Medical Experts: Skin Turned to Blood by 2012

A strange new development from the field of medical technology has proposed that by the year 2012, we will have the technology to turn our own skin cells into life giving blood cells.  While this may sound like a useless and horrifying venture, the possibilities for cancer treatments are substantial.  And perhaps most shocking, we may soon live in a world where blood donation is a thing of the past.
For years blood donation has been a serious concern for the medical field.  Doctors and patients alike have always lived with the fear of tainted blood supplies, the availability of blood, the possibility of death due to complications with blood from donors, and other nightmares.  But a new technology developed by researchers in Canada hopes to provide the public with a safe alternative to blood donation for cancer survivors as well as other uses when supplies are limited or not possible to acquire from other sources.


The new technique uses an advanced technique to convert skin cells into other types of cells.  Thanks to previous research, the scientists were able to convert skin cells into stem cells making this incredible medical advancement available to researchers without the ethical concerns many have raised over stem cell research.  And this newest advance hopes to actually allow scientists to grow skin cultures in a lab which are then converted into blood cells.

Essentially, the direction the research is hoping to go in doesn't require someone take a large lump of their own flesh in order to have an adequate blood supply.  Such a treatment would in many cases be worse than the disease it was attempting to cure.  Instead, scientists hope to one day be able to take a small skin sample from patients and then reconstitute the cells grown from these originals in order to create blood for the masses.  You may recall our piece on cell cultivation outside of the body and the miracles provided by T-cells able to be traced to a few cells from one woman though several tons of them exist in laboratories today.

This announcement comes months after an announcement by DARPA that it may be possible in the future to create safe and effective blood from a synthetic form of plastic substitute, but the synthetic blood is expected to be very costly.  On the other hand, once the technique for skin cell blood conversion is adequately researched and developed, the cells involved may be able to create adequate supplies of blood from very little material and at only a fraction of the cost.  The end result may be we as a society could no longer have blood drives where strangers donate blood to be pumped into the bodies of patients.  The possibilities for scientific research are endless.  And countless lives could be saved by this miraculous discovery.  Will we one day live in a world filled with an endless supply of safe and transferable blood even in a world where donors no longer exist?  With medical discoveries and breakthroughs such as these it seems only a matter of time.

Medical experts warn of arthritis rise in young patients

If thought arthritis is an age-related disease and hits ailing or person over 50, time to think again, as Indian medical experts recently revealed, the condition is no longer age-bound and they are witnessing an increase in number of arthritis patients as young as 30 years old.

Commenting on this new rising phenomenon in young people these days, Dr. Raju Vaishya, an orthopedic surgeon at the Apollo Hospital, Delhi, said, “Age is not a factor in arthritis. It can affect the young and old alike. Rheumatoid arthritis affects young women after child birth or due to injury-stress."

He added, people such as dancers, sports persons and others who engage in physical activity are also at risk due to various injuries like swollen muscles, sprains, knee injuries or fractures they suffer over the course of time.

“You never know when that pain aggravates and the swollen joints take the shape of arthritis. Today’s young athletes may become tomorrow`s osteoarthritis patients,” said Dr. Vaishya.

The condition is caused when a protein substance known as cartilage (that serves as a “cushion”) between the bones of the joints, starts degenerating either due to age or constant injuries. It generally affects joints of hands, feet, weight-bearing large joints of hips, and knees.

Troublesome findings
As per medical experts, osteoarthritis hits around 21 million out of nearly 43 million people with arthritis. One in every six people is in its grip and the condition is expected to reach epidemic proportions by 2020.

“Any injury to the cartilage to or injury through minuscule tear will ultimately lead to arthritis of joints. Once the cartilage is injured, the damage is permanent,” said Rajeev K. Sharma, Senior Consultant at the Apollo Hospital.

These days cartilage injury can be cured by cartilage transplant surgery, however, experts believe prevention is better than cure and people should make some lifestyle changes
to stay healthy.

As per Vaishya, regular light exercising such as walking, yoga, proper nutrition and hydration, is better option.

Early detection key to better treatment
There might not be any definite cure for arthritis till date, but medical experts believe that early diagnosis could help in better treatment of the condition and also reduces the risk of mental and physical trauma that would hit the patient if the condition is in its advanced stages.

As per chief orthopedic surgeon of Max Super Speciality Hospital, Saket, S.K.S. Marya, "People need to understand the disease correctly so that precaution can be taken much earlier in life and patients
can get the right treatment. There is no definite cure for arthritis.

"Pain can be reduced and controlled through medicine and physiotherapy. If diagnosed late, one might even have to go for a joint replacement surgery as the damage is irreparable,” he added.