow in CMI is a very exciting concept based on a biological regenerative approach, said Norbert Riedel, Ph.D., Baxters chief science and innovation officer. The goals of this phase III trial are aligned with Baxters overall mission to develop life-saving and life-sustaining therapies and it will help us determine if the therapy can make a meaningful difference for CMI patients.

The trial will enroll approximately 450 patients across 50 clinical sites in the United States, who will be randomized to one of three arms: treatment with their own autologous CD34+ stem cells, treatment with placebo (control), or unblinded standard of care. The primary objective is to evaluate the efficacy of treatment with CD34+ stem cells to improve the functional capacity of patients with CMI, as measured by a change in total exercise capacity at 12 months following treatment. Secondary objectives include reduced frequency of angina episodes at 12 months after treatment and the safety of targeted delivery of the cells.

After stem cell mobilization, apheresis (collecting the cells from the body) and cell processing, participants will receive CD34+ stem cells or placebo in a single treatment via 10 intramyocardial injections into targeted areas of the heart tissue. Efficacy will be measured by a change in total exercise capacity during the first year following treatment and safety data will be collected for two years. Stem cell processing will be conducted in GMP facilities in the United States by Progenitor Cell Therapy (PCT), a subsidiary of NeoStem, Inc. To learn more or enroll, visit http://www.renewstudy.com or http://www.clinicaltrials.gov.

This trial is being initiated based on the phase II data, which indicated that injections of patients own CD34+ stem cells may improve exercise capacity and reduce reports of angina episodes in patients with chronic, severe refractory angina.

The phase II trial provided evidence that this strategy, leveraging the bodys own natural repair mechanisms, can improve exercise capacity and reduce chest pain, the first time these endpoints have been achieved in a population of patients who have exhausted conventional treatment options, said Douglas Losordo, MD, vice president of new therapeutic development at Baxter.

CD34+ cells, which are blood-forming stem cells derived from bone marrow, are comprised of endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs), which develop into new blood vessels. Previous preclinical studies investigating these cells have shown an increase in capillary density and improved cardiac function in models of myocardial ischemia.

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Baxter Initiates Phase III Adult Stem Cell Clinical Trial for Chronic Cardiac Condition

Celltex hosts the largest stem-cell bank in the United States.

TYLER RUDICK

With Texas pouring millions of dollars into developing adult stem-cell treatments, doctors there are already injecting paying customers with unproven preparations, supplied by an ambitious new company.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not approved any such stem-cell treatment for routine clinical use, although it does sanction them for patients enrolled in registered clinical trials. Some advocates of the treatments argue, however, that preparations based on a patient's own cells should not be classed as drugs, and should not therefore fall under the FDA's jurisdiction.

There are certainly plenty of people eager to have the treatments. Texas governor Rick Perry, for instance, has had stem-cell injections to treat a back complaint1, and has supported legislation to help create banks to store patients' harvested stem cells.

One company that has benefited from this buoyant climate is Celltex Therapeutics, which multiplies and banks stem cells derived from people's abdominal fat, according to chairman and chief executive David Eller. Its facility in Sugar Land, just outside Houston, opened in December 2011 and houses the largest stem-cell bank in the United States.

Celltex was founded by Eller and Stanley Jones, the orthopaedic surgeon who performed Perry's procedure, and it uses technology licensed from RNL Bio in Seoul. Because clinical use of adult-stem-cell treatments are illegal in South Korea, RNL has since 2006 sent more than 10,000 patients to clinics in Japan and China to receive injections.

Celltex says that although it processes and banks cells, it does not carry out stem-cell injections. It declined to answer Nature's questions about whether its cells have been used in patients. But there is evidence that the company is involved in the clinical use of the cells on US soil, which the FDA has viewed as illegal in other cases.

In addition to the publicity surrounding Perry's treatment, a woman named Debbie Bertrand has been blogging about her experiences during a five-injection treatment with cells prepared at Celltex. Her blog (http://debbiebertrand.blogspot.com) hosts photographs of herself alongside Jones; Jennifer Novak, a Celltex nurse; Jeong Chan Ra, chief executive of RNL Bio; and her doctor, Jamshid Lotfi, a neurologist who works for the United Neurology clinic in Houston. Another photo is captioned: My cells are being processed in here for my next infusion!!! A third shows Bertrand, Lotfi and a physician called Matthew Daneshmand, who is, according to the caption, injecting Bertrand's stem cells into an intravenous drip, ready for the infusion. Nature has been unable to contact Bertrand.

Lotfi says that he has administered cells processed by Celltex to more than 20 people. Five or six including Bertrand have multiple sclerosis and four or five have Parkinson's disease, he says. Lotfi explains that patients sign up for treatment by contacting Novak, and that cells are prepared by removing about five grams of fat containing roughly 100,000 mesenchymal stem cells from the patient's abdomen. Over a three-week period, the cells are cultured until they reach about 800 million cells. Lotfi says that patients get at least three injections of 200 million cells each, and that the cells do not take effect for a few months. According to Lotfi, Celltex charges US$7,000 per 200 million cells, and pays Lotfi $500 per injection.

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Stem-cell therapy takes off in Texas