"Scientists have been able to grow working pituitary glands from embryonic stem cells from mice."

UCSF scientists are reporting several studies showing that psychological stress leads to shorter telomeres – the protective caps on the ends of chromosomes that are a measure of cell age and, thus, health. The findings also suggest that exercise may prevent this damage.

Health expert Dr. Andrew Weil offers advice on healthy aging and ways to live long and live well.

(University of California - San Diego) Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, the Gladstone Institutes in San Francisco and colleagues report a game-changing advance in stem cell science: the creation of long-term, self-renewing, primitive neural precursor cells from human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) that can be directed to become many types of neuron without increased risk of tumor formation.

Watch as Dr. Sanjay Gupta takes you inside the operating room during a total knee replacement.

Sirtris Pharmaceuticals co-founder David Sinclair says that aging is a disease that can be treated.

Researchers in Canada have reportedly found a new way to transform human skin cells into blood cells. Jay Dow reports on what could be a medical breakthrough.

Maggie Rodriguez speaks with Dr. Jennifer Ashton about everyday health tips to boost longevity.

A healthy baby boy was born from an embryo that was frozen for almost 20 years.

The first human embryonic stem cell trial is under way for a patient that suffered a spinal cord injury.

Michael J. Fox says the argument over stem cell research was more over politics, not health.

Dr. Anthony Atala explains why he thinks that it could be possible that human beings can regenerate vital organs.

Anne Wojcicki of 23andMe talks about how genomic testing can give consumers an active voice in health care.

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Researchers found that two copies of the protein bind together to form what is called a "dimer," and how that dimer physically interacts with DNA, regulating how enzymes called telomerases access and lengthen the telomeres.

- "Cdc13 has a crucial support role in maintaining and lengthening telomeres," -- "..telomere lengthening is one of the ways cancer cells obtain their immortality."
- they are investigating the potential of small molecule inhibitors to serve as viable therapeutics against cancer by blocking telomerase and their related proteins.
- When the researchers introduced mutations into Cdc13 that prevented the protein from forming a dimer, it caused the telomeres to shorten, which would hasten the demise of the yeast cells.
- When they created mutations that prevented Cdc13 dimers from binding to DNA, it had the effect of excessively lengthening telomeres, an act the researchers attribute to the notion that Cdc13 helps regulate the ability of DNA-replication enzymes to access telomeres.

The number of times our cells can divide is dictated by telomeres, stretches of DNA at the tips of our chromosomes.

The act of preserving telomeres through telomerase is a hallmark of only certain cells, particularly those in developing embryos. In adults, telomerase is active in stem cells, certain immune system cells and, most notably, cancer cells. Understanding how telomeres keep our chromosomes – and by extension, our genomes – intact is an area of intense scientific focus in the fields of both aging and cancer.

"We know that disabling this protein in humans will most likely lead to senescence, which is of particular interest in cancer, because telomere lengthening is one of the ways cancer cells obtain their immortality."

- The researchers used a type of embryonic rat stem cells known as mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) to restore ovary function in experimental rats.
- Within two weeks, the rats who had been treated with stem cells had regained full ovarian function and after eight weeks their hormone levels were the same as the rats who did not have ovarian failure.

"This is proof of concept, and there is still a long way to go before we can apply this to women," -- "Nevertheless, this work holds out the possibility that women with premature ovarian failure might be able to bear a baby of their own." -- "What we have done is proven that we can restore apparently fully-functioning ovaries in rats. The next step is to look how these rats might reproduce,"

The first randomized, placebo-controlled U.S. clinical trial to assess the use of bone marrow-derived mononuclear cells (BMC) in patients after a ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI; severe heart attack) demonstrated a strong safety profile for this cell therapy, based on phase 1 results published in the September issue of the American Heart Journal.

- "The use of adult stem cells, derived from the patient's own bone marrow, presents a potential new type of therapy to benefit individuals after they suffer a heart attack,"
- "Also, these types of stem cells do not possess any of the ethical concerns of embryonic stem cell research."

Your body's pH, which stands for potential of hydrogen, plays a huge role in the proper functioning of cells and organs. Measured on a scale ranging from 0 to 14, a healthy pH helps to regulate normal cell production and healthy tissue throughout your body. Seven on the scale is considered to be neutral, with anything above that being alkaline pH (or basic) and anything below that being acidic. Normal body pH should be slightly alkaline at around 7.35, so when levels drop below 7 and dip into acidic pH, there begins to be a problem.

When you have an acidic pH reading, your body tries to return to a normal level of alkalinity. In order to get the base it needs, the body may "borrow" minerals and nutrients such as calcium and magnesium from bones, thereby weakening those bones. Acidic pH is believed to cause other issues such as:

- Fatigue and illness, Decreased cell energy, Low bone density, Stunted repair of cell damage, Limited ability of the body to destroy heavy metals, Hinder the ability to absorb important nutrients

VAXA

(Reuters) - Pluristem Therapeutics said early clinical trials show its placenta-derived cell therapy is safe and improves quality of life in patients with peripheral artery disease, or PAD.

- Pluristem harvests cells from the placenta after a woman gives birth, so there is no ethical issue on using embryos.
- "We have proved we can use the placenta as a source for a product that doesn't require a match between the donor and patient,"

Pluristem's clinical trials showed patients experienced improvement in bloodstream, pain and quality of life for six months following a 20-minute session of injections.

A team using StemCells Inc's nerve stem cells taken from aborted fetuses found that even a month after injury, the cells took up residence in the spine, proliferated and helped mice walk better.

- "These exciting results demonstrate an expanded window of opportunity for human neural stem cell intervention in spinal cord injury,"
- The cells migrated through the spine, grew and began to function -- 64% of the stem-cell-treated mice walked better, compared to 44% of mice treated with ordinary cells and 20% of placebo-treated mice.

About 1.25 million Americans have chronic spinal cord injuries. "This latest study provides additional evidence that the use of our human neural stem cells may be a viable treatment approach for them,".