Stem Cells - Part 2 => Continue Gaping into a Wonderful Invention

Lets see what are the different types of Stem Cells and how they help us in fighting with diseases.

Types of Stem cells:-

1. Embryonic stem cells - isolated from the inner cell mass of human embryos.

Ø In the 3- to 5-day-old embryo, the inner cells give rise to the entire body of the organism, including all of the many specialized cell types and organs such as the heart, lung, skin and other tissues.

2. Adult stem cells - found in non-embryonic adult tissues.

Ø In adult organisms, stem cells act as a repair system for the body, replenishing specialized cells, such as bone marrow, muscle, and brain, to replace cells that are lost through normal wear and tear, injury, or disease. In other organs, however, such as the pancreas and the heart, stem cells only divide under special conditions.

Applicable Treatments:-

Stem cells are important for living organisms for many reasons. The well established success of Stem Cells point out to the Bone Marrow transplantation that are used to treat Leukemia. Just to list, few other promising and emerging potentials of stem cells:

Ø Stroke

Ø Alzheimer’s Disease

Ø Parkinson’s Disease

Ø Traumatic Brain Injury

Ø Learning Defects

Ø Missing Teeth

Ø Wound Healing

Ø Baldness

Ø Blindness

Ø Deafness

Ø Cancers

Ø Multiple Sclerosis

Ø Muscle damage

Ø Myocardial Infarction

Ø Diabetes

Ø Osteoarthritis

However, much work remains to be done in the laboratory and still scientists wonder.. why can embryonic stem cells proliferate for a year or more in the laboratory without differentiating, but most non-embryonic stem cells cannot.. what are the factors in living organisms that normally regulate stem cell proliferation and self-renewal. Discovering the answers to these questions may make it possible to understand how cell proliferation is regulated during normal embryonic development or during the abnormal cell division that leads to cancer.

Stem Cells - Part 1 => Emerging as a Miracle to Mankind !!!

What are Stem Cells:-

Stem Cells have the remarkable potential to develop into many different cell types in the body during early life and growth. In addition, in many tissues they serve as a sort of internal repair system, dividing essentially without limit to replenish other cells as long as the person or animal is still alive. When a stem cell divides, each new cell has the potential either to remain a stem cell or become another type of cell with a more specialized function, such as a muscle cell, a red blood cell, or a brain cell.

Specific Characteristics of Stem Cells:-

1. They are capable of renewing themselves through cell division, sometimes after long periods of inactivity.

Ø Unlike muscle cells, blood cells, or nerve cells—which do not normally replicate themselves—stem cells may replicate many times. A starting population of stem cells that proliferates for many months in the laboratory can yield millions of cells. If the resulting cells continue to be unspecialized, like the parent stem cells, the cells are said to be capable of long-term self-renewal.

2. They are unspecialized cells.

Ø They do not have any tissue-specific structures that allow it to perform specialized functions. For example, a stem cell cannot work with its neighbors to pump blood through the body (like a heart muscle cell), and it cannot carry oxygen molecules through the bloodstream (like a red blood cell). However, unspecialized stem cells can give rise to specialized cells.

3. They can be induced to become tissue- or organ-specific cells with special functions, under certain physiologic or experimental conditions, known as differentiation.

Ø Here, the cell usually goes through several stages triggered by the external and internal signals from the cells, becoming more specialized at each step. The internal signals are controlled by a cell's genres, interspersed across long strands of DNA, and carry coded instructions for all cellular structures and functions. The external signals for cell differentiation include chemicals secreted by other cells, physical contact with neighboring cells, etc.

to be continued.. friends!

A Story from True Life

Stem Cells –

One of my friends explained to me the importance of collecting stem cells during delivery time. Even another one of them pointed out a true story on this matter.

My Inspiration:

The story goes like this. My friend's coworker had a younger brother, let us name him Mr. X. Once while X was coming out of a shop, a speeding car hit him very badly. In fact, he had just completed taking copies of study materials for his Engineering Course. Boom.. that was a great blow on him.. his dreams were shattered into zillion pieces. Everyone opinioned that X would soon die, more due to his backbone that was crushed due to the impact and further scans which revealed that 3 of his spinal bones were completely destroyed.

This was the juncture where God helped X. After all this tragic happenings, his spinal cord remained untouched – it was just pushed out from between the broken pieces of the spinal bones. But still, his body below the neck was paralyzed. The doctors were determined to save X from this trauma; they tried operating and replacing his broken spinal bones with titanium. Fortunately, the efforts did bear fruits and the paralysis was restricted to his body parts under his waist.

Nevertheless, his doctors didn’t stop, they enrolled him as a specimen for the Stem Cell Research conducted in Manipal University, India. They had great hope that any medication would show quicker response, since X was really young (his age was around 18 years). Later, they injected him with the stem cells and entrusted, the 35% lurking chance of recovery, entirely on his will power and determination.

God is not that bad friends!!! It can be entitled to be a hard-to-believe miracle, but today X has started walking even though with the help of crutches. He was visiting a physiotherapist regularly for facilitating easier movements of his limbs and indeed, after several sittings, that was contributing to his success. A wonderful triumph against destiny’s experiments.. truly.

This real story inspired me to think I need to shed more light into this stuff and share it with all of you.


to be continued.. friends!

ജീവിതം ഒരു കളിക്കളം !!!

ഒരു ഫോര്‍വേഡ് മെയില് ആണ്.. ഈ ആശയം എനിക്ക് ഇഷ്ടമായി.. അതുകൊണ്ട് ഇവിടെ ഇതു എഴുതണം എന്ന് തോന്നി..
ഇതു ഒരു സത്യം തന്നെ .. പറയാണ്ട് വയ്യ അല്ലെ സഹോദരിമാരെ.. :)

A boy and a girl were playing together.
The boy had a collection of marbles.
The girl had some sweets with her.
The boy told the girl that he will give her all his marbles
in exchange for her sweets.
The girl agreed.
The boy kept the biggest and the most beautiful marble aside
and gave the rest to the girl.
The girl gave him all her sweets as she had promised.
That night, the girl slept peacefully.
But the boy couldn't sleep as he kept wondering
if the girl had hidden some sweets from him
the way he had hidden his best marble.

Moral of the story:

If you don't give your hundred percent in a relationship,
you'll always keep doubting
if the other person has given his/her hundred percent..
This is applicable for any relationship
like love, friendship, employer-employee relationship etc.,
Give your hundred percent to everything you do and sleep peacefully.

Broccoli Indian Curry.. in the Indian Way

Broccoli - how come such a name???
It has many strong branches or arms that grow from the main stem, each one sprouting a sturdy budding cluster surrounded by leaves. Hence, the name Broccoli - from the Latin bracchium, which means strong arm or branch.

Broccoli Indian curry

Ingredients

Broccoli florets - 1 cup
Onion (chopped) - 1
Bengal gram - 3 tbsp
Ginger-garlic paste - 1 tsp
Dried Red Chillies - 3-4
Mustard - 1 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Urad dal - 1 tsp
Curry Leaves - few
Asafoetida - 2-3 pinches
Coriander powder - 1 tbsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Coconut (grated) - 1/2 cup
Salt to taste
Oil

Method

1. Cut the broccoli into small similar sized florets and fry them in oil till the raw smell goes. Keep aside.
2. Soak bengal gram in water for 10 mins.
3. In a pan, use little oil to splutter mustard, cumin seeds, urad dal, curry leaves, red chillies and bengal gram. Add the asafoetida.
4. Fry onions till translucent; add ginger-garlic paste and again fry.
5. Add the fried broccoli; mix well with turmeric powder, coriander powder and salt. Cover and cook for max 10 mins; just check it up in between so that the broccoli remains crunchy.
6. Mix in the coconut, cook for couple of mins and then serve with rice or chappathi.

This is indeed a good recipe for those who don't like the raw taste of broccoli in salads.
Broccoli is very low in Saturated Fat and Cholesterol. But, it is a good source of Protein, Vitamin E, Thiamine, Riboflavin, Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorus and Selenium. It also serves a very good source of Dietary Fiber, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin K, Vitamin B6, Potassium and Manganese.

I am Sorry MOM !!!

Another interesting forward mail.. found it really worth to share

As I got up today, I felt the smell of fresh coffee. I woke up to see a cup of coffee with some biscuits kept at my bedside table. This reminded me of home. The old school and college days, when mumma used to wake me up by serving a steaming cup of coffee. The aroma, the taste, so refreshing, still so fresh in my memories. A sudden thought hit me, “I was in bed, so who prepared this coffee for me? Is it a dream?”

I pinched myself and that hurts, which meant I was not dreaming. I walked out of the room with the cup of coffee, in search of my roommate. I asked him whether he prepared that for me, and the answer was YES. I was relaxed but somehow my heart wanted him to say NO. A no because I wanted to be in a belief that my mom prepared it for me. The whole scene reminded me of mom, and I missed her at that moment. I got ready for the office and all set to leave.

On my way, I was thinking about those days, when mumma used to cook my every meal. All her possible ways by which she could stuff her son. I could not remember any single day when I slept without food. Maggi, chips, biscuits, all junk food was banned and I always cooked maggi when I was sure that mom was not around. But now, I no more enjoy cooking maggi for myself. Almost everyday I eat it, not because I like it, but because I am left with no other option at times. This very thought brought tears to my eyes and I decided to call up mom.

I reached office and gave mom a call. The first thing she asked was, “Is everything alright?”. I was speechless. And I thought, how the time has changed.

When I was home with her, she used to nag me by calling after every hour when I was ut with friends. In those days she never asked me what was wrong, as she knew that it was my habit even if I got home late and forgot to call. My call at this point of day to her, means that I am in trouble. Time as changed, she is still the same, its me who has changed. But I continued my conversation saying that I just called up to ask how she was, and how are things going on with her.

And we continued our conversation. . Then suddenly an ice-breaker came when she asked, “Don’t you have any work today?” I as shocked and asked her why she asked that, in reply to which she said, it was almost 30 minutes, I have been talking to her. I hurriedly ended the conversation saying I have to attend a meeting.

I lied to her and deep down I know, she knows that I lied to her but what else can I do? The lady with whom I used to have endless conversations, sleepless nights of gossips… has all ended. I am so occupied with my new life that I forgot to spend few hours with her. I roll backed the time and thought of every single day that I have not spent with her. This made me realize that there was not a single day when I was busy, busy in a sense to neglect my mom.

The lady who gave her whole life just for me, I could not even give her the time that she deserved. I remembered how I used to tell her about all my daily happenings and how I always failed to ask about her day. It left me all in tears. I missed her and missed her to core. I was feeling ashamed, because it was a cup of coffee that made me realize her presence in my world.

We all are here, away from our family, living with our friends, who are our new family.. We spend our lunch time with them gossiping about what’s going in and around, weekends, shopping with them and even festivals as most of us are staying too far from home. And when we call home, we are in a hurry to hang up as most of us are BUSY. Are we really that busy?

Think of the lady whom we have left back at home. She still misses her son/daughter at the dining table, although most of us enjoy our meals with our friends and colleagues. She still waits all day just to hear her son/daughter’s voice at the end of the day and we, we spend our time on phone with friends or girlfriend/boyfriend.

Is it really that we don’t have time or is it just we are too busy with our new life? I apologize to all the mothers in this world and thank them for what we are today..

Another soup in a row!!!

Chilli Broccoli Soup

Ingredients

Butter - 4 tbsp
Broccoli (florets) - 1/2 kg
Onion (chopped) - 1
Carrot (chopped) - 1
Green chillies (finely chopped) - 5-6 (reduce it if you don't like it hot)
Salt to taste
Black Pepper (freshly crushed)
Water - according to soup consistency
Sour Cream - to garnish
Spring onions - to garnish

Method

1. Heat butter in a deep vessel.
2. Saute onion, green chillies, carrot, broccoli, salt and pepper.
3. Add water and bring to boil.
4. Simmer until broccoli is tender.
5. Puree the soup in a blender, add more water according to needed consistency.
6. Garnish with sour cream and spring onion, serve hot.