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

The Napalm Girl

The photograph shows a flat scenery where only grass and small shrubs and bushes grow. Right through this flat wasteland runs a broad street and a small house can be seen in the background. The background is filled by an enormous wall of smoke, like the ones caused by huge explosions. In the foreground you can see 5 children, of which three seem to be crying, one completely naked, one dressed in a shirt and underpants, one dressed in what seems to be pyjamas, one dressed in a shirt and what seems to be either long, airy pants or a skirt and one smaller child apparently in just a shirt. Behind them, there are five American soldiers in full Vietnam war gear, seemingly completely unfazed by the suffering children as they do not seem to have any intention of intervening or helping them. The soldiers also do not expect any attacks as three of them carry their weapons at least partly concealed.

Narrative Article Homework: Crimea

We visit Irina and Pavel on a bleak day in early March. Their apartment, located on the sixth floor of a soviet-style building on the outskirts of Kiev, consists of only three rooms. In the center of the living room stands a small coffee table on which a framed picture of a young man is surrounded by candles and flowers. The young man on the photo is their son Ivan, 20. He is currently serving in the Ukrainian military and is currently deployed in Sewastopol on the Crimea. With Russia invading the peninsula, his parents fear that he might never come back. “If our government decides to fight the Russians, my son and his comrades will die for sure”, Irina says as she is wiping tears from her cheeks.

Currently, thousands of Ukrainians are losing sleep over the fate of their loved ones, just like Irina and Pavel. The conflict with Russia has been escalating since Russia took first steps towards an annexation of the Crimean peninsula.

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/

PSA: After-Death Avatars

Being in a very loving relationship with a very big age difference, I can fully understand the temptations of the idea of creating after-death avatars of your loved ones. But don’t make a fool of yourself. Death is an irreversible part of life and no computer program can change that. Don’t lose your life to an illusion. Better learn to let go and to heal.