StemCell Therapy

A cell transplantation technique, historically used in human medicine with groundbreaking regenerative capabilities, has been made available to UK vets for the first time to treat a range of canine orthopaedic cases.

Originating in the medical world, the Lipogems technique was invented by Carlo Tremolada, an Italian maxillofacial plastic surgeon searching for a way to create a smoother, more viscous fat graft for filling defects and creating natural volumetric face enhancement.

Unexpectedly, patients given Lipogems experienced a significant decrease in bruising and inflammation normally associated with these procedures and demonstrated substantial regenerative effects on the underlying tissues.

Scientists identified the regenerative characteristics in Lipogems and it received US Food and Drug Administration Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (Act) Section 510(k) clearance in 2014. A subsequent review in 2016 saw it amended to include application in orthopaedic surgery settings.

The Lipogems method is carried out in one surgical step via a single-use kit for the lipoaspiration process and deployment of adipose tissue. Micro-fragmenting adipose tissue (harvested from fat) is obtained from lipoaspirates through a non-enzymatic, mechanical process using a closed system and disposable device.

Adipose tissue is harvested using a vacuum syringe around the flank of the dog under general anaesthetic, after the region has been anaesthetised by local infiltration with sterile saline and adrenaline.

Harvested fat tissue using the Lipogems device is washed in saline and gently agitated so the pericytes detach from small vessels and activate. Cells with the stromal vascular structure of adipose tissue then act as a local scaffold to maintain regenerative activity for many months.

Vet Offer Zeira said: To colleagues who ask me, why Lipogems?, I give them this the shortest and most truthful answer whoever deals with regenerative medicine uses stem cells; whoever deals with stem cells should use Lipogems.

Dr Zeira said: The results are amazing. Dogs that suffered severe lameness manage to walk with nearly no lameness within five to six days.

Lipogems Canine chief executive Martin ffrench Blake said the objective of the Lipogems product was to favour the natural regenerative process of tissues and was used in numerous pathologies.

Crown Vet Referrals is the only clinic in the UK and Ireland to have staff trained in the Lipogems Canine technique.

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Novel regeneration therapy available for use in UK dogs - vet times

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Our sense of smell is key to the enjoyment of food, so it may be no surprise that in experiments at the University of California, Berkeley, obese mice who lost their sense of smell also lost weight.

Whats weird, however, is that these slimmed-down but smell-deficient mice ate the same amount of fatty food as mice that retained their sense of smell and ballooned to twice their normal weight.

In addition, mice with a boosted sense of smell super-smellers got even fatter on a high-fat diet than did mice with normal smell.

The findings suggest that the odor of what we eat may play an important role in how the body deals with calories. If you cant smell your food, you may burn it rather than store it.

These results point to a key connection between the olfactory or smell system and regions of the brain that regulate metabolism, in particular the hypothalamus, though the neural circuits are still unknown.

This paper is one of the first studies that really shows if we manipulate olfactory inputs we can actually alter how the brain perceives energy balance, and how the brain regulates energy balance, said Cline Riera, a former UC Berkeley postdoctoral fellow now at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

Humans who lose their sense of smell because of age, injury or diseases such as Parkinsons often become anorexic, but the cause has been unclear because loss of pleasure in eating also leads to depression, which itself can cause loss of appetite.

The new study, published this week in the journal Cell Metabolism, implies that the loss of smell itself plays a role, and suggests possible interventions for those who have lost their smell as well as those having trouble losing weight.

Sensory systems play a role in metabolism. Weight gain isnt purely a measure of the calories taken in; its also related to how those calories are perceived, said senior author Andrew Dillin, the Thomas and Stacey Siebel Distinguished Chair in Stem Cell Research, professor of molecular and cell biology and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator. If we can validate this in humans, perhaps we can actually make a drug that doesnt interfere with smell but still blocks that metabolic circuitry. That would be amazing.

Riera noted that mice as well as humans are more sensitive to smells when they are hungry than after theyve eaten, so perhaps the lack of smell tricks the body into thinking it has already eaten. While searching for food, the body stores calories in case its unsuccessful. Once food is secured, the body feels free to burn it.

After UC Berkeley researchers temporarily eliminated the sense of smell in the mouse on the bottom, it remained a normal weight while eating a high-fat diet. The mouse on the top, which retained its sense of smell, ballooned in weighton the same high-fat diet.

The smell-deficient mice rapidly burned calories by up-regulating their sympathetic nervous system, which is known to increase fat burning. The mice turned their beige fat cells the subcutaneous fat storage cells that accumulate around our thighs and midriffs into brown fat cells, which burn fatty acids to produce heat. Some turned almost all of their beige fat into brown fat, becoming lean, mean burning machines.

In these mice, white fat cells the storage cells that cluster around our internal organs and are associated with poor health outcomes also shrank in size.

The obese mice, which had also developed glucose intolerance a condition that leads to diabetes not only lost weight on a high-fat diet, but regained normal glucose tolerance.

On the negative side, the loss of smell was accompanied by a large increase in levels of the hormone noradrenaline, which is a stress response tied to the sympathetic nervous system. In humans, such a sustained rise in this hormone could lead to a heart attack.

Though it would be a drastic step to eliminate smell in humans wanting to lose weight, Dillin noted, it might be a viable alternative for the morbidly obese contemplating stomach stapling or bariatric surgery, even with the increased noradrenaline.

For that small group of people, you could wipe out their smell for maybe six months and then let the olfactory neurons grow back, after theyve got their metabolic program rewired, Dillin said.

Dillin and Riera developed two different techniques to temporarily block the sense of smell in adult mice. In one, they genetically engineered mice to express a diphtheria receptor in their olfactory neurons, which reach from the noses odor receptors to the olfactory center in the brain. When diphtheria toxin was sprayed into their nose, the neurons died, rendering the mice smell-deficient until the stem cells regenerated them.

Separately, they also engineered a benign virus to carry the receptor into olfactory cells only via inhalation. Diphtheria toxin again knocked out their sense of smell for about three weeks.

In both cases, the smell-deficient mice ate as much of the high-fat food as did the mice that could still smell. But while the smell-deficient mice gained at most 10 percent more weight, going from 25-30 grams to 33 grams, the normal mice gained about 100 percent of their normal weight, ballooning up to 60 grams. For the former, insulin sensitivity and response to glucose both of which are disrupted in metabolic disorders like obesity remained normal.

Mice that were already obese lost weight after their smell was knocked out, slimming down to the size of normal mice while still eating a high-fat diet. These mice lost only fat weight, with no effect on muscle, organ or bone mass.

The UC Berkeley researchers then teamed up with colleagues in Germany who have a strain of mice that are supersmellers, with more acute olfactory nerves, and discovered that they gained more weight on a standard diet than did normal mice.

People with eating disorders sometimes have a hard time controlling how much food they are eating and they have a lot of cravings, Riera said. We think olfactory neurons are very important for controlling pleasure of food and if we have a way to modulate this pathway, we might be able to block cravings in these people and help them with managing their food intake.

Co-authors of the paper are Jens Brning, director of the Max Planck Institute for Metabolism Research in Cologne, Germany, and his colleagues Eva Tsaousidou, Linda Engstrm Ruud, Jens Alber, Hella Brnneke and Brigitte Hampel; Jonathan Halloran, Courtney Anderson and Andreas Stahl of UC Berkeley; Patricia Follett and Carlos Daniel de Magalhaes Filho of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California; and Oliver Hahn of the Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing in Cologne.

The work was supported by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Glenn Center for Research on Aging and the American Diabetes Association.

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Originally posted here:
Smelling your food makes you fat | Berkeley News - UC Berkeley

US Stem Cell Inc (OTCMKTS:USRM)has been gaining back some of its loss from last month. It might be that the markets are starting to focus on the science of USRM and not the less than healthy financials.

USRM bills itself as a company committed to the development of effective cell technologies to treat a variety of diseases and injuries. USRMs discoveries include multiple cell therapies in various stages of development that repair damaged tissues throughout the body due to injury or disease so that patients may return to a normal lifestyle.

US Stem Cell Inc (OTCMKTS:USRM)is focused on regenerative medicine. While most stem cell companies use one particular cell type to treat a variety of diseases, U.S Stem Cell utilizes various cell types to treat different diseases.

According to company materials, US Stem Cell, Inc. (formerly Bioheart, Inc.) is an emerging enterprise in the regenerative medicine / cellular therapy industry. We are focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of cell based therapeutics that prevent, treat or cure disease by repairing and replacing damaged or aged tissue, cells and organs and restoring their normal function.

You can find outwhen $USRM stock reaches critical levels. Subscribe to OracleDispatch.com Right Now by entering your Email in the box below.

Market are yet to react to the companys most recent news, which symboilizes a major step forward for US Stem Cell in terms of validation of its lead technology and the primary application of this technology to the healthcare space.

Specifically, the news details the publication of a preclinical trial of US Stem Cells osteoarthritis treatment. The science that underpins this treatment is pretty much the same across the whole spectrum of different target indications and thats why this validation is so important.

Essentially, the company removes fat cells from the patient through liposuction and then extracts stem cells from this removed fat. It then injects the stem cells (directly) into the region of the body for which the patient requires treatment.

USRM just recently released results from a study where stem cell treatment was injected into patients knees and patients were asked to walk for 6 minutes after the WOMAC test. The treatment numbers proved to be successful.

Across the ten patients, average WOMAC reduced to 52 at 3 months, 46 at 6 months, 42 at 1 year, 38 at 1.5 years, and 41 at 2 years. This is after one round of treatment. All of these reductions were statistically significant, recorded at p-values of 0.01 or less. Similarly, the treatment resulted in an improvement in the 6MWD test at 3 and 6 months and 1, 1.5, and 2 years post treatment.

The study is not enough to validate the treatment in total, but if the upcoming tests continue to validate this treatment, the stock could take a run.

US Stem Cell Inc (OTCMKTS:USRM) has great science and cash to burn for the moment after a $5 million financing but investors need watch out for dilution. USRM is carrying a $17.56 million market cap and 335.43 million shares outstanding. We will be watching news on this company and if the therapy results are promising again, the market may not ignore it for a second time. However, as all investors know, biotech is a risky endeavor, regardless. For continuing coverage on shares of $USRM stock, as well as other breakout stock picks, sign up for our free newsletter today and get our next hot stock pick!

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US Stem Cell Inc (OTCMKTS:USRM) is Back on Our Radar - The Oracle Dispatch

DUBLIN, July 5, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

Research and Markets has announced the addition of Jain PharmaBiotech's new report "Cell Therapy - Technologies, Markets and Companies" to their offering.

This report describes and evaluates cell therapy technologies and methods, which have already started to play an important role in the practice of medicine. Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation is replacing the old fashioned bone marrow transplants. Role of cells in drug discovery is also described. Cell therapy is bound to become a part of medical practice.

Stem cells are discussed in detail in one chapter. Some light is thrown on the current controversy of embryonic sources of stem cells and comparison with adult sources. Other sources of stem cells such as the placenta, cord blood and fat removed by liposuction are also discussed. Stem cells can also be genetically modified prior to transplantation.

Cell therapy technologies overlap with those of gene therapy, cancer vaccines, drug delivery, tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. Pharmaceutical applications of stem cells including those in drug discovery are also described. Various types of cells used, methods of preparation and culture, encapsulation and genetic engineering of cells are discussed. Sources of cells, both human and animal (xenotransplantation) are discussed. Methods of delivery of cell therapy range from injections to surgical implantation using special devices.

Cell therapy has applications in a large number of disorders. The most important are diseases of the nervous system and cancer which are the topics for separate chapters. Other applications include cardiac disorders (myocardial infarction and heart failure), diabetes mellitus, diseases of bones and joints, genetic disorders, and wounds of the skin and soft tissues.

Regulatory and ethical issues involving cell therapy are important and are discussed. Current political debate on the use of stem cells from embryonic sources (hESCs) is also presented. Safety is an essential consideration of any new therapy and regulations for cell therapy are those for biological preparations.

The cell-based markets was analyzed for 2016, and projected to 2026. The markets are analyzed according to therapeutic categories, technologies and geographical areas. The largest expansion will be in diseases of the central nervous system, cancer and cardiovascular disorders. Skin and soft tissue repair as well as diabetes mellitus will be other major markets.

The number of companies involved in cell therapy has increased remarkably during the past few years. More than 500 companies have been identified to be involved in cell therapy and 306 of these are profiled in part II of the report along with tabulation of 291 alliances. Of these companies, 170 are involved in stem cells. Profiles of 72 academic institutions in the US involved in cell therapy are also included in part II along with their commercial collaborations. The text is supplemented with 64 Tables and 22 Figures. The bibliography contains 1,200 selected references, which are cited in the text.

Key Topics Covered:

Part I: Technologies, Ethics & Regulations

Executive Summary

1. Introduction to Cell Therapy

2. Cell Therapy Technologies

3. Stem Cells

4. Clinical Applications of Cell Therapy

5. Cell Therapy for Cardiovascular Disorders

6. Cell Therapy for Cancer

7. Cell Therapy for Neurological Disorders

8. Ethical, Legal and Political Aspects of Cell therapy

9. Safety and Regulatory Aspects of Cell Therapy

Part II: Markets, Companies & Academic Institutions

10. Markets and Future Prospects for Cell Therapy

11. Companies Involved in Cell Therapy

12. Academic Institutions

13. References

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/hpj9sh/cell_therapy

Source: Jain PharmaBiotech

Media Contact:

Laura Wood, Senior Manager press@researchandmarkets.com

For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900

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Global Cell Therapy Report 2017 - Technologies, Markets and Companies 2016-2026 with Profiles of Key Companies ... - PR Newswire UK (press release)

With Stem Cells being used in the media and by other surgeons like an every day word, we want to clarify our standings on its use

Fat transfer, also known as fat grafting or autologous fat transfer, is the process of using the patients own fat to increase the volume of fat in another area of their body. The fat is harvested or extracted with a liposuction cannula. They are prepared for reintroduction into the body and injected into the new part of the body where the additional bulk is used for medical or cosmetic purposes. The most common donor areas, where fat is taken from, are the stomach, thighs, and waist.

The procedure is minimally invasive making it very appealing. Another advantage of fat transfer is that the body does not reject it because it is the patients own fat. However, there is a rate of absorption, a percentage of the transferred fat, that does not survive. Therefore, it is extremely important to select a surgeon that uses a proven technique with the highest fat survival rate.

Many women have turned to the Miami Breast Center looking for natural and permanent results. Dr. Khouri is a pioneer in the use of autologous fat to reconstruct and augment breasts. He is able to rebuild an entire breast using only the patients fat and the external tissue expander BRAVA. The BRAVA bra is worn a few weeks prior to surgery and stretches the tissue, both externally and internally, creating a matrix into which the transferred fat will be injected. This matrix is essential for fat placement and survival.

Dr. Khouri uses a very fine needle-like cannula, that he developed, to gently perform liposuction. The fat naturally contains stem cells, which are harvested in the process along with the fat and preserved in the transfer. However, nothing artificial is added nor biologically manipulated within the harvested fat.

Studies have shown that breasts rebuilt with this fat transfer process, pre-expanded with BRAVA, result in high fat survival and last forever. They look and feel natural and retain near-normal sensation. Compared to implants that on average need to be replaced every 10 years and can leave a woman with non-sensate breasts and nipples, Dr. Khouri offers a great alternative.

Growing concerns have emerged over the clinical practices and marketing claims made by the plastic surgery community promoting stem cell use in fat transfers. The term stem cells is hyped by the media and used by some surgeons like an everyday word. A small group of unethical practitioners are deliberately misleading and exploiting the public with false claims. Therefore, a task force was convened to address the false advertising claims that are not substantiated by scientific evidence.

The task force was made up of two of the worlds largest organizations of board-certified plastic surgeons, the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS) and the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS). They issued a joint position statement during The Aesthetic Meeting 2011, the annual meeting of ASAPS.

Dr. Roger Khouri himself sat on the task force and participated in the joint position statement. Here are a few of the recommendations made by the task force:

Dr. Khouri is a strong proponent of truth in advertising and very clearly states that his technique is a fat grafting procedure and not a stem cell procedure. Our technique of fat harvesting, preparation, and grafting preserves the native stem cells in the fat graft because we use very fine needle-like cannulas to gently liposuction the patients fat. The harvested fat is naturally rich in stem cells. Nothing artificial is added nor biologically manipulated within the harvested fat.

Despite there being great promise for the future, there is NO scientific evidence that stem cells have ANY proven useful medical application to date. Dr. Khouris has published his clinical studies that demonstrate the efficacy of his fat transfer to the breast procedure. The most recent study published by the Journal of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery in May 2012 highlights the success of Dr. Khouris procedure. The six-year study concluded that his procedure, with the use of BRAVA leads to significantly larger breast augmentations, with more fat graft placement, higher graft survival rates, and minimal graft necrosis or complications, demonstrating high safety and efficacy for the procedure.

The respected medical establishments have refrained from offering unproven therapies and do not market themselves as providing Stem Cell Therapy or Stem Cell Procedures simply because there is not enough clinical data. Cosmetic procedures advertising the use of fat-derived stem cells lack the scientific evidence to support it. To read the entire ASPS and ASAPS Joint Position Statement on Stem Cells and Fat Grafting click here.

If a surgeon makes a claim about the efficacy of a stem cell procedure ask them for the published study. If its not available dont be misled. Beware of unethical practitioners who manipulate stem cells and claim better results. Ask to see the scientific proof showing the stem cells are a direct cause of the final results.

Dr. Khouris technique has been recognized around the world. Last year he received the European Award for Best Reconstruction Procedure. He shares his expertise at seminars and conferences around the world. Plastic surgeons from different countries flock to his annual Fat Graft Course where he teaches his revolutionary fat grafting technique. He mentors surgeons one-on-one and trains them to successfully and permanently rebuild an entire breast using a womans own fat. His revolutionary fat grafting technique is not a false claim, it is a proven clinical wonder.

To view before and after pictures visit our Photo Gallery or view video Testimonials of real women whos lifes have been changed by Dr. Khouris procedure.

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Fat Grafting & the use of Stem Cells - Miami Breast Center

Are you suffering from chronicjoint pain? If so, you may want to ask your doctor whetherstem cellinjections are right for you. If you want to avoid the surgical route of repairing a damaged knee or treating an arthritic shoulder, a stem cell injection may give you the relief you need.

Cleveland Clinic is a non-profit academic medical center. Advertising on our site helps support our mission. We do not endorse non-Cleveland Clinic products or services. Policy

Stem cells are specialtypes of cells with the ability to self-renew or multiply. They have the potential to replicate any cell in your body. In other words, they canbecome a cartilage cell, a muscle cell or a nerve cell, says orthopedic surgeonAnthony Miniaci, MD.

They have a tremendous capacity to differentiate and form different tissues, so thats the thought behind regenerating cartilage, regenerating nerve cells and healing any injured tissues, he says.

The source of stem cells isfound in your own bone marrow orfat or you can also receive stem cells from donor sources, particularlyamniotic sourcessuch as the placenta or the amniotic fluid and lining surrounding a fetus. These cells are not part of the embryo, Dr. Miniaci says.

The number of stem cells that you have and theirquality and activity diminish as you get older, he says. Amniotic stem cells, on the other hand, are from young tissue, so theoretically these are younger, more active cells.

Thetreatment team harvests stem cells from your bone marrow or fat or uses donor cells . Later on, your treatment team injects the cells preciselyinto your joint, ligament or tendon.

Theoretically, the cells will then divide and duplicate themselves and develop into different types of cells depending on the location into which they have been injected. For example, if you have damagedknee cartilage, stem cells placed near the damaged cartilage can develop into new cartilage tissue.

However, for patients with asevere loss of cartilageor no cartilage at all, a stem cell injection is unlikely to createa new joint, Dr. Miniaci says.

Severe loss of cartilage typically leads to bone erosion or bone deformity, so a stem cell injection is highly unlikely to work in terms of reversing those changes, he says.

It can, however, improve your symptoms of pain and swelling.

The earlier you can treat someones joint pain, the better chance this has of working, making it less painful for thepatient, less inflamed, and improve their function, he says.

The main risk from a stem cell injection is in harvesting the stem cells. When taking the cells from your bone marrow, the treatment team inserts a large needle into your pelvis and removes some blood and the cells.

Any time you make incisions or insert sharp instrument into somebodys pelvis, they can have problems such as acquiring an infection, Dr. Miniaci says.

If youre taking the stem cells from fat, you you can remove some out from under the skin, he says. Again, you have a risk for an infection because were making little nicks into the skin to get to the fat.

While the use of stem cell injections to treatjoint painholds much promise, Dr. Miniaci cautions that this treatment option is still very new. Researchers needto study its effectiveness further.

We dont have a lot of data or proof indicating that stem cell injections actually repair the joint, he says.

He explains that if you have cartilage orbone damage, stem cells candifferentiate and produce bone and cartilage and tissues. So, theoretically, they could heal damaged tissue within a muscle, tendon, bone or cartilage.

Thats the theory behind it, but this type of treatment and research is just in its infancy, he says.

We really dont know whats effective, whats not effective, how many cells are necessary, how many actual injections you need and how often, he says. Nobody knows how well it works yet. But we will eventually.

Anecdotally, Dr. Miniaci finds that some patients can have significant improvement in their symptoms with stem cellinjections. But he has not seen any proof yet that they are regrowing or regenerating a joint.

Many people think that theyre going to come in with their arthritic joint and leave with a newer version of their knee joint. That doesnt happen, he says.

What does occur is a biological reaction which makes the environment in their joints a little healthier, which probably makes it less inflamed, and as result, gives them less pain.

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Stem Cell Injections: Emerging Option for Joint Pain Relief Health ... - Health Essentials from Cleveland Clinic (blog)

The arthritis in Maureen Munsies ankles was so intense until barely a year ago, she literally had to crawl on hands and knees to get upstairs.

The pain, she recalls now, took my breath away, and played havoc with the avid hikers favourite pastime.

In desperation, Munsie turned to a Toronto-area clinic that provides a treatment many experts consider still experimental, unproven and of questionable safety.

The 63-year-old says the stem cells she received at Regenervate Medical Injection Therapy 18 months ago were transformational, all but eliminating the debilitating soreness and even allowing her to hike Argentinas Patagonia mountains two months ago.

For me its been a life saver, Munsie says. Ive been able to do it all again I dont have any of that pain, at all.

Canadians drawn to the healing promise of stem cells have for years travelled outside the country to such places as Mexico, China or Arizona, taking part in a dubious form of medical tourism.

But Regenervate is one of a handful of clinics in Canada that have begun offering injections of stem cells, satisfying growing demand but raising questions about whether a medical idea with huge potential is ready for routine patient care.

Especially when those patients can pay thousands of dollars for the service.

Clinics in Ontario and Alberta are treating arthritis, joint injuries, disc problems and even skin conditions with stem cells typically taken from patients fat tissue or bone marrow.

The underlying idea is compelling: stem cells can differentiate or transform into many other types of cell, a unique quality that evidence suggests allows them to grow or regenerate tissue damaged by disease or injury.

Researchers including hundreds in Canada alone are examining stem-cell treatments for everything from ailing hearts to severed spinal cords.

With few exceptions, however, the concept is still being studied in the lab or in human trials; virtually none of the treatments have been definitively proven effective by science or approved by regulators like Health Canada.

The fact that Canadian clinics are now offering stem-cell treatments commercially is concerning on a number of levels, not least because of safety issues, says Ubaka Ogbogu, a health law professor at the University of Alberta.

Three U.S. women were blinded after receiving stem-cell injections in their eyes, while other American patients have developed bony masses or tumours at injection sites, Ogbogu said.

Stem cells have to be controlled to act exactly the way you want them to act, and thats why the research takes time, he said. It is simply wrong for these clinics to take a proof of concept and run with it.

Ogbogu says Health Canada must crack down on the burgeoning industry but says the regulator has so far been conspicuous by its inaction.

Other experts say the procedures provided here typically for joint pain are likely relatively safe, but still warn that care must be taken that the stem cells do not develop into the wrong type of tissue, or at the wrong place.

Alberta Health Services convened a workshop on the issue late last year, concluding there is an urgent need to develop a certification system for cell preparation and delivery to avoid spontaneous transformation of (stem cells) into unwanted tissue.

But one of the pioneers of the service in Canada says theres no empirical evidence that such growths can develop, and suggests the treatments only real risk as with an invasive procedure is infection.

Meanwhile, patients at Regenervate have enjoyed impressive outcomes after paying fees from $750 to $3,900, says Dr. Douglas Stoddard, the clinics medical director.

About 80 per cent report less pain, stiffness and weakness within a few months of getting their stem-cell injection, he said.

I believe medical progress is not just limited to the laboratory and randomized double-blind trials, Stoddard said. A lot of progress starts in the clinic, dealing with patients You see something works, you see something has merit, and then its usually the scientists that seem to catch up later.

The Orthopedic Sport Institute in Collingwood, Ont., the Central Alberta Pain and Rehabilitation Institute and Cleveland Clinic in Toronto all advertise similar stem-cell treatments for orthopedic problems.

Edmontons Regen Clinic says it plans to start doing so this fall.

Ottawas Innovo says it also treats a range of back conditions with injections between the vertebrae, and uses stem cells to alleviate nerve damage.

Orthopedic Sport says its doctor focuses on FDA and Health Canada approved stem-cell injection therapy for patient care.

In fact, no treatment of the sort the clinics here provide has ever been authorized.

Health Canada says the vast majority of stem-cell therapies would constitute a drug and therefore need to be authorized after a clinical trial or new drug submission.

A number of stem-cell trials are underway, but only one treatment Prochymal has been approved, said department spokesman Eric Morrissette. Designed to combat graft-versus-host disease where bone marrow transplants for treating cancer essentially attack the patients body its unlike any of the services the stem-cell providers here offer.

But as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration aggressively pursues the hundreds of clinics in America, Health Canada says only that its committed to addressing complaints it receives.

It will take action based on the risk posed to the general public, said Morrissette, who encouraged people to pass on to the department information about possible non-compliant products.

Stoddard said the injections his clinics provide are made up of minimally manipulated tissue from patients own bodies and any attempt to crack down would be regulation for the sake of regulation.

But academic experts remain skeptical about the effectiveness of the treatments.

Scientific evidence suggests the injections may help alleviate joint pain temporarily, but probably just because of anti-inflammatory secretions from the cells not regeneration, said Dr. David Hart, an orthopedic surgery professor at the University of Calgary who headed the Alberta workshop.

Theres a need for understanding whats going on here and theres a need for regulation, he said.

Most of the clinics say they use a centrifuge to concentrate the stem cells after removing them from patients fat tissue or bone marrow. But its unclear if the clinics even know how many cells they are eventually injecting into patients, says Jeff Biernaskie, a stem-cell scientist at the University of Calgary.

Munsie, on the other hand, has no doubts about the value of her own treatment, even with a $3,000 price tag.

The procedure from extraction of fat tissue in her behind to the injection of cells into her ankles took barely over an hour.

Within three months, the retired massage therapist from north of Toronto says she could walk her dogs again. Last week, she was hiking near Banff.

Im a real believer in it, and the possibility of stem cells, says Munsie. I just think Wow, if we can heal with our own body, its pretty amazing.

tblackwell@nationalpost.com

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Canadian clinics begin offering stem-cell treatments experts call unproven, possibly unsafe - National Post

Question: I find the concept of a 5-year filler like Bellafill to be very interesting as Im tired of refilling with fillers every year or so. Its also become very costly to keep returning for regular repeat treatments. I have fine lines over my cheeks and lips as well as deep smiles lines and those awful puppet lines. What type of lines can Bellafill be used for?

Answer: Yours is an important question since patients often believe that the many injectable fillers are interchangeable. However, each filler is specifically designed to be injected at a certain depth in the skin and used only for certain purposes. Unlike Restylane Silk or Juvederm XC, Bellafill is a volumization filler for hollowing in the cheeks, temples and under eyes. Bellafill is also used for deep lines and grooves such as the deep nasolabial smile lines and marionette or puppet lines at the mouth corners. Bellafill is not designed to improve very fine lip lines or other finer facial lines.

In answer to your question, Bellafill could be very effective and natural looking for your deep nasolabial folds and mouth corner grooves. In terms of the fine lines around your lips and in the cheek area, you may continue to use temporary fillers for those fines every 6 to 12 months. Alternatively, PRP with fat stem cells is a long-term option.

I have been using protein-rich plasma(PRP) combined with stem cells, using a proprietary mixing technique, and injecting this into fine facial lines. The benefits of this procedure are that the injected material is purely derived from your own bodys tissues and not a foreign substance. Because the PRP contains a high concentration of growth factors, these growth factors stimulate the stem cells, derived from fat, to differentiate into collagen-producing cells. The results are much longer lasting compared to that of commercially available fillers.

The combination of Bellafill for your deep lines and grooves and PRP/fat-derived stem cells for your finer facial lines can be a very effective facial rejuvenation tool that can avoid the high cost of frequent maintenance treatments with temporary fillers.

Dr. Anita Mandal is a double Board Certified Facial Plastic Surgeon practicing since 1998. She exclusively specializes in facial rejuvenation and non-invasive body contouring. In addition to being on the medical staff at Jupiter Medical Center, her offices house both surgical and laser suites. Dr. Mandal is committed to giving her patients the most natural looking results.

______________________________

Mandal Plastic Surgery Center

2401 PGA Blvd., Suite 146

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Bellafill For Which Type Of Wrinkles? - Palm Beach Post

Stem cell therapy: the next wave in regenerative medicine?

All it involved was a quick injection no different, really, than a flu shot.

A few weeks later, Bill Ambrose realized hed become significantly less reliant on taking Aleve for knee pain, and he was re-learning how to walk without shuffling his feet.

Surgery, it turned out, might not be necessary after all.

Last November, Ambrose scheduled knee surgery to alleviate discomfort in his knees caused by what orthopedic doctors called true bone-on-bone at the joint. But for one reason or another, he kept missing pre-surgery and the surgery never happened.

The next month, Ambrose met with Dr. Bill Nolan, of Cherry Street Health Group, to discuss advertising space in the Danvers Herald.

For the purpose of full disclosure, Ambrose is an employee of Gatehouse Media Company, and he works in the advertising department for Wicked Local, the local branch of GHM newspapers.

After Nolans ads ran inthe Jan. 5issue of the Herald, Ambrose said he reached out to Nolan again. This time, for himself.

Nolans practice offered a solution to his knee pain an alternative to knee surgery he had never considered before: stem cell therapy.

Essentially, the solutionCherry StreetHealth Group offered was an injection of amniotic fluid into Ambrose's knee joint. The stem cells and other growth factorsin the fluid would allow for the regeneration of the cartilage at the joint.

I became interested so I decided to go ahead with it, Ambrose said.

He brought in scans to show Nolan, who said, contrary to what orthopedic doctors had told him, he didnt have true bone on bone. There was still a small space between the bones.

I decided to have one leg done and my knee started getting much better, he said.

Satisfied with the results of the first injection, Ambrose decided to get his left knee done in April.

I still experience some pain in [the left knee], but I get up in the morning and theres very little pain at all, he said in an interview a few weeks following the appointment.

The stem cell option

In the U.S., there are three ways that stem cells are used, Nolan said. Theyre either taken from bone marrow, fat cells, or the amniotic membrane of a healthy c-section from a consenting woman.

When stem cellsare injected into the body,they're expected to increase space at the joint, rebuild cartilage, and ultimately, provide more stability in the joint. As many as 570 businesses across the country advertise some kind of stem cell therapy, according to a 2016 paper.

Stem cell therapy is not necessarily a new discovery, but it is relatively recent in the world of regenerative medicine.Stem cells were first used as much as century ago, first for eye procedures and as filler for the spinal cord, according to Regenexx, which claims to have pioneered orthopedic stem cell treatments in 2005.

Adult stem cells are retrieved directly from the patient, either frombone marrow or fat cells,and concentrated beforeits reinjectedinto the patient's site of pain.

In the case of amniotic fluid therapy,amniotic fluid, which contains stem cells and other growth factors, is injected into the site. These cellshave been shown to "expand extensively" and show "high renewal capacity,"according to research published in the National Library of Medicine.

We know that as you age, your stem cell count decreases,Nolan said, explaining the benefit of using cells from the amniotic membrane. We know that when we get it from the amniotic membrane, theres a large amount of stem cells that are present. From the amniotic membrane, there are no antibodies or antigens, so its safe for anyone to get.

At Cherry Street Health Group, theproduct usedis produced by General Surgical and distributed by RegenOMedix, according to Nolan.The product, which is called ReGen Anu RHEO, is American Tissue Bank approved and FDA cleared.

RHEO is marketed as "a human tissue allograft derived from placental tissue; amniotic membrane and amniotic fluid."Its a"powerful combination" of amniotic fluid and mesencymal stem cells, which are known to differentiate into a variety of cell types, according to RegenOMedix.It also contains growth factor proteins andis "rich" in other necessary components for tissue regeneration.

The product is non-steroidal and comes with no side effects, and the company says no adverse events have been recorded using the product.

Nolan said stem cell therapy has been offered as a treatmentat Cherry Street since 2016.

Across the U.S., there are as many as 56 businesses marketing some form of amniotic stem cellsto its consumers, according to the same paper.

At Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, for example, orthopedic surgeon Adam Yanke enrolled one of his patients into an experimental amniotic cell therapy treatment program. The woman, a 65-year-old suffering from osteoarthritis in both knees, told reporters the injections were "by far the most effective pain treatment" she had tried, and so farthat relief has lasted up to a year.

But while the use of amniotic fluid therapyas a regenerative medicine is becoming increasingly popular throughout the U.S.,the use of amniotic stemcellsdoesn't comewithout concern from some within the community.

Dr. Chris Centeno, who specializes in regenerative medicine andthe clinical use of adult stem cells, has blogged numerous times for Regenexx on the "scam" of using amniotic stem cells most recently in sharply worded post on May 22.

"Regrettably, we have an epidemic on our hands that began when sales reps began telling medical providers thattheir dead amniotic and cord tissues had loads of live cells on it," he wrote.

Nolan said he was familiar with Centeno's posts.

"A lot of the stem cell stuff is new," he said. "Some of the products out there ... They were doing testing on them and not finding cells."

Cherry Street Health Group has treatedabout 50patients with this form of regenerative medicine and had significant success, according to Nolan. Although Nolan owns the health group on Cherry Street in Danvers, the stem cell treatments are provided under the medical practice of Dr. Pat Scanlan.

Weve had really, really amazing success, Nolan said. Weve had over 95 percent success of all the patients weve had in the office. Its been a game changer from a practice standpoint.

The "worst thing" that could happen is there might not be any regeneration, he explained.

"You might get pain relief, but no regeneration," Nolan said. "But from what weve seen, there have been no negative side effects."

At Cherry Street, knees are the most commonly treated joints, followed by hips, shoulders and the lower back. The cervical spine is the least common.

"I hesitated on the surgery, and I'm gladI did," Ambrose said. "Even if[the stem cells]don't do any more than what they've done, its been well worth it."

Patients who do present with true bone on bone, however, are not candidates for this form of therapy, Nolan said.

The cost comparison

At Cherry Street Health Group, the cost of the injection comes toroughly $4,000 per knee, a cost that isn't covered by insurance. By comparison, health-care providers often charge insurers more than $18,000 for knee replacement surgeries in the Boston area, according to a report by the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.

The report, however, doesn't account for what the patient actually pays.

Nolan said when other factors of post-op are considered time off of work, rehabilitation time and cost the out-of-pocketcost for surgery compared to stem cell treatment is comparable.

"When you really boil it down, it can be the same or, in a lot of cases, a savings," he said.

Ambrose said it "boggles his mind" that more people don't choose this treatment over surgery.

"Why would you spend $40,000 on a car and not want to spend $4,000 on a knee?," he said."Its crazy. Yes, its out of pocket. So what? We buy a lot of stuff we dont need, and then for something like this, something that people, if they do it, theyll be glad they did it. Its just hard to convince them to do it."

In arecent report in STAT news, a health news start up of the Boston Globe, a study of orthopedic procedures in the U.S. suggested an estimated one-third of knee replacement surgeries are inappropriate. More than 640,000 of these surgeries are performed each year, making for a $10 billion dollar industry in knee surgery.

The study said that evidence isn't limited to just knee surgeries.

"There's a lot that needs to change when we look at health care in general,"Nolan said. "It's really no surprise that something like doing this regenerative medicine is going to take time for it to really take off."

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Danvers health group offers alternative solution to surgery - Wicked Local North of Boston

A quick google search for those interested in losing weight will quickly reveal the latest buzz-worthy trendmeal prepping. From OCD-approved rows of macronutrient-friendly meals to personal competitions to complete a weeks worth of preparation before a timer runs out, its no surprise there are more than 5 million posts tagged #mealprep on Instagram.

The hype is justified, as studies have shown that people who meal prep are likely to have healthier diets and follow nutritional guidelines more closely. Other positive effects include better portion control,, spending less money on weekly groceries and eating out less.

In theory, there isnt anything wrong with meal prepping. However, if not practiced carefulyl, this method could sabotage your weight loss effortsfor a reason that has very little to do with the actual food you prep. These efforts can go to waste if you are prepping in containers containing the harmful, hormone-disrupting chemical bisphenol A, or BPA.

This chemical can be found in many places, such as polycarbonate plastic, canned food linings and even on smartphones. Generally, were regularly ingesting BPA and it passes through the body fairly quickly once exposed. The issues arise when people are exposed to high levels of BPAsuch as when every meal of every day is prepped in plastic containers containing the chemical.

An effective diet is not just about healthy eating, managing sugar and carbohydrates, and exercise, said Dr. Aly Cohen, a rheumatologist and integrative medicine and environmental health specialist at the CentraState Medical Center. Reducing chemical exposure is also key because many of these chemicals can disrupt normal hormone function, impede weight loss, and even cause weight gain. Just because chemicals may not have an obvious effect, like causing a rash, doesnt mean they arent tinkering with your body.

Not only has research shown that BPA is an active agent in prompting cells to become fat cells, it has also shown that exposure to the chemical can make it harder to feel full.

BPA is so ubiquitous, that humans are continuously exposed, making BPA pseudo-persistent, Cohen said. Whats interesting in terms of weight is that BPA can turn stem cells into fat cells and make fat cells turn larger. Thats not great news for our waistlines

But there is hope for those dedicated to the life of meal prepping with just a few alterations. Using glass, stainless steel or ceramic containers when possible and using care with plastic containers when necessarysuch as avoiding harsh chemical cleaners and never reheating food in plasticwill help decrease BPA exposure. Further, switching to fresh or frozen produce and avoiding canned, if you can, will help bring these levels down.

Photo: Andrey_Popov/Shutterstock, CC-BY

Emma Korstanjeis a freelance journalist based out of Athens, GA.

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Is Meal Prepping Negating Your Weight Loss Efforts? - Paste Magazine

Dr. CohenFor the first time, the FDA has approved a reusable fat collection and transfer system for plastic and reconstructive surgery.

In March, Millennium Medical Techologies (MMT) was granted clearance of its collection of canisters, lids, luer extension and bags that are used with vacuum and/or cleared pumps, tubing and cannulas for collection and transfer of aspirate fat.

The FDA clearance of these items for grafting permits me to use FDA-validated devices in conjunction with the companys Lipo-Loop for large volume fat grafting, without cost or need for additional processing devices, says Steven R. Cohen, M.D., medical director and owner of FACES+ Plastic Surgery, Skin and Laser Center in San Diego, Calif.

Dr. Cohen tells Cosmetic Surgery Times that he co-developed Lipo-Loop, a sterile closed system for liposuction, to eliminate the confusion around large volume fat grafting. Tumescent anesthesia is more effectively delivered because the device vibrates while instilling the solution, making it very comfortable for the patient.

The fat is gently separated by vibration, yielding more stem and regenerative cells, while loosening up the fat and making it easier and more comfortable to remove, Dr. Cohen explains. Because the fat graft is optimized by the hole size of the harvest cannula, it is already micronized. Then, after rinsing, if even needed, the fat is ready to be reinjected into the patient using an automatic injection with vibration, making the fat graft more uniformly distributed and smoother.

Dr. Cohen says Lipo-Loop is the first commercially available system to make large volume fat grafting predictable, simple and safe. Not only can one obtain macrofat for grafting larger volumes into breasts and buttocks, but one can also modify the fat for full facial rejuvenation in a new procedure I have labeled injectable tissue regeneration.

Related: Best practices for facial fat transfer

The discovery of bioactive and biostimulatory cells and molecules, such as mesenchymal stem cells, pericytes, growth factors, exosomes and other cell signaling factors in fat, are leading to a disruption in not only how we will manage aging in the face, but also how we will manage aging and wear and tear in other body tissues, Dr. Cohen says.

For instance, for early knee injury, instead of injecting a steroid to reduce pain and inflammation, we will be injecting stromal vascular fraction cells and platelet rich plasma into the knee to reduce inflammation and stimulate repair, Dr. Cohen says.

Likewise, for facial aging, we will be treating a woman with full facial fat grafting early in the course of agingto replace what is being lost with biologically active tissues that not only restore appearance, but actually regenerate tissue that has aged, Dr. Cohen says. These new strategies will likely be found to impact us even on the cellular level, where we may for the first time begin to see a deacceleration of the aging process in some tissues treated with these new regenerative approaches.

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Lipo-Loop: A closed system for large-volume fat transfer - ModernMedicine

[ACCESSWIRE]

SUNRISE, FL / ACCESSWIRE / June 21, 2017 / U.S. Stem Cell (OTCQB: USRM). A scientific paper about intra-articular injection for the treatment of osteoarthritis co-authored by Kristin Comella, Chief Science Officer at U.S. Stem Cell, Inc., a Florida corporation and leader in novel regenerative medicine solutions and physician-based stem cell therapies for human and animal patients, was published in the June 20, 2017 issue of the Journal of Translational Medicine.

Comella is a world-renowned expert on regenerative medicine with a focus on adipose derived stem cells. She was named number 24 on Terrapin's list of the Top 50 Global Stem Cell Influencers and number 1 on the Academy of Regenerative Practices list of Top 10 Stem Cell Innovators. Comella has pioneered stem cell therapies from various sources including cord blood, bone marrow, muscle, and adipose.

Entitled, "Intra-articular injection in the knee of adipose derived stromal cells (stromal vascular fraction) and platelet rich plasma for osteoarthritis," the scientific paper was co-authored by Kristin Comella, Himanshu Bansal, Jerry Leon, Poonam Verma, Diwaker Agrawal, Prasad Koka and Thomas Ichim. Below is a link and abstract to the paper: http://bit.ly/2smaM93.

Background: Stromal vascular fraction (SVF) can easily be obtained from a mini- lipoaspirate procedure of fat tissue and platelet rich plasma (PRP) can be obtained from peripheral blood. We evaluated the safety and preliminary e?-cacy of administering SVF and PRP intra-articularly into patients with osteoarthritis grade 1 and 2.

Methods: A total of ten patients underwent a local tumescent liposuction procedure to remove approximately 100 ml of fat tissue from the abdomen. SVF was isolated using an enzyme digestion and resuspended in PRP for intra-articular injection in the knee. The Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) score and six-minute walk distance (6MWD) were used to evaluate clinical e?ects and included the measure of patient's subjective assessment of pain, joint mobility, and physical disability. WOMAC score, 6MWD and laboratory tests were repeated at 3 and 6 months and 1, 1.5 and 2 years. XRAY and MRI were completed at 1 year.

Results: The average total WOMAC score was 64 at baseline and signi?cantly reduced to 52 at 3 months, 46 at 6 months, 42 at 1 year, 38 at 1.5 years, and 41 at 2 years. Patients walked an average of 1310 feet at baseline and demonstrated a statistically signi?cant improvement at 3 and 6 months and 1, 1.5, and 2 years post treatment. Cartilage thickness as determined by MRI improved by at least 0.2 mm in six patients, was unchanged in two patients and decreased by at least 0.2 mm in two patients.

Conclusions: Overall, all of the patients were pleased with the treatment results. They reported a reduction in pain levels, especially after 3 months. More importantly, the procedure demonstrated a strong safety pro?le with no severe adverse events or complications reported.

Trial registration NCT03089762; Name of registry: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov.

About U.S. Stem Cell, Inc.

U.S. Stem Cell, Inc. (formerly Bioheart, Inc.) is an emerging enterprise in the regenerative medicine / cellular therapy industry. We are focused on the discovery, development, and commercialization of cell-based therapeutics that prevent, treat or cure disease by repairing and replacing damaged or aged tissue, cells and organs and restoring their normal function. We believe that regenerative medicine / cellular therapeutics will play a large role in positively changing the natural history of diseases ultimately, we contend, lessening patient burdens as well as reducing the associated economic impact disease imposes upon modern society.

Our business, which includes three operating divisions (U.S. Stem Cell Training, Vetbiologics, and U.S. Stem Cell Clinic) includes the development of proprietary cell therapy products as well as revenue generating physician and patient based regenerative medicine / cell therapy training services, cell collection and cell storage services, the sale of cell collection and treatment kits for humans and animals, and the operation of a cell therapy clinic. Management maintains that revenues and their associated cash in-flows generated from our businesses will, over time, provide funds to support our clinical development activities as they do today for our general business operations. We believe the combination of our own therapeutics pipeline combined with our revenue generating capabilities provides the Company with a unique opportunity for growth and a pathway to profitability.

Forward-Looking Statements:

Except for historical matters contained herein, statements made in this press release are forward-looking statements. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, words such as "may," "will," "to," "plan," "expect," "believe," "anticipate," "intend," "could," "would," "estimate," or "continue," or the negative other variations thereof or comparable terminology are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Also, forward-looking statements represent our management's beliefs and assumptions only as of the date hereof. Except as required by law, we assume no obligation to update these forward-looking statements publicly or to update the reasons actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes available in the future.

The Company is subject to the risks and uncertainties described in its filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the section entitled "Risk Factors" in its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2016, and its Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q.

Media Contact:

U.S. Stem Cell, Inc. 13794 NW 4th Street, Suite 212 Sunrise, Fl 33325 Phone: 954.835.1500 Email: usstemcell@us-stemcell.com

SOURCE: U.S. Stem Cell, Inc.

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Kristin Comella, US Stem Cell's CSO, Co-Authors Scientific Paper on Intra-Articular Injection for Osteoarthritis ... - Baystreet.ca

Tissue-specific stem cells

Tissue-specific stem cells, which are sometimes referred to as adult or somatic stem cells, are already somewhat specialized and can produce some or all of the mature cell types found within the particular tissue or organ in which they reside. Because of their ability to generate multiple, organ-specific, cell types, they are described as multipotent. For example, stem cells found

Stem cells are the foundation cells for every organ and tissue in our bodies. The highly specialized cells that make up these tissues originally came from an initial pool of stem cells formed shortly after fertilization. Throughout our lives, we continue to rely on stem cells to replace injured tissues and cells that are lost every day, such as those in our skin, hair, blood and the lining of our gut. Stem cells have two key properties: 1) the ability to self-renew, dividing in a way that makes copies of themselves, and 2) the ability to differentiate, giving rise to the mature types of cells that make up our organs and tissues.

Tissue-specific stem cells Tissue-specific stem cells, which are sometimes referred to as adult or somatic stem cells, are already somewhat specialized and can produce some or all of the mature cell types found within the particular tissue or organ in which they reside. Because of their ability to generate multiple, organ-specific, cell types, they are described as multipotent. For example, stem cells found within the adult brain are capable of making neurons and two types of glial cells, astrocytes and oligodendrocytes. Tissue-specific stem cells have been found in several organs that need to continuously replenish themselves, such as the blood, skin and gut and have even been found in other, less regenerative, organs such as the brain. These types of stem cells represent a very small population and are often buried deep within a given tissue, making them difficult to identify, isolate and grow in a laboratory setting. Neuron Dr. Gerry Shaw, EnCor Biotechnology Inc. Astrocyte Abcam Inc. Oligodendrocyte Dhaunchak and Nave (2007). Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 104:17813-8 http://www.isscr.org Embryonic stem cells Embryonic stem cells have been derived from a variety of species, including humans, and are described as pluripotent, meaning that they can generate all the different types of cells in the body. Embryonic stem cells can be obtained from the blastocyst, a very early stage of development that consists of a mostly hollow ball of approximately 150-200 cells and is barely visible to the naked eye. At this stage, there are no organs, not even blood, just an inner cell mass from which embryonic stem cells can be obtained. Human embryonic stem cells are derived primarily from blastocysts that were created by in vitro fertilization (IVF) for assisted reproduction but were no longer needed. The fertilized egg and the cells that immediately arise in the first few divisions are totipotent. This means that, under the right conditions, they can generate a viable embryo (including support tissues such as the placenta). Within a matter of days, however, these cells transition to become pluripotent. None of the currently studied embryonic stem cell lines are alone capable of generating a viable embryo (i.e., they are pluripotent, not totipotent). Why are embryonic stem cells so valuable? Unlike tissue-specific (adult) stem cells, embryonic stem cells have the potential to generate every cell type found in the body. Just as importantly, these cells can, under the right conditions, be grown and expanded indefinitely in this unspecialized or undifferentiated state. These cells help researchers learn about early human developmental processes that are otherwise inaccessible, study diseases and establish strategies that could ultimately lead to therapies designed to replace or restore damaged tissues. Induced pluripotent stem cells One of the hottest topics in stem cell research today is the study of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells). These are adult cells (e.g., skin cells) that are engineered, or reprogrammed, to become pluripotent, i.e., behave like an embryonic stem cell. While these iPS cells share many of the same characteristics of embryonic stem cells, including the ability to give rise to all the cell types in the body, it is important to understand that they are not identical. The original iPS cells were produced by using viruses to insert extra copies of three to four genes known to be important in embryonic stem cells into the specialized cell. It is not yet completely understood how these three to four reprogramming genes are able to induce pluripotency; this question is the focus of ongoing research. In addition, recent studies have focused on alternative ways of reprogramming cells using methods that are safer for use in clinical settings. Disease- or patient-specific pluripotent stem cells One of the major advantages of iPS cells, and one of the reasons that researchers are very interested in studying them, is that they are a very good way to make pluripotent stem cell lines that are specific to a disease or even to an individual patient. Disease-specific stem cells are powerful tools for studying the cause of a particular disease and then for testing drugs or discovering other approaches to treat or cure that disease. The development of patientspecific stem cells is also very attractive for cell therapy, as these cell lines are from the patient themselves and may minimize some of the serious complications of rejection and immunosuppression that can occur following transplants from unrelated donors. Moving stem cells into the clinic Clinical translation is the process used to turn scientific knowledge into real world medical treatments. Researchers take what they have learned about how a tissue usually works and what goes wrong in a particular disease or injury and use this information to develop new ways to diagnose, stop or fix what goes wrong. Before being marketed or adopted as standard of care, most treatments are tested through clinical trials. Sometimes, in attempting new surgical techniques or where the disease or condition is rare and does not have a large enough group of people to form a clinical trial, certain treatments might be tried on one or two people, a form of testing sometimes referred to as innovative medicine. For more information on how science becomes medicine, please visit http://www.closerlookatstemcells.org. Current therapies Blood stem cells are currently the most frequently used stem cells for therapy. For more than 50 years, doctors have been using bone marrow transplants to transfer blood stem cells to patients, and more advanced techniques for collecting blood stem cells are now being used to treat leukemia, lymphoma and several inherited blood disorders. Umbilical cord blood, like bone marrow, is often collected as a source of blood stem cells and in certain cases is being used as an alternative to bone marrow transplantation. Additionally, some bone, skin and corneal diseases or injuries can be treated by grafting tissues that are derived from or maintained by stem cells. These therapies have also been shown to be safe and effective. Potential therapies Other stem cell treatments, while promising, are still at very early experimental stages. For example, the mesenchymal stem cell, found throughout the body including in the bone marrow, can be directed to become bone, cartilage, fat and possibly even muscle. In certain experimental models, these cells also have some ability to modify immune functions. These abilities have created considerable interest in developing ways of using mesenchymal stem cells to treat a range of musculoskeletal abnormalities, cardiac disease and some immune abnormalities such as graft-versus-host disease following bone marrow transplant. Remaining challenges Despite the successes we have seen so far, there are several major challenges that must be addressed before stem cells can be used as cell therapies to treat a wider range of diseases. First, we need to identify an abundant source of stem cells. Identifying, isolating and growing the right kind of stem cell, particularly in the case of rare adult stem cells, are painstaking and difficult processes. Pluripotent stem cells, such as embryonic stem cells, can be grown indefinitely in the lab and have the advantage of having the potential to become any cell in the body, but these processes are again very complex and must be tightly controlled. iPS cells, while promising, are also limited by these concerns. In both cases, considerable work remains to be done to ensure that these cells can be isolated and used safely and routinely. Second, as with organ transplants, it is very important to have a close match between the donor tissue and the recipient; the more closely the tissue matches the recipient, the lower the risk of rejection. Being able to avoid the lifelong use of immunosuppressants would also be preferable. The discovery of iPS cells has opened the door to developing patient-specific pluripotent stem cell lines that can later be developed into a needed cell type without the problems of rejection and immunosuppression that occur from transplants from unrelated donors. Third, a system for delivering the cells to the right part of the body must be developed. Once in the right location, the new cells must then be encouraged to integrate and function together with the bodys other cells. http://www.isscr.org Glossary Blastocyst A very early embryo that has the shape of a ball and consists of approximately 150-200 cells. It contains the inner cell mass, from which embryonic stem cells are derived, and an outer layer of cells called the trophoblast that forms the placenta. Cell line Cells that can be maintained and grown in a dish outside of the body. Clinical translation The process of using scientific knowledge to design, develop and apply new ways to diagnose, stop or fix what goes wrong in a particular disease or injury. Differentiation The process of development with an increase in the level of organization or complexity of a cell or tissue, accompanied by a more specialized function. Embryo The early developing organism; this term denotes the period of development between the fertilized egg and the fetal stage. Embryonic stem cell Cells derived from very early in development, usually the inner cell mass of a developing blastocyst. These cells are self-renewing (can replicate themselves) and pluripotent (can form all cell types found in the body). Induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell Induced pluripotent cells (iPS cells) are stem cells that were engineered (induced) from non-pluripotent cells to become pluripotent. In other words, a cell with a specialized function (for example, a skin cell) that has been reprogrammed to an unspecialized state similar to that of an embryonic stem cell. Innovative medicine Treatments that are performed on a small number of people and are designed to test a novel technique or treat a rare disease. These are done outside of a typical clinical trial framework. In vitro fertilization A procedure in which an egg cell and sperm cells are brought together in a dish to fertilize the egg. The fertilized egg will start dividing and, after several divisions, forms the embryo that can be implanted into the womb of a woman and give rise to pregnancy. Mesenchymal stem cells Mesenchymal stem cells were originally discovered in the bone marrow, but have since been found throughout the body and can give rise to a large number of connective tissue types such as bone, cartilage and fat. Multipotent stem cells Stem cells that can give rise to several different types of specialized cells, but in contrast to a pluripotent stem cell, are restricted to a certain organ or tissue types. For example, blood stem cells are multipotent cells that can produce all the different cell types that make up the blood but not the cells of other organs such as the liver or brain. Pluripotent stem cells Stem cells that can become all the cell types that are found in an implanted embryo, fetus or developed organism. Embryonic stem cells are pluripotent stem cells. Self-renewal The process by which a cell divides to generate another cell that has the same potential. Stem cells Cells that have both the capacity to self-renew (make more stem cells by cell division) and to differentiate into mature, specialized cells. Tissue-specific stem cells (also known as adult or somatic stem cells) Stem cells found in different tissues of the body that can give rise to some or all of the mature cell types found within the particular tissue or organ from which they came, i.e., blood stem cells can give rise to all the cells that make up the blood, but not the cells of organs such as the liver or brain. Totipotent stem cells Stem cells that, under the right conditions, are wholly capable of generating a viable embryo (including the placenta) and, for humans, exist until about four days after fertilization, prior to the blastocyst stage from which embryonic stem cells are derived.

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What Are Stem Cells - Checkbiotech.org (press release)

(CNN) Here is some background information about stem cells.

Scientists believe that stem cell research can be used to treat medical conditions including Parkinsons disease, spinal cord injury, stroke, burns, heart disease, diabetes, osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis.

About Stem Cells:Stem cell research focuses on embryonic stem cells and adult stem cells.

Stem cells have two characteristics that differentiate them from other types of cells:- Stem cells are unspecialized cells that replicate themselves for long periods through cell division.- Under certain physiologic or experimental conditions, stem cells can be induced to become mature cells with special functions such as the beating cells of the heart muscle or insulin-producing cells of the pancreas.

There are four classes of stem cells: totipotent, multipotent, pluripotent, and unipotent.- Totipotent stem cells that develop into cells that make up all the cells in an embryo and fetus. (Ex: The zygote/fertilized egg and the cells at the very early stages following fertilization are considered totipotent)- Multipotent stem cells can give rise to multiple types of cells, but all within a particular tissue, organ, or physiological system. (Ex: blood-forming stem cells/bone marrow cells, most often referred to as adult stem cells)- Pluripotent stem cells (ex: embryonic stem cells) can give rise to any type of cell in the body. These cells are like blank slates, and they have the potential to turn into any type of cell.- Unipotent stem cells can self-renew as well as give rise to a single mature cell type. (Ex: sperm producing cells)

Embryonic stem cells are harvested from four to six-day-old embryos. These embryos are either leftover embryos in fertility clinics or embryos created specifically for harvesting stem cells by therapeutic cloning. Only South Korean scientists claim to have successfully created human embryos via therapeutic cloning and have harvested stem cells from them.

Adult stem cells are already designated for a certain organ or tissue. Some adult stem cells can be coaxed into or be reprogrammed into turning into a different type of specialized cell within the tissue type for example, a heart stem cell can give rise to a functional heart muscle cell, but it is still unclear whether they can give rise to all different cell types of the body.

The primary role of adult stem cells is to maintain and repair the tissue in which they are found.

Uses of Stem Cell Research:Regenerative (reparative) medicine uses cell-based therapies to treat disease.

Scientists who research stem cells are trying to identify how undifferentiated stem cells become differentiated as serious medical conditions, such as cancer and birth defects, are due to abnormal cell division and differentiation.

Scientists believe stem cells can be used to generate cells and tissues that could be used for cell-based therapies as the need for donated organs and tissues outweighs the supply.

Stem cells, directed to differentiate into specific cell types, offer the possibility of a renewable source of replacement cells and tissues to treat diseases, including Parkinsons and Alzheimers diseases, spinal cord injury, stroke, burns, heart disease, diabetes, osteoarthritis, and rheumatoid arthritis.

Policy Debate:Cloning human embryos for stem cells is very controversial.

The goal of therapeutic cloning research is not to make babies, but to make embryonic stem cells, which can be harvested and used for cell-based therapies.

Using fertilized eggs left over at fertility clinics is also controversial because removing the stem cells destroys them.

Questions of ethics arise because embryos are destroyed as the cells are extracted, such as: When does human life begin? What is the moral status of the human embryo?

Timeline:1998 President Bill Clinton requests a National Bioethics Advisory Commission to study the question of stem cell research.

1999 The National Bioethics Advisory Commission recommends that the government allow federal funds to be used to support research on human embryonic stem cells.

2000 During his campaign, George W. Bush says he opposes any research that involves the destruction of embryos.

2000 The National Institutes of Health (NIH) issues guidelines for the use of embryonic stem cells in research, specifying that scientists receiving federal funds can use only extra embryos that would otherwise be discarded. President Clinton approves federal funding for stem cell research but Congress does not fund it.

August 9, 2001 President Bush announces he will allow federal funding for about 60 existing stem cell lines created before this date.

January 18, 2002 A panel of experts at the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) recommends a complete ban on human reproductive cloning, but supports so-called therapeutic cloning for medical purposes.

February 27, 2002 For the second time in two years, the House passes a ban on all cloning of human embryos.

July 11, 2002 The Presidents Council on Bioethics recommends a four-year ban on cloning for medical research to allow time for debate.

February 2005 South Korean scientist Hwang Woo Suk publishes a study in Science announcing he has successfully created stem cell lines using therapeutic cloning.

December 2005 Experts from Seoul National University Hwang of faking some of his research. Hwang asks to have his paper withdrawn while his work is being investigated and resigns his post.

January 10, 2006 An investigative panel from Seoul National University accuses Hwang of faking his research.

July 18, 2006 The Senate votes 63-37 to loosen President Bushs limits on federal funding for embryonic stem-cell research.

July 19, 2006 President Bush vetoes the embryonic stem-cell research bill passed by the Senate (the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2005), his first veto since taking office.

June 20, 2007 President Bush vetoes the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2007, his third veto of his presidency.

January 23, 2009 The FDA approves a request from Geron Corp. to test embryonic stem cells on eight to 10 patients with severe spinal cord injuries. This will be the worlds first test in humans of a therapy derived from human embryonic stem cells. The tests will use stem cells cultured from embryos left over in fertility clinics.

March 9, 2009 President Barack Obama signs an executive order overturning an order signed by President Bush in August 2001 that barred the NIH from funding research on embryonic stem cells beyond using 60 cell lines that existed at that time.

August 23, 2010 US District Judge Royce C. Lamberth issues a preliminary injunction that prohibits the federal funding of embryonic stem cell research.

September 9, 2010 A three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit grants a request from the Justice Department to lift a temporary injunction that blocked federal funding of stem cell research.

September 28, 2010 The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit lifts an injunction imposed by a federal judge, thereby allowing federally funded embryonic stem-cell research to continue while the Obama Administration appeals the judges original ruling against use of public funds in such research.

October 8, 2010 The first human is injected with cells from human embryonic stem cells in a clinical trial sponsored by Geron Corp.

November 22, 2010 William Caldwell, CEO of Advanced Cell Technology, tells CNN that the FDA has granted approval for his company to start a clinical trial using cells grown from human embryonic stem cells. The treatment will be for an inherited degenerative eye disease.

April 29, 2011 The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia lifts an injunction, imposed last year by a federal judge, banning the Obama administration from funding embryonic stem-cell research.

May 11, 2011 Stem cell therapy in sports medicine is spotlighted after New York Yankee pitcher Bartolo Colon is revealed to have had fat and bone marrow stem cells injected into his injured elbow and shoulder while in the Dominican Republic.

July 27, 2011 Judge Lamberth dismisses a lawsuit that tried to block funding of stem cell research on human embryos.

February 13, 2012 Early research published by scientists at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and Johns Hopkins University show that a patients own stem cells can be used to regenerate heart tissue and help undo damage caused by a heart attack. It is the first instance of therapeutic regeneration.

May 2013 Scientists make the first embryonic stem cell from human skin cells by reprogramming human skin cells back to their embryonic state, according to a study published in the journal, Cell.

April 2014 For the first time scientists are able to use cloning technologies to generate stem cells that are genetically matched to adult patients,according to a study published in the journal, Cell Stem Cell.

October 2014 Researchers say that human embryonic stem cells have restored the sight of several nearly blind patients and that their latest study shows the cells are safe to use long-term. According to a report published in The Lancet, the researchers transplanted stem cells into 18 patients with severe vision loss as a result of two types of macular degeneration.

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SIOUX FALLS, S.D. Doctors say a breakthrough in stem cell research from over a decade ago could someday replace traditional medicine. A procedure using a patients own fat stem cells has already helped many people across the world, but these types of procedures havent been approved in the U.S. Thats why one Sioux Falls man and some Sanford doctors traveled to Munich, Germany last year.

Imagine a more natural way of treating pain or even a more advanced treatment for cancer. What if I told you common ailments like chronic back pain or arthritis could be healed? Thats what doctors say treatments using a patients own stem cells could do. One of those doctors is German Doctor Eckhard Alt.

The next generation of medicine would be to learn how we can heal ourselves, without artificial implants, without drugs, that we use the regenerative power of our own body, said Dr. Alt.

This might sound like something out of a Sci-Fi movie, but Dr. Alt says this type of practice is already being brought to clinical practice.

In nature, tells you there is a regenerative potential in all of us. If you look at the lizard, you cut off the tail, it even has the ability to re-grow, said Dr. Alt

Doctors say many patients have chronic pain and have exhausted all of their options. Thats what happened to one Sioux Falls man, Bill Marlette. He lost one of his arms in an accident when he was a teenager, resulting in more stress on his other wrist. Marlette said the excessive stress on his wrist caused a lot of pain, even when doing everyday activities. When his doctor heard about Dr. Alts practices, he suggested the procedure using his own fat stem cells. Last year, Marlette traveled to Munich, Germany with some Sanford Doctors to repair his wrist.

Its made my life more active and pain free again, said Sanford Health Treasurer, Bill Marlette.

Marlette said he hopes the national exposure from his story can help Sanfords goal of bringing treatments like this to the region. He said the procedure has been life changing for him and could benefit many other patients.

Without this I, I would be probably really scaling back in what I could do, said Marlette.

Marlette said 2 weeks after the procedure pain had already started to go away. Now, 7 months later he said hes pain free.

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Sioux Falls Man Received Treatment Using His Own Fat Stem Cells - KDLT News (blog)

A fascinating documentary that is making the rounds at film festivals like Tribeca and Cannes gives a rare view of a controversial treatment that more and more Americans are paying up to $50,000 to receive. Stem cell therapy is widely considered to be the next big hope in medicine, with researchers everywhere from Stanford to Johns Hopkins investigating the technologys potential to treat seemingly every ailment known to mankindAlzheimers, cancer, joint injuries, even basic signs of aging. The only hitch: With one tiny exception, it isnt legal in the United States.

We all know the stem cell revolution is occurring outside the U.S., says Brian Mehling, M.D., a Manhattan-based orthopedic surgeon who is certainly doing his part to foment the insurgency. A coproducer of the film, as well as its charismatic recurring subject, Mehling is bringing stem cell tourism into the spotlight and determined to lift the curtain on a medical field that remains mysterious to most. His Blue Horizon medical clinics, with locations in China and Slovakiaand three more set to open in Mexico, Israel, and Jamaicacater to American tourists looking to cutting-edge therapy for help when traditional medicine fails.

Stem cells are the undifferentiated cells that abound in newborns and have the ability to transform into blood, nerve, or muscle cells and aid the body in self-repair. Proselytizers like Mehling say they constitute the latest in holistic medicine, allowing the body to healwithout drugs, surgery, or side effects. At clinics such as Mehlings, doctors either inject the cells, which are generally obtained from umbilical cords during C-sections, into a patients spinal cord (much like an epidural), or administer them via IV drip. The process is alarmingly quick, and patients can typically check out of the facility by the end of the day. One of the few stem-cell therapies approved for use in the United States is one used to treat the blood disease known as beta thalassemia; in that instance, the treatment replaces damaged blood in the immune system and saves tens of thousands of lives each year. Few other stem cell applications, however, have been proven effective in the rigorous clinical trials the Food and Drug Administration requires before signing off on any treatment.

In fact, stem cell clinics remain completely unregulated, and there have been incidents of related troubles. In one recent report , Jim Gass, a resident of San Diego who traveled to stem cell clinics in Mexico, China, and Argentina to help recover from a stroke, later discovered a sizable tumor on his spinal columnand the cancerous cells belonged to somebody else. Troubling cases also emerged at a loosely regulated clinic in Sunrise, Florida where, earlier this spring, three women suffering macular degeneration reported further loss of vision after having stem cells, extracted from their belly fat via liposuction, injected into their eyes. Though, on the whole, reports of treatments at clinics gone awry remain relatively few.

In his film, Stem Cells: The Next Frontier , which is set to appear at Cannes Film Festival this month, Mehling offers a persuasive side of the story, with rapturous testimonials from patients, some of whom who have regained the ability to walk after their stem cell vacations. Added bonus: They come home with better skin, bigger sex drive, and (in the case of at least one balding patient) more hair.

However compelling, there is scant evidence that the injections actually make a difference, and most American doctors caution against buying into the hype. Stem cell researcher Jaime Imitola, M.D. and Ph.D, director of the progressive multiple sclerosis clinic research program at Ohio State University, says he is impressed by the evidence that stem cells can help with neurological disorders in animals. But the question is how can you translate it into clinical trials? We still dont know what were doing when we put stem cells in people.

David Scadden, a professor of medicine and stem cell and regenerative biology at Harvard, and the director of Harvards Stem Cell Institute, says that stem cell tourism is a waste of money for the time being. A world-renowned expert in stem cell science, he remains optimistic about its future applications. Researchers are currently looking into reprogramming, for instance, which effectively converts a mature cell into a stem cell. You rewind its history so it forgets its a blood cell or a skin cell and it rewinds back in time and it can become any cell type, he says. Youd be able to test drugs on these cells, and it could be used to reverse Type 1 diabetes.

For now, though, he does not recommend experimenting with stem cells before we understand them well enough to properlyand safelyharness their benefits. People call me about it all the timethey say, I have this knee thats bugging me, Im going to one of these clinics, he says. His response? For the most part they dont do harm. But nobody Ive spoken with has come back to me and said, You Harvard docs have to get on this . . . . Not yet.

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Stem Cell Tourism Is the Controversial Subject of a New Cannes Documentary - Vogue.com

Whether your adult mesenchymal stem cells come from bone marrow or from fat probably does not make a difference in terms of clinical results. Although some centers claim that bone marrow derived cells are superior to fat derived cells, there is no evidence to substantiate that. Recent studies show that fat derived cells make bone tissue much better than the bone marrow derived cells. Some studies are showing different outcomes but it is important to realize that these studies are all done in petri dishes and may not relate to living organism. Also, it is important that one is not mislead in some marketing materials by the word bone in bone marrow, possibly implying that since this is an orthopedic source it must be better for treating orthopedic conditions such as cartilage regeneration. In fact, the bone marrow is part of the reticulo-endothelial system (makes blood cells) and just happens to be found in the center of bone. The truth is, both bone marrow derived and stromal (from fat) derived stem cells are both effective for regenerative therapy and both have the potential to differentiate into mature functional cartilage. However, stem cells from fat are 100 to 1000 times more plentiful and this makes same day procedures (allowed in the US) much more effective with fat derived cells. The higher numbers of cells in fat leads to better clinical outcomes. Also, the quality of bone marrow declines with age and it has less numbers of cells and less healthy cells compared to the fat. The diminution in quantity and quality of bone marrow cells related to age and chronic illness is well documented. Last but not least, the ease of removing fat from under the skin using a mini-liposuction under local anesthetic is much less invasive and MUCH LESS painful than undergoing bone marrow aspiration to obtain bone marrow cells.

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Bone Marrow vs. Fat Derived Stem Cells Continued : Stem ...

US Stem Cell Inc (OTCMKTS:USRM) is a biotechnology company that was formerly known as Bioheart, Inc. US Stem Cell, headquartered in Sunrise, FL, seeks to discover, develop, and commercialize autologous cell therapies for the treatment of chronic and acute heart damage. The companys current drug candidates include MyoCell, MyoCell SDF-1, and AdipoCell. On April 13, 2017 US Stem Cell Inc (OTCMKTS:USRM) announced that it had received a commitment to invest up to $5,000,000 from private equity firm General American Capital Partners LLC (GACP) in exchange for up to 63,873,275 shares of common stock.

MyoCell is being developed by US Stem Cell Inc (OTCMKTS:USRM) as a treatment to improve cardiac function months or years after a patient has experienced heart damage due to a heart attack. The treatment involves the removal of a small amount of muscle from the patients thigh. Muscle stem cells, called myoblasts, are isolated and expanded utilizing a proprietary cell-culturing process. These cells are then injected directly into the hearts scar tissue through an endoventricular needle-injection catheter by a surgeon. The stem cells then populate the area of scar tissue to, hopefully, improve cardiac function. The peer-reviewed American Heart Journal published the results of clinical trial Marvel-1. According to the article, when compared with a placebo, myoblast therapy was associated with sustained (six months) improvements in six-minute walk distance of >90 meters, a clinically meaningful improvement.

US Stem Cell Inc (OTCMKTS:USRM) is also developing MyoCell SDF-1. This treatment has recently received approval from the U.S Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to begin human clinical trials. MyoCell SDF-1 is being developed as an improvement to the MyoCell treatment. In preclinical studies, MyoCell SDF-1 provided a 54% improvement of heart function compared to 27% for the original MyoCell composition, while the placebo control treated animals declined by 10%. The preclinical studies also demonstrated that this product candidate can enhance blood vessel formation in damaged hearts.

Lastly, US Stem Cell Inc (OTCMKTS:USRM) is also developing its AdipoCell treatment. Adipose (fat) tissue is readily available and has been shown to be rich in microvascular, myogenic and angiogenic cells. In collaboration with the Regenerative Medicine Institute in Tijuana, Mexico, congestive heart failure patients are being treated in a Phase I/II trial at Hospital Angeles Tijuana. Reportedly, these patients have demonstrated, on average, an absolute improvement of 13% in ejection fraction and an increase of 100 meters in their six-minute walk distance. US Stem Cell Inc (OTCMKTS:USRM) has recently applied to the FDA to begin trials using adipose derived stem cells or AdipoCell in patients with chronic ischemic cardiomyopathy. The therapy involves the use of stem cells derived from the patients own fat (adipose tissue) obtained using liposuction. Transplantation of AdipoCell is accomplished through endocardial implantations with an injection catheter.

I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 96 hours. All information, or data, is provided with no guarantees of accuracy.

About the author: Steve Clark is a 23-year Wall St professional with stints in M&A, risk management, and algorithm trading.

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US Stem Cell Inc (OTCMKTS:USRM) Receives Institutional Fund ... - StockNewsUnion

Orthopaedic Tissues transplanted into humans are dead.

Thats right: Other than hearts, livers and kidneys for that must be kept alive for immediate transplantation, any tissue that is removed from a donor or a cadaver, frozen, washed, sterilized and finally delivered to a surgeon is dead. From there it may be used in new ACL grafts, meniscus replacements, rotator cuff patches, tendons for the hands and feet the list goes on.

The surgeon relies on the patients healing ability to recognize and revive the dead donor graft. The body does this by sending scavenger cells that open up pores for the new blood vessels to bore into, lacing new blood vessels into the tissue, and finally sending specialized cells that lay down new collagen and restore the graft to life. In ligaments, this wonderful tissue regeneration process is called ligamentization; in other tissues, remodeling.

But the process of remodeling takes time, and during that period of restoration the tissue is at its weakest stage. A new injury doesnt need to be very forceful to tear the healing tissue. And any illness might slow down the process. An early return to sports might put too much stress on the graft, leading to stretchingor, in the worst case, a complete failure to remodel.

But why, in the 21st century, do we rely on nature alone to heal our repaired and replaced tissues? Fortunately, the entire field of tissue regeneration is changing rapidlyand the Stone Research Foundation is at the forefront of this research.

We are now in what I call the Anabolic Era of orthopedics, where we add stem cells, growth factors, electrical stimulation and other factors to juice up the healing process. But stem cell science is advancing so rapidly that we now have off-the-shelf products with the highest desirable concentrations of stem cells and growth factors for every application.

Stem cells are pluripotent cells that produce a wide range of healing growth factors, along with anti-inflammatory, anti-scarring, and antimicrobial agents. A 50-year-old person has 1/4 the stem cells of a teenager.

Over the last few years, in the Stone Clinic, we concentrated and combined patients own stem cells and growth factors with donor tissues before using them to rebuild ACLs and meniscus tissue. This year, we have off-the-shelf amniotic tissue with validated live cells and 2 to 50 times the growth factor concentrations that we can obtain from the patients own blood. These tissues also contain millions of cellsmany times more than the few found in older peoples bone and fat. These off-the-shelf cells are immunoprivileged, meaning they are not rejected (for the same reason a mother does not reject the baby she carries) and do not form tumors.

Here is a short table of the stem cell sources today:

Pros: very vascular with many cells

Cons: Requires a surgical procedure; cell numbers decline with age.

Pros: Marrow cells are more similar to cartilage and bone

Cons: Painful bone marrow biopsy procedure; cell numbers decline with age

Pros: easy access with a needle puncture. Less expensive. Growth factors 2-5x normal

Cons: Very few stem cells.

Amniotic Fluid and Membranes:

Pros: 2-50x growth factor concentration. Very high concentration of stem cells. No second surgery.

Cons: Cost. Many preparations have dead cells. Quality control essential. If irradiated then low activity of growth factors.

Today, tissues transplanted in our clinic are pre-loaded with these amniotic growth factors and stem cells. We must now do the basic science to determine the optimal concentrations of these factors when infused into tissues and the clinical science to demonstrate if, and how much faster, the body heals with the use of these tissues.and if effective enough the application of stem cells and growth factors may quickly become widespread, leading to accelerated tissue repair.

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The Anabolic Era of Orthopaedics: Stem Cells which ones to use ... - Huffington Post

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Discussion has raged for years about which is the best tea to drink for weight loss. But a new study, published in Nutrition and Metabolism, reveals some groundbreaking findings that could put white tea at top of that list.

White tea uses the same leaves as green or black tea, but with minimal processing. The result is the purest form of tea, with high levels of polyphenols that help fight fat.

Heres the science behind how it works: The body stores energy from the food we eat in the liver and muscles. But when we eat more food than we need, evolution kicks in and the body tries to store that extra energy as fat, in case we need it in the future. The body transforms preadipocyte cells (stem cells that can develop into different kinds of cells, depending on how theyre triggered), into fat cells known as adipocytes.

In this new scientific study, researchers bathed human preadipocytes in extracts of white tea to see how it affected their development into adipocytes. They found that the solution slowed down the growth of those fat cells and helped break down existing ones.

Adrienne Youdim, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine at UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine, explains why this study is unique. There have been studies in the past that have looked at rat or mouse models, she says. While those studies are very helpful, we know that different species of animal may function very differently on a cellular level. So this study is important because theyre actually using human fat cells.

It would be great to think that simply drinking white tea could be answer to all our diet problems. However, as amazing as it may sound, losing weight is not as straightforward as merely upping our intake. According to Dr. Youdim, the bodys drive to preserve calories is extremely complex.

Its driven by hormones that are released from fat cells in the stomach, from the intestines, and from the pancreas, as well as numerous different centers in the brain, she explains. To say that one pathway is going to completely change the way that we, as human beings, preserve energy would be far-fetched.

But neither does Dr. Youdim dismiss the health benefits of white tea in our fight against the flab.

There have been studies showing that 300mg (the equivalent of one mugs worth) can help suppress appetite and increase metabolism, she says. Has that ever been shown to result in tremendous weight loss when nothing else was done? Of course not. But it can be one component, as part of a holistic lifestyle change that employs diet and exercise modification.

Drinking white tea is unlikely to make much difference to your weight on its own. But when enjoyed as part of a balanced diet and an active lifestyle, it could be an important ally in your battle to stay slim and healthy.

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Tea for Weight Loss: Can White Tea Help You Lose Weight ... - Reader's Digest