HEART DISEASE AND STEM CELL TREATMENTS NOW!

THERE IS NOW NO EXCUSE FOR YOU TO NOT KNOW ABOUT THE HEALING POWER OF ADULT STEM CELLS!  NOW, EVEN READER’S DIGEST KNOWS THAT STEM CELLS CAN BECOME HEART CELLS AND FIX DAMAGED HEART TISSUE.

• SURE THIS ARTICLE IGNORES MULTIPLE STUDIES GOING BACK TO EARLY 2000 http://repairstemcell.wordpress.com/heart-disease-treatment/
• SURE THIS ARTICLE IGNORES THE THOUSANDS OF CONGESTIVE HEART FAILURE PATIENTS WHO HAVE BEEN SUCCESSFULLY TREATED WITH STEM CELLS
• BUT THEY GET IT, THEY KNOW IT’S REAL AND THEY ARE PUBLICIZING IT IN READER’S DIGEST!

 

For more information about stem cell treatments available now for heart disease, email me at dsgrano@gmail.com or click anywhere on the red text.

For more information and to educate yourself on the available Stem Cell treatments for heart disease and the scientific data proving their safety, efficacy, benefits and success.

1. TREATMENT of HEART DISEASE with STEM CELLS: EDUCATIONAL OVERVIEW
2. REPAIR STEM CELLS vs. HEART DISEASE – UNDENIABLE SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE
3. HEART DISEASE CLINICAL STUDIES – A BRIEF HISTORY
4. WHAT IS YOUR NEXT STEP?

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New hope for old friends

A Tauranga company is offering veterinary clinics a process for stem-cell treatment that improves healing and brightens – even lengthens – the lives of dogs, cats and horses.

The groundbreaking treatment is being applied to osteoarthritis, and ligament and tendon injuries affecting racehorses.

Stemvet New Zealand, established in September 2009, is committed to providing veterinarians with the knowledge and products to make stem-cell therapy an everyday treatment.

It also wants to put New Zealand veterinarians at the forefront of developments in regenerative medicine.

“The treatment certainly relieves pain and slows the ageing process,” said Stemvet co-owner Gil Sinclair.

“The degree of improvement varies with each patient. But in most cases there’s dramatic improvement in the animal’s mobility and wellbeing.”

Dr Sinclair, a veterinarian who has four in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) laboratories in New Zealand and Australia, has been involved with animal reproduction for nearly 30 years. He has recently worked with researchers in Sydney on the development of stem-cell extraction technology and its application in veterinary clinics.

His enthusiastic business partner, Kerry Hitchcock, talks about a dog suffering from osteoarthritis that was “a doormat at home”.

The dog had an intravenous dose of stem cells and its condition improved. In a short time it was bouncing around.

Mr Hitchcock said an inquisitive neighbour asked the dog’s owner what had happened to the dog. “The neighbour was amazed in the change to the dog,” said Mr Hitchcock.

Early cases treated so far have been dogs – between 8 and 14 years – severely affected with osteoarthritis, and young racehorses that have suffered tendon injuries or have osteoarthritis.

Fat tissue containing dormant adult stem cells is taken from the rump of horses and from under the skin of dogs, and from other animals behind their ribs.

Each gram of fat can contain anything from 4.5 million to 28 million stem cells. The fat is digested in a water bath at 37C, then spun in a centrifuge, and the stem cells filtered out.

A platelet concentrate – containing natural stem-cell activators – is extracted from a blood sample. The platelet and other solutions are mixed with the “fat-extracted” stem-cell concentrate to activate the stem cells.

The mixture is then exposed to a photobiostimulator which provides extra activation. The whole process takes three and a half hours.

The now active adult stem cells are reintroduced to the same animal, mostly by direct injection into the affected joints or tissues. Some are administered intravenously and find their way through the blood system to the inflamed area.

“We are talking about adult stem cells that can be guided into promoting health,” said Dr Sinclair. “There is a huge concentration of them in the body but they are non-functional. By taking fat out of the animals and extracting the stem cells and activating them we can improve the healing process.”

Stemvet has become the exclusive New Zealand distributor for Australian-based MediVet stem-cell therapy products and equipment, which includes the water bath, centrifuge, photobiostimulator and extraction kit.

The package, including equipment and kit, costs $15,000 and in the past month six veterinary clinics, in Christchurch, Blenheim, Wellington, Tauranga, Hamilton and Auckland, have signed up. Stemvet provides training, free of charge. Pet owners are charged about $2500 for the treatment – cheaper than the $4000 quoted by an overseas competitor.

Umbilical cord stem cells accelerate diabetic wound healing

Umbilical cord stem cells accelerate diabetic wound healing

Korean scientists have found that transplanting human umbilical cord blood-derived endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) ‘significantly accelerate’ wound closure in diabetic mouse models.

Diabetes is often associated with impaired wound healing, according to study’s corresponding author, Wonhee Suh of the CHA University Stem Cell Institute.

“EPCs are involved in revascularization of injured tissue and tissue repair,” said Suh.

“Wounds associated with diabetes that resist healing are also associated with decreased peripheral blood flow and often resist current therapies.

“Normal wounds, without underlying pathological defects heal readily, but the healing deficiency of diabetic wounds can be attributed to a number of factors, including decreased production of growth factors and reduced revascularization,” he said.

For the study, the researchers transplanted EPCs into an experimental group of mice modeled with diabetes-associated wounds, but did not transplant EPCs into a control group.

They found that the EPCs “prompted wound healing and increased neovascularization” in the experimental group.

“The transplantation of EPCs derived from human umbilical blood cells accelerated wound closure in diabetic mice from the earliest point,” said Suh.

The researchers found that growth factors and cytokines (small proteins secreted by specific cells of the immune system) were “massively produced” at the wounded skin sites and contributed to the healing process.

The study has been published in the current issue of Cell Transplantation. (ANI)

Little Lucas’s stem-cell hope

LUCAS Garland has spent more time in hospital than most.

The three-year-old from Morayfield spent the first 116 days of his life in intensive care.

Born at just 25 weeks and weighing just 910g, his mother Louisa and father Nathan were told their newborn son was not expected to live.

UNCONDITIONAL: Louisa Garland has organised a fundraiser for son Lucas, 3.

Picture: RUSSELL BROW

“We have a picture just after he was born and he was slightly larger than my hand,’’  Mrs Garland said.

After defying the odds to survive, Lucas was diagnosed with spastic quadriplegia cerebral palsy in August 2009.

Being born premature, Lucas’s developmental age is estimated at 12 months.

He has only just started to crawl, and is still unable to communicate through speech with his family.

“He has his own way of letting us know what he wants but we can see him getting frustrated sometimes when he isn’t able to communicate with us,’’  Mrs Garland said.

But despite the numerous setbacks in his short life, the Garland family has begun a journey to try and give Lucas a chance at a normal life.

The Quest for Lucas aims to raise $35,000 for the Garland family to travel to Europe for Lucas to undergo stem cell therapy.

“We would hope that the therapy could improve his balance and walking, allow him to speak clearly and reduce spasticity,’’  Mrs Garland said. “There would be no better feeling than to finally see Lucas mobile.

“It would mean a lot to us … we prefer him to be able to do things physically for himself. It will get to a point that we can no longer move him.’‘

The first event in the Quest for Lucas will be a fashion show held this Friday at the Strathpine Community Centre.

“It’s a very exciting time for us to see it starting to come together,’’  Mrs Garland said.

Stem Cells To The Rescue!

This procedure has been carried out for half a decade, safely and effectively, all over the world.  Is it any wonder the World Health Organization ranks the USA at 37countries below the top health care country in the world.  We need to catch up NOW! – dg

COLUMBUS, Ohio — For first time in the United States, one man’s heart has been saved by his own stem cells.

It’s an amazing medical breakthrough. The science behind the technique made it possible for a man to literally save his own life through his stem cells.

John Christy is the first person in the U.S. to have his own bone marrow stem cells injected into his heart to save his heart.

“All you’re doing is giving back to yourself something you already have,” said Christy

A Vietnam veteran was suffering from severe coronary artery disease.

“I was just thinking, ‘You’re getting old, you’re just tiring out and getting weary bones.’ I felt tingling. My legs had been swelling a little bit,” said Christy.

In one procedure, cardiothoracic surgeon Joseph Woo at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine is taking science from bench to bedside. After five years of research in animals, he is now retrieving stem cells from Christy’s bone marrow and using them to grow blood vessels around the heart.

“They form brand new micro blood vessels and deliver blood flow to the heart muscle,” said Woo.

He has started the first U.S. trial where stem cells are harvested during surgery, prepped and then re-inserted back into the patient’s own heart.

Results for Christy were seen almost immediately.

“I noticed two days after my surgery, I had much more ‘umph,’” said Christy.

It’s the same process that saved 76-year-old Christina McDonald, only it wasn’t arteries in her heart that were damaged. McDonald’s problem was in her legs.

“Sort of like a charley-horse where the muscles stiffen up,” said McDonald.

The arteries in her leg were clogged with plaque, putting her at risk for heart attack, stroke and amputation. Traditionally, doctors treat it with stents, angioplasties or bypasses. But now they’re using stem cells.

“We basically take stem cells from their hips to help grow blood vessels. It creates new, smaller blood vessels that give blood supply to the limb,” said Dr. Randall Franz, a vascular surgeon at Grant Medical Center.

It worked for McDonald. Three months later, her pain is gone.

The same goes for Christy. His only wish is that science was working faster. He lost his wife to heart disease one year ago.

“I wish that she could have had this,” said Christy.

A similar procedure is being done in Europe. The difference is Woo does his in one short surgery.

In Europe, it takes at least two procedures, weeks apart.

Woo says any patient who is a candidate for coronary bypass surgery is a good candidate for his stem-cell transplant.

Stem Cells To The Rescue! — Research Summary

CONGESTIVE HEART FAILURE: Congestive heart failure occurs when the heart’s ability to efficiently pump is impaired by a destruction or dysfunction of its muscle cells. The condition is a major health problem, affecting 4.8 million people — a figure that is rapidly growing as 400,000 new patients arise each year. A common cause of this condition is a heart attack, which strikes over a million people in the U.S. annually. Although many surgical, medical and technological methods exist to help treat patients with congestive heart failure, over half of the patients die within five years of their primary diagnosis. (SOURCE: stemcells.nih.gov)

STEM CELL POTENTIAL: Restoring the functionality of hearts damaged by congestive heart failure and heart attacks is one of the most challenging tasks doctors and surgeons face. Now, research has provided hope that adult and embryonic stem cells have the potential to replace the heart’s damaged muscle cells, as well as create blood vessels to route a steady supply of blood to them. To do this, heart muscle cells, such as the cardiomyocyte, which serve to push blood out of the ventricle, must be developed in order to improve blood flow and the transportation of oxygen and nutrients.

If extremely specific growth conditions are achieved in labs, then it is possible to leverage stem cells to develop new heart muscle cells. To test this concept, researchers forced a heart attack in lab rats and mice by attaching a ligature around a key blood vessel of their hearts in order to restrict the flow of nutrients and oxygen. Next, they tested the efficacy of a specific group of adult primitive bone marrow cells by injecting them directly into the damaged ventricle. To the researchers’ satisfaction, new cardiomyocytes, among other crucial heart muscle cells, began to form, leading the way for the development of a brand new system of coronary arteries, arterioles and capillaries. When compared to the control mice that also suffered heart attacks, but did not receive a stem cell treatment, the treated mice were found to be much more likely to survive. Research has shown high hopes that similar effects will blossom from human embryonic stem cells. Since embryonic cells can be coaxed into developing into any type of adult body cell, researchers hope to leverage them to take on the properties of cardiomyocytes and other cells. Embryonic cells aren’t the only solution, however. Under the right conditions, human hematopoietic stem cells are also able to transform into desired tissue types such as cardiac muscle. (SOURCE: stemcells.nih.gov)

A STEM CELL FIRST: Y. Joseph Woo, M.D., a cardiothoracic surgeon at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine performed a first-of-its-kind procedure in the United States. He took stem cells from a patient’s bone marrow (known as endothelial progenitor stem cells) and injected them into his heart during coronary artery bypass graft surgery. The patient felt relief almost immediately. A similar procedure is being done in Europe, but doctors there retrieve the cells while the patient is awake, which can be painful.

STEM CELLS TO HYPERSONIC VEHICLES

Stem cells to hypersonic vehicles: Four young scientists win presidential award

The “early career” researchers will receive up to five years of funding from the federal government to pursue important research.

BY SUSAN YOUNG

Four Stanford researchers, one each from Biology, Mechanical Engineering, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and the School of Medicine, have won a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers.

The winners are Dominique Bergmann, assistant professor of biology; Gianluca Iaccarino, assistant professor of mechanical engineering; Jacob Wacker, theoretical physicist at SLAC; and Joseph Wu, associate professor of medicine and radiology.

The award is the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on outstanding scientists and engineers in the early stages of their research careers. The winners will receive research grants to pursue their research for up to five more years.

The four Stanford recipients are looking for answers in a variety of areas:

ominque Bergmann

Bergmann studies cells of the diminutive Arabidopsis plant to understand the general rules of stem cell behavior, including how the cells balance the need for constant division without becoming cancerous. Stem cells can divide for nearly 1,000 years in some long-lived plants, and yet plants, unlike animals, don’t develop cancer. Bergmann looks at the generation of stomata, the microscopic pores on the surface of plants that allow for gas exchange, as a model for stem cells.

When a mother cell divides into two, the resulting daughter cells can sometimes differ in size and function, a process called asymmetric division. Both plants and animals use asymmetric divisions to maintain stem-cell populations. Bergmann uses the asymmetric division pattern of stomata cells to identify genes that regulate these uneven divisions.

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Gianluca Iaccarino

Iaccarino‘s work focuses on computer simulation of the complex physics of “air-breathing hypersonic vehicles” – wickedly fast jet airplanes that fly several times the speed of sound. His work contributes to the understanding of turbulent flow and margins of uncertainty.

Hypersonic vehicles are envisioned as a means for reliable low-cost access to space. Their design depends on complex physics and the interactions between all of their components. The simulation capabilities of today’s state-of-the-art computing can not reliably predict the outcome of a design; the answers will require a radically new integrated approach. The Department of Energy will fund his research.

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Jacob Wacker

Wacker, an assistant professor of particle physics and astrophysics, seeks to explain physics beyond the Standard Model, a set of laws governing the known particles and forces in the universe.

His research, funded by the Department of Energy, includes probing the existence of exotic particles and combing through data to validate or refute theories about the nature and origin of dark matter – a mysterious, invisible substance thought to make up nearly 80 percent of all the matter in the universe.

He also works closely with experimental physicists, offering new theories to be tested and providing theoretical explanations for the hiccups sometimes seen in experimental data sets.

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Joseph Wu

Wu studies how embryonic and adult stem cells survive, proliferate and transform into other cell types. Wu approaches his research with an eye toward clinical treatment and is investigating the potential of stem cells to form tumors or be rejected by the immune system. He also works on techniques that can turn developed cells, like skin cells, into induced pluripotent stem cells without depending on possibly dangerous viruses, a risky feature of early methods.

Additionally, Wu is exploring ways to safely and effectively deliver genes to improve damaged heart cells. His grant is from the National Institutes of Health.

“These gifted young scientists and engineers represent the best in our country,” said Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, a former Stanford researcher. “The awards recognize ingenuity, dedication, diligence and talent.”

Susan Young is a science-writing intern at the Stanford News Service.

Stem cell transplants help kidney damage

“Transplanting autologous renal progenitor cells (RPCs), (kidney stem cells derived from self-donors), into rat models with kidney damage from pyelonephritis – a type of urinary infection that has reached the kidney – has been found to improve kidney structure and function.”

Stem cell transplants help kidney damage

Tampa, Fla. (Feb. 14, 2011) – Transplanting autologous renal progenitor cells (RPCs), (kidney stem cells derived from self-donors), into rat models with kidney damage from pyelonephritis – a type of urinary infection that has reached the kidney – has been found to improve kidney structure and function.

The study, authored by a research team from the Tehran University of Medical Sciences, is published in the current issue of Cell Medicine [1(3)] and is freely available on-line at: http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/cog/cm .

“Advancements in stem cell therapies and tissue engineering hold great promise for regenerative nephrology,” said Dr. Abdol-Mohammad Kajbafzadeh, corresponding author. “Our RPC transplant study demonstrated benefits for pyelonephritis, a disease characterized by severe inflammation, renal function impairment and eventual scarring, and which remains a major cause of end-stage-renal disease worldwide.”

The researchers divided 27 rats into three groups, two of which were modeled with an induced pyelonephritis in their right kidneys, while the third group did not have induced disease. RPCs were obtained from the diseased animals’ left kidneys and injected into the right kidney six weeks later. Two weeks after injection, tubular atrophy was reduced. After four weeks, fibrosis was reduced and after sixty days, right renal tissue integrity was “significantly improved.”

“We propose that kidney augmentation was mainly due to functional tissue regeneration following cellular transplantation,” said Dr. Kajbafzadeh. “Kidney-specific stem/progenitor cells might be the most appropriate candidates for transplantation because of their inherent organ-specific differentiation and their capacity to modulate tissue remodeling in chronic nephropathies.”

The researchers concluded that because renal fibrosis is a common and ultimate pathway leading to end-stage renal disease, amelioration of fibrosis might be of major clinical relevance.

“Transplanting RPCs showed the potential for partial augmentation of kidney structure and function in pyelonephritis,” said Dr. Kajbafzadeh. “This is one of the first studies to demonstrate improved renal function after cell transplantation. The translation of this study into larger clinical models will be very relevant to validate the success of this small animal study.” said Dr. Amit Patel, Section Editor Cell Medicine, Associate Professor of Surgery, University of Utah.

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Citation. Kajbafzadeh, A-M.; Elmi, A.; Talab, S. S.; Sadeghi, Z.; Emami, H.; Sotoudeh, M. Autografting of Renal Progenitor Cells Ameliorates Kidney Damage in Experimental Model of Pyelonephritis. Cell Med. 1(3): 115-122; 2010.

Stem cell transplants help kidney damage

Palos Hills Veterinarian Tries New Treatment For Her Dog

A Palos Hills vet leaned on a colleague for an innovative treatment for her own dog.

By Cristel Mohrman

Credit Cristel Mohrman
As a veterinarian, Leslie Dahl knows the obstacles that aging pets can face. And as a pet owner, she has watched her own dog battle the stairs with arthritic hips.  But if all goes as planned, her dog will soon be walking pain-free. Doodle, a German shepherd, became a guinea pig, so to speak, as the first animal in Illinois to undergo a one-day, in-clinic stem cell procedure.

Dr. Mitch Robbins conducted the procedure on Friday at Buffalo Grove’s Veterinary Specialty Center, where he removed fat tissue from Doodle’s abdominal area and used the center’s newest technology to inject the dog’s hip joints with her own stem cells.

“The reason that it works is that those cells that we’re removing and processing and stimulating are cells that are normally associated with the healing process and the inflammatory process in the body,” Robbins said. “So they go into the joint, they reduce some of the inflammation in the joint, they improve and reduce pain, they improve range of motion, they improve use of the joint.”

While the Buffalo Grove clinic has performed about 40 such regenerative therapy procedures over the past four years, until now the extracted materials were shipped off-site for preparation, resulting in a more drawn out and expensive process.

Last week, Veterinary Specialty Center adopted new technology from Kentucky-based MediVet-America, which allows medical professionals to complete the entire process in-house over the course of just a few hours.

Katherine Wilkie, MediVet-America’s lab services director, guided Buffalo Grove’s team through the process, which involves using machinery to separate stem cells from the rest of the animal’s tissue and cleaning it so that it can be re-injected.

While professionals received instruction, Doodle, still groggy from the tissue extraction, waited in a nearby cage. By the end of the day, she was picked up by Dahl, who brought her back to their Oak Park home.

Over the next few weeks, she is expected to regain her mobility, which has been hindered by bilateral hip dysplasia and osteoarthritis.

“With the stem cells, we’re hoping that they buy her some quality relief and improve her quality of life,” said Dahl, who is a veterinarian at Southwest Animal Care Center in Palos Hills. “I want her to be able to play and the next day not have any of the post-exercise inflammation that she’s having now.”

Robbins emphasized that stem cell treatment will not cure arthritis,but in most cases the procedure eases his four-legged patients’ discomfort. He said the treatment has benefited about 75 percent of his patients, and two-thirds have no longer needed pain medication.

That is especially important to pet owners like Dahl, whose German shepherd’s sensitive stomach won’t tolerate more traditional treatments. Last spring, she brought Doodle to Veterinary Specialty Center for collagen gel injections that noticeably improved the dog’s condition. When Doodle’s discomfort returned in recent months and Dahl learned that the treatment was no longer available, she jumped at the chance to test out the stem cell process.

“We’re going to do what we can to make sure she’s with us as long as possible,” Dahl said.

Robbins said stem cell therapy is generally effective for about 18 months. Extra cells are collected during the initial extraction and stored for subsequent injections, he said.

“They are never going to cure the arthritis, but they should do a very good job of controlling the pain that Doodle has, allowing her to resume a better, more normal quality of life,” he said.

MediVet-America’s technology was introduced in the U.S. May 2010, and it is now being used in 23 states, Wilkie said, with one or two procedures taking place in the U.S. each day.

Doctors report success rates ranging from 75 percent to 90 percent, Wilkie said.

The procedure costs about $1,800; nearly $1,000 less than the expense of a multiple-day procedure, which involves the costs of sending the tissue to outside labs.

Robbins said he expects to use the new technology to benefit 20 to 50 dogs and cats per year.

Top of Form

Will Rover outlive Grandma?
http://repairstemcell.wordpress.com/2009/03/01/will-rover-outlive-grandma/

The man with a plastic heart

There are four approaches to heart transplant patients:

1. Wait for a donor heart
2. Insert a plastic heart
3. Implant adult stem cells
4. “More radically, Dr Doris Taylor, of the University of Minnesota, has been using stem cells to actually build new hearts in the laboratory. She has achieved this with a rat heart by stripping it of its cells, then re-populating the resulting perfectly heart-shaped scaffold with stem cells, which adapt into heart tissue, so that in time the heart begins to beat again.

“.. the thought would be that we would take a heart, probably from a pig .. wash all the cells out, and then take your cells and grow enough of them to .. build a heart that matches your body and have it transplanted into you. That’s the home run,” says Dr Taylor.

The man with a plastic heart

By Dr Kevin Fong Consultant Anaesthetist, UCL Hospital

The demand for heart transplants cannot keep pace with demand
Heart disease threatens the lives of millions, but with only limited hearts available for transplant, medical science has long yearned for a definitive fix to repair or replace this most vital organ. 

Troy Golden, a pastor from Oklahoma, was born with a heart that would one day break. A genetic condition known as Marfan’s syndrome has been slowly attacking his body tissue since birth including around his heart and valves.

At the age of 41, he had to undergo life-saving surgery, replacing valves and reshaping his heart’s walls. But his condition continued to worsen. In January 2010, he was put on the heart transplant list, but time ran out without a donor.

Troy Golden carries a pump in his backpack for his plastic heart

“Troy’s heart was so bad that a traditional heart pump wouldn’t be enough,” explains Troy’s cardiologist Dr Doug Horstmanshof. “So, we decided to try something different – completely replacing the heart.”

In September last year, Troy became one of the few people in the US to have his entire heart replaced with a device called the Total Artificial Heart. It’s made of plastic and weighs 160 grams and is a little larger than a biological heart. It is powered by a pneumatic pump that you carry around in a rucksack.

Awe inspiring moment

Dr James Long, Troy’s surgeon, recalled the moment the heart was implanted into Troy. “It was admittedly rather awe-inspiring,” he says. And it was ominous to look inside the chest and know that the only thing keeping him alive was the synthetic pump that we had just replaced his heart with.”

Troy has had to get used to the non-stop sound of the pneumatic pump. But he looks and feels remarkably well and is overwhelmed by what has been done for him.

“It’s awesome,” he said “to be out of the hospital and to be able to come back home and to be able to come back to some normal life.”

“You can’t even just really comprehend taking your heart out, you know, without a heart you’re not alive.”

The Total Artificial Heart has done more than buy Troy some time. It has given him his life back and it has given him hope. But this is not a permanent solution. His heart’s batteries must be constantly charged, spares must stand at the ready. The risk of infection and clotting add to the constant worry.

Medical challenge

For now Troy must again endure the long wait for a donor heart, but there are other solutions on the horizon. New avenues of research are focussing on efforts to assist, rather than replace the heart.

Dr Kevin Fong presents Horizon: How to Mend a Broken Heart on BBC Two, on Monday 14 February at 2100 GMT

Increasingly, in patients suffering from heart failure, miniaturised pumps are being used to assist heart function. They are about the size of a cigar and are essentially plugged into the main pumping chamber of the heart to help it along.

Unlike Troy’s artificial heart, they can be left in place indefinitely. But perhaps more remarkable is the fact that these pumps can sometime be removed, once a damaged heart has recovered.

And it is the potential for hearts to actually recover, after having been damaged, that is being investigated in some of the most exciting research going on today.

Much interest centres on stem cells because they are the closest natural thing to the body’ s spare parts and, under the right conditions, they have the potential to transform into a huge number of different cell types with specialised functions. Because of this, they can take part in the process of renewal – replacing diseased and damaged tissues.

Preliminary results are highly controversial, but there is a growing body of evidence that suggests we may in the future be able to harness the heart’s potential regenerative capacity for future therapies.

Growing new hearts

More radically, Dr Doris Taylor, of the University of Minnesota, has been using stem cells to actually build new hearts in the laboratory.

She has achieved this with a rat heart by stripping it of its cells, then re-populating the resulting perfectly heart-shaped scaffold with stem cells, which adapt into heart tissue, so that in time the heart begins to beat again.

“.. the thought would be that we would take a heart, probably from a pig .. wash all the cells out, and then take your cells and grow enough of them to .. build a heart that matches your body and have it transplanted into you. That’s the home run,” says Dr Taylor.

If the clinical application can be made to work, it is a revolutionary if relatively distant possibility.

For Troy and the millions of people like him for whom heart failure is a reality, this work is of vital importance.

There is the very real possibility here that, within our lifetimes, scientists might finally find the cure they’re looking for.

While their search for that magic bullet remedy is far from at an end, each new discovery brings them another step closer.

Stem Cell Treatments and Heart Disease – http://repairstemcell.wordpress.com/heart-disease-treatment/

71% OF DEFECTIVE LIFE THREATENING PRODUCTS APPROVED BY FDA

INTRODUCING

from a Hint of Halite Productions…in conjunction with a Speck of NaCl…

THE 510(K)

FAST TRACK

REVIEW PROCESS!

Do you have a new product or medical device?
Is it defective “with the potential for life-threatening or serious, permanent harm“?
NO PROBLEM!!
We can still bring it to market!
If you can prove that it is similar to an existing product, we can fast track it using the 510(k) review process!

NOW SHOWING at a HOSPITAL NEAR YOU…

THE 510(K) FAST TRACK REVIEW PROCESS!

LIFE AT FULL THROTTLE!

FAST-TRACKED DEFECTIVE DEVICES!

NO LIMITS!!

Now here is the good news!

1. There is NO human testing required on your device!
2. There is NO manufacturing plant inspections required on your device!

From the article:

“National Research Center for Women & Families looked at medical devices recalled from 2005 to 2009 for defects with the potential for life-threatening or serious, permanent harm.  They found 80 out of 113 recalled products, or 71 percent, were cleared through a shorter FDA review process known as 510(K) that was designed for low- and moderate-risk devices.  The faster review allows approval if a device is similar to another on the market. The FDA usually does not require human testing or manufacturing plant inspections.  Most new devices are cleared through that process.”

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Dear FDA-

This is great news!  I was devastated when my brand new product failed it’s review because it is defective, has been recalled and has the potential for life-threatening or serious, permanent harm!  I put so much time and money into it’s development.  Your fast track review process is a life saver (yes, I know, an ironic, morbid and bad joke).  Please submit my device for review under the 510(k) process as I think you will find that my device is “similar to another on the market.”   In fact, it is similar for the following reasons:

• It has been recalled, so it is specifically similar to “80 out of 113 recalled products, or 71 percent” that have also been recalled.
• It is similar due to it’s being defective like so many defective devices you have approved.
• It is similar because it has the potential to be life-threatening.
• It is similar because it can cause serious, permanent harm.

I think you will have no recourse other to agree that my new device is similar and should be accepted and reviewed under 510(k) process.  When it passes despite the potential for harm that it will almost definitely fulfill, as I’m sure it will, there will be even one more similarity!

Warm regards-

Defective…but now still marketable!

——————————————————————–

Do you know why there is no fast track approval process for adult stem cell treatments?  Because adult stem cell treatments are unique in that they can not prove any similarity to pre-existing defective and life threatening devices.  Here is why adult stem cells just don’t get along with pre-exiting drugs, products and devices; here is the true “problem” with adult stem cells…

• They treat 130+ DISEASES around the world
• They have a 60-80% SUCCESS RATE typical therapeutic benefit
• There are RIGOROUSLY ASSESSED & SCRUTINIZED treatment centers
• There are POTENTIAL CURES of Autism, Parkinson’s, AIDs, Diabetes, Heart Disease and more
• They provide HUGE REWARDS of life extension
• They provide SIGNIFICANTLY IMPROVED quality of life

There is not ONE pre-existing product, drug, device or treatment that can claim this.

Adult stem cells are incredibly unique, like a snowflake, so…no fast track review process.  Sorry guys!

But if it makes you feel any better, your choices of brand new and improved defective or life threatening products and devices that do slightly different things from previous defective or life threatening products and devices seem to be increasing in leaps and bounds!  This SUV comes in red, blue, green and now….black and silver!  Hooray!

Device recalls linked to quicker FDA review: study | Reuters.