Yesterday, we took our new cats to the Vet in Rutland Vermont. Isn’t he pretty? One of the Vets there, Dr. Crossman, is interested in stem cells for regenerative medicine. He told us about a cat he treated for a congenital heart problem. He took stem cells from the teeth of another cat and injected the cells into the blood of the other sick cat. The cat with heart problems had been expected to live only a short time. But after the stem cell injection he is doing fine 2 years later! What news!
The Vet has not documented the treatment because he is not a research doc. per se. But come on, guys: document your work in stem cells! He and other Vets are also injecting stem cells from the same animal into hip joints for arthritis… Also see the article I reported about Joint Replacement with stem cells.
Imagine how great it will be someday when you can replace damaged joints with a new one regrown from your own stem cells. This has been done! BBC NEWS: US researchers have developed a promising new technique that might one day enable doctors to regrow broken or diseased joints in patients. Writing in the The Lancet, US researchers say they have regrown the forelimb thigh joint of rabbits using their own stem cells. Scientists say they have shown “proof of principle” for the technique which could replace hips. It was the first time an entire joint surface had been regenerated with the return of functions, they said. The research could benefit patients with damaged hips, shoulders or knees.
Does reducing or increasing “stress” improve our survival from cancer? Telegraph/uk: July 9, 2010:
“Cancer patients who change their lifestyle to keep company with more people could see substantial improvements in their condition, the study suggests.”
Researchers found that moving mice with cancer from their standard laboratory lodgings – where they live in groups of five – to more spacious accommodation shared with up to 20 other rodents had a significant positive effect on the progress of their condition. Their tumors shrunk in weight by an average of 77 per cent (43 per cent by volume), while five per cent of the mice showed no evidence of cancer after three weeks. The mice’s “enriched” environment also included more space them exercise and toys with which to play, but the researchers identified the “stress of socialising” as the key factor in suppressing the cancers. . . What’s wrong with this study? Why can’t it be applied to people? No one asked the mice if living in a larger, more densely populated community was positive or negative stress.
Continue reading ‘Ask Any Mouse’
How often do you take a break from work to walk around, drink water, or stretch? Sitting for hours makes the lower back support the body, which strains circulation and energy from the waist-down. Eventually it can drain internal organs. Staring into a screen also stiffens the neck and shoulders. Neck-related headache, called cervical headache, is most often felt in the back of the head and upper neck, where muscles extending along the skull are contiguous with neck muscles that may become tense or go into spasm. It is aggravated by neck movement and often accompanied by stiffness and tenderness of neck muscles. Characteristics of the pain:
- You hardly notice work-related pain until you stop working.
- Pains may be dull, aching, fixed (not moving), and persistent.
- Pain is worse with fatigue, stress, and emotional upset.
- There may also be chest tightness, wrist pain and numbness in the hands
Continue reading ‘Computer Neck and Shoulder Pain’
Dried, sliced astragalus sold in Chinese herb shops and supermarkets.
WebMD: July 7, 2010 — Aging cells greatly increase your risk of deadly cancer — even if you’re still relatively young. Cells stay young as long as they are able to repair their own DNA. That’s up to telomeres, the proteins at the end of each chromosome. But every time a cell reproduces, its telomeres get shorter. A startling new study now shows that people who accumulate a lot of cells with short telomeres have greatly increased risk of fatal cancers. What increases telomere strand length–thereby protecting DNA and preventing cancers? Astragalus. Simmer 8 slices in a quart of water for 30 minutes and drink it between meals for improved energy and immunity. Here are three important studies.
Continue reading ‘Astragalus, Telomeres, Cancer Prevention’
Chrysanthemum Flower Tea
Is the heat getting to you? Do you stare at a computer screen for hours then watch television to relax? Is your vision cloudy from overwork or summer hazy weather? Rubbing your eyes is not the answer. A cold shower gives only temporary relief.
If your eyes are red, tired, and overworked, increase blood- and moisture- circulation to the eyes with a delightfully cooling summer tea made with Chinese chrysanthemum flowers.
Continue reading ‘Stay Cool with Chrysanthemum’
British researchers studying mice found that a pregnant mother’s diet may interact with the genes her unborn baby inherits and influence the type or severity of birth defects such as congenital heart disease and cleft palate. “These are very important findings as we have been able to show for the first time that gene-environment interactions can affect development of the embryo in the womb,” said Jamie Bentham of the Wellcome Trust Center for Human Genetics at the Oxford University, who led the study. “We know that poor diet and defective genes can both affect development, but here we have seen the two combine to cause a much greater risk of developing health problems and more severe problems. We are excited by this as it suggests that congenital heart defects may be preventable by measures such as altering maternal diet,” he said in a statement about the findings. Not surprising: Mother and child share the same blood during pregnancy. Mothers who smoke have asthmatic children. Mothers who abuse diet have unhealthy children.
Continue reading ‘Diet and Pregnancy – Alimentación y embarazo’
The Daily Mail, July 5, 2010: A team from the University of Western Australia believe tea tree oil, made from the Melaleuca alternifolia found in New South Wales, may work by activating the body’s immune response to skin cancers. The study leader Dr Sara Greay, said: ‘We are very excited about these results and are hoping to find funding for a small clinical trial of about 50 people with pre-cancerous lesions, with the aim of preventing the development of skin cancers.’ Non-melanoma skin cancer is one of the most common types of cancer in the UK, with around 100,000 new cases diagnosed every year. Tea tree oil was found to shrink non-melanoma skin cancers in mice in just one day and wiped them out within three days. Unlike other clinically approved skin cancer chemotherapies, which have long treatment times of three to 16 weeks and can cause nausea and flu-like symptoms, the tea tree oil formulation only produces mild skin irritation which disappears within days of finishing treatment .
Continue reading ‘Skin Cancer – Tea Tree Oil Discovery’
Is there one herb you can use for fever, hot flashes, anxiety, and insomnia? It may be skullcap named for the decorative hat worn by women during early American colonial times. Skullcap (Scutellaria lateriflora,) AKA helmet flower, blue pimpernel, Quaker bonnet, hoodwort, and mad dog weed, grows wild in the woods of eastern North America. Skullcap was originally used as a treatment for rabies because of its tranquilizing effect on the central nervous system. Clinical studies have demonstrated skullcap’s ability to improve blood flow in the brain, inhibit muscle spasms, and act as a sedative. Some alternative health practitioners are now using skullcap to help treat symptoms of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Skullcap is used in the treatment of a wide range of nervous conditions including epilepsy, insomnia, hysteria, anxiety, delirium tremens, withdrawal from barbiturates and tranquilizers.
Continue reading ‘Skullcap: A Woman’s Herb’
The International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) founded in 1973 is the leading professional forum for science, practice, and education in the field of pain. Membership in IASP is open to all professionals involved in research, diagnosis or treatment of pain. IASP has more than 6,500 members in 123 countries, 83 national chapters, and 14 Special Interest Groups. The biennial World Congress on Pain, the world’s largest pain-related gathering, is international and multidisciplinary. Plenary sessions, workshops, poster sessions, and refresher courses comprise the program, and attendees can receive continuing medical education credits. The 13th World Congress on Pain will take place in Montréal, Canada, from August 29 to September 2, 2010. Here are details. If I had endless money and time, I would travel to nearly every corner of the globe to study pain at these international gatherings of multidisciplinary health professionals. Here is the amazing 2010 schedule. (The Beijing conference in late October — East/West approaches to pain solutions–is intriguing, but so is the Nice, France conference on the same dates.)
Continue reading ‘Pain Around the World’
