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Stem cells op gives millions hope of cure for blindness
The London Daily Express ^ | September 29, 2015 | David Pilditch

Posted on 09/29/2015 2:34:18 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet

A BRITISH pensioner has become the first person to undergo revolutionary eye surgery aimed at curing blindness in millions of people.

The 60-year-old woman, who had severely impaired sight and was in danger of going blind, is said to have had no complications so far following the three-hour operation last month.

The surgical team hopes to determine how successful the treatment was by early December.

The woman has asked to remain anonymous.

The scientists behind the pioneering procedure hope it will dramatically transform lives, allowing the blind to recognise faces of loved ones again and regain the ability to carry out everyday tasks like reading and driving....

(Excerpt) Read more at express.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Health/Medicine; Science
KEYWORDS: abortion; blindness; embryonicstemcells; fetalcells; stemcells
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1 posted on 09/29/2015 2:34:18 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I’ll go out on a limb and guess these are adult stem cells since the “journalist” left out the detail.


2 posted on 09/29/2015 2:38:35 PM PDT by RightOnTheBorder
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To: RightOnTheBorder
Well, you're right.

But these were a type of stem cells than can only be harvested from immigrants.

3 posted on 09/29/2015 2:41:53 PM PDT by Steely Tom (Vote GOP: A Slower Handbasket)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
I am essentially blind in one eye, I have scar tissue which blocks center vision.
My optimologist(sp) says I can have a single injunction of stem cells into the scar tissue which will eliminate or greatly reduce the damaged tissue.
I refused because the stems cells are from aborted babies.
I'd rather be blind than complicate in an abortion.
4 posted on 09/29/2015 2:43:27 PM PDT by svcw (Not 'hope and change' but 'dopes in chains')
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To: RightOnTheBorder
From the article, "The procedure involves taking a single stem cell from an embryo and growing it into a “patch” of cells that can be transplanted into the eye."

This is the first "breakthrough" I have heard about embryonic stem cells. The rest have been from adult stem cells.

5 posted on 09/29/2015 2:44:39 PM PDT by TwelveOfTwenty (See my home page for some of my answers to the left's talking points.)
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To: svcw

Are you sure they are not adult stem cells?


6 posted on 09/29/2015 2:48:34 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet (TED CRUZ. You can help: https://donate.tedcruz.org/c/FBTX0095/)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

But I was always told that the only way stem cell research could succeed was with American taxpayers’ dollars.


7 posted on 09/29/2015 2:50:56 PM PDT by Hillarys Gate Cult (Liberals make unrealistic demands on reality and reality doesn't oblige them.)
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To: TwelveOfTwenty
The procedure involves taking a single stem cell from KILLING an embryo[nic person] and ....
8 posted on 09/29/2015 2:51:18 PM PDT by NorthMountain ("The time has come", the Walrus said, "to talk of many things")
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To: TwelveOfTwenty
This is the first "breakthrough" I have heard about embryonic stem cells. The rest have been from adult stem cells.

Guess I didn't read far enough down. That was the reason I assumed they were adult. That and I figured if a leftist reporter found legitimate use for embryonic cells it would have been in the first paragraph.

9 posted on 09/29/2015 2:53:52 PM PDT by RightOnTheBorder
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To: svcw

“I refused because the stems cells are from aborted babies.”

Good for you!


10 posted on 09/29/2015 2:57:15 PM PDT by CondorFlight (I)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Tremendous.

I had heard about five years ago that within 12 years there will be no neurological disease that cannot be cured.

Looks like they’re making headway on blindness.

And they did it without 0bamacare - who’da thought?


11 posted on 09/29/2015 2:59:00 PM PDT by MichaelCorleone (Jesus Christ is not a religion. He's the Truth.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

We can all close our eyes and visualize a scene in our minds, real or not.

What do people completely blind from birth see in their mind’s eye?


12 posted on 09/29/2015 3:02:39 PM PDT by umgud
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
The procedure involves taking a single stem cell from an embryo and growing it into a “patch” of cells that can be transplanted into the eye.

Horrifying. The West is much worse than previous cultures which sacrificed their children to Moloch.

13 posted on 09/29/2015 3:16:03 PM PDT by TheDon (BO must be replaced immediately for the good of the nation and the world!)
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To: svcw

find someone who uses your own stem cells. search for pro-life researchers? Lots in your wisdom teeth. :)


14 posted on 09/29/2015 3:19:00 PM PDT by huldah1776
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

crap headline.

they hope to reverse vision loss in people with age-related macular degeneration... gets headlined into a cure for blindness.


15 posted on 09/29/2015 3:21:31 PM PDT by stylin19a (obama = Fredo Smart)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
From the article
a previous Moorfields trial in which 40 AMD patients were treated with cells taken from their own eyes, as opposed to embryonic stem cells, showed encouraging signs.

Afterwards, said Da Cruz, some of these patients were able to read and drive again. However, he added, in the long run, stem cells are preferred for this type of procedure due to the complexities of transferring eye cells and the ease with which stem cells could be produced

It looks like some researchers prefer to consider ease rather than ethicalness.
16 posted on 09/29/2015 3:51:22 PM PDT by syriacus (Pontifex and POTUS. Two peas in a pod.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Yet another screaming British headline about a “cure.” If the headlines are this sensational about a “maybe” cure, image what they would be about a “real” cure.

But think about it; when is the last time you saw such a headline? People have been running for the cure, walking for the cure, dancing for the cure for 50 years (check out muscular distrophy) and yet those headlines announcing a real cure just don’t exist.

I wonder why.


17 posted on 09/29/2015 4:18:47 PM PDT by trenton1776
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To: TwelveOfTwenty

That doesn’t mean the embryo is aborted?

Could it be an existing embryo in utero?


18 posted on 09/29/2015 4:51:40 PM PDT by the OlLine Rebel (Common sense is an uncommon virtue./Federal-run medical care is as good as state-run DMVs.)
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To: trenton1776

Because people have become pie-in-the-sky optimistic. I mean, look at the hooplah over stupid wind turbines and solar. Suddenly we act like it’s all realistic.

That doesn’t mean there ISN’T a cure - just that it’s not that easy. And may find out there is not at all.

I really don’t like the “walks”, “runs” and all that nonsense. What the hell is the point? How do you raise money by running more than simply asking? “Raising awareness”? I’m up to my ears in “awareness” of all the damn pet issues. I really don’t need traffic jams to help me know autism exists or cancer is tough to cure.

(off soapbox now)


19 posted on 09/29/2015 4:56:27 PM PDT by the OlLine Rebel (Common sense is an uncommon virtue./Federal-run medical care is as good as state-run DMVs.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

This is embryonic stem cell technology.

Yep, party to Generation Guppy - devour the young and QUICKLY before they are big enough to shoot back!


20 posted on 09/29/2015 6:32:01 PM PDT by Montana_Sam (Truth lives.)
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