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Researchers in Thailand have taken stem cells from the blood of cardiac patients, grown the cells in a lab and reinjected them into patients' hearts, where they set about repairing damage. Two UCLA researchers last week published a study demonstrating that they could transform adult stem cells from fat tissue into smooth-muscle cells, which assist in the function of numerous organs. Welcome as the advances are, the subject of adult stem cells is highly political and invites a conflation of real hopes and false ones. "There are papers that have claimed broad uses for certain adult stem cells...
...outcome tools at the same time." Indeed, a massive centralized effort controlled by the Federal Government could do more harm than good. The key is to have the broadest cross section of scientists possible working across the field. When it comes to such an impossibly complicated matter as stem cells, the best role for legislators and Presidents may be neither to steer the science nor to stall it but to stand aside and let it breathe. [This article contains a diagram. Please see hardcopy or pdf.] Making Sense of STEM CELLS WHAT THEY ARE Stem cells are nature's master...
...they are useful More than 400,000 embryos created during in vitro fertilization lie frozen in clinic tanks in the U.S. Many of them will be discarded, so the embryonic stem cells that exist inside them could be salvaged...
Drawbacks The freezing process may make it harder to extract stem cells. Some of the embryos were the weakest ones created by infertile couples and may not yield high-quality stem cells...
...ADULT STEM CELLS Why they are useful They exist in many major tissues, including the blood, skin and brain. They can be coaxed to produce more cells of a specific lineage and do not have to be extracted from embryos Drawbacks They can generate only a limited number of cell types, and they are difficult to grow in culture...