Stem Cell Universe

Hey guys was just wondering did anyone see the documentary Stem Cell Universe with Stephen Hawking?

It aired here last night and is amazing to watch.F

or anyone whose interested in Stem Cell therapies and what they can do its a must see.

Reading that they done this to a rat or done that to a rat isn't very thrilling but actually seeing what they can do is unbelievable.

The power of these little guys is incredible and no doubt a true cure for hearing loss if we ever get there.

Which is why Stanford and the Hearing Restoration project are incredible and reminds me not to take for granted the work they're doing.

 

Hi,
I haven't seen the documentary, but I also think Stanford and Hearing Restoration Project is incredible.
HRP has release some new outlooks
http://www.hearinghealthfoundation.org/blog?blogid=72

Greets Tom

 

Thanks for the link Tom amazing stuff to read the documentary is good and reinforced my forgotton beliefs in Stemcell research.If you get a chance check it out it was on the Discovery channel so check their website im sure it will be there somewhere.Not sure if this channel broadcasts in Switzerland.Best Wishes Bill

 

Thanks Bill,
I will check if I can find it somewhere. I don't have discovery channel in my box... at least I haven't seen it
in all this 400 stations.

ahh, I found it at youtube ;-)

Greets Tom

 

Science Channel Stem Cell Universe with...

Science Channel Stem Cell Universe with Stephen Hawking

 

I assume this is the correct thread to post this:

Quote:
Breakthrough in direct conversion of human cells from one type to another

In a breakthrough for regenerative medicine and tissue engineering, researchers have developed a tool that will help scientists directly transform human cells from one type to another. They see the breakthrough as bringing regenerative medicine a step closer to growing whole organs from patients' own cells.
End quote.

You can find the article on: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/305308.php?tw

This should be good news for hearing restoration if I understand correctly. But when....

 

I agree that stem cell therapy may one day cure tinnitus and as a sufferer I welcome the idea. But I'm also aware that the signals that cause tinnitus could be coming from neurones in the auditory area of the brain. I don't see how stem cells could cure that. Could someone please explain.

 

What ever the brain does is a direct reaction to the loss of input from the auditory pathways. Tinnitus is commonly described as a phantom noise as one would have phantom pain in a lost limb or what ever.

The question is of course, if one was to fix the physical damage, would the brain go back to its normal state?
I, for one, believe it will. I don´t think the brain just reacts to a peripheral damage and then is altered for life, unresponsive to physical changes/repairment.
I think the brain is continuously reading of all of the bodies functionality, thus when if able to repair the damage it will also respond to that.

When it comes to regeneration of our HC, we do not know yet if this will work T and H wise.
There are just to many detailing factors regarding the scope of inner ear damage ie. broken/damaged HC, dead HC, structure damage, synaptic damage, lost synapses etc...

 

I remember that @attheedgeofscience got his Tinnitus cut in half by doing two stem cell treatments in Asia. It might have been 60% actually. Please correct me if I am wrong.

 

There are people whom are blind from birth who through science and medical advances have gained the ability to see. And they see. Just takes a bit for the brain to get acclimated to the new signals.

Same will work for regeneration of hearing.

Our brains have the hardware and ability to to hear and see. They'll rewire themselves when hearing is normal.

 

ATEOS wrote up a summary of his treatment results, he says:

"Combined, the two stem cells treatments left me with an improvement of about 50% (in terms of the loudness of my tinnitus). The outcome was good enough to allow me to return to a normal sleep cycle and exit the chronic pattern of insomnia that had plagued me."

There is more detail, go to his TTalk profile page, click the information tab, then follow the link for his "Home Page."

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/members/attheedgeofscience.1629/

 

Do people really buy into the idea that hearing loss and tinnitus can be successfully treated with some intravenous shots of stem cells? At some private 'clinic' in Asia? Costing tens of thousands of dollars a pop? Really?

Has anyone told the folks at Harvard, Mass. Eye an Ear etc? They seem to be in the dark about this and worse, barking up the wrong tree with their weird-arse molecules.

Has anyone told the BTA, the ATA, jeez even the NRA? They're all half deaf too! So that they can all start to advise the millions of deaf and tinnitus ravaged to dip into their savings and make the pilgrimage over to Asia and maybe squeeze in a week on the beaches at Phuket, with their brand new ears.

What are we even doing here on TT? We should all be over there queuing up already!

 

@Fabrikat how can you be so sure that they work?

 

Well, there was an FDA approved study using that very approach in children (i.e. IV-delivered stem cells for attempting to treat congenital hearing loss):

https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02038972

Besides, the 100-page presentation from the hospital, I also managed to get hold of the subscription-only webinar where Dr. Baumgartner explains the rationale behind the science and the trial as it was approaching the end in 2015). Both the ATA and the BTA has also commented on stem cells - search their articles if you are interested. Here is one:

www.ata.org/news/news/new-stem-cell-transplantation-method-restores-damaged-auditory-pathways

But on a more general note, it is indeed true that due to the heterogeneity of tinnitus, it will be difficult to develop a one-size-fits-all approach to treating tinnitus reliably. Those who are most likely to be able to mitigate their ringing ears are those who are still in the acute stage of the condition. For the rest, it looks like it will be quite a number of years before we will see standardized approaches to reducing the impact of chronic tinnitus - the reason being a varied impact on the auditory system (and outside of it) as well as the lack of funding that tinnitus research generally receives (e.g. the ATA has just 10,000 donors - compare that with the two million Americans who suffer from tinnitus to a significant degree).