WEEK 6 ASSIGNMENT X2

Hospitals and clinics that offer stem cell treatments make claims about what stem cells can and cannot do.  Our understanding of science does not support some of these claims. The material studied in this activity should clarify some of the misinformation that is widely circulated.

First:

• Review
  • Understanding Stem Cells from the National Academies.
• Read
  • Nine Things to Know About Stem Cell Treatments
  • How Science Becomes Medicine
  • Fighting aging using stem cell therapy
  • Stem cells in Texas: Cowboy culture
    

Then, find the following:

• The PubMed Central database can be used to find scientific articles about medicine and the life sciences.  This database is available through the Excelsior Library:
  • Go to the Excelsior College Library (the library is always available in the purple menu on the left)
  • Click on the Research Databases link in the Find It section
  • The databases are listed alphabetically, so click on M-Q
  • Scroll down and click on PubMed Central to access it

• Use the PubMed Central search function to find a recent article about stem cell treatment for aging and a second article about stem cell treatment for Multiple Sclerosis.

Finally, submit the following:

• Provide citations of the two articles you found when you searched PubMed Central. Remember that one should be about stem cell treatment for aging and one should be about stem cell treatment for Multiple Sclerosis.
  
  
• Include a short summary of these two articles. Do the abstracts indicate there is evidence that stem cell treatment could work in either or both cases?
  

• In the case of fighting aging with stem cell therapy, does the scientific report that you found on PubMed Central give you confidence that the new report from NewVision is accurate Why or why not?

• In the case of treating Multiple Sclerosis with stem cell therapy, does the scientific report give you confidence that the news report from Nature is accurate? Why or why not?