Like any expecting mother, Sheena Coke was excited to see her newly born for the first time on December 18, 2008 in Pueblo, Colorado. Unfortunately, her newly born son, Nickolas Coke, was not like other babies. He was born only with a brain stem, a serious birth defect known as anencephaly. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), babies born with this condition are without parts of their brain and skull; each year, it is estimated that 1 in every 4,859 babies in the United States are born with this condition.

Nickolas lived a miraculous life; he was celebrated as a medical miracle though doctors only expected him to live up to a few hours like most babies born with anencephaly. Defying the odds, Nickolas lived a full 3 years and 11 months. Sheena told KOAA-TV in July, “I think the love and caring that everyone gives him is making him stronger and making him live longer.”

According to Sherri Kohut, Nickolas’ grandmother, Nickolas caught a virus which caused his breathing to become labored and eventually stop. She said that CPR was performed on him three times, but Nickolas was gone after the last try. He was laid to rest last Wednesday.

Nickolas did not rely on special medical equipments but had to consume numerous types of medicine. Kohut said, “He was never hooked up to any machines, no tubes, no nothing. He taught us everything, he taught the love, how to be family. He taught us everything.” The Coke family spent the last three years focusing on cherishing and celebrating each day of Nickolas’ life.

Anencephaly is one of the most fatal forms of neural tube defects (NTD). Referring to Duke Center for Human Genetics, NTD is an opening in the spinal cord or brain that can arise in the first few days of human development; thus, it can only be detected within the first month of pregnancy. A prevention technique could be the consumption of multivitamins along with 400 micrograms of folic acid on a daily basis at least 4 weeks before a planned pregnancy.

The life of Nickolas Coke will forever be a medical mystery. He will always be remembered as the little boy who fought to live. Recently, he became an elder brother to Jace Nickolas James. Nickolas was well loved and taken care of. His grandmother referred to him as a hero; she said, “He was our hero because he showed the strength; if I can do this anything can be done.”

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Cincinnati, OH, U.S.A.- Researchers have rejuvenated aged hematopoietic stem cells to be functionally younger, offering intriguing clues into how medicine might one day fend off some of the ailments of old age.

Scientists at Cincinnati Children‘s Hospital Medical Center and the Ulm University Medicine in Germany report their findings online May 3 in the journal Cell Stem Cell. The paper brings new perspective to what has been a life science controversy – countering what used to be broad consensus that the aging of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) was locked in by nature and not reversible by therapeutic intervention.

HSCs are stem cells that originate in the bone marrow and generate all of the body’s red and white blood cells and platelets. They are an essential support mechanism of blood cells and the immune system. As humans and other species age, HSCs become more numerous but less effective at regenerating blood cells and immune cells. This makes older people more susceptible to infections and disease, including leukemia.

Researchers in the current study determined a protein that regulates cell signaling – Cdc42 – also controls a molecular process that causes HSCs from mice to age. Pharmacologic inhibition of Cdc42 reversed HSC aging and restored function similar to that of younger stem cells, explained Hartmut Geiger, PhD, the study’s principal investigator and a researcher in the Division of Experimental Hematology/Cancer Biology at Cincinnati Children’s, and the Department of Dermatology and Allergic Diseases, Ulm University Medicine.

“Aging is interesting, in part because we still don’t understand how we age,” Geiger said. “Our findings suggest a novel and important role for Cdc42 and identify its activity as a target for ameliorating natural HSC aging. We know the aging of HSCs reduces in part the response of the immune system response in older people, which contributes to diseases such as anemia, and may be the cause of tissue attrition in certain systems of the body.”

The findings are early and involve laboratory manipulation of mouse cells, so it remains to be seen what direct application they may have for humans. Still, the study expands what is known about the basic molecular and cellular mechanisms of aging – a necessary step to one day designing rational approaches to aiding a healthy aging process.

One reason the research team focused on Cdc42 is that previous studies have reported elevated activity of the protein in various tissue types of older mice – which have a natural life span of around two years. Also, elevated expression of Cdc42 has been found in immune system white blood cells in older humans.

In the current study, researchers found elevated activity of Cdc42 in the HSCs of older mice. They also were able to induce premature aging of HSCs in mice by genetically increasing Cdc42 activity in the cells. The aged cells lost structural organization and polarity, resulting in improper placement and spacing of components inside the cells. This disorganization contributed to the cells’ decreased functional efficiency.

The researchers then analyzed HSCs from older mice to see if inhibition of Cdc42 would reverse the aging process. They used a specific dose (5uM) of a pharmacologic inhibitor of Cdc42, CASIN, to reduce the protein’s activity in the cells – processing them for 16 hours ex vivo in laboratory cultures. This improved structural organization, increased polarity and restored functionality in the older cells to levels found in young cells.

To test the rejuvenated cells, the researchers used a process known as serial competitive transplantation. This included extracting HSCs from young (2-4 months) and aged (20-26 months) mice and processing them in laboratory cultures. Young and rejuvenated cells were then engrafted into recipient mice. This allowed scientists to compare how well young and rejuvenated aged HSCs started to repopulate and transform into different types of blood cells. It also confirmed that HSCs rejuvenated by targeting Cdc42 do function similarly to young stem cells.

Researchers next plan to test the Cdc42 inhibitor, CASIN, in mice to see how HSCs and various tissues in the laboratory models respond. In particular, they are testing red blood cell production, endurance and immune response in the mice. The research team is also acquiring samples of human HSCs to see how those cells respond in laboratory tests to Cdc42 expression.

The first author on the study was Maria Carolina Florian, PhD, from the University of Ulm. Also collaborating were Karin Doerr, Anja Niebel, Deidre Daria, Hubert Schrezenmeier, MD, PhD, Markus Rojewski and Karin Sharffetter-Kochanek, all from the University of Ulm, and Yi Zheng, PhD, and Marie-Dominique Filippi, PhD, of Cincinnati Children’s.

Funding support for the research came from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft and the National Institutes of Health.

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SIPP International Industries, a diversified company, parent to several divisions in the food and biotechnologies industries, is pleased to announce the acquisition of the cutting-edge Cell Robotics Imaging Work Station. The acquisition was completed through the purchase of a secured note which later went into default.

The Cell Robotics Imaging Work Station will be used to combat the rising rate of global biological terrorism by remotely identifying, isolating single bacterium, and researching key pathogenic agents including anthrax, small pox and botulism. This technology will also be integrated into the company’s Z-CAC Controlled Atmosphere Cargo Container.

The Cell Robotic Imaging Work Station has many additional uses for investigators, physicians and pathologists, including early detection of cancer and monitoring patients before, during and after medical treatments.

The newly acquired technology upgrades the already successful Cell Robotics Work Station with the addition of an analytical imaging software package and new, more powerful Laser Scissors. The new software provides state-of-the-art image analysis and data management capabilities. “SIPP is planning to work diligently to improve and enhance these products,” states Gregg Pearson, Chairman of SIPP International Industries.

The Imaging Work Station still includes the well-known optical trapping laser and Laser Tweezers, but now offers a choice of three available cutting lasers, or Laser Scissors modules. The increased power of the newest Laser Scissors module will allow researchers to easily dissect fresh, frozen, or fixed tissue sections, in addition to live cells, useful for molecular analysis of biopsies.

The Cell Robotics Imaging Work Station is designed for investigators in both basic and applied research, working with stem cells, transgenic animal production and cloning, and functional genomics or proteomics. Additional imaging upgrades are available to include automated cell identification and deconvolution.

“We are very excited about the Cell Robotics Imaging Work Station. This cutting-edge technology will further help the medical community at large as well as assist investigators in combatting the rising use and threat of biological terrorism. We anticipate this acquisition to accelerate our revenues in the near-term,” states Gregg Pearson.

“The technology also provides a perfect synergy with the Cell Robotics Pathology Work Station. As the industry is evolving toward molecular medicine, the goal of modern physicians and pathologists is to precisely monitor a patient before, during and after treatment.

The Cell Robotics Pathology Work Station is designed to provide pathologists with new tools for the retrieval of specific cells to allow molecular analysis of biopsies. Once the specimen of interest is identified by the pathologist, the laser automatically cuts around it using the new auto-cut software,” says Pearson.

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A recent study published in Nature Methods reports that the Northern White Rhinoceros and the Drill have become the first endangered animals to have their cells transformed into stem cells. Combining conservation and modern cell biology, scientists have opened a new door for the preservation of endangered species, potentially providing a method of ensuring their survival.

Stem cells are unique cells found in all multicellular organisms that have the capability to develop into different kinds all specialized cells, ranging from blood, nerve or muscle cells. They are also able to divide infinitely to self-renew, continuing to produce more stem cells.

The northern white rhinoceros and the drill, an African short-tailed forest baboon, have become the first two endangered species to have their cells transformed into stem cells. In order to save fertilized embryos of both species, they were instead made by “re-programming” frozen skin cells of each animal.

Through this process the cells were brought back to earlier stages of development from which various forms of specialized cells could be induced. There are various uses of this research that is debated among scientists. Dr. Jeanne Loring, a world-renowned stem cell research who heads the Center for Regenerative Medicine at the Scripps Research Institute in California, is one of the researchers of the study.

She believes that creating new embryos through this process is even better than the method of cloning endangered species. According to Dr. Loring, “Cloning has not worked well for endangered species – the frequency of success is very low…here, you have the possibility to make new genetic combinations rather than cloning which simply reproduces existing animals.”

By inducing stem cells to make gametes, or eggs and sperm, test-tube babies of endangered species would become possible. Embryos created this way could potentially be raised by surrogate mothers from closely related species. Dr. Loring reports that though making gametes from stem cells is not yet routine, there are reports of it being down with laboratory animals already.

Other scientists are skeptical about this approach and believe that there needs to be more research, conservation and assistance of endangered species before turning to measures of stem cells. William Holt, a reproductive biologist at the Zoological Society of London, is involved in a collaboration called ‘Frozen Ark’, a project that collects DNA and cells from endangered animals.

He has said that scientists do not know enough about the reproductive biology of animals which is essential to support assisted reproduction programs. “With so few individuals remaining, there is little opportunity to learn more.”

Initially the applications of this research could be strictly medicinal as well. An animal suffering with some form of degenerative disease could benefit from stem cells to create replacements for the cells that have stopped working. This method has continued to be investigated for human use as well.

However, time may be running out for many endangered species that are declining in numbers due to hunting and habitat loss. The northern white rhinoceros, which the research was based on, may only have seven individuals living in captivity left in existence.

While Dr. Loring agrees that much work must still be done before stem cells can be used to save these species, she supports the research and asserts that even if the methods have yet to be perfected, stem cells offer a way of preserving genetic diversity of individual animals. Dr. Loring’s research team plans to replicate their work with the northern white rhinoceros with ten other endangered animals.

Sources:

http://www.enn.com/wildlife/article/43205

http://blog.arkive.org/2011/09/could-stem-cells-save-endangered-species/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stem_cells

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14765186

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