Category Archives: Cell Medicine

by Rappler.com Posted on 03/17/2014 11:25 AM |Updated 03/17/2014 12:58 PM MANILA, Philippines "We are not the criminals. We are the victims," officers of the Philippine Medical Association (PMA) said, after the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) accused them of submitting fradulent registration documents. Seeking accreditation for the Philippine Society for Stem Cell Medicine Inc (PSSCM) with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), PMA officers submitted an endorsement letter from the PRC as required. That letter, which bore the signature of PRC Chairperson Teresita Manzala, was allegedly forged. Led by PMA president Dr Leo Olarte, the PMA asked the PRC to conduct its own investigation into how the forgery happened. On Monday, March 17, the PMA declared it had nothing to do with the alleged faking of the PRC endorsement letter. If there is anyone to blame, it would be D and A Villaruel Services and Trading Co, a business registration company the PMA hired to handle PSSCM's registration application. "We were never involved in the actual processing of the PSSCM SEC registration nor the processing of the PRC endorsement of PSSCM with SEC," said Olarte in a statement. The PMA had "good and honest intentions" when they hired D and … Continue reading →

Contact Information Available for logged-in reporters only Newswise The American Thoracic Society has developed clinical practice guidelines to help clinicians identify and manage patients with sickle cell disease who are at increased risk for mortality from pulmonary hypertension. With the development of new treatments, many patients with sickle cell disease are now surviving long enough to develop pulmonary hypertension, with an estimated prevalence of 6 to 11 percent, said Elizabeth S. Klings, MD, associate professor of medicine at the Boston University School of Medicine and chair of the committee that produced the guidelines. Although pulmonary hypertension and elevated tricuspid jet velocity (TRV, an indicator of pulmonary hypertension measured by echocardiography) are both associated with an increased mortality risk, there is currently no standardized approach for identifying and managing these patients. The guidelines appear in the March 15th issue of the American Thoracic Societys American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. Guideline recommendations include: Mortality risk can be accurately determined noninvasively by measurement of the TRV with Doppler echocardiography or by measurement of serum N-terminal probrain natriuretic peptide (NT-pro-BNP) levels and can be determined invasively by direct hemodynamic measurements via right heart catheterization (RHC). An increased risk for mortality is … Continue reading →

Mar 13, 2014 Normal epithelial cells (red) in this fragment of a mouse mammary duct form branched structures. However, cells that turn on the gene Twist1 (green) detach from neighboring cells and migrate into the surrounding environment. Credit: Eliah Shamir Studying epithelial cells, the cell type that most commonly turns cancerous, Johns Hopkins researchers have identified a protein that causes cells to release from their neighbors and migrate away from healthy mammary, or breast, tissue in mice. They also found that deletion of a cellular "Velcro protein" does not cause the single-celled migration expected. Their results, they say, help clarify the molecular changes required for cancer cells to metastasize. Because epithelial cells give rise to 85 percent of all cancers, the work may have implications outside of breast cancer. A summary of the results was published online on March 3 in The Journal of Cell Biology. Epithelial cells line the inside and outside of organs throughout the body. The team focused their work on mammary epithelial cells, which form the ducts that carry milk within the breast. "Tumor cells have to break their connections to other epithelial cells in order to leave the breast and build metastases in other parts … Continue reading →

PHILADELPHIA - Cell movement is the basic recipe of life, and all cells have the capacity to move, says Roberto Dominguez, PhD, professor of Physiology at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania. Motility albeit on a cellular spatial scale -- is necessary for wound healing, clotting, fetal development, nerve connections, and the immune response, among other functions. On the other hand, cell movement can be deleterious when cancer cells break away from tumors and migrate to set up shop in other tissues during cancer metastasis. The Dominguez team, with postdoctoral fellow David Kast, PhD, and colleagues, report online ahead of print in Nature Structural & Molecular Biology how a key cell-movement protein called IRSp53 is regulated in a resting and active state, and what this means for cancer-cell metastasis. We characterized how IRSp53 connects to the cell-motility machinery, says Kast. It does this by starting the formation of cell filopodia - extensions that form when a cell needs to move. Cells move like an inchworm, explains Dominguez. Filopodia are at the leading edge of moving cells. The trailing end of the cell follows the move forward through contraction of actin and myosin in the cytoskeleton, much like muscle … Continue reading →

Contact Information Available for logged-in reporters only Newswise PHILADELPHIA - Cell movement is the basic recipe of life, and all cells have the capacity to move, says Roberto Dominguez, PhD, professor of Physiology at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania. Motility albeit on a cellular spatial scale -- is necessary for wound healing, clotting, fetal development, nerve connections, and the immune response, among other functions. On the other hand, cell movement can be deleterious when cancer cells break away from tumors and migrate to set up shop in other tissues during cancer metastasis. The Dominguez team, with postdoctoral fellow David Kast, PhD, and colleagues, report online ahead of print in Nature Structural & Molecular Biology how a key cell-movement protein called IRSp53 is regulated in a resting and active state, and what this means for cancer-cell metastasis. We characterized how IRSp53 connects to the cell-motility machinery, says Kast. It does this by starting the formation of cell filopodia - extensions that form when a cell needs to move. Cells move like an inchworm, explains Dominguez. Filopodia are at the leading edge of moving cells. The trailing end of the cell follows the move forward through contraction of actin … Continue reading →

Sarasota, FL (PRWEB) March 12, 2014 Erectile dysfunction (ED) is the most commonly studied disorder when it comes to male sexual dysfunction. It is estimated that 18 million men in the US alone suffer from erectile dysfunction and that it appears to be affecting 1 in 4 males under age 40 according to a study published in The Journal of Sexual Medicine. While the emphasis of treatments for ED focuses on relieving the symptoms, they only provide a temporary solution rather than a cure or reversing the cause. The DaSilva Institute is excited to announce the recruitment of males suffering from ED, in an IRB study, which will look at the safety, and efficacy of autologous, adipose derived stem cells (ADSCs) in regenerating the causes of ED. The evidence shows that ADSCs reverses the pathophysiological changes leading to ED, rather than treating the symptoms of ED. Not only is the data in the literature compelling, but our own, in-house, results on our patients have been phenomenal, states Dr. DaSilva. The many underlying causes for ED that are being investigated range from those secondary to aging, to injury of the cavernous nerve secondary to injury, surgery and/or radiation of the prostate, … Continue reading →

Boca Raton, Florida (PRWEB) March 12, 2014 The Miami Stem Cell Treatment Center, PC, located in Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, and Boca Raton, Florida, offers a free public seminar on the use of stem cells for various degenerative and inflammatory conditions. They will be provided by Dr. Thomas A. Gionis, Surgeon-in-Chief, and, Dr. Nia Smyrniotis, Medical Director. The next upcoming seminar will be held on March 16th at the Comfort Suites Weston, 2201 N. Commerce Parkway, Weston, Florida 33326, at 2pm. Regenerative Medicine: Our Procedure The Miami Stem Cell Treatment Center uses Autologous Adult Adipose Stem Cells to provide care for patients suffering from chronic conditions that may benefit from adult stem cell-based regenerative medicine. The Miami Stem Cell Treatment Center follows the regenerative medicine procedures developed by the California Stem Cell Treatment Centers (CSCTC) and Cell Surgical Network (CSN) which involves the initial screening, examination and evaluation of every potential candidate for stem cell investigational therapy by one of our physicians. Once a patient is deemed to be an appropriate candidate, the procedure itself is performed by our Surgeon-in-Chief, who is assisted by a team of experienced surgical team members and surgical technicians. The entire process from start to finish … Continue reading →

Will bioprinting one day help solve the shortage of organs available for transplant.? STORY HIGHLIGHTS Editor's note: Dr. Anthony Atala is director of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He oversees a team of more than 300 physicians and researchers working to develop healing cell therapies and grow replacement tissues and organs in the lab. (CNN) -- 3-D printers are currently being used or explored by a multitude of industries -- from printing toys and automotive parts to meat and even houses. In medicine, they are already used to print prosthetic limbs and make patient-specific models of body parts that surgeons can use as guides during reconstructive surgery. It's no surprise, then, that scientists around the world are investigating whether living cells can be used to print replacement organs and tissues. 3-D printing is an exciting technology that I except to play a significant role as scientists expand their ability to engineer tissues and organs in the lab. What many people don't realize, however, is that the printer itself is not the "magic" ingredient for making lab-built organs a reality. Instead, printers are a vehicle for scaling up and automating a process that must begin … Continue reading →

Contact Information Available for logged-in reporters only Newswise COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Imagine a world where malfunctioning organs are replaced by new ones made from your own tissues, where infected wounds are cured with a signal from your smartphone, where doctors find the perfect medicine for whatever ails you simply by studying your stem cells. Its a world thats inching closer to reality because of the work of some of the nations top scientists, many of whom will gather March 13-15 at The Ohio State University for the 7th Annual Translational to Clinical (T2C) Regenerative Medicine Conference to discuss their recent successes and challenges in coaxing the body to heal itself in extraordinary ways. Regenerative medicine will change the way you and I experience sickness, health and healthcare, said Chandan Sen, director of the Center for Regenerative Medicine and Cell Based Therapies at Ohio States Wexner Medical Center. Because the field is so new, we as researchers are also changing the way we work to be synergistic not competitive, so patients are able to access the benefits more quickly. And the benefits are desperately needed, says keynote speaker Dr. Anthony Atala, director of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine at … Continue reading →

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 11-Mar-2014 Contact: Siobhan Gallagher Siobhan.gallagher@tufts.edu 617-636-6586 Tufts University, Health Sciences Campus BOSTON (March 11, 2014) Traumatic brain injury is a risk factor for epilepsy, though the relationship is not understood. A new study in mice, published in Cerebral Cortex, identifies increased levels of a specific neurotransmitter as a contributing factor connecting traumatic brain injury (TBI) to post-traumatic epilepsy. The findings suggest that damage to brain cells called interneurons disrupts neurotransmitter levels and plays a role in the development of epilepsy after a traumatic brain injury. The research team, led by David Cantu and Chris Dulla, studied the effect of traumatic brain injury on the levels of the neurotransmitter gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) in the cerebral cortex, the portion of the brain associated with higher level functions such as information processing. Normally, GABA inhibits neurotransmission in the brain, while its precursor, glutamate, stimulates neurotransmission. When the cortex is damaged by brain injury, however, the cells that create GABA, called interneurons, die. This leads to a toxic buildup of glutamate, which overstimulates brain activity. The study identifies this disrupted balance of GABA and glutamate as a factor in increased epileptic brain activity. The findings suggest that traumatic brain injuries cause … Continue reading →