chanont04's Blog

SIX years ago the Koizumi government adopted a biotechnology strategy intended to guide Japan back to leadership in the field. Itwas not the first such national policy initiative and we are on theverge of another as the current administration tries to capitalise on an exciting stem cell breakthrough.

Since 2002, however, Japan has lost ground relative to other leading countries.

The Office of Pharmaceutical Industry Research reported last year that Japanese biotech drug development, as a ratio of overall drug development, lagged the US, Britain, France and Germany by about 50 per cent.

The disappointing performance in applied biotechnology is often attributed to Japanese science's alleged weakness at radical innovation; though it's a generalisation not borne out well by measures such as international scientific patents or Nobel prize-winners over the past 20 years.

However, it goes some way to explaining the surge of official optimism that has built up behind Shinya Yamanaka's induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell research team at Kyoto University's Institute of Frontier Medicine.

It remains to be demonstrated, however, that ministers and officials understand their contribution to previous shortcomings: ponderous and intrusive forms of regulation and administrative guidance that hobble Japanese scientists in fast-moving areas of medical and biological R&D.

In the late 1980s, Japan was widely expected, even at senior policy levels in the US, to become the dominant nation in the exciting new field of biotechnology; among other reasons because of its excellence in science education, a high level of government commitment, and track record of converting research into commercial and clinical innovation.

That never happened and one reason is that a high level of official commitment to an undertaking usually comes with intense bureaucratic supervision.

Stem cell research programs can wait 12 months for government approvals and once under way, pharmaceutical and biotech companies complain, grant-funded research is inflexibly administered. For new drugs and clinical procedures, approval procedures are far lengthier than in the US and most other Western countries.

However, iPS cell research appears to have opened a fantastic opportunity for Japanese leadership in biotech.

The Yamanaka team's work seems to have signposted the path to the summit of biotechnology: stem cell therapy with its enormous promise to treat conditions such as Parkinson's, diabetes, heart and spinal cord damage - but unencumbered by the ethical difficulty of using cloned human embryos or eggs to create embryonic stem cells.

In June, Yamanaka announced success in using four genetic "transcription factors" to reprogram mice skin cells into becoming stem cells.

In November, Yamanaka's team and a group from University of Wisconsin described producing human iPS cells and soon afterwards Yamanaka's group succeeded in making iPS cells using only three transcription factors. The omitted gene, c-myc, had been causing worry because it is high in causing tumours.

This rush of innovation has focused worldwide attention on Yamanaka and, naturally enough, national admiration. But in many reports here, what begins as news of further advances in the science or more government support for developing the technology almost invariably turn into a glum recitation of previous shortfalls in Japanese biotech.

And unfortunately it's not hard to see why. Yamanaka moved into iPS research in part because though Japan permits embryonic stem research, it imposes the heaviest regulatory conditions of any country that does so. He has complained about the government's "terrible regulations and crazy policies that crush any long-term projects".

Last week, Yamanaka told reporters in Tokyo that aspects of the iPS discovery - though not stem cell therapy, which may be a decade away from clinical application, even if the research continues going well - have reached another breakthrough point.

"The other applications like toxicology and drug development, it's ready to go," he said.

"We can use iPS cells in these applications today, if somebody can pay a lot of money, like pharmaceutical companies."

By Mark A. Haselden
E-mail
You might read this column and think it doesn’t really belong in the sports pages.
I say it belongs anywhere someone like me might read it.
New Year’s Day for me used to be about two things — watching football and eating things that taste good but are bad for me.
I’ll still watch plenty of bowl games today — just minus the chips, dip, M&Ms and the gallon or so of Coca-Cola.
I know that statistically speaking, I don’t have much of a chance.
Research reveals that maybe a quarter of us Americans who make New Year’s resolutions keep them for more than only a week or two.
But this is different.
We’re talking about my life here.
I’ll turn 40 in a little more than two months. That’s hardly old, especially by today’s standards. Life expectancy in the U.S. is longer than it ever has been.
But I’ve noticed one thing lately. At least from a personal standpoint, reaching this point in my life has caused me to start thinking about what lies ahead, what I want to accomplish and how long I might have left to do it.
The numbers don’t lie. I’m a walking heart attack waiting to happen.
I was born, raised and now live in one of the highest-risk areas in the country for heart attack and stroke.
I am overweight.
I have high blood pressure.
Hypertension and heart disease have carved out a much too comfortable niche in my family history.
I live largely a sedentary lifestyle.
For me it ends, starting now.
I don’t know how long it will take or the extent of the sacrifices I will have to make to get healthy.
But I do know this: If I wasn’t willing to follow through, I wouldn’t be making this kind of a statement to the public.
If I could kick myself in the rear, I would do it. My only regret is that I’ve waited this long to begin.
I’ve had plenty of motivation.
I watched my mother have a heart attack over a decade ago. She had a stroke a couple of years later.
Thankfully, she survived both.
I might not be so lucky. It’s a risk I’m no longer willing to take voluntarily.
Plenty more members of my family have been affected by heart disease or stroke. Some have survived. Others have not.
In my job, I’m around athletes in tip-top physical condition much of the time. Even they are not immune to the dangers of heart disease, which really makes me thankful that I’m as healthy as I am, considering how little I’ve done to help myself.
My own health, of course, is the primary reason I’m changing my lifestyle, which means backing off the barbecue and all things fried that we love so much here in the Pee Dee.
But there are other things to think about.
I’ve never thought of myself as a selfish person.
But if I don’t do everything in my power to stay above ground as long as I’m allowed, is that not being selfish? I feel quite certain my wife didn’t marry me two and a half years ago just to lose me in 10.
Nope, Lord willing, I want us both to be here until we’re old and gray — or in my case just old, since I’m already gray.
For those of you who care, I plan to give regular updates every week or two about how I’m doing in my endeavors in my blog at scnow.com.
And yes, I realize I’m telling many of you something you already know. For years, local health care officials have drilled into us the statistics for heart disease and stroke for our area and how the lifestyles for many of us need to change.
And I know there are others out there who need to take action before their lives are cut short.
I’m not telling any of you how you should live — I just encourage you to live.
It reminds me of a scene in one of my favorite movies, “The Shawshank Redemption,” when Tim Robbins’ character Andy Dufresne was talking with “Red” Redding, played by Morgan Freeman. They were mulling the possibility of spending the rest of their lives in prison, among other things.
“Get busy living,” Andy said, “or get busy dying.“
It really is that simple.
And I know which one I’m picking.
Article From :http://www.scnow.com/midatlantic/scp/sports.apx.-content-articles-FMN-2008-01-01-0001.html

Japanese researchers have used fat-derived stem cells to reconstruct breasts marred by cancer surgery.

The findings, presented at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, have not yet been peer-reviewed and should be considered preliminary. However, if the procedure proves safe and effective, it could help breast cancer victims and perhaps replace unreliable implants for women seeking cosmetic enhancement.

Kyushu Central Hospital doctor Keizo Sugimachi used liposuction to take fat from the thighs, lower back and hips of 19 breast cancer survivors from whom doctors had removed tumors and parts of their breasts. Some of the fat was processed with a system developed by Cytori Therapeutics, a San Diego-based regenerative medicine company who sponsored Sugimachi's study.

Cytori's processing system pulled stem cells capable of becoming new breast tissue from the fat; these were combined with the rest of the fat, then injected into the womens' breasts. The treated tissues soon swelled from an average thickness of 6 millimeters to 16 millimeters, shrinking by a couple millimeters over the next six months but remaining thicker than before the procedure.

Current breast enhancement procedures rely purely on fat grafts, which are prone to instability, scarring and collapse, or on implants filled with saline or silicone, which can break or cause disfigurement. Apart from a temporary hardening of the injection site, no side effects were reported in Sugimachi's study. Fifteen of the 19 women were reportedly satisfied with the results.

Cytori will conduct two clinical trials of the procedure in Europe in 2008. As mentioned before, it's too early to get excited, but it's worth mentioning that the latest results expand on earlier promise covered by Wired's now-defunct Bodyhack blog.

The study's location in Japan, birthplace of some of the strangest bodily conceptions (NSFW) yet produced by modern imaginations, also makes me wonder what a world of stem cell-based cosmetic procedures might look like. It's a somewhat disturbing thought, but to each his -- or her -- own.

Article From :http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2007/12/better-breasts.html

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