X-Message-Number: 15838 Date: Sat, 10 Mar 2001 13:32:02 -0800 (PST) From: Scott Badger <> Subject: Checking In Just wanted to say hi to Fred and Linda, Bob E., Rudi, George, Michael D. and P., Ruthanna, Jeff D., John G., and all the rest of the cryonet clan. I haven't posted in quite a while. I'm still alive and kicking, but I only seem to have a chance to catch up on cryonet posts on weekends. It's good to see continued debate and interest in a variety of issues. Maybe it was already posted but did everyone see the recent article: "Scientists Craft Mouse with Human Brain Cells"? I guess we'll be able to harvest a variety of organs from different animals pretty soon. Weird. I recall hearing that they're working on altering cows to produce human milk. That's fine with me, but I forsee lots of potential opposition in this area. http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010224/ts/brain_dc_1.html Also, I was listening to NPR on the way home a couple days ago and heard a discussion on a recent experiment where doctors implanted brain cells grown from stem cells into Parkinsons patients. A few responded so well that they were able to stop medication treatments completely. The only problematic apsect of this treatment was supposedly that some of the patients had negative side effects similar to those of patients who take too much medication (resulting in excessively high levels of dopamine). Also troubling was the fact that it is much more difficult to regulate the dopamine production of the cells than to simply adjust the dosage of prescribed meds. The researcher interviewed was still pretty excited though because one of their initial concerns was that they would have a difficult time implanting enough cells to produce the amount of dopamine needed and it turns out instead that, on average, considerably fewer cells were needed than anticipated. Other news ... I've accepted a position at U of Idaho. Moving there from Texas will be a big change but I look forward to it. Well, anyway. Just wanted to share. Take care, everyone. Scott "Vita Perpetuem" __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Auctions - Buy the things you want at great prices. http://auctions.yahoo.com/ Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=15838