New Stem Cell Therapy Procedure Could Have a Major Impact on Sports Injuries by Taylor Bloom.
New Stem Cell Therapy Procedure Could Have a Major Impact on Sports Injuries by Taylor Bloom
New Stem Cell Therapy Procedure Could Have a Major Impact on Sports Injuries
You are never younger than you are right now. While youth is a fleeting and priceless resource for everyone, it is especially valuable to athletes who make a living -and in some cases a brand- on using their bodies to constantly execute elite physical movements.For professional athletes, aging is an inescapable and brutal truth when injuries begin to pile up in the twilight years of a career.
In some cases this can lead to a very anti-climactic and frustrating end to some great playing days (We will miss you, Steve Nash).But it’s not all bad news for athletes who constantly have to deal with physical afflictions. For as long as pro sports have existed advances in medical technology have helped injured athletes return to playing at a quicker rate.
Pitchers playing before 1974 who suffered a common injury from overuse, such as tearing their ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) in the elbow, instantly had their careers ended. But when orthopedic surgeon Dr. Frank Jobe came up with a new procedure that reconstructed a pitcher’s UCL by replacing it with a different tendon from somewhere else in the body, sports medical technology scored a huge triumph and Tommy John surgery became part of every baseball fan’s vernacular.
While Tommy John Surgery changed a UCL tear from a career death sentence to a twelve to eighteen month rehab assignment, so too have many other procedures and rehab devices helped athletes return quicker from injury.
Another prime example of medical tech battling sports injuries is the anti-gravity treadmill that Kobe is using during his rehab from an achilles rupture he suffered last April. This treadmill allows athletes to experience gravitational stress when healing lower body injuries and it is helpful for strengthening Kobe’s surgically repaired achilles and getting him ready to play again at 35, an age only considered old in sports.The latest new medical procedure that can have an impact on the sports world could be stem cell therapy.
In Los Angeles, Dr. Rajagopalan (Dr. Raj),an orthopedic surgeon specializing in sports and fitness procedures, is performing a unique stem cell harvesting procedure somewhat similar to the treatment Kobe and other athletes have gone to Germany for to have their blood be drawn, spun in a centrifuge and reinjected into the knee, with the goal of reducing inflammation.
This procedure can help with many different types of sports injuries that impact the musculoskeletal system such as, muscle sprains and strains, tendon inflammation, fractured bones, arthrities and degenerative disc disease. Dr. Raj explains exactly how this new stem cell therapy procedure works:
Stem cell therapy is being used around the world to regenerate or re-grow tissue in one’s body that could not regenerate itself without having harvested and injected from one’s own cells.For example, many people suffer with torn cartilage called meniscus in the knee. It was thought in the recent past that the only modality of treatment was to cut the tissue out arthroscopically or to temporarily numb the area with cortisone injections. Now we have the ability to regenerate the tissue back to its original state before the damage occurred, and avoid surgery with immediate pain relief.
The key for athletes here is the avoidance of surgery and long recovery times being replaced by immediate relief. The ability to still repair an injury while avoiding the scalpel is invaluable for players and the franchises and fan bases that support them. And not only does it save time for athletes, in some cases it can save them a lot of money.
Take Andrew Bynum for example; when he was drafted 10th overall by the Lakers in 2005 he became the youngest player (18 years and 6 days) ever in NBA history game to play a game. He was gifted with great size and a soft touch around the rim but not with reliable knees. Last year he was traded to the Philadelphia 76ers but ended up not playing a single game due to chronic knee issues. After a lengthy rehab he signed a contract in the offseason with the Cleveland Cavaliers. The contract is for $24.6 million over two years, but only $6 million of this is guaranteed. Bynum will have to show he can play and keep his knees healthy in order to earn the entire amount.
Bynum is a member of a long list of athletes who began their careers with all the physical gifts necessary to become a great player but were unable to consistently produce for a team due to chronic injuries. These nagging injuries are exactly where Dr. Raj’s new stem cell therapy procedure has so much potential in the sports world. In some cases it can help with persistent injuries and in Andrew Bynum’s case it can potentially make him around $18 million.
Dr. Raj continues to explain the exact process of this procedure and how it is very quick and relatively painless:
The process of getting stem cell therapy starts with harvesting your own stem cells (autologous cells) from your bone marrow. This process only takes about 5 minutes and most patients report only feeling a little pressure during the aspiration. Then your bone marrow gets spun in a centrifuge for 15 minutes allowing the undifferentiated mesenchymal stem cells to separate from the platelets and blood. Our highly trained orthopedic surgeon then will inject your own stem cells into the joint or damaged tissue.
These mesenchymal stem cells have the ability to turn into cartilage, ligament, tendon, bone, nerve tissue, blood vessels, or muscle tissue. These cells find the area of damage, lock onto the DNA and read the code that tells them what to reproduce into. Because your body is preprogrammed with a genetic code the stem cells know exactly what to turn into and can only grow the same tissue you would have had before the damage. For example, you will not be able to grow more cartilage than your genetic code gave you during the peak years of your life.
Dr. Raj is not the only orthopedic surgeon performing this procedure in the U.S. “At this point many doctors over different specialities have been trained in this procedure but it important to remember that a board certified orthopedic surgeon can properly determine if stem cell therapy is the best option or surgery. Regular medical doctors may not be able to give a proper diagnosis.”
Many sports fans who hear about this procedure that uses an athlete’s own cells to treat their injuries immediately think of the treatments Kobe has been famously flying to Germany to receive. But there are clear distinctions between the treatment Kobe has been getting to help his right knee (a knee which has logged the 12th most minutes in NBA history) and this stem cell therapy procedure. “Kobe has been receiving regenerative treatments including PRP (platelet-rich plasma). Our treatment has more healing properties than PRP because we get the stem cells from bone marrow instead of blood. PRP has to be done many times and stem cell injections from bone marrow are a one time treatment.”
With all of the positive healing potential that this procedure has it may be surprising to some that it has been slow to catch on here in the U.S. But for Dr. Raj there is a clear reason for this: “Due to the lack of government funding from the Bush administration we did not have the same research happening in our universities as other countries. President Obama granted government funding in Dec. of 2010 and we are now advancing quicker than most countries. You will see stem cell therapy become main stream over the next few years.”
While Dr. Raj has privately performed this procedure on many athletes, it is mainly used to help treat the injuries and aches and pains of the average weekend warrior who is not in elite physical shape. So this story came across our sports tech radar when it was announced that Dr. Ernie Vandeweghe would undergo this procedure himself.
This is significant because Dr. Vandeweghe has quite the sports and medical background. He was drafted in 1949 by the Knicks and went on to play 6 years in the NBA while concurrently going to medical school at Columbia. He was the Lakers’ first physician when the team moved to Los Angeles in 1960 and according to ESPN LA’s Arash Markazi, “If it hadn’t been for Dr. Vandeweghe, Chick Hearn wouldn’t have been the Lakers’ play-by-play announcer, the Forum probably would have been located somewhere in the San Fernando Valley and the Lakers might never have become Hollywood’s team.”
In addition to his playing career with the Knicks and a physician job with the Lakers Dr. Ernie Vandeweghe, 84, is also a former orthopedic surgeon at the UCLA Medical School. It would be difficult to find anyone else who has a career and a life that represents the intersection of sports and medicine more than Dr. Vandeweghe. Dr. Raj considers this a huge vote of confidence for stem cell therapy:
Dr. Vandeweghe is a role model in the sports world and an educated physician, so having him undergo the procedure shows he is a credible advocate for stem cell therapy. It is safe, effective, and can work for even a man Ernie’s age.
Few professions in the world place such monetary and cultural value on physical performance as being a pro athlete. And in a must-have-now, texting, tweeting, and snapchatting world, sports events are extremely valuable because they are DVR-proof. Thus, television contracts, ticket prices and player salaries have all increased in recent history.
With these increases and the proximity that the rise of social media has created between players and fans comes added pressure on athletes, coaches and teams to be successful. Advances in sports medicine, such as Dr. Raj’s stem cell procedure, can help athletes respond to this pressure by keeping them healthy (in a legal and natural way).
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Photobiomodulation and stem cells
Photobiomodulation and stem cells
Researchers use light to coax stem cells to repair teeth
Cambridge/Boston, Mass. – May 28, 2014 – A Harvard-led team is the first to demonstrate the ability to use low-power light to trigger stem cells inside the body to regenerate tissue, an advance they reported in Science Translational Medicine. The research, led by David J. Mooney, Robert P. Pinkas Family Professor of Bioengineering at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), lays the foundation for a host of clinical applications in restorative dentistry and regenerative medicine more broadly, such as wound healing, bone regeneration, and more.
The team used a low-power laser to trigger human dental stem cells to form dentin, the hard tissue that is similar to bone and makes up the bulk of teeth. What’s more, they outlined the precise molecular mechanism involved, and demonstrated its prowess using multiple laboratory and animal models.
A number of biologically active molecules, such as regulatory proteins called growth factors, can trigger stem cells to differentiate into different cell types. Current regeneration efforts require scientists to isolate stem cells from the body, manipulate them in a laboratory, and return them to the body—efforts that face a host of regulatory and technical hurdles to their clinical translation. But Mooney’s approach is different and, he hopes, easier to get into the hands of practicing clinicians.
“Our treatment modality does not introduce anything new to the body, and lasers are routinely used in medicine and dentistry, so the barriers to clinical translation are low,” said Mooney, who is also a Core Faculty Member at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard. “It would be a substantial advance in the field if we can regenerate teeth rather than replace them.”
The team first turned to lead author and dentist Praveen Arany, Ph.D. ’11, who is now an Assistant Clinical Investigator at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). At the time of the research, he was a Harvard graduate student and then postdoctoral fellow affiliated with SEAS and the Wyss Institute.
Arany took rodents to the laboratory version of a dentist’s office to drill holes in their molars, treat the tooth pulp that contains adult dental stem cells with low-dose laser treatments, applied temporary caps, and kept the animals comfortable and healthy. After about 12 weeks, high-resolution x-ray imaging and microscopy confirmed that the laser treatments triggered the enhanced dentin formation.
“It was definitely my first time doing rodent dentistry,” said Arany, who faced several technical challenges in performing oral surgery on such a small scale. The dentin was strikingly similar in composition to normal dentin, but did have slightly different morphological organization. Moreover, the typical reparative dentin bridge seen in human teeth was not as readily apparent in the minute rodent teeth, owing to the technical challenges with the procedure.
“This is one of those rare cases where it would be easier to do this work on a human,” Mooney said.
Next the team performed a series of culture-based experiments to unveil the precise molecular mechanism responsible for the regenerative effects of the laser treatment. It turns out that a ubiquitous regulatory cell protein called transforming growth factor beta-1 (TGF-β1) played a pivotal role in triggering the dental stem cells to grow into dentin. TGF-β1 exists in latent form until activated by any number of molecules.
Here is the chemical domino effect the team confirmed: In a dose-dependent manner, the laser first induced reactive oxygen species (ROS), which are chemically active molecules containing oxygen that play an important role in cellular function. The ROS activated the latent TGF-β1complex which, in turn, differentiated the stem cells into dentin.
Nailing down the mechanism was key because it places on firm scientific footing the decades-old pile of anecdotes about low-level light therapy (LLLT), also known as Photobiomodulation (PBM).
Since the dawn of medical laser use in the late 1960s, doctors have been accumulating anecdotal evidence that low-level light therapy can stimulate all kind of biological processes including rejuvenating skin and stimulating hair growth, among others. But interestingly enough, the same laser can be also be used to ablate skin and remove hair—depending on the way the clinician uses the laser. The clinical effects of low-power lasers have been subtle and largely inconsistent. The new work marks the first time that scientists have gotten to the nub of how low-level laser treatments work on a molecular level, and lays the foundation for controlled treatment protocols.
“The scientific community is actively exploring a host of approaches to using stem cells for tissue regeneration efforts,” said Wyss Institute Founding Director Don Ingber, “and Dave and his team have added an innovative, noninvasive and remarkably simple but powerful tool to the toolbox.”
Next Arany aims to take this work to human clinical trials. He is currently working with his colleagues at the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR), which is one of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), to outline the requisite safety and efficacy parameters. “We are also excited about expanding these observations to other regenerative applications with other types of stem cells,” he said.
This work was a collaboration between the Wyss Institute, Harvard SEAS, Harvard School of Dental Medicine, Leder Human Biology and Translational Medicine, National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) and NIH, Wellman Center for Photomedicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School’s Department of Dermatology, Harvard-MIT Division of Health Science and Technology, Boston Children’s Hospital, and New York University School of Medicine. It was funded by the Wyss Institute, Harvard Presidential Scholarship, Harvard Catalyst, Harvard Clinical and Translational Science Center, NIDCR and NIH.
No more knife, stem cell science and nutrition
No More Knife: The Stem-Cell Shortcut To Injury Recovery
Used to be, you blew a knee and your options back to action were few—and long. But a fast-growing field of stem-cell therapy is ushering in a new, and much speedier, era of orthopedic recovery.
Stem cells have the potential to change the way orthopedic surgeon approach knee surgery. Photo: Dmitriy Shironosov/Getty Images
Dr. Chris Centeno injecting stem cells back into patient’s knee.
Regenexx-SD procedure isolates and separates mesenchymal stem cells from bone marrow sample.
Stephan Drake was halfway down a backcountry ski run in Alaska last March, filming with Sweetgrass Productions and Patagonia, when he aired over a steep spine onto an unexpected wind crust. The snow grabbed his right ski and Drake felt the unmistakable snap! of his knee ripping apart as he rolled down the slope like a starfish. Having torn his anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments in 2009, the 37-year-old pro skier and DPS Skis founder knew exactly what the snapping sensation meant. Season over. And: time to make a decision. Surgery or no surgery?
Twenty years ago, the idea of repairing a ruptured ACL without surgery would not have been rational. Within the past decade, however, a growing number of patients have opted for stem-cell injections to heal the native ligament over surgical reconstruction that uses various non-native tissues to replace it.
When Drake returned from Alaska, he learned he had not only suffered a Grade 3 tear of the ACL, which provides 80 percent of the knee’s stability, but also had torn his medial and lateral meniscus and chipped a piece of bone off his femoral head.
After months of research, Drake decided to try stem-cell injections in a unique treatment called Regenexx at the Centeno-Schultz Clinic near Boulder, Colorado. Early one morning in August, he went in for the first of two visits that day. Dr. John Schultz drove a needle into Drake’s hip and extracted a syringeful of stem-cell-rich bone marrow. Drake then left the clinic and drove to a coffee shop to eat breakfast. He returned about noon, after Schultz had finished concentrating the stem cells. Schultz then used a tiny camera and a needle to inject the cells precisely where he wanted in Drake’s knee—where the ligaments had torn. Drake walked out of the clinic at 1 p.m.
Stem cells have been used in Europe to treat bone disease since the early 1990s, but same-day procedures like the one performed on Drake were first approved in the U.S. in 1999.
“I think about 70 to 80 percent of what’s currently done surgically, in the future will move toward needle-based therapies,” says Dr. Chris Centeno, Schultz’s business partner, who began using stem cells in orthopedic medicine in 2005 and treated his first ACL tear with them four years ago. “Simply because athletes and others will want to return quicker, they’ll want less invasive procedures, and there will be a focus on trying to regrow or heal tissue rather than to cut it out or replace it.”
Chances are you have heard about stem cells. In layman’s terms, they comprise the body’s fix-it system, like maintenance men at an apartment complex. They exist in our fat, our marrow, our muscles, our skin. When we ski moguls, for example, we kill thousands of cartilage, muscle, and tendon cells; if we’re young enough, our local stem cells take action by coordinating the repair response or taking the form of a variety of tissues themselves—from bone to cartilage to ligament to tendon—depending on what they detect to be in need of repair. The knock on them is that they are still poorly understood overall, and it’s hard to predict exactly what they will become when injected into a new area, which is done to stimulate repair. But doctors and researchers know enough about their general healing ability that the U.S. government has paid hundreds of millions of dollars to stockpile stem cells in the event of a nuclear attack.
Stem cells as an orthopedic solution still carry a controversial stigma. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration allows them to be used for same-day procedures such as Drake’s, but they cannot be “cultured,” or multiplied over time. “You can’t amplify them, that’s the stem-cell rule,” says Dr. Rocco Monto, a Nantucket-based orthopedic surgeon and longtime physician for U.S. Soccer, who serves as a spokesperson for the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. The reason the FDA prohibits culturing is due to fears that the cells would be “abused in research,” Monto says, by doctors creating some kind of monster cell with inhuman capabilities. However, no such restrictions exist in Europe or the Caribbean, which is why you may have heard of athletes like NFL MVP Peyton Manning or Cy Young-winning pitcher Bartolo Colon venturing overseas for cultured cells—and why many American doctors claim to be hamstrung in their pursuit of medicinal advancement, compared with their foreign peers.
Research restrictions and vagaries about their exact mechanism notwithstanding, stem cells are employed in a wide range of orthopedic cases, from torn rotator cuffs to knee arthritis. Dr. Joseph Purita, a leading surgeon and longtime stem-cell proponent in Boca Raton, Florida, claims to have used them to heal a pitcher’s ulnar collateral ligament tear, a devastating elbow injury that usually requires so-called Tommy John surgery and a one-year recovery period. “He was back pitching in six, seven weeks,” Purita says. (Most pro athletes who undergo stem-cell treatments don’t allow their physicians to name them publicly due to contract implications.)
Stem cells are less trusted to heal fully ruptured ligaments than, say, a partial tear where the ligament remains attached to the bone. Centeno estimates about four in five ACL tears—of which roughly 200,000 occur in the U.S. annually, 25,000 while skiing—can be repaired via stem-cell injections, including cases with up to a one-centimeter gap between the ligament and the bone. (About 100,000 people who suffer tears opt for surgery; no one tracks how many opt for stem-cell therapy.) Depending upon the severity of the injury, Centeno touts a recovery time of six to 12 weeks, a fraction of the six to nine months it takes to recover from a standard ACL surgery. This disparity is mostly due to the trauma involved with reconstructive surgery, compared with none for stem-cell therapy, which allows rehabilitation to begin immediately. The cost, too, is far less—about $4,000 for a stem-cell procedure versus $12,000 or more for surgery. However, while surgery is often covered by insurance, you’ll probably have to pay for stem-cell therapy yourself.
The light recovery time from a stem-cell injection is not guaranteed, either. For every patient like Peter Lyddon, a Colorado ski patrolman who returned to intensive skiing eight weeks after his ACL procedure—”It was really dramatic,” he says—there are others who require more time and even, in some cases, another round of stem-cell therapy. Drake, after receiving his first dose in August, went in for a second injection in December. His knee still hurts and is weak, but it’s showing progress, he said. Still, he has not skied this winter and does not expect to.
“I’ve basically written off this season and am planning a summer trip to South America,” he said. “That’s my new goal.”
Because of cases like Drake’s, skepticism persists in the medical community. Centeno and Purita cite MRIs that show their patients have fully healed, but some of their peers don’t believe a photograph can prove structural integrity. “It might look normal, but it doesn’t behave normally,” Monto says. “You go in there, it’s all stretched out, it’s not good. ACLs are structures that function dynamically, under high stresses. And it takes a lot, even when you reconstruct them, to get them to work.”
Dr. Angus Goetz, a leading orthopedic surgeon in Jackson Hole, uses stem cells to treat some sports injuries and considers them “the wave of the future” in orthopedic medicine. But, like other surgeons, he points at the lack of definitive research as a cautionary factor. “There is still no double-blinded study to suggest that a complete rupture treated with stem cells is equivalent or better than one treated surgically,” he says.
Centeno compares the needle-based orthopedic treatment trend with the way heart surgeons have moved away from slicing open patients’ chests and toward stents that are inserted through a catheter. He believes that 10 to 20 years from now, we could see a similar shift in sports medicine, especially if the FDA lifts its research restrictions. Even his wary peers don’t dispute that.
“We see something broken, we want to put it together with steel,” Monto says. “I think that’s the real paradigm shift here: a shift to orthobiologic treatments. And it’s coming. We’re not there yet, but we’re nudging at it.”
Lost season or not, Drake believes his stem cells will ultimately leave his knee stronger than a surgeon could have.
“Even if it takes a little longer,” Drake said, “this is still worth it to me.”
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Hearts and Muscle repair using stem cell; stem cell nutrition at Jeunesse Global
Hearts and Muscle repair using stem cell; stem cell nutrition at Jeunesse Global
Two new studies out today show both the incredible promise of stem cell research and its current limitations.
In one, published in the journal Nature, researchers showed that they could repair damaged hearts by injecting these versatile stem cells into macaque monkeys. Heart disease is the leading cause of death, and if the same process can work in people, it could benefit hundreds of thousands a year.
In the other study, published in Science Translational Medicine, five men were able to regrow leg muscles destroyed by accidents or military service. The researchers, from the University of Pittsburgh, inserted into the men’s muscles a “scaffold” of muscle tissue from a pig. Through aggressive physical therapy right after the surgery, the men’s own stem cells were encouraged to populate the scaffold and substantially rebuild their leg muscles.
Nothing had been able to help these men before, including multiple surgeries and years of physical therapy, said Stephen Badylak, the study’s senior author.
“Frankly, most of these patients have been through hell,” he said at a Tuesday news conference.
David Scadden, a physician and co-director of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, said he was impressed with the rigor and promise of both studies.
It’s long been a goal of stem cell research to figure out how to help the body regrow damaged tissue, he said, and both studies mark a significant step toward that goal.
Both studies also showed that stem cells respond to cells around them, he said, with the heart cells learning to beat in sync with the monkey cells and the muscle cells learning to go where they were needed. “Once the cells get to a certain point, it appears they can then follow the lead of their neighbors,” he said.
Stem cells gained public notoriety about a decade ago when then-President George W. Bush banned the creation of new stem cell lines from human embryos.
Early embryos are the best source of stem cells, because an embryonic cell can transform into any type of cell – in the liver, blood, brain, etc. More recently, researchers have learned how to turn adult cells, such as from the skin, back into this super-versatile state, but such induced pluripotent stem cells still have limitations.
In the heart study, University of Washington researchers led by Charles E. Murry took human embryonic stem cells, turned them into muscle cells and then inserted them into the damaged hearts of seven pigtail macaque monkeys. The cells became virtually indistinguishable from the monkey’s own cells, beating along with them.
“I really believe we can grow back people’s hearts,” said Murry, a pathologist and co-director of the Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine at the University of Washington. He hopes to be able to start trials in people in about four years, after meeting all of the federal requirements.
In the second study, researchers did not need to implant any cells, but relied on the patients’ own stem cells.
Both studies also showed how difficult it is to manipulate stem cells, and how long it will be until stem cell therapies become a routine part of medical care, said Timothy Caulfield, a science policy expert at the University of Alberta in Canada.
Right now, the only type of stem cell therapy that is commonplace and medically proven is bone marrow transplantation to treat certain types of blood cancers, Caulfield said.
But unscrupulous clinics – primarily in other countries, but some in the USA – have been offering what they call stem cell therapies for a wide range of diseases.
As legitimate research gets closer to providing widespread benefits, it will get even harder to tell the frauds from the legitimate providers, Caulfield said.
To distinguish legitimate stem cell therapies from scams:
• Providers should offer peer-reviewed research, not patient testimonials.
• The approach should be specific to a particular condition, not effective against multiple problems.
• The provider should discuss risks of the procedure along with potential benefits.
• The provider should make it clear that the procedure is experimental, not routine (other than bone marrow transplants for cancer).
• The costs of the therapy should be paid by a research institution if it is part of a research trial or insurance for a bone marrow transplant, so be wary of someone who charges significant sums for treatments.
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Stem cell research may unlock cures for kidney disease , breast cancer, knee surgery and more by Cristy Lyta
Stem cell research may unlock cures for kidney disease , breast cancer, knee surgery
By Cristy Lyta
Andrew McMahon leads the USC stem cell research team as they seek discoveries — and cures
How do fingers become fingers and not toes? How does the brain generate the correct number of neurons? How do the kidneys branch into the complex and elegant structure that filters the blood and regulates its pressure?
Renowned biologist Andrew McMahon spent decades unlocking these and other mysteries of embryonic development by identifying the role of key regulatory genes. By the time he decided to leave Harvard University for USC, he was ready to take on a new challenge: finding cures for patients with kidney disease.
“I felt like I could figure out how to do things that were interesting,” McMahon said. “Could I figure out how to do things that were relevant?”
With support from a $5.7 million Research Leadership Award from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), McMahon headed west to find new ways to repair and regenerate the kidney.
Using the power of stem cells
One in 10 adults in the U.S. — more than 20 million people — are suffering from some degree of chronic kidney disease. Kidney transplants offer a hope for cure, but thousands of patients die each year due to a shortage of donor organs. Even patients who are lucky enough to receive transplants run the risk of their immune systems rejecting the donor kidneys, and they have to take immunosuppressive drugs with serious side effects for the rest of their lives.
Vito Campese, professor and chair of the Keck School of Medicine of USC’s nephrology division, underscores the need to find novel stem cell-based therapies for these patients.
“Despite enormous progress made in the last 50 years, as of today, we do not know the causes of many kidney diseases and how to best treat them,” said Campese, who also chairs the Medical Scientific Advisory Board of the University Kidney Research Organization (UKRO), a Los Angeles-based nonprofit group that recently established the USC/UKRO Kidney Research Center at the Keck School.
As a member of UKRO’s Medical Scientific Advisory Board and medical director of USC’s Kidney-Pancreas Transplant Program, Yasir Qazi can easily envision how stem-cell based therapies could help the patients he treats every day.
“I need to strongly encourage an atmosphere where people are thinking beyond the basic science and thinking about how they can take that to new therapeutic end points for regenerative medicine.”
Andrew McMahon
“We are looking to partner with Andy McMahon to improve and take the clinical experience of an organ transplant recipient to a completely new level,” he said.
UKRO founder Kenneth Kleinberg, who received a kidney transplant in 2007, added: “If we are to lift the scourge of kidney disease and the staggering financial burdens it imposes, the answers lie in research.”
The promise of such research is to usher in the era of regenerative medicine, which uses the power of stem cells to restore the function of damaged tissues or organs.
Building an expert team
As the director of the Eli and Edythe Broad Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at USC, McMahon is encouraging colleagues across USC to follow his lead in discovering new regenerative therapies for a broad array of diseases.
To this end, he recently recruited three stellar young faculty members: Justin Ichida, Rong Lu and Min Yu.
Ichida is leading the USC stem cell research center’s newly opened Choi Family Therapeutic Screening Facility, where scientists can test potential drugs on reprogrammed stem cells from patients. As a postdoctoral scholar at Harvard, Ichida laid the foundation for his current research by helping identify new ways to make induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells.
“I just want to do something that really changes people’s lives,” he said.
Lu’s research is equally transformative: Her studies of what makes one blood stem cell outcompete another have ramifications for improving bone marrow transplants and preventing blood cancers. As a postdoctoral scholar at Stanford University, Lu came up with the idea of “barcoding” individual blood stem cells by labeling them with a genetic marker. This allows her to observe individual cells’ behavior, interactions, self-renewal or differentiation and contributions to forming blood.
“The most important reason I came to USC is the people here,” Lu said. “The stem cell department is growing, and everybody’s having new ideas and really being interactive and collaborative. You can feel the energy here.”
This dynamic, multidisciplinary research environment also attracted Yu, whose research focuses on finding new cures for breast cancer. Recruited in conjunction with the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, Yu filters out circulating breast cancer stem cells from billions of other blood cells to understand how the disease spreads and stop it in its tracks.
“Our director Andy McMahon also has a vision of uniting the bioengineering and medical fields, and applying basic science to clinical science,” she said. “He’s very passionate about helping young faculty start their labs and set up collaborations, so I’m excited to join.”
Also new to the center is senior faculty member Neil Segil, who is working to regenerate inner ear cells to treat hearing loss and balance disorders, which affect more than half of all adults in the United States by the time they reach retirement age.
“Since arriving at USC, I’ve had the opportunity to collaborate with investigators with different kinds of expertise and who have not previously worked together,” Segil said. “This kind of cross-fertilization is very stimulating.”
These and the next wave of recruitments already underway will benefit from a $2 million gift from the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation. The gift establishes the Broad Fellows Program, provides seed funding to early stage research initiatives and supports the stem cell research center’s state-of-the-art facilities in imaging, therapeutic screening, flow cytometry, and stem cell isolation and culture.
Applying stem cell research across disciplines
McMahon is mentoring the next generation as the director of the new Department of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, which offers a Ph.D., Master of Science and undergraduate courses, the first of which was taught by McMahon for 19 students on the University Park Campus this spring. The center also hosts a unique internship opportunity for talented high school students.
To further harness the power of collaboration, McMahon leads the university-wide USC Stem Cell initiative, bringing together more than 100 faculty members from all disciplines.
As part of USC Stem Cell, Keck School Dean Carmen A. Puliafito provided $1.2 million in Regenerative Medicine Initiative awards to three disease teams to take early steps toward stem-cell based therapies for certain forms of deafness, bone defects and pediatric leukemia.
A fourth USC Stem Cell Kidney Disease Team is advancing the synergy between different laboratories across USC. Janos Peti-Peterdi is leading monthly meetings with USC kidney researchers McMahon, Campese, Laura Perin, Alicia McDonough and others.
The interdisciplinary effort extends beyond medical research. An economic impact analysis of Proposition 71, which created CIRM to fund stem cell research, is being planned with the USC Marshall School of Business. Students from the USC Roski School of Art and Design have conducted spring coursework in the center, finding inspiration from the beauty of science in action.
In the years to come, USC will continue to shape our future as stem cell biology moves from discoveries to cures.
As McMahon explained, “I need to strongly encourage an atmosphere where people are thinking beyond the basic science and thinking about how they can take that to new therapeutic end points for regenerative medicine.”
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Good news, congrats for having a baby, caring for your baby
Congratulations for the birth of your baby.
Massage
Touch and massage are simple forms of communication. The baby’s skin is more sensitive than that of an adult. Massage lightly with the surface of your fingers and palm. Start from the hands and feet.
Use calendula oil or another natural, light oil such as Almond or Arnica oil. This oil can be used as postnatal care:
- loosen and relaxes the new baby
- gently removes the cradle cap on baby’s head
- protects baby’s delicate skin
Other aromatherapy oil for postnatal care can consist of St John’s Wort, Arnica, Calendula oil, Betula, Vitamin E and pure essential oils of Chamomile, Lavender, Rosemary, sweet Almond and Olive oils.
Baby, Birth and Mothering
Easing the baby’s transition from the womb to the outside world is the most important task of the mother. The mother who is conscious of the needs of the child who was used to life inside her womb bonds well with the baby. She knows and feels the baby’s need for breastfeeding, sleep, and be cared for by her loving hands and presence. A happy mom breeds a happy baby. A healthy diet makes a healthy mother and baby. To care for our babies, we have to care for ourselves.
There are times when the mother has to seek support from others when she herself is suffering from postpartum depression and especially when the baby was born prematurely that his/her young body is still coping with the outside world. Sometimes the baby would cry due to discomforts that the body feels after being born prematurely or with so much medical procedures. Every month the baby shows signs of maturity from his/bowel digestive system, sensory perceptions and other developmental growth.
I salute a mom whom I know who cared for her premature baby and took her home after three months in the intensive care, nursed her from a tube attached to her finger and gave her the medication she needs as directed by the nurses. I thank God for the neighbor who took care of the baby of a mother suffering from postpartum psychosis for almost nine months until the mother was ready emotionally and physically to care for her baby. I know of a mom who knows her own mother’s predisposition to postpartum psychosis that before her baby was born she sought an herbalist to help her during postpartum.
The smile of the baby is the sign of a contented baby and the sign of a nurturing mother. A healthy baby who seldom cries is a result of the non-stop care of the mother who feeds, cleans, and provides for the comfort of her baby. The presence of the mother comforts the baby and the presence of the father or other family members are an extra bonus. That extra leap of growth from bonding with the parents makes baby feel loved and secure.
Beverly Morgan, author of the audiotape, Reading Your Baby’s Body Language, tells new mothers the many ways to explore their babies’ body language as they relate to breastfeeding. Watch the signals that the baby makes when he or she is ready to nurse, to defecate or urinate, to change position and many more things that we learn from babies.
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Tips: I massage baby’s body with calendula oil before each bath and using Dr Breuner’s soap. Sleeping with baby, breastfeeding and massaging them when they are sick helps. Each one of us, as parents must endure letting them go when they become adults or even having their own bedroom at 8 yrs of age. Now my babies are 18 and 20. All born at home with midwives.
I am helping families with college plans, save now , at least $5k per year and see what you can achieve, a lifetime retirement income for both of you, parents and children and future of grandchildren.
Connie Dello Buono
Retirement planner
408-854-1883
motherhealth@gmail.com
CA Life and Health Lic 0G60621
soon helping uncover complexities of Medical and Medicare for affordable senior care
Building Wealth Training Center, online and global
Hi,
I’m Connie Dello Buono and have partnered with Gray Massari, author and mentor/founder of Master Training School online and 30-min millionaire program.
Together, we will help create a brand image for you and use Linkedin and Facebook to create power partners and organically help all kinds of people to grow their business.
With small 5min Youtube video clips and web site tailored fit to your personality and global product which include scripts for you to run your business.
Please share this to others if do not want to be broke any longer, be mentored by Gary Massari and learn from the best in building your current business and adding a stream of income, globally.
Regards,
Connie Dello Buono
408-854-1883
motherhealth@gmail.com
clubalthea.jeunesseglobal.com
Happy Birthday my daughter Esther
Happy Birthday my daughter Esther
Happy Birthday my daughter Esther
You are now a full fledge woman at 18
In the Philippines, we introduce you to the world
I trust you but may not trust the world
But, I believe in you
In the way you give advice to your friends
You are far better than me in some ways
I am glad you came into my life
You are my number one wealth
I may have nothing in this world
But I have you, I am fullfilled
I will always forgive you and love you
The way you love me unconditionally
Now I am crying
And you have seen me cry for joy and sadness
that is why you succeed as an artist and
wanted to finish college
You wanted me to be happy
I am always proud of you, although I do not say it often enough
For I believe that action speaks louder than words
This is also your measure in finding a soul mate
A person who shows in action his enduring love for you
Although you do not want to shout it loud
To become a teacher is in your heart
I will always support you
For in freedom you become more creative
In love, you prosper and grow
You still have yet to see the Philippines
To be more motivated to succeed
And find meaning and gratitude in our life in the USA
to connect with someone
to walk our daughters on the beach
to held hands
to listen
Time is relative
Take your time to laugh and play
And do not be too serious in life
But live each day as if it were your last
Love always, love your brother and father
Wish you will add dancing in your schedule
Music and art are your passions
Dance to the music of your dreams
And see the beauty around you with your own eyes
3 min of dancing can be like 3hrs of dancing
5 min of listening to music seems to be like 5days
2 yrs with a bad relationship seems like 20 yrs..(just kidding)
time is how we spent it
just like money, how it works for us
time is like spice
it can spice our life, by savoring each moment
time is like anti aging herbs: pepper, turmeric, rosemary, garlic, ginger, oregano, nutmeg
it stops the bad air from flowing into us
it gives us life if we breath deeply, cleansing breath as we spend it
with good friends, family, loved ones and worthwhile endeavor
time is a measure of our fullness
it accumulates yes, but what matters is how we spent it
how we treasured each moment in time
is how we create happy memories
to last for a lifetime.
May God shower you with blessings
All the days of your life.
Mom
Connie Dello Buono
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See you all this Sat , July 12, at cherylburkedance.com in Mt View at 5pm for celebration, dancing and socializing
Acupuncture Has Many Benefits For The Athletes, Dr Quli
Acupuncture Has Many Benefits For The Athletes
Many of us might not ever somersault into the air or hurl ourselves over a bar six inches off the ground, but we can certainly learn some of the methods that these amazing athletes use to keep themselves in world class form. One of which is acupuncture. But are the benefits of acupuncture for athletes, and to us?
Pain Relief — Acupuncture is popular for its powerful ability to reduce and even eliminate pain. This is a big attraction for athletes who are plagued by injury and strain. By using acupuncture to relieve pain, the athletes will not have to worry about experiencing the side effects from pharmaceutical drugs or failing a drug test. There are several studies showing that when the needles are inserted, they stimulate points that boost the natural painkillers of the body. One study found that acupuncture affected the long-term ability of the brain to regulate pain.
Muscle Relaxation — Athletes train for thousands of hours which is very punishing for their bodies. Acupuncture can reduce the soreness of their workouts and increase blood flow throughout the body. This helps athletes get ready for another day by relaxing their tight muscles and reducing inflammation.
Fast Healing — If an athlete has to skip training or miss a competition, precious time is lost. Acupuncture will help their injuries heal faster so they will not have a miss valuable training time.
Better sleep and energy enhancement — Acupuncture can boost the energy of the athlete when they are aware, and will help them sleep at night. The body repairs itself during night-time so sleeping well is very important for a good performance.
Improved Blood Flow — Acupuncture will increase the amount of nitric oxide in the body. A study showed that the one reason acupuncture is effective is because the needles increase the release of nitric oxide throughout the body. Nitric oxide causes the blood vessels to wide and relax, which opens up the arteries. In turn, this allows better blood flow to the heart, and to the other important organs of the body.
Contact A Reliable Acupuncturist Now!
Acupuncture can help improve your overall well-bring because it increases blood flow, alleviate pain, relaxes muscle tension, helps speed up the healing of injuries, boosts energy during the day, and helps give a better sleep at night. Contact a reputable acupuncturist in your local area now and discuss your options on getting acupuncture therapy.
Whether you are an athlete, a sports enthusiast, or just a typical person with a busy schedule in need of all the energy that you can muster, acupuncture offers so many benefits. We all want to perform out best no matter how big or small the competition, the high jump or the business meeting.
About Dr Quli
Quli Zhou, is a Master Graduate of Chengdu University of Chinese Medicine, and received the Acupuncturist of the year award in 2001. She was also rewarded as a distinguished professor of Chinese medicine in 1995 and listed in the “Who’s Who” in 2002.
Licensed nationally and by the state as an acupuncturist and herbalist, she brings over 24 years of international clinical experience to her practice.
Quli Zhou continually studies in her field and in modern natural medicine. She blends ancient knowledge with medical innovations to effectively treat modern ailments.
To date, she has successfully treated over 10,000 patients. She specializes in treating pain, digestion problems, depression, infertility and woman’s hormone imbalance. She always provides her patients with the highest quality care with personal attention and to get the best results.