U.S. company finds "safer" way to make stem-like cells

Rueters, By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor, Thu May 28, 2009 6:39pm EDT
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsO...54R6TI20090528

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. researchers said on Thursday they had come up with the safest way yet to make stem-like cells using a patient's ordinary skin cells, this time by using pure human proteins.

The team at Harvard University and Massachusetts-based Advanced Cell Technology Inc said their technique involves soaking cells in human proteins that turn back the clock biologically, making the cells behave like powerful embryonic stem cells.


Researchers Hail Stem Cells Safe for Human Use

Time, By Alice Park Thursday, May. 28, 2009
http://www.time.com/time/health/arti...l?iid=tsmodule

Stem-cell science is a fast-moving field. Just three years since a Japanese researcher first reprogrammed ordinary skin cells into stem cells without the use of embryos, scientists at a Massachusetts biotech company have repeated the feat, only this time with a new method that creates the first stem cells safe enough for human use. The achievement brings the potentially lifesaving technology one step closer to real treatments for disease.


Parkinson’s Atlantic Rowing Challenge requires support

Maritime Journal, United Kingdom, 28 May 2009
http://www.maritimejournal.com/archi...quires_support
Two brothers are preparing for a charity rowing event in which they are determined to cross the Atlantic Ocean unsupported in record breaking time, all to raise awareness and money for the Parkinson’s Disease Society.


Polymer might aid drug development for Parkinson's disease

SNM SmartBrief | 05/27/2009
http://www.smartbrief.com/news/snm/s...1-3C9D7FFA8A71

Australian researchers used a man-made polymer, called a PAMAM dendrimer, to inhibit the protein Alpha-Synuclein, which has been found to contribute to the development of Parkinson's disease. The researchers used an electron microscope and small-angle neutron scattering to study the protein and polymer at the molecular level. The finding can help in the development of new drugs for the disease, one researcher said. Australian Life Scientist (05/26)


Nebraskans Stricken By Parkinson's At High Rate
State Has Most Cases Per Capita

KETV, Omaha, POSTED: 11:46 am CDT May 27, 2009
UPDATED: 12:12 pm CDT May 27, 2009
http://www.ketv.com/health/19580235/detail.html

OMAHA, Neb. -- Nebraska has 329.3 cases of Parkinson's disease per 100,000 people, more per capita than any region in the world.

Statewide, that means the neurological disease has stricken about 6,000 people.


Stem Cells Without Genetic Mutation Risks

redOrbit, Posted on: Thursday, 28 May 2009, 15:50 CDT
http://www.redorbit.com/news/health/...ource=r_health

Researchers at Stem Cell & Regenerative Medicine International have discovered a versatile new method for safely transforming skin cells into stem cells.

The new technique is so promising that scientists hope to gain approval to begin clinical trials by the middle of next year.


Gene Therapy Could Expand Stem Cells' Promise

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0521131317.htm

ScienceDaily (May 22, 2009) — Once placed into a patient's body, stem cells intended to treat or cure a disease could end up wreaking havoc simply because they are no longer under the control of the clinician.

But gene therapy has the potential to solve this problem, according to a perspective article from physician-scientists at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center published in a recent issue of the journal Cell Stem Cell. The paper details strategies for genetically modifying stem cells prior to transplantation in order to ensure their safety.


It shouldn't take a celebrity to make us stop and think

The Oregonian, by John Canzano, Saturday May 23, 2009, 9:41 PM
http://www.oregonlive.com/sports/ore...lebrity_t.html

Donald Biehn loved his wife and raised three children. He was a farmer in Hood River who rode horses and worked acres of orchards filled with pears, peaches and cherries. He died 11 years ago. Parkinson's disease, doctors said.

I'd never heard of Biehn until this week. I didn't know he grew up in Klamath Falls, won a state wrestling championship as a high school senior and spent 20 years in the Air Force. I didn't know that the Vietnam veteran had invented the Cinnamon Pear. I didn't know that his hands began shaking one day, and that he eventually had trouble balancing himself, and that his family had to watch a man they viewed as 10 feet tall and bulletproof disintegrate, day by day, before their eyes.