Today, the topic of stem cells is a highly discussed, controversial one. It seems as though there is always something being said about new findings in stem cell research and what will be done with the newly-found information. One of the most conversed aspects of stem cell research is how stem cells can be used to treat potentially life-threatening conditions. Leukemia is one of the conditions being researched along with how stem cell therapy could help benefit the patients with it. In order to fully understand what is going on in the world of stem cell and leukemia research, one must first know what stem cells are and what leukemia is.
Leukemia is a cancer of the white blood cells, and leukemia cells form in the bone marrow like other normal blood cells. The exact causes of leukemia are unknown, but there are some known risk factors that may lead to leukemia. These include being exposed to radiation, smoking, undergoing chemotherapy, having a genetic disorder, having a number of blood disorders, and a family history of leukemia. There are two different categories of leukemia: chronic and acute. Chronic leukemia gets worse slowly, whereas acute leukemia gets worse quickly. Depending on the type of leukemia, the symptoms may not even be apparent. In chronic leukemia, it is not uncommon for patients to be totally unaware of their disease until a routine check-up. However, symptoms may be experienced right away in patients with acute leukemia. Some symptoms of leukemia include fever, night sweats, headaches, change of appetite, unexpected weight loss, bruising easily, bleeding easily, fatigue, swollen lymph nodes, recurrent infections, and pain in the bones or joints. Conversely, these symptoms may not even be due to leukemia at all....
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...e going on today for leukemia, there is still no 100% guarantee for patients with the cancer. There is some controversy with conducting the research, especially with stem cells from the embryos and blastocysts. Some think that this is murder and shouldn’t be funded. Others think everything is all for the greater good. Now that you know the facts, where do you stand?
Works Cited
Genetic Science Learning Center. "Stem Cells." http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/tech/stemcells/
Web MD. “Leukemia.”
http://www.webmd.com/cancer/tc/leukemia-topic-overview
Medical News Today. “What Are Stem Cells?”
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/info/stem_cell/whatarestemcells.php
Medicine Net. “Leukemia.”
http://www.medicinenet.com/leukemia/article.htm
How Stuff Works. “How Stem Cells Work.”
http://science.howstuffworks.com/cellular-microscopic-biology/stem-cell.htm
Stem Cells: What, How and Why? Stem cells are infinitely valuable when considering their potential applications in the medical profession. While current legislative restrictions have halted the development of new ?stem cell lines? to any agency or company that receives any form of governmental grants, there is no question that the medical profession is standing at the brink of a new era of technological advancements in healthcare and research.
...ns of a morally questionable nature. It is necessary that our practices remain ethical and that we uphold the value of a human life, as this is the cornerstone of human society. Embryonic stem cell research is one such operation that forces scientists, policy makers, and the larger society to define what constitutes a human life and to find an answer to the crucial question: Is it morally acceptable to violate the rights of a human life for the for the sake of medical progress?
This report does a fairly comprehensive job on educating the public to the definition of stem cells, describing them as “a diverse group of remarkable multipotent cells that are relatively undifferentiated and unspecialized cells of the body.” Stem cells have the capacity for unlimited self-renewal and the possibility to produce differentiated descendant cell types. The main in...
I think that stem cell research has advanced in so many ways, with all the discoveries being made, and the new possibilities being explored. Although it still remains unethical because embryonic cells are one of the sources of stem cells. Why is somebody else’s life more valuable than someone else? Just because an embryo cannot talk, doesn’t mean, its life has any less value than a normal human being.
The ethical issues behind the method in which stem cells are obtained out weigh the benefits of stem cell therapy. We should not try to play God, in the aspect of creation of living beings just to be sacrificed for the “betterment of mankind”. Many egregious acts have been committed under the guise of “the greater good”. This is one instance in which the ends do not justify the means.
For decades, biologists have been using stem cells to figure out possible cures for different diseases and even prevent them. Stem cells are cells that can become useable in certain tissues in the body (according to an infant), or tissue cells that are already found in blood, bones, the brain, and skin (in adults or children). Stem cells are being used for patients with lymphoma (begins in the immune system), leukemia (cancer of white blood cells), and other types of blood disorders.
There are four main different types of leukemia. It is grouped by how fast it spreads and what kind of white blood cell it affects. The group of how fast leukemia spreads is either acute or chronic. Acute leukemia gets worse faster and may make a person feel sick right away. Where chronic leukemia gets worse slowly and may not cause symptoms for years. The group of what kind of blood cells leukemia affects is either lymphatic or myelogenous. Lymphatic leukemia affects white blood cells called lymphocytes. Where myelogenous leukemia affects white blood cells called myelocytes. When the two groups come together they form four main types of leukemia. They are acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), acute myelogenous leukemia (AML), chronic lymphoblastic leukemia (CLL), and chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML). Each type is different in its own way but experts still don’t know for sure what causes leukemia.
What is Leukemia? Leukemia is a cancer in blood forming cells that are in early stages of development. Most of the time the white blood cells, but some types of leukemia start in other types of blood cells. Blood cells are form in bone marrow. Any of these cells can turn into a leukemia cell, once this happens the cell does not mature like it should. The cell may start to produce rapidly and the mutated cells probably won’t go through apoptosis like they should. These cells build up in the bone marrow and crowd out the healthy cells. Typically, leukemia cells get into the blood stream rather quickly. From the blood stream they can spread to places like lymph nodes, spleen, liver, central nervous system or other organs where the leukemia cells can cause those other cells to function irregularly.
What if there was a cure for cancer or a treatment for spinal injuries? Would you support the research? What if there was a way that you could repair damaged nerves. Some believe that stem cells may hold the answers to some of these questions. What are stem cells and why should you or I even care about them? Some believe that they are a miracle treatment waiting to happen while others believe that stem cells are highly immoral. Why does so much controversy surround the issue? Why is the conversation of stem cells feared by some and praised by others? To some stem cells are the medical hopes for the future, something for us to hang on to as we do battle with major diseases that include cancer, Parkston’s disease and spinal injuries. To others stem cell researchers are murderers who are trying to play God’s hand. A many have pledged their support to stem cell research including a few well known celebrities. Reeves’, who was best known for his role in the early Superman movies, and J. Fox two well-known celebrities, have pledged to stem cell research, both have created a private fund for the research of stem cells. This celebrity however has not swayed everyone to support stem cell researches cause. Just as there are supporters of stem cells there are those who believe that the use of stem cells is immoral. Since the first stem cells were separated there have been doctors, religious groups and even some political figure head have shown their opposition for stem cell research. Even with the knowledge and promise that stem cells show many of those who truly oppose stem cells have not changed their mind. The question is are their reasons good enough to halt the research of stem cell or are they just holding back what will soon be inevi...
Over the past years, stem cell research has been very famous through the scientific community and the media. Stem cells are pluripotent cells that are present in every single organism on Earth. The power of stem cells are beyond imagination. Stem cells have the power to turn into any type of cells. Some examples are, blood cells, nerves, cardiac muscles, and the list goes on and on. The scientific community has recently taken a large interest in stem cells. They have used stem cells to treat horrible misfortunes that people have been diagnosed with. Some examples of the diseases that are being treated by the use of stem cells are, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, spinal cord issues, strokes, diabetes, damaged organs, and even cancer! However, despite the infinite potential for medical treatments, the topic of stem cells is surrounded by enormous amounts of controversy. The questions that feed the controversy are about how the stem cells are acquired and about how the gained knowledge would be used. However, it is necessary for mankind to keep stem cell research alive in order to save lives while taking care of any unethical topics about it.
Research on stem cells is advancing knowledge about how an organism develops from a single cell and how healthy cells replace damaged cells in adult organisms. This promising area of science is also leading scientists to investigate the possibility of cell-based therapies to treat disease, which is often referred to as regenerative or reparative medicine. There is genuine scientific excitement over the concept of using the body's own cellular building blocks to regenerate damaged or ageing organs. Stem cells are one of the most fascinating areas of biology today. But like ...
One problem that I think is an issue in the stem cell debate is the destruction of the stem cells and how it’s practically the same thing as destroying a human being. I don’t believe that researchers and scientists should continue using embryonic stem cells for research because we are obviously not finding a cure for human diseases yet although for animals we are, it’s just not right to destroy a human being if we cannot find treatments for major diseases within a decade or so.
Somatic stem cell therapy is one of the "powers of stem cells." When leukocytes, also known as white blood cells, begin to behave abnormally a condition known as leukemia forms within the body. One way to cure this disease is by a stem cell bone marrow transplant. First, doctors use chemotherapy to kill most of the abnormal cells, and then they replace the diseased bone marrow with a donor's healthy bone marrow. This website explains the process of treating leukemia, an otherwise deadly disease, curable with the help of stem cells. I plan to mention the new discoveries involving stem cells, such as the stem cell-rich umbilical cords in newborn infants. In the new procedures, the recipient has a significantly lower chance to reject the stem
The mention of stem cell therapy is definite to draw perplexed reactions from those who know nothing about the subject. Maximum of us have been informed that stem cells are gathered from a human embryo which is devastated in the process. But, the fact is that these therapies as practiced with categorical success are based on the use of mesenchymal stem cells gathered from the patient's own bone marrow and blood. There is a brilliant reason for this, fat removed from the ethical constraints revolving around fetal cells. For the most applied of contemplations, fetal stem cells are very poor weaponries against any complaint in that they are brilliant producers of their own ailment i.e. cancer. Fetal cells divide so speedily, that the risk of cancer
Scientist believe stem cells may have the potential to help us understand, and possibly cure some of the most threatening diseases and conditions which effect many people today. Many scientists, doctors, families and loved-ones and patients have hoped for this change, however stem cell research has brought up various controversies around the globe.