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| Lawrence Goldstein |
We’re excited to announce a new video series in which we’ll take questions from you, our readers, and pose them to one of CIRM’s stem cell experts. We’ll then post the video of those answers to our YouTube channel (and here, of course).
For our first video we’re focusing on Alzheimer’s disease, with questions being answered by Lawrence Goldstein of UC San Diego. He has several CIRM awards to study stem cell approaches for treating both Alzheimer’s disease and ALS and is director of the UCSD stem cell program.
Go ahead and post your questions in the comments section below by July 6. People can also post questions for Dr. Goldstein on our Facebook page or by tweeting with the hashtag #askCIRM_alz. We’ll go through the questions and pick several for Dr. Goldstein to answer. Also let us know which diseases you’d like us to take questions on for future Ask the Expert videos.
If you want to brush up on stem cell approaches to treating Alzheimer’s disease, see a list of Alzheimer’s awards, or watch our Alzheimer’s disease videos go to our Alzheimer’s disease fact page.
A.A.
The Stem Cellar 
Do you think a combination of stem cells and rnai will be the most complete treatment for Alzheimer's?
I heard stem sells are the future of medicine, for example, stem cells can be used to help patients with: Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, various forms of birth defects, and heart disease, to name a few.
Why do people with ALS that have nothing to lose not offered to participate in trials like these?
Did an Israeli Company Developed a Cure for ALS?
http://thefutureofthings.com/news/11475/did-an-israeli-company-developed-a-cure-for-als.html?addComment
Israeli Therapy for ALS Gives Hope to Many Including Rav Rafael Shmuelevitz
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=0nMUF7cN884#
We see him walking unassisted on the video and his speech has improved
significantly. The video was taken in Hadassah Ein Keren Hospital last
week, and only a month after beginning the experimental treatment, the
rav is up and walking B'chasdei Hashem.
Prof. Dimitrios Karussis admits that he too is surprised, explaining
that while he was hopeful he did not expect such progress in such a
short period of time. The Greek-born professor of neurology has been
spearheading research at Hadassah for close to two decades.
When asked if this represents a medical breakthrough, the professor
cautiously explains that this would be premature as the testing is in
the early stages, but he does believe they may be on the verge of a
breakthrough and he remains optimistic.
The experts explain that treatment to date, such as that given to
Stephen Hawking has only succeeded in slowing down the disease at
best, and at Hadassah, with Hashem's guidance they hope to find a way
to reverse the destructive impact the disease takes on the body as is
seen in the case of the rosh yeshiva shlita.
These tests are ongoing at Hadassah in conjunction with Brainstorm, in
the hope of making the breakthrough that will save many lives and
reverse the horrific effects of the terminal illness.
I've heard that plaques and tangles in the brain may cause ALS. Do you think stem cells could eliminate them or maybe reverse the process?
Nutrient mixture improves memory in patients with early Alzheimer’s
In clinical trial, mixture developed at MIT appears to help overcome loss of connections between brain cells.
A clinical trial of an Alzheimer’s disease treatment developed at MIT has found that the nutrient cocktail can improve memory in patients with early Alzheimer’s. The results confirm and expand the findings of an earlier trial of the nutritional supplement, which is designed to promote new connections between brain cells.
Alzheimer’s patients gradually lose those connections, known as synapses, leading to memory loss and other cognitive impairments. The supplement mixture, known as Souvenaid, appears to stimulate growth of new synapses, says Richard Wurtman, a professor emeritus of brain and cognitive sciences at MIT who invented the nutrient mixture.
To do that, Wurtman came up with a mixture of three naturally occurring dietary compounds: choline, uridine and the omega-3 fatty acid DHA. Choline can be found in meats, nuts and eggs, and omega-3 fatty acids are found in a variety of sources, including fish, eggs, flaxseed and meat from grass-fed animals. Uridine is produced by the liver and kidney, and is present in some foods as a component of RNA.
These nutrients are precursors to the lipid molecules that, along with specific proteins, make up brain-cell membranes, which form synapses. To be effective, all three precursors must be administered together.
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2012/alzheimers-nutrient-mixture-0709.html
I heard about stem cells therapy. Stem cell therapy is effective for Alzheimer disease; Parkinson disease etc.