$13,147 in the first 62 Days Online From Home ( NEWBIE FRIENDLY)

HOW TO MAKE $12,425 IN YOUR FIRST 55 DAYS ONLINE NOW!

Stem Cell Therapy Delivers Patients with Renal Failure a Brand-New Life



http://www.kidneycn.com/kidney-diseases/renal-failure/renal-failure-treatment/2307.html


Follow us on Twitter @MrCordBlood and Facebook at www.facebook.com/TheCordGroup

Stem Cell Therapy Delivers Patients with Renal Failure a Brand-New Life

2012-05-14 11:05

Stem Cell Therapy is a breakthrough in regenerative medicine. It brings infinite promise for patients with Renal Failure and delivers them a brand-new life.

What is Stem Cell Therapy?

Stem Cell Therapy refers to injection of healthy cells into the patients’ body by intravenous injection. It does not need surgery at all so it is free of trauma completely.

Stem cells are unspecialized cells with renewing and differentiating potentials. Firstly, they can renewing themselves and still remain stem cells through cell division. Secondly, in right laboratory or body conditions, they can be induced to differentiate into tissues-or organs-specific cells with special functions.

The two common types of stem cells are adult stem cells and embryonic stem cells. At present, adult tissues are the main sources of stem cells in clinical application.

In our hospital, the stem cells are abstracted from umbilical cord blood. In the past, umbilical cord will be discarded after the baby is separated from mother. However, the recent researches prove that umbilical cord blood is rich in stem cells and they may be the most primitive cells in human body. For immunological immaturity, free of pollution, umbilical cord blood cells become prior to other types of stem cells.

How does it work in treating Renal Failure?

After the stem cells are injected into the patients’ body, they will immigrate into the renal injury sites for their homing ability.

The stem cells will be stimulated by their surrounding injured renal intrinsic cells and environment to become new cells similar to those cells they come in contact. As they grow and become specialized, they are able to transform into new blood vessels and kidney tissues. Finally, the kidneys will be restored very well and have a significant improvement in renal function.

EXCITING NEW THERAPIES using stem cells are emerging all the time and the promise they can deliver patients in need are endless. One of the best sources of stem cells are from baby's umbilical cord blood. I urge all parents to learn more about the life-saving potential cord blood banking can offer and should you not bank privately, please DONATE so those cells may deliver hope to another person in need. SAVING STEM CELLS SAVE LIVES...............MrCordBlood

Stem Cells can Be Used To Repair Heart Tissues Without Surgical Incision: Experts

Stem Cells Can be Used to Repair Heart Tissues Without Surgical Incision: Experts


http://pharmabiz.com/NewsDetails.aspx?aid=68264&sid=1

Follow us on Twitter @MrCordBlood and Facebook at www.facebook.com/TheCordGroup

In a great sigh of relief to heart patients, top international researchers here in Hyderabad revealed that Stem Cell Technology can be used to repair damaged heart tissues without actually performing surgical incision into the chest. While participating in the International stem cell conference at International School of Business at Gachibowli, scientists revealed that the stem cell technology can be used to repair heart tissues damaged by myocardial infraction commonly known as heart attack. Taking it as a great break through in the medical sciences, doctors and heart surgeons felt that the stem cell technology will be a great boon to the millions of patients suffering from heart attacks. According to eminent Scientist Prof. Minger, head global research and development at GE Healthcare UK, the heart tissues are usually damaged by the myocardial infraction. This is also commonly known as heart attack. By using the stem cell technology, it is easier and simpler to heal the heart tissues,” revealed the Scientist. Usually in a conventional method of heart surgery doctors cut open the chest muscles to gain access to the heart, but now with the use of stem cell technology this practice can be put on halt. By using the stem cell technology, the heart cells cultured in laboratory can be implanted in heart through a catheter from one of the arms. As this kind of treatment is not involving any physical incisions on the body, the patients can be discharged on the same day. Further explaining in detail, Prof Minger said that heart attack occurs when blood supply to the heart is stopped for a long time and this damages the heart tissues. By using stem cell technology such damaged tissues can be treated without any complicated surgery. The scientist advocated that as India is having a huge population of more than a billion, the country can play a key role in stem cells and regenerative medicine. “There is a need to create awareness among the population. If India and China could bank even one per cent of their annual births, they could supply stem cells to the whole world,” said Prof Minger. “Public banking of cord blood will enable to treat many diseases which are incurable such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. In the next 4-5 years developing heart tissues damaged by myocardial infraction will become a real possibility,” revealed the scientist. Throwing light on recent developments, the professor said that heart cells derived from  bone marrow have been implanted successfully in a patient, and the technology is helpful in transplanting new insulin-producing cells for diabetics and myelinating cells for individual afflicted with multiple sclerosis. Very promising developments using stem cell technology for heart attack patients. Heart disease is one of if not the top causes of death in the world. Finding like these show the importance of storing stem cells and the role that regenerative medicine will play in the years to come. My favorite part of the article was how they stressed the importance of public banking of cord blood. Whether banked privately for one's own use or donated publicly to a national registry, saving your baby's cord blood could be a LIFE-SAVING DECISION. I urge every expecting parent to become aware and informed so they can make an educated decision on the value of cord blood banking...............MrCordBlood

Cord Blood Chronicles: Phoenix boy, 2, Faces Long Difficult Medical Road

Cord Blood Chronicles: Phoenix boy, 2, Faces Long Difficult Medical 

http://www.azcentral.com/community/nephoenix/articles/2012/03/22/20120322phoenix-boy-2-faces-long-difficult-medical-road.html

Follow us on Twitter@MrCordBlood and Facebook at www.facebook.com/TheCordGroup

A little blond boy bounces with energy, playing and squealing like any normal toddler. He doesn't look sick, but this 2-year-old, northeast-Phoenix toddler hides a blood disease and is need of a bone-marrow transplant.

When Noah Swanson was diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome in November, his parents were given two options: find a bone-marrow match for Noah or pursue a cord-blood transplant.

"I was devastated," said Nancy Swanson, Noah's mom. "I just started bawling."

Childhood MDS is very rare, as the syndrome typically affects older men. MDS targets the blood, preventing Noah from creating mature blood cells, including white blood cells. He is highly susceptible to bacterial infections because he lacks the cells to fight them off. Noah will have to go through chemotherapy to kill his bone marrow before any transplant occurs.

"He's perfect on the outside. We just need to make him perfect on the inside," Nancy said.

No bone-marrow match has been found for Noah in the national and international registries. He likely will have to undergo a cord-blood transplant, which is the more-expensive, least-tested option and requires a longer stay in the hospital, Nancy said. A cord-blood transplant takes stem cells from an umbilical cord donated by a mother and puts those new cells into the patient.

Some sort of transplant probably will be needed in April, before Noah's MDS has the chance to develop into acute myeloid leukemia, cancer that starts inside bone marrow.

Noah's family, which includes an older sister, 5-year-old Sydney, has accepted that he will likely get a cord-blood transplant, but is trying to encourage people to register with Be The Match, a national marrow-donor program.

"We want to find a match for anyone who needs it," Nancy said. "We don't wish this on any other family."

Be The Match adds 60,000 members a month, but that isn't enough. Aubrie Vargas, an account executive with the donor program, said people often think donating bone marrow is a surgical procedure, but it a lot like donating plasma.

To be eligible to donate, people can register at bethematch.org. Interested donors can fill out their personal information online and a cheek-swab kit will be mailed to the house. The kit is returned once the swab is complete, and a new donor is added to the registry.

"We want to bring forward that people should register," said Scott Swanson, Noah's father. "If there's anything we can do for the community, it's this."

The Swansons also have teamed with the Children's Organ Transplant Association, or COTA, to raise money for Noah. A transplant will cost $350,000 to $500,000, which does not include co-pays for follow-up visits, medication, transportation costs or food.

The family has health insurance -- Nancy is in insurance sales and Scott is in information technology -- but not enough to cover all of the expenses. COTA and volunteers are trying to raise $50,000 through fundraisers for Noah. The money raised will go into a COTA account, designated for the toddler. If Noah needs any of the money from his account, COTA dispenses the funds.

"The fund will always be there for him throughout his life if some secondary illness comes along later in life," Nancy said.

In the meantime, Noah's family waits to find out which transplant the toddler will receive. If all goes well with the chemotherapy and the transplant, Noah's prognosis will be much improved.

"That is the encouraging thing," Scott said. "We always wanted that to be the outcome."

I hope the best for Noah and his journey ahead. Since no bone-marrow matches have been found, it is good to know that the Swanson's have an alternative option with an umbilical cord blood transplant. Finding any type of match whether it be an organ, bone-marrow, or even cord blood stem cells is difficult and that is why I think it is so important for parents to consider privately banking their baby's umbilical cord blood or in the very least publicly donate so another child may have the opportunity to find a match in their most desperate hours. Stem cells are saving lives everyday and with cord blood being one of the richest sources of stem cells, banking your child's cord blood at birth in my opinion is a no-brainer...........MrCordBlood

Donate Umbilical Cord Blood, the Gift of Life

http://www.catholicherald.com/stories/Donate-umbilical-cord-blood-the-gift-of-life,18491


Follow us on Twitter@MrCordBlood and Facebook at www.facebook.com/TheCordGroup

“The Catholic Church opposes life-saving stem-cell research!”

How many times have we seen this claim repeated by credulous reporters? More importantly, how many of us know that this claim is completely false?

To be clear, the Catholic Church does oppose embryonic stem-cell research — that is, the kind of research that creates and destroys embryonic human beings. But the Church strongly supports research that uses donated adult stem cells and umbilical cord blood cells — the only type of research that is actually yielding life-saving therapies today.

Donated stem cells have the potential to develop into more specific cells, many of which are already used to treat cancer, genetic diseases and immunodeficiency disorders. Sadly, while umbilical cord blood can offer life-saving therapy, it is usually discarded as medical waste.

Technology, properly and morally used, can be a wonderful thing. Today, parents have the opportunity to donate blood from their newborn’s umbilical cord, after the child is born, to a bank where it can provide the gift of life for a patient in need. Donation of cord blood poses no risk to either mother or baby and does not alter the birth experience since the blood can be collected either before or after the placenta is delivered. By agreeing to donate your child’s cord blood, you really are just authorizing medical professionals to properly collect, transport and store this blood that would otherwise be thrown away.

Such donations do, however, require some planning. Sometime before the 34th week of pregnancy, parents and their obstetrician should discuss the option of cord blood donation, and parents must complete a detailed medical questionnaire. A history of cancer other than successfully treated superficial skin cancers makes a woman ineligible to donate cord blood. In addition, certain infections within the 12 months prior to delivery would eliminate the possibility of cord blood donation. Within one week after delivery, a mother must have her own blood drawn and screened for infectious diseases like hepatitis, human immunodeficiency virus and cytomegalovirus in order to complete the donation process.

There are currently only 185 hospitals in the United States that have umbilical cord blood collection programs, so their availability varies widely. In Virginia, the only hospital with an established program is Inova-Fairfax. But even if a hospital does not have a cord blood donation program, the opportunity may still exist if parents are willing to do a little legwork. Parents can obtain donation kits directly from the banks and then bring these kits to the hospital when they check in for the birth of their child. The list of participating hospitals, as well as the list of public cord blood banks that support donations in non-participating hospitals, can be found at bethematch.org.

The donation of umbilical cord blood is encouraged by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and the American Medical Association; and it is considered morally licit by the Catholic Church. In fact, the Church recognizes organ and tissue donation as a supreme act of charity. Blessed Pope John Paul II wrote in “Evangelium Vitae”:

“Over and above such outstanding moments, there is an everyday heroism, made up of gestures of sharing, big or small, which build up an authentic culture of life. A particularly praiseworthy example of such gestures is the donation of organs, performed in an ethically acceptable manner, with a view to offering a chance of health and even of life itself to the sick who sometimes have no other hope” (No. 86).

Therefore, the possibility to donate their newborn’s umbilical cord blood deserves serious consideration from Catholic parents. With a little effort on their part, parents can allow the precious gift that they have received with the birth of their child to become a gift of life for someone suffering from a catastrophic illness. While it may not be possible for all parents to make such a gift, it’s worth noting that often generosity with life goes beyond mere openness to having children. Donating cord blood is a beautiful witness to a true culture of life.

Hunnell is a fellow of HLI America, an educational initiative of Human Life International.

With nearly a billion followers in the Catholic faith worldwide, I think it speaks volumes about the importance of adult stem cells and umbilical cord blood banking being endorsed by the Catholic Church. Many worldwide still have the misconception that anything stem cell related is "embryonic" in nature which couldn't be further from the truth. The leaps and bounds that are being made is the adult stem cell arena are nothing short of miraculous and new leases on life are being granted daily to so many through umbilical cord blood transplants. With the future of regenerative medicine shining brighter every day, the urgency of saving one's own stem cells has never been greater. Become aware and educated on how saving stem cells save lives.............MrCordBlood

Saving for a Rainy Day in Life

http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/lifestyle/a/-/health/13115450/saving-for-a-rainy-day-in-life/

Follow on Twitter @MrCordBlood and Facebook at www.facebook.com/TheCordGroup

It is not your everyday form of banking but is one that an increasing number of couples, particularly in WA, are undertaking on behalf of their children.

It can be done with a private or public bank and is a hedge against possible future health problems.

It is cord blood banking, in which a baby's umbilical cord blood is frozen and stored.

More than 41,000 Australians have opted for it.

According to Cell Care, the largest private cord blood bank in Australia, WA parents are embracing cord blood banking at a faster rate than their Eastern States counterparts.

More than one in five of parents banking with Cell Care is from WA, despite the State accounting for only 10 per cent of births in the nation.

About one per cent of Australian parents bank cord blood privately, totalling about 3500 banked samples a year from almost 296,000 births, compared with an estimated 5 per cent in the US and more than 20 per cent in Singapore and Korea. In all, 18,000 Australians have banked privately and 23,616 publicly.

Cord blood is a rich source of stemcells, the building blocks of all cells in the body, and of immune cells called regulatory T-cells, which help control the immune system and may have potential to treat immune disorders.

According to Cell Care, parents are increasingly choosing to bank their baby's cord blood if they have a family history of disease, have a baby of an ethnic minority or mixed ethnicity where there may be a greater difficulty finding a matched donor or for future regenerative medicine options.

In Australia, if banked privately - for a fee of about $3000 for 18 years storage - ownership and control of the cord blood can be retained.

If done for free through a public bank, it is available to any patient worldwide who is in need of a cord blood transplant. And, at present, there is no public bank in WA.

Cell Care medical director Mark Kirkland, who is an associate professor of research at Deakin University, said the rationale for public banks was that cord blood could be used to treat leukaemias, even in cases where the tissue type was not identical between donor and recipient. Cord blood transplants had lower incidences of rejection by the recipient and of graft versus host disease - in which the donated cells attack the recipient's cells.

Professor Kirkland said private banking was popular because it was still better to have a full match for a transplant.

Another area for cord blood use was regenerative medicine and cellular therapies, he said.

"My hope is that cord blood will turn out to have applications in a wide array of different situations," he said.

In Australia, cord blood stemcells are licensed for use only in transplant medicine to treat diseases such as leukaemia, other cancers and blood disorders, although samples have been released for regenerative medicine applications under an exemption from the regulator.

Conditions which might be treated by regenerative medicine include type 1 diabetes and cerebral palsy.

Like most parents, Pauline Goodreid is after peace of mind and has taken the step of banking cord blood to help achieve that. At the birth of each of her children, Halle and Clay, she had their cord blood saved and banked as a future source of vital stemcells.

Mrs Goodreid, 34, said although there was no history of serious illness in her family or that of her husband, Adrian, 40, they had used their baby bonus to pay for private cord blood banking through Cell Care.

"We had done a bit of reading and some friends had done it so it made us look into it further," she said. "It is not something you ever want to think about but I guess there is the potential to treat medical conditions if it should ever be needed for either of the kids. You do what you can to protect your children."

Mrs Goodreid said the banked frozen cord blood potentially could be used for her, Adrian and any future children.

I think that the cost to bank your baby's cord blood is mere pennies compared to the potential life-saving powers cord blood stem cells possess. My 2 children's lives are PRICELESS and banking both of their cord blood was the best decision I could have made as a parent. I hope the day never comes that those stem cells are needed but should that day arrive, I know they will be ready and waiting to battle some of the most devastating diseases that afflict the human race. I strongly urge that every expecting parent learn more about the life-saving potential that banking your baby's cord blood could offer as it may one day be the lifeline you need in your most desperate hour.............MrCordBlood

Mother: Blood From Daughter's Umbilical Cord Saved Toddler's Life

http://www.kmov.com/community/blogs/reporters-blog/Mother-Blood-from-daughters-umbilical-cord-saved-toddlers-life-142883115.html

Follow on Twitter @MrCordBlood and Facebook at www.facebook.com/TheCordGroup

KMOV) -- A Missouri mom says blood from her daughter's umbilical cord saved her toddler's life.

Sparrow, now 5, was just a year and a half old when she fell into a pool.  Doctors told her family she wouldn't survive, but Sparrow made major milestones after doctors at Duke University infused the little girl with her own stem cells, taken from the cord blood her family had stored.

"We knew the research was new and we didn't know exactly where the science was going to take it, but it could be beneficial for Alzheimer’s, cancers and certain things like that, so we saw the value in it and banked her cord blood," Tonya Morris, Sparrow's mom, said.

Cord blood costs about $3,000 up front to bank, then about $200 a month to store it.  The Morris family looks at it like an insurance policy.

"We knew that if there was some significant research done, and we had this for our children, who would highly likely -- it was like 75 to 80 percent chance of matching her cord blood, a sibling's cord blood -- and we had that for them and they faced something in life, it would be there," Morris said.

Morris says the stem cells found in the cord blood were used to help heal her daughter's brain injury.  She says Sparrow literally made astonishing improvements just one day after the infusion.

"We saw this difference in her," Morris said.  "She was very energetic, very excited, and it was the first day that she had initiated conversation with us."

Another great example of how storing your baby's cord blood could be a life-saving decision. Banking our children's cord blood was the best decision my wife and I could make and we know should the day ever come that we need them, they are ready and waiting............MrCordBlood

Survivor's Ethan Zohn Gets Stem-Cell Transplant: "Today I Leap Into a Healthy New Body"

http://www.eonline.com/news/survivors_ethan_zohn_gets_stem-cell/297789

Follow on Twitter @MrCordBlood and Facebook at www.facebook.com/TheCordGroup

Forget feeling like a million bucks. Ethan Zohn is feeling like a new man.

The Survivor: Africa champ underwent a stem-cell transplant Wednesday to treat a recurrence of his Hodgkin's lymphoma cancer—and he has his brother to thank for the immuno-boost.

Outwit, outlast, outplay has never quite meant so much.

"Today I leap into a healthy new body. Today is the start of the rest of my life. Thank You to my bro Lee & all who have supported me. Love!" the reality star tweeted presumably before undergoing the transfusion.

And of course, Jenna Morasca, Zohn's girlfriend and winner of Survivor: The Amazon, was right there with him the whole time.

"Thanks @JennaMorasca for being by my side. Love you," he added in a follow up.

Just before the transplant, Morasca wrote on Twitter: "Today @EthanZohn gets new stem cells & new cancer free life FOREVER! And we get our lives back. Send positive healing vibes #getbetterethan"

MORE: Survivor Ethan Zohn's Cancer Returns

During the operation, Zohn's gal-pal kept her nerves calm and distracted herself by drawing a little self-portrait which she subsequently posted as a twit pic.

After it was over, Morasca was all smiles.

"Very happy girl right now :)))))," she tweeted.

Getting a new lease on life hasn't been easy for the former Boran tribesman, though change is (see he and Morasca's recent cut and dye job in honor of World Cancer Day).

In May 2009, Zohn first learned he had a rare form of the disease called CD20-positive Hodgkin's lymphoma, after doctors found a swollen lymph node and a mass on the left side of his chest. After undergoing intensive rounds of chemotherapy, the 38-year-old professional soccer player's cancer appeared to be in remission until Nov. 2011 when new cancer cells were detected, localized this time in his lung.

MORE: Take That, Cancer! Ethan Zohn Completes New York City Marathon

In an interview with People, Morasca said that despite the setback, her beau has every intention of whipping this latest challenge, just as the Survivor stud did when he successfully ran last November's New York City marathon.
"Ethan asked the doctor what was the record time for getting out of here, so he wants to beat that," she told the magazine. "His doctor said there was no prize, and Ethan said, 'Yes, there is. You're going to tell the other patients that I made it out in three weeks.' "

She added that Zohn also received the transplant at the same ward where he was first diagnosed with Hodgkin's, something that's been tough for the pair.

MORE: Ethan Zohn says Kardashians are helping cure cancer?

"No one wants to come back here. Even though the nurses and doctors are wonderful, this is one place where you really don't want to see anybody ever again," said Morasca. "Then, starting the chemo and being attached to a pump that you're going to be attached to for the next three to five weeks made it very real."

The procedure will hopefully provide Ethan with the lifelong protection he needs to prevent the cancer's return. Zohn, with Morasca at his side, is expected to remain in the hospital until he gets the OK from doctors that his body has accepted the new healthy stem cells.

We wish him a speedy recovery.


Read more: http://www.eonline.com/news/survivors_ethan_zohn_gets_stem-cell/297789#ixzz1nsDMtOoX




Great news for Ethan. He has already been able to "Outlast, Outwit, and Outplay" the competition in South Africa and hopefully with this stem cell transplant he can do the same against this recurrence of Hodgkin's. More and more people along with celebrities and athletes are seeing the power adult stem cells possess. Stem Cells Save Lives..................MrCordBlood

New Clinical Trials Use Umbilical Cord Blood Stem Cells to Treat Neurological Conditions and Hearing Loss

http://beyondthedish.wordpress.com/2012/02/21/new-clinicals-trials-use-umbilical-cord-blood-stem-cells-to-treat-neurological-conditions-and-hearing-loss/

Follow on Twitter @MrCordBlood and Facebook at www.facebook.com/TheCordGroup

Umbilical cord and umbilical cord blood contains a wealth of stem cells for multiple uses. Cord blood contains a blood cell-making stem cell that can be used to constitute bone marrow (see Gluckman E., Blood Rev. 2011;25(6):255-9). It also contains two mesenchymal stem cell populations: Wharton’s Jelly Mesenchymal Stem Cells (WJ-MSCs) and Human Umbilical Cord Perivascular Cells (HUCPVCs). Both of these cell populations have remarkable potential or regenerative medicine (Carvalho MM., et al.Curr Stem Cell Res Ther. 2011;6(3):221-8). Other umbilical cord stem cells include unrestricted somatic stem cells (USSCs; Arien-Zakay H, Lazarovici P, Nagler A., Best Pract Res Clin Haematol. 2010;23(2):291-303), embryonic-like stem cells, blood vessel-based endothelial stem cells, and a stem cell that comes from those cells that cover tissues (epithelial stem cells; see Harris DT., Stem Cell Rev. 2008;4(4):269-74, & Harris DT., Br J Haematol. 2009;147(2):177-84).

The usefulness of cord blood has been recognized by the medical community for some time, and there are now umbilical cord blood registries that bank cord blood for medical use and for research. One of these registries, the Cord Blood Registry (CBR) works with various research laboratories to help discover ways to use a child’s own cord blood stem cells to treat conditions like pediatric brain injury or even acquired hearing loss. Because different laboratories use different protocols or equipment to process umbilical cord blood, the experimental results derived from experiments or clinical trials that use cord blood might vary widely. Therefore, to ensure consistency in the storage and processing of cord blood stems, three separate clinical trials have used cord blood that provided by the CBR in their FDA-authorized protocols. These research institutions include the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) in partnership with Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital, and Georgia Health Sciences University, which is the home of the Medical College of Georgia (MCG). CBR is the only family stem cell bank that pairs researchers conducting clinical trials with prospective patients for their studies.

Heather Brown, MS, CGC, Vice President of Scientific & Medical Affairs at Cord Blood Registry, put it this way: “Partnering with a series of specialists who want to research the use of a child’s own newborn blood stem cells on a variety of disease states allows CBR to help advance medical research for regenerative therapies by connecting the child whose family banked with CBR to appropriate researchers. The pediatric specialists from UTHealth, Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital, and Georgia Health Sciences University are at the forefront of stem cell research as they evaluate cord blood stem cells’ ability to help facilitate the healing process after damage to nerves and tissue.”

One of the clinical trials examined the ability of cord blood stem cells to treat hearing loss. Hearing loss can result from problems with the middle ear, which conducts sound to the cochlea (conductive hearing loss) or from problems with the inner ear, in which the cochlea itself is damaged or defective (sensorineural hearing). Sensorineural hearing loss affects approximately 6 per 1,000 children by 18 years of age, with 9% of the cases resulting from various external causes (e.g., viral infection and head injury). Samer Fakhri, M.D., surgeon at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center and associate professor and program director in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery at UTHealth, heads the research team investigating the use of cord blood to treat sensorineural hearing loss. His collaborator is James Baumgartner, M.D.

The Fakhri-Baumgartner study is a Phase I safety study that uses cord blood-based stem cells to treat children who suffer from acquired hearing loss. The inspiration for this trial comes from animal studies that used cord blood to repair damaged organs in the inner ear. The paper (Revoltella RP., et al., Cell Transplant. 2008;17(6):665-78), used mice that had been made deaf from treatment with aminoglycoside antibiotics, which cause irreversible deafness at particular dosages, and intensely loud noises, which also cause deafness. Intravenous administration of hematopoietic stem cells from umbilical cord blood stimulated some structural recovery in the inner ear that was due to umbilical cord stem cells that had survived and become part of the inner ear tissues.

Parents of children 6 weeks to 2 years old that had experiences hearing soon after birth are eligible for this year-long study. Baumgartner explains, “The window of opportunity to foster normal language development is limited. This is the first study of its kind with the potential to actually restore hearing in children and allow for more normal speech and language development.”

Another clinical trial is examining the ability of cord blood to treat brain trauma. Children who experience brain injury heal better than adults who experienced the same injury. Having said that brain trauma is one of the leading causes of childhood death. Charles S. Cox, M.D., distinguished professor of pediatric surgery and pediatrics at UTHealth, initiated a clinical study that will enroll 10 children ages 18 months to 17 years old, all of whom have umbilical cord blood banked with CBR, and have suffered some type of traumatic brain injury. These children will enroll in the study within 6-18 months of suffering brain injury. This trial grows from a growing corpus of studies that have demonstrated the efficacy of umbilical blood stem cells to treat neurological conditions. Read more about the trial here.

According the Charles Cox, “The reason we have become interested in cord blood cells is because of the possibility of autologous therapy, meaning using your own cells. And the preclinical models have demonstrated some really fascinating neurological preservation effects to really support these Phase 1 trials. There’s anecdotal experience in other types of neurological injuries that reassures us in terms of the safety of the approach and there are some anecdotal hints at it being beneficial in certain types of brain injury.”

James Carroll professor and chief of pediatric neurology at the GHSU in Augusta, Georgia, launched the first FDA-regulated clinical trial to test the ability of cord blood stem cell infusions to improve the condition of children with cerebral palsy. This clinical trial will include 40 children whose parents have banked their umbilical cord blood at CBR and meet all the criteria for inclusion in the trial.

Dr. Carroll explains: “Using a child’s own stem cells as a possible treatment is the safest form of stem cell transplantation because it carries virtually no threat of immune system rejection. Our focus on cerebral palsy breaks new ground in advancing therapies to change the course of these kinds of brain injury–a condition for which there is currently no cure.”

Brain injuries or lack of oxygen either before birth, during birth, or during the first years of life can damage specific motor pathways in the brain and lead to an inability properly move, learn, hear, see, or think normally. According to the Centers for Disease Control, 2-3 / 1,000 children are affected by cerebral palsy.

These clinical trials are part of an innovative push that partners clinical researchers with patients. They also represent a move from preclinical studies with cord blood stem cells in animals, to human clinical trials with genuine human patients. Heather Brown put it this way: “The benefits of cord blood stem cells being very young, easy to obtain, unspecialized cells which have had limited exposure to environmental toxins or infectious diseases and easy to store for long terms without any loss of function, make them an attractive source for cellular therapy researchers today. We are encouraged to see interest from such diverse researchers from neurosurgeons to endocrinologists and cardiac specialists.”

Great Article. One of the sentences that really stood out to me was this: Dr. Carroll explains: “Using a child’s own stem cells as a possible treatment is the safest form of stem cell transplantation because it carries virtually no threat of immune system rejection." Not only could your baby's cord blood stem cells save their lives but the risks of the transplant are virtually minimal compared to other transplant options. Stem cells are revolutionizing the way we treat diseases and the science will just continue to grow............MrCordBlood

Waisan Poon, "Clinical trial of umbilical cord blood stem cells in spina...

http://www.stemcelltherapy.me/waisan-poon-clinical-trial-of-umbilical-cord-blood-stem-cells-in-spinal-cord-injury-video/

Follow on Twitter @MrCordBlood and Facebook at www.facebook.com/TheCordGroup

I thought I would share this video about the use of cord blood stem cells and spinal cord injuries. I hope my readers enjoy.............MrCordBlood

Sickle Cell Disease Cured With Umbilical Cord Blood Stem Cells

http://www.futurehealthbiobank.com/blog/sickle-cell-disease-cured-umbilical-cord-blood-stem-cells

Follow on Twitter @MrCordBlood and Facebook at www.facebook.com/TheCordGroup

In today's 6 For Your Health headlines... Sickle cell disease has been particularly devastating to the African American community. Now during Black History Month there are signs of hope that the tide is turning.

A 10-year-old girl has been cured of sickle cell, disease free for 3 years. The key for her was a stem cell transplant made possible from stored umbilical cord blood. Marianne Favro reports.

Just days after Lucky Mulumba gave birth to her first child, she learned her baby, Carol, had sickle cell anemia.

Lucky Mulumba, mother: "They told us that she had the most severe type and she's going to live a hard life. Some physicians predicted she may not live past ten years."

For the next 6 years, Carol struggled with an endless dose of pain.

Carol Mulumba - sickle cell anemia survivor: "The pain in my head was like a punch; in my stomach it was like a kick. My heart felt like a squeeze and my back felt like a scratch."

Pain so severe she couldn't attend school.

Lucky Mulumba: "Carol was battling for her life. She was getting mini strokes, she was on morphine drips, she was sick."

That's when Carol says her younger brother Mark saved her life. He was born just 2 years after Carol and his parents banked his umbilical cord blood.

The cord blood registry collected and stored the stem cells in the blood as part of a free program called newborn possibilities. When Carol turned 7 she received a stem cell transplant using Mark's banked cells.

Dr. Kate Brown, cord blood registry: "Once the stem cells are in the patient's body, they then reproduce the blood and immune system so we're replacing the sickle-celled blood system with the blood system from a healthy donor."

The treatment worked, curing Carol of sickle cell. She's been disease-free for 3 years.

Carol Mulumba: "Now I feel great. And I don't have any pain and I don't have to visit the doctor all the time."

Which is great because now she has time to enjoy school, give her brother extra hugs for helping save her life and meet with President Obama to tell him how cord blood can be so much more than your lifeline in the womb.

Carol is not the only patient benefiting from cord blood. Doctors say these types of stem cells in umbilical cords are used to treat 80 different diseases including some blood cancers, immune disorders and anemias.

With so many new applications coming out using cord blood stem cells, the decision to bank your baby's cord blood is becoming more important than ever...........MrCordBlood

Keep the FDA Out of All Stem Cell Treatment

http://www.petition2congress.com/5863/keep-fda-out-all-stem-cell-treatment/

Millions of people including children suffer from diseases in our country that rob them from the life they deserve. Stem Cell Treatment offers a proven cure for people that suffer from debilitating illnesses. It is proven over and over again. People travel all over the country to see Stem Cell doctors and experience the relief of being cured of debilitating diseases.

Although President Obama lifted the ban on using Stem Cells, the FDA continues to attempt controlling treatment between doctors and their patients,however the mandate of the FDA is food and drug administration and not medical practice.

Don't allow the FDA and Pharmaceutical companies run our country. We have the right to the care that will stop the suffering of the people in our country. This is outside the jurisdiction of the FDA but they keep filing injunctions and taking these brave doctors away from treating the people. That means suffering people have to wait when the cure is here. Research is no longer necessary. These doctors went forward with out the funding and are saving lives now.

Problems with the FDA discourages other doctors from learning how end the suffering and cure people.

Please put a stop to the FDA now and once and for all keep them out of this field.

Everyone please take a moment to sign and pass along............MrCordBlood

Study Looks at Whether Stem Cells in Cord Blood Might Repair Hearing Loss in Kids

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-life/life/style/study-looks-at-whether-stem-cells-in-cord-blood-might-repair-hearing-loss-in-kids-139053334.html

Follow on Twitter @MrCordBlood and Facebook at www.facebook.com/TheCordGroup

TORONTO - Researchers have been given the go-ahead to test stem cells from cord blood with the ultimate goal of reversing hearing loss in infants and toddlers whose inner ears have been damaged.

U.S. regulators have approved the Phase I study, which has a primary objective of determining the safety of the experimental stem cell therapy.

The therapy involves transfusing a baby's own stem cells from umbilical cord blood, banked by parents after their child's birth. Ten children aged six weeks to 18 months old with sensorineural hearing loss will be recruited for the study by doctors at Children's Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston.

"We're looking more at the ones that suffer an injury around birth or shortly after birth," said Dr. Samer Fakhri, a specialist in head and neck surgery and principal investigator of the study.

Fakhri, a Montreal native who received his medical training at McGill University, said such injuries to the inner ear can be caused by viral infections and even some medications.

Sensorineural hearing impairment occurs when structures in the inner ear or the nerve pathways between the inner ear and the brain are damaged. The critical structure in the inner ear is the snail-shell-shaped cochlea, which contains "hair cells" that gather electrical signals, which are transferred to the brain and perceived as sound.

A child with this kind of hearing loss can suffer significant impairment, Fakhri said from Houston. "You may hear parts of sounds. You may not hear the sounds at all, or you may hear very faint sounds.

"If they lose hearing at four weeks or five weeks due to a viral infection" — meningitis is a common cause — "we know that there is a tremendous impact," he said.

"There's a lot of research that has been done in child development that has determined that there's really a critical window for children to develop speech, language and social development, and it's probably in the first 18 months."

The idea for the trial was triggered by a 2008 study by European scientists, who infused human cord blood into laboratory mice with induced sensorineural hearing loss. An examination of the treated animals about two months later showed "inner ear organization and structure were basically restored," said Fakhri.

"That was the study that was a proof of concept ... That was such a dramatic result."

Fakhri said the exact role of the stem cells in the repair of damaged tissue in the mice isn't known, but there are a couple of theories.

Stem cells can give rise to many different types of cells in the body, so it may be they effect the repair by regenerating lost hair cells. But a more recent theory suggests that stem cells may go to the site of injury and set off the body's innate repair mechanisms.

"In that sense, they play more of a supporting role," he said.

While regenerating tissues is the great hope of stem cells — and they do appear to hold a lot of promise — the idea that they could restore damaged hearing in humans is still speculative, doctors say.

"This study is really very, very preliminary," said Dr. Robert Harrison, a professor of head and neck surgery at the University of Toronto.

"That's the safety issue," he said, stressing that the FDA-approved study must first ensure the stem cells do no harm to patients. Figuring out if they actually work to repair the organ of hearing would have to be proven in subsequent trials.

"We're a long way from looking at the possible therapeutic value of this in terms of restoring some sort of hearing," said Harrison, a senior scientist at the Hospital for Sick Children and a director of the Hearing Foundation of Canada.

"It's a very theoretical concept, and in my opinion it's not going to happen soon."

Current treatment of sensorineural hearing loss in young children is pretty well restricted to hearing aids or cochlear implants, surgically implanted electronic devices, Fakhri said. Both are used to amplify any residual hearing.

We have seen a lot of stories over the last month talking about the use of cord blood stem cells and hearing loss. Just the possibility of being able to restore some sort of loss in hearing is profound in itself. With every passing day the stem cell industry is bringing new hope to a variety of ailments that one day may be able to use stem cells as treatments or better yet cure a number of diseases. I don't think the future has ever been brighter than now..............MrCordBlood

Cleaning Umbilical Cord With Antiseptic Reduces Health Risks

http://www.dawn.com/2012/02/09/cleaning-umbilical-cord-with-antiseptic-reduces-health-risks.html

Follow on Twitter @MrCordBlood and Facebook at www.facebook.com/TheCordGroup

KARACHI: Cleaning a newborn’s umbilical cord with an antiseptic can reduce the risk of infection by 42 per cent and death by 38 per cent, according to a study carried out by the Aga Khan University’s division of women and child health.

The research printed on Wednesday in The Lancet was conducted in 1,300 villages in the Dadu district.

According to the study, Pakistan has one of the highest newborn mortality rates (with 53 deaths per 10,000 live births) in the world and up to a third are because of infections.

“Infection risk is greatest in countries where most deliveries take place at home, often attended by unskilled traditional birth attendants [dais] with poor delivery practices,” the study says.

“Unsafe conventions, such as cutting the birth cord with unsterilised instruments, and the application of substances such as ash, surma [lead-based concoctions], oil and even cow dung are practised in many rural areas of Pakistan, and often associated with an increased risk of cord infection and death,” it adds.

About 10,000 newborns were enrolled in the study between January 2008 and June 2009 which looked at the effectiveness of three interventions.

One consisted of birth kits containing an antiseptic solution (chlorhexidine) to be applied to the cord at birth by dais and once daily by family members for up to 14 days, along with a bar of soap and educational messages promoting hand-washing.

The second intervention was the antiseptic solution alone and the third, hand washing only.

The fourth group was advised to practice standard dry cord care recommended by the World Health Organisation.

The study showed that cord cleansing with the CHX reduced the risk of infection in children by 42 per cent and deaths by 38 per cent. Hand washing promotion alone appeared to have no effect on infection or mortality risk.

“Given the large number of newborn deaths that occur due to severe infection in home settings, our study not only provides the evidence that a simple low-cost solution like chlorhexidine can save lives, but also shows that a delivery strategy through packaging in birth kits works,” said Professor Dr Zulfiqar A. Bhutta, the head of the division of women and child health at the AKU, and principal investigator of the study.

“It could be used to scale up coverage of these interventions at birth in both community settings and public sector facilities.
These findings also have substantial implications for public health in South Asia, where many areas share similar cultural, social, and economic characteristics.”

The researchers propose that this intervention be considered for possible inclusion in the range of interventions available to lady health workers of the national programme for family planning and primary care of the government.

The trial was carried out in Dadu with a population of about one million, and an infant mortality rate of 90 per 1,000 live births. More than 80 per cent deliveries in the district are done at home by dais and almost 90 per cent of households followed the traditional practices of applying surma and other substances on the umbilical cord.

The study was funded by Pakistan Initiative for Mothers and Newborns (Paiman), and John Snow Inc. via a grant by the US Agency for International Development (Usaid).

A separate study in rural Bangladesh, conducted by researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and funded by Usaid and Save the Children’s Saving Newborn Lives programme, which also appears in the current issue of The Lancet, found that cleaning the birth cord with chlorhexidine can reduce an infant’s risk of infection and death during the first weeks of life by as much as 20 per cent.

Interesting article, reducing infection is something key for successful collection to be viable for transplants..........MrCordBlood