Thursday, April 10, 2014

Stem cell story worth reading

Whenever I see "stem cells," I put up my skepticism shield. There's been a lot of hyperbole out there about stem cells.

However, this recent story shows a small light of good news without overselling. It's how stem cells helped some stroke patients recover:
All the patients saw some improvement in weakness or paralysis within six months of their procedures. Although three people developed complications related to the surgery, they all recovered. There were no adverse reactions to the transplanted stem cells themselves, the study authors said.
What's more, the researchers said, two patients experienced dramatic recoveries almost immediately after the treatments. ...
"It's a small, early human study. It takes multiple steps to get to something clinically useful, and this is a nice, early step," said Dr. Steven Cramer, clinical director of the Stem Cell Research Center at the University of California, Irvine.
Again, as the researcher says, it's a small study. Still, worth watching.

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