Team Use Stem Cells to Restore Mobility in Paralyzed Monkey 196
interval1066 writes "From the article: 'Japanese researchers said Wednesday they had used stem cells to restore partial mobility in a small monkey that had been paralysed from the neck down by a spinal injury.' This is huge news in the world of stem cell research; restoring some muscular control to a simian is a huge step. This means that stem cell therapy is a demonstrably viable path to restoring motility for millions of accident victims, palsy and ms sufferers, the list just goes on."
Salute. (Score:5, Interesting)
"that had been paralysed from the neck down by a spinal injury" -- Bet it wasn't an accident.
I for one wish to honor our little buddy that took one for the team, Not his team, our team, the team two branches over on the evolutionary tree.
Re:Salute. (Score:4, Interesting)
It's a sticky wicket to say the least. It bothers me terribly for cosmetics to be tested on animals, and don't think it should be done. It bothers me somewhat less so to know animals are being used for medical testing. But it still bothers me. I still think it is a good idea to have animal testing for medical research, as yes, there are some amazing discoveries made because of it, which is admittedly hypocritical. And yes, it also bothers me that I am willing to be hypocritical to save humans lives, but I'm not willing to give up the science, even for the poor critters.
For it is worth, at least I am honest about my own hypocracy. Sometimes life just gives you shitty options to choose from, and I gotta choose the shitty option that saves more human lives.
Re:Peer-Review v. Newspaper (Score:3, Interesting)
Hideyuki Okano has almost 300 papers and some of them in very reputable journals. This is most likely the real deal.
Re:Induced pluripotent stem (Score:4, Interesting)
Someone I know online found themselves in pretty much that situation. Their baby-to-be was diagnosed with a rare birth defect and had zero chance of survival. The choices were a) abort now or b) go through a difficult pregnancy and risky birth to give birth to a dead baby. Awful choices to make and ones I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy.
They opten for the abortion but time was a factor and the hospital couldn't get it done in time. So they went to a family planning center/abortion clinic. Of course, there were protestors outside. On this, the worst day of their lives, when they were heading in to end the pregnancy they had so looked forward to, the protestors thought it was a good idea to shout at them and tell them "You're killing your baby!"
When his wife was taken away for the procedure, he realized he couldn't just sit in the waiting room. He turned on his video phone, walked out and politely confronted the protesters.
http://www.daddyfiles.com/2010/07/13/abort-protesters/
The fun part is when the protesters get annoyed at him for bothering them and threaten to call the police. So calling someone a "baby murderer" when you don't know anything about their situation is fine but asking you questions in a polite manner (when he had every right to yell scream and curse at them) is cause for calling the police?