Topic: Heart valves from stem cells.

[Nemesis]

Link to full article

His team extracted stem cells from bone marrow and cultivated them into heart valve cells.

After they were placed in scaffolds formed from collagen, 3cm-wide discs of heart valve tissue were formed.

Later in the year, these will be implanted into animals such as sheep or pigs to see how well they fare.

Heart valves do not simply open and close like the artificial alternatives currently used in surgery, they are able to anticipate changes in the way the blood flows, and respond accordingly.

Professor Yacoub's team hope the valves they are growing will be equally sophisticated.

Considering that my mother was told (more than 30 years ago) that she wouldn't live 10 years without an artificial heart valve (which she refused) this is a subject that interests me.   The synthetic that she refused was recalled as it was killing people.

The potential to just "clone" a new heart for you and then implant it with no chance of rejection is the ideal, if it is not sky high in price.

Then there is the convert all blood types to O invention.  It was published on April 1st so I don't know if we should trust it yet.

The researchers homed in on two enzymes. One, from a gut bacterium called Bacteroides fragilis, removes the B antigen. The other, from Elizabethkingia meningosepticum – which causes opportunistic infections in people – targets the A antigen. The purified enzymes are highly efficient. For example, the B. fragilis enzyme is used up at only one-thousandth the rate of the coffee bean enzyme.

Clausen's team is working with a company called ZymeQuest in Beverly, Massachusetts, US, which plans clinical trials to test whether the treated blood is safe and effective. If so, the technology should be in hot demand, because group O blood – the only safe option if there is any doubt about the recipient's blood group – is a precious commodity.

Useful if real.

[Sirgod]

Melanie, My daughter was less then a year old, when she had her Pig Valve put in. She is know 25 years old, Gave Denny and I a Grandson also.

Stephen

[Nemesis]

Since my mother also has Lupus adding a foreign tissue like a pig valve wouldn't likely be a good idea.  In any case I think she may have outlived the doctor who made the prognosis, inspite of the valve, Lupus and being hit by a car.

[GE-Raven]

His team extracted stem cells from bone marrow and cultivated them into heart valve cells.

Oddly enough it seems all the big discoveries seem to come from NON-embryonic stem cells.  Especially important as if you want the lack of rejection you want to use stem cells from the body of the person receiving the organ (organ parts).

GE-Raven

[Nemesis]

Oddly enough it seems all the big discoveries seem to come from NON-embryonic stem cells. 

Potential reasons for this:

1/ Embryonic stem cells are not as good for medical purposes

2/ Adult stem cells have been researched longer and therefore the technology is more mature and closer to market

3/ Due to government discouragement of embryonic stem cell research things are progressing slower in that field.

4/ Patents that claimed to cover all embryonic stem cell research have elevated costs and made it questionable whether people can legally do research on embryonic stem cells.

There could be other reasons of course.