Stem Cells or Miracle Cells
Thursday, December 6, 2012
Another interesting and possibly the most beneficial potential
of stem cells is that stem cells can help someone with paralysis walk again.
There have been tests done on rats and the rats have been able to walk again
after stem cells were made into new neural cells. This is amazing and will give
many paralyzed individuals a chance to live again and do things that they
otherwise never have been able to do.
These
are interesting polls that I found on Gallup polls. One measures by political
party, the acceptance of embryonic stem cells which for each party was over
50%. The other shows individuals
personal point of views of stem cells. Again there is an overwhelming amount of
support for stem cells. This shows that because of the great promise of stem
cells the acceptance has improved.
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
In finding support
articles for stem cells the website Nature and Science were
very helpful. If you are interested in stem cells or even science in
general I would check these two websites out!
Links: http://www.sciencemag.org/
http://www.nature.com/
Links: http://www.sciencemag.org/
http://www.nature.com/
Monday, December 3, 2012
Human Liver |
One avenue of research
that I have not looked into much is the claim that hES cells can cure
blindness. This interests me because I have very bad vision and have
been interested in alternative ways of improving vision. A study done
in 2012 using hES cells improved two blind woman's vision
exponentially even in lower doses. This is not the only reason why this study
is so important.The study is also important because this is the first time when
hES cells were successfully implanted in a human. This holds great
promise for the future by not only helping repair vision but research using hES
cells in general.
On March 9, 2009 former
President Bush's policy on stem cells was repealed by President Obama. He then
put in place a policy that benefits scientists that do stem cell research and
that he will open up more federal funding to new embryonic stem cell lines.
When I first found this out I was ecstatic because it gives
scientists more funding and more availability of stem cells.
This will progress research much farther than it would have if the funding
was still restricted and may lead to a cure of a major
disease, plaguing millions.
This is a picture of 2 brains, one normal and one with Parkinson's. This image shows that in the brain with Parkinson's there is much less activity because less dopamine is being made. Human embryonic stem cells have been shown to improve dopamine production by adding new neurons into the brain. This would stop and even reverse the effects of Parkinson's.
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