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Why are Stem Cells Important?

May 3, 2015

What are stem cells, and why are they important?

Stem cellStem cells are very special, powerful cells found in both humans and also in other animals. Stem cells are the precursors of all cells in the human body. What makes stem cells special is that they are regenerative and malleable. They have the ability to replicate themselves and to repair and replace other tissues in the human body. Some tissues, like skin, need constant renewal, which could not take place without skin stem cells. Other stem cells repair damage to the body’s tissues, for example, rebuilding damaged or degenerating muscle tissue. New research also indicates that stem cell malfunction or damage may be responsible for certain cancers and even muscular-degeneration diseases like Muscular Dystrophy.

Stem cells differ from other kinds of cells in the body. All stem cells have three general features that make them different from other body cells. These features are: they are capable of dividing and renewing themselves for long periods. They are unspecialized and they can give rise to specialized cell types. Stem cells are capable of dividing and renewing themselves for long periods. Unlike muscle cells, blood cells, or nerve cells which do not normally replicate themselves, stem cells may replicate many times, or proliferate.

The stem cells have a unique ability to divide and become more specialized cells forming cells like bone, blood, or muscle. It is this ability that makes them attractive agents in many areas of medicine. They can therefore be used to fight very many diseases in the regenerative medicine. Another advantage of stem cell therapy treatments is that autologous stem cell transport is made possible. This means that a person may be treated by doctors harvesting the stem cells from the patient and having the stem cells reimplanted into the same patient after finding out what was lacking in the patient. This reduces risks of infection as well as rejection which are helpful to the patient.

Importance of stem cells

the stem cells are very important cells in the body and have been since targeted for treatment of degenerative diseases. They have been called the center pieces of regenerative medicine. Medicine that involves growing new cells, tissues and organs to replace or repair those damaged by injury, disease or aging. there ability to proliferate into other cells of the body like the bone and muscle tissues have made them a priority in treatment of various degenative diseases like aging and even osteoporosis among others. here is how stem cells work in treatment of various diseases.

Rejuvenation– the stem cells can be used in rejuvenation process. through rejuvenation the bodies healing ability is boosted. Typically, the body is programmed to naturally repair itself that is why after you get a cut you can stay without going to hospital but still get healed within a very short time. However there other crucial organs that when damaged do not easily get repaired. When the body’s cells cannot get differentiated to give rise to new healthy cells and heal the damaged cell then there is a problem. According to Mayo clinic the cells that were once thought of as terminally differentiated including the heart, lungs and nerves which are more specialized are able to remodel as they possess ability to self-renew. However researchers are still working to come up with strategies through which the ability of these cells to self-heal can be enhanced.

Stem cellReplacement– here the stem cells can be used to replace the damaged cells.in degenerative diseases like osteoporosis the damaged tissues can be replaced with fresh stem cells that will proliferate into more functional bone issues and relieve the system of the damaged tissues. the stem cells can be transplanted in autologous manner where the stem cells will be harvested in the adipose or the bone marrow and be used to replace the affected cells in organ. with autologues stem cell transplant the issue of donor is not a problem neither are there issues of rejection nor the need for immunosuppression .

Regeneration- Through regeneration the stem cells are delivered to diseased tissues or organs, where they will ultimately restore tissue and organ function. This can be done through cell-based therapy or by using cell products, such as growth factors. Bone marrow transplants are an example of regeneration. Regeneration aims to awaken cells that are not functional or have malfunctions. With stem cell therapy there is hope for affordable healthcare solutions that heal the body whole without life threatening side effects.

Stem cells are a cutting edge

Stem cells are capable of self-renewing giving rise to several copies of themselves. They also have the capability of shifting shape and changing type, therefore they can be used to form the cells that are damaged and restore the functions of the damaged tissues. The stem cells can be used to replace the cells that have malfunctioned due to structural damage. The amazing part of the stem cell differentiation is that when a stem cell divides both the daughter cell and the parent stem cells have the potential to differentiate into different cells or to still remain as stem cells. Owing to this ability of stem cells to differentiate into more specialized cells, they can rebuild lost blood vessels, reverse scarring, regenerate damaged nerves, and bring back the healthy you.

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Stem cell therapy has a lot to offer to patients, Visit us at AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Centre at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Dr. Dalal Akoury (MD) an expert in integrative and regenerative medicine will be able to help.

What are stem cells, and why are they important?

 

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Treating Diabetes With Stem Cells

May 2, 2015

Stem Cell Therapy for Diabetes

DiabetesDiabetes is a serious disease that has continued to debilitate the human race. This disease comes in two forms namely the diabetes type 1 which is also known as juvenile and the type 2 diabetes which is also known as adult diabetes. The type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disorder which occurs when the immune system mistakenly attacks and kills the beta cells of the pancreas. When this happens the release of insulin in the body will be interfered with adversely. Consequently, sugar builds up in the blood instead of being used as energy. About five to 10 per cent of people with diabetes have type 1 diabetes. Type 1 diabetes generally develops in childhood or adolescence, but can also develop in adulthood. Type 1 diabetes is always treated with insulin. However some dietary approaches can be used to help in keeping the sugar level right.

Diabetes is one of the top ten leading causes of death worldwide according to a recent WHO report; in 2012 the global prevalence of diabetes was estimated to be more than 10% among adults. The most prevalent type of diabetes is the type 2 and it is rampant in adult population. Diabetic patients develop hypertension and cardiovascular diseases, which account for high rates of morbidity and mortality among adult patients. In the past treatment of diabetes has been marred by different factors, oral medications that were the major form of treatment are not as effective as after sometime the patient may develop insulin dependence. Oral insulin medication is also not so effective since exogenous insulin cannot provide the tight glycemic control exerted by the pancreas-derived insulin secretion. Researchers consequently have been prompted to come up with better ways of addressing this menace. Stem cell therapy is the new effective way that is hoped to save the human race. It works by replacing the damaged cells and normalizing the blood sugar level.

Autologous stem cell transplant for treatment of diabetes

The stem cells are very important owing to their crucial functions in the body. These cells are present in the bone marrow and in the adipose tissues. Owing to their ability to form other cells and tissues, they can be harvested from either the bone marrows or the adipose tissues and be used to heal or replace cells in the affected places. When the harvest of the stem cells is done from the patient’s own body and the used within his body then it is called autologous stem cells transplant. Autologous stem cell transplant is safer since the cells are from the body and therefore there is no risk of them getting rejected neither to induce unpleasant allergic reaction nor require need for immunotherapy. The autologous stem cell therapy can be used to replace the affected cells and help restore proper functioning.

In autologous stem cell transplants, the doctors use peripheral blood stem cell transplantation. With peripheral blood stem cell transplantation, the stem cells are taken from blood. The growth factor G-CSF may be used to stimulate the growth of new stem cells so they spill over into the blood. G-CSF is a protein that is produced naturally in the body. The blood is removed from a vein and passed through a machine that separates the stem cells. The machine then returns the remaining blood through a needle in the person’s arm or through a central venous catheter. This way of collecting stem cells is called apheresis

Using mesenchymal cells yields best results

DiabetesBefore the use of autologous stem cell transplant, the islet transplantation was majorly used in cell based therapy for diabetes treatment. This method however successfully used in the past has its own disadvantages. Its major pitfalls included the following; limited donors, graft rejection, the need for continued immune suppression and exhaustion of the donor cell pool. To help fill these pitfalls that made this treatment unpleasurable, researchers targeted the stem cell therapy as a better alternative and they were not wrong, it has been noted that the stem cell therapy works better for diabetic patients who fail to control hyperglycemia even with insulin injection. This is because autologous cells are readily available and do not entail prolonged hospital stays or sustained immunotoxic therapy. Among autologous adult stem cells, mesenchymal stem cells therapy has been applied with varying degrees of success in both animal models and in clinical trials.

The cell based therapies had been introduced in treatment of diabetes for diabetes mellitus and it surely achieved success. It involved the use of islet transplantation. It was so successful especially in treatment of diabetes type 1 but it had some other failures that could not be overlooked and it’s these failures that are now addressed by the stem cell therapy. Stem cell therapy is a solution to some of the drawbacks of islet transplantation especially the shortage of donors. Autologous stem cell therapy allows for a person’s on organs to be used in the transplant.

The mesenchymal stem cells are used as they are able to proliferate and form new more effective cells replacing the damaged cells. They are mostly harvested in both the bone marrow and the adipose tissues where they are available in the highest amount. The mesenchymal stem cells help maintain the capacity of multilineage differentiation potential, both within and across lineage barriers. They are easy to cultivate and expand, and maintain pluripotentiality after prolonged culture conditions.

Diabetes is a killer disease; visit us at AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Centre at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Dr. Dalal Akoury (MD) an expert in integrative and regenerative medicine will be able to help.

Stem Cell Therapy for Diabetes

 

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Stem Cell Therapy and Osteoarthritis of the Elbow

May 1, 2015

Stem Cell Therapy for Osteoarthritis of the Elbows

OsteoarthritisOsteoarthritis is a disease that many people are suffering from and is one of the diseases that are not very easy to treat. According to Mayo clinic, Osteoarthritis is the most common form of arthritis, affecting millions of people worldwide. It occurs when the protective cartilage on the ends of your bones wears down over time. Although osteoarthritis can damage any joint in your body, the disorder most commonly affects joints in your hands, knees, hips and spine. Osteoarthritis of the elbow is also common. This disease often begins gradually but worsens with time. However till now there is no conventional cure for osteoarthritis. even those medicines that are used to mitigate on the symptoms of osteoarthritis none of the conventional treatments addresses the damage that is caused on the joints neither is there any avenue in the mainstream medicine through which the cartilage erosion on the elbow joints, knee joint or any other joint can be done away with. most of the time a person who is suffering from osteoarthritis of any kind is told to stay active, maintain a healthy weight and use other available treatments to help mitigate on effects of the disease; reduce the joint pain and function.

Due to the absence of mainstream treatment for osteoarthritis, patients have been facing untold horror of a lifetime. This inconvenience and pain that osteoarthritis patients have been put through as a result of this vacuum in the medical field, researchers have been working on different issues to come up with the best treatment for this disease. Researchers have mostly centered on the need for tissue regeneration therapies as this will be the only viable approach to healing the eroded cartilage on the joints. The erosion of cartilage on the elbow joint is the major characteristic of osteoarthritis of the elbow.

The bone diseases have been a major problem in the field of medicine with osteoarthritis being the major culprit affecting about 27 million people in America. Some of the common risk factors include increasing age, obesity, previous joint injury, overuse of the joint, weak thigh muscles, and genetics. In the past patients of this disease had no hope of ever breaking its chains but with recent studies on mesenchymal stem cells, a lot are changing in relation to the way doctors treat bone diseases. Stem cells have been used for the treatment of osteogenesis imperfecta, hypophosphatasia, osteonecrosis of the femoral head, osteoporosis, rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis of the elbow.

Today there are several hospitals that offer treatments to the joint diseases. Shoulders, knees, and hips joints are amongst the most common. However, there are other areas that can be treated with stem cell therapy are thumbs, toes and wrists. People who are active golfers, tennis or racquetball players, and avid bowlers may experience more pain from overuse of the elbow joint. Mild to moderate osteoarthritis is one of the main causes of a painful joint. This explains why most NFL players have gone for stem cell therapy to correct defects in their joint injuries.

Stem cell therapy for elbows may be an ideal nonsurgical alternative for those who suffer from elbow pain because of injury or pain related to osteoarthritis, or muscle sprains and strains. Traditional surgery for the elbows can be difficult because of the complexity of the joint, and it often requires a painful, lengthy rehabilitation process to restore the full range of motion. Before making the leap into a surgical procedure, you need to consider having a stem cell treatment as that may have better results.

Mesenchymal stem cells in joint disease and repair

OsteoathritisThe mesenchymal have been known for their unique abilities. They are able to form other body cells and tissues and so can be used to replace the worn out tissues at the joints. Apart from their ability to form new cell types that can replace the worn out cartilage, the mesenchymal stem cells have a potential for articular cartilage regeneration, however this favorable research is centered on surgical implant of the stem cells. Now doctors have found that for the treatment of generalized cartilage loss in osteoarthritis, an alternative delivery strategy would be more appropriate and that is injection therapy. The advantage of the injection therapy is that there will be no need for any surgery.

The adverse effects of osteoarthritis can never be overemphasized, those who have fallen victims know much of the nightmares it causes, and the pain that these patients have to endure can never be overlooked. The research surrounding an effective treatment for osteoarthritis has yet to find an approved pharmacological intervention, biologic therapy or procedure that prevents the progressive destruction of the osteoarthritis joint. Stem cell injections for osteoarthritis can help maintenance healthy tissues by acting as repair cells or to reduce inflammation. The injection of Mesenchymal stem cells has produced promising outcomes in preclinical models of joint disease. It is hoped that the use of stem cell therapy in treatment of osteoarthritis of the elbow will be of help to those already suffering from the disease.

Finally, degenerative diseases like osteoarthritis have debilitated many people. In spite of the fact that it has never been treated in the past, it is hoped that with stem cell therapy, osteoarthritis will be a treatable disease. Dr. Dalal Akoury (MD) is an expert in integrative medicine and a founder of AWAREmed Health and Wellness Center located at Myrtle Beach South Caroline. Visit her for more information on most lifestyle diseases.

Stem Cell Therapy for Osteoarthritis of the Elbows

 

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