It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything about the squared-circle.
But Tripp posted a great find over at Homebrewed Christianity in which “Wofford college professors Byron R. McCane and Dan Mathewson reveal how the equally toothless performances of New Atheists like Richard Dawkins and creationists like Ken Ham share more with the garish world of Hulk Hogan and the Iron Sheik than with serious scholarship.”
It’s a great paper piece that compares the one-sided, over stereotypical and simplified views of Ham (Creation Science Museum) and Dawkins to Hulk Hogan and Stone Cold Steve Austin.
Ever wonder why Jesus says, “Pray for your enemies, bless those who persecute you.”? Ever started praying for someone and realize that while sometimes they may change — it’s usually you who changes the most in the process.
I had a friend in college that often warned me, “couples who pray together – lay together.” His logic was that if praying for your enemy changes you so much – then praying with and for your significant other makes the attractions that much stronger. Can’t say I disagree.
Scientists are now starting to see that in meditating and praying for people we physically mold our brains differently!
More than half of adult Americans report they have had a spiritual experience that changed their lives. Now, scientists from universities like Harvard, Pennsylvania and Johns Hopkins are using new technologies to analyze the brains of people who claim they have touched the spiritual — from Christians who speak in tongues to Buddhist monks to people who claim to have had near-death experiences. Hear what they have discovered in this controversial field, as the science of spirituality continues to evolve.
Methodist minister Scott McDermott says, “I think we’re wired for the supernatural. I think we’re meant to sense a world beyond our five senses. Come on! Taste and see that God really is good.”
Windpipe transplant patient Claudia Castillo.A trachea engineered from bone marrow stem-cells makes ethical research more appealing.
Susan Wunderink
Claudia Castillo, whose lungs had been ravaged by tuberculosis, has a new trachea. She made it herself . . . sort of.
Doctors in Spain took stem-cells from Claudia Castillo’s bone marrow and had them form a section of trachea based on the trachea of an organ donor. The scientists transplanted the 2.75-inch piece and published the results in The Lancet:
The graft immediately provided the recipient with a functional airway, improved her quality of life, and had a normal appearance and mechanical properties at 4 months. The patient had no anti-donor antibodies and was not on immunosuppressive drugs.
The results show that we can produce a cellular, tissue-engineered airway with mechanical properties that allow normal functioning, and which is free from the risks of rejection.
Castillo is the first person to have an engineered trachea transplant, The Guardian says. She has had her new windpipe for several months without immunosuppressants—a breakthrough in surgery.
Besides giving hope to those who need transplants, Castillo’s case is also important to the debate over whether to allow stem-cell research which destroys embryos.
“Engineering new tissues and organs from stem cells has long been a goal of researchers, because it would help overcome a chronic shortage of donor organs.†NPR says. “But controversies over the source of stem cells have slowed research in the United States.”
However the transplant, rather than highlighting limitations, is another victory for ethical (and legal) stem-cell research. In its Q&A on stem-cells, CNN says “In the past, because adult stem cells were considered stuck in their ways, the focus had been on embryonic cells but now scientists and doctors will be wanting to see if adult cells can be used to treat a wider range of conditions.â€
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I’m hoping the Obama-Biden team sees more and more stories like these and works to provide more funding for adult stem cell research. They’ve already pledged to increase funding for embryonic stem cell research – let’s keep adult stem cell research on the table as well as stem cells from umbilical cords — as we’re doing here in Texas.
You may want to sit down for this one. According to the article:
People who eat several fast-food meals a week are significantly heavier than those who don’t eat fast food very often, according to a new study released Monday.
Amazing. Simply amazing what science can reveal these days. After all these years I guess this means my kindergarten teacher was right after all.
I don’t know how or why I missed this, but I found a very interesting report from the Washington Post from April of this year.
Researchers said yesterday that they have grown complete urinary bladders in a laboratory and transplanted them into patients, improving their health and achieving a Holy Grail of medicine: the first cultivation of working replacements for failing solid organs in people.
The “neo-bladders,” each one grown in a small laboratory container from a pinch of a patient’s own cells, have been working in seven young patients for an average of almost four years, according to a report released yesterday by the British journal the Lancet. The organs have remained free of the many complications that bedevil the conventional practice of surgically constructing bladders from other tissues.
According to the article, no embryonic stem cells were used in growing the new bladders. That’s great information for possible future health issues.
My decision is still out on embryonic stem cell research. I don’t know enough about the issue to decide. On one hand, I believe we should be looking to cure every and all conditions and diseases we can and I have a hard time believing that it’s OK to flush embryos from fertility clinics down the drain, rather than use them for research. It seems a bit hypocritical to me.
I have a hard time believing its OK to kill anyone, embryo, fetus, newborn or a 115 year old senior living in a nursing home.
On the other hand, I have no issue with adult stem cell research, or umbilical cord stem cells, or even fetus stem cells if the cells can be taken without harming life.
But depending on which report you read, the research seems to go both ways on how much advantage embryonic stem cells might have over other stem cells.
I would love to see the conservatives (or anyone else) stand up and say “While we realize there may be ethical issues involved with embryonic stem cells, we’ll fund research of umbilical cord stem cells, adult stem cells and others.”
Quit arguing over embryonic stem cells and lets find a common ground with other cells that we know will not harm a life.
In contrast to research on embryonic stem cells, non-embryonic stem cell research has already resulted in numerous instances of actual clinical benefit to patients. For example, patients suffering from a whole host of afflictions — including (but not limited to) Parkinson’s disease, autoimmune diseases, stroke, anemia, cancer, immunodeficiency, corneal damage, blood and liver diseases, heart attack, and diabetes — have experienced improved function following administration of therapies derived from adult or umbilical cord blood stem cells. The long-held belief that non-embryonic stem cells are less able to differentiate into multiple cell types or be sustained in the laboratory over an extended period of time –rendering them less medically-promising than embryonic stem cells — has been repeatedly challenged by experimental results that have suggested otherwise.
If this is true, why are we not funding more research on adult stem cells? Chris Bell said in a phone interview last week that he would propose spending $30 million on stem cell research if elected. He didn’t clarify if that was for embryonic or all stem cell research – but given the context of the interview, I would guess it would go towards embryonic.
If I were Gov. “McDreamy” I’d propose spending $30 million on adult and umbilical cord stem cell research in Texas right away. Show the supporters of embryonic stem cell research that there are other options. Prove it to us.
For more articles and information on other stem cell options, visit The Coalition of Americans for Research Ethics
