2011年1月17日 星期一
2011年1月16日 星期日
2011年1月13日 星期四
Cord blood storage a No-Brainer
By David John Walker Jan 13th, 2011
Conservative MP Colin Carrie for Oshawa, Ontario, is paying a private company $100 a year to store blood harvested from his daughter’s umbilical cord. Carrie said more people are becoming aware of this valuable service. “ For me $100 a year for an insurance policy on me daughter, it was a No-brainer”
Stem cells are used to treat an expanding list of diseases including Leukemias and immune and blood disorders, and cord blood has been replacing bone marrow as the source of preference. Carrie explains that collecting cord blood from his daughter’s umbilical cord when she was born nine years ago, and paying a private cord blood bank to store is like having an insurance policy for her.
If the donor becomes sick in the future, or a relation of the donor gets sick, the cord blood will be available to use for stem cell treatment. However, critics say the value of a private blood bank is not clear, and it would better if cord blood were donated to a public bank so it would be available for anyone who needs it.
Carrie, a parliamentary secretary to Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq said his daughter is healthy, and the cord blood may never be needed, but it’s a worth while investment. Asked whether Canada should have a national public bank, Carrie said Canadians should have access to a cord blood bank, and suggested there could be both public and blood bank. “At the end of the day, what choices Canadians want to make, I think Canadians would like to have as many choices as possible”, he said.
Source: Seer Press News
Conservative MP Colin Carrie for Oshawa, Ontario, is paying a private company $100 a year to store blood harvested from his daughter’s umbilical cord. Carrie said more people are becoming aware of this valuable service. “ For me $100 a year for an insurance policy on me daughter, it was a No-brainer”
Stem cells are used to treat an expanding list of diseases including Leukemias and immune and blood disorders, and cord blood has been replacing bone marrow as the source of preference. Carrie explains that collecting cord blood from his daughter’s umbilical cord when she was born nine years ago, and paying a private cord blood bank to store is like having an insurance policy for her.
If the donor becomes sick in the future, or a relation of the donor gets sick, the cord blood will be available to use for stem cell treatment. However, critics say the value of a private blood bank is not clear, and it would better if cord blood were donated to a public bank so it would be available for anyone who needs it.
Carrie, a parliamentary secretary to Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq said his daughter is healthy, and the cord blood may never be needed, but it’s a worth while investment. Asked whether Canada should have a national public bank, Carrie said Canadians should have access to a cord blood bank, and suggested there could be both public and blood bank. “At the end of the day, what choices Canadians want to make, I think Canadians would like to have as many choices as possible”, he said.
Source: Seer Press News
2011年1月6日 星期四
研究：修復幹細胞可治脫髮
美國最新研究發現，幹細胞缺陷可能是導致脫髮的一個主要原因。
因此修復幹細胞能促使頭髮生長。
 |
| credit by rofi @ flickr |
研究人員分析了54名40歲至65歲男子的頭髮和頭皮組織，結果發現，無論是脫髮還是沒有脫髮的頭皮組織中，毛囊幹細胞的數量都是相同的，所不同的是，脫髮頭皮組織中的毛囊幹細胞沒有產生讓頭髮生長的源細胞，這表明毛囊幹細胞產生了缺陷，使頭皮無法長出頭髮。
領導這一研究的科斯薩利斯說，此前研究以為導致脫髮的原因是毛囊幹細胞已經不存在了，但最新的研究發現，毛囊幹細胞還在，只是出現了缺陷。這為治療脫髮提供了新思路，比如醫生可以通過修復幹細胞讓其產生源細胞，促使頭髮生長。
（新華社）
資料來源: 明報即時新聞網 (2011年1月5日)
2011年1月5日 星期三
Stem cell transplant saves man's life
By: Rochelle Ritchie
PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. - It's music that may never have been heard again. And fingers that may never have played again.
But Florida Atlantic University Professor Joe Scott is back playing a piano and doing what he loves. "It was just the most incredible thing."
For two years Scott has been cancer free. All thanks to a donor thousands of miles away.
"She might as well have pulled me out of a river. I was drowning and she literally saved me life, " says Scott.
She, is 50-year-old Jo Pillon, a Canadian who donated stem cells 10 years ago.
"It's hard to put into words how it makes you feel when you could potentially save a life," says Pillon.
Scott was diagnosed with Leukemia in 2005. His chances of survival slim to none.
"They gave me a 20% chance of just getting into remission," he said.
For three years he survived on experimental drugs that were approved by the FDA.
It wasn't until stem cell transplants became more advanced that he found the key to life.
For years it remained a mystery who his donor was. Thinking it was a male he was surprised to find out it was a woman.
"I have all of her cells my blood type changes and I have female chromosomes," Scott said.
Dr. Shachar Peles, an oncologist with the Palm Beach Cancer Institute, says stories like Scott's are why so many people need to donate. "I think it's critical."
"I know just from being in the hospital that many people can't get a match and it's really important that we have as many donors as we can," said Scott.
Source: New Channel 5, 04,Jan 2011
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