The two major hurdles that needed to be tackled are becoming a reality…

…via Science Daily- solve two problems in the development of a stem cell heart patch. The first is undesirable side effects, such as arrhythmia, that can result from immature and undeveloped cardiomyocytes being introduced to the heart. The second is the need for a scaffold that is biocompatible with the heart and able to hold the new cardiomyocytes in place while they integrate into the existing heart tissue. Matching the material to human heart muscle is also hoped to prevent deterioration of heart function before the cells take over.

Are you following me on this one? The current researchers are now understanding how stem cell-derived developing heart cells can be matured in the laboratory and how materials could be synthesized to form a patch to deliver them to damaged areas of the heart. Seriously exciting news. More has to be done and many more hours and months and years of hard work is yet to come, but just think for a second… Would you be willing to give this a try, even in its experimental stage?

Post from: Blisstree

Major Advancement For Stem Cells And Heart Repair

Depression linked to death following heart attack…Depression nearly triples the risk of death following a heart attack, even when accounting for other heart attack risk factors, according to research presented today at the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP) annual meeting, which showed that among 360 depressed, post myocardial infarction patients followed for more than six years, those who did not recover from their depression in the first six months were more than twice as likely to die.

Implanting Embryonic cardiac cells prevents arrhythmias-The most dangerous consequence of heart attacks…When researchers at Cornell, the University of Bonn and the University of Pittsburgh transplanted living embryonic heart cells into cardiac tissue of mice that had suffered heart attacks, the mice became resistant to cardiac arrhythmias, thereby avoiding one of the most dangerous and fatal consequences of heart attacks.

Blood transfusions linked to surgery complications in women… Women die and get infections more often than men after heart surgery because they tend to receive more blood transfusions, which boost the risks of bad outcomes, according to a study published in the December Journal of Women’s Health.

Post from: Blisstree

Some Interesting Hearty Links