Stem cells help woman walk again

A SOUTH Korean woman paralysed 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 researchers went public for the first time with the results of their stem-cell therapy.

They said it was the world's first published case in which a patient with spinal cord injuries had been successfully treated with stem cells from umbilical cord blood.

Though they cautioned that more research was needed and verification from international experts was required, the South Korean researchers said Hwang's case could signal a leap forward in the treatment of spinal cord injuries. The use of stem cells from cord blood could also point to a way to side-step the ethical dispute over the controversial use of embryos in embryonic stem-cell research.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,11525141%255E1702,00.html

I smell a Nobel in Medicine and not quite to an American this time

and how hopeful this news must be to many, many people.

:(

and had it not been for the "idiot" perhaps American scientists could have helped.

research and treatment. No one objects to using umbilical cords in research; they're not living and not saved for the baby book, either.

know, it's like DICK Cheney says...we can't go around giving people false hope.

:eyes:

It's just amesome.

Quick! What is BRITNEY DOING???




:crazy:

Hope this is true. I could benefit personally.

Around 200,000 Chinese are ready to give a bit of themselves literally by donating their stem cells to save desperate patients suffering from leukemia.

The Red Cross Society of China on Friday granted an honorary certificate to Yan Tao, a native of Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, when he became the 200,000th stem cell donor registered in the China Marrow Database. "The growth of the 'life bank' is much faster than our expectations," said Zhang Zongjiu, a Ministry of Health official.

He recalled that when the database was launched in 2001, the target set for 2005 was for donors to exceed 100,000. "The donors give desperate blood cancer patients a chance at life. So far, nearly 200 patients have had haematopoietic stem cell transplant operations and have restarted their lives as healthy people," said Zhang.

Zou Longjin, a native of Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, who was diagnosed with leukemia early last year, is one of the lucky people with a new chance at life. Zhang Dezhu, a driver in Northeast China's Liaoning Province, who registered as a donor, had nearly identical stem cell traits as Zou's. In September of last year, stem cells collected from Zhang's blood were transplanted to Zou's body.

http://english.people.com.cn/200411/28/eng20041128_165405.html

And if not, why?

bone marrow transpants are a version.

Perhaps we will be able to fully heal cervical vertebra, injuries to which often render lifelong helplessness. I only wish that America could be the nation to lead the way.

:kick:

Why we got to keep these TV Preachers doing Gawd's work, y'know!

If there is a heaven, Chris Reeve is jumping up and down, clapping his hands right now.
Goes to show you what "reality-based" work can do.

...reliable non-controversial source. World wide harvest ability not limited to 1st World labs and corporations. Great News.

stem cells from embryos.

Read the article closely; it states that this woman was helped to walk by stem cells from umbilical cords, which become "spare parts" to be disposed of, along with the placentas, once the babies atached to them are born.

Perhaps we can find all the stem cells, and all the cures, that we need in cord blood. Using human embryos for experimentation is never going to be popular, and, in fact, fans any resentment people have for science, Cord blood is a better way to go.

still good news.

btw, most of the nation is for stem cells research from embryos, according to polls i've seen.

that her muscles and bones could support her weight after two decades of muscle atrophy and loss of bone density.

There's lots missing from this story.

And too late for Christopher Reid.

As the article states, more verification is needed that this procedure can be generalized to other cases.

"So-called "multipotent" stem cells - those found in cord blood - are capable of forming a limited number of specialised cell types, unlike the more versatile "undifferentiated" cells that are derived from embroyos."

I would say the jury is still out on the matter of how well different types of stem cells work. But if this line of research proves the whole embryonic stem cell debate to be a moot point, so much the better. One less wedge issue for the religious right.