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Stem Cells Cure Paralyzed Rats
An anonymous reader writes "According to an article on Forbes as well as other sources, 'Scientists have used [embryonic] stem cells and a soup of nerve-friendly chemicals to not just bridge a damaged spinal cord but actually regrow the circuitry needed to move a muscle, helping partially paralyzed rats walk.'"
Gender? o.O
Slightly disreputable, albeit gregarious
a Surface mount chip.
Its always going to be messy and you will likely fuse the wrong things together.
But having some movement/sensation is good so Thumbs (and index finger) up to this research.
liqbase
Really, this exemplifies the sort of research we've been talking about when it comes to stem cells. Unfortunately, the actual scientific possibilities were overshadowed by a bunch of political bullshit.
Stem cells, biology (evolution!), global warming...The subjection of science to political considerations has to stop.
Gifts for Geeks - Stuff that really matters!
Lost: Sig, white with black letters. No collar. Reward if found!
If they can get a similar process in place for humans it'll cut the legs out from under the luddites opposing stem cell research (no pun intended). It's amazing how many people will decide the ethics of stem cell research aren't that much of a problem when they have the chance to see loved ones walk again, or recover from illnesses like Alzheimer's or Parkinson's.
If you read the entire article, you will see that the treatment was only effective on 11 of the 15 rats in the primary experimental group (a 73% success rate). Further, the description of the abilities restored by the treatment states: "The paralysis wasn't completely gone, but six months after treatment, 11 of the 15 animals could bear weight, take steps and push away with the affected leg." I would hardly call this a "cure." It is misleading to use the term "cure" recklessly like this. A better term would be "treatment" since the rats showed improvement, but were not completely free of their affliction. But then again, saying "stem cells show promise for improving mobility in paralyzed rats" isn't nearly as cool sounding as "Stem Cells Cure Paralyzed Rats."
I want to nominate you for Twit of the Year Award.
It has been demonstrated time and time again that Big Business is not in the habit of taking risks. They would rather tweak an existing drug, repackage it and bingo we have another anti-histamine (Claritin-D). If you have done the research you will know that the big cures have NOT been happening. That drug companies have dumped more money into advertising than R&D. The bottom line, government funding is necessary for BASIC RESEARCH. Basic Research is very necessary but is not necessarily profitable. Thus a company operating on bottom line principles - which is all of them - will not TAKE RISKS.
What is needed is less politics in government funding. NIH and the NSF are setup to do just that - hand out grants based on merits of the research not the politics. Tell all the tree-hugging hippies, that includes the religious conservatives, to go home!
I know! And this one time, there were these people who were totally protesting abortion clinics, they were all on the lawn yelling at people telling the women coming in they were muderers and throwing things at them and the doctors! This is why all Anti Abortion activists are ridiculous!
The point I was getting at is that there are clearly lunatics in any movement, but those are the only ones you hear from. Rarely do you hear about animal rights activists who understand the need for many medical experiments on animal, but hope to see those animals treated with some level of dignity (I dunno, maybe breeding too many lab mice and just throwing extras away). I would wager you could call me an "animal rights activist", I think abusing pets should be punished, I've never really been in favor of cosmetic testing on animals, and I think Humans do have a degree of responsibility in taking care of whatever we can... but I don't set lab mice free, or tell how we shouldn't test medical advances on animals. I just feel there is a level of decency we can exhibit in these cases... set a few ground rules for respectfully dealing with animals and their use in medicine, and follow them. I hope that that request isn't too "Ridiculous".
they were all on the lawn yelling at people telling the women coming in they were muderers and throwing things at them and the doctors!
The sad thing is that the vast majority of these "Family Planning" clinics also provide services for people who are keeping their kids, and in some more rural regions are the only prenatal clinic in the area. But hey, let's shut them down, the health of women be damned, and if the baby doesn't make it because of the lack of care, at least the mother didn't "kill" it! I've never seen any churches open up free prenatal clinics to compete against the clinics providing free services sponsored by abortions, putting their money where their mouths are just isn't "God's work". God wants that money to go to building bigger temples with more gold trim.
So yes, the majority of anti-abortion activists are ridiculous, hypocritical sheeple who just do whatever the 700 club tells them to do.
One of the (many) obstacles to making this work has been the problem of getting through the tough, thick wall of scar tissue that the body builds around the injury site.
So there is a physical wall involved, rather than a metaphorical one.
Though the word "literally" does conjure up a picture of bricks in someone's spine.
to say a mass of undifferentiated cells are not a human being. It is a clear scientific demarcation. A bit of cells from my arm are not a human being, a cancer cell (which has unique DNA) is not a human being. Fertilized eggs have no potential unless implanted into a mother's womb.
They are routinely discarded by fertility clinics, this is an established practice with established laws surronding it.
Various things are opposed by all sorts of fringe groups. The only group of anti-stem cell research advocates that has any large membership and ability buy votes are the ones who believe the fertilized egg has a soul. If not for this group, the research would proceed apace.
The only real opposition is religious, not scientific. Medical scientists are the ones best positioned to judge whether research has medical potential, not religious groups. The NIH assembles teams of expert researchers to judege whether a proposed avenue of research is worth spending money on, only with stem cells this process is poluted with arbitrary limits, which are based on purely religious beliefs.
At least be honest about your motivations: you want to impose your beliefs on the time of soul creation on eveyone else, and you don't care a bit if valuable research is blocked due to your imposition, and people die or lead needlessly limited lives because of it (which Christian Fundamentalists* rationalize by believing that a short life of pain is followed by eternity of pleasure in paradies--for those who prove themselves worthy by imposing their beliefs on anyone they can't convert).
When the country falls into chaos, politicians talk about 'patriotism'. Lao-Tzu
They're already working to get human clinical trials (bottom of the page) going on this. I'm strongly considering being a test subject for it if they can get a site set up near my area.
Considering how things are currently going in the US though, this could end up being the only chance many of us will have for getting this sort of treatment any time soon. Eventually, some self-righteous asshat is going to propose federal bans on this, forcing those of us suffering from this type of condition to either live with the problem as-is, or leave the country and pay for it out of pocket.
8==8 Bones 8==8
"The question is, is there a way to please environmentalists and animal rights activists?"
That's easy. Take your pick:
A. Kill off the entire human species.
B. All of the above.