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A man who was paralyzed from the neck down after a surfing accident seven years ago is now able to stand and walk on his own, thanks in part to a potentially groundbreaking stem cell treatment. Chris Barr was the very first patient in a Mayo Clinic study that collected stem cells from his own stomach fat, expanded them in a laboratory to 100 million cells and then injected the cells into Barr's lumbar spine. Over five years after undergoing the therapy, Barr said he is continuing to gain more independence and get faster at walking. "I never dreamed I...

Scientists in Shanghai achieved a historic breakthrough after successfully eliminating a long-term patient's type 2 diabetes through a pioneering cell therapy treatment. Key points: The 59-year-old patient of 25 years received a transplant of pancreatic cells derived from his own stem cells in 2021. He is now insulin independent. This marks the world's first successful use of stem cell-derived islet transplantation to cure diabetes. The achievement, published on Cell Discovery on April 30, comes after over a decade of research at Shanghai Changzheng Hospital. SNIP

Researchers track the intestinal health of fruit flies with a blue dye, hence the name Smurf. Fruit fly intestines damaged by aging leak the blue dye, this image shows an HRJD-modified fly on the left and an unmodified fly of the same age on the right. Credit: ©2024 Hiroki Nagai CC-BY-ND ===================================================================== Genes from regenerative organisms rejuvenate intestinal stem cells in fruit flies. In a groundbreaking experiment, Japanese researchers transferred regenerative genes to fruit flies, leading to improved intestinal health and enhanced stem cell activity. This discovery opens new possibilities for anti-aging strategies in higher organisms, including humans, through targeted...

In a group of studies published Sunday in the journals Science and Nature Medicine, researchers say old mice who were infused with the blood of spry younger mice showed clear improvements in memory, sensory function, strength and endurance. Researchers say a specific protein, found in the blood of mice and humans, appears to be at the root of this rejuvenation. They say they hope to test the protein's effect on humans in clinical trials in the next few years.

Women are being given controversial "virginity repair" operations on the NHS, it emerged last night. Taxpayers funded 24 hymen replacement operations between 2005 and 2006, official figures revealed. And increasing numbers of women are paying up to £4,000 in private clinics for the procedure apparently under pressure from future spouses or in-laws who believe they should be virgins on their wedding night. Doctors said most patients are immigrants or British of ethnic origin. The trend has been condemned by critics as a sign of social regression driven by Islamic fundamentalists. Some countries have made hymen reconstruction operations illegal. ...Tory health...

Controversial theorist Aubrey de Grey insists that we are within reach of an engineered cure for aging. Are you prepared to live forever? On this glorious spring day in Cambridge, England, the heraldic flags are flying from the stone towers, and I feel like I could be in the 17th century—or, as I pop into the Eagle Pub to meet University of Cambridge longevity theorist Aubrey de Grey, the 1950s. It was in this pub, after all, that James Watson and Francis Crick met regularly for lunch while they were divining the structure of DNA and where, in February 1953,...