The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Stem cell research: New frontiers
Radhakrishna Rao

Intensive research into the myriad potentials of the stem cell over the last five years has opened up the possibility of replacing “faulty” and “malfunctioning” tissues in the human body and pave the way for effectively treating many of the hitherto incurable diseases and degenerative disorders.

Indeed, by the end of this decade, the innovative stem cell therapy could very well become a powerful tool of a comprehensive regenerative medical treatment. Researchers are quite optimistic that the stem cell- based therapies could in the long run revolutionise the course of treatment, offering hope for those suffering from diseases such as Alzhiemer’s, diabetes, liver disorders, cardiac complications and spinal cord injury.

Because the stem cells are akin to “nature’s blank slate”, capable of developing into any of more than 200 cell types that make the human body, stem cells can be used to replace the old and worn out cells in the human body and ultimately provide a “miracle cure” for a variety of afflictions.

The city state of Singapore, which of late has emerged as the most attractive health care destination, has now joined the race to find a cure for diabetes using stem cell therapy. A team of researchers at the National University of Singapore (NUS) point out that research efforts are on to produce insulin secreting cells from adult stem cells collected from fatty tissues.

Dr John Issac of NSU’s Department of Surgery says: “There is a race around the world to develop what we call surrogate islet cells, not derived from the human pancreas but from the stem cells which can be coaxed into producing insulin”.

Nearer home, the Hyderabad-based Deccan College of Medicine in association with a stem cell research outfit is experimenting with stem cell therapy for treating advanced liver diseases. According to Dr C.M. Habibullah, Dean of the Deccan College of Medicine: “At present the research is moving from laboratories to clinics in India as sufficient preclinical data are being generated to take up clinical applications.”

This sporadic data comes from various research centres using stem cells to fight different diseases. Planned clinical applications are now on in areas such as ophthalmology, liver diseases, neural degeneration, cardiology and peripheral vascular diseases.

Meanwhile, Stempeutics, the stem therapy entity of the Manipal group in Bangalore is gearing to launch India’s first formal, full scale clinical trials using stem cells. According to Dr Ramanand Nadig, the Chief Operating Officer of Stempeutics, these innovative trials will focus on developing therapies using adult human mesanchymal stem cells to treat people with damaged heart tissues, spinal injury, ischaemic limbs to be followed by optic nerve injury.

Not to be left behind, the Apollo Group of Hospitals has tied up with the South Korea-based Histostem to set up a stem cell therapy centre which will make use of the cord blood to harvest stem-ells for treating a variety of diseases and disorders.

As pointed out by D. Balasubramanian, Chairman of the Stem Cell Task Force of the Department of Biotechnolgy (DBT), “India is especially interested in clinical application of stem cells in ophthalmology, cardiology and spinal cord repair”.

The Hyderabad-based L.V. Prasad Eye Institute is among a few medical centres in the world that have been pioneering therapies based on stem cell to treat a variety of fisual disorders. Here doctors take about a millimeter of limbal tissue from the healthy eye of the patient, culture them in an appropriate medium and graft it on to the diseased eye.

The Christian Medical College (CMC) at Vellore plans to make use of the stem cells derived from the bone marrow to treat chronic liver failure and regenerate tissue to treat heart diseases and traumatic brain injuries. On the other hand, the New Delhi-based All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) has experimented with a stem cell therapy to treat a particular type of cardiac disorder.

Dr S.G.A. Rao, Founder and Chairman of the Bangalore-based Cryo Stemcells (Karnataka) Pvt Ltd, says that over the next five years his company will create a sound base for perfecting stem cell-based therapies for treating a variety of diseases and disorders. “The stem cell-based therapies are set to revolutionise future course of treatment of certain diseases and these applications are where the company wants to be”, states Dr Rao.

Claimed to be India’s first exclusive umbilical cord cell bank for autologus (donor’s own use) purpose, Cryo Stemcell Karnataka is in discussion with a few health care majors and hospitals, inlcuding Max Health Care and New Delhi-based Gangaram Hospital, to help them set up stem cell research and application centres.

It has also tied up with a few hospitals for limited clinical trials to test the efficacy of cord blood stem cells in treating heart attacks and ischaemic limb disorders.

On another front, the company is also planning to foray into consultancy and training space.

Meanwhile, the Government of India is mulling the possibility of collaborating with Histostem to set up Asia’s largest bank of cord blood, which is a rich source of stem cells.

As researchers point out, one upside of the cord blood stem cells is that they can adapt to the injected bodies without triggering a negative immune reaction which are common with other types of organ transplants.

Normally, cord blood is collected before the placenta is delivered. A baby’s umbilical cord blood which goes waste otherwise is an excellent repository of stem cells endowed with the ability to regenerate and replace a variety of tissues.

Against this backdrop, Union Health and Family Welfare Minister, Dr Anbumani Ramadoss has stressed the need for the setting up of stem cell banks for breeding human stem cells for research, development and effective cures for a number of diseases. He said that with more than 25 million babies born each year, India could manage to store a huge quantity of umbilical cord blood to support stem cell-based research and therapies.

Of course, the cryo storage of umbilical cord blood is slowly gaining in popularity in the country. Described as a bio insurance, the stored umbilical cord blood can be used for treating a number of incurable afflictions. Indeed, the cord blood banks are considered the future of the genetic medicine.

The Chennai-based Life Cell; which operates a cord blood bank has joined hands with Saneron, a stem cell research outfit for research and therapy involving stem cells. According to Abhaya Kumar, Chief Executive Officer of Life Cell, “this is a part of Life Cell’s mission and commitment to go beyond the storage of stem cells and bring world class research, applications and therapy to the people.”

Incidentally, Life Cell is planning to set up its second cord blood bank in Mumbai.

Pothole menace
Gurvinder Singh Bedi

Potholes aren’t just a nuisance for road drivers; but they constitute a dangerous safety hazard that can cause substantial damage to vehicles, force drivers to veer suddenly in traffic, or even cause the driver to lose control of a vehicle after contact.

Potholes always are associated with asphalt fatigue damage and water damage, and the most egregious offenders appear in late winter or early spring, depending on the climate, after a series of freeze-thaw cycles.

Potholes form when water becomes trapped beneath the pavement surface. As vehicles run over the saturated base material, the unsupported surface layer collapses resulting in a hole. The pothole expands as traffic hits the hole.

Water enters the road base through surface cracks or from the sides of the road.

If water is the culprit, then we can minimise the potholes by keeping water out of base material by constructing the base with free drainage material. Poor drainage is a major contributor to pothole formation. Water weakens pavement support by over saturating the sub base and lowering CBR. Maintenance and improvement to drainage features reduce the amount of water on the road.

If saturation exits then stripping is highly likely and is caused by mechanical scouring of binder from aggregate surface due to extreme cyclic porewater pressure generated by heavy traffic. The potential for premature stripping is enhanced further if the mix consists of a stripping prone aggregate.

Preventive maintenance of drainage includes clearing debris and foliage from ditches, storm drains, and culverts. This can be checked by providing under drains along shoulders where it is difficult to prevent water from entering the sub grade.

Load limits may also be applied to roads during rainy periods where the sub grade is saturated.

PROF YASH PAL
THIS UNIVERSE

I have learnt from someone that the high power transmission lines used to carry electricity from one station to very far off places usually have very strong electric field around them. Why is this field so strong that even vehicles and individuals near a high-tensiontransmission line can discern it?

It is true that high voltage transmission lines have high electric field around them. They might carry voltages as high as 2,50,000 volts. This is so high that there is a breakdown of air resistance, particularly when the humidity is high.

When you are close to a high-tension cable you can hear a singing noise. Sometimes you also get a smell, perhaps of ozone.

This is due to a corona discharge — essentially leaking of electrons from the high voltage cables or the air surrounding them. This discharge also produces electromagnetic radiation, namely radio waves, that disturb the reception in a nearby radio set.

Such a radio noise is also produced from the spark plugs of vehicles if they are not well tuned and do not have a proper condenser to quench the discharge in the spark plug.

When the transmission line carries an alternating current, as is usually the case, there is an additional loss of energy. Alternating electric current produces electromagnetic waves that carry away some of its energy.

Because of this it is sometimes preferable to use direct current transmission lines, particularly for long distance transmission, even though the convenience of easy stepping down of voltage through use of transformers has to be sacrificed.

You might be wondering “why should we have high voltage transmission when it causes such problems?” The reason is simple. The objective is to transfer power.

This is the product of voltage and current. If the voltage is low the current will have to be increased proportionately to get the same energy through. But high current would require thicker conductors.

There are important tradeoffs here to keep the cost of transmission at a minimum level. Perhaps low voltage transmission might be an option when super-conducting lines become possible at affordable cost.