# data[].attributes.body
My deepest fear is to not help someone when they are in need. My grandmother has raise me up to always give and i have that fear that one i will never be able to give any more so i will do everything i can to help people in need.

I think my biggest accomplishment will be to get somewhere in life and dont spend my time on things thats is not going to help me in the future.

# data[].attributes.body
My deepest fear is to not get anywhere in life. No successes and become nothing. Having worked so hard to get somewhere to end up nowhere.

My biggest accomplishment in life is unanswered because I'm still alive. I do not know what will happen that's an accomplishment until I die can I fully answer this question. As of now, my biggest accomplishment is standing up for myself when I used to think I was so small. Now I can say I am the Vice Corps Commander of my Air Force JROTC, I made it through Cadet Officer Leadership School, got into college, and pursuing my dreams. I love to dream because of my creative personality and realist in a mix with my dreams to become reality making me both.

# data[].attributes.body
My deepest fear would be giving up on everything. You might work so hard during your college years, only to suddenly feel like you're not getting anywhere and not want to try anymore. I think my biggest accomplishment in life will be to live independently, and without financial problems.

# data[].attributes.body
What is your stance towards interracial relationship. Would you ever date someone outside your race

# data[].attributes.body
Should people be allowed to have an abortion for the sole purpose of creating stemy cells?

# data[].attributes.body
1. Cinco De Mayo is not the day Mexico gained its independence from Spain.

2. On this day Mexico's army beat the France's army in a battle.

3. People in the USA celebrate this holiday more than people in Mexico.

# data[].attributes.body
My deepest fear is becoming someone I'm not. I don't want to turn out like those people in the movies. My biggest accomplishment would have to be not giving up on my school work. I'm both a dreamer and realest. I

# data[].attributes.body
I think the American Dream is still achievable, however, I think each person has their own idea of what their dream is. Some can achieve it, some can't. The biggest thing holding Americans back is the inability to move up in the economic ladder. People who come to America with the dream of being really rich get disappointed when they realize that it's hard to get out of the lower economic classes and they end up working to stay afloat instead of working to achieve a dream

# data[].attributes.body
My deepest fear is to not get anywhere in life. No success and become nothing. Having worked so hard to get somewhere but to end up nowhere.

My biggest

# data[].attributes.body
I don't think anyone knows what the American Dream really is. Everyone has their own American Dream they can achieve. Anyone can achieve an American Dream if they work hard enough. It's not very likely it's going to fall into your lap. The biggest thing holding Americans back is money and laziness. Americans don't want to work to get success they just want it to be handed to them and it doesn't work that way.

# data[].attributes.body
I think my biggest fear would be disappointing the people that love me the most, for example, my parents. Everything I do is to make them proud of the daughter they brought up and it would break my heart to do anything disappointing. My biggest accomplishment will be when I become a nurse practitioner. It's something I've wanted to do for a very long time. I think I'm a little bit of both a dreamer and realist. I have dreams I wish to achieve even if they seem a little crazy but I also don't let it take away from what I know I really can do.

# data[].attributes.body
Yes I think the American dream is possible, some people achieve it, but the odds are stacked agaist you, wealthy americans have an easier time going to college and making more money, while lower class Americans natural have a harder time moving up in life, because they have less opportunities.

# data[].attributes.body
What is your deepest fear (ex.failure)? What do you think will be your biggest accomplishment in life? Are you a dreamer or realest.

# data[].attributes.body
Can people really achieve the American Dream? Does the American Dream even exist anymore (question from Mr. Miles)?What is the biggest thing holding Americans back?

# data[].attributes.body
I agree that stem cells can provide a second chance for many. Why die when you can earn yourself more years to live? Life is something to be appreciated, second by second. I don't see why anyone would rather adapt to a loss, rather than taking a great opportunity when offered.

# data[].attributes.body
Ariana, I completely agree that stem cells should be used to help children. They have so much more life to live than a handful of years. No parent should have to go through seeing their child suffer. Also, I think after their cancer goes into remission, these children will have much more appreciation for their life and try to make the best of it.

# data[].attributes.body
I fully support stem cell research, only good can come from this research, and it can change the world. Its in human nature to adapt to out losses, like limbs or cognitive abilities, but if we don't have to adapt because we can get those back, then the world will be much less restrictive.

# data[].attributes.body
The main point a lot of people were making is that people are going to be prejudice and we should just allow this to happen. I agree it is impossible to like everyone but should you be allowed to dislike an entire group of people based on something out of their control. I also agree with the point that most of them made saying why should people change who they are to make other people happy. I also agree that people try to hard to be politically correct. Just like people try to hard to be funny. There is a way to talk to people with out offending them. I try my best not to offend people but it is going to happen but that doesn't mean I shouldn't try my best to keep it from happening. I also think their opinion are bias because through out most of this country history it was okay not to like someone because of their race. We shunned diversity and have tried to assimilate people to the same culture. We did it with the Indians. Josh brought up politicians & news anchors and how they try very hard to be politically correct but most of the time they are only trying to impress a certain group of people (demographic). You see it on tv all the time where someone said something they shouldn't have trying to please someone and they ended up offending someone else. Look at Mitt Romney and the 47% video. He was trying to win votes from one group and excluded another. It wouldn't have happened if he was trying to be competency politically correct. Look at Fox and NBC. They both target to different people so if one offends the other it really isn't a big deal because we already know who they are catering too. That shouldn't be the case. I guess this can also be used to prove Josh point. The easiest way to offend someone is to use a stereotype. People don't like to be labeled or put into group. When you think about who you are and what you stand for what is the first label that comes to your mind? American? Black? White? Asian? Latino? Native American?....

# data[].attributes.body
Cancer is the second leading cause of death in kids one to nine years old. Stem Cells can be used to treat kids with cancer. Stem Cells can be a second breath for some of these kids. I chose this picture because it shows the things kids can do after their cancer goes in remission. This pictue shows kids running in a marathon. The kids in this picture look healthly and kids with cancer just want to be helathy.

# data[].attributes.body
Most people have never learned that one of the main aims in life is to enjoy it.
Samuel Butler
How can someone enjoy life if they are dying? Stem cells can be a second chance for some people. Stem cells can help people enjoy life again by giving them that second chance. With the use of stem cells a man was able to walk again. The man wasn't born paralyzed he was stabbed in the back and became paralyzed.

# data[].attributes.body
Who: Patrick Delaney of the American Life League

What: Patrick doesn't like stem cell research because stem cells can used from dead babies.

When:2006

Where: USA

Most people who don't agree with stem cells don't agree with them because some forms of stem cells are taken from embryos. People argue that stem cells are immoral because they are taken from dead babies. One group did a study and they found that stem cells can be found in human fat cells. Stem Cells go against a lot of people religious beliefs.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Opponents of abortion rights are touting a recent study as proof human embryos are needed to perform stem cell research.

The use of stem cells taken from aborted fetuses is opposed by many religious and anti-abortion organizations who argue the controversial practice is immoral.

"It is wrong," says Patrick Delaney of the American Life League. "It is the killing of an innocent human person in the embryonic state of development and therefore we stand against it."

Seizing on a study published earlier this month in the medical journal Tissue Engineering, groups like the American Life League are now arguing the practice is scientifically unnecessary.

The team of researchers from the University of California at Los Angeles and the University of Pittsburgh who conducted the study reported that ordinary human fat may produce stem cells. If human fat is in fact a rich source of stem cells, it could mean scientists could avoid using cells from human embryos.

"The study on fat showed that stem cells can be extracted from adult sources and therefore it renders embryonic stem cell research certainly unnecessary," insists Delaney.

'Do the Right Thing,' Says Pro-Research Activist

But activist Molly Naylor studies all the research and believes passionately that embryonic stem cells are the most reliable hope for her son, Brad, who suffers from juvenile diabetes. She called the Bush administration - which opposes the use of embryonic stem cells - to make that point.

"The White House is under pressure from vocal, small groups of people who don't want this to go forward," Naylor says. "I want the president and the White House to do the right thing."

But a White House aide told Naylor to look at other forms of research. And that's exactly what many conservative lawmakers are saying on Capitol Hill.

"It is becoming more and more difficult to defend medical research which uses tissue derived from abortions or from the destruction of human embryos, when breakthroughs using alternative sources of tissue are being made in the medical research community," reads a letter distributed to colleagues by Sens. Bob Smith, R-N.H., Sam Brownback, R-Kan., and Tim Hutchinson, R-Ark.

The White House has signaled that it may not allow federal funding for any embryonic stem cell research. But some academic leaders are starting to speak out, arguing it is wrong to allow a particular religious view to shape scientific policy.

"Policy has to have a moral root to it but I don't think it is appropriate that the particular religious views of a particular group of people are the dominant moral position of our politicians," says Dr. David Baltimore, president of CalTech. "[It's] one of the most exciting things that has happened in science and we are not allowed to study it."

Most scientists agree there are big questions about whether fat really can produce stem cells.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Abortion Foes Say Stem Cell Research Unnecessary

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Opponents of abortion rights are touting a recent study as proof human embryos are needed to perform stem cell research. The use of stem cells taken from aborted fetuses is opposed by many religious and anti-abortion organizations who argue the controversial practice is immoral. "It is wrong,"...

# data[].attributes.body
Who:Nine year old boy undergoes stem cell therapy and at 13 he finds out that he has tumors growing inside of him.

What: A boy in Israel developed tumors in his brain and spinal chord a couple of years after going through stem cells therapy.

When: The boy went through stem cell therapy in 2001.

Where: He was given the stem cell therapy at Stem Cell Clinic in Moscow.In Israel he found out he had tumors growing on his brain and spinal chord.

Stem cells are very unique because they can take the form of other cells but they can also be dangerous because they replicate the same way cancer cells do. Doctors removed the tumor from his spinal chord in 2006. When researchers inspected the tumor they discovered that the cells probably belong to two different donors.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
A newly published medical article by researchers in Israel describes the case of a boy who developed tumors in his brain and spine four years after receiving fetal stem cell therapy for a rare genetic disease.

The case is reported by Ninette Amariglio and Gideon Rechavi from the Sheba Medical Center, Tel Aviv, and colleagues in the February 17 issue of the open-access general medical journal PLoS Medicine.

Most of the cells of the human body are highly differentiated, for instance the brain and spinal cord have two different types of cell: neurons that send electrical signals and glial cells that support and protect them. If these highly specialized cells become damaged or diseased, they can't be replaced.

Scientists believe that neural stem cells (undifferentiated "master" cells that have the potential to become either of the two types of brain cell) could be the answer to making new brain cells to replace those damaged by stroke, trauma and degenerative diseases like Parkinson's.

Critics of stem cell therapy, and of embryonic stem cell therapy in particular say it is not only ethically questionable but unsafe because of the risk of cancer (the stem cells multiply in much the same way as tumor cells) and also because the viruses used in some therapies can develop unpredictably in the recipient's body.

In this case the boy, who is now 17 years old, was treated with human fetal stem cell therapy in 2001 at an unrelated clinic in Moscow, and four years later, scans revealed he had abnormal growths on his brain and spial cord.

The benign tumors are a rare side effect of fetal stem cell therapy, said the authors, who do not suggest research into therapies that use embryonic stem cells should cease but rather that their underlying biology and particularly their safety should be further investigated.

The authors said that the boy's underlying condition, a rare genetic disease called Ataxia Telangiectasia that affects areas of the brain that control speech and movement and is caused by a mutation in the ATM gene, may have allowed the tumors to become established since the condition is often accompanied by a weakened immune system.

While this is the first documented case of a human developing tumors after receiving neural fetal stem cell therapy, there have been reports of rodents developing tumors after being injected with pluripotential embryonic stem cells. However, the risk of such tumors is thought to be much lower if the cells are differentiated beforehand.

The boy underwent stem cell therapy at a Moscow clinic, starting in 2001 when he received several injections of fetal neural stem cells into his brain and surrounding fluid. But after having an MRI scan at the Sheba Medical Center in Israel in 2005 because of recurrent headaches, the boy was found to have abnormal growths in his brain and spinal cord.

Surgeons removed the growth on the boy's spinal cord in September 2006, when he was 14 years old. The growth on the spine has not reappeared but the mass in the brain has continued to grow slowly.

The growth removed from the boy's spinal cord resembled a type of benign tumor called a glioneuronal tumor, and analysis showed it could not have arisen from the patient's own tissue. The analysis showed for instance that the tumor contained both female (XX) and male (XY) cells and two normal copies of the ATM gene (whereas the boy's own tissue would have had at least one mutated copy). The analysis also showed that the tumor contained cells from at least two donors.

The authors concluded that the findings:

"Do not imply that the research in stem cell therapeutics should be abandoned. They do, however, suggest that extensive research into the biology of stem cells and in-depth preclinical studies, especially of safety, should be pursued in order to maximize the potential benefits of regenerative medicine while minimizing the risks."

"Donor-derived brain tumor following neural stem cell transplantation in an ataxia telangiectasia patient..
Ninette Amariglio, Abraham Hirshberg, Bernd W. Scheithauer, Yoram Cohen, Ron Loewenthal, Luba Trakhtenbrot, Nurit Paz, Maya Koren- Michowitz, Dalia Waldman, Leonor Leider-Trejo, Amos Toren, Shlomi Constantini, Gideon Rechavi.
PLoS Med Vol. 6, No. 2, e1000029, published online 17 February 2009.
doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1000029

Click here for full article.

Sources: Public Library of Science.

Written by: Catharine Paddock, PhD

Recommended related news

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A newly published medical article by researchers in Israel describes the case of a boy who developed tumors in his brain and spine four years after receiving fetal stem cell therapy for a rare genetic disease.

# data[].attributes.body
Who: Dr. Khalid Shah, a neuroscientist at Harvard Stem Cell Institute

What: Dr. Shah is studying how stem cells laced with toxins can kill brain tumors.

When: 2014

Where: Harvard University, in Cambridge, MA, and also of Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in Boston, MA

Scientist have created a stem cell that creates a toxin that kills cancer cells. They preformed the experiment on a mouse had a brain tumor removed. The toxin the stem cells make is called cytotoxins. Cytotoxins are usually deadly to all cells but in the 1990 scientist created cytotoxins that would only kill cancer cells. The article is very objective.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
A new way to to use stem cells to fight brain cancer is revealed in a proof-of-concept study published in the journal Stem Cells, where scientists describe how they got the cells to produce and release toxins that kill only tumor cells.

The researchers genetically engineered stem cells to make and secrete toxins that kill brain cancer cells without themselves being affected.

Led by Dr. Khalid Shah, a neuroscientist at Harvard Stem Cell Institute, Harvard University, in Cambridge, MA, and also of Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in Boston, MA, the scientists found the toxin-releasing stem cells eliminated cancer cells left behind in mouse brains following tumor removal.

In recently published work, Dr. Shah showed how stem cells loaded with herpes can kill brain tumors. In this new study, he and his colleagues describe how they genetically engineered stem cells to make and secrete toxins that kill brain cancer cells without themselves being affected.

The toxins that the stem cells make are cytotoxins - they enter and kill cells within days by stopping their ability to make proteins, which prevents them growing, dividing and reproducing.

Cytotoxins are deadly to all cells, but in the late 1990s, scientists found a way to tag them so they only entered cancer cells with certain molecules on their surfaces. Normal cells without the surface molecules are unharmed.

Dr. Shah, who directs the Molecular Neurotherapy and Imaging Lab at MGH and Harvard Medical School, says:

"Cancer-killing toxins have been used with great success in a variety of blood cancers, but they don't work as well in solid tumors because the cancers aren't as accessible and the toxins have a short half-life."

He and his colleagues put the stem cells inside a capsule of biodegradable gel that they deposited in the tumor site after removal. This appeared to overcome the problems of approaches that have tried to deliver purified cancer-killing toxins into patients' brains - methods that have not succeeded in clinical trials.

The team is seeking federal approval for this and other stem cell techniques they have developed so they can proceed to clinical trial.

Genetically engineered stem cells that are resistant to cytotoxin

Dr. Shah explains that, a few years ago, they saw how stem cells could be used to provide a continuous supply of such therapeutic toxins to treat brain tumors, but the problem was how to do it without the toxins killing the stem cells themselves.

They eventually found a way to genetically engineer the stem cells so they did not succumb to the toxins they produced:
"Now, we have toxin-resistant stem cells that can make and release cancer-killing drugs," he adds.
To accomplish this, they engineered human neural stem cells with a mutation that does not allow the toxin to act inside the cell. They also inserted a piece of genetic code so the stem cells can make and release tagged toxin that targets cancer cells.

When the toxin enters the target cancer cells, as they do not have the protective mutation, they eventually stop working and die. Dr. Shah explains how they tested this effect in mice:

"We tested these stem cells in a clinically relevant mouse model of brain cancer, where you resect the tumors and then implant the stem cells encapsulated in a gel into the resection cavity."

Prolonged survival in animals with surgically removed brain tumors

After doing all of the molecular analysis and imaging to track the inhibition of protein synthesis within brain tumors," says Dr. Shah, "we do see the toxins kill the cancer cells and eventually prolonging the survival in animal models of resected brain tumors."

The team now plans to bring together the results of experiments with toxin-releasing stem cells, and the different types of therapeutic stem cells they have developed, to refine their method in mice with glioblastoma, the most common brain tumor in human adults.

Dr. Shah expects to be starting clinical trials of the method within 5 years.

The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health and the James S. McDonnell Foundation.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Stem cells that release cancer-killing toxins offer new brain tumor treatment

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A new way to to use stem cells to fight brain cancer is revealed in a proof-of-concept study published in the journal Stem Cells, where scientists describe how they got the cells to produce and release toxins that kill only tumor cells.

# data[].attributes.body
Who: Shaomei Wang, MD, PhD author of the study

What: Dr. Wang is trying to help people improve their vision using Stem Cells.

When: 2015

Where: Eye Program at the Cedars-Sinai Board of Governors Regenerative Medicine Institute

Scientist are trying to help people who are suffering from age-related macular degeneration. "Macular Degeneration is the leading cause of vision loss in people over 65. "Scientist believe that they can use neural progenitor cells to slow down vision loss caused by macular degeneration. Scientist are still testing to see if it will be safe for humans but they plan to have clinical trials for people who are in advanced stages of macular degeneration. There isn't any bias in this article the author just presents the facts.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
from research organizations

An injection of stem cells into the eye may soon slow or reverse the effects of early-stage age-related macular degeneration, according to new research from scientists at Cedars-Sinai. Currently, there is no treatment that slows the progression of the disease, which is the leading cause of vision loss in people over 65.

"This is the first study to show preservation of vision after a single injection of adult-derived human cells into a rat model with age-related macular degeneration," said Shaomei Wang, MD, PhD, lead author of the study published in the journal STEM CELLS and a research scientist in the Eye Program at the Cedars-Sinai Board of Governors Regenerative Medicine Institute.

The stem cell injection resulted in 130 days of preserved vision in laboratory rats, which roughly equates to 16 years in humans.

Age-related macular degeneration affects upward of 15 million Americans. It occurs when the small central portion of the retina, known as the macula, deteriorates. The retina is the light-sensing nerve tissue at the back of the eye. Macular degeneration may also be caused by environmental factors, aging and a genetic predisposition.

When animal models with macular degeneration were injected with induced neural progenitor stem cells, which derive from the more commonly known induced pluripotent stem cells, healthy cells began to migrate around the retina and formed a protective layer. This protective layer prevented ongoing degeneration of the vital retinal cells responsible for vision.

Cedars-Sinai researchers in the Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell (iPSC) Core, directed by Dhruv Sareen, PhD, with support from the David and Janet Polak Foundation Stem Cell Core Laboratory, first converted adult human skin cells into powerful induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC), which can be expanded indefinitely and then made into any cell of the human body. In this study, these induced pluripotent stem cells were then directed toward a neural progenitor cell fate, known as induced neural progenitor stem cells, or iNPCs.

"These induced neural progenitor stem cells are a novel source of adult-derived cells which should have powerful effects on slowing down vision loss associated with macular degeneration," said Clive Svendsen, PhD, director of the Board of Governors Regenerative Medicine Institute and contributing author to the study. "Though additional pre-clinical data is needed, our institute is close to a time when we can offer adult stem cells as a promising source for personalized therapies for this and other human diseases."

Next steps include testing the efficacy and safety of the stem cell injection in preclinical animal studies to provide information for applying for an investigational new drug. From there, clinical trials will be designed to test potential benefit in patients with later-stage age-related macular degeneration.

Journal Reference:

Yuchun Tsai, Bin Lu, Benjamin Bakondi, Sergey Girman, Anais Sahabian, Dhruv Sareen, Clive N. Svendsen, Shaomei Wang. Human iPSC-Derived Neural Progenitors Preserve Vision in an AMD-like Model. STEM CELLS, 2015; DOI: 10.1002/stem.2032

Cite This Page:

Below are relevant articles that may interest you. ScienceDaily shares links and proceeds with scholarly publications in the TrendMD network.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
stem cells; skin cancer; personalized medicine; prostate cancer; medical topics; lymphoma; eye care; immune system

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Stem cell injection may soon reverse vision loss caused by age-related macular degeneration

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
An injection of stem cells into the eye may soon slow or reverse the effects of early-stage age-related macular degeneration, according to new research. Currently, there is no treatment that slows the progression of the disease, which is the leading cause of vision loss in people over 65.

# data[].attributes.body
Stem cells can be used in the body to repair tissue. Once a stem cell divides it can become a new cell with a different function. Stem cells can be made to function like 200 different body cells. Stem Cells will last a lifetime in the human body theoretically speaking. Stem Cell research has only been around for a few decades. Who: Stem Cells

When: First study was done in 1981.

What: The first study was done on mouse stem cells.

Where: University of Cambrigdge was the first to publish their study on mouse stem cells.