New contact lenses with stem cells helped 3 patients who had a blind eye start seeing again:
Of the three patients, two were legally blind but can now read the big letters on an eye chart, while the third, who could previously read the top few rows of the chart, is now able to pass the vision test for a driver’s license. The research team isn’t getting over excited, still remaining unsure as to whether the correction will remain stable, but the fact that the three test patients have been enjoying restored sight for the last 18 months is definitely encouraging. The simplicity and low cost of the technique also means that it could be carried out in poorer countries.
(via)
What’s also great news for stem-cell research is that we no longer need to extract them from human embryos to get useful cells – they can be extracted from a patients own teeth and bones.
hear hear!
as long as there aren’t any (extra) pesky moral dilemmas attached to medical advances like these, I can’t see a reason to be anything but awed and enthusiastic about them.
Except that human embryos (left over from fertility clinics) go in the trash, you know. If they’re being destroyed anyway, then why not use them for research? Do you really want to extract stem cells from sensitive organs like the brain (where stem cells are stored deep in the brain)?
This whole American over-reaction to using embryonic stem cells really gets under my skin. I’ve seen too many children with mental retardation and neurodegenerative disorders (remember, I was a special education teacher) who are suffering in the here and now and could benefit from embryonic stem cell technology to have any concern for a small bundle of cells that is destined for the trash.
FYI… please see:
http://www.japantoday.com/category/technology/view/riken-researchers-make-brain-tissues-from-stem-cells
Oh! And there’s this as well– stem cells for spinal chord injuries:
http://www.newsweek.com/id/208450
I don’t think its over-reacting to be careful about the ethics of new medical fields. That isn’t to say that stem cell research is evil, just that it has the potential for some peculiar ethical dilemmas.
If someone believed that a fetus was/is a human life in a meaningful sense, then this could be a very difficult ethical issue for them. It would be something like transplanting a person’s organs in order to save another’s life, except that this procedure would be performed without their consent and would probably kill them.
This is why I’m more enthusiastic about non-embryonic stem cell research. The possibilities are tremendous without a doubt, and I understand that most embryonic stem cells are ‘leftovers’ (so to speak,) but there are inherently more ethical ‘issues’ involved in stem cells that came from something that wasn’t your own body.
There are no ethical issues when the embryos are going in the trash. The whole pro-life argument is canceled out by that one fact. Period. Meanwhile, people who are already here are continuing to suffer. So, IMO it is, in fact, *immoral* not to use them.
But you are right that the technology is developing in other directions as well, but why close of this path?
It isn’t really canceled out, though. You could make an argument that it is better to discard something than use it for your own ends if no one else wants it.
Its like the argument for humane euthanasia: better to go with dignity.
(Yes, I am aware of the irony of that argument.) The only point I’m trying to make is that the issue is morally ‘sticky’ and it always will be. There isn’t a magic bullet that will make embryonic stem cells morally acceptable to every, or even most, people. Some people will always regard it as a violation of medical ethics, and they aren’t clearly in the wrong, either, even though we may disagree with them.
I think that prayer is a cheaper alternative! LOL
So this religious scientific research institute group, did they also come up with cool stuff that helps people like this?
This is just plain awesome.
As someone who recently needed to wear glasses, I’m looking forward to the time when we can all discard them and have our eyesight permanently corrected.
This was really cool. Thank God it really works. :) Sorry. LOL
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If Jesus wanted you to see, he wouldn’t have taken away your eyesight.
Excellent news.
I hope stem cell research also finds a remedy for tinnitus.
The use of adult stem cells was the intent of embryonic stem cell research all along, and still is. The idea behind stem cell research is that the doctors can use your own cells to grow new tissue, eliminating the need for immunosuppressant drugs. For example, diabetes can already be “cured” by a pancreatic transplant, but this requires a lifetime of immunosuppressant drugs and, as a result, likely many dangerous diseases. If my own stem cells could be grown into beta cells, this would no longer be a concern.
The reason embryonic stem cells are used so frequently in research is that they are much better behaved. Researchers can learn a lot more about how stem to grow stem cells into other cell types by performing experiments on embryonic cells than on adult stem cells. Basically, when Bush blocked federal funding to all research using embryonic stem cells (except an insignificant percentage using existing lines), he substantially delayed research into curing many diseases, but didn’t stop it altogether.
Stem cells are also found in cord blood but collection of this must be done at birth before the cord is cut and is often just discarded unless the parents are aware of the option and have made previous arrangements.
I have lost most of my sight and would love to try these contact lenses. Can somebody give me more info on how to contact these doctors/scienctists?
Thank you very much.