Gilbert Rogers | Non-Aligned Movement

Gilbert RogersDecember 7, 2018

Facts About Stem Cells

Although they are popular, little is really known about stem cells, especially in what they can do. However, researchers have already uncovered some facts about them which will be further discussed in this article.

What are Stem Cells?

Stem cells, to put it simply, are ‘unspecialized’ or ‘primitive’ cells that have unique characteristics- traits that are just not found in any other cell in the body.

The reason why they are called unspecialized is due to the fact they are cells that do not have a specific function yet. They have yet to change into cells that have a set developmental path.

A prime example of this would be the heart cells. The cells that are present near the said organ is able to regulate the beating of the heart as well as making sure that it beats properly as well.

There are many types of stem cells. The Embryonic Stem Cell can be found in an embryo. Whenever a sperm and an egg cell combines and starts fertilizing, they will form an embryo. That embryo contains stem cells that are Totipotent or has the ability to change into any of the cell types that are currently present in the human body.

The other type of stem cell is the adult stem cell. Also known as Somatic stem cells, these cells are able to transform only to the cells where they originate from. For example, bone marrow stem cells can turn into bone marrow stem cells only.

The process of changing into a specialized cell with a specific function is known as differentiation.

Why Do They Have So Much Importance?

Some Simple Facts About Stem Cells Stem cells are quite important to our bodies because of two reasons.

One, it has the ability to divide indefinitely which can be used to create a treatment plan for people who are suffering from various medical conditions, most especially the ones that suffer from tissue damage.

Two, because it can divide indefinitely and turn into specific cells, stem cells can regenerate damaged tissues in the body with relative ease. When given enough time and when given the right conditions, the stem cells could potentially create a new organ to replace the old and damaged organs in the body!

The Different Types of Stem Cells

I’ve already discussed the two main types of stem cells, but there are also other types as well (albeit, not as commonly used as the former two). They are:

Peripheral Blood Stem Cells– Also known as the PBSC, this type of stem cell can be extracted from a blood sample. It gives birth to a variety of different cells including the red blood cells, platelets, granulocytes, and lymphocytes.
Umbilical Cord Stem Cells– These cells are derived from the amniotic fluid that is present inside the umbilical cord of a newborn child. Although they have the ability to differentiate into different cells, the cells it can turn into is very limited.
Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells– Because the use of embryonic stem cells is highly controversial, scientists have devised a way to turn some somatic stem cells into induced pluripotent stem cells; stem cells which have nearly the same characteristics to that of the embryonic stem cells. It can divide indefinitely and it has the power to turn into any cell you can think of (provided it is found in the human body, of course).

Stem Cell Applications

The use of stem cells is plenty. It can be used for research purposes and it can be used as a treatment protocol as well.

Some Simple Facts About Stem Cells In fact, bone marrow transplants are quite common and this procedure has been known to restore the bone marrow cells that are lost due to chemotherapy.

It does have plenty of potentials to treat various diseases, although it is still being researched for its effectivity and most especially, its safety.

Gilbert RogersNovember 27, 2018

Beginners Guide on Blogspot SEO

Do you want to gain more traffic for your website as part of the online marketing services? Well, one of the quickest ways to accelerate web traffic growth is to take advantage of other bloggers’ authority. The most efficient approach to reach this objective is through blogger outreach. If you want to learn more about the blogger outreach process, read on.

What are your blogger outreach goals?

Establish a relationship with the influencer or blogger
Get a contextual backlink.

If you succeed with the first step, then you will gain a dependable promotion channel. In turn, building relationships with hundreds of online personalities would help you promote your SEO content.

Link/Blogger Prospecting

Looking for the best opportunities is the most convenient aspect of this process. You can either do this by yourself, or outsource it. Search for awesome tools and resources that can help you get started. Some of the resources you will end up with will cost you tons of time, so at the end of the day, you may want to consider outsourcing this task.

How to Prioritize and Qualify Opportunities

Blogger prospecting is just an initial step. You should filter your list thoroughly, and pick the prospects that can deliver the best ROI and ROT.

Blogger Outreach for SEO (Beginners Guide) This specific process is called link qualifying. So, how can you prioritize and qualify your huge prospect list?

Research for guides that will help you:

Clean up the prospecting list
Go after the most beneficial opportunities

Relationship Building

People are always intimidated even with the mere thought of establishing more relationships. It is not really very complicated. All you have to do is to create a good-working relationship with reputable people.

For this relationship to blossom, the two parties should benefit. You need to deliver good value, and it comes in several forms and shapes.

Do you know what value form has the most effective conversion rate with influencers and bloggers? Well, the answer is hard cash. Money always talks. In order to understand how to be successful, you must understand how to reach out to them.

Outreach

Outreach is the most vital aspect of your relationship-building efforts. If you want to be successful, you should understand the most basic components of persuasion, copywriting and human psychology.

What happens when you convince a blogger to post your content? Make sure that the collaboration will of the highest quality.

Content Development

See to it that every piece of content you will be making is stellar.

Link Placement

Position your link strategically. This is crucial if you want your guest post to be successful. Several guest blog opportunities allows you to put a link in an author box. This is not an ideal tactic. You must insert the link in the middle of the article.

What Should You Do After Getting Published

You worked so hard for a guest post opportunity, so never let it go to waste. Don’t just think about website promotion, you must also concentrate on tier two promotion.

Strive hard for a much-improved brand authority to establish Blogger Outreach for SEO (Beginners Guide) your brand equity and social proof.

Furthermore, you can create goodwill with the website that published your post. Strong relationships with publishers allows you to leverage them for links in the future. Leverage on your strong relationship with publishers.

How to Get Links on Relevant Websites

If you want to improve your online presence, you need to get contextual backlinks on relevant websites with 100% traffic.

Gilbert RogersNovember 21, 2018

Reasons Why Bet Trader is One of the Best Out There

When you are looking into trading in the betting exchange, you will need to get a good software to help you win big. There are certainly plenty of them out there and you might find it hard to get the best one.

But in this article, I am going to talk about one of the best trading platforms or online trading brokers out there and that is the “Bet Trader”. Find out why this is the most recommended trading software on the market today by reading through the rest of the article.

1. It Has a Nice Interface

5 Reasons Why Bet Trader is One of the Best Out There Many trading platforms out there, although do work great, have a clunky interface. In fact, if you just try any of them that are available, you will find that it is really very hard to use. You have to sift through the many options to find the things that you want to use and that, to me, is not a good user experience at all.

Bet Trader is different. It not only has amazing features but it offers it all in one clean interface. You can find the options easily and everything is well thought out. From the labels to the features, Bet Trader is one of the most robust out there.

2. It Has Nifty Features

One of the best things about Bet Trader is that it comes with multiple features. It presents a ladder where you can easily place a bet on something. It also presents you with some graphs that provide real-time data as well.

Many people swear by the amazing features that this software possesses. Seriously, if you ever need to trade on the betting exchange, look no further than this software!

3. You Can Try It Out for FREE

The problem with some trading platforms is that you can only use all of its features whenever you pay a fee upfront. Heck, there are even some programs that don’t allow you to use it all until you pay up first! The problem with that pricing model is that you might spend money on a clunky piece of trash.

Bet trader is different because you can use it in all of its glory absolutely free! It offers a free trial where you can use the software for 7 days. If you like the experience and it works for you, then you can just pay for the software and use it as often as you please. If not, then at least you didn’t have to pay for it.

4. It Supports a Lot of Sports

The beauty of Bet Trader is that you’re not only limited to betting on racehorses, but you are also given the opportunity to bet on other sports as well. It supports football, basketball, and any other major sport out there.

5. It is FAST

5 Reasons Why Bet Trader is One of the Best Out There Here’s the thing: not all trading programs have been streamlined. Some of them take quite a lot of time to load and it can be frustrating, especially if time is of the essence (as is the case of betting).

Bet Trader gives you peace of mind because the software loads up pretty quickly. When you avail of a certain feature such as the ladders, for example, in just one click, the thing instantly loads anywhere between 1-3 seconds depending on your computer. Really fast, really reliable!

Gilbert RogersNovember 16, 2018

Do you want to improve the overall appearance and performance of your WordPress website? Well, some professional seo services would suggest using SEO plugins. SEO plugins can help you fulfill your business objectives. But, if you are not open into using any plugin, you don’t need to worry. It is perfectly possible to implement an SEO strategy efficiently without any plugin help.

How useful are SEO Plugins?

These are highly recommended solutions for digital professionals and publishers who can’t code. As we all know, the technical aspects of SEO deals with a lot of coding. These SEO plugins have the power to democratize web publishing.

SEO plugins are one of the safest approaches for publishers who are not willing to explore alternatives. Many important details are at stake, so it’s always best to settle with the most convenient solution.

Is it okay not to use SEO Plugins?

Some digital professionals and business owners refuse to use SEO plugins because of bugs. By doing so, you will gain more control of the website, and can still be happy and satisfied with the outcome.

Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Use SEO Plugins

1.It offers standalone solutions which are easier to maintain.

2.It offers faster WordPress installation processes without any unnecessary features.

SEO Features You Need for WordPress

1.Breadcrumbs

This is one of the most beneficial SEO features. Incorporating structured data to it can help you get enhanced listings, in case you rank in the search engine page results. These enhanced listings can improve your click through rate. Remember, you can code a breadcrumb navigation even without a specific plugin.

2.Meta Description

WP Meta Description is an efficient feature that can help you improve your meta descriptions. Meta descriptions may not be considered as a ranking factor, but it can show up in the search engine results pages, in case you rank.

3.Title Tag

Title tags may appear simple and useless, but it can highly affect your website traffic and SEO strategy. Learn more about this feature, so you can take advantage of its benefits.

4.Attachment Pages Redirect

Do you carelessly create web pages for each image attachment in your website? If yes, then this plugin can help you address the issue. It can restore individual attachments to their right behavior. The only thing you must do is install, then activate it. The problem can be solved in just a few clicks.

5.Redirect Manager

If you are not very comfortable creating redirects and editing access files, turn to Redirect Manager. This useful plugin can assist you in redirecting an old web page to a new web page.

Redundant SEO Plugin Features

1.Canonical URLs

Canonical URLs are created within WordPress. No need for an SEO plugin.

2.Sitemap Generators

Site maps are not really crucial for your WordPress website because Google crawls specific URLs through RSS links and feeds. Nevertheless, site maps are beneficial if you have implemented major modifications, and want search engines to discover them as quick as possible.

If you settle for a manually-generated site map, there is no need to install a plugin.

3.Keyword Research and Word Processing

WordPress is not the perfect platform for conducting word processing and keyword functions. When it comes to checking online content, it is highly recommended to utilize a real application and software program such as the Hemingway App.

Gilbert RogersNovember 1, 2018

Are you thinking of organizing your own special event anytime soon? Whether you are planning a fundraiser, art festival or sports occasion, you can surely make it very successful. Make sure to keep potential attendees informed and involved. Any idea how you can take event marketing to the next level? Make sure to create some hype! Here are some helpful tips.

1. Get Social

Utilize the power of social media. When it comes promotion, an event marketing company believes that you’ll never go wrong with different social media platforms. Consider implementing some automated social campaigns, accompanied by an efficient content strategy. Don’t forget to announce your guest speakers, and post teaser videos.

2. Survey Your Guests

How can you make sure that your guests are happy and satisfied? Well, you need to know what they want. If you can, conduct an online survey. The event may be done, but there are still things that should be accomplished. It’s best to let them fill out a satisfaction survey. You can do this via email or social media. If you think that your response rate is not so high, then you can offer some incentives to those who will take the time to complete the survey. Maybe offer a discount coupon?

3. The Perfect Location

Event venues matter a lot. It is the heart of every special occasion. If you choose the perfect location, you can attract more guests, and sell more tickets. Basically, selecting a good place can be your ticket to more profit. Abandon the thought of booking the most popular venue in town. For a more affordable deal, try booking the least popular ones.

4. Blog Marketing

Start implementing your event marketing strategy days before the final date. Putting up a blog or a website is one of the best approaches to get potential guests and customers involved in the occasion. Post information about the performers, awardees or speakers. Keep your audience informed about the event’s benefits, goals and purposes. This helps spread the word, and establishes an organic marketing opportunity. It will help you improve your search engine ranking.

5. Get Organized

Ideally, event planning should start many months before the final date. But, this is not always the case. At some point, you will be required to organize one at a short notice. You don’t need to worry, though. All you need is a detailed checklist. Along with this, you should implement a good content marketing strategy that would engage sponsors and fans right away.

Jump into that social media campaign right away. Sign up speakers and performers. Figure out the ticketing process. and come up with crisis plans and backup strategies.

Conclusion

Everything might sound stressful and overwhelming, but trust me, you’ll get through it. Just stick with your planning schedule, then you’ll surely pull off a legendary event.

Gilbert RogersOctober 26, 2018

Tips To Be A Better Trader in Forex Trading

Statistics show that only 10% of forex traders are making consistent profits, while 90% are actually losing money. These 10 tips about forex trading can guide you towards the path of profitable trading similar with the currency trading experts:

1. Create your personal strategy towards your trading goals

Setting your trading goals is very important as a new forex trader as it can guide you towards choosing at a wide selection of trading methods available. Define what kind of trading style you are comfortable with. After establishing these, you can now start creating your trading plan that you can use to keep you going off track.

2. Use multi time frame analysis and take a top down approach

A lot of traders focus only on the time frame they are trading in and basing their decisions off it, which is a mistake. Use this approach to increase the potential of your trades to succeed. Analyze different time frames so that you can confirm the success of your trade or filter bad trades based from this. Get a wider view of the action of prices by starting with a higher time frame chart then close in to your time frame for trading.

3. Know what to expect by testing your strategy

Traders need to find the high probability setups and learn how to manage risks. This can be achieved through validating and testing your forex strategies which in return can build your confidence in your trading decisions.

Traders should know the probability of their trades by learning from your history data either through a backtesting software or manually checking your log of losing and winning trades. Over time, this can help you improve your analysis of your trading patterns and identify chart patterns.

4. Create your trading plan and keep a journal

To trade like a pro, you need to create a trading plan and stick to it, which is something most traders don’t practice. By having a trading plan that goes with your trading strategies, you are keeping yourself on track and focused on what you have planned to do and at the same time teaching you discipline. Keep also along with your trading plan, a journal with records of all your trading and its results. This will aid you in understanding your thought process better during that time, allowing you to take action on what needs to be improved.

5. Trade on higher timeframes and stick with it

A number of traders believe that trading in numbers in small timeframes would earn them more profit. But the truth is, trading with only a few at higher timeframes is where real profit is made. There are a lot of obstacles, along with the transaction costs, that make day trading an uphill battle for most.

In the higher timeframes, the transaction costs are lower and the probability rate of your trade setups is higher. This also allows traders to choose the best setups and have time to perform other tasks.

6. Avoid too many indicators and keep it simple

If you prefer to use indicators, be sure to narrow it down to a single or two at most, as having too many will only cause distractions to you and just cloud your judgement. Better yet, try to understand the movement of prices thru the imbalances of supply and demand and learn how to read price actions. This simplifies your trading and provides more potential in profit.

7. Understand key support and resistance levels

These are price levels that both sellers and buyers have shown interest in where prices have been influenced due to the number of trades. Future prices and amount of traders can be forecast using these levels. You can also base your trade management and entry with these levels. Even large market players look out for S/R levels.

8. Check scheduled news events before trading

The market can be heavily impacted by scheduled news events, that’s why traders are advised to watch out for important releases and news events of the country’s currency you are trading. These events can make the market volatile, so proper risk management is required. The first goal is to preserve your capital as a trader.

9. Concentrate on trading price actions in the market

The best indicator for trading is already available to all traders – the price itself. All other indicators compute from the price itself. Reading the price action is the simplest and yet a very effective way to approach the currency market.

10. Set trading goals realistically

If you believe that in forex trading you can just sit by the pool or hangout at the beach while you a system earn you $200 a day, you are already setting your expectations up for failure. Trading in forex always has risk, and you can expect that your investment will be reduced by as much as 75% if you don’t manage risks properly. That’s why you need to set realistic trading goals for yourself.

Gilbert RogersOctober 19, 2018

Planning a wedding is wonderful experience, but it can also be very stressful, time-consuming and expensive. It involves tons of internet research and endless phone calls. If you are thinking of planning your own wedding, make sure to read the following tips from experienced wedding event companies.

1. Know Your Wedding Must-Haves

Before spending anything, make sure to set a strict wedding budget. Stick to this as much as possible, but you should also be flexible. Plenty of unexpected situations may turn up, so there will be the need to make adjustments.

2. Explore Fund Raising Tactics

There are various ways to obtain more wedding funs. You can try selling some of your old clothes and other unwanted goods online.

3. Parental Contributions

Are you and your fiancé covering 100% of the wedding bill? Or are your parents open to shouldering a fraction of the expenses? See to it that you can maximize the contributions of your family members, as well as your own savings.

4. Prioritize Your Wedding To-Do List

Set your priorities and make a timeline. If on this day, you are scheduled to finalize the wedding venue details, make sure you accomplish it. Choose the perfect location for the most special occasion of your life.

5. Off-Season Discounts

It is highly recommended to inquire about a venue’s late availability deals and off-peak packages. You can make huge savings from these discounted bookings. Why not schedule a weekday wedding instead of a weekend one? This can lessen the costs of your reception venue.

6. DIY Touches

Weddings today are all about customization and personal touches. Make some of your wedding favors by yourself. Stamp your own, and your fiancé’s individuality in that very special occasion.

7. Don’t Skimp on Good Suppliers

Selecting the best videographer and photographer for your wedding is very crucial in making remarkable, lasting memories. As much as possible, don’t cut costs on photography and videography. Instead, try negotiating substitute items or reduced packages that will better suit your event.

8. Family Talents

Utilize the talents of your closest and dearest family members. If you have a cousin who is a good baker, why not ask her to bake your wedding cake? If there is someone in the family who can do your hair and makeup, then ask her to help you glam up. These are alternatives worth exploring and it will make your loved ones feel even more valued and special.

9. Alternative Catering

Alternative catering ideas and a relaxed, outdoor celebration have been very popular lately. Consider a wedding breakfast to keep your special day carefree, exciting and within budget. Instead of fancy dessert choices, you can get cotton candy carts. This is a nice, unique alternative for a reception.

10. Floral Savings

One of the easiest ways to cut the costs of your wedding is to lessen the floral arrangement decorations. If possible, seek the services of local suppliers.

11. Gatsby Glamour

Including some Gatsby-style glamour on your wedding day is fabulous idea. If you can, add amazing fireworks to serve as a grand finale to the celebration.

12. Save Time

At some point, you will want to plan and organize your own wedding. However, hiring a wedding planner is also wise option, especially for busy couples. She can support you, and help you stick to your strict budget.

Gilbert RogersOctober 19, 2018

Stock Trading Strategies

In this article, I will talk about the different strategies that anyone who is going into stock trading can use. Before I start, this post is meant for people who already know what stock trading is, what stocks actually are and the stock broking services. With that being said, let’s get started with the first strategy which is…

1. Using Changes in Dividends Policy for Huge Gains

When you invest in the stock market, you basically own a portion of a company. The company will then pay you in the form of dividends. Now, every organization has a different policy and you can actually leverage this to your advantage.

To do this, you have to look into dividend safety by looking to invest in a well-established company with a good cash flow.

Next, you can focus on either getting dividends that promise high yields or ones that have higher growth rates. For the former, you want to invest in a large company that has a considerable cash flow when it comes to paying dividends.

The latter is where you go and buy stocks from a company that offers a below-average dividend payment, but one that is so promising that their organization will grow in a matter of 5 years or so.

2. Build a Stock Position Using Put Options

Ever thought of having one company pay you to buy their stocks? There actually is such a thing and it is called writing put options. For the people who do not know, Put Options are trade options where a company agrees to sell some assets for a fixed and agreed upon price on or before a specific date.

Suppose that you will only buy shares at $25 and the current value of a stock is $30, you can write put options by getting a bank or any other investor to buy those stocks, and they, in turn, will give you a premium that will act as an insurance.

No matter what happens, you get to receive the full payment of the shares. So whether the price of the stock drops to your desired amount or not, you are required to buy those shares, but it will again be bought out by the investor of your put option.

3. Invest in Bad Companies to Make Money

This may sound counter intuitive, but you can actually earn some profit by investing in bad companies. However, do not just go out there and put your money on just about any company or industry you can find. The trick here is to put your chips on a “bad” company or industry sector which you think will have a huge turn around in the coming months or years.

In other words, invest in a sector where there will be huge changes in terms of the fortunes that the particular companies in that industry will experience.

4. Put Risk Arbitrage to Good Use

Some stocks are risky, especially if they will be a part of a merger or a new owner is going to acquire it. However, in these times, you can buy their own stocks (for relatively cheap prices) and you can sell them to would-be investors.

Risk arbitrage is an investment scheme where you can earn money by purchasing stocks from a company that is about to experience a takeover.

It can be risky in the sense that no one might buy it, but if the company is going to experience some growth in the future, then many people would buy those shares from you.

Again, due to its risky nature, beginners should never do this kind of thing, otherwise, you run the risk of losing a lot of money.

5. Use Cash Carry to Buy Stocks

There is this concept known as Cash Carry which essentially just means that you’re going to buy stocks using borrowed money.

Only do this if you know that the value of the stocks you’ve acquired is going to yield greater profits. Failure to do this will result in a huge debt obligation that you have to pay.

Gilbert RogersOctober 15, 2018

Craps Card Game 101: Craps 3-4-5 Times Odds

Do you love playing games inside the casino rather than playing online gambling games at bandar togel? Playing card games is fun, but it can also be very intimidating. Competing face to face with experienced players can be nerve-wracking, so you need to continuously level up your play by studying various strategies.

Speaking of tactics, do you know that on the craps table, the best bet has zero house edge? Moreover, odds are not really mentioned on its table.

Every player needs to do a don’t pass or pass bet to be able to take odds on. It’s always better if you know a lot of odds. You are sure to encounter the greatest bet inside the casino.

Are you familiar with the craps game? If you are, then you would know a shooter needs to put a wager on a Don’t Pass Line and Pas Line bet. An odds bet doesn’t have a house edge, and is never mandatory. It is called an optional bet.

Pass Line pays even cash all the time. However, the good thing about an odds wager is that the player is paid with point rolling’s true odds.

How to do the wager? You just need to put the chips at the back of the initial pass line bet. The exact amount of your wager is contingent on the chosen point number.

If your point numbers are 5, 4, 10 or 9, then match the bet. If point numbers are 8 or 6, you can do an odd bet of $6 for every $5 you did on Pass Line. Once the shooter creates a point, you can get a higher payoff.

Here are the Payoffs for Pass Line Odds

You are paid 3 to 2 on your odds wager, if the point is 9 or 5
You are paid 2 to 1 on your odds wager, if the point is 10 or 4
You are paid 6 to 5 on your odds wager, if the point is 8 or 6

Various casinos would allow players to make double odds to pass line bet. This only means that if a player gives $5 at the pass line, then he would be permitted to give $10 as an odds bet.

A pass the line bet has a 1.41% house edge. An odds bet have zero house edge, so it can decrease the house edge of your wagers. If a pass line bet that includes single odds and double odds gets a .85% house bet, then the house edge can fall to .61%.

For many years now, various casinos have been permitting all players to make bigger odds bets. Some casinos even go up against each other to check who can provide the biggest odds—sometimes up to 100 times! This is clearly awesome, though it’s very impractical for some individuals to wager a big amount, except it they have a huge bankroll.

3-4-5 Times Odds

Several casinos are using simplified odds platforms to make things easy and quick for the box men, dealers and players. However, they would only allow the odds of 4, 5 and 3 times at a pass line wager.

Through this platform, different players are permitted to take 5, 3 and 4 times odds. But, at the end of the day, it all depends on the point number.

You can take 3 times odds, if the point is 10 or 4

You can take 5 times odds, if the point is 8 or 6

You can take 4 times odds, if the point is 9 or 5

Craps Odds Bets

These are the Odds for a Pass Line Bet of $5
Point	Times Odds-Pays	Your odds bet for Your Payoff:
4 or 10	3 times pays 2 to 1	$15	$30
5 or 9	4 times pays 3 to 2	$20	$30
6 or 8	5 times pays 6 to 5	$25	$30

Gilbert RogersOctober 11, 2018

Red blood cells are responsible for bringing oxygen to every corner of your body and take along with them wastes. Red blood cells have a tough job squeezing through tight passages which shortens their lifespan to 4 months.

New red blood cells are replaced from stem cells. Stem cells are special kinds of cells that can become any type of cell. Our other cells divide into exactly the same kind of cell like skin cells will divide into skin cells, etc.

That’s why embryos grow from one fertilized egg cell into a fetus with trillions of cells that are specialized to become tissues for the skin, brain and muscles and organs. Stem cells can also be a replacement for damaged or worn out cells like red blood cells.

Scientists are excited to use the amazing abilities of stem cell therapy to replace or repair tissues damaged by diseases or accidents which will heal the body on its own. Scientists are now putting specialized cells to work in repairing damage that can make permanent disabilities history.

Meet the family

The marrow inside the bone is where blood stem cells divide and reproduce. They morph into either blood cells, different types of white blood cells and others remain as stem cells. These are specialized cells that cannot transform into another kind of cell other than blood.

Pluripotent stem cells can transform into any type or kind of cell in the body and are known to be generalized stem cells. These cells also known as embryonic cells that were originally from embryos, where they are taken in the first few days after it has been fertilized. In this stage, these two cells divide into identical cells with potential to become any type of cell. After three to five days however, these cells begin to become specialized transforming into muscle, stomach, brain cells, etc., and become limited.

When babies are born, most of their cells are specialized with their own function and use like muscle, blood cells, etc. Among these cells are also adult stem cells that can’t transform into any other type of cell, but can replace different worn out cells if needed like the ones in the marrow where blood cells come from, the ones in the brain, gut and heart.

The embryonic stem cells are the most useful among the others because it is more flexible compared to adult stem cells, which are rarer and difficult to extract from the tissues. But embryonic stem cells too are difficult to obtain because that would mean destroying an embryo which is controversial.

But now scientists have found a better way when it comes to stem cells.

The Search for Answers

Shinya Yamanaka found that specialized cells can be reverted back into stem cells back in 2006. A scientist and doctor in Kyoto University persuaded mature cells to revert to stem cells. By inserting genes of a specific set, the cells became like embryonic cells where it is called induced pluripotent stem cells.

This discovery made way for great possibilities over adult and embryonic stem cells like – It is easier to harvest as starter cell type can be used, it can become any type of cell like embryonic cell, and can treat patients using their own tissues. This means that would match the patient genetically and would not be rejected by the body.

Yamanaka’s research is now being used by scientists all over the world as a guide to create their own procedure of induced pluripotent stem cell. This research gave way to many possibilities like learning how certain cell types die, or allow small batches of these cells to be exposed to medicine where different types of drugs can now be tested safely.

Therapies Take Patience and Patients

Anne Cherry from Harvard uses stem cells to study the rare genetic disease Pearson syndrome where the bone marrow stem cells can’t make red blood cells which results in early death to sufferers.

Cherry started by using skin cells taken from a girl with the disease and turning them into stem cells by adding genes. The cells later on started to behave like embryonic stem cells as planned. She is now trying to persuade the stem cells to turn into blood cells, then learn how the disease Pearson syndrome kills these cells.

Cherry’s goal is to create healthy blood stem cells from the donated skin cells, and return it to the donor’s body to return her to normal and dismiss the need for blood transfusions. These will also be safe as the cells were taken from the donor which means there is no risk of her body rejecting the new cells as it came from her.

Sight for Sore Eyes

Neuroscientist Iqbal Ahmad from University of Nebraska Medical Center is studying how to use stem cells to restore eyesight to people who lost them to glaucoma.

Ahmad is working on a solution to place new retina cells from induced pluripotent stem cells in the eye to replace the dead ones. He starts by taking adult stem cells from the cornea that covers the front of the eyes and coax them to transform into nerve cells. He places the cornea cell beside an embryonic stem cell separated only by a mesh-like membrane where the cells can still communicate. Cells send signals to one another where other cells respond. The procedure overtime will turn the cornea cell into different types of cells like nerve cells.

The team of Ahmad used this procedure on lab mice that lost their sight to glaucoma. The nerve cells migrated to the retina which replaced the dead nerve cells. This proves that the procedure can in the future help restore sight.

Another Approach

Not all procedures require the use of stem cells and only require the chemical communication from cell to cell.
Nick Jeffrey, a veterinary neurologist from University of Cambridge, England, used cells harvested from the back of the nose of dogs to help repair damaged spinal cord connections.

When the spinal cord is damage or severed, it can lead to inability to move, paralysis and loss of sensation.

Jeffrey believes that stem cells are to replace missing cells, where as in spinal cord injuries, it is more of the nerve being severed.

Nerves called axons run along the spine, and when this is damaged, the axons can be cut or severed. This is where the research of Jeffrey comes in, where they remove cells from sinuses of dogs, where these particular cells encourage nerve cells to grow new axons.

They then grow these cells in their lab to create a large enough batch that can be injected into the spinal cord of the dogs. This procedure is monitored for several months where the dogs are returned to the lab to be tested out on a treadmill. The results showed that the procedure helped the dogs improve over time; but it’s still not a perfect cure as the nerves didn’t reconnect with the brain. It reconnected only several portions of the spine.

These developments in the study of stem cells indicate a bright medical future just a few years from now.

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