Globe Health Tours News

Mar 10: The problem of grey hair is haunting several people all across the world. It is believed that it has a strongly connection with genetic pedigree of a person, it determines when and how the grey streaks occur. With the advent of more user-friendly hair colour products the concept of grey hair has changed a lot than what it was before. Despite all these hair colours, people still feel worried on seeing the appearance of first silver hair on their head.

Blaming the pedigree is not at all worth as the new researches points out that the grey hair is linked to aging of the skin as the pigment in hair follicles will get reduced as we grow age. The white hair shows there are no pigment left and the grey hair represent there is little pigment left. It is part of aging process. The root cause of the problem has long remained a mystery.

In the year 2004 the Dana-Faber Cancer Institute in Boston did a study on skin cancer melanoma. The findings of the study were published in the Science journal. The scientists find the cellulose that cause greying. Scientists earlier identified that melenocytes plays the crucial role in determining the colour of hair and skin. The researchers at Dana-Farber have identified that the loss of the natural colour of hair is due to the decrease in the number of adult stem cells that helps to create continues supply of melanocytes.

According to the researchers as we grow older the pigment cells began to diminish and the hair turn into transparent. It is because of the transparency the hair looks grey or white in colour. Each hair strands consist of a shaft and a root. The root portion is encircled by a tube of tissues or follicle. Melanin pigment is produced here and that determines the hair colour. Melanin contains melanocyte a special pigment cell that exists in the follicle. Hair colour determining follicles are of two types that are eumelanin for dark hair and pheomelanin for light hair both of them combined together to give mixed colour.

Feb 18: In a bid to remove the pain of numerous patients who are affected by bone fracture, a new study conducted by the UK based researchers enables using patients own stem cells to merge shattered bones and cartilages. The research team of the Edinburgh University are giving shape to a “bioactive scaffold” to shield stem cells from blood and bone marrow thereby allows them to grow into bone and cartilage when placed in the body.

This innovative technique makes use of the stem cells that are extracted from blood and bone marrow will be available on a wide scale within two years time. Stem cells extracted from bone marrow are used for the research and the expert team is working hand in hand with the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service to develop bone forming cells from blood. This allows the patients to get relief from surgery.

Dr Brendon Noble, working with the MRC Centre for Regenerative Medicine said that they will focus their research on mending cartilage injuries caused due to the fatal road accidents that demands prolonged treatment and end up in partial cure. Elderly patients who sustain fracture also tend to heal slowly.

He further added that: “Half of us will have orthopaedic surgery in our lifetime. To remain active in later part of your life these kinds of problems should have to be alleviated and the new study will have a far reaching impact in this regard.”

“This research will simplify the treatment of the severe trauma injuries that are unable to cure using the current techniques and it will help in replacing bones that are lost to cancer. To enable this technology to reach the numerous needy patients spread all over the world the scaffold should have to be compatible with the human and resist rejection,” said Professor Chris Moran, member of the British Orthopaedic Association and expert in trauma surgery at the University of Nottingham.

Surgeons believe that this technique when applied will turn as a rescue for those suffering from trauma injuries that are too severe to heal. The project estimated at £1.4m will also have a wide impact on the treatments like osteoarthritis.

Jan 30: Two new studies have revealed that the transplantation of human Mesenchymal Stem Cell (hMSC) or Bone Marrow Stromal Cell (BMSCs) will help the patients to relieve from Stroke. As an attempt to study the impact of transplanted cells on damaged areas of the brain chemically tagged transplanted stem cells were used. The transplanted stem cells help in converting the damaged brain cells as therapeutically active one.

This research was carried out by Korean scientists and the labelled hMSC were transplanted into stroke models with cerebral artery occlusion. They were then tracked by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at an interval of two days, one week, two weeks, six weeks and ten weeks after transplantation.

While commenting on this the lead author of the research Jihwan Song, DPhil, of the Pochon CHA University College of Medicine said: “The cells began to migrate after the period of one or two weeks after the transplantation. On the tenth week cells were identified in the centre of the infected area. We expect that the extensive migration nature of stem cells and their performance will have a far reaching impact in designing innovative stroke therapies. ”

While the potential mechanisms for this recovery are ambiguous, among the possibilities are the microenvironment of the brain, early on following a stroke may mimic brain development. Following progress in the growth level might augment homing of BMSCs to the injured area and thereby induce cell proliferation.

Jan 29: The extended possibilities of stem cells are now revolutionising skin care sector. The “Stem Cell” emulsion will open the doors wide as it can play a crucial role in skin rejuvenation by awakening our body’s own reservoir of undifferentiated Stem cells. It can also reduce the appearance of fine lines, deep lines and other age related imperfections; in short it will make you look younger and fresher. The unlimited possibilities of the innovative stem-cell technology have urged all the major cosmetic manufacturers to tap its potential to the maximum extent.

While commenting on this the research scientist Dr. Richard Wells, Ph.D. said: “Cosmetic chemists around the world are toiling hard to dig out the full potential of Stem Cells to use them for the purpose of anti-aging therapy. As we age the stem-cell utilization for skin repair will become less effective. However the potential that nature has given us to access the endogenous stem-cell reservoirs for skin rejuvenation is quite remarkable that is the main reason behind the innumerable researches to unleash the full potential of the stem cells.”

He further added that: “The practical use of the stem-cell technology can be effectively imbibed in the cosmetic products that will provide the consumer with topical, anti-aging cosmetic formula that makes everyone looks years younger.”

Stem cells are the hot topic of discussion that offers fresh, healthy and perfect skin cells that are undamaged by age, sun or pollution.

Jan 23: In what could be considered as a significant study the researchers at the Northwestern University had conducted a research that makes use of stem cells to nurture new blood vessels that are capable of preventing leg amputation.

As part of the research the scientists transplanted the purified form of subjects’ own stem cells into the legs that suffer due to blocked arteries. The aim is to develop new blood vessels to enable blood circulation.

The badly blocked arteries in the leg and the sharp decline in the blood flow will lead to wounds that don’t heal; tissue breakdown and gangrene. This critical condition is termed as limb ischemia and amputation is the only option available to stop the further spread of this menace. In United States at least 100,000 limbs are amputated every year that indicates the significance of the research.

The samples for this research were those patients who proved failure in all available medical treatments including angioplasty, stents and bypass surgery to restore blocked circulation in their legs.

“Those patients were at the end of their therapeutic road and the painstaking amputation is the only option left for them. Using stem cells effectively will help them to relieve from that.” said the principal national investigator of the study, Dr. Douglas Losordo.

This research is sure a relief for numerous patients worldwide who are on the verge of amputation. GHT

Jan 11: In a crucial discovery scientists in India had identified the probable reason behind the foetal defects that occur during its stage of growth. The credit for this goes to the Manipal Institute of Regenerative Medicine located in the state of Karnataka. The presence of low level of endotoxin, a toxic natural compound, is attributed as the reason for the defects in the developing foetus.

The revelation comes after the one and a half years of research. The researchers find difficult to understand the molecular mechanism of the foetus as foetus has poorly developed tissues and organs and the ethical factor also stands as a major hurdle in their path.

So the researchers used embryoid bodies to assess the effect of the endotoxins after it is introduced in a developing foetus. For the formation of over 220 different tissues embryonic stem cells is considered as the reliable source. Researches said that could be cultured in Petri dishes to produce early embryo like formation termed as embryoid bodies (EBs) that include several categories of cells that represent all the germ layers that is ectoderm, endoderm and mesoderm.

The EBs closely resembles the growing embryo in a mother’s womb. When the researchers conducted a molecular analysis of the EBs the mesoderm exposed to lipopolysaccahrides (LPS) bacteria lead to the complete deactivation of at least eight kinds of tissue markers.

The EBs was tested for their ability for the formation of bone tissues. As per the prediction the EBs could not be classified into primary bone tissues. They had lost their ability to form functional bone cells due to LPS exposure. When the embryos are transferred to a mother with bacterial vaginosis it leads to the weak formation of bone, blood and heart tissues.

This innovative research is believed to have a far reaching impact as it widens the scope of birth defect research and evaluation of developmental toxicity during drug screening. GHT

Jan 11: Researchers of the Manipal Institute of Regenerative Medicine in India have found the reason behind the defects that occur during the foetal growth. They have found that the presence of very low amount of endotoxin in the foetal environment will pave way for the defects in the development of tissues in a growing foetus.

Embryonic stem cells are considered as the reliable source for studying the formation of over 220 different tissues of the human body. Lipopolysaccahrides(LPS) a gram negative bacteria is considered as harmful one that are regularly shed in the embryonic environment when the mother is affected by vaginosis that is a common bacterial infection of the maternal genital tract.

While commenting on the study Principal scientist of the embryonic stem cell programme of Manipal Institute, Kaushik Deb said: “Owing to ethical issues of using human embryos in research the researchers used embryoid bodies to study the effect of endotoxins by the introduction of ancestry in the developing foetus. The one and a half years of research work has revealed that the LPS induced HMGB1 protein plays a vital role in silencing the tissue differentiation in stem cells.”

He further added that: “Human embryonic stem cells are considered as the better standard for studying the tissue formation and help to judge the effect of many pharmaceuticals and natural toxins that the growing foetus could accidentally get into contact while inside the womb.

The Chief scientific officer of the stem cell research company named Stempeutics Research Pvt Ltd, Satish Totey said: “The finding of the research deserves a significant importance in the birth defect research and the evaluation of developmental toxicity during drug screening.” GHT

Jan 7: Stem cell therapy has revolutionised the medical field it has gained an impressive track record in the year 2006 and that trend followed in the year 2007 as more development took place in the field of stem cell research and therapy.

In the year 2007 the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of US had approved 1400 trails that are used to cure over 73 different illness and disabilities. The adult stem cells are used for this purpose these cells are found throughout the body right from the birth onwards, in umbilical cord blood and placentas.

Unlike embryonic stem cell therapy no stem cells are destroyed for the purpose of adult stem cell therapy and it will not create any tumours.

The adult stem cell therapy is successfully used to treat several diseases and the prominent among them are heart tissue regeneration, Type 1 Diabetes, bone cancer, nerve regeneration, liver cancer and neurological diseases. In future we can expect more miracles to be unravelled by using adult stem cell therapy.

It seems that stem cell therapy, which is recognised as a critical opportunity for medical treatments in the future is beginning to identify new sources for stem cells. The latest announcement according to Reuters is the male testicles. It has only been tested on mice at the moment, but how long before the procedure is working on humans. Reason #20 for fearing a visit to the doctor

interesting story of US doctor having two sets of stem therapy treatments in Bangkok for his heart condition. Globe Health Tours offers the same treatment in Singapore as well. In the USA some early trials are beginning to show the efficacy of this treatment but the confusions between embryonic and adult cells continues to bedevil discussions of the therapy.