by admin | Jan 12, 2022 | Health Awareness
Taking care of your immune system may be the most important thing you can do to stay healthy and feel younger. Add these eight superfoods to your diet to help you meet your wellness goals naturally.
1. Garlic
Garlic is a prebiotic that contains allicin, a bioactive shown to increase disease-fighting cells and immune system T cells. One study also found that taking aged garlic extract supplements could help reduce cold and flu symptoms.
2. Mushrooms
Mushrooms are packed with an important soluble fiber known as beta-glucan. Beta-glucan stimulates the immune system and defends against many types of fungal and bacterial infections, parasites, and viruses.
3. Yogurt
Yogurt provides the healthy probiotic bacteria your gut needs to stay healthy. Some research suggests probiotics may even help reduce the length and severity of common cold symptoms.
4. Salmon
You already know the omega-3 fatty acids in salmon are good for your heart, but you may not have realized salmon is also a good source of vitamin D. Vitamin D may help lower your chances of developing an upper respiratory infection.
5. Kiwi
It’s strange, it’s fuzzy, it’s green, and it’s also packed with vitamin C. Kiwi is one of the few non-citrus foods that can deliver big doses of vitamin C, which is vital for maintaining the production of white blood cells and fighting off disease pathogens.
6. Tea
If you need a reason to curl up with a book and a steaming cup of tea, keeping your immune system strong is the perfect excuse. Drink five to six cups of black, green, or herbal tea to boost immune activity. You get bonus antimicrobial points by adding honey to your mug.
7. Beans and Lentils
Eat more beans and lentils if you want to live longer. In the “blue zones” (areas of the world where people live longest), legumes are a staple. Beans and lentils are high in zinc, a mineral that boosts white blood cell production as well as providing microbial protection.
8. Blueberries
Blueberries are rich in flavonoids which contain several immune-boosting properties. The flavonoids specific to blueberries may decrease the incidence and severity of infections in the upper respiratory tract as well as help fight aging naturally.
For more health awareness blogs, please visit www.stemedix.com/blog.
by Stemedix | Jan 10, 2022 | Stem Cell Therapy, Traumatic Brain Injury
TBIs, or traumatic brain injuries, are typically one of the most challenging types of medical ailments to treat. This is due to the sheer complexity of the human brain. Here we talk about how to heal traumatic brain injuries.
Fortunately, stem cell therapy may provide medical professionals with a viable treatment option when encountering patients suffering from TBIs. Stem cells are unique cells that are capable of transforming into other types of cells, including those present within the brain.
While stem cells have shown great promise when used to treat other types of soft tissue injuries, can they help heal traumatic brain injuries? Thus far, researchers have not found a definitive answer. However, initial data shows that stem cell therapy may have a positive impact on TBI patients.
Types of Traumatic Brain Injury
Before we discuss how stem cell therapy may benefit individuals that have suffered a TBI, let’s briefly recap the various types of traumatic brain injuries.
Concussions
The most common type of traumatic brain injury is concussions. Concussions can occur when a person’s head collides with another individual, a fixed object, or a moving object. A prime example of an injury-causing event is when a football player’s helmet hits the helmet of another player or the turf. Concussions are characterized by a loss of consciousness, an altered mental state, and headaches.
Penetration Injuries
A less common but still frequent type of TBI is caused by a penetration injury. These injuries occur when a foreign object pierces the skull and damages the brain. Penetration injuries can be caused by sharp objects, bullets, and shrapnel.
Diffuse Axonal Injuries
The third class of TBI is referred to as a diffuse axonal injury. This type of injury occurs when a person experiences rapid deceleration or acceleration. Diffuse axonal injuries are most likely to occur during motor vehicle accidents.
How Stem Cells May Help
Every year, approximately 1.5 million people suffer from TBIs in the U.S. alone. Roughly 230,000 people are admitted to the hospital and survive their injuries. Of these, about one-third (80,000–90,000) suffer from some sort of long-term disability.
In the past, clinicians focused on managing the many symptoms of TBIs via the use of medications and rehabilitative therapies. However, stem cell therapy has become a safe and natural alternative treatment option for many different neurodegenerative conditions, including TBIs.
Early research suggests that stem cell therapy may be able to:
- Improve cognitive function
- Improve appetite
- Improve mood and stamina
- Decrease chronic pain
- Increase energy
If you or a loved one is suffering from a TBI injury, stem cell therapy might be able to help mitigate or improve symptoms. If you would like to learn more contact us today and speak with a care coordinator.
by admin | Jan 7, 2022 | Stem Cell Therapy, Kidney Disease, Mesenchymal Stem Cells, Stem Cell Research
Current estimates indicate that kidney disease currently affects over 37 million US adults and over 10% of the global population[1]. Characterized by gradual loss of function, kidney disease generally progresses over time and culminates in the inability to remove waste and excess fluid from the blood[2].
Often demonstrating little to no symptoms in its early stages, chronic kidney disease tends to demonstrate increasing and dangerous symptoms as the condition advances.
To date, treatment for chronic kidney disease has been centered around causal control as a way of slowing the progression of the condition. However, these therapeutic treatment efforts, including multidrug therapy, have demonstrated an inability to reverse the condition from progressing to end-stage renal disease (ESRD) and requiring additional therapy, dialysis, or kidney transplantation.
Considering the high cost and disruption to normal life function associated with dialysis and the severe shortage of viable kidney donors, neither dialysis nor transplant has proven to be ideal or often recommended treatment strategies. As a result, there has been renewed interest in new and more effective therapeutic options to alleviate, cure, or prevent kidney disease and to improve a patient’s survival and quality of life.
Evaluating the numerous and growing therapeutic applications associated with stem cells’ ability for self-renewal, proliferation, and differentiation, Liu et al.’s review explores the potential benefits offered toward improving renal function and supporting structural repair in those afflicted with kidney disease.
Despite the promising benefits of using stem cells to kidney repair and disease treatment demonstrated through prior preclinical study, the authors point out that certain ethical issues regarding the origin of stem cells, and specifically embryonic stem cells (ESCs) need to be addressed and overcome before clinical application of SCs.
Regardless of the stated drawbacks, Liu et. al concludes that the existing evidence demonstrates that stem cell therapy appears to be a clinically viable alternative for kidney disease, specifically for restoring normal kidney function and for progressing understanding about tissue regeneration, drug screening, and disease modeling.
Although stem cells demonstrate promise in this regard and while the immunomodulatory properties of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) appear to make them the most promising SC for treating kidney disease, the authors also point out that further research is needed before definitively concluding which source of SC is best suited for this application.
As a result of this review, and in an effort to realize these findings into clinical applications in the future, the authors call for larger rigorously designed clinical trials to further assist in determining the clinical efficacy of SC therapy in kidney disease – including the appropriate selection of cell types, number of SCs required, and the appropriate route of administration.
Source: “Stem cells: a potential treatment option for kidney diseases.” 25 Jun. 2020, https://stemcellres.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13287-020-01751-2.
[1] “Chronic Kidney Disease Basics – CDC.” https://www.cdc.gov/kidneydisease/basics.html.
[2] “Chronic kidney disease – Symptoms and causes – Mayo Clinic.” 3 Sep. 2021, https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/chronic-kidney-disease/symptoms-causes/syc-20354521.
by Stemedix | Jan 3, 2022 | Traumatic Brain Injury, Stem Cell Therapy
A question we get a lot is what is traumatic brain injury? Traumatic brain injury (or TBI) is usually caused by a violent blow to the head or body. An object piercing the brain tissue, such as may happen in an automobile accident, can also cause TBI. Most traumatic brain injuries are mild concussions that do not require hospitalization, but sadly, TBI does contribute to nearly 50,000 deaths a year in the U.S. Treatments for traumatic brain injury depend on the severity of the injury. Therapies may include emergency treatment, medications, rehabilitation, and stem cell therapy.
Inflammation is the body’s normal response to injury, but the hard skull around the brain prevents outward swelling when it’s injured. Instead, pressure builds up inside the skull, and this pressure can cause even further injury.
Interruption in communication patterns between the brain’s neurotransmitters creates an imbalance of the delicate chemistry needed for normal function. If the injury is mild, normal function may resume when the brain heals and inflammation recedes. But if the pressure is prolonged or the injury is more severe, complications can be life-altering.
The Symptoms of TBI
The term “traumatic brain injury” sounds severe, and in some cases, it can be. However, traumatic brain injury is also the correct term for describing mild concussions that don’t appear to be concerning immediately after the event. Symptoms and complications related to TBI may appear days or even weeks after the injury. That is why all TBIs should be considered serious incidents until more information becomes available.
Symptoms of a mild TBI may include:
- Headache,
- Fatigue or drowsiness
- Nausea/vomiting
- Speech problems
- Dizziness
- Loss of balance
- Blurred vision
- Ringing in the ears
- Strange taste in the mouth
- Loss of smell
- Sensitivity to light or sound
- Loss of consciousness for a few seconds or minutes
- Feeling confused, disoriented
- Problems with memory or difficulty concentrating
- Mood swings
A more serious TBI may also cause convulsions, clear fluids draining from ears or nose, weakness in toes and fingers, or dilation of one or both pupils.
Seek medical care if you or someone you know exhibits any of the above signs after a fall or some other type of accident that involves a blow to the head. Children are especially at risk for long-term complications of TBI and should be evaluated immediately.
Can Regenerative Medicine Help TBI?
Regenerative medicine, also known as stem cell therapy, has shown potential for managing a range of neurodegenerative disorders, including traumatic brain injury. While it is still considered experimental, studies on stem cell therapy show promise for its ability to replace damaged brain cells with healthy new cells and potentially restore or improve brain function. If you would like to learn more contact a care coordinator today!
by admin | Dec 31, 2021 | Stem Cell Therapy, Diabetes, Mesenchymal Stem Cells, Stem Cell Research
According to recent data from the CDC, an estimated 30 million Americans currently have type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), and another 88 million are considered to be prediabetic[1].
Occurring most often as a result of being overweight and/or sedimentary and often resulting in severe kidney, heart, or vision issues, T2DM has demonstrated to be difficult to treat, often resulting in life-long insulin therapy as the primary method of treatment.
Considering the negative impacts associated with insulin treatment, and T2DM in general, Liu, et al.’s research explores the potential of specific mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) in the treatment of the condition.
Recently, stem cell therapy has been shown to be beneficial in improving glycemic control and beta function. Building off of these findings, Liu, et. al designed this study to specifically examine the efficacy and safety of Wharton’s Jelly mesenchymal stem cells transplantation (WJ-MSC) as a therapeutic option for those with T2DM.
The authors’ single-center phase I/II study involved observing 22 patients with T2DM for 12 months after receiving two injections of WJ-MSC (one intravenously and one intrapancreatic endovascularly). Over the course of the 12-month observation period, the participants were monitored with primary endpoints observed including changes in the levels of glycated hemoglobin and C-peptide and secondary endpoints including insulin dosage, fasting blood glucose, post-meal blood glucose, inflammatory markers, and T lymphocyte counts.
At the conclusion of this study, Liu et al. found that both glycated hemoglobin and fasting glucose levels demonstrated a progressive decline after WJ-MSC transplantation and over the course of the 12-month follow-up period, the suggested potential of long-lasting effects of the WJ-MSC treatment. Researchers also observed a general improvement in fasting C-peptide levels. Secondary endpoint observations over the course of the 12-month follow-up included improved beta-cell function and reduced markers of systemic inflammation and T lymphocyte counts.
While there were no significant adverse observed effects associated with either of the WJ-MSC injections, the authors did note isolated and separate incidences of mild fever, nausea, and headache in a very small number of participants – all of which spontaneously resolved within a week of onset. The authors also noted a temporary decrease in levels of C-peptide and beta-cell function one month after treatment, possibly related to the intrapancreatic endovascular injection. As a result of these observations, the authors call for further investigation of the safety of intrapancreatic endovascular delivery of WJ-MSC.
As a result of this research, Liu et al. concluded that their findings suggest the possible therapeutic potential of WJ-MSC transplantation for treatment of T2DM and specifically with improved beta-cell function, systemic inflammation, and immunological regulation. The authors also call for further large-scale placebo-controlled clinical studies to fully understand the safety and efficacy of WJ-MSCs in the treatment of T2DM. Source: “PMC – NCBI.” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4055092/
[1] “Type 2 Diabetes | CDC.” https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/basics/type2.html. Accessed 22 Jan. 2022.
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