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




Sunday, June 24, 2012


VIDEO: Stem cell research facility to open at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

MORE PHOTOS

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TROY — During a Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute forum on Friday, dozens were able to see their “first baby picture:” a single cell that eventually multiplied, in part due to stem cells, into an organism with trillions of cells.

“That, to me, is the most amazing thing in the study of biology,” said Glenn Monastersky, director of the Rensselaer Center for Stem Cell Research.

More research into and discoveries about stem cells, which are having important implications in medicine since they are able to divide and renew themselves over long periods of time, will take place there.

The Rensselaer facility will focus on bone and muscle repair along with spinal cord injuries. “It’s our fervent hope to truly save lives down the road,” said Jonathan Dordick, director of the Rensselaer Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies.
Thanks in part to a $2.45 million grant awarded to RPI by the state’s Stem Cell Science Program, the stem cell research center will use state-of-the-art technology including a Thermo Fisher Arrayscan cell-imaging system which utilizes advanced optics and analytical software to guide the analysis of stem cell development, and an Olympus VivaView microscopy/incubation system which is a unique piece of equipment in this region. The college expects to see a lot of interest in the VivaView and in the research facility, said Dordick.

The stem cell facility, with two labs in three rooms including one clean room, will become active come July 1, officials said.

Rensselaer will be using stem cell lines from adults, instead of embryos, to conduct the research, officials clarified.

It was estimated that 700,000 frozen embryos are located in the United States for similar testing, said Monastersky during a presentation Friday as part of The Promise of Stem Cell Research, a forum on the topic that followed a ribbon cutting of the labs located on the first floor.

“The opening of the Rensselaer Center for Stem Cell Research marks a milestone on the path toward this important area of exploration, which promises so much in terms of alleviating disease and improving health,” said Rensselaer President Shirley Ann Jackson. “At the center we will work at the frontiers of this promising discipline in collaboration with New York state and investigators from across the region.”

In his presentation, Monastersky explained that there are four types of stem cells including embryonic, adult tissue, cancer, and hematopoietic. Sources for stem cells are from blastocyst embryos, somatic cell nuclear transfer, which is basically cloning the cell, and from adult cells.Continued...

Friday, June 22, 2012


Bariatric Surgery May Help Diabetic Kidney Disease

Weight Loss Surgery May Improve or Eliminate Some Diabetes-Related Kidney Problems, Researchers Say
By 
WebMD Health News
Reviewed by Laura J. Martin, MD

overweight man
June 21, 2012 (San Diego) -- Weight loss surgery can improve or eliminate diabetes-related kidney disease in obese diabetic people, researchers reported here at the annual meeting of the American Society for Metabolic & Bariatric Surgery.
Poor control of blood sugar increases the risk of kidney disease or damage, known as diabetic nephropathy.
Bariatric surgery had better than expected results on these kidney problems, says researcher Philip R. Schauer, MD, director of advanced laparoscopic and bariatric surgery at Cleveland Clinic, where the study was conducted.
"We expected it to improve or just slow down [the kidney disease]," he tells WebMD. "Surprisingly, a significant percent of patients who had diabetic nephropathy actually had remission."
In the study of 52 patients, over one-third had diabetic nephropathy before the surgery, says researcher Helen M. Heneghan, MD, a bariatric surgery fellow at Cleveland Clinic who presented the findings.
Five years after the surgery, the kidney disease resolved in 58% of these patients, Heneghan says.
In addition, five years after the surgery, 44% of the patients had remission of their diabetes and one-third had improvement, she says.
''This study needs to be validated," Schauer tells WebMD. However, he says the results make sense.
There is now convincing evidence that weight loss surgery can improve blood sugar control in those with diabetes, he says.
"It makes sense if we can control the blood sugar more effectively, we can control kidney problems as well," he says.

Weight Loss Surgery & Kidney Disease: Study Details

The 52 patients had been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes for an average of nearly nine years. Their body mass index or BMI before surgery averaged 49 (a BMI of 30 or more is considered obese).
Most patients had gastric bypass surgery. A surgeon creates a stomach pouch out of a small portion of the stomach and attaches it to the small intestine. A large part of the stomach and some of the small intestine are bypassed.
While 37% had diabetic nephropathy at the study start, the others were also at risk, statistics suggest.
Of the patients who didn't have nephropathy at the start, one-quarter did develop albuminuria, in which too much protein is found in the urine. This reflects kidney disease or other problems.
"About 20[%] to 40% of all patients with type 2 diabetes will develop diabetic nephropathy," Heneghan says.
How to treat that is still evolving, she says.
Compared to before the surgery, the patients also had improvements in blood sugar levels and in HbA1c, an indicator of blood sugar control over the previous three months.
Overall, Heneghan says, the surgery had good effects on the kidney problems as well as the diabetes. "We believe bariatric surgery can induce a significant and sustained improvement in type 2 diabetes and prevent complications such as diabetic nephropathy," Heneghan says.
About 200,000 U.S. adults have bariatric surgery annually, according to the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery. The risk of death is about 0.1%. The major complication rate is about 4%.
Possible complications include infections, blood clots, and problems absorbing certain vitamins and minerals.
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