HEALTH RESEARCH: Artificial sperm 'created'!

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August 5, 2011 / PTI, London / DC.

Scientists claim to have for the first time created viable artificial sperm using stem cells, a major breakthrough which they say could lead to new treatments for infertile men.

A team at Kyoto University in Japan has created the sperm-producing germ cells in a laboratory and transferred them into infertile mice, which after the treatment were able to produce healthy offspring, 'The Daily Telegraph' reported.

The development could help thousands of infertile men become fathers if the method proves similarly effective in humans, say the scientists. In fact, they used stem cells from mouse embryos to create primordial germ cells, which drive the production of sperm in men.

When transplanted into testicles of infertile mice, the cells produced normal-looking sperm. The team, led by Dr Katsuhiko Hayashi, injected the sperm into mouse eggs and implanted them into female mice, which give birth to healthy pups.

The babies, when they grew up, were capable of reproducing naturally. Previous experiments to make sperm from embryonic stem cells have not been so successful, and in most cases led to unhealthy offspring, which soon died.

Full Story at,

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/channels/world/europe/august-6th-7pm-could-be-happiest-time-our-lives-502

HEALTH: Hospital in Sweden performs lab-made windpipe transplant!

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AP / The Hindu / STOCKHOLM, July 9, 2011.

The patient tracheal cancer on way to a “full recovery”

A 36-year-old man who had tracheal cancer has received a new lab-made windpipe seeded with his own stem cells in a procedure in Sweden they call the first successful attempt of its kind, officials said Thursday.

The Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm said the surgery was performed on June 9, and that the patient was on his way to a “full recovery.”

The patient, whose late stage cancer had almost fully blocked his windpipe, had no other options since no suitable donor windpipes were available, the hospital said.

Professor Paolo Macchiarini, who has also involved in previous windpipe transplants, said the surgery at Karolinska “is the first synthetic tissue engineered windpipe that has been successfully transplanted.”

To perform the surgery, an international team lead by Macchiarini built a scaffold and a bioreactor to seed it with the patient's stem cells. New cells to line and cover the windpipe were then grown on the scaffold for two days before it was transplanted. “Because the cells used to regenerate the trachea were the patient's own, there has been no rejection of the transplant and the patient is not taking (anti-rejection) drugs,” a statement released by the hospital said.

Full Story at,

http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/article2211776.ece