TO A great extent, the latest medical breakthrough called stem cell treatment has swept the nation like a typhoon entering the Philippine area of responsibility (or PAR as weather experts would say). Previously in our column here in Pinoy Parazzi ay iniulat na namin ang lumalakas na pananampalataya in this modern science na bagamat maaaring gawin sa bansa ay mas epektibo kung sasailalim ang pasyente sa prosesong ito sa mismong bansa ang Germany na siyang pinagkukunan ng anti-aging substance extracted from a black mountain sheep. By now, Boy Abunda must have left for Germany with his Nanay Lising whos suffering dementia (or Alzheimers disease) na karaniwan namang dumadapo sa mga taong may edad na. Also, in a week or two ay tutungo rin si Lolit Solis sa naturang bansa for treatment of her diabetes (pero sagot ni Dra. Vicki Belo ang isang milyong pisong bayad) with her ward Lorna Tolentino na siyang maglilibre naman ng kanilang week-long stay roon. Minsan nang naipahayag ni Butch Francisco (who openly admits na wala siyang ganoong halaga after he had his condo unit in Greenhills repaired, almost reconstructed) na paano na raw ang mahihirap who cannot afford to avail of stem cell treatment? Wala … Continue reading →

ROCKVILLE, Md., June 19, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --Neuralstem, Inc. (NYSE MKT: CUR) announced that the first patient to receive stem cell transplantation in both regions of the spinal cord has been treated in the ongoing Phase I trial of its spinal cord neural stem cells in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease). This is also the 16th patient to be treated in the trial altogether and the first patient returning to the trial for a second treatment. In this treatment, the patient received five injections in the cervical (upper back) region of the spinal cord, in addition to the ten he received previously in the lumbar (lower back) region of the spine, for a total of 15 injections. This is the highest number of injections in the trial so far. Patient 16 is also the first patient in the world to receive stem cell transplants in both the lumbar and cervical regions of the spinal cord in an FDA-approved trial. Two additional previously-treated patients are expected to return to the trial this summer in this cohort, provided they continue to meet the inclusion requirements. The trial is taking place at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20061221/DCTH007LOGO ) … Continue reading →

Public release date: 19-Jun-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ] Contact: Jeremy Moore jeremy.moore@aacr.org 215-446-7109 American Association for Cancer Research LAKE TAHOE, Nev. Results of some preclinical trials have shown that low doses of the antidiabetic drug metformin may effectively destroy cancer stem cells, a group of cells that are considered to be responsible for tumor initiation and, because they are resistant to standard chemotherapies, tumor relapse. In addition, when metformin was combined with a standard chemotherapy used for pancreatic cancer, the combination treatment was able to efficiently eradicate both cancer stem cells and more differentiated cancer cells, which form the bulk of the tumor, according to data presented by Christopher Heeschen, M.D., Ph.D., at the American Association for Cancer Research's Pancreatic Cancer: Progress and Challenges conference, held in Lake Tahoe, Nev., from June 18-21, 2012. Heeschen is professor for experimental medicine at the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre in Madrid, Spain. Most clinical trials of pancreatic cancer conducted during the last 15 years have failed to show marked improvement in median survival, suggesting that the selected approaches were not sufficient for several reasons, according to Heeschen. In recent years, researchers have identified cancer stem cells which, as opposed to … Continue reading →

According to recent news reports, pharmaceutical giants like Roche, Novartis, and Seaside Therapeutics are racing to make medications that will relieve some of the behavioral problems caused by autism and Fragile X syndrome. The first thing that needs to be cleared up is that autism or the autistic spectrum, which might include pervasive developmental disorders or Asperger syndrome is different from Fragile X syndrome. Fragile X is an inherited intellectual disability in boys that is caused by a change in the gene FMR1 on the X chromosome. The condition results in the failure to express FMRP a protein needed for normal neural development. While Fragile X syndrome has similar symptoms to autism, it differs in that it has a very well described genetic underpinning. The reason this is important is because medications for the treatment of autism symptoms need to be carefully studied and individualized to specific spectrum disorders. If not approached in the right way, we may end up with medications that are perhaps not indicated properly and abused down the line. A specific medication that has gotten everyone excited is the drug arbaclofen. This drug has already been tested on small clinical trials, mostly in patients with Fragile … Continue reading →