Over the past ten years, medical advancements have escalated with stem cell research therapies, helping individuals with diseases and improving their overall health. Are you relying on a dialysis machine, ventilator, respirator, a left ventricular assist device, or waiting for a life-saving organ such as a liver? Have you been contemplating or waiting for an organ transplant, but are unaware of all your options. Adult stem cell therapy should be an accepted ethical choice, it offers more possibilities for customizing organ replacement and leads to healthier long-term outcomes with fewer side-effects than using anti-rejection drugs for therapy in organ transplant recipients.
Stem cells have been linked exclusively to embryo origin since their
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discovery in 1981. Scientists discovered ways to derive embryonic stem cells from mice embryos; this further led to a discovery in 1998 using a method to obtain stem cells from human embryos. In 2006, researchers identified conditions that allowed specialized adult cells to be transformed genetically to assume a stem cell-like state. The scientific term “stromal cells” refer to adult stem cells, abbreviated as ASC’s, and are found in many tissues of virtually every organ. Adult stem cells can form specialized cell types of tissue in which they reside, including the brain, bone marrow, blood, teeth, skin, heart, stomach, and liver (NIH). The ethical controversy enveloping embryonic stem cells is based on the destruction of a human embryo and there are concerns regarding a patient’s immune system rejecting the healthy embryonic stem cells. To the contrary, adult stem cells are in fact harvested from the patient or donor and are more compatible with the patient's body, therefore reducing the chance of organ rejection (Murnaghan.Nov.6,15). The stigma regarding stem cells should no longer apply today, knowing that the option of adult stem cells is an acceptable choice. In the United States, twenty-two people die each day waiting for a transplant and someone is added to the national transplant waiting list every ten minutes, this is not acceptable. (Organ.gov). Consequently, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Procurement and Transplantation Network keeps a current record and as of December 8, 2016, there are 119,634 people who will need an organ transplant and 99,175 (Organ.data) of those people will need a kidney and there have been 27,605 organ transplants performed this year with 13,066 donors (Organ.gov). Generous donors are checking off the YES, “I will be a donor,” box on their driver's license, but if the donor dies in a way that their organ cannot be accepted, the organ is diseased or may not be the perfect physiological match for those waiting for a transplant, the organ is discarded. Despite the increased awareness of organ donation and transplantation, supply and demand continue to be an issue, what is to be done with the organ shortages and waste? Professor John M. Ritz, of Old Dominion University, wrote an academic publication in which he states, “It is very difficult to obtain organs of others to transplant and difficult to find those with close enough genetic makeup to transplant. Today much research is being undertaken to grow new organs using the recipient’s own stem cells. Manufactured scaffolds (structures) are being computer designed that will match the size of the organ needed. The patient’s stem cells are grafted onto the scaffold and grow either in a laboratory environment or on the human’s exterior. When they are mature enough, they are transplanted into the human. This may soon be an answer to organ transplant surgery” (pg.7). Optimism, in spite of organ shortages and waste, comes from the Arizona Daily Star, an online newspaper, “Under a clear dome inside a bustling Tucson laboratory, whitish-gray human lungs attached to a ventilator rhythmically expand and contract. The lungs are part of a bold project at the University of Arizona that aims to forever change the landscape of transplant medicine. It would both solve an acute organ shortage and give transplant recipients the gift of a life free of powerful and damaging anti-rejection medication. The goal is to “grow” patients’ own stem cells on a skeleton of a discarded donor organ that’s been cleaned of the donor’s living cells and then to transplant it into the patient” (Innes). The researchers are working hard to provide a solution for organ scarcity by customizing organs that could possibly be surgically implanted in the near future. You should begin to accept the reality of not having to rely on anti-rejection drugs for the rest of your life.
What a wonderful gift that would be! In 2005, Dr. Fangmann, and his medical team performed a bone marrow ACS’s transplant on a young man who had been suffering from leukemia and was undergoing chemotherapy treatment. The donor of the bone marrow was the patient's father. The patient went into remission, but his kidneys were damaged from cancer and chemotherapy complications; the young man was on dialysis for three long years until his father then donated a kidney. The son accepted the new kidney from his father and the doctors discontinued the use of immunosuppressant medication. The young man had no further health complications since the follow-up 2011 case report (pg.156,157). Clinical trials using adult stem cells are continuing to expand, especially in kidney transplants. Standford University held clinical trials on 38 patients combining two different adult stem cell blood types with kidney transplantation, and only one patient required anti-rejection medicine post-surgery due to a lupus flare-up and not organ rejection. Furthermore, Stanford University’s study provides exceptional results concerning organ acceptance even when the donor and receiver do not have well-matched antibodies in their blood (Thornley.1-3). Moreover, a blood relative is not necessary for adult stem cell therapy and organ transplantation to be successful and the medical communities' involvement demonstrates no
limitations. Dr. Brännström, who is in reproductive medicine, accomplished his fifth successful ASC’s and organ transplant surgery containing a uterus. With such fruitful developments, women born without a uterus, who suffer from infertility or uterine disease, could now have a possibility in the matter (Brännström). Dr. Brännström believes this medical procedure will be more common in the future and is working with doctors from Harvard Medical School and the Mayo Clinic in the U.S. to perfect it (pg.675). Emelie Eriksson is Dr. Brännström’s patient and the first woman to have a baby after receiving her mother’s uterus, yes, the same uterus that held her at one time. Mrs. Eriksson experienced two mild rejection incidents after the uterus transplant, but she was given steroids for a brief time which eliminated the rejection. Mrs. Eriksson gave birth to a healthy son named Albin, who is almost two as of October 2016, she states, “It’s like science fiction…This is something that you read in history books and now in the future when you read about this, it’s about me…I hope this will be a reality for everyone that needs it” (Cheng). When science fiction becomes fact, medical developments inspire individuals who are waiting patiently for a precious organ to be courageous and optimistic, knowing that healthier outcomes in adult stem cell therapies are happening now. Organ transplantation with ASC’s has particular risks as with any medical practices. The United States, Food and Drug Administration or FDA, does not regulate medical procedures or surgical techniques, including organ transplants. Medical procedures are regulated by standards set for professional practices, state licensing boards, accredited organizations and medical malpractice laws. In addition, doctors can do research without legally needing to first establish the safety and effectiveness of a method in formal clinical trials (Lysaght.253). When cells in the human body are extracted, modified or relocated and inserted back into the body there are risks, even if the stem cells are your own. If the cells are moved to a different location than where the cells originated from and are not performing the same natural cell function, potentially the cells may multiply, form tumors or move somewhere else in the body (U.S. FDA). Nevertheless, adult stem cells in organ transplants have the same biological functions located in the organ, blood or bone marrow, and organ transplants have been successful for a very long time with or without the FDA’s approval.
Specific Purpose Statement: To persuade my audience to donate blood through the American Red Cross.
Could you imagine being able to create new organs, tissues, muscles, and even food? With embryonic stem cell technology, believe it or not, these things are possible. Stem cells are the body's raw materials. Specifically, they are cells from which all other cells with specialized functions are generated. Under the right conditions in the body or in a laboratory, stem cells can divide to form more cells called daughter cells. These daughter cells either become new stem cells or turn into specialized cells with a more specific function, such as blood cells, brain cells, muscle cells or bone cells. The possibilities are almost endless. The debate and main issue with this technology is that the actual stem cells come from embryos. Embryos are an unborn or unhatched offspring in the process of development. Although there is controversy surrounding these cells, embryonic stem cells should continue to be researched and used, because they have so much potential.
Stem cells can be utilized by transplant. Four principal types of physical disease that can be treated with stem cell transplants, including blood disorders, congenital metabolic disorders, immunodeficiencies, and certain cancers (Waller-Wise, 2011). Some examples of diseases include Sickle-cell anemia, Tay-Sachs’ disease, Hodgkin’s and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, certain leukemias, and many more (Waller-Wise, 2011). It is recommended that persons with family history of any of the known diseases that can be helped with stem cell transplants consider cord blood banking. Insurance companies will need to know that funding banking for cord blood is going to have more benefits than risk.
Bone marrow is the flexible tissue in the interior of bones. Hematopoiesis is when the red blood cells are formed by cores of bone marrow in the ends of lengthy bones. Bone marrow comprises 4% of the total of a person’s body mass. Bone marrow transplants treat severe diseases of the bone marrow, including specific forms of cancer. And so many people don’t receive the proper transplant they need. Paying people for their bone marrow would help to solve that situation but it’s harmful for the patience, unethical, and could potentially be risky for donors.
Stem cell therapy is a controversial topic that falls on the list of things not to discuss over thanksgiving dinner, very much like religion and politics. While the potential of stem cell research and therapy stand to make leaps of progression in cures for disease like Cancer and Alzheimer’s; Pros, Cons and morality still surround the issue.
Stem cells are an ongoing research project in which new discoveries are being made about them, and researchers are learning how to use them in new ways. The three current kinds of stem cells all prove to have their own challenges when it comes to using them. The important thing is finding out which stem cell is right for the patient and how much of an ethical concern there is when it comes to using the stem cell. As we learn the best way to use them and they become more popular in the medical field, stem cells will become a new weapon in the fight against certain diseases.
Those who favour stem cell research are optimistic about the continued developments in stem cell research will open doors to many breakthrough discoveries in biomedical science. The scientific and ethical questions arise as rapidly as the reaching of milestones in stem cell research. There are two main types of stem cells, namely embryonic stem cells and adult stem cells. Adult stem cells are undifferentiated cells in our body. But they have restricted-range of cells that they can further differentiate. On the contrary, embryonic stem cells have the ability to differentiate into nearly two hundred cell types in the human body, called pluripotency. The process of harvesting embryonic stem cells involves destruction of embryos (Mooney, 2009).
How many of you hear the words “genetically modified food” and immediately think “BAD”? How many of you scorn the idea that genetically modified foods are useful? How many of you have been manipulated by the media to think that all biotechnology is evil? Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are organisms that have been genetically spliced to achieve a certain trait. As the demand for a larger food supply is increasing due to population growth, the benefits that GMO foods provide are being hailed as the only solution to the food crisis. However, many people are making inadequately informed decisions, and are pushing them to the back shelf. I will inform you on why genetically modified organisms may be the only way to a stable, safe future for the less fortunate.
By this time tomorrow, 12 people in America who are alive right now will be dead.
Kids are meant to be happy, play outside, go to school, and have fun. They aren’t meant to sit in hospitals, losing weight by the pound, carrying around IV poles filled with poison. It’s ridiculous and immature that we don’t have a cure for childhood cancer. The only “treatment” that we have is chemotherapy- a chemical that seems to help fight off cancer. Chemo doesn’t just fight off cancer cells though- it fights off healthy cells in your blood, mouth, digestive system, and hair follicles. The most frustrating thing about childhood cancer is that only 4% of federal funding is exclusively dedicated to childhood cancer research. It is true that more adults get diagnosed with cancer than kids, but does that mean that adults are 96% more important than children? The average age of diagnosis for an adult with cancer is age 67, and the average number of years lost is 15. 15 years are definitely many years, but not that many compared to the average number of years lost for a child- 71. Also, age 67 is a lot older than the average age of diagnoses for a child- age 6. At least the adults get to grow up and have the ability to even have cancer- some of these kids can’t even get through a fifth of their lives.
Stem cells offer exciting promise for future therapies, but significant technical hurdles remain that will only be overcome through years of intensive research. Stem Cells have the incredible potential to develop into many different cell types in the body during early life and growth. Scientists primarily work with two kinds of stem cells from animals and humans. The embryonic stem cells and the non-embryonic stem cells. Stem cells are the cells from which all other cells originate. In a human embryo, a large portion of the embryo’s cells are stem cells. These stem cells can be used for cell-based therapies. Cell-Based therapies are treatments in which stem cells are induced to differentiate into the specific cell type required to repair damaged or destroyed cells or tissues. Stem cells are versatile and offer the possibility to treat a number of diseases including Alzheimer’s, stroke, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, etc. The problem is that for the process of embryonic stem cell research and embryo will be destroyed if used. This raises a moral issue and questions of whether stem cell research is unethical or not.
Consider this; take a brief look at the apparent features of your body, and then back to an image of yourself from the past. What is the obvious difference? Your appearance. Your body is constantly going under changes, due to the fact that your somatic cells are in the progress of regeneration. Almost all the cells in your body do not divide through mitosis, so the question is, what is the cause of this continuous growth? The answer is plain and simple: stem cells.
Cloning is a relatively new practice that has opened the door for countless new research methods and procedures. Gene Therapy is one of the key focal points of medical research and it has many practical applications such as the study and curing of diseases that would be difficult to continue without the support of cloning. For these reasons, stem cell cloning and associated research should not be banned until positive and negative outcomes are considered collectively. Cloning and stem cell research should unquestionably be allowed to continue because not only would banning it infringe upon our freedoms as American citizens to reach out and make discoveries, but this research could potentially help thousands of people and conceivably save their lives. Cloning is the expressing of genetic material in an organism other than the host, not necessarily a full human or animal clone but also
The first successful case of stem cell therapy in human was reported in 1959. Bone marrow restorations were observed in leukemia patients who received total body irradiation subsequent by intravenous injection of their twins’ bone marrow (Thomas et al, 1957). Nevertheless, that effect was transient and the following bone marrow transplantation attempts in non-twin patients and donors can eventually lead to patient’s death from graft-versus-host disease (Mathé et al, 1965). During that time, the safety of hematopoietic cells transplantation was not guaranteed because of the limited knowledge in human histocompatibility and immunosuppression. However, the turning point came after the discovery of human leucocyte antigen (HLA) groups (Dausset, 1958; van Rood et al, 1958), HLA typing and compatibility testing were performed prior to the transplantation. In addition, the improvement of immunosuppressive protocol also helps bringing the bone marrow transplantation to become more and more successful (Donnall and Hutchinson, 1999).
Stem cells are a group of identical cells which develop and grow into different types of cells. According to Medical News Today, in most common situations, stem cells form from embryo's and adult tissue, which are also known for their potential to develop into different cells.