Stem Cells: Try This At Home
I'm thinking about having a menstrual blood collection party.
I've just discovered in my pile of goodies from the two stem cell conferences I attended this summer a pamphlet about how one can become a distributor of C'ELLE, a service unveiled last spring to enable women to, well, not flush away a rich source of stem cells. C'ELLE, offered by an established cord blood bank, costs $699 for collection, freezing, and first year's storage, and $99 a year thereafter, a bargain by stem cell storage standards. Plus, an end-of-summer sale is going on right now, and one can even give C'ELLE as a gift.
The science is actually exciting. The cells are a lot like mesenchymal stem cells, which companies such as Osiris Therapeutics have already commercialized. In a nutshell, or rather a lab dish, stem cells from the uterine lining can give rise to nerve, heart, fat, bone, and cartilage. Treatments one day are a real possibility. The company has just announced a project to pursue using menstrual stem cells to treat brain diseases. Can we just skip the R&D and somehow use our periods to treat our brains right at home?
But is it misleading to sell an expensive service when nobody's used a discarded tampon to cure anything yet? I don't think so. Stem cell storage is by definition futuristic, a biological insurance policy of sorts. I've done more research and the period blood stem cell company wants to use the cells to do research on brain diseases! Imagine the possibilities ...
I'm at the perfect stage of life to become a distributor. I'm old enough to remember my mother's Tupperware parties, but still young enough that I'm
sometimes visited by "Aunt Flo" (confused XY's, please consult an XX for translation). And a menstrual collection party will dovetail nicely with other more modern types of parties. Consider the popular sex toy parties. For those on the rag, a menstrual collection fest might substitute, perhaps with a set-up similar to the scene in Fried Green Tomatoes in which Evelyn attends a circa-1970 party where newly liberated women use hand mirrors to scrutinize their nether regions.
The list of potentially useful stem cells in the medical trash heap is already impressive, all backed up by reports in scientific journals. It includes all manner of biopsies and surgical waste, dog testicles, horse hooves, synovial fluid from bad knees, teeth, excess skin, and perhaps the most valuable of all, for it is pluripotent and none of us wants it, liposuction aspirate.
I applaud Cryo-Cell International's inventiveness in finally finding a use for suffering through a reproductive lifetime of cramps, bloating, and bitchiness, and for rejuvenating the idea of women-only parties.
Ricki Lewis is the author of the novel Stem Cell Symphony and the textbook Human Genetics: Concepts and Applications, now in its 8th edition. She is a fellow of the Alden March Bioethics Institute.
Stem Cells: Try This At Home
I'm thinking about having a menstrual blood collection party.
I've just discovered in my pile of goodies from the two stem cell conferences I attended this summer a pamphlet about how one can become a distributor of C'ELLE, a service unveiled last spring to enable women to, well, not flush away a rich source of stem cells. C'ELLE, offered by an established cord blood bank, costs $699 for collection, freezing, and first year's storage, and $99 a year thereafter, a bargain by stem cell storage standards. Plus, an end-of-summer sale is going on right now, and one can even give C'ELLE as a gift.
The science is actually exciting. The cells are a lot like mesenchymal stem cells, which companies such as Osiris Therapeutics have already commercialized. In a nutshell, or rather a lab dish, stem cells from the uterine lining can give rise to nerve, heart, fat, bone, and cartilage. Treatments one day are a real possibility. The company has just announced a project to pursue using menstrual stem cells to treat brain diseases. Can we just skip the R&D and somehow use our periods to treat our brains right at home?
But is it misleading to sell an expensive service when nobody's used a discarded tampon to cure anything yet? I don't think so. Stem cell storage is by definition futuristic, a biological insurance policy of sorts. I've done more research and the period blood stem cell company wants to use the cells to do research on brain diseases! Imagine the possibilities ...
I'm at the perfect stage of life to become a distributor. I'm old enough to remember my mother's Tupperware parties, but still young enough that I'm
sometimes visited by "Aunt Flo" (confused XY's, please consult an XX for translation). And a menstrual collection party will dovetail nicely with other more modern types of parties. Consider the popular sex toy parties. For those on the rag, a menstrual collection fest might substitute, perhaps with a set-up similar to the scene in Fried Green Tomatoes in which Evelyn attends a circa-1970 party where newly liberated women use hand mirrors to scrutinize their nether regions.
The list of potentially useful stem cells in the medical trash heap is already impressive, all backed up by reports in scientific journals. It includes all manner of biopsies and surgical waste, dog testicles, horse hooves, synovial fluid from bad knees, teeth, excess skin, and perhaps the most valuable of all, for it is pluripotent and none of us wants it, liposuction aspirate.
I applaud Cryo-Cell International's inventiveness in finally finding a use for suffering through a reproductive lifetime of cramps, bloating, and bitchiness, and for rejuvenating the idea of women-only parties.
Ricki Lewis is the author of the novel Stem Cell Symphony and the textbook Human Genetics: Concepts and Applications, now in its 8th edition. She is a fellow of the Alden March Bioethics Institute.
Stem Cells: Try This At Home
I'm thinking about having a menstrual blood collection party.
I've just discovered in my pile of goodies from the two stem cell conferences I attended this summer a pamphlet about how one can become a distributor of C'ELLE, a service unveiled last spring to enable women to, well, not flush away a rich source of stem cells. C'ELLE, offered by an established cord blood bank, costs $699 for collection, freezing, and first year's storage, and $99 a year thereafter, a bargain by stem cell storage standards. Plus, an end-of-summer sale is going on right now, and one can even give C'ELLE as a gift.
The science is actually exciting. The cells are a lot like mesenchymal stem cells, which companies such as Osiris Therapeutics have already commercialized. In a nutshell, or rather a lab dish, stem cells from the uterine lining can give rise to nerve, heart, fat, bone, and cartilage. Treatments one day are a real possibility. The company has just announced a project to pursue using menstrual stem cells to treat brain diseases. Can we just skip the R&D and somehow use our periods to treat our brains right at home?
But is it misleading to sell an expensive service when nobody's used a discarded tampon to cure anything yet? I don't think so. Stem cell storage is by definition futuristic, a biological insurance policy of sorts. I've done more research and the period blood stem cell company wants to use the cells to do research on brain diseases! Imagine the possibilities ...
I'm at the perfect stage of life to become a distributor. I'm old enough to remember my mother's Tupperware parties, but still young enough that I'm
sometimes visited by "Aunt Flo" (confused XY's, please consult an XX for translation). And a menstrual collection party will dovetail nicely with other more modern types of parties. Consider the popular sex toy parties. For those on the rag, a menstrual collection fest might substitute, perhaps with a set-up similar to the scene in Fried Green Tomatoes in which Evelyn attends a circa-1970 party where newly liberated women use hand mirrors to scrutinize their nether regions.
The list of potentially useful stem cells in the medical trash heap is already impressive, all backed up by reports in scientific journals. It includes all manner of biopsies and surgical waste, dog testicles, horse hooves, synovial fluid from bad knees, teeth, excess skin, and perhaps the most valuable of all, for it is pluripotent and none of us wants it, liposuction aspirate.
I applaud Cryo-Cell International's inventiveness in finally finding a use for suffering through a reproductive lifetime of cramps, bloating, and bitchiness, and for rejuvenating the idea of women-only parties.
Ricki Lewis is the author of the novel Stem Cell Symphony and the textbook Human Genetics: Concepts and Applications, now in its 8th edition. She is a fellow of the Alden March Bioethics Institute.
Stem Cells: Try This At Home
I'm thinking about having a menstrual blood collection party.
I've just discovered in my pile of goodies from the two stem cell conferences I attended this summer a pamphlet about how one can become a distributor of C'ELLE, a service unveiled last spring to enable women to, well, not flush away a rich source of stem cells. C'ELLE, offered by an established cord blood bank, costs $699 for collection, freezing, and first year's storage, and $99 a year thereafter, a bargain by stem cell storage standards. Plus, an end-of-summer sale is going on right now, and one can even give C'ELLE as a gift.
The science is actually exciting. The cells are a lot like mesenchymal stem cells, which companies such as Osiris Therapeutics have already commercialized. In a nutshell, or rather a lab dish, stem cells from the uterine lining can give rise to nerve, heart, fat, bone, and cartilage. Treatments one day are a real possibility. The company has just announced a project to pursue using menstrual stem cells to treat brain diseases. Can we just skip the R&D and somehow use our periods to treat our brains right at home?
But is it misleading to sell an expensive service when nobody's used a discarded tampon to cure anything yet? I don't think so. Stem cell storage is by definition futuristic, a biological insurance policy of sorts. I've done more research and the period blood stem cell company wants to use the cells to do research on brain diseases! Imagine the possibilities ...
I'm at the perfect stage of life to become a distributor. I'm old enough to remember my mother's Tupperware parties, but still young enough that I'm
sometimes visited by "Aunt Flo" (confused XY's, please consult an XX for translation). And a menstrual collection party will dovetail nicely with other more modern types of parties. Consider the popular sex toy parties. For those on the rag, a menstrual collection fest might substitute, perhaps with a set-up similar to the scene in Fried Green Tomatoes in which Evelyn attends a circa-1970 party where newly liberated women use hand mirrors to scrutinize their nether regions.
The list of potentially useful stem cells in the medical trash heap is already impressive, all backed up by reports in scientific journals. It includes all manner of biopsies and surgical waste, dog testicles, horse hooves, synovial fluid from bad knees, teeth, excess skin, and perhaps the most valuable of all, for it is pluripotent and none of us wants it, liposuction aspirate.
I applaud Cryo-Cell International's inventiveness in finally finding a use for suffering through a reproductive lifetime of cramps, bloating, and bitchiness, and for rejuvenating the idea of women-only parties.
Ricki Lewis is the author of the novel Stem Cell Symphony and the textbook Human Genetics: Concepts and Applications, now in its 8th edition. She is a fellow of the Alden March Bioethics Institute.
Karlawish Votes for Ballots on Wheels
With the upcoming Presidential election, Jason Karlawish, from the University of Pennsylvania, says that he's worried that the elderly in long-term care facilities won't get to vote.
In the story from WPTV.com, Karlawish says that "Elderly voters - especially elderly voters who live in long-term care settings - are at the mercy of others when it comes to exercising their right to vote," and therefore a model of mobile polling should be implemented to ensure that all citizens have an opportunity to vote.
Hey, if Australia and Canada do it, why can't we? As long as those certain Diebold machines don't get lost on their way back from the long-term care facility with their paper copies of the ballots and their data are just as secure--who could argue against our eldest citizens exercising our most valued privilege as members of democracy.
Summer Johnson, PhD
The Face Trust Coming to the UK
In an article published in the Times Online from London, Peter Butler, MD argues that a better quality life made possible through face transplantation outweighs the risks of failure and rejection and possible life shortening that may occur from taking anti-rejection drugs.
The NHS is considering that it will begin funding these procedures sometime in 2009, but in the meantime they will be funded by donations to the Face Trust , (not the best name we know, but leave it to the Brits) for the more than 250,000 Britons who have severe facial deformities today. These operations are slated to start sometime in the next 12 months with Butler's surgical team at the helm.
A must-read for any patient thinking of undergoing the procedure or any surgeon thinking of participating in it is AJOB's precent article on "The Ethics of Facial Transplant Research" published in 2004, a full year before the first face transplant was done.
Now, less than 4 years after this article was published, Butler, a member of the soon-to-be face transplant team in London and CEO of the Face Trust, says that "already the debate has moved on. No longer are we discussing the ethics of whether to perform a face transplant but merely the ethics of how."
I'm not quite so sure that is true, but it would seem that if the money is made available face transplants will be made available for those who want them in the UK very soon. Yet, I wonder--among these 250,000 with severe deformities--who will have the first chance to have the procedure? What will be the criteria by which these individuals are selected? What about those who are able to pay and not use the Face Trust's scarce resources--will they be first in the queue?
Only time will tell what other ethical issues will come up under this scheme. If they can be adequately answered, more widespread face transplantation may improve the quality of life for a significant number of Britons very soon.
Summer Johnson, PhD
Jeremy, You Are Way Way Way too Young for This!
Johns Hopkins School of Medicine has created the Jeremy Sugarman Award to honor individuals who show the potential for excellence in bioethics research. The award is named for Jeremy Sugarman, MD MPH, Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics' Deputy Director for Medicine and Harvey M. Meyerhoff Professor of Bioethics and Medicine. This national award consists of $500 and an all expense paid trip to Baltimore to lecture to the Hopkins crowd. 
The goal of the award is to promote among house staff that they can be bioethics researchers, too. What could be better than those with the hands-on, in the trenches experience in medicine to start studying those deep moral questions to improve the lives of their patients? Hopefully, the mere existence of such an award will not only benefit those who already do good bioethics scholarship, but also encourage those doctors interested in ethics to begin to ask the tough questions in medicine, to write about, and publish about them.
Huzzah to Hopkins who has honored both the man after which the award is named and doctors who do bioethics well.
Summer Johnson, PhD
Top 5 New Stories of The Week on Bioethics.net
Take a look at the 5 most read news stories from bioethics.net this week and you'll see that our readers were most interested in a historical essay on the role of genetics in politics (and its scandals), a story about a new end-of-life care bill in California, and an "empowered patient" story from CNN about knowing whether your physician has financial ties to the devices he or she is implanting in you.
History's DNA
21 Aug 2008 - While the recent admission by former North Carolina Senator John Edwards that he had engaged in an extramarital affair drew criticism of his conduct from across the political spectrum, the decision of his alleged mistress, Rielle Hunter, to refuse paternity testing for her infant daughter went largely unquestioned in the media.
A Bill for Patients
21 Aug 2008 - In the course of treating a patient, there may come a point when the physician says, "I've done all I can. It's out of my hands." The patient may then ask about end-of-life options -- not life-ending options, but end-of-life options, such as palliative care focused on making the patient as comfortable as possible during the final illness.
Don't become a victim of medical marketing
21 Aug 2008 - Linda Lewis says that when she had back surgery two years ago, her surgeon didn't do what was best for her health; he did was best for his bank account.
State Supreme Court says doctors must treat gays and lesbians
18 Aug 2008 - Doctors in California must treat gays and lesbians the same as any other patient, regardless of religious objections, the state Supreme Court ruled today.
Hospitals' spies give client care a checkup
18 Aug 2008 - Wearing slacks and dress shirts, they blended in with the other people waiting near the main admitting desk at the Nebraska Medical Center. But they weren't patients or family. They were "secret shoppers'' -- employees and managers from other departments covertly watching how admission staff dealt with patients.
Summer Johnson, PhD
Harry and Louise Do A Flip-Flop on Health Care Reform
Harry and Louise, foils of the Clinton healthcare reform efforts of 1993-1994, are back on the air again but this time in the service of healthcare reform, says Red Orbit. Organizations as different in philosophies as the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN), the American Hospital Association (AHA), the Catholic Health Association (CHA), Families USA, and the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) are teaming up to resurrect the dynamic duo to talk about the moral imperative of quality, affordable healthcare for all.
The rationale here seems a bit confusing--will most Americans remember Harry and Louise, and if so, won't they be confused that the anti-healthcare reform mavens are now in favor of just what they torpedoed Hillary Clinton for 15 years ago?
Clearly, others think that Harry and Louise are important icons not just for healthcare reform, but for other political issues as well. Lest we think that these two are moral exmplars--Harry and Louise are talking about anyone to anyone who will listen. They can be seen stumping for a Democrat in Colorado below.
For the sake of healthcare reform, let's hope this ad campaign, set to air for the next 3 weeks during the Democratic and Republican National Conventions, will strike a chord, and that no one "swiftboats" Harry and Louise for being flip-floppers on an issue as important as this one.
Summer Johnson, PhD
Will the Real Patient Please Stand Up?
What do your local McDonald's, Macy's and hospital have in common? While you are in line to get your Big Mac, Crocs or to get healthcare, you could be waiting behind a "secret shopper". As reported in Nebraska's La Vista Sun, a number of Midwestern hospitals, as well as others around the country, are turning to the customer service research methods of the retail industry to know how to serve patients better. These "secret shoppers" pose as patients gathering data about how patients are treated, how long they wait, what waiting rooms are like, and more. All in the service of improving customer service. Something seems strange about this...
