Source: NewScientist.com news service
Posted: 12:00 21 September 2006
Summary:
Researchers believe a leading cause of blindness could one day be treatable using stem cell therapy. Rats with a degenerative eye disease similar to macular degeneration – the most common cause of blindness in the over 60s – had the deterioration of their vision reduced by tissue implants derived from human embryonic stem cells. Researchers used human embryonic stem cells to derive cultures that resembled retinal pigment epithelial cells – the tissue that supports the light receptor cells (known as photoreceptors) in the retina. Without these supportive cells, photoreceptors do not survive. The engineered cells were injected into the retinas of rats with a rodent form of macular degeneration, a condition in which the epithelial layers and the photoreceptors degenerate leading to blindness. The stem cells seemed to boost the thickness of the degraded epithelial layers from one layer to five or six after 100 days.
Commentary: Maybe this new finding will lead to stem cell treatments for macular degeneration and other eye disorders in humans.
3 comments:
As a blog that's always posting stem cell research, I thought you'd be interested to know what we've found.
It's clear that the public's attention to stem cell research has increased substantially (http://publicagenda.org/issues/red_flags_detail.cfm?issue_type=medical_research&list=3&area=2) since 2001, when the debated first broke into the news. While majorities say they support stem cell research, question wording can influence results, which suggests there is still some uncertainty on this question. For more public opinion on stem cell research, visit Public Agenda’s Issue Guide on Medical Research (http://publicagenda.org/issues/frontdoor.cfm?issue_type=medical_research).
Public Agenda is a nonprofit, nonpartisan group devoted to public opinion and public policy. Please visit www.publicagenda.org for more information.
Ben - I like your blog - and just linked to it at our web site - but you have too many ads at the top of your page. You need to move them to the side so that people see news when they first come to your site. I almost left because I thought it was a blog spam site. Move the ads to the side, make them fit in a regular 120 by 600 vertical banner - so that your news is the first thing people see. Otherwise you're mising a lot of people who would otherwise read and benefit from your blog.
Oh - and remove the Google search bar. Google has over 50% market share of the search engine market - they don't need you to advertise their search engine - people know where to find it. Make your site simple - and focused on stem cell research - and then you'll be much more successful in your advocacy efforts.
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