Stem Cell | A boon in a Medical Treatment

Cells in the human body

The human body comprises more than 200 types of cells, and every one of these cell types arises from the zygote, the single cell that forms when an egg is fertilized by a sperm. Within a few days, that single cell divides over and over again until it forms a blastocyst, a hollow ball of 150 to 200 cells that give rise to every single cell type a human body needs to survive, including the umbilical cord and the placenta that nourishes the developing fetus.

What is a Stem Cell?

Stem cells are the foundation of development in plants, animals and humans. In humans, there are many different types of stem cells that come from different places in the body or are formed at different times in our lives. These include embryonic stem cells that exist only at the earliest stages of development and various types of tissue-specific (or adult) stem cells that appear during fetal development and remain in our bodies throughout life.

Every organ and tissue in our body grew out of a cluster of stem cells early in development. A stem cell differs from every other cell in the body in its ability to renew itself. It can divide into many more just like it.

Stem cells can repair and replace tissue in the human body. In other words, stem cells have the power to heal.

Think of our skin. The tissue in our skin needs constant renewal that could not take place without stem cells. Or muscle — stem cells in our muscles are what repair damaged tissue when we are injured.

Early in life, stem cells have the extraordinary potential to develop into any type of cell in the human body.

They start in the embryo as unprogrammed cells, then become specialized to create bone, muscle, skin, the heart, the brain, and over 250 other types of specialized cells. These are called pluripotent stem cells.

Stem cells are defined by two characteristics:

They can make copies of themselves, or self-renew

They can differentiate, or develop, into more specialized cells

Beyond these two things, though, stem cells differ a great deal in their behaviours and capabilities.

Using Stem Cells to Save People

Researchers have found that stem cells can be used to treat disease and injury. They stimulate the body to repair itself.

These procedures rely on transplanting stem cells derived from bone marrow and have dramatically altered the treatment of blood disorders and certain cancers such as leukemia.

In the past 20 years, significant new discoveries have emerged — breakthroughs that the original discoverers of stem cells never dreamed about. Researchers are finding new ways to use stem cells to rebuild tissue in many parts of the body where it has been damaged, such as the eye, the pancreas and the brain. Some revolutionary treatments for blindness, MS, stroke and spinal cord injury are already in early stage clinical trials.

Sources of Stem Cells

Much of the public discussion about stem cells has focused on where stem cells come from. Adult stem cells can be found in specific tissues in our bodies. As mature cells, they are already specialized to perform certain functions and are somewhat more limited in their application for therapeutic purposes. Generally, they can make only the kind of cells found in the tissue where they reside.

On the other hand, embryonic stem cells — derived from five-day old blastocysts that are precursors to embryos — are pluripotent in nature. They can generate any kind of cell in the body, any kind of tissue. This is why they are of such value to scientists doing both basic research in the lab and medical research in the clinic. They have the potential to regenerate tissue and cells that have been lost because of disease or injury.

Benefits of Stem Cell

Stem cells represent a revolution in health care, but we’re still in the early days. Bone marrow stem cell transplantation has been curing some kinds of cancer for decades, but in other potential areas we’ve barely begun scratching the surface.

Stem cells treatments are now used to help heal orthopaedic injuries, connective tissue damage, neurological problems, heart disease, immune rejection disorders and much more.

Benefits of stem cell treatments include speeding up healing time, lowering chronic pain, reducing need for medications, increasing functionality, decreasing nerve damage and improving collagen concentrations.

5 ways to feel like a woman except for women’s day

   5 ways to feel like a woman except for women’s day

1)             Go for a marathon by yourself.

Skip your routine exercise at the gym or the park. Give yourself a break and go enroll for marathons available all around the year. Go make new woman friends and support women empowerment with your presence.

2)             Pamper yourself with a soothing spa.

De stress at a spa nearby you, enjoy discounts on spa treatments from www.nearby.com and www.groupon.in , an afternoon spent relaxing yourself with essential oils and the massage you’ve been longing for. Mid-week breaks are essential too, to get you through the rest of the week.

3)               Go economical and celebrate at home.

You could always grab a glass of wine and rest your head back in your bath tub with an awesome DIY bath bomb you could easily make from a YouTube tutorial. You could also spend time exfoliating your skin or use a home remedy matching your skin type.

4)             Don’t Netflix and chill

Instead of your mundane TV series marathons, watch inspirational talks by other women on YouTube, even Tedx talks for that matter. They will make you feel much better than a chick flick. Words that you read have a comparatively less impact than the ones you hear. Let that make a difference!

5)         Be your own baby

Grab yourself an adult colouring book or download some pdfs online, the relaxation therapy and your nostalgic-self will rejuvenate. Dig in your arty stuff and find peace with the medium you would like to work with. Try mandala art patterns if you would like intricacy or if you really do not trust yourself with stuff at home, go for social painting parties hosted by The Bombay Drawing Room!    

You deserve to feel the same love on the other 364 days too!

Editor: Twinkle Kataria

Nationalism and Anti-nationalism

Nationalism and Anti-nationalism

Here is the thing.

I am not a liberal, or a conservative, or a leftist, or a rightist.

I am not even a centrist, not really.

I have been accused of having ‘my feet in two boats’ on social issues.

I will have feet in ten boats, in fifty boats, or a hundred boats.

Why ?

Because expecting people to have cut-and-dried views about everything is profoundly stupid. And yes, I myself have made this error from time to time.

I believe Hindus have the right to build a magnificent temple at Ayodhya, does that make me a Right Winger?

I believe that Christianity and Islam will always be considered ‘outside’ religions, these are Abrahamic religions, their doctrines are far removed from mainstream Hinduism, I am not making a value judgement here, I am just stating whats on a lot of peoples minds. Does that make me a Right Winger?

I believe as long as the threats of violence and force are not used, Christians are within their rights to use any inducement, spiritual or material, to convert people. I do not support missionary activities, I find it disgusting that some members of my community are hawking religion like street vendors, but the constitution gives them the right to practice, profess and propagate their religion (Articles 25 through 28). Period. That is their fundamental right. Does that make me a Left winger?

I believe the UCC is long overdue and there should be specific action by the state to protect couples in intercaste/inter-religious marriages, what does that make me, I wonder?

I believe the Muslim community is long overdue for some serious self -initiated social and educational reform, triple talaq goes against basic human dignity and decency. Sir Syyed Ahmed Khan was on the right track. What went wrong?

And so on and so forth……

Now, with that rant out of the way, lets get to the meat of this question.

How exactly did Leftism/AntiNationalism become so popular in some Indian Universities especially outside WB and KL like states?

Leftism/Antinationalism became popular in these regions becasue oppressed people decided they had had enough of being treated like rubbish for no better reason than being born.

These regions have seen domination by upper castes for hundreds of years, and such domination tend to breed discontent and resentment. Leftism arose as a challenge to the status quo. Misguided or not.

And When will it die?

It is not going to die.

And it shouldn’t die.

Here’s why.

A significant proportion of the Hindu Right believes that they are above all moral failing. That the past was somehow ‘pristine’ and ‘pure’ and that Hindu civilization created heaven on earth.

They believe people had lifespans of hundreds of years, and that modern medical science is crap (until you get really sick, then Ayurveda suddenly loses its charm).

They believe that we had nuclear weapons and space travel based on ‘research’ found on Facebook and Whatsapp.

Sorry, but if the Right believes this nonsense, the Left has the right to be equally stupid.

India’s past was great, certainly.

If you were Brahmin, or Kshatriya, or Vaishya, or an upper caste Christian/Muslim.

Ask the Pulaya community of Kerala if the past was great, ask them if they rejoiced at the fact that their womenfolk were legally forbidden to cover their breasts in public by the higher castes.

Ask the poor low caste ‘untouchable’ devil who dared to listen to holy scripture uttered by a brahmin and got molten lead poured down his ear for his transgression.

Ask the tribal people of Bihar and Chattisgarh if the past was great.

Ask dalit parents who have seen their neighbors and children burned alive by this Sena or that Sena if the past was great, that if their ongoing nightmare is a new phenomenon.

Ask people who have to resort to manual scavenging to make a living, who cannot change their profession because no other villager will allow them anywhere near them for fear of ‘pollution’. (If you don’t know what ‘manual scavenging’ is, and happen to be a ‘Hindu Nationalist’ SHAME ON YOU).

What the Right calls ‘nationalism’ is little different from ‘narcissism’.

When I see and hear the things Right Wing nationalists say and do, I am reminded of parents who keep defending every stupid, malicious and selfish act committed by their ladla/ladlee against all evidence to the contrary. Your child has problems, stop pretending she/he doesn’t.

They are no different in spirit form Islamic extremists, they are just not as militant(yet).

Yes, Islamic extremism is a serious existential threat to our country, to our pruralism, to our sense of Indianness.

This guy, is not your friend, or mine.

This guy is no picnic either….

Don’t let the glasses fool you, but do keep some popcorn handy every time he talks about Hinduism, the comedy is priceless. Professional comedians cannot hope to achieve such levels of wilful stupidity.

Want to know what else is a threat?

This

and this

and this

Don’t you dare tell me I should not fear for my community when these rabid thrishul wielders run amuck, and talk about inflicting their particular brand of ‘historical justice’ on ‘foreigners’.

There have been countries, and still are countries, where no one is ever ‘anti-national’.

Countries like North Korea.

Like Saudi Arabia.

Like Idi Amin’s Uganda.

Notice a trend here?

There are no anti-nationals, because they all disappear, in North Korea, your family disappears with you.

Ask yourself, is that the kind of India you want to live in? A place where anyone who has a contrary opinion to the majority gets classified as ‘an enemy of the people’, ‘foreign interloper’ or gods forbid ‘cultural and religious threat’?

Freedom of speech is a two edged sword. The more we qualify it with restrictions and special considerations, the more diluted it becomes.

What those students said within the JNU campus was shameful.

Almost as shameful, as the actions committed by the lawyers who beat them up, behaving exactly like street thugs.

Is this the standard we expect from our judiciary?

Is this the quality of our democracy?

Just a thought.

Feel free to disagree.

The Constitution gives you that right.

Editor: Vikkas Sharma