Big Ol' Smitty

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...aralysis_skorea Paralyzed woman walks again after stem cell therapy Sun Nov 28,12:21 AM ET World - AFP SEOUL (AFP) - A South Korean woman paralyzed for 20 years is walking again after scientists say they repaired her damaged spine using stem cells derived from umbilical cord blood. AFP/Getty Images/File Photo Hwang Mi-Soon, 37, had been bedridden since damaging her back in an accident two decades ago. Last week her eyes glistened with tears as she walked again with the help of a walking frame at a press conference where South Korea (news - web sites) researchers went public for the first time with the results of their stem-cell therapy. They said it was the world's first published case in which a patient with spinal cord injuries had been successfully treated with stem cells from umbilical cord blood. Though they cautioned that more research was needed and verification from international experts was required, the South Korean researchers said Hwang's case could signal a leap forward in the treatment of spinal cord injuries. The use of stem cells from cord blood could also point to a way to side-step the ethical dispute over the controversial use of embryos in embryonic stem-cell research. "We have glimpsed at a silver lining over the horizon," said Song Chang-Hoon, a member of the research team and a professor at Chosun University's medical school in the southwestern city of Kwangju. "We were all surprised at the fast improvements in the patient." Under TV lights and flashing cameras, Hwang stood up from her wheelchair and shuffled forward and back a few paces with the help of the frame at the press conference here on Thursday. "This is already a miracle for me," she said. "I never dreamed of getting to my feet again." Medical research has shown stem cells can develop into replacement cells for damaged organs or body parts. Unlocking that potential could see cures for diseases that are at present incurable, or even see the body generate new organs to replace damaged or failing ones. So-called "multipotent" stem cells -- those found in cord blood -- are capable of forming a limited number of specialised cell types, unlike the more versatile "undifferentiated" cells that are derived from embroyos. However, these stem cells isolated from umbilical cord blood have emerged as an ethical and safe alternative to embryonic stem cells. Clinical trials with embryonic stem cells are believed to be years away because of the risks and ethical problems involved in the production of embryos -- regarded as living humans by some people -- for scientific use. In contrast, there is no ethical dimension when stem cells from umbilical cord blood are obtained, according to researchers. Additionally, umbilical cord blood stem cells trigger little immune response in the recipient as embryonic stem cells have a tendency to form tumors when injected into animals or human beings. For the therapy, multipotent stem cells were isolated from umbilical cord blood, which had been frozen immediately after the birth of a baby and cultured for a period of time. Then these cells were directly injected to the damaged part of the spinal cord. "Technical difficulties exist in isolating stem cells from frozen umbilical cord blood, finding cells with genes matching those of the recipient and selecting the right place of the body to deliver the cells," said Han Hoon, president of Histostem, a government-backed umbilical cord blood bank in Seoul. Han teamed up with Song and other experts for the experiment. They say that more experiments are required to verify the outcome of the landmark therapy. "It is just one case and we need more experiments, more data," said Oh Il-Hoon, another researcher. "I believe experts in other countries have been conducting similar experiments and accumulating data before making the results public."

Joe. And if you don't like Family Guy you're a communist.

Czech Republic: How do you think FDR screwed up the New Deal? His Keynesian economic policies seemed to work a lot better than Hoover's conservative policies in alleviating the depression. They may not have been perfect, but they were better than the status quo and they did a lot more to address the suffering caused by the depression. And the escape from strict laissez-faire capitalism has kept us out of another depression of that magnitude for about six decades.

Hide the good china.

Political: Jefferson Non-political: Jackie Robinson

According to Rob E

Please. Pimp my ride. I beg of you.

I have a proposal for a gentleman's wager. If Mike or his henchmen can produce three (3) credible sources that prove that Canada's rate of violent crime is higher than that of the United States I will let Mike change the following as he sees fit... 1. My signature 2. My avatar 3. My custom user title If he or his cronies fail to do so, then I will be given the above privileges with respect to his account. Judging of source credibility and of the outcome of the bet will be done by a bi-partisan commission consisting of: 1. Cerebus 2. Loss 3. Czech Republic and 4. Rob E Dangerously The gauntlet has been dropped. Be ye man or mouse, MikeSC?

I'm sorry. Here.

Stinkin' liberals, blaming everyone but themselves for their problems.

Apparently those Free French partisans in WW2 used far more condoms than the Vichy French. Petain! *spits* Whoa, sorry. I temporary channeled the soul of an 83 year old French resistance fighter.

Okay this APEC summit in Chile was comedy gold. First you had a scuffle between Chilean and American secret service in which President Bush had to forcibly intervene. Second, you had Bush and Co. running around dressed like this. Third, Bush was walking around with his fly down, as seen in my sig. And finally, I don't know if this is from APEC but I thought it was funny. And I guess they talked about the Asian-Pacific economy. Whatever.

Easy question.

If she's your friend and she's sad and depressed I would say the best thing is just to be there for her to talk and stuff.

Yeah, back in my lurking days, I think.

http://www.angrynakedpat.com/network/icf/ I recommend Crispy Freestyle Pt. 1.

Way lamer than MC Hawking.

We hardly knew ye.

Exit polls are meaningless.

According to the FBI, the violent crime rate for the US was 475 per 100,000 inhabitants. This doesn't include simple assaults, just aggravated. According to the US DOJ Bureau of Justice Statistics, the 2003 rate of simple assault per 1,000 inhabitants was 14.6 (click on spreadsheets). Multiply this by 100 to get 1460--the rate of simple assaults per 100,000. Add this to the 475 to get 1935--the adjusted rate of violent crime with simple assault added. This is considerably higher than statcan's Canadian rate, which included all types of assault--levels 1, 2, and 3.

http://www.indepundit.com/archive2/2004/11...counterpro.html

Hey I'm a hawkish mahfucka.

All that hard work payed off in the end. Timing and placement could not have been better. It was fate.

From the "Interfection" episode. Nice.