Stem Cell Research: The Debate on Ethics

Medical science has come a long way since the days of Hippocrates. The discovery of wonder drugs called antibiotics, the formulation of anaesthesia that revolutionised surgery, the discovery of monoclonal antibodies to treat various diseases etc, are medical milestones that have paved the road to modern medicine that exists today.

Along with technological advancement, medical science also continues to advance. The latest discovery having the potential of becoming the elixirs of life is the small microscopic cluster of cells, also called ‘stem cells’. Once just a small inclusion in cryptic health journals, these microscopic cells are now making headlines with not just the medical fraternity, but also with the political diaspora, who are debating on the moral principles of stem cell research. Continue Reading »

Spinal injuries up among troops

BAGRAM, Afghanistan — Afghan insurgents are using roadside bombs powerful enough to throw the military’s new 14-ton, blast-resistant vehicles into the air, increasing broken-back injuries among U.S. troops.

Doctors at the U.S. military hospital here say more than 100 U.S. servicemembers have suffered crushed or damaged spinal columns from being thrown around inside armored Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles in the last five months. Continue Reading »

Bolivian aerial wheelchair protest

A group of disabled people in Bolivia are taking extreme measures to demand financial assistance from the government.

A Bolivian television network showed at least half a dozen protesters, wheelchairs included, suspended from the Urubo bridge, near the city of Santa Cruz.

A second group buried themselves in sand by the Pirai river that runs under the bridge. Continue Reading »

October is National Disability Employment Awareness month

October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month. Below is the official government explanation of what that is. The question is, what does that mean to you. If you’re not injured, maybe it’s, “Wow, that would be a hassle.”

If you are injured and unemployed (Household income for those who reported being paralyzed is heavily skewed towards lower income brackets and is significantly lower than household income for the country as a whole as reported by the U.S. Census — from our Paralysis Population survey.) Continue Reading »

Paralyzed harp technician suggests a tune for health-care reform

For years, the job of a harp technician has been a coveted position, reserved for an elite, slightly buttoned-up few. Servicing such an instrument that’s so full-bodied requires a deft touch, sharp ear and an affection for the dramatic.

George Flores, 39, is a former heavy metal band singer-guitarist who used to have long hair and an eyebrow piercing. That he became a harp technician — one of about a dozen in the country — in 1998 after years as a hard rocker makes him unique. Even more, this lifelong Chicagoan suffered a 2004 crash that left him a paraplegic, and he continues his labor of love, servicing the 100-pound, 6-foot-tall instruments. Continue Reading »

United Spinal Association Action Alert

How important is health care reform to you? As necessary as having access to adequate and affordable health care coverage when and where you need it? As important as receiving the health care support and services that will allow you or a loved one to remain at home and in your community?

United Spinal Association believes that national health care reform is important to all Americans with disabilities and chronic conditions.

We believe that the present system of rationed health care has failed Americans. Continue Reading »

Final rules out for government stem cell research

WASHINGTON –The government issued final rules Monday expanding taxpayer-funded research using embryonic stem cells, easing scientists’ fears that some of the oldest batches might not qualify and promising a master list of all that do.

President Barack Obama lifted previous restrictions on the field in March, but left it to the National Institutes of Health to decide just what stem cell research was ethically appropriate: Only science that uses cells culled from leftover fertility clinic embryos — ones that otherwise would be thrown away — the agency made clear in draft guidelines. Continue Reading »

US lifts some restrictions on embryonic stem cells

When President Barack Obama eased limits on taxpayer-funded embryonic stem cell research, the big question became how far scientists could go. Friday, the government answered: They must use cells culled from fertility clinic embryos that otherwise would be thrown away.

Draft guidelines released by the National Institutes of Health reflect rules with broad congressional support, excluding more controversial sources such as cells derived from embryos created just for experiments.

“We think this will be a huge boost for the science,” said Acting NIH Director Raynard Kington. “This was the right policy for the agency at this point in time.” Continue Reading »

The stem-cell funding ban is a step backwards for Texas

Why would Texas hamper its own universities, discouraging them from seeking cures for age-old diseases? Why would state leaders cut the state off from millions of dollars in research funding in the search for those cures? Why would Texas want to brand itself as a state where science and research are held in little regard? The answer, of course, is that it shouldn’t. But that is where Texas is heading if a provision in the Senate’s version of the state budget makes it into law.

The provision, inserted into the proposed budget by Senate Finance Chairman Steve Ogden, R-Bryan, would prohibit state funding of research on stem-cell embryos. The provision is a back-door method of legislating on an issue that deserves a vote on its own. Continue Reading »

Meeting with Congress

UCI scientist will visit Capitol Hill to share plans he has with other researchers regarding stem-cell treatments.

A leading neuroscientist and co-director of UCI’s stem cell research center will meet with members of Congress today and explain what he and his team will do when they conduct the first human trials of stem-cell therapy in the country later this year, university officials said.

Hans Keirstead, co-director of the Sue and Bill Gross Stem Cell Research Center and faculty member at the Reeve-Irvine Research Center, will meet with members of Congress and their aides to explain how he plans to implement his success spinal-cord injury therapy to humans. Continue Reading »