Stem Cell Research, Part 2, aka Who Knew!

When I wrote the first stem cell research post (http://stroketales.blogspot.com/2013/03/stem-cells-embryonic-and-otherwise-aka.html), I was skeptical. The Big Maybe Not, I said. But I am less so now. Most of the scamsters and shysters who claimed to have stem cells have been arrested or are purposely missing. There's something afoot and it means possible dis-ability for so many of us who are brain injured.

The most recent news came in June of this year from the 15th annual International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) meeting in Boston. The group included more than 4,000 stem cell scientists, bioethicists, clinicians, and industry professionals from over 50 countries who discussed the latest discoveries and technologies within the field, and how they are advancing regenerative medicine, including stem cells and cancer, disease modeling and organogenesis, gene editing and gene therapy, and potential breakthrough therapies currently being tested in clinical trials.

Said ISSCR president Sally Temple, “Discoveries are moving forward quickly, with developments that are changing the way we view and treat disease. That has tremendous implications, not only for scientists, but also for regulatory bodies, industry, and patients.” 

In addition, prior to the meeting on June 13, a Public Symposium organized by the Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI), was held as well in Boston. It was advertised as “Innovation, Incubation, Investment: The Landscape of Stem Cell Research in Boston,” and featured local leaders in the stem cell community.
 
Then about one year ago, Sonia Coontz, who had a stroke in 2011, recovered her right side in a Stanford clinical study in 2016. Injecting human, adult stem cells directly into her brain, along with other chronic stroke patients, proved not only safe but effective in restoring motor function. 

Now 36, Coontz, said, “My right arm wasn’t working at all. It felt like it was almost dead. My right leg worked, but not well. I used a wheelchair a lot.”

After her surgery, "they woke up,” she said of her limbs. The promising results set the stage for an expanded trial of the procedure now getting underway. Dr. Gary Steinberg, who has more than 15 years’ worth of experience in work with stem cell therapies for neurological indications, is the research paper’s lead and senior author.

“This was just a single trial, and a small one,” cautioned Steinberg, who led the 18-patient trial. 

“It was designed primarily to test the procedure’s safety. But patients improved by several standard measures, and their improvement was not only statistically significant, but clinically meaningful. Their ability to move around has recovered visibly. That’s unprecedented. At six months out from a stroke, you don’t expect to see any further recovery,” said Steinberg.

There's more. A recent study involved donor stem cells grown in the lab and delivered through an IV to stroke patients. Dr. Ken Uchino, a stroke neurologist at The Cleveland Clinic, said, “The stem cells are believed to change the immune response of the body to the stroke. And it will turn down the immune response so there is a better healing environment.” 

The study involved 129 patients, half of whom got the stem cells, and half the placebo. The study discovered the patients who got the cells within 36 hours of stroke onset had less disability and more mobility after stroke.

Check out new studies at www.clinicaltrials.gov. Put "stem cells" in the search bar and away you go. 

The Big Maybe Not has turned into The Big Maybe So.

If You Don't Exactly Hear, You May Be Exactly Screwed

So this is what happened two days ago. I went to the market with my aide and (I approved) her two-year-old, adorable, blue-eyed Sophie because Katie, her mother, didn't have a babysitter. We don't go shopping when she rarely brings Sophie, but she is so behaved, a problem was the furthest thing from my mind.

Sophie walked (let me be clear--WALKED) around the gargantuan Giant Eagle supermarket. We got the needed items, hung the bags on the back of the wheelchair with me in it, and Sophie started to rub her eyes, a sure sign that she would take a nap once she returned to the car.

We left the store and arrived at the car, and Katie said, as she always says, "Don't get up from the wheelchair. The bags are heavy and I have to remove them first." And then added, for a first time, "I'm going to put Sophie in her car seat before I take the bags off the wheelchair."

The parking lot was a noisy one, plus an anxious driver with a muffler issue stopped a few feet away to get the spot Katie would soon vacate. Katie opened the trunk, and then went around to the other side of the car to place Sophie in her car seat. (See the problem yet?)

I didn't accurately hear those instructions. I heard Katie speak, but the words were indistinct, just like the adults in a Peanuts movie. (Wah wah wah). The trunk was open and I was texting on my phone, so I figured, albeit erroneously, that the bags were already in the trunk, and I stood up. As I arose, the wheelchair went flying backwards from the heavy bags and I went along with it, landing on my right side and hitting my arm, neck, and head on the blacktop. When I stood up, assisted by a stranger and Katie (the crowd, fifteen strong, had gathered), I saw the blood on my hand and realized I was cut and my finger was out of the joint.

It wasn't Sophie's fault. It wasn't Katie's fault. It was my fault. The hearing aid had diminished slowly over time, and I was trying to stretch out the shelf life to get a new one in Portland. (If you follow the blog, you know that I'm moving there). 

The rest is all a blur. I went to the Emergency Room and the nurse put on that neck brace pictured above, just in case I had injured my spine and head. I was tested via CT scan and the results were negative. But the X-ray showed a fracture in my finger. The doctor said I should follow up with an orthopedic surgeon (I went and a splint was put on my hand, just days away from the Portland trip).

So, all of this is to say, yeah, hearing is an issue and not one of the usual top five reasons that a person gets injured in and around the home. Slips and falls, often-silent choking, adverse effects of medication, hazardous fire, and severe cuts are the ones most "perennially" written about. But hearing is on my list. 

If you can't hear accurately, let's say, the fire alarm or a siren or the alarm clock or, in my case, instructions, then bad things might happen. Very. Bad. Things. Is your hearing ok? If you have doubts, I suggest you get a hearing test from an audiologist and maybe you'll be surprised at the results.