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FDA Approves First Brain Stem Cell Transplant

no reason to be here writes "An article at CNN.com is reporting on the FDA granting approval to the first ever transplant of fetal stem cells into human brains. The stem cells will be transplanted into six children suffering from Batten disease, a rare, always fatal, genetic neurological illness, which renders its victims blind and speechless before finally paralyzing them and killing them." From the article: "The stem cells to be transplanted in the brain aren't human embryonic stem cells, which are derived from days-old embryos. Instead, the cells are immature neural cells that are destined to turn into the mature cells that makeup a fully formed brain. Parkinson's disease patients and stroke victims have received transplants of fully formed brain cells before, but the malleable brain cells involved here have never before been implanted."

2 of 245 comments (clear)

  1. New Comic Book by Chabil+Ha' · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    WOW! I just got my billion dollar idea for a new superhero & supervillian! Genetic material injected into the brains of human beings making their bodies mutate, giving them super power abilities to manipulate the weather, shoot lasers out of thier eyes, have magnetic manipulating powers! The possiblities are endless. A good title you say??? Well, I was going to go with X-Men, but that was already taken...Any suggestions?

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    We're all hypocrites. We all have hidden parts, it's the contrast between them that make us more a hypocrite than others
  2. Misinformation by KahunaKris · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    What I love about this whole topic is the people that have no clue about what is really happening. All these posts about HDTV, ignore them. They are at best misinformed. The switch that is going to take place has nothing to do with HDTV. Yes, HDTV is a form of digital programming signal, but it is not the one that is being mandated. You already recieve many programs in digital, provided that you have a cable box, or a satellite system. With digital broadcasting you can cram several channels into the spot allocated for one analog channel. That is what will free up the bandwitdh. Conversitions of 6:1 or 8:1 or not uncommon thus allowing for 6 or 8 channels to be broadcast in the slot available for one analog channel.
    Also, it is not the cable companies that are the hold up. Once again, ignorace reigns supreme. Cable companies are not the content producers. They simply pass the programming along to subscribers. The hold up is the cost of equipment to produce the content in digital format and distribute it to the cable companies. Most cable companies and satellite companies have already in place an infrastructure that will support the distribution of many more stations then are currently in use.
    The consumer information on this is available at fcc.gov here: http://ftp.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/digitaltv.htm l and here: http://www.dtv.gov/