Stem Cells + Lasers = Teeth!

A group of researchers from Harvard has recently accomplished to regrow rat teeth using a laser and stem cells. They used a low-power laser to coax stem cells into growing dentin. This could have major impacts on the future of dentistry and also offer new possibilities in wound healing and bone restoration.

Biologically active molecules, called growth factors, trigger stem cells to differentiate into specialized cells. If different growth factors are introduced, different cell types will form. In order to grow tissue from stem cells, scientists usually have to extract stem cells from the body, genetically modify them in a lab and reintroduce them to the body. The new laser-technique would be non-invasive and much faster and more efficient.
“Our treatment modality does not introduce anything new to the body, and lasers are routinely used in medicine and dentistry, so the barriers to clinical translation are low,” said David Mooney, leader of the research team.

The team set up a mini-dentist office and drilled holes into the molars of rats to simulate human tooth decay. Human stem cells were introduced to the pulp and a low-light laser was applied to stimulate the growth factors. Then, the teeth were sealed with temporary caps for three months. After three months, x-rays were taken and the scientists found that the dentin had regrown due to the laser and the stem cells.

Now the Harvard team want to take their work to human clinical trials. They are currently working with one of the National Institutes of Health in the USA to outline the necessary safety and efficacy parameters.

Sources:
http://www.seas.harvard.edu/news/2014/05/researchers-use-light-to-coax-stem-cells-to-repair-teeth
http://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/scientists-use-lasers-regrow-teeth-stem-cells
http://stm.sciencemag.org/content/6/238/238ra69

Cancer "Stem Cells" Confirmed

The existence of cancer "stem cells" has been reported before, but due to unreliable testing methods it has never been scientifically confirmed.

In a recent study, conducted by researchers from the University of Oxford and Swedish researchers, malignant bone marrow cells of participants who suffer from myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) were extracted. MDS is a disease that often develops into leukemia.
The growth of the extracted cells was monitored by the researchers and using genetic tools they were able to identify a rare subset of the malignant cells that sat atop the cell hierarchy. These cells encouraged other cells to mutate and form cancer and in contrast to other mutated cells they were able sustain themselves. In short, without these cancer stem cells, the other cancer cells could not survive.

This discovery offers the prospect of new cancer therapies that target the cancer stem cells exclusively. Dr Petter Woll, the first author of the study, compared the process to tending a garden: "It's like having dandelions in your lawn. You can pull out as many as you want, but if you don't get the roots they'll come back."

However, the development of a therapy that specifically targets cancer stem cells will take a lot of time. Now that researchers have found a way to identify the stem cells, they can begin to study how they actually function. Only then the development of a drug or other form of therapy can start which will also have to go through clinical trials before it can be approved for general use. Dr Woll also cautions that the stem cells of other cancer types are likely to look and function differently from the MDS cancer cells and therefore require additional research.

Sources:
http://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2014-05-16-genetic-tracking-identifies-cancer-stem-cells-patients
http://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/mutations-cancer-%E2%80%98stem-cells%E2%80%99-tracked-first-time
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1535610814001342

Cardiac Disease Model Based on Stem Cells

Barth syndrome is a rare and currently untreatable cardiac disease. It affects the heart and the sceletal muscles and because it is linked to a mutation of a gene in the X-chromosome patients suffering from it are mostly male (since females have two X-chromosomes, both of them would have to carry the mutation to cause the disease in women).

A team of American scientists took skin cells of two Barth syndrome patients and converted them into induced pluripotent stem cells that carried the mutation of the gene called TAZ. These stem cells were then placed on a chip carrying biochemical support where they grew to form diseased heart tissue.

In order to confirm that the disease causes weak heart contractions the scientists used genome editing to modify the TAZ of normal cells. The TAZ product was then delivered to the diseased tissue which corrected the defect in heart contraction.

Why is this important?
This is the first tissue-based model that shows how a rare heart disease can be corrected. The knowledge derived from this model can help to develop drugs that could cure inherited cardiac diseases.

Sources:
http://www.seas.harvard.edu/news/2014/05/heart-disease-on-chip-advances-tissue-engineering
http://www.nature.com/nm/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nm.3545.html
http://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/heart-disease-chip

Stem Cell-Based Cure for MS Found?

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a degenerative disease of the nervous system. It causes a loss of myelin, the insulating material that surrounds neurons and is essential for carrying electrical impulses to the brain. Over 2.3 million people worldwide suffer from MS. Currently, there is no cure nor a therapy that has proven to be effective in the long run.

In a recent study, scientists from Utah and California altered the central nervous system of mice, so they would develop a MS-like condition. Later, human neuron precursor cells that had been derived from human embryonic stem cells were injected into the spinal cords of the mice. After only two weeks, the mice had started quite drastic clinical recovery and were able to walk again, which the disease had prevented them from doing before. Furthermore, the mice recovered 73 % of their motor skills and this improvement could be sustained for six months. An examination of some of the mice's spinal cords showed that inflammation and demyelination caused by the MS-like condition had decreased significantly.

While the injected stem cells were actually rejected by the mice's bodies they still caused the desired effects. This led the scientists to the conclusion that the alleviation was likely triggered by certain chemical signals induced by the injected cells. Now the scientists are hoping to isolate these chemical signals and to put them in a drug in order to make administering the therapy easier.

Sources:
http://www.newswise.com/articles/mice-with-ms-like-condition-walk-again-after-stem-cell-treatment
http://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/stem-cell-therapy-allows-mice-ms-condition-walk-again
http://www.cell.com/stem-cell-reports/abstract/S2213-6711(14)00112-X?_returnURL=http%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS221367111400112X%3Fshowall%3Dtrue?_returnURL=http%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS221367111400112X%3Fshowall%3Dtrue

Sperm From Stem Cells?

Infertility is a problem that affects many couples and that may lead to psychological impacts. Men afflicted by certain inherited genetic anomalies produce only very few sperm cell or no sperm cells at all.

Scientists in the US have just made a huge step towards helping these men: they have created sperm precursor cells from human skin cells.
Induced pluripotent stem cells were produced from the skin cells of three men who cannot produce any sperm due to a genetic mutation, and from two healthy men. These stem cells were injected into the testes of mice, where they transformed into sperm-precursor cells. However, they did not develop into mature sperm cells, probably because the genetic difference between humans and mice is too big.
While the stem cells from the healthy men performed better, the fact that the infertile men's stem cells could produce any sperm cells at all was a huge breakthrough.

Now scientists hope to replicate this study with animals that are more closely related to humans, in order to achieve better results. There is just one big problem: the stem cells caused tumors in the mice. This issue will probably have to be solved before more trials can be conducted.

Nevertheless, this new study provides a model that can help scientists to understand the earliest steps of human reproduction and the biological problems infertile men have to deal with. It also gives hope to men who became infertile due to cancer treatments.

Sources:
http://www.cell.com/cell-reports/abstract/S2211-1247(14)00264-2
http://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/scientists-generate-sperm-precursors-skin-cells-infertile-men
http://med.stanford.edu/ism/2014/may/germ-cell.html
http://www.montana.edu/news/12625/reijo-pera-and-team-stem-cell-research-holds-promise-for-male-infertility
http://www.livescience.com/45278-stem-cells-sperm-production.html

Blood From Stem Cells

Every year, more than 100 million blood transfusions are needed worldwide. The best blood type for transfusions is type 0 negative, due to its universal acceptance. However, only 7 % of the world's population has this specific blood type and is therefore able to donate it.

Now, for the first time in history, a research team from the UK has managed to produce artificial 0 negative blood from induced pluripotent stem cells in the appropriate quality required for transfusions. They are highly optimistic that human trials will start within the next three year. If these trials prove the artificial blood to be successful, the dependence on blood donors could be reduced drastically. The second important advantage of artificial blood is that is is disease free - guaranteed!

However great the advantages of artificial blood from stem cells may be, there is still one challenge to overcome: as of yet, there is no quick and economically feasible way to produce the quantities needed. One single transfusion unit consists of more than a trillion blood cells; and now multiply this number by the number of transfusions needed yearly. Furthermore, clinical trials involving humans usually take years, so we could still be a decade away from the everyday use of artificial blood transfusions.

Sources:
http://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/factory-made-blood-nearing-human-trials
http://www.engineering.com/DesignerEdge/DesignerEdgeArticles/ArticleID/7482/Artificial-Blood-on-Its-Way-to-Clinical-Trials.aspx
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f6f1914c-c3d6-11e3-870b-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2znoegDuM

Rhetoric Analysis of an Opinion Article on Stem Cells

http://www.aish.com/ci/sam/48969936.html

The article discusses the ethical issues of stem cell derivation from the view of the Jewish religion. The author explains ethical questions in a neutral style and provides answers to them based on the Torah and Jewish religious teachings. While doing so, he uses many examples, like the example of a man dying of liver failure. The author states that derivation of stem cells from aborted fetuses is considered unethical in Jewish religion, with the exception of fetuses aborted because they were a hazard for the mother's life. In contrast to Christianity, Judaism does not consider the derivation of stem cells from pre-embryos (leftover embryos from IV-fertilizations) as unethical. Nevertheless, it opposes the creation of pre-embryos for the purpose of their destruction, since this practice would devalue human life.

My CAJ: Stem Cells

My Current Affairs Journal is about stem cells. I will mainly focus on adult pluripotent stem cells and the ethics of embryonic stem cell use.

What are stem cells?
Stem cells are unspecialized human cells that have the ability to transform into any specialized cell, e.g. a blood cell or a muscle cell. Scientists hope to use stem cells to treat diseases like Alzheimer's disease, repair damaged organs, or even grow organs from them.
Until recently, the most common way to derive stem cells was from human embryos. To gain stem cells, scientists use embryos that were created for in vitro fertilization but not implanted in the womb. Since the embryos are destroyed in the process, the use of embryonic stem cells sparked many ethical debates. While stem cells can also be derived from adults, this process is much more challenging, because adult stem cells are rare and cannot be cultivated as easily as embryonic cells.
However, in 2006 scientists discovered a way to "reprogram" specialized adult cells so they would assume a stem cell-like state. These cells are called "induced pluripotent stem cells" or adult pluripotent stem cells (pluripotent = ability to differentiate into almost any cell type).

Sources:
http://stemcells.nih.gov/info/basics/pages/basics1.aspx
http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/stemcells/scissues/
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/info/stem_cell/

Progress on my Academic Paper

The topic of my paper is the relationship between the EU and Russia. The exact title is "How has the Diplomatic Relationship between the EU and Russia Developed Since 2008?" It has to be 1,500 words long and right now I'm about halfway through.

Luckily, I've already researched my sources before, so I could start writing immediately. Well, after a little reading, of course. At first, I pasted the introduction I had already written before into my new document and created a temporary bibliography. The first actual paragraphs I wrote were the ones on visa liberalization, because I had a good source for this chapter and because I have personal experience with Russian visas.

The only serious problem I have encountered yet is quotation. There's an ITAT guide on how to quote correctly, but it's actually more confusing than helpful. I quote some official websites of government agencies and private organizations and there's nothing in the guide on how to quote them, at least nothing that I have found.

Apart from my quotation-problem, my paper is progressing quite well. I'm optimistic that I won't have any trouble with meeting the deadline and I hope that my rather shady quotations won't cost me too many points.

Five Ideas for the EU paper

This semester we are required to write a paper about an EU-relevant topic. Well, here are my five best ideas:

1. The EU's Reaction to the Recent Catastrophe off Lampedusa
I think this would be a good topic because it is about a very recent event and because it is specific enough for our word limit.

2. The State of the EU-Russia Relationship
My second language is Russian and I've also been to Russia twice, that's why I am personally very interested in this topic. A special focus could be put either on politics, economy, or visa regulations for both EU and Russian citizens.

3. The State of the EU-USA Relationship
I guess this topic is especially interesting now that the NSA espionage affair has been uncovered.

4. The European Union Prize for Literature
My favorite hobby (except for traveling) is reading and therefore I could imagine writing a paper about this topic. Plus, this topic is not too large, but just about right for our word limit.

5. The Selection Procedure for EU-Interpreters
Since most of us are studying to become interpreters and translators I think this topic is simply perfect for us. It is a specific topic that might also help us in our future careers!