Author: Papa Giorgio

Another Adult Stem Cell Victory-HIV

Published by Papa Giorgio

I have posted on this topic in the past and it can be found HERE, but here is a newer story of adult stem-cells coming to the rescue again. Flying in the face of the fetal stem-cell cult that flaunts its life-destroying goals in the face of the Giver and Sustainer of Life:

Doctors Claim HIV-Positive Man Cured by Stem Cell Transplant

….and now doctors believe one of them may have been cured of the virus after receiving a stem cell transplant in 2007, the medical journal Blood reported.

Timothy Ray Brown, an HIV-positive American living in Germany, had leukemia and was undergoing chemotherapy, when he received a transplant of stem cells from a donor carrying a rare, inherited gene mutation that seems to make carriers virtually immune to HIV infection.

The transplant appeared to wipe out both diseases, giving hope to doctors, but Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, who has been studying HIV/AIDS for almost 30 years, said while this is an interesting proof of concept, it’s absurdly impractical.

Very Rare Cure
“It’s hard enough to get a good compatible match for a transplant like this,” Fauci told FoxNews.com, “But you also have to find compatible donor that has this genetic defect, and this defect is only found in 1 percent of the Caucasian population and zero percent of the black population. This is very rare.”
“It’s hard enough to get a good compatible match for a transplant like this,” Fauci told FoxNews.com, “But you also have to find compatible donor that has this genetic defect, and this defect is only found in 1 percent of the Caucasian population and zero percent of the black population. This is very rare.”

Fauci said while this patient is “functionally cured” this is not something you can do with every HIV-infected individual.

…(read more)…

Here is a short list of examples of adult stem-cell promises:

Stem Cells

The following are examples of research breakthroughs with adult stem cells. Please note that this list is only a sampling.

Researchers at Harvard Medical School say adult stem cells may eliminate the need for embryonic ones. The researchers experienced a permanent reversal of Type 1 diabetes in mice by killing the cells responsible for the diabetes. The animals’ adult stem cells took over and regenerated missing cells needed to produce insulin and eliminate the disease. The results hold promise for rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, lupus and more than 50 other ailments.

At the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, a man with a rare, potentially fatal skin disorder that was so severe that he could no longer eat, is now symptom-free after receiving a transplant of his own adult stem cells.

Doctors at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago extracted the adult stem cells from the blood of two Crohn’s patients and successfully used them to rebuild their faulty immune systems.

Dr. Edward Holland of the Northern Kentucky Eye Laser Center in the greater Cincinnati metropolitan area, is using adult stem cell transplants as part of a treatment to dramatically improve the eyesight of his patients.

New research in the UK on rats indicates that transplants of adult stem cells can help stroke victims regain movement, senses and understanding. They also show that the adult cells were more effective than cells from aborted babies.

The Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York came to similar conclusions.

A study by the Institute for Stem Cell Research in Milan, Italy showed that certain cells from the brains of adult rats can be used to generate muscular tissue.

Researchers at the University of South Florida in Tampa have found that adult stem cells from the umbilical cord blood may be able to help repair damaged brain tissue after a stroke.

Scientists at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of NJ have found that bone marrow cells may be converted into replacement nerve cells, able to treat brain and nerve injuries. Dr. Ira Black and his team were able to convert 80% of the bone marrow cells into nerve cells.

Forbes Magazine provided additional confirmation that adult stem cell research is far more successful that embryonic stem cell experimentation. In their September 3, 2001 issue, page 36, they quoted an article printed in the Wall Street Journal Europe by Richard Miniter.

“Of the 15 US biotech companies solely devoted to developing cures using stem cells, only two focus on embryos. Embryo stem cell research is at the drawing-board stage – not for lack of funds but for lack of promising research to finance. Venture capitalists have no agenda beyond making money; if they see embryo projects that are likely to bear fruit over the next five to seven years – the usual VC time horizon – they will fund them. That the market is speaking so loudly against embryo stem cell research probably explains why embryo researchers are so eager to reverse the ban on government funding.”

Cha-Ching: Democrats are charging $575 million per page in their new bill

Published by Papa Giorgio

Democrats are at it again… and some Republicans are not helping. But most united.This is 100-million

Democrats Budget Bill: $1.1 trillion; 1,900 pages

Filling more than 1,900 pages, the $1.1 trillion measure represents an increase of less than 2 percent in annual spending but makes for an easy target of ridicule — a last stand by the Senate’s old bulls before the tea party takeover. In a scene reminiscent of the movie “Casablanca,” top Republicans expressed shock, shock that there was gambling still in Rick’s Cafe even after their own members have been quietly working to write the bill and gather GOP votes for passage.

[….]

Included is an $840 million increase for Head Start and $550 million for Obama’s signature Race to the Top education initiative. But conservatives zeroed in most on what they estimated was $1.25 billion in spending related to health care reform — a sure target in the next Congress.

…(read more)…

Countries at War-Not Only Mexico (mature rating)

Published by Papa Giorgio

I have come across some video as of late in regards to Brazil’s war that is growing to be similar to Mexico’s war. (Since I am not familiar with Central and South America’s problems as much as I should, maybe Mexico is becoming like Brazil?) In this first video you have a police sniper killing a drug dealer:


This second video comes with thanks to FireArm Blog, and while FAB zeroed in the weapons used in the video, I am worried more about the house-to-house warfare these people (right or wrong) find themselves in. It solidifies the blessings we have here. But you can quote me, the anarcho-left is on the rise and will respond to the bulk of the people sticking to their conservative positions. I would say enjoy, but considering the topic:

This video, probably filmed by a police officer, shows police officers in Rio clearing a favela (slum). (Comments on the YouTube site mention that these are regular police and not BOPE, I do not know enough to say this is their SWAT or not – but I thought I should at least pass on the debate about it.)

No Labels in fact labeled

Published by Papa Giorgio

The good stuff starts at about 4:40:

FreeRepublic:

The event featured appearances by a number of Democratic politicians: Villaraigosa, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, and retiring Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh. For some reason, most of the Republicans who showed up were recently defeated officeholders: South Carolina Rep. Bob Inglis, Delaware Rep. Mike Castle, and Florida Gov. Charlie Crist. God knows why a group devoted to principle above politics would invite the opportunistic Crist to speak, but No Labels did.

The events were moderated by MSNBC personalities Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski, Dylan Ratigan, and Michael Smerconish. If Fox News seemed to be associated with the Tea Party, then No Labels was an MSNBC affair….

Marooned in Marin picked up this story as well, and here I post some commentary by Marin:

But when you look at the people involved in No Labels, all you have to do is say “liberal.” Michael Bloomberg, Kristen Gillibrand, Charlie Crist, Mike Castle. All joined by alleged conservatives like David Brooks, Joe Scarboring and the contemptable David Frum.

Nice Deb even compares the mission statements of No Labels with the failed Coffee Party.

So what is No Labels? It is liberalism trying to reinvent itself. And wouldn’t you know? The cries about “hyperpartisanship” always happen when conservatism (via the Tea Party) is on the rise and stands up against liberalism.

I’m not fooled for a minute.

This is the real driver of Climate Change

Published by Papa Giorgio

(full size video can be seen here)

ScienceDaily (Dec. 1, 2010)

On August 1, 2010, an entire hemisphere of the sun erupted. Filaments of magnetism snapped and exploded, shock waves raced across the stellar surface, billion-ton clouds of hot gas billowed into space. Astronomers knew they had witnessed something big.

It was so big, it may have shattered old ideas about solar activity.

“The August 1st event really opened our eyes,” says Karel Schrijver of Lockheed Martin’s Solar and Astrophysics Lab in Palo Alto, CA. “We see that solar storms can be global events, playing out on scales we scarcely imagined before.”

For the past three months, Schrijver has been working with fellow Lockheed-Martin solar physicist Alan Title to understand what happened during the “Great Eruption.” They had plenty of data: The event was recorded in unprecedented detail by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory and twin STEREO spacecraft. With several colleagues present to offer commentary, they outlined their findings at a recent press conference at the American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco.

[….]

“Not all eruptions are going to be global,” notes Guhathakurta. “But the global character of solar activity can no longer be ignored.”

Again, Science Daily makes this point in another article entitled, “Sun and Volcanic Eruptions Pace North Atlantic Climate Swings“:

When the scientists include actual changes in the solar forcing and the climate effect of volcanic eruptions in their model, they find a strong causal link between these external factors and variations in the Atlantic surface temperature. In particular, the study highlights volcanic eruptions as important for long-term variations in the Atlantic climate both through their strong cooling effect, but also through their direct impact on atmosphere and ocean circulation.