Hooray for stem cells

[xoxoxoBruce]

Progress is stem cell treatments seem to be coming fast a furious.

There was a report on the TV news about a local veterinarian was helping near crippled dogs. By extracting a couple tablespoons of their fat, having the stem cells separated by a CA lab, then injecting them back into the dog, the dogs started running (and jumping on/off the furniture ) almost immediately.

Now a promising treatment for people who are blind from damaged corneas, which is estimated at 10 million world wide.

They removed small samples of stem cells from the eyes of two men and a woman with corneal disease and grew them on a contact lens. The stem cell-coated contacted lenses were then put into the patients' eyes for around three weeks. During that time, the stem cells moved off the lenses and began to heal the damaged corneas, the journal Transplantation reports.

Using a person's own cells removes any need for donors and means the transplant will not be rejected. Researcher Dr Nick Di Girolamo said: 'The procedure is totally simple and cheap.

'Unlike other techniques, it requires no foreign human or animal products, only the patient’s own serum, and is completely non-invasive. 'There's no suturing, there is no major operation. You don’t need any fancy equipment

A possible cure for the 4th most common cause of blindness, that can be done cheap and easy in the backwaters of the world. Amazing.

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