With all the publicity about the miraculous effects of stem cell therapy, the Department of Health (DOH) should prepare itself for the possibility that the new procedure would be performed by unqualified, and completely clueless, people. I passed a beauty parlor recently and saw a huge poster on its door announcing the arrival of stem cell therapy. I was instantly reminded of botched breast enhancement and nose jobs performed by salon personnel who seemed to think it was as easy to learn complicated surgical procedures as it was to train to cut hair or do manicures and pedicures. The DOH should start warning the public not to fall for these special offers just because they are available at giveaway rates. Modern lifestyle problem Experts have repeatedly talked about problems brought about by modern lifestyles. Changing diets and stress are two of the best known. Dr. Jaime G. Ignacio, section chief of gastroenterology at Veterans Hospital and head of the Digestive Malignancy Council of the Philippine Society of Gastroenterology, said constipation could be one of the consequences of the combination of these two factors. Speaking at an event hosted by Boehringer Ingelheim, maker of Dulcolax (generic name Bisacodyl), a formulation for … Continue reading →

NEWARK, Calif., Oct. 16, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- StemCells, Inc. (STEM) announced today the launch of four new SC Proven human neural stem cell (NSC) kits for use in neuroscience research. Each kit will contain high purity, multipotent NSCs derived from a different area of the human central nervous system (CNS), and will provide researchers with a reproducible and scalable serum-free platform with which to perform a broad range of assays. With these kits, researchers will now have the ability to compare and contrast the biological, functional and neural differentiation properties of human NSCs isolated from specific CNS regions, as well as to screen for the effects of different compounds on such cells.1,2 "These kits represent the first in a new family of human cell-centric products we are adding to the SC Proven portfolio to provide researchers with a unique set of tools to realize the promise of regenerative medicine," said Stewart Craig, Ph.D., Senior Vice President, Development and Operations at StemCells, Inc. "Stem cell research is flourishing and these kits will enable investigators to derive and characterize human neural lineage cells using published methods, or the ability to customize their own assay formats up to and including scale-up for … Continue reading →

COLLIER COUNTY, Fla - A controversial stem cell doctor is fighting for his medical license in Collier County court. Two of Dr. Zannos Grekos' patient who underwent experimental stem cell procedures died and as part of his defense, his attorney's say, family members of those patients could have done more to save their lives. This week long hearing focuses on a 69 year old patient of Dr. Grekos who died in 2010. For the first time Tuesday that woman's husband talked about her experimental procedure, but he also describes her untimely death hours after receiving a stem cell treatment. In March of 2010, Dr. Zannos Grekos preformed a cerebral angiogram and experimental stem cell procedure on a 69 year old woman, but as soon as she got home, her husband Jack says things go scary as his wife's condition took a turn for the worst. "I thought she had a stroke, but I didn't know, I'm not a doctor," says Jack while testifying Tuesday. "But, there was nothing there, she was just blank." Jack told the courtroom his wife went to Dr. Grekos' practice Regenocyte in Bonita Springs to cure a walking disability that occurred from breast cancer treatments. They … Continue reading →

An administrative hearing got underway Tuesday between state health care regulators and Dr. Zannos Grekos, a Bonita Springs cardiologist, regarding his controversial stem cell practice and whether he committed medical malpractice. More than a dozen observers are present in the Collier County courtroom, many of them supporters of Grekos who have said previously that he changed his life when he injected them with their own stem cells to treat damaged heart muscle, lung tissue or for spinal injuries. The state Department of Health in 2011 issued an emergency restriction on Grekos medical license, ordering him not to do anything with patients and their own stem cells. The order came after an investigation found he had had performed stem cell procedure in 2010 on a 69-year-old woman, using her own blood, in hopes it would provide relief against nerve damage in her legs that occurred from earlier breast cancer treatment. After the treatment with Grekos, she suffered brain damage and later was taken off life support. Three family members of the patient, Domenica Fitzgerald, are present and her husband, John Fitzgerald, will be a witness for the state. The start of the hearing is bittersweet for him and his family. We … Continue reading →

Grants Pass, OR (PRWEB) October 16, 2012 Harvard Ophthalmologist and Corneal Stem Cell Researcher Ula Jurkunas, MD, has announced an important new stem cell transplant procedure for the eyes. Speaking on the Sharon Kleyne Hour Power of Water radio show, Dr. Jurkunas, predicted that the procedure will offer a significant benefit to patients with certain corneal diseases, and corneal injuries such as chemical and thermal burns (The cornea is the eyes clear portion). Stem cell research has been in the news because the 2012 Nobel Prize for Medicine was awarded for stem cell research. Dr. Jurkunas explained to host Sharon Kleyne that the human eye produces its own adult (non-embryonic) stem cells. These are found between the limbus (where the clear cornea meets the white of the eye) and the conjunctiva (the red meaty tissue in the eyes inner corner). Their function is to replenish corneal cells to keep the cornea clear and healthy. Production of corneal stem cells, according to Dr. Jurkunas, can become impaired due to a disease entity such as an infection, severe allergy, severe dry eye, immunological disorder or chronic inflammation; or due to injury such as a chemical or thermal burn. These traumas can cause … Continue reading →

Hisashi Moriguchi was besieged by reporters after giving a press conference retracting his claims. J. Sato/Getty Rarely has such a spectacular scientific claim been debunked so rapidly. For a few brief hours last week, Hisashi Moriguchi, a project researcher at the University of Tokyo, was riding high, lauded by his nations press for pioneering work on induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells. His feat was said to be the first successful use in humans of a technology that days earlier had won his countryman, Kyoto Universitys Shinya Yamanaka, a share of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine1. Yet a swift investigation by Nature and several stem-cell researchers found that Moriguchis claim to have cured six heart-failure patients with cells derived from iPS cells was untrue; that he had lied about his university affiliations; and that he had plagiarized key parts of his research papers2. At a hastily convened press conference on 13 October, Moriguchi recanted. I admit that I lied, he told reporters, adding that his career as a researcher is probably over. The sad episode could be written off as one researchers runaway fantasy. But it highlights the febrile nature of the iPS-cell field, particularly in Japan. Many researchers … Continue reading →

The Grekos hearing is scheduled to resume today. The location is the Collier County Courthouse in room 4-D, according to a case filing Monday. The hearing before J. Lawrence Johnson, an administrative law judge from Tallahassee, is scheduled to last four days. The Collier County Courthouse is located at 3315 U.S. 41 E. Photo by Allie Garza Zannos Grekos EAST NAPLES The patient was friends with the mother of Dr. Zannos Grekos, a Bonita Springs cardiologist who performed stem cell therapy on people with debilitating illnesses. Chemotherapy for breast cancer several years earlier had left the 69-year-old patient, Domenica Fitzgerald, with numbness in her legs. She was unable to walk for more than 10 minutes. She hoped Grekos and his stem cell treatment could help. "She was looking for a cure. She wanted to get well," her husband, John "Jack" Fitzgerald, testified Tuesday. A four-day administrative hearing started Tuesday in a Collier County courtroom for a state Department of Health complaint against Grekos. The state says he committed medical malpractice and violated other standards of care when he performed a stem cell treatment on the patient on March 24, 2010. The patient suffered brain damage. The state is only identifying … Continue reading →