5TH ANNUAL RALLY WILL BE HELD SEPT 22TH, 2012

5th ANNUAL RALLY FOR ALI

IN SEARCH OF A CURE FOR DIABETES

ALL DONATIONS WILL GO TO HARVARD STEM CELL INSTITUTE

PICNIC FOR A CAUSE

KRAUSE’S GROVE, 2 Beach Road, Halfmoon, NY

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2013

1:00 PM TO 6:00 PM ~ RAIN OR SHINE

$30.00 per adult ticket at gate - $20.00 for children under 12

includes donation to Harvard Stem Cell Institute.

5 hour picnic with soda, beer, games, raffles, 50/50, live music

JAMBONE - THE BEAR BONES PROJECT - BLUE HAND LUKE

SPECIAL GUEST APPEARANCE BY AWARD-WINNING IRISH STEP DANCER

GRACE CATHERINE MOMROW (Ali’s cousin)

Abundant food and dessert being served 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Those who wish to join a pre-picnic motorcycle cavalcade around the beautiful Tomhannock Reservoir in Ali’s honor will meet at the Troy Plaza on Hoosick Street at 10:00 A.M. for sign up and the cavalcade will kick off at 11:00 A.M. sharp.

For more info: https://www.facebook.com/Rally4Ali


For Further Information

Contact

For the Run, Wally Urzan

518-368-4826

For the Picnic & Cause

Alison Fisk

AFisk10302@aol.com




Saturday, June 26, 2010

STEM CELLS RESTORE EYESIGHT

AP
Sight-restoring treatment shows promise for some of the millions of Americans expected to be blind by 2015.

Doctors are saying stem cell transplants are a promising new treatment to restore sight to individuals who have suffered severe eye damage. Dozens of patients whose eyes were injured after being splashed with caustic chemicals were able to see again after receiving a transplant

Italian researchers reported that the transplants had worked completely in 82 of 107 eyes, including in one patient who sustained severe eye injuries some 60 years ago and has had his sight almost completely restored. The transplant worked at least partially in 14 other eyes, and the benefits have lasted for up to 10 years.

"This is great work, an absolutely great way to do it," said Dr. Douglas Lazzaro, chairman of ophthalmology at Long Island College Hospital. "It can only increase the success rate of these types of procedures."

Dr. Bruce Rosenthal, chief of low-vision programs at Lighthouse International, a nonprofit that fights vision impairment, called the stem cell transplants a very promising treatment. The procedure bypasses the risk of rejection posed by corneal transplants because the patient’s own stem cells are used.

"This is a major step in returning vision to someone who has lost it," Rosenthal says.

University of California ophthalmologist Ivan Schwab, who is not involved in the study, called the research "a roaring success."

Each year, stem cell transplants could offer the promise of healing to thousands of people who sustain chemical burns on their corneas, although they would not help those with macular degeneration, which involves the eye’s retina, or those with damage to the optic nerve. People who are blind in both eyes also would not be candidates for the transplant because some healthy tissue is required to undergo it, doctors explained.

The researchers who performed the transplants for the study, which was published online by the New England Journal of Medicine, removed stem cells from the patient’s good eye, grew them in the lab and put them back in the injured eye. There, they grew new corneal tissue that replaced the damaged tissue. None of the patients needed anti-rejection drugs.

For many years, adult stem cells have been used to treat disorders as varied as leukemia and sickle cell anemia. But fixing damaged eyes with a stem cell transplant is relatively new - and so far is not being done here.

"The U.S. is pretty stringent," Rosenthal says. "They won’t allow these procedures until they are FDA-approved and have gone through a lot of clinical testing. But even though it’s not ready for prime time, there is a lot of hope for the future."

Some 61 million Americans are at high risk for serious vision loss, according to Lighthouse International, and about 61 million individuals age 45 and older will have vision loss by 2015. A Lighthouse survey revealed that fewer than half (46%) of Americans get an annual eye exam.

Sunday, June 20, 2010

2010 PLANNING COMMITTEE MEETING

2010 Rally for Ali Planning Committee Meeting



Minutes of June Meeting



The 2nd Annual Rally for Ali Planning Committee meeting was held on Wednesday, June 15, 2010 at the home of Wally Urzan, Committee Chairman, who presided.



The 2nd Annual Rally for Ali ~ Picnic for a Cause ~ will be held on Saturday, September 25, 2010, 1:00 PM to 6:00 PM, rain or shine, at Krause’s Grove in Halfmoon, NY with a pre-picnic motorcycle and car cavalcade kicking off at 11:00 AM sharp.



Team Leaders for the Yard Sale, Rosalie Repp and Alicia Young, announced the date of Saturday, August 14 for the yard sale with a rain date, in case of a deluge, of August 21. Drop off of yard sale items including new, unused clean clothing, etc., can be made between August 7th through the 14th in Randy Smith’s front hall or driveway, located at 289 10th Street, just off Hoosick St. in Troy, where a canopy tent will be set up. The Yard Sale will be from 8AM to 3PM and volunteers are needed to help with setup and sale. Please contact Rosalie or Alicia if you wish to help out on that day, or email Alice Fisk at the address below.



Mary Collins DuBois, Team Leader in setting up all the Raffle Bags will again be mailing out letters of the event to previous sponsors and will also be making the rounds of prospective corporate sponsors and those who wish to contribute gift certificates. Judy Collins and Angie Krough volunteered to assist her in this and also in the Raffle Bags setup. More volunteers are asked to assist them in this endeavor. Mary also announced that her friend Deb Watkins will once again be contributing a piece of her beautiful art work to the event for the raffle, possibly a beach scene in honor of Ali. Mary will also be contacting Silpada Jewelry again relative to their stunning line of jewelry.



Jane Barnard, Volunteer Coordinator of the event will contact the Times Union and Metroland about the Committee paying for a large advertisement in Metroland newspaper this year featuring the 2nd Annual Rally for Ali flyer. She will also contact radio and TV stations for publicity and Babs will help her with publicity by contacting Jim Barrett of the River Street Beat Shop, etc., among others. Volunteers are needed to contact Jane regarding helping her coordinate the various Rally categories. Jane volunteered John Lundgren to be signup sheet moderator at the Rally.



Randy Smith and Bob Collins, Team Leaders in charge of the Gate at Krause’s will expedite matters there with two tables at the Gate this year instead of only one. One table on one side of the entrance for those who have prepaid for their tickets and another table on the other side for those who will be purchasing tickets at the Gate. Joan Smith and Maureen McGinis will be assisting them. Bob Collins, Team Leader in charge of coordinating time lines for the bands to play and for the raffle tickets to be drawn between the times that the three bands play their sets is setting up a schedule and announced he will telephone the band leaders to discuss what time frame they will each be playing in. Like last year, musicians only will be permitted in free at the gate for volunteering their time and talents.



Scott Demers volunteered to be the Team Leader of the Motorcycle and Car Cavalcade and John Gileta volunteered to help with the signup sheets.



Ali Mama emailed the 2nd Annual Rally for Ali flyer to Goat Brothers, Old Saratoga, NY which is already posted online. She has also emailed the flyer to the following sites which have already posted it on their Events Calendars:

STATELINE RIDERS MOTORCYCLE CLUB: http://www.statelineriders.org;



ADIRONDACK HOG:

http://www.popshelp.com



BIKER PLAZA http://www.bikerplaza.com/event-RallyAli.html;



NY-BIKER http://www.nybiker.com/events/new-york/september.htm.

We also received an email from Glenn at Adirondack Harley Dealers stating that he would post our flyer on their site and that he’d be happy to provide us with a gift of some sort for the raffle. More biker sites will be emailed the flyer to post in the weeks to come including to the Town of Halfmoon website which posted it last year too. Maggie McNally of the Irish Riders Motorcycle Club emailed that she will get the word out to the clubs she deals with and also see about whether the motorcycle safety folks will set up an informational vending space as a community service at the Rally. Ali Mama also contacted Joann of the Sight Society of Northeastern New York, Lions Eye Bank of Albany, and they thanked us for inviting them to have an information booth at the Rally for Ali and said they would love to participate. Ali had donated her eyes to that organization and was honored by them for her thoughtfulness in doing so at their Donor Memorial Service on October 4, 2009. Ali’s photograph along with the song “I Will Remember You” was also on their beautiful CD called Reflections of Love presented to the family. Joann is also having Ali’s flyer posted on their Sight Society of NENY, Lions Eye Bank of Albany, website.



Kerri Connors will be the Troy Plaza Coordinator for the bike ride around the Tomhannock and will be needing volunteers to help her with that.



Carrie Rudebush suggested that we sell Rally for Ali beer/soda Koozies at the event to raise more money and she and Denise Plunkett are looking into that. Margie Collins, Team Leader in the sale of merchandise, our T-Shirts, etc., will add the Koozies to her list of Rally merchandise for sale at the event. Denise and Meaghan Davis will be putting stickers with the new September 25, 2010 date on them onto the Rally tickets. Denise also had more Rally flyers made for distribution. She is having a handmade quilted tote added to the raffle too. Kathy Klinger will again donate one of her beautiful handmade quilts to be raffled off at the Rally for Ali



Nancy Wright volunteered to be the Team Leader in charge of decorating the Grove the Friday night/Saturday morning of the event with a possible Beach theme being suggested in honor of Ali’s favorite venue in summertime. Mary and Angie volunteered to help her.



It was agreed that all committee members will assist Laurie Smith, Team Leader in charge of the raffle tickets, in handling Raffle Ticket sales on the day of the event.



In the immediate future Wally will be posting a Call to Action for up to 30 Volunteers to help our Team Leaders on his Facebook page to be forwarded to friends, co-workers, etc. It will also be posted on Ali’s Blog and Cause page.



The date of the July meeting is Tuesday, July 13 @ 6:30 p.m. at Wally’s house, 288 ½ Tenth Street, Troy, NY. Have a Sunshiny Day!

Saturday, June 5, 2010

WHAT'S A STEM CELL?

Stem Cell Markets ; A stem cell is an extraordinary type of cell that has the ability to self-renew for long periods of time and to differentiate into specialized cells under appropriate physiological or experimental conditions.

Traditionally, stem cells have been classified as either embryonic, adult (tissue-specific or cord blood) stem cells. Recent understanding of stem cell biology may



provide new approaches for the treatment of a number of diseases as well as tissue/organ injuries, including cardiovascular disease, neurological disease, musculoskeletal disease, diabetes and hematopoietic disorders.

Stem cell fate is determined by both intrinsic regulators and the extra-cellular environment (niche), and their expansion and differentiation ex vivo are generally controlled by growing them in a specific configuration (monolayer or three-dimensional culture). This process, which is vital to enable stem cells to be used for therapeutic purposes, is called differentiation. Differentiation is a process involving unspecialized cells progressing to become specialized cells with restricted developmental potential. The purpose of this TriMark Publications report is to describe the specific market segments of the medical research space using stem cells for research and development (R&D) purposes. This study reviews all of the generally accepted analytical methods that are currently in use today for preparing and using stem cells. It examines the use of stem cells in developing new therapies for disease.

Click for report details: www.companiesandmarkets.com/Summary-Market-Report/stem-cell-mark ..