YESTERDAY, I POSTED AN ARTICLE WHICH WASN'T EXACTLY PULITZER PRIZE WINNING MATERIAL (SCROLL DOWN TO SEE IT).  THE WRITER OF THIS STORY CONCENTRATES ON THE FACTS AND DOESN'T TRY TO PUSH ANY AGENDA.  AS A RESULT, WE HAVE A VERY NICE TALE ABOUT STEM CELL TREATMENT FOR MULTIPLE MYELOMA.

IF YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT MULTIPLE MYELOMA IS, THE ARTICLE KINDLY GIVES A DESCRIPTION-

Multiple myeloma is a cancer of the blood that affects the plasma cells. Plasma cells are an important part of the immune system; they produce antibodies to help fight infection and disease. Multiple myeloma is characterized by an excess production of abnormal plasma cells. Symptoms include increased risk of bacterial infections and impaired immune responses.

WHAT IS THE PROCESS?

The procedure began in March when the patient, Virginia Case of Troy, was given medication that stimulates bone marrow to push out the autologous stem cells, also called progenitor cells. Autologous stem cells mean They're generated by the person who will receive them. They're not the embryonic stem cells that stirred a controversy across the country.


The medication is administered over 72 hours, and then the patient is hooked up to a Pheresis machine that draws out blood, returning red blood cells to the body while retaining plasma. The process took eight hours on March 24 and was repeated for another eight hours on March 25, according to Betty Roczniak, the reference lab supervisor at the blood center in the Hanover Industrial Park.

THEN WHAT HAPPENS?

The Red Cross sent a worker to Sayre each day to pick up the bag of plasma and bring it back to Luzerne County. Laboratory workers then concentrated the plasma to the point where only stem and other cells remained. A preservative was added and the bags frozen at negative 116 degrees.

Case underwent chemotherapy this week, which destroyed the cancer cells in her marrow.

Today, the bags will be delivered to the Guthrie Cancer Center at Robert Packer Hospital, thawed and then administered intravenously to Case, who's in her 60s.

The stem cells will find their way back into the bone marrow and repopulate it, Roczniak said, adding “They're very intelligent.

THIS IS THE WAY AN ARTICLE SHOULD BE WRITTEN.  WELL RESEARCHED, FACTUAL, NON OPINIONATED.  AGAIN, LIKE YESTERDAY, I WISH THE LADY IN THE ARTICLE ALL THE BEST WITH HER STEM CELL TREATMENT.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE 

AS YOU WELL KNOW, I USUALLY GET EXCITED ABOUT A MAN/WOMAN LEAVING THE USA TO RECEIVE A NEW STEM CELL TREATMENT THAT GIVES THEM HOPE AND HOPEFULLY A NEW LEASE ON LIFE.  HOWEVER, THIS STORY (SEE BELOW) LEAVES ME PERPLEXED.

  DENVER  --  27-year old Ryan McLean is getting set to under go experimental therapy involving human embryonic stem cells.   THIS ISN'T GOOD NEWS AS SCIENTISTS ARE STILL DECADES AWAY FROM SOLVING THE RIDDLES OF EMBRYONIC STEM CELLS.  TUMORS THAT LEAD TO CANCER IS THE MOST NOTABLE OF UNSOLVED PROBLEMS.

She was accepted as a volunteer for the treatment at a clinic in Delhi, India.  A VOLUNTEER?  SHE IS RECEIVING STEM CELL TREATMENT FOR FREE?

The program will cost about forty-thousand dollars. Friends and supporters have been raising funds for the woman who still loves being in the pool. We caught up with Ryan at the Boulder YMCA, poolside of course.  40 GRAND?  THAT DOESN'T SOUND LIKE A VOLUNTEER.  IS SHE REALLY PAYING 40 K FOR EMBRYONIC STEM CELLS?

While President Bush has been opposed to embryonic stem cell research, Japanese doctors are having success using umbilical cords to harvest stem cells.  THE WRITER GIVES THE OBLIGATORY "BUSH IS THE BAD GUY" TREATMENT.  TO BE FAIR, THE WRITER ISN'T LYING, BUT THE WRITER IS MISLEADING AND CONFUSING READERS WITH THAT STATEMENT, PROBABLY INTENTIONALLY.   UMBILICAL CORD STEM CELLS AND EMBRYONIC STEM CELLS ARE NOT THE SAME.  UMBILICAL CORD BLOOD STEM CELLS ARE DERIVED FROM THE UMBILICAL CORD OF A BABY.  EMBRYONIC STEM CELLS ARE DERIVED FROM THE EMBRYO OF AN UNBORN BABY.  WHAT DOES BUSH AND EMBRYONIC STEM CELLS HAVE TO DO WITH JAPANESE DOCTORS AND UMBILICAL CORD STEM CELLS?  ALSO, TO PILE ON A LITTLE MORE, WHILE JAPAN MAY VERY WELL BE USING UMBILICAL CORD CELLS IN SOME TREATMENTS, READERS OF THIS BLOG KNOW THAT MOST OF THE CORD BLOOD STEM CELL TREATMENTS GO ON IN CHINA.  I SUSPECT THE WRITER CONFUSED JAPAN AND CHINA

They have been treating Americans willing to travel to Japan for a few years.

No word on if Bush will allow that type of treatment even though it doesn't involve embryos.  BUSH DOESN'T DECIDE WHAT TREATMENTS ARE ALLOWED OR DISALLOWED.  THE FDA DOES.  IT DOESN'T MATTER WHO IS THE NEXT PRESIDENT, OBAMA, HILLARY OR MCCAIN, REPUBLICAN OR DEMOCRAT, THEY WON'T DECIDE WHICH STEM CELL TREATMENTS ARE ALLOWED.  THEY MAY BE ABLE TO DECIDE WHICH STEM CELL RESEARCH IS TO BE FUNDED USING (WASTING?) TAX PAYER MONEY, BUT THEY HAVE NO INFLUENCE ON THE FDA WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR DECIDING WHAT TREATMENTS ARE ALLOWED. 

THESE QUESTIONS LEAVE ME DOUBTING THE AMOUNT OF RESEARCH GOING INTO THIS STORY.  I THINK THE YOUNG LADY IS GOING TO INDIA FOR CORD BLOOD STEM CELL TREATMENT.  THE STORY JUST DOESN'T ADD UP.  HOWEVER, ALTHOUGH I DOUBT THE FACTS OF THIS STORY, I STILL BELIEVE THERE IS A YOUNG LADY IN NEED OF HELP WHO IS IN NEED OF STEM CELL THERAPY, AND I WISH HER THE BEST OF HEALTH ON HER JOURNEY-DM

CLICK HERE TO READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE 

WE HAVE A REAL TREAT TODAY. THE ARTICLE (AND IT IS AN ARTICLE, NOT AN OP-ED) I AM PRESENTING IS ALMOST PERFECT. IT STARTS OFF WITH AN ADULT STEM CELL SUCCESS STORY AND MORPHS INTO A FACTUAL STORY SHOWING HOW FAR BEHIND EMBRYONIC STEM CELL RESEARCH IS COMPARED TO ADULT STEM CELLS. MY RANTS WOULDN'T DO THIS STORY JUSTICE. I URGE YOU TO READ THE WHOLE STORY FROM BEGINNING TO END TO UNDERSTAND WHAT I HAVE BEEN TRYING TO TRUMPET TO THE WORLD.

AND MEMO TO THE EDITORS OF THE BEACON JOURNAL: TRACY WHEELER, THE WRITER OF THIS ARTICLE, SHOULD GET A RAISE!

TRACY ADDRESSES ONE OF MY PEEVES-

''All they read about in the newspapers is the controversy surrounding embryonic stem cells, so they presume once you mention the word 'stem cells,' it's embryonic,'' said Laughlin, founder of the Cleveland Cord Blood Center. ''We find almost uniformly that the American public is confused and misinformed about stem cells in medical research and therapy. The average American public does not understand the distinction between embryonic stem cells and umbilical cord stem cells.'' (AND AUTOLOGOUS STEM CELLS-DM)

AND THE ADULT STEM CELL SUCCESS STORY-

Before the stem-cell transplant, Nemeth's stress test ended with him ''really huffing and puffing,'' barely able to stay on the treadmill for more than a few minutes. A year later, ''the tech kept ratcheting it up and finally he said, 'OK, Mr. Nemeth, you can get off.' ''

Now, Nemeth is walking at least six days a week for about a half-hour at the Solon Community Center.

AND THE ARTICLE ALSO INCLUDES ONE OF MY DREAMS-

''Easily in the next five to 10 years . . . we'll get to where one of the routine things your doctor does is store your own stem cells,'' she said. ''You'll have some personalized stem cells in the freezer someplace, so if you're in an accident, they'll be able to pull them out and treat you effectively.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE WHOLE THING. READ IT ALL!    My apologies, the link was removed.  

THE GOOD PEOPLE AT THE TEXAS HEART INSTITUTE HAVE DONE IT AGAIN. THEY ARE LAUNCHING YET ANOTHER ADULT STEM CELL TRIAL. BEFORE, I BELIEVE THEIR STEM CELL TRIALS SUCCESSFULLY TREATED CONGESTIVE HEART FAILURE PATIENTS. THIS TIME, IT WILL BE SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT. THIS TIME THEY WILL INJECT THE ADULT STEM CELLS INTO THE VICTIMS HEART 10 DAYS AFTER THEY SUFFER A HEART ATTACK. THEIR THEORY IS THAT THE STEM CELLS WILL HELP HEAL THE HEART THUS PREVENTING CONGESTIVE HEART FAILURE FROM EVER DEVELOPING. WHAT A CONCEPT! PREVENTION RATHER THAN REACTION. WHY WAIT FOR THE CONDITION TO BECOME LIFE THREATENING BEFORE GETTING STEM CELL TREATMENT? I SINCERELY HOPE THIS STEM CELL TRIAL IS A BIG SUCCESS FOR THE TEXAS HEART INSTITUTE.

"I think this is the most exciting stem-cell therapy in heart research today," said Dr. Emerson Perin, director of the Stem Cell Center at the Texas Heart Institute at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital and the study's other leader. "Because these new cell types are so powerful and they delivered directly to the heart damage, it should be great at promoting healing."

CLICK HERE TO READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE

YESTERDAY, I COVERED A STEM CELL TRIAL IN WHICH HEART ATTACK VICTIMS WERE GIVEN THEIR OWN STEM CELLS SHORTLY AFTER A HEART ATTACK. TODAY, I PRESENT YOU ANOTHER STUDY. THIS ONE WAS SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT AS IT TREATED HEART FAILURE PATIENTS WHO HAD SUFFERED A HEART ATTACK WAY BACK IN THE PAST. THIS IS A GREAT ARTICLE WRITTEN VERY CLEARLY SO NO TRANSLATION IS NEEDED BY YOURS TRULY.

READ ON-

Injections of patients' own muscle cells into scarred areas of the heart helped people with heart failure breathe a little better, walk a bit farther, and generally feel better. THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING. IT IMPROVED THE PATIENT'S LIFE!

 

 

 

 

But there was no evidence that their hearts were able to pump blood more effectively, and enlarged hearts did not shrink. OK, NOT POSITIVE, BUT IT IMPROVED THE PATIENT'S LIFE!  HAVE EMBRYONIC STEM CELLS EVER IMPROVED ANYONE'S LIFE?  WELL, MAYBE THE CHARLATANS HAVE IMPROVED THEIR LIVES FINANCIALLY, BUT NO PATIENT HAS EVER IMPROVED HIS/HER  HEALTH USING EMBRYONIC STEM CELLS.