MUSIC: "Our World" theme
Straight ahead on "Our World" ... another milestone in harnessing stem cells to cure disease ... how fat children can become adults with heart problems ... and new treatment for amputees:
SMITH: "It doesn't bring the part back by any means. It doesn't begin to make up for the loss that they have. But it's been really exciting to see a small way to connect with the part that's gone."
Restoring some sensation despite the loss of a hand, saving lives by changing diet, and more. I'm Art Chimes. Welcome to VOA's science and technology magazine, "Our World."
Scientists reported this week that they have used modified skin cells to cure a blood disorder known as sickle cell disease in mice.
The mouse skin cells were genetically modified to act like embryonic stem cells, which have the potential to become any kind of cell in the body.
The modified cells are similar to the ones announced by American and Japanese researchers two weeks ago. Those researchers used human cells, but did not attempt to treat disease.
In a paper published online Thursday in SciencExpress, a team led by Rudolph Jaenisch of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology described how they implanted cells in a kind of bone marrow transplant.
The result was a fresh supply of healthy blood cells that crowded out the diseased sickle cells.
A member of the research team, Tim Townes of the University of Alabama, said in a Science magazine podcast that they hope to adapt the procedure to treat human patients.
TOWNES: "Our goal is to cure sickle cell disease in human patients, and we've worked on the disease for over 20 years. So we're committed to correcting sickle cell disease, absolutely."
Embryonic stem cells are unspecialized cells that have the potential to develop into any kind of cell in the body. If that ability can be harnessed, stem cells may represent an entirely new way of treating many diseases, from diabetes to Parkinson's.
Research on embryonic stem cells in the United States has been limited by ethical concerns because the cells come from human embryos, which are destroyed in the process, which is why the work of the Japanese and American researchers two weeks ago got so much attention.
In the experimental treatment of the sick mice, the animals' immune system was knocked out with radiation, creating one big advantage for this new type of treatment: because the mouse is getting stem cell-like cells that come from its own body, there is no risk of rejection.
TOWNES: "And I think, of course, that's the most promising part of the procedure. It's that the recipient is getting his or her own cells back. They're genetically identical. And so the immunosupression, in the end, I think, in humans will not have to be as severe."
Right now, the process for converting ordinary skin cells into so-called induced pleuripotent stem cells is not safe enough for humans. But several research teams are working on that problem.
Two weeks ago, Kyoto University researcher Shinya Yamanaka told me he expects the first human patients to be treated in the near future.
YAMANAKA: "I would say it should be less than five years."
Q: Less than five years before this is clinically used?
YAMANAKA: "Well, in some case of clinical usage, at least for clinical trial."
Q: That's pretty remarkable.
YAMANAKA: "That's what we hope. We'll do our best."
Hard to say at this point whether we'll look back and consider Prof. Yamanaka wildly optimistic ... or overly conservative.
In many countries, children are eating more and exercising less, causing them to gain weight. So many children have become obese that medical experts call this widespread increase in obesity an epidemic. And some researchers suspect this weight gain in childhood might lead to the earlier onset of adult diseases. Health reporter Rose Hoban has the details.
HOBAN: Danish researchers say they've found a relationship between childhood obesity and the risk of adult heart disease. They examined health records of children born between 1930 and 1976 and calculated their body mass index ? or BMI ? for each one through their lifespan.
BMI is a measure that takes into account both height and weight. The researchers found children with higher BMIs grew up to have higher rates of heart attack ? and at earlier ages.
In a commentary accompanying the research, U.S. physician David Ludwig discusses the implications of the Danish findings.