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For more than thirty years, Steve Foster has been living his life partially paralyzed, but he hopes a recent trip to Mexico is going to change that. "I want this...bad," said Foster, an adult stem cell patient. Foster traveled south to undergo the adult stem cell transplant procedure, in an effort to gain back what he once had. "I'm tired of this life, and the way it is now," he said. Julie Hood, a human biology assistant professor at Central Oregon Community College, says although the treatment isn't performed in the U.S., it has been performed successfully in other countries....

(BEIJING) — They're paralyzed from diving accidents and car crashes, disabled by Parkinson's, or blind. With few options available at home in America, they search the Internet for experimental treatments — and often land on Web sites promoting stem cell treatments in China. They mortgage their houses and their hometowns hold fundraisers as they scrape together the tens of thousands of dollars needed for travel and the hope for a miracle cure. A number of these medical tourists claim some success when they return home: Jim Savage, a Houston man with paralysis from a spinal cord injury, says he can...

Sacramento man with a spinal injury looks to stem cells harvested from bone marrow to finally end his crippling pain   Dr. Pasquale Montesano, operating Thursday at Sutter Memorial Hospital, shapes a piece of bone that he will fill with adult stem cells harvested from donor cadavers, then place into the spine of Perry Anderson. The hope is that the surgery will help Anderson finally heal from earlier spinal surgery. Bryan Patrick / bpatrick@sacbee.com See additional images They are not from human embryos, but the stem cells being packed into Perry Anderson's spine may help him heal from a surgery...

"Paulo Melo, 29, has been in a coma at the Royal Darwin Hospital for two weeks, after severing his spinal cord in a car crash." - read more below: doctor requested, family objected, court granted

A new study has identified what may be a pivotal first step towards the regeneration of nerve cells following spinal cord injury, using the body's own stem cells. This seminal study, published in this week's Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, identifies key elements in the body's reaction to spinal injury, critical information that could lead to novel therapies for repairing previously irreversible nerve damage in the injured spinal cord. Very little is known about why, unlike a wound to the skin for example, the adult nervous system is unable to repair itself following spinal injury. This is in...

SEOUL (AFP) - A South Korean woman paralyzed for 20 years is walking again after scientists say they repaired her damaged spine using stem cells derived from umbilical cord blood. Hwang Mi-Soon, 37, had been bedridden since damaging her back in an accident two decades ago. Last week her eyes glistened with tears as she walked again with the help of a walking frame at a press conference where South Korea (news - web sites) researchers went public for the first time with the results of their stem-cell therapy.

Ahmedabad, July 07: Ritaben Goyal, 33, can now walk for an hour everyday with the support of crutches. After being completely bed-ridden for more than a year, this is a significant improvement in her case. Thanks to the advances made in stem cell therapy, Ritaben and many others like her who had suffered serious spinal injuries now have hope. Ritaben was injected with stem cells at the Institute of Kidney Diseases and Research Centre (IKDRC)- Institute of Transplantation Sciences (ITS). Dr. H. L. Trivedi, the director of the institute, says: “We were working on stem cells in relation with organ...

Stem Cell therapy is being touted as the answer to many chronic ailments. But even as research is being done, many are already benefitting from it. In the small town of Nagasamudra, just a few miles away from Jog Falls in Karnataka, S B Ramesh, all of 28 years, had built a home with his wife, son and a cable operating business, and dreamt of a fast-paced expansion of his business. Instead, what followed was a nightmare that left him bedridden, numb and disheartened. Today, as he tells me his story over the phone, he expresses the joy he feels...

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Scientists are preparing for a large clinical trial in 2008 which aims to use stem cells to help 400 patients with spinal cord injuries in Hong Kong, mainland China and Taiwan grow new cells and nerve fibers. Stem cells from umbilical cord blood will be injected into the spinal cords of the participants, who will also be given lithium to help stimulate cell regeneration, said Wise Young, a leading neuroscientist and spinal cord injury researcher. "What we'd like to do is study a broad range of patients, not just (those with) complete (spinal cord injuries)," said...

A 23-year-old man, who was paralysed from below the waist, is now able to walk after the first successful stem cell therapy in India for spinal cord injuries was conducted at a hospital here. According to Dr J.S. Rajkumar, chairman, Lifeline Hospitals, the young man, Akbar Ali, suffered serious injuries in his spinal cord when he fell from the fourth floor of a building last October. He was then working at a construction site in Abu Dhabi. Though he underwent a surgery to stabilise his spinal cord, it was not successful. After he returned to India a month later, he...

Adult stem cells found in the bulge of hair follicles may provide an alternative to embryonic stem cells, say researchers at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee.   Like embryonic stem cells, these epidermal neural crest stem cells have a high degree of plasticity, can be isolated at high levels of purity, and can be expanded in culture, the researchers said.And, similar to other types of adult stem cells, the epidermal neural crest stem cells can be harvested through a minimally invasive procedure. This means that it may be possible to use a patient's own hair as source for stem...

With increasing frequency, American citizens and others from around the globe are experiencing newfound freedom from disease, affliction, and infirmity. Individuals' lives are forever changed with the strengthened faith and renewed hope that arise from healed bodies and physical restoration. These seemingly miraculous cures are the result of adult stem cell treatments. Yet the debates in the popular media tend to ignore and obscure the medical breakthroughs made by adult stem cell research--success that has conspicuously eluded embryonic stem cell treatments.[1]  Adult stem cells (or, more accurately, tissue stem cells) are regenerative cells of the human body that possess the...

(Following is excerpted from near the end of a lengthy human interest story, I apologize for all the editing to capture the key points) ...Dr. Lima's procedure, called olfactory mucosa transplantation, differs dramatically from what generates the most heat in the debate, embryonic stem cell research. Lima's process uses adult stem cells taken from the patients themselves.(snip) ...I had a senator up there screaming at me," she says(snip)...."I was foolish enough to stand in front of the senators and say using a person's own stem cells is safer," she says. Peduzzi-Nelson testified "the most profitable, not the best, treatment for...

In Young Rats, Researchers Find a Reaction to Spinal Cord Injury That Speeds Recovery Finding surprises researchers, who discovered that young rats mend more quickly because cells near the injury site respond differently than in adults Washington, DC -- Neuroscientists had long believed that the only way to repair a spinal cord injury was to grow new neural connections, but researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center have found that, especially in young rats, powerful cells near the injury site also work overtime to restrict nerve damage and restore movement and sensation.   The same process does not work as efficiently...

“How can you side with those people?” In 2002, a paralyzed research advocate who actively supports embryonic-stem-cell and human-cloning research asked me this question. By “those” people she meant Christians, conservatives, and pro-life groups.  “It’s simple,” I said. “Why is it in our interest to sit in these wheelchairs for the rest of our lives so science can puzzle over safety problems linked to embryonic stem cells and human cloning, while ignoring the cells that nature designed for the treatments we need?” In the discussion that followed I explained why embryonic stem cells (ESCs) are inferior to adult stem...

Shenzhen Beike Biotechnology Co., Ltd. announced the successful treatment of two similar spinal cord injury patients using two different procedures that involved umbilical cord stem cells. One method involved surgical transplantation of stem cells directly into the spinal cord, while the other patient received the stem cells without surgery. The announcement was made following a two month rehabilitation and evaluation period by physicians in the patients' native countries of the U.S.A. and Romania. Details can be found on the news website, http://www.stemcellschina.com. Treatments with umbilical cord blood stem cells have been performed for years for patients with leukemia and other...

TAMPA - A team of Finnish researchers working with Tampa's Johnnie B. Byrd Sr. Alzheimer's Center and Research Institute has developed a drug that could be a major advancement for people with spinal cord injuries and degenerative diseases including Alzheimer's. The researchers, led by Paivi Liesi, at the University of Helsinki, isolated a combination of amino acids known as tripeptide lysine-aspartic acid isoleucine. When tested in rats, the combination prevented neurotoxins from destroying neurons in the rats' brains. The therapy could slow or even reverse the effects of Alzheimer's disease, the researchers said. It could be a boon for the...

PALO ALTO, September 22, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The use of human foetal brain tissue in spinal cord experiments with mice has shown some success, but is likely to alarm medical ethicists as well as raise objections from pro-life advocates. Researchers at University of California at Irvine injected stem cells derived from the brains of human foetuses into mice with severe spinal cord injuries. The mice regained some mobility and the research team is cautiously hopeful that this experiment will lead to progress with spinal cord injuries in humans. The stem cells were derived from babies aborted at about 16 to...

Paraplegic breakthrough using adult stem cells Apparent major breakthrough with patient paralyzed 19 years Posted: September 28, 2005 1:00 a.m. Eastern © 2005 WorldNetDaily.com In an apparent major breakthrough, scientists in Korea report using umbilical cord blood stem cells to restore feeling and mobility to a spinal-cord injury patient. The research, published in the peer-reviewed journal Cythotherapy, centered on a woman who had been a paraplegic 19 years due to an accident. After an infusion of umbilical cord blood stem cells, stunning results were recorded: "The patient could move her hips and feel her hip skin on day 15 after...

Adult Stem Cells Provide New Life for Livers By Michael Fumento Scripps Howard News Service, October 20, 2005 Copyright 2005 Scripps Howard News Service I have frequently written on the gulf between the "PROMISE" of embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and the REALITY of therapy from adult stem cells (ASCs) – those already in our bodies and umbilical cord blood. ESCs get publicity; ASCs get results. The latest example: ASCs are now rebuilding human livers.  This is a healthy liver . . .   Until now, the only hope for persons with irreversible liver failure from such diseases as cirrhosis, which...