Peter,
I agree of course on the stem-cell frenzy, the flames fanned by well-timed Press Releases, temporarily turning some of our low-priced stocks into somewhat less low-priced stocks.
However the science does advance, as shown by the release below, which seems quite stunning. This news was no doubt timed to coincide with the joint British-American statement on stem cells, so it too is 'PR' - but send me more such PR.
But first to address an important issue:
I'm not a scientist, so I have to leach off of people like Rick
(Post #1462)
I think you're probably 'leeching' off Rick. If someone were percolating a liquid (coffee?) through Rick, and you were a soluble running off him, then you would be 'leaching' off Rick <GG>
Unforgivable, but when someone posts tens of thousands of highly-informed words without making a mistake, you have to jump on them on any chance you get. <g>
Also, some SI scholars claim to find an obscure reference to you in this post, but I wouldn't know about that.
Message 14278793
Doc "Born Too Loose" Bones
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nytimes.com
August 25, 2000
Scientists Claim New Treatment for Lupus
By REUTERS
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LONDON -- Scientists based in the United States said Friday they have discovered an innovative treatment for lupus, a disease in which the body's defense cells attack the sufferer's own organs.
Ann Traynor and colleagues from Northwestern University in Chicago treated patients with severe lupus with a mixture of high doses of drugs to suppress the immune system and transplantation of special cells called stem cells.
Stem cells are unique because they can develop into any of the specific cells that make up tissues in the body.
Lupus is a serious acquired disorder affecting young and middle-aged people, mostly women. Some 200,000 Americans suffer from the disorder, and between 10 and 15 percent are expected to die within 10 years of diagnosis.
Normally, lupus cases are treated with medication to suppress the immune system but in severe cases people fail to respond to this treatment.
Seven patients who did not respond to normal treatments were given high doses of immuno-suppressants alongside stem cell transplants and after two years were free from signs of active lupus, the scientists said in the latest edition of the Lancet.
Kidney, heart, lung and immune system function were normal, they added.
"What is exciting...is that it appears that the immune system can correct its errors if early stem cells are allowed to mature (into immune cells)," Traynor said in a statement.
"This new generation of immune cells is not destined to repeat the ruinous errors of the prior generations." |
