neXt PRIZE

I feel like your intentions are good but missing t...

2010-03-11T21:29:06.790-08:00

I feel like your intentions are good but missing the point a bit. Adult or repair stem cells can create new tissue or bring necrotic tissue back to life...all within the body of the patient. There is no need for invasive surgical transplants of a laboratory grown organ.

For example, the heart...allow me to give you the briefest history of adult stem cell cardiac history.

1998 – Dr Doris Taylor takes stem cells from the thigh of a rabbit, injects them into scar tissue in the animal’s heart and repairs the damaged muscle - published in Nature Medicine.

1998-1999 – French researchers transplanted muscle cells into a human heart.

2000 – Human studies and trials using adult stem cells to regrow muscle tissue, including cardiac muscle tissue, are performed in many countries around the world.

2002 – Dr Taylor herself witnessed in Rotterdam the first patient in the world to get stem cells injected through a catheter into the wall of the heart. Encouraging results began to come in—improved ejection fractions, reduced diameters, thicker muscle tissue.
AND NOW FOR THE REAL DEAL:

2004 – The first-ever commercial stem cell treatment center in the world starts adult stem cell treatment of hundreds of human patients. Results are amazing and include the regrowing of cardiac muscle tissue in patients, significant increases and sometimes a doubling of ejection fractions (the % volume of blood the heart can pump out per beat), etc! Stem cells are also recognized as “smart,” going to where they were needed most, creating micro-vessel bypasses around existing blockages areas, areas that previously were blocked and in areas where stents were implanted.

2005 – Advancements continue as Dr Taylor rinses rat hearts with detergent until the cells washed away and all that remained was a skeleton of tissue translucent as wax paper. She then injected the scaffold with fresh heart (stem) cells from newborn rats. Four days later, “We could see these little areas that were beginning to beat. By eight days, we could see the whole heart beating.” The experiment, reported in the journal Nature Medicine, marked the first time scientists had created a functioning heart in the lab from biological tissue.

2007 – In November 2007, James Eilert was treated via catheter using his own adult stem cells. In his own words:
In Jan 2006, when I was 34 years old I had a “widowmaker,”100 % blockage of the left ascending coronary artery. My ejection fraction (EF)was between 20 and 25 percent (55 is normal) and I was told that I had about 5 years left.
1 1/2 weeks after (treatment) I had an echo done and the completely dead apex was beating again – verrrrry weakly but it was moving.

6 months later- my sidewalls are now beating normally, my septum went from 100% damage to 30% damage. My Dr. says my heart is 50 percent more elastic than the year before adult stem cell therapy.

After 6 months – My total dead heart tissue is down to about 10 percent – and my EF is up to 50 percent!
James’ heart and health continues to improve and he pushes himself and his limits today, running regularly and biking 20 miles when he isn't working 7 days a week.

Summation:
James went from Class III congestive heart failure to Class I with an ejection fraction (EF) increase from ~20-25% to his current EF of 50%. His doctors have lifted all restrictions and limitations on his physical activities. Videos of his tests and results can be found on his facebook page.
James is only one of many adult stem cell treatment success stories.

2009 – Present day. There are currently dozens of stem cell treatment centers around the world (on at least 4 continents) who are using adult stem cells to treat cardiac disease in human patients and regrow both cardiac and skeletal muscle tissue and more. The Repair Stem Cell Institute tracks all of these treatment centers and ranks their quality and protocol effectiveness.

There are also over 400,000 scholarly papers on the use of adult stem cells to treat heart disease, many studies and a number of clinical trials.

Wow-Interesting discovery. I wonder what will be t...

2010-02-17T01:33:52.361-08:00

Wow-Interesting discovery. I wonder what will be the next thing they will find on the moon?

Excellent post and writing style. Bookmarked.

2010-02-03T15:23:42.428-08:00

Excellent post and writing style. Bookmarked.

Now a days in India its very hard to live with Rs5...

2010-01-18T03:19:17.258-08:00

Now a days in India its very hard to live with Rs500.Prices are raising day by day and its becoming hell to poor people.

What a posting!! This is the most exciting geogra...

2009-11-19T14:44:32.694-08:00

What a posting!! This is the most exciting geographical concept to come forth since earth's last major land mass was charted. It's the "new world" of the 21st Century, although you're right in that the first 'colonists' will probably migrate as a result of commercial interests as opposed to, say, religious persecution.

Thanks for putting this in perspective. As a new graduate, the possibilities that I see ahead for my generation and future ones are mind-boggling.

Great news. Really interested that they can find w...

2009-11-14T01:17:24.978-08:00

Great news. Really interested that they can find water on Moon

How exciting!

2009-11-13T15:22:36.258-08:00

How exciting!

The future of space exploration looks bleak. After...

2009-11-13T14:09:01.360-08:00

The future of space exploration looks bleak. After making great leaps 50 years ago, stagnation has taken over. No human has left Earth orbit in 37 years, and NASA's current unambitious goals look to be further delayed or scaled back.

http://www.watchinghistory.com/2009/11/future-of-space-exploration.html

Going to space is the only way the human race can ...

2009-09-29T08:35:55.214-07:00

Going to space is the only way the human race can hope to survive long term. This was another giant leap for mankind. Thanks, Anousheh and X Prize, you do so much for humanity!

The envious poor will always be with us grumbling ...

2009-09-25T21:31:30.933-07:00

The envious poor will always be with us grumbling about any money not spent on them, well done X Prize keep up your excellent work.

The space travel prize has not really a humman goa...

2009-09-25T20:50:38.538-07:00

The space travel prize has not really a humman goal,but an extravagant will of a millioner.

With 10 millions You can make 500 homes for better been of peaple that has not place to live in, that has humman sence.

chema

Lets go out there and explore. I want to be part o...

2009-09-18T08:47:03.867-07:00

Lets go out there and explore. I want to be part of it and as a humble earth man the X Prize could make it possible for me.

I love what the X Prize competition has done for s...

2009-09-18T08:01:20.920-07:00

I love what the X Prize competition has done for space travel,

Looking into the future, take a look at what the X prize is doing in the automotive world. check out www.futurevehicletechnologies.com

How about an aeroponics center for urban cities to...

2009-04-16T15:36:00.000-07:00

How about an aeroponics center for urban cities to reduce carbon emmissions and to create a nearbye food supply.

Ken Behring is a very generous guy. I have heard h...

2009-02-13T10:49:00.000-08:00

Ken Behring is a very generous guy. I have heard his name mentioned before but had no idea who he was. The post was informative & interesting. I like hearing about peoples stories:)

While framed in terms of a "university", listening...

2009-02-09T14:38:00.000-08:00

While framed in terms of a "university", listening to a descripton, SU is more of an entrepreneur's workshop designed to bring toghether tech assistance, vc and bright persons looking to turn ideas into practice. It's like silicon valley coming together in neutral turf to share and create. It is a university in name only which does not diminish the vision of the founders.

What is missing are the humanities and humility to match entrepreneurial hubris. As Isaac Asimov said, "the saddest aspect of life, right now is that science gather knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom." To that end, I would suggest PW Singer's recent book, Wired for War.

it doesnt use energy. it actually cleans water whi...

2008-12-19T22:34:00.000-08:00

it doesnt use energy. it actually cleans water while MAKING energy.

Hi Pragya, Thanks for highlighting my blog Pragya....

2008-12-16T10:21:41.170-08:00

Hi Pragya,
Thanks for highlighting my blog Pragya. Its really nice to hear about your views :)

Cheers,
Yatin.

I don't believe this overly ambitious (to put it m...

2008-12-15T12:19:50.596-08:00

I don't believe this overly ambitious (to put it mildly) concept was well thought out - from the standpoint of would-be competitors. Clearly it would require an investment of many multiples the award amount and many, many years of effort (at least 10) to come even close to the 100GwH of energy to be generated in the first attempt. This - likely - unattainable goal, will either guarantee that Scotland will never have to make good on any payment (while costing entrants many millions) and will exclude ALL individual, small, and medium size entities from participating, since any viable (single) device will cost at least $1-10M to develop and will probably not be successful. Since many of such devices would have to be built (and paid for) and work, simultaneously, and 'perfectly' for a continuous period of two years, I don't think that there are many investors that would take such a 'hugely risky' bet, for a payoff that would be a small fraction of the original investment. Wouldn't it be better to have a competition that would encourage as many innovative individuals and companies to participate, as possible, and make this an annual competition that would award smaller prizes over many years (until a clearly preferred method(s) is/are found)? Then there could be many smaller prizes awarded annually and 1-3 'grand prizes' awarded after maybe a decade of such 'annual' competitions and investigations. Of coarse, this would require that the 100GhW 'bar' be reduced to something much more reasonable, like 1GhW/year, and that this annual goal be estimated over a 1-week long competition period.

I would like to see dozens of technologies competing at the same time, with financing being a rather minor consideration and requirement. Only then would this competition truly serve the stated intention of seeking the very best technological approach from ANYWHERE in the world, instead of 'something' that only a huge corporation could possibly underwrite, or one that might give preference to a Scottish technology .

Thanks Pragzz!Excellent, it's already there!But su...

2008-12-14T13:16:29.320-08:00

Thanks Pragzz!
Excellent, it's already there!
But suddenly I'm remembering Larry Brilliant's Ted Talk where he discusses his Wish for an early-warning system for pandemics. That led me to Instedd (About and LB's Ted Talk) which certainly seems to be well on the way. Also their blog has some fascinating stories about implementing technologies deep into impoverished multi-language cultures. Very inspiring!

me too! I've never met him, but he seems to be a p...

2008-12-11T17:49:51.117-08:00

me too! I've never met him, but he seems to be a phenomenal human being. But I do feel for him. He's become the go-to guy to "save Africa."

More Africans need to step up. There are several out there who are successful and capable of doing something great for their people. Its about time they do so.

I [heart] Mo. He is a great African!

2008-12-11T17:40:03.221-08:00

I [heart] Mo. He is a great African!

John, have you heard of Ushahidi? There are severa...

2008-12-09T00:26:31.603-08:00

John, have you heard of Ushahidi? There are several early warning twitter-type systems that exist for terrorism, violence, and other disasters (natural or artificial). Look up mobileactive.org and search through their database. You'll be amazed at the type of stuff out there.

Thanks for your excellent comment!

amazing!

2008-12-08T21:58:39.521-08:00

amazing!

Interesting to think of genocide in the context of...

2008-12-05T18:03:06.129-08:00

Interesting to think of genocide in the context of an X-prize. Watching the promo for Scream Bloody Murder brought back memories of Romeo Dallaire's "Shake Hands With The Devil"– his horrifying account of being 'in charge' of the U.N. Assistance Mission in Rwanda even as the genocide was happening. Despite his pleas for permission to take action that would have saved countless lives from a grisly death, he was repeatedly told not to interfere.
We are certainly in need of a genocide early warning system. I wonder if Twitter, or something like it. could be harassed into an early warning system for all things disastrous.
P.S. CNN has a pole on the Scream Bloody Murder page asking if you think military force should be the first or last resort to end genocide. This is an easy one for me, but what's difficult is how to define genocide and then decide when it's happening.
Thanks for the heads up about the show.