RJA #14b:Application Project References

Cell Medicine. (2007, July 28). Adult stem cell therapy for cerebral palsy. [Video file] Video posted to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egRxgUXDN4Y

Cell Medicine. (2004-2008). Stem cell therapy for cerebral palsy. Cell Medicine.

[Web] Retrieved 24 March 2010, from http://www.cellmedicine.com/cerebralpalsy.asp

H. Covington, personal communication, March 24, 2010.

Kids Health Online Magazine. (2009, April). Cerebral Palsy. Reviewed by S. J. Bachrach, MD. [Web] Retrieved 20 April 2010, from http://kidshealth.org/parent/medical/brain/cerebral_palsy.html

XCell-Center at the Institute for Regenerative Medicine. (2007-2010). Overview of our stem cell treatment. Adult stem cell therapy. [Web] Retrieved 5 April 2010, from http://www.xcell- center.com/treatments/overview.aspx

RJA #14a: Project Progress Report

I am planning to write a newspaper article for my application project. The article will be centered on the personal interview I did with Drew Covington. Drew suffers with cerebral palsy and though he has some mild physical problems from the disease, he mainly suffers with brain function. In the article I will review what cerebral palsy is, what types of problems Drew suffers from and why stem cells treatment is an option that he and his parents have chosen to do.

So far I have outlined the basic topics I want to cover in my newspaper article. I have the draft in the form I want it in and I have written some of the text. I have also found the five sources I will be using.

I would like to get a picture of Drew, since he will be the focus of the article. I have to continue the writing of the draft and I need to do the essay for the project and learn about APA formatting style.

RJA #13c: Application Project Example

Major Grant Will Facilitate Cord Blood Research for Cerebral Palsy at Duke University

Posted: Mar 18, 2010

The Robertson Foundation has given $10.2 million to Duke University that will help facilitate studies evaluating cord blood stem cells infusions for newborns with various conditions including brain injuries suffered at birth, like cerebral palsy, as well as congenital heart disease and forms of cancer.

Dr. Joanne Kurtzberg, director of Duke’s Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplant Program, and her research team have spent decades investigating the therapeutic use of umbilical cord blood stem cells.

“The emerging field of regenerative medicine has great promise, and this generous gift will accelerate the pace of Dr. Kurtzberg’s and other Duke scientists’ world-renowned, translational work in cell therapies,” said Dr. Victor Dzau, chief executive of the Duke University Health System.

Umbilical cord blood stem cells, normally discarded after birth, have the ability to grow and develop into various types of cells throughout the body. They can be harvested after birth and stored for future transplant in patients with many types of blood disorders, and increasingly, other diseases as well.

“Dr. Kurtzberg’s research reflects the kind of transformational science that has the potential to change the lives of thousands of people throughout the country and around the world,” Julian Robertson, of the Robertson Foundation, said in a statement.

“This gift comes at such an important time because it will enable us to move forward with the first placebo-controlled, randomized clinical trial in children with (cerebral palsy) that has been specifically designed to answer key questions about the efficacy of cord blood treatments in children with this condition,” Kurtzberg said in a statement.

This particular example of a newspaper article helped me to realize that newspaper articles need to be effective and concise in their wording. Each paragraph should contain elements of interest without lengthy verbage. The title needs to be eye catching and the piece packed with information that leaves the reader wanting to know more about the story being told. I chose this piece specifically because it deals with stem cell therapy and cerebral palsy which is what my article is dealing with as well. I also think having a small photo with the article adds a nice touch, something that people will stop to look at but which does not add length to the piece.

RJA #13b: Application Project

I plan to write a newspaper article focusing on stem cell therapy and cerebral palsy. Since my primary research was an interview dealing with a young boy, Drew Covington, who suffers from cerebral palsy and is going to have stem cell therapy done at the XCell Center in Germany this July, I thought this would make a good newspaper piece. In the article I will focus on Drew and what kinds of problems he is faced with because of his cerebral palsy. Why his parents chose to go ahead with stem cell therapy and what was necessary for them to do in order to be accepted into the program at the XCell Center. The article will touch on what kind of procedure is done at the center for their cerebral palsy patients and what Drew may or may not expect from his treatment there.

RJA #13a: Word Cloud

RJA #12b: Field Research Report

My stem cell therapy research paper included 2 primary resources. I first interviewed a family that has a child with Cerebral Palsy. Most of the information was gathered from his mother. Her son, Drew is undergoing stem cell therapy in Germany in July he is 10.

I asked her the following questions:

Why have you and your husband decided to have Drew undergo this therapy?

What made you think the XCell Center in Germany was a good choice?

What type of Cerebral Palsy does Drew suffer from?

What symptoms of his Cerebral Palsy are you hoping to see improvements in?

Did you first talk to any medical professional about doing this treatment?

What did his doctor say, did he know of the XCell Center?

What kinds of tests did he have to undergo to be eligible for the program?

Where did he do the tests, how long did it take for the center to let you know you had been approved?

How expensive is the treatment, how long will you have to be there?

What exactly is the treatment that they will perform on Drew?

What have you told him about the treatment?

Did you feel the center was realistic about what he/you might expect from this treatment?

My second primary resource was an interview with Dr. Steven Grover, head of the OBGYN Center at Skyridge Medical Center. My questions to Dr. Grover dealt with the banking of umbilical cord blood.

I asked him the following questions:

What is you opinion of cord blood banking?

How many of your patients do cord blood banking?

What is the cost to bank the cord blood cells?

Do you think the cost is too high?

Do you think the cost is reasonable?

Have you ever banked cord blood for your children?

Do you recommend to your patients to bank their child’s cord blood?

Do you think it is wise to bank these cells?

What do you see happening with cord blood cells for the future?

Do you think cord blood banking would save lives?

RJA #12a: Annotated Bibliography, Part 3

Moran. Nulala. “Induced Stem Cells can’t Replace Embryonic Ones.” Science Business: Connecting Buyers and Sellers of Emerging Technologies. 25 February 2010. Science Business Publishing Ltd. 2010. http://bulletin.sciencebusiness.net/ebulletins/showissue.php3? page=/548/art/17037

Nulala Moran is the Senior Editor of the Science Business online magazine. In this article Moran discusses the differences between induced pluripotent stem cells and embryonic stem cells. She discounts that iPS cells will at any time soon be able to replace embryonic stem cells in research methods or in therapy. While they do have an important place in research there is still much more research to be done. Interestingly enough much of that research to help iPS cells to achieve their hoped for potential involves using embryonic stem cells to test them.

“Bone Marrow Transplant.” Medline Plus. Encyclopedia. National Institutes of Health. 23 March 2010. Web. http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/003009.ht

This reference article takes one through the steps of bone marrow transplants from beginning to end. It sites the use of autologous stem cells as well as donor stem cells and the difference between them. The use of chemotherapy and the risks involved in that procedure as well as the fear of graft-versus-host-disease. It is a very good reference article.

Boyles, Salynn. “Stem Cell Treatment for Leukemia Improved.” Cancer Health Center. WebMD Health News. 19 January 2010. 2005-2010 WebMD, LLC. Web. http://www.webmd.com/cancer/news/20100119/stem-cell-leukemia-treatment-improved

In this article the use of cord blood for leukemia transplant patients is reviewed. The researchers at Seattle’s Fred Hutchinson’s Caner Center have found that the use of manipulated cord blood cells have helped to decrease the recovery period and reduce infection-related deaths in transplant patients. It is also noted that cord blood has an advantage over bone marrow for patients because they do not need to be perfectly matched to the patient.

BBC News. “Stem Cell Tourism in Germany.” 23 June 2009. Video. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8115881.stm

This video done by the BBC News goes into detail concerning some of the centers offering stem cell therapies around the world. Some doctors refer to these centers as middle-men selling cells,. This video discounts much of what goes on in this centers and that they pray on the hopes of those that are ill or injured. The charge large sums of money and give the patient very little in the way of scientific evidence that their therapies will work.

Stem Cell Basics: “What are Stem Cells and Why are They Important? ” Stem Cell Basics. Bethesda, MD: National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 2009. Web. http://stemcells.nih.gov/info/basics/basics1.asp

The National Institutes of Health offers a great deal of information in their stem cell basics. These pages are filled with updated information about what stem cells are what therapies they are being tested to help and what risks are involved. They cover the ethics of stem cell research and are very readable and very thorough.

Krassowska, Anna, PhD. “Company and Regulatory Agency Define Path to Re-Initiate Human Trial for Spinal Cord Injury.” Geron and FDA Reach Agreement on Clinical Hold. Geron Corporation News Release.30 October 2009. Web. http://www.geron.com/media/pressview.aspx?id=1195

Geron Corporation is the only company that has been able to conduct their own embryonic stem cell research in the U.S. They are funded by private funds so they did not have to depend on any help from the government, therefore they did not have to follow the same guidelines. In 2009, they had reached a milestone in their research and was approved by the FDA to proceed with human clinical trials on spinal cord injury patients. Before they could get started however, the FDA found some problems in their preliminary tests with animals and put a hold on the human trials. This article discusses the problems that surrounded those tests. The FDA has not lifted the ban and has made no comment about when they might do so.

Glover, Joel C. “Can We Use Human Embryonic Stem Cells to Treat Brain and Spinal Cord Injury and Disease." Stem Cells, Human Embryos and Ethics. Springer 2008. 57-62. Print.

In this particular chapter Glover states the seriousness of spinal cord injury as he talks about the numbers of injured persons each year and the cost that goes with this type of injury. He goes into detail about how the spinal cord works and what happens when an injury occurs. He goes into to good detail and the informational content is very interesting.

Robinson, B.A. “Therapeutic Cloning: How it is done; possible benefits. Religious Tolerance.org. Copyright 2000-2005. Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance. Updated 29 October 2005. Web. http://www.religioustolerance.org/clo_ther.htm

This article by B. A. Robinson takes on the task of reviewing the advantages and disadvantages to therapeutic cloning. In it he takes on the task of explaining what cloning is, and how therapeutic cloning takes place. He explains why people are interested in therapeutic cloning as a means of treatment for medical procedures and also what the possible benefits are for such procedures. Equal time is spent discussing the problems of therapeutic cloning and the ethical debates that surround it as well.

“Overview of our Stem Cell Treatment.” XCell-Center at the Institute for RegenerativeMedicine. Adult Stem Cell Therapy. 2007-2010. Web.

http://www.xcell-center.com/treatments/overview.aspx

The information gathered from the XCell-Center in Cologne, Germany concerns primarily the treatments done at the center for cerebral palsy patients. The center does not provide scientific data on their treatments but mainly the types of stem cells that are used and under what conditions the treatments are done . There are many testimonials given both in writing and as videos from those who have received treatment at the center and have had positive results.

“Stem Cell Therapy for Cerebral Palsy.” Cell Medicine. 2004-2008. Web.

http://www.cellmedicine.com/cerebralpalsy.asp

This Cell Medicine article is full of information concerning cerebral palsy and stem cell therapy. The information is explicit in how stem cells can be utilized in the treatment of cerebral palsy because of their ability to differentiate into new tissue circuitry that is needed for those parts of the brain which have been damaged due to this condition. The article gives details concerning umbilical cord blood stem cell therapy that has been done in the United States on cerebral palsy patients, and the success that has been realized. The use of hematopoietic stem cells from bone marrow has also been very effective in treating cerebral palsy as well, probably more so than cord blood, but most of this therapy has been available outside the United States, as noted in the article.

Borthwick, Lindsay. “Stem cells Improve Parkinson’s Disease Symptoms.” Nature Reports Stem Cells. Published Online: 17 April 2008. 63. Web. http://www.nature.com/stemcells/2008/0804/080417/full/stemcells.2008.63.html

Lindsay Borthwick, a freelance writer out of Toronto wrote this article featured in Nature Reports on stem cells and how they improve Parkinson’s symptoms to help bring to light some of the advances of induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells. In the article she reviews experiments that have taken place showing that the iPS cells injected into mice with Parkinson’s symptoms were able to differentiate into neurons and integrate into the surrounding brain tissue, causing it to function normally. Safety is still an issue with regards to human clinical trials, but the animal trials have helped research to take a giant step forward with regards to iPS cells, basically more research is needed to eliminate any of the safety concerns.

Mollard, Richard PhD. “Embryonic Stem Cells.” International Society for Stem Cell Research. 2 February 2005. Web. 1 April 2010.

http://www.isscr.org/public/escells.htm

This article written by Richard Mollard, PhD., an embryonic stem cell specialist at the Institute of Reproduction and Development at the Monash University in Australia. Dr Mollard focuses his remarks on the basics of embryonic stem cell research. Primarily, where embryonic stem cells come from and how scientists are able to obtain. He discusses the use of in vitro clinics and the role they play in obtaining these research embryos and also the part the donor plays in releasing these embryos to research facilities. He also goes into reviewing the remarkable features of the embryonic stem cell and how they are being used in research to discover new therapies for many types of diseases and injuries. How these new therapies will be best achieved is still an open debate, but scientists are hopeful that success will be obtained. Adult stem cells potential applications for treatment are also discussed in this article.

RJA #11: Annotated Bibliography, Part 2

McGee, Glenn, and Arthur Caplan. “The Ethics and Politics of Small Sacrifices in Stem Cell Research.” The Stem Cell Contoversy: Debating the Issues. 2nd ed. Ed. by Michael Ruse and Christopher A Pynes. Amherst, New York: Prometheus Books, 2006. 162. Print.

This article first published in the Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal 9, (1999): 151-58, focuses on the idea that though pluripotent stem cell research may offer new treatments for hundreds of diseases, opponents to the research say that it comes at too high a price.
The argument is centered on the use of aborted fetuses from which embryonic stem cells were taken and used for research, as well as those embryos from fertilization clinics. This article shows very clearly the battles which brew among millions of American who favor stem cell research and millions who oppose the destruction of any fetus or embryo for any purpose.


Mapping Stem Cell Research, Terra Incognita. Dir. by Maria Finitzo, Documentary. Kartemquin Film Production, 2008. DVD.

This documentary centered on the work of Dr. Jack Kessler, M.D., a renowned stem cell expert and chair of neuology at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University in Chicago. When his daughter experienced a skiing accident that left her paralyzed, his life’s work totally found new meaning. He now focuses his time and efforts in and out of his laboratory to finding a stem cell therapy that will regenerate spinal cord damage. The documentary portrays the religious controversial views against embryonic stem cell research as well as the scientific views. Basically his question throughout the film is, if one had the opportunity to heal a spinal cord injury—why would you not want to do such a thing?


Experiment Resources (2008). “Stem Cell Research - Pros and Cons.” Retrieved [Date of Retrieval] from Experiment Resources: http://www.experimentresources.com/stem-cell-pros-and-cons.html Web.

From this reference resource basic stem cell information has been gathered. Some of the subjects that are covered include, what stem cells are, and what different types of stem cells are being used for research. The reference also addresses the many different types of diseases and disabilities that are being looked at for potential treatments using stem cells, and the pros and cons concerning stem cell research and future application.


Baker, Monya. “Stick to the Guidelines and Fewer Get Hurt.” Nature Reports Stem Cells. 11 December, 2008. Published online, Web. http://www.nature.com/stemcells/2008/0812/081211/full/stemcells.2008.157.html

This article was written especially to warn those seeking stem cell therapy outside of the United States to beware of profit-hungry quacks who are exploiting patients and endangering clinical research by offering risky stem cell procedures. Many of these centers offer help for almost all serious ailments with the average cost in the tens of thousands of dollars. The International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) has put together guidelines to help patients read about the types of regulations and considerations they should look for in a clinic. The safety levels of the procedures, how the cells to be administered have been manipulated, and whether the patient is receiving his own cells or donor cells. The ISSCR task force feels that the education and the safety of patient is of the utmost importance as they continue to work on this issue.


Tenenbaum, David. “The Cloning Conundrum.” The Science Behind the Why Files. Ed. by Terry Devitt. University of Wisconsin-Madison. Published online. 2010. Web. http://whyfiles.org/148clone_clash/4.html

This article debates the use of therapeutic cloning or somatic nuclear transfer. Many scientists feel that therapeutic cloning is a modern medical miracle and should be allowed to be researched. It’s ability to benefit an immense number of people through perfectly matched transplantation therapies and repairing damaged cells is overwhelming. The controversy is viewed by those who see it as disrupting human life by creating a prospective human life just to destroy it for research. They feel that it should be condemned on moral grounds. Others feel that if this type of cloning is allowed it would only be a matter of time that reproductive cloning would also be acceptable as part of research.