Jason Bell BONITA SPRINGS Jimmy and Jennifer Bell were scrambling to save their 5-year-old-son, Jason, last fall. Shell-shocked with a diagnosis that their youngest child had primary pulmonary hypertension, a rare lung disorder, they decided to take a chance. If not, a heart-lung transplant would be their son's only chance. They put their trust in a Southwest Florida cardiologist, Dr. Zannos Grekos, more than 1,000 miles from their Texas home. They learned Grekos performs an experimental stem cell therapy that possibly could help. That's despite a lack of clinical studies and scientific papers. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration hasn't approved stem cell therapy despite a buzz of optimism of its potential for repairing damaged tissue. "I was willing to do anything to give my son a fighting chance," said Jimmy Bell, 43, who owns a landscaping company in Keller, a suburb of Fort Worth. "When you are given no other option, you've got to try something." The treatment would involve a trip to Bonita Springs where Grekos has his practice, Regenocyte; a trip to the Dominican Republic where the treatment would be done, and an up-front payment of $57,000. "They looked at his medical records first. They didn't know … Continue reading →

By Bonnie James Deputy News Editor The stem cell and regenerative therapy programme, constituting a major part of research at Qatar Cardiovascular Research Centre (QCRC), has important clinical and scientific implications, co-chairman Prof Sir Magdi Yacoub has said. He was giving a keynote presentation at the Qatar International Conference on Stem Cell Science and Policy 2012, which concluded on Thursday at Qatar National Convention Centre. Myocardium (the muscular tissue of the heart) regeneration and tissue engineering and valves tissue engineering are among the focal areas at QCRC, which aims to establish in Qatar an internationally competitive centre of excellence for cardio-vascular research. QCRC, which has a heart muscle lab and a tissue engineering, regeneration lab, works with a mission to maintain a translational focus, relevant to the development of health policy and practice, and provide opportunities for capacity building, professional development and research collaborations in Qatar. It is also meant to provide opportunities for biotechnology development in Qatar and contribute to cardio-vascular health in the developing world through improved knowledge base, capacity building and development of appropriate tools and strategies focused on poorer countries. Cardio-vascular diseases (CVDs) kill 17mn people per year globally and there is particularly high incidence in … Continue reading →

(PRWEB) March 03, 2012 Pat is a 69-year-old woman with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, or CMT. She had been experiencing the effects of CMT for more than thirty years, and her progressive motor sensory neuropathy had become severe enough to interfere with every aspect of her life. She could no longer play piano, balance well enough to climb up steps or get dressed easily or summon the energy to work for more than a couple of hours before taking a rest break. Pats form of CMT is CMT1A, which is the most common form of this autosomal dominant condition. Her symptoms were typical of CMT; patients typically endure progressive muscle wasting and weakness in the legs, and a later loss of hand strength, balance, coordination and fine motor skills. Pats neurological disorder is hereditary, and the official position of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke is that CMT has no cure. Decades ago, Pat had gone to a neurologist for electromyography, or EMG. The purpose of the procedure was to evaluate her muscle function, and it involved painful needles and days of muscle soreness after each session. Pats neurologist had refused to tell her the results because he said that … Continue reading →

Cardiac cellular therapies are undergoing global clinical trials with "encouraging early results" and these economical options will soon be available in India which could bring relief to patients who cannot afford the currently available expensive surgical treatments, says Indian American cardiac surgeon Dr Mukesh Hariawala. Delivering a special invited plenary lecture on the "Novel Cellular Therapies for Heart Disease" at the recently concluded Healthcare India 2012 convention in New Delhi, the renowned cardiac surgeon asserted that the new developments in cardiac cellular therapies would bring down the alarming healthcare costs globally. Dr Hariawala is internationally acclaimed as a pioneer of cardiovascular surgical techniques using Therapeutic Angiogenesis. He said Therapeutic Angiogenesis is a fast emerging science of stimulating growth of new blood vessels in the heart which acts as natural bypasses to areas lacking in blood supply. Dr Hariawala demonstrated angiogenesis along with bypass surgery, lasers and stem cell injections as a novel "Combo Therapy." Like us on Facebook The laser energy acts by creating channels in the diseased heart muscle which also triggers Angiogenesis. Stem cells are then injected directly into coronary arteries feeding the diseased territory or in the stimulated lasered muscle during the open heart surgery. This option … Continue reading →

To read Hard Cell by Mayrav Saar (PostScript, Feb. 26), one would think the only form of stem-cell therapy is the embryo-destroying kind. There wasnt a single mention of non-embryonic adult stem cells. One attraction of embryonic versus non-embryonic research for some is political the chance to stick it to pro-lifers. But it grieves me to see ailing people used as pawns in this culture war and being denied the possible benefits of adult stem-cell research. Flushing such an idea down the memory hole, as you help do with this article, is against the spirit of scientific inquiry. Bob Hunt, Hillsborough, NJ Wrong on the right If social conservatives had won out in history, women would not be able to vote and we would still have slavery (Why Social Issues Matter, Jeffrey Bell, PostScript, Feb. 26). Their thinking denigrates the role of science and promotes antiquated religious beliefs. Many of the causes taken up by social conservatives have been seen to be wrong in light of later progressive thought. While social conservatives say some good things, history has shown that their views work against American freedoms an obscurantism that continues today. Jeffrey Bell should balance his thought with facts and … Continue reading →