Michael J. Fox himself was on Oprah last night talking about stem cells with Dr. Oz. Dr. Oz said, and I quote "We have made 10 years' worth of advancements in stem cells over the past year." and "stem cell treatments for a variety of conditions are single-digit years away. Not decades away." This is including hearing loss. I'm an optimist rather than a pessimist - and I would wholeheartedly believe a medical doctor myself.
Future CI (Just imagining what they'll be like in the future
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Michael J. Fox himself was on Oprah last night talking about stem cells with Dr. Oz. Dr. Oz said, and I quote "We have made 10 years' worth of advancements in stem cells over the past year." and "stem cell treatments for a variety of conditions are single-digit years away. Not decades away." This is including hearing loss. I'm an optimist rather than a pessimist - and I would wholeheartedly believe a medical doctor myself.
No clinical trials have been completed but Phi4sius will post proof of it working experimentally for someone. We will see proof of this for hundreds of people next year. Because stem cells can be administered by injection, this spares the trauma of surgery required by CI and the insertion of electrodes that disturbes the delicate hair cells to death. Those who didn't improve with stem cells, none of them reported losing even 1db of residual hearing.
It already treats hearing loss today experimentally. Not all of us will wait for FDA approval. I won't once it's shown to work experimentally for the first hundred people, I am next.
This could have useful applications for the military, police and others in occupations that could benefit from hearing like dogs. I am not going to spend tens of thousands on anything, be it stem cells or CIs to give better than normal hearing. Hearing at 10db and 16Hz to 16KHz is good enough to give me full understanding of speech and ability to hear 99.9% of sounds. I don't need to hear at 40KHz like dogs do or at -10db. Things will just be too loud and the slightest sounds will keep me awake at night. Normal hearing is enough for me.
I would be saving the money for real medical emergencies and for stem cell treatments that can make my heart, lungs, liver, kidneys stronger than normal so I can live for hundreds of years. Id also go for an option that can make me a genius as well as improve my vision to better than 20/20 and give me tetrachromatic vision. There's way more important things for me to spend my money than super hearing. I don't plan to get a job where I need more than normal hearing unaided with stem cells.
There appears to be a big debate on "when" hearing loss treatment is available. I would say today as an experimental case study. I am giving it a few years(2, 3, 4, 5) before it becomes alot less experimental and proven by hundreds or even thousands of people to work great! If we have made 10 year's worth of advancements in a year, then stem cells won't take decades(30, 40, 50 years) but just years(3, 4, 5) before it's ready for primetime! I also am an optimist when it comes to stem cells. Me and Phi4sius won't need CI as we will get stem cells experimentally after it's been experimented on at least 100 others before us and proven to work great.
sr171soars
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:roll: Not only do we see intense optimism but now we are starting to see delusional tendencies... Have you considered the political ramification of this? There is no gov't in the world that is going to allow private individuals to have so-called super powers anytime soon. I can believe the military getting dibs on this stuff first. Again, this is all pie-in-the-sky wishful thinking. Let's just stick to restoring some hearing if not full hearing for now. That may or may not pan out yet. Lots of things will have to fall into place before this comes about if at all.
jillio
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Ten years worth of progress. That in no way means that it is currently available as treatment. The conditions being considered for treatment that are closest to clinical trial are life threatening disorders, not deafness. Of course progress is being made. That is what research is for. But just because progress is being made does not mean that it will be available as treatment any time soon. The majority of the research is not being done regarding deafness, but life threatening disorders. Just because we may see restricted availability for something like Parkinson's in the next ten years, and even that is an overly optimistic estimate, does not mean that the research will have advanced to that point regarding deafness. You do understand that this treatment will be approved for one disorder at a time, as the clinicial trials are completed regarding that one disorder. Advancements in Parkinson's research does not equate to advancements in deafness research.
You are selectively picking out anything that will fuel your pipe dream without even considering whether it will transfer to treatment for deafness or not. Research funding is disorder specific. Research is disorder specific. Advancement in one area does not automatically mean advancement in another area.
jillio
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I couldn't agree more. I am truly beginning to experience concern over that.
jillio
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Let me be clear: I just want restoration of my hearing. To be a run-of-the-mill normal human being for my age. Nothing more. Super powers? Immortality? Not for me.
Normality is subjective.
I'd like to know what normal hearing is like with two ears (medical standards define normal hearing as 20 dB and up on the audiogram). Even if it only lasts for one day. It would satisfy my ongoing curiosity as to what I lost that fateful (day? week? month?) when I was 4 years old.
somedeafdudefromPNW
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Ever heard of the phrase: "normal is only a setting on the washing machine."
She means psychologically.
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jillio
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Normalcy- Accepted by Merriam Webster since 1857!
Thanks, Bott! I stand corrected. Been a long day!
Edit: Normalcy is subjective.
Who cares if normal is subjective? We want hearing good enough not to need HAs anymore and to understand a high percentage of speech and hear most sounds. We don't care if others insist our stem cell hearing is "abnormal" it's still a huge improvement over what we had.
somedeafdudefromPNW
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Have fun with another 2-5 years of speech therapies!
Deafdude, where did you get the info a simple injection will be sufficient?
It sounds like the magic pill. If you have something wrong, a small injection of stem cells and they know what to do, you will be cured.
I fear it won't work like that...
A few words on that CBR Center for Regenerative Medicine link that has been posted thousands of times.
From their website:
"The CBR Center for Regenerative Medicine is a scientific research collaborative established by Cord Blood Registry - in partnership with leading research institutions from around the world - to promote greater scientific understanding of cord blood stem cells and advance their use to treat life-threatening injuries and diseases."
Tanslated: the company storing cord blood want to convince more and more people to pay them for doing that. They need to demonstrate that there is an effective reason to save the coord blood. In case some of you do not know it, they get paid for storing.
The strategy is paying for some research to demonstrate the usefulness of cord blood. Of course, if the research is successfull the goal is reached and we are also happy, but simply publishing some news about research going on is a marketing move. And it works! We are discussing a lot about that, even too much.
Another thing, always from their website:
"The CBR Center for Regenerative Medicine is collaborating with two leading medical institutions to initiate a research study that would evaluate using a child's own cord blood stem cells to help restore or improve hearing that's been damaged from injury or sickness."
This is not a clinical trial. This is the program for starting up with a new research study. They look for volunteers (who will sign for excluding any responsibility of the researchers on the consequences of the research).
As I said several times, I am a fun of the stem cells. I believe they will be a reality. I would like them to be ready right now.
Yes things are moving, but please guys, open your eyes!!!!
They said the same thing about the Human genome
This has happened before. I remember when they completed the human genome project a hundred start up companies sprouted up claiming that in just a few years any medical issues you had will be cured by genetic engineering. Not much has come of that so far(I dont doubt that down the line something substantial will develop but alot of these companies, a fare many out of business jumped the gun).
This has happened before. I remember when they completed the human genome project a hundred start up companies sprouted up claiming that in just a few years any medical issues you had will be cured by genetic engineering. Not much has come of that so far(I dont doubt that down the line something substantial will develop but alot of these companies, a fare many out of business jumped the gun).
Scientists are always like that. Putting emphasis on their results, increasing the hype, will make getting funds for their research easier. This is especially true for reasearch having a strong social impact, such as medical sciences, but the same happen at different levels in any field.
I know that very well, I am a scientist and I spent most of my time writing proposals and projects to get funding...
¡2008-10-24!!!!!!!!:
"<span onmouseover="_tipon(this)" onmouseout="_tipoff()"><span class="google-src-text" style="direction: ltr; text-align: left">我们有进行过这方面治疗的尝试,首例患者是来自美国的一名男性患者,40岁,先天性神经性耳聋,经过治疗后,本人反应听觉有所提高.虽然从干细胞治疗的原理而言,干细胞治疗神经性耳聋是可行的,但因为目前治疗的该类患者较少,因此我们建议患者家长可以自行决定是否接受干细胞移植.如果决定接受治疗,可以尽早安排,就目前我们治疗视神经萎缩的患者而言,患儿越小效果越好.</span> We have carried out the treatment in this respect attempts first patient is a male patient from the United States, 40-year-old, congenital nerve deafness, after treatment, response to hearing I increased. While the principle of stem cell therapy , the stem cells to treat deafness is feasible, but because the current treatment of such patients with less, so we recommend that patients with parents can decide for themselves whether to accept stem cell transplantation. If you decide to receive treatment as soon as possible arrangement, now we treat optic nerve atrophy patients, children with the smaller the better.</span> "
source: Google Traductor