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Annabelle Rama to undergo stem cell treatment to improve health

By adminSeptember 2, 2012Stem Cell Treatment

YAHOO:

Talent manager Annabelle Rama will fly to Germany in September to undergo therapy - stem cell therapy, that is. This has been a promise made by her son Richard Gutierrez who's footing the bill. "Early this year pa lang ay napagplanuhan na 'yung pagpapa-stem cell ng nanay ko at prinomise ko sa kanya na pag-iipunan ko, prinomise ko sa kanya na ako ang magti-treat sa kanya," Richard said on the first episode of "H.O.T. TV," Aug. 5.

He noted, "'Yung mom ko hindi mahilig 'yan na pumunta sa mga doctor, hindi mahilig magpa-check-up."

Looking forward

This early, Annabelle is already excited about her trip and the upcoming treatment.

"Kaya ako excited pumunta kasi unang-una mataas ang aking sugar, mataas ang aking cholesterol, tapos me problema pa ako sa high blood, blood pressure ko. Siguro nga kailangan kong pumunta ng Germany," she said, noting that the condition of her friends, talent manager Lolit Solis and actress Lorna Tolentino, have improved tremendously after going through stem cell therapy.

"Nakita ko ang mukha ni Lolis pumuputi ang mukha niya, eh at saka mukha siyang fresh na fresh. Lalo na si LT, nakita ko rin siya. Mukhang gumanda naman siya. Basta lahat ng kaibigan kong galing doon, nakakausap ko, sabi nila ay talagang gumaling daw sila. 'Yung kanilang napi-feel na mabigat sa katawan dahil sa sakit nila ay nawawala lahat," she said.

Exorbitant fees?

Annabelle had already inquired about the fees of stem cell procedure in the country and she feels it's exorbitant.

"Kasi sa Piipinas may pinagtatanungan na ako, umabot ng mga four million pesos 'yung naitanong ko kaya parang na-discourage akong magpagamot kasi nga ganoon kamahal."

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Annabelle Rama to undergo stem cell treatment to improve health

Stem cells of youth

By adminSeptember 2, 2012Stem Cell Treatment

Public Lives By: Randy David Philippine Daily Inquirer

Recently, I listened to a friend recount his stem cell treatment at a medical spa in Europe. The treatment costs about P1 million. The clinic where it is done has lately been attracting hundreds of Filipinos in search of the modern version of the proverbial fountain of youth.

Youre fetched from the airport by a limousine, my friend said, and brought to a beautiful countryside lodge in the middle of a lush forest. Over three relaxing days, three injections of a serum taken from the fetus of a sheep are administered on the patients buttocks. In between treatments, the spas overseas guests are taken on a guided tour of nearby sights as part of the package. The physical change is supposed to be felt gradually after a week. I cant explain to you exactly how it works, he said, but I do feel good and strong. All the aches in my bones are gone, and the wrinkles on my face have receded. He did look rested, I must say. But, if I had that kind of money, I thought to myself, I would sooner buy a motorcycle.

Stem cell experimentationand the post-human future it signifieshas always fascinated me. And so I asked my no-nonsense dermatologist who has been treating me for occasional allergic flare-ups what she thought of stem cells as the new path to prolonged youth. Its definitely the newest craze in town, she confirmed. More than a dozen of her own patients have been enticing her with an all-expenses-paid European holiday just to accompany them to this famous clinic. She advises them instead to take off for a week and pamper themselves at a local spa if they have money to spend. But if they are persistent, she tells them they can get the same treatment in China or Thailand for maybe half the price.

These foreign clinics are not medical centers for stem cell therapy, she tells me, short of saying they are scams. They are really nothing but expensive spas that offer a menu of rejuvenation treatments. The cells taken from the fetuses of animals and injected into their clients bodies cannot be called stem cells, she says emphatically. They are adult cells.

Stem cells are called such because they are the cells that generate fresh tissue or blood. The human body has reserves of these stem cells, mostly found in the bone marrow. They are mobilized like an army when the body requires regeneration from injury or illness. Sometimes, when the healing, for example, of a broken bone is taking an unusually long time, a surgeon may draw stem cells from a persons bone marrow, and graft these directly onto his injured bone. These autologous stem cells (meaning, sourced from the same person) speed up the healing process. These are also used to treat some forms of cancer like leukemia. At the moment of birth, a babys umbilical cord is filled with stem cells, and these are sometimes harvested and preserved for future use to treat that babys congenital illnesses or defects.

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Stem cells of youth

Research and Markets: Cell Therapy – Technologies, Markets and Companies – Updated 2012 Report

By adminSeptember 1, 2012Uncategorized

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/9fkkzb/cell_therapy_tec) has announced the addition of Jain PharmaBiotech's new report "Cell Therapy - Technologies, Markets and Companies" to their offering.

This report describes and evaluates cell therapy technologies and methods, which have already started to play an important role in the practice of medicine. Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation is replacing the old fashioned bone marrow transplants. Role of cells in drug discovery is also described. Cell therapy is bound to become a part of medical practice.

Stem cells are discussed in detail in one chapter. Some light is thrown on the current controversy of embryonic sources of stem cells and comparison with adult sources. Other sources of stem cells such as the placenta, cord blood and fat removed by liposuction are also discussed. Stem cells can also be genetically modified prior to transplantation.

Cell therapy technologies overlap with those of gene therapy, cancer vaccines, drug delivery, tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. Pharmaceutical applications of stem cells including those in drug discovery are also described. Various types of cells used, methods of preparation and culture, encapsulation and genetic engineering of cells are discussed. Sources of cells, both human and animal (xenotransplantation) are discussed. Methods of delivery of cell therapy range from injections to surgical implantation using special devices.

Cell therapy has applications in a large number of disorders. The most important are diseases of the nervous system and cancer which are the topics for separate chapters. Other applications include cardiac disorders (myocardial infarction and heart failure), diabetes mellitus, diseases of bones and joints, genetic disorders, and wounds of the skin and soft tissues.

Regulatory and ethical issues involving cell therapy are important and are discussed. Current political debate on the use of stem cells from embryonic sources (hESCs) is also presented. Safety is an essential consideration of any new therapy and regulations for cell therapy are those for biological preparations.

The cell-based markets was analyzed for 2011, and projected to 2021. The markets are analyzed according to therapeutic categories, technologies and geographical areas. The largest expansion will be in diseases of the central nervous system, cancer and cardiovascular disorders. Skin and soft tissue repair as well as diabetes mellitus will be other major markets.

The number of companies involved in cell therapy has increased remarkably during the past few years. More than 500 companies have been identified to be involved in cell therapy and 284 of these are profiled in part II of the report along with tabulation of 274 alliances. Of these companies, 154 are involved in stem cells. Profiles of 70 academic institutions in the US involved in cell therapy are also included in part II along with their commercial collaborations. The text is supplemented with 55 Tables and 11 Figures. The bibliography contains 1,050 selected references, which are cited in the text.

Key Topics Covered:

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Research and Markets: Cell Therapy - Technologies, Markets and Companies - Updated 2012 Report

Stem Cells Bring New Hope for Parry-Romberg Syndrome Patients

By adminAugust 31, 2012Stem Cell Treatment

SEOUL, South Korea, Aug. 31, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- In a landmark clinical study, scientists of the RNL Stem Cell Technology Institute have demonstrated that the transplant of patients' own ("autologous") stem cells can dramatically improve the ability of plastic surgeons to repair diseases. In the September 2012 issue of the prestigious international plastic surgery journal Annals of Plastic Surgery (69:3), researchers published their controlled study of the power of stem cells, describing a breakthrough with patients who have Parry-Romberg Syndrome. More than 200,000 have this tragic and debilitating disease in the U.S. alone. Their prognosis without treatment is the slow loss of control, then paralysis of the face and in some cases the mouth and even eyes. Most patients with Parry-Romberg begin to experience these symptoms between the age of five (5) and fifteen (15) years of age. There is, says the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, "no cure." To date, treatments have involved waiting until the disease slows and then transplanting fat into patients' faces, strengthening bones in their faces, and using microvascular surgery to "install" a free flap of skin.

However the only solution for patients with this disorder, and those with similar disorders, the grafting of fat, is at best a temporary solution, which alleviates none of the pain felt by these patients, and can in fact result in an increase in pain when fat grafts fail. So, plastic surgeons, engineers and others have searched for years for a solution with longer term effects, or even a way to fight the disease's symptoms in a sustained way.

Dr. Kyeung-Suk Ko and Dr. Jong-Woo Choi led a research team under Dr. Jeong-chan Ra of RNL Stem Cell Technology Institute that may have uncovered, for the first time, just such a tool for plastic surgeons: patients' own stem cells. In their controlled study, the team painlessly removed a few ounces of fat from one group Parry-Romberg Syndrome patients, harvesting stem cells from these patients' fat, cells that are genetically identical to the patient's cells throughout their body and that have well documented abilities to "home in" on inflammation and disease and have dramatic effects on patients' symptoms and even disease itself. In this study, those patients in the "treated" group received stem cells magnified into the millions (using the team's patented technology whose safety has been well published). These patients' outcomes, adding stem cells to standard-of-care therapies, were measured against traditional microfat grafts in the control group receiving no stem cells.

In what many have described as a revolutionary finding, the team found that those patients who received their own "adult" mesenchymal stem cells saw unprecedented improvement in the effectiveness of therapies. Fat grafts that are often "resorbed" into patients' skin shortly after they are placed were 50% less likely to disappear when provided alongside stem cells (20.59% vs 46.81%).

This study was approved by the Korea Food and Drug Administration, the institutional IRB of the Asan Medical Center, and peer-reviewed prior to acceptance in the renowned plastic surgery publication under the title: "Clinical application of human adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells in progressive hemifacial atrophy (Parry-Romberg Disease) with microfat grafting techniques using three-dimensional computed tomography and three-dimensional camera." Authors and investigators included: Koh KS, Oh TS, Kim H, Chung IW, Lee KW, Lee HB, Park EJ, Chung JS, Shin IS, Ra JC, Choi JW. Media and others may access the article at http://journals.lww.com/annalsplasticsurgery/Abstract/2012/09000/Clinical_Application_of_Human_Adipose.22.aspx. Its National Library of Medicine ID is PMID:22878516.

Dr. Ra, senior author, said, "We believe that this is a big step for Parry-Romberg Syndrome patients and expect to see autologous stem cell transplantation as standard of care for their treatment. The next step is to test the efficacy of the many ways in which stem cells from adults' own bodies will expand the quality of life and even identify cures for many rare diseases."

New stem cell treatment cuts costs, hospital stay

By adminAugust 29, 2012Stem Cell Treatment

Published on Aug 29, 2012

Madam Purwati receiving a blood transfusion to treat her cancer. -- PHOTO: NATIONAL UNIVERSITY CANCER INSTITUTE

When Madam Usdiati Endah Purwati, 52, was diagnosed with multiple myeloma earlier this year, she braced herself for a treatment that she knew could cost as much as $70,000.

After all, the stem cell transplant the school principal needs to treat the bone marrow cancer will keep her in the hospital for three weeks. But her bill ended up being half of that amount, and she did not have to be hospitalised at all.

This arrangement was possible because of a new treatment regimen introduced last year at the National University Cancer Institute that offers outpatient autologous stem cell transplants to multiple myeloma patients.

In such procedures, the patient's stem cells are taken and stored; and after chemotherapy - which destroys much of the blood-producing stem cells along with the cancer cells - the stem cells are transplanted back to the same patient to help the body produce blood at a normal rate again.

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New stem cell treatment cuts costs, hospital stay

PART 1: Lorna Tolentino admits undergoing stem cell treatment to keep vital organs rejuvenated

By adminAugust 28, 2012Stem Cell Treatment

PART 1: Lorna Tolentino admits undergoing stem cell treatment to keep vital organs rejuvenated

Isang bihirang pagkakataon na nakausap uli ng PEP.ph (Philippine Entertainment Portal) sa isang mahabang interview ang multi-awarded actress na si Lorna Tolentino.

Naganap ang panayam noong nakaraang Huwebes, August 23, sa faculty office ng Central Colleges of the Philippines (CCP), kung saan ginanap ang taping ng weekly supernatural mystery drama series naThird Eye ng TV5.

During dinner break, nabanggit ni Lorna ang tungkol sa pinsang si Zsa Zsa Padilla, who was diagnosed with Stage 1 cancer of the kidney.

"Ka-text ko si Zsa Zsa. Four weeks daw siya doon, tapos saka babalik dito.

Four weeks after the operation, hindi pa siya puwedeng mag-work.

August 27 ang naiulat noon na schedule ng operasyon ni Zsa Zsa sa Cedars-Sinai Medical Center sa Los Angeles, California.

Sixteen hours and delay ng oras ng U.S. sa Pilipinas, kayat malamang na ngayong araw na ang operasyon ni Zsa Zsa.

Tatanggalin ang mala-golf ball sa laking namuong laman sa kanyang kidney.

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PART 1: Lorna Tolentino admits undergoing stem cell treatment to keep vital organs rejuvenated

PART 1: Lorna Tolentino admits undergoing stem cell treatment to keep her vital organs rejuvenated