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Texas has signed into law a bipartisan bill to combat the Chinese regime’s criminal practice of forced organ harvesting, making it the first U.S. state to counter the abuse through legal means. Under SB 1040, signed by Gov. Greg Abbott on June 18 and taking force on Sept. 1, it will be illegal for health insurance providers to fund organ transplants using organs originating from China or any other country known to have involvement in the practice of forced organ harvesting. The bill passed unanimously in both the state’s legislative chambers in May. Under the Chinese regime’s watch, the practice...

Efforts to overturn vaccine mandates for both hospital patients and health care workers appear to be gaining momentum across the United States. In what is seen as a major victory for transplant patients who did not take the COVID vaccine, one of the largest transplant centers in the United States reversed its policy to require the jab in order to be eligible for an organ transplant. The University of Michigan (UM) announced its new policy on May 4 just before court proceedings were about to get underway in a lawsuit filed against it for declaring patients ineligible for an organ...

During National Donate Life Month, we honor the selfless individuals whose remarkable generosity has helped give others the gift of life.  Countless Americans have benefited from people who have registered as organ, eye, or tissue donors, and we recognize our Nation’s unrivaled medical community for helping make donor transplants possible.  Through the talents of doctors all across our country and the gifts of donors, the quality of life for thousands of Americans has been improved.Approximately 60 percent of American adults have registered as organ, eye, and tissue donors.  In 2019, almost 40,000 American patients received transplants, which resulted in the most...

The initiatives Trump is scheduled to outline include five new payment models to encourage doctors to treat patients earlier and encourage home peritoneal dialysis; a crackdown on some of the 58 non-profit organizations that do a poor job of collecting organs for transplant; and a public awareness campaign aimed at patients. About 40 percent of people with kidney disease do not know they have it, officials said. In the United States, most people receive hemodialysis, a treatment that requires a device to filter waste and toxins from their blood. Most receive it in clinics or private facilities that serve dozens...

Surgeons in Baltimore have performed what’s thought to be the world’s first kidney transplant from a living donor with HIV, a milestone for patients with the AIDS virus who need a new organ — and one that could free up space on the transplant waiting list for everyone. Nina Martinez of Atlanta traveled to Johns Hopkins University to donate a kidney to an HIV-positive stranger, saying she “wanted to make a difference in somebody else’s life” and counter the stigma that too often still surrounds HIV infection. […] “Here’s a disease that in the past was a death sentence and...

EVERY year about 120,000 organs, mostly kidneys, are transplanted from one human being to another. Sometimes the donor is a living volunteer. Usually, though, he or she is the victim of an accident, stroke, heart attack or similar sudden event that has terminated the life of an otherwise healthy individual. But a lack of suitable donors, particularly as cars get safer and first-aid becomes more effective, means the supply of such organs is limited. Many people therefore die waiting for a transplant. That has led researchers to study the question of how to build organs from scratch. One promising approach...

Yale New Haven Hospital becomes the eighth transplant center and the fifth hospital that gets green light to perform transplantation of HIV-infected organs. The approval is received from the United Network for Organ Sharing. November 2013, President Obama made HOPE (HIV Organ Policy Equity) Act official - allowing organ donor from an HIV patient to another HIV patient.

Researchers report that they've made progress toward using 3D printing technology to produce human tissue. The Harvard scientists say they've managed to create tissue in the laboratory that has vessels -- potentially allowing the tissue to be fed by blood -- and can survive for weeks. Despite accomplishing that feat, scientists still aren't close to producing human tissue that could be transplanted into the body and replace organs such as hearts and lungs, experts noted. But Dr. Anthony Atala, a specialist who's familiar with the study, said the new research is promising. "It shows what can happen in the laboratory...

Bengaluru: At a time when scientists all over the world are struggling to develop artificial liver tissue, three Bengaluru scientists have actually developed such tissues that perform functions of the human liver. This breakthrough has not just brightened hopes for patients seeking liver tissues from live donors, but has also brought a potential alternative to artificial extracorporeal liver support (or liver dialysis) used in detoxification treatment for liver failure - a process similar to hemodialysis. The trio that achieved the breakthrough comprises Arun Chandru, Dr Abdullah Chand and Dr Sivarajan T - all senior scientists at Pandorum Technologies Pvt Ltd,...

Self-repairing pipes. Printed organs. Bulletproof t-shirts. Seriously?In April I was asked to speak at the annual TED conference in Vancouver (following Bill Gates…gulp) on the topic of 3D printing production and its implications. I have detailed my thoughts on why the shift to 3D printing production is not only likely but inevitable in articles one, two and three in this series for Forbes. Now, let’s take a step into a fascinating future, where daily life will be shaped by several powerful forces directly related to 3D printing production. What it will be like to live in a 3D-printed world? Imagine...

US-based 3D bioprinting firm Organovo has set itself a challenge that could transform the future of medicine, and although the technology is still in its infancy and the challenges complex, the company's founder and CEO Keith Murphy says his firm is in it for the long haul. "Biotechnology is a very compelling space as you have the ability to impact people's lives," Murphy tells IBTimes UK. "I want to see patients benefiting. We want to help drugs get to patients faster, to get liver tissues [to prolong liver function] and to help people with chronic liver problems." While 3D printing...

There is tremendous progress being made within the area of 3D bioprinting. In fact, there are companies working to print human organs as we speak, and within the next decade such organs may, if we are lucky, be available for human transplantation. With that said we still are a ways away from such an accomplishment. There are multiple obstacles researchers must first overcome. When considering the organ printing space in general, the printing of complicated vascular networks is the main obstacle currently preventing progress. On the other hand, when printing cellular musculoskeletal tissues the main obstacle in this space is...

In 2013, then-15-year-old Anthony Stokes was dying and desperately needed a heart transplant that he couldn’t get because, according to doctors, he had “a history of noncompliance.” Stokes’s family suspected that his low grades and a history of trouble with the law gave doctors reason to believe that he would not be willing to take his medicine or show up at subsequent doctor’s visits. The Georgia teen’s story story sparked outrage, and the hospital quickly reversed its decision, giving him priority on the transplant list. But two years later, after he received a transplant, Stokes’s “second chance” has come to...

Laura Bosworth wants to 3D print breast nipples on demand. The CEO of the Texas startup TeVido Biodevices is betting on a future in which survivors of breast cancer who have undergone mastectomies will be able to order up new breasts printed from their own living cells. “Everyone,” she says, “knows a woman who has had breast cancer.” Right now their options are limited. Reconstructed nipples using state-of-the-art plastic surgery techniques, she says, “tend to flatten and fade and don’t last very long.” A living nipple built from the patient’s own fat cells, and reconstructed to the precise specification of...

Three-dimensional printing has been used to make everything from pizza to prostheses, and now researchers are working on using the emerging technology to fabricate hearts, kidneys, and other vital human organs. That would be very big news, as the number of people who desperately need an organ transplant far outstrips the number of donor organs available. On average, about 21 Americans die every day because a needed organ was unavailable. What exactly is the promise of 3D printing organs and tissues, or "bioprinting?" How does the technology work, and when might it start saving lives? For answers to these and...

It sounds like something from a science fiction plot: so-called three-dimensional printers are being used to fashion prosthetic arms and hands, jaw bones, spinal-cord implants -- and one day perhaps even living human body parts. While the parts printed for humans so far have been fashioned from plastic, metal and other inorganic materials, researchers in California and elsewhere also have begun printing living tissue, with the goal of eventually employing these "bioprinters" to create customized kidneys, livers and other organs for people needing transplants. What's particularly attractive about the technology, according to its proponents, is that 3D printers can produce...

2014 was the year of 3-D printers. According to the 2014 edition of the Wohlers Associates annual report (via The Motley Fool), which is considered the industry’s bible on 3-D printing, there are approximately 400 to 600 3-D printer brands available in the $200 to $5,000 price range. That number is not surprising: With its focus on customized products and innovative materials and technology, 3-D printing is poised to transform our world. Yet not much is known about 3-D printers. This is due to two reasons. First, 3-D printing still has a long way to go to become consumer-friendly. The...

If 3D printers don’t already fall somewhere on your list of the top ten coolest things ever, then you really need to take some time to rethink your priorities. The following list of eight unbelievably awesome things that 3D printing is already being used for should help to convince you (if you need convincing) that 3D printers are science fiction come true. 1) Prosthetic Legs for Dogs With a prosthetic leg created by designers at 3D printing company 3D systems, Derby the disabled rescue dog (warning: if you’re pregnant, menstruating, or a passionate animal lover the aforementioned link will probably...

New technologies such as 3D bioprinting promise to offer a laundry list of new treatments, drug discovery, and cures within the medical industry. With that said, we have been hearing promises for years that 3D printing will change the face of medicine. Despite these promises, bioprinting has yet to make any major impact within the market. Today things may have just changed! San Diego-based 3D bioprinting company Organovo (NYSE MKT: ONVO) has today announced the full commercial availability of their exVive3D Human Liver Tissue for preclinical drug discovery testing. The tissue, which is created via an in-house 3D printer, could...

For decades, surgeons have traveled to far-off hospitals to remove organs from brain-dead donors and then rushed back to transplant them. Now an experiment in the Midwest suggests there may be a better way: Bring the donors to the doctors instead. A study out Tuesday reports on liver transplants from the nation’s first free-standing organ retrieval center. Nearly all organ donors now are transported to Mid-America Transplant Services in St. Louis from a region including parts of Missouri, Illinois and Arkansas. Removing organs at this central location near the four hospitals that do transplants saves money, the study found. The...