US: HUMAN EYE TISSUE GROWN IN LABORATORY
Article Abstract:
Scientists at the University of California have successfully grown human eye tissue in a laboratory and transplanted them into blind patients. Professor Ivan Schwab who led the team said the new treatment could benefit people suffering from burns or trauma injuries, and hereditary and infectious diseases. It is also felt that the new technique could open the way for producing "wet" tissue for repairing other parts of the body, including the oesophagus, vagina, pharynx, intestines and lungs. The new technique involved the scientists taking epithelial cells from the healthy eye of a patient or a relative to grow vital "stem cells". The transplant cornea surfaces are the first to come complete with the stem cells that are necessary for them to attach to the patient's living tissue. Although cornea transplantation had been available before, it was not a feasible option for many patients because it lacked the stem cells. Professor Schwab stated that five of the six transplants had survived, and the sixth one had failed on mechanical and not biological problems.
Publication Name: The Independent
Subject: Retail industry
ISSN: 0951-9467
Year: 2000
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US: NEW NON-EMBRYO CLONING TECHNIQUE
Article Abstract:
Geron Biomed, the US company launched by the scientists linked to the cloned sheep Dolly, is working on a new cloning technique which does not rely on the use of an embryo. The cloning of Dolly involved the insertion of the nucleus of an adult sheep cell into an egg cell without a nucleus, so creating an embryo which was then implanted into a sheep. The new method would dispense with the need for an embryo, using an embryo's stem cell rather than an egg to create the 'embryo'. The cells would, however, sill develop into the kind of cells useful in patient treatment for illnesses such as Parkinson's Disease, and in the creation of spare organs. The technique offers a potentially valuable means of bypassing ethical objections to the use of embryos.
Publication Name: The Independent
Subject: Retail industry
ISSN: 0951-9467
Year: 2000
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UK: MEDICAL BENEFITS FOR WATERBIRTHS
Article Abstract:
The cost of providing medical care to pregnant women could decline if hospitals adopted more widespread use of waterbirths, according to a new study funded by the UK Department of Birth. The survey compared results for the Birth Centre at Edgware Hospital in north London, where over 70% of women spend part of their labour in water, with births at hospitals in the North Thames area. The survey was restricted to low-risk women. It found that waterbirths reduced the need for painkilling drugs and resulted in fewer instances of Caesarean operations and inductions, due to the women being more relaxed.
Publication Name: The Independent
Subject: Retail industry
ISSN: 0951-9467
Year: 2000
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