Recovery can be a painful and lengthy process for an individual who has injured an elbow or knee. These parts of the body are composed of the slow-healing tissue, cartilage. Tissue that is damaged or missing is often lost forever. However, this may no longer be the case. Stem cells could possibly facilitate the needed tissue replacements as researchers at the University of Guelph are hoping.

Improving cartilage healing after joint injuries with the assistance of stem cells is the hope for biomedical sciences professor Dean and doctoral candidate Thomas. Joint injuries are frequent and expensive in horses, so the duo has made the decision to begin their research with an equine focus. In regards to human joint injuries, encouraging results from their research could serve as a model for future human treatment.

Ground breaking research was presented at the Blenheim Wesley Center on adult stem cell transplants. Dr. Richard, an Auckland University professor gave his presentation to more than 200 people.

Giving hope to those afflicted with Alzheimer’s and other neurological conditions, the pioneering brain scientist delivered his message.

Serving as a repair system by replenishing destroyed or damaged cells in the body, stem cells can divide and differentiate into other cells.

Enabling brain cells destroyed by diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and Huntington’s, to be restored; a feasible number of adult stem cells were effectively transplanted for the first time by neuroscientists at the university. The test subjects were laboratory rats.

Dr. Richard says that this specific type of stem cell therapy is still at least another 10 to 15 years away for humans. But the 61-year-old Lily Medal winner said that a difference could be made within the next five to ten years thanks to new drugs developed from the research.

Adult stem cells are already used to successfully treat many other conditions.

Human brain tissue will be required so that the large research group can utilize the raw materials to study brain disease. " It is a cornerstone of the research that families bequeath the brains of loved ones to us so that research can continue," he said.

At one time scientists believed that new brain cells were not created in adulthood, however, a top U.S. scientific journal decided last week to publish Dr. Richard’s research demonstrating the opposite. He was elated to hear the news.

The entire audience was listening to every word of Dr. Richard’s enthusiastic presentation, "Brain Diseases and Stem Cells – Fact or Fantasy". His lecture was intended for regular individuals without a medical background as well as health professionals.

"There is a lot of interest currently in the potential future use of stem cells and gene therapies to treat many neurological conditions," he said.

"The recent demonstration of stem cells in the adult mammalian brain raises the exciting possibility that these cells may be able to generate neurons for cell replacement in neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s, Huntington’s, Alzheimer’s and epilepsy."

"Our research studies provide the first evidence of neurogenesis in the diseased human brain and are exciting findings indicating the regenerative potential of the diseased human brain."

"Our studies suggest the possibility that neural stem cells in the adult human brain may provide a means for the application of novel new treatment strategies involving cell replacement techniques in the treatment of patients with brain diseases."

"However there is still considerable research to do before these exciting findings can be applied to the treatment of patients with neurological diseases."

Capable of developing into all types of cardiac cells, a new cell type in adult rat heart tissue has been found by researchers at the University of Minnesota.

This gives hope for the possibility of treatments such as the growth of new blood vessels for use in bypass surgery or to repair damaged heart muscle after a heart attack. The cells could be expanded in a lab after being harvested and then used in therapy.

Appearing in the February print edition, The journal Nature Clinical Trials Cardiovascular Medicine has published the research.

The researchers expanded tissue taken from adult rat hearts in a dish after adding certain growth factors. These cells were able to give rise to all types of cardiac cells, such as the cells that make up the left and right ventricles and blood vessels. Impressively, just as more mature heart muscle cells will do, the newly grown cells even beat in a laboratory dish.

Professor of physiology and director of the Center for Cardiovascular Repair, Doris, said that they injected the cells into rats with injured hearts and documented that the cells repaired the damaged tissue.

After undergoing experimental stem cell transfusions for their damaged spines, sisters Shannon, 21, and Erica, 18, have returned from China.

The two sisters now use wheelchairs after both being paralyzed in a 2004 car accident. With the hope of experiencing some relief from the pain they feel on a daily basis, they traveled to China for a month long duration of treatments that were not available in their home country of Canada.

They are hopeful that that treatment will have an effect, but they say it is still too early to tell. But there are signs that the stem cells have begun their work.

“I have noticed differences in my circulation and like, my legs and my feet are a lot warmer now, so that’s a positive thing,” Erica said, noting that her sister has noticed the same result.

“Hopefully, with work with our physiotherapist and stuff we’ll start seeing some more improvements.”

Their treatment involved the injection of millions of stem cells at the Shenzhen Nanshan People’s Hospital. Herbal intravenous sessions and acupuncture were also a part of the treatment.

“I was really nervous at first but they were really simple,” Erica said of the treatments.

Julian treasures every step he takes, which is in contrast to the many people who dread working out.

“It’s just really hard for me to do anything,” he says — hard because Julian suffers from scleroderma. Causing inflammation, pain, and hardened skin, his body is attacking itself throughout the skin and organs. His lungs, kidneys, and other organs could eventually fail due to his condition.

Julian is afflicted with a disease that is rare and affects only 100,000 Americans. It’s so excruciating it can disable … and even kill them.

“A bad day is typically just not being able to get out of bed, [with] no energy,” he says.

Hopefully Julian won

Quita was competing at Timber Creek when she fell and sustained injuries which left her unconscious for six weeks. After suffering severe brain injury, she says adult stem cell research has helped her recover from her terrible camp drafting disaster four years ago.

The adult stem cell therapy has made an immense difference bearing in mind the fact that her doctors feared that she would not even survive.

“I feel an improvement, it’s a lot easier to move all my limbs on the horse, and just balance is a lot better,” she said.

She decided to make the trip to Germany for adult stem cell treatment with the help of more than $40,000 her family raised through various means.

Quita doesn

Sidestepping the contentious use of stem cells derived from embryos, researchers at the University of Rochester have unveiled a new device technology that makes it feasible to harvest stem cells from the blood.

Potentially improving the prognosis for many cancer sufferers, the technology is also being developed into an anti-cancer implant that programs cancer cells to die. The technique may even produce implants that direct the body