Posted on 09/14/2001 6:18:46 PM PDT by Slyfox
Washington: In the wake of the terrible tragedies this week, we see with even greater clarity the limitless worth of every human life. Every person's life is truly unique, sacred, and inviolable, and to take an innocent life for any reason is an evil act. Continuing moral paths of scientific research show us that at no point should one kill another human being, no matter how small, even for the purposes of curing another. This means specifically, embryonic and fetal human beings. Likewise, it is not morally licit to use their cells if they have been already killed. Progress with adult stem cells and with research involving no stem cells from any source continues to point the way toward cures that are both morally acceptable and effective.
This week two breakthroughs were announced, against diabetes and spinal cord and brain injury, and no embryonic or fetal stem cells were used in either.
New Hope for Diabetes Patients: Molecular Switch Discovered For Regulation Of Glucose Researchers at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, and the Harvard Medical School have found a long-sought molecular switch which regulates the production of glucose. The finding bodes well for sufferers of diabetes, since it will greatly help in designing new drugs to target the protein involved. The protein is called PGC-1, and it is normally active in liver cells, and plays a role in upregulating the production of glucose in the body. Normally, it works with the protein insulin to keep blood sugar at normal levels.
In diabetics, insulin can be lacking or ineffective, causing serious problems with blood sugar levels. The key protein PGC-1 was previously found to become more active in the muscles and fat of mice that were exposed to cold temperatures. This caused the scientists to wonder if it played a role in the production of glucose, so they inserted the gene for PGC-1 into mice using a harmless viral vector (virus which doesn't cause disease, which has been designed to carry the desired gene into the animal's body), and the gene indeed caused the mice to become hyperglycemic (excess of sugar in the blood).
One of the scientists involved called this a "real eureka moment." The scientists believe that this new finding could help in the treatment of diabetes, by allowing researchers to design drugs to turn down glucose production in diabetics by targeting this protein. This is yet another finding in the research of diabetes which shows that there is no need to resort to the use of human embryonic or fetal cells in the treatment of this disease. Sources: Sept. 13, 2001 issue of Nature Spinal Cord and Brain Injury/Disease
Neuron and Microchip Combination Could Help Treat and Understand Spinal Cord and Brain Injury/Disease
Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry in Munich have designed one of the first conducting "nerve chips", which is a combination of live neurons and silicon. They utilized snail neurons and tiny silicon pegs (which help separate the neurons) on a chip, and applied electrical impulses to the chip. The impulses passed from one neuron to another, and back to the chip to form a live circuit. Although true "neurocomputers" are a long way off, this is a step towards being able to understand brain circuitry better, and to possibly build biosensors (for use in testing pharmaceutical drugs on nerve cells) or neuroprosthetic devices that could help treat spinal cord injury or brain diseases. For example, a "biochip" could be used to "bridge a damaged section of the spinal cord" (see Source). Such amazing developments preclude any imagined need for utilitarian research on human embryonic stem cells or fetal cells. Source
Even working in a hospital with constant supervision - insulin infusion pump for 9 years - nothing works to achieve even a modicum of control.
I have always had frequent insulin reactions, many in the 30's and below - was 'LO" just the other night again - meaning the meter could not register it because it was below 25.
God holds me together and I pick myself up and go on - but to think of being free of this hell??
Yes - welcome news indeed!!
Thank you.
Atkins was right all along with his views on syndrome x and hyperinsulinism in regard to adult-onset, type II diabetes. It was recently published that even one soda per day can lead to diabetes in women.
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