A medical issue that will impact all of us is Stem cell research. Within the
next few years the United States will begin to seriously research how Stem cells
can help people with diseases that threaten our life. I am going to talk about 3
illnesses that with research can be cured. Stem cells may possibly cure
Alzheimer's disease, diabetes, and Parkinson’s disease. Soon enough the whole
world may benefit from Stem cell research.
The first issue is Alzheimer's disease; one in ten people over the age of 65
suffer from this terrible disease. Alzheimer's disease begins slowly, at first
the only symptom may be mild forgetfulness, which can be confused with
age-related memory change. In the early stage of Alzheimer's disease, people may
have trouble remembering recent events, activities, or the names of familiar
people or things; also they may not be able to solve simple math problems. How
does Stem cell research tie into this? Well, it's believed that Stem cells could
be used to grow new brain cells that help counter the destruction of brain
tissue caused by Alzheimer's. A very big supporter of Stem Cell research to help
cure Alzheimer's disease was the former President of the United States Ronald
Reagan who sadly died from Alzheimer's disease in June of 2004.
The next issue is Diabetes. Over 18 million people in the United States, or
6.3% of the population, have diabetes. Over 1 million new cases are diagnosed
every year, so finding a cure is very important. In developing a potential
therapy for patients with diabetes, researchers hope to develop a Stem that
meets several criteria. Ideally, Stem cells should be able to multiply in
culture and reproduce themselves exactly, That is, the cells should be
self-renewing. If we can cure Diabetes then one of the top killers of both men
and women all through the world would no longer be a threat.
The final issue is Parkinson's disease. This disease affects 5 million people
worldwide over the age of 50. The treatment method being explored is
transplanting Stem cells into the target sites of the brain that need dopamine.
Researchers have cultivated Stem cells from bone marrow, making them very
similar to the nerve cells that produce dopamine. They plan to test these cells
in an animal model of Parkinson’s disease. Because Parkinson’s disease is caused
by the failure of one type of cell to do its job—the dopamine producing cells in
the thalamus—Parkinson's is believed to be one of the most likely beneficiaries
of Stem cell research. A huge supporter of Stem cell research to cure
Parkinson's is Michael J. Fox who has suffered from Parkinson's since his early
40’s.
As you can see the issues above will be affecting us within a few years.
These three issues are probably the three of the diseases that will benefit most
from Stem Cell research. I’m sure everyone hopes that Stem cell research is as
promising as it sounds, and our generation will figure this out.
http://alzheimers.about.com/od/research/f/stemcells_alz.htm
http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/110/3051/stem-cell-hr3
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parkinson's_disease
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