blog 13

1. I am studying/trying to learn about Stem Cell research
2. I am studying/trying to learn about stem cell research because I want to find out how we could use stem cells to treat diseases and cure conditions. Right now stem cell reaserch is in its infancy but It could possibly be the cure for many potential diseases.
3. I am doing this in order to find out if stem cell reaserch/treatment is the best possible treatment and cure for Parkinson's disease.

Blog 12 Revision

Original:

There are many potential health bennifits to embryonic stem cell reaserch. One example of this is Parkinson’s disease. Parkinson’s is a nervous system disorder that leads to: tremors, difficulty walking, and a major decrease in coordination. It is caused by the disintegration of nervous tissue in the brain leading to decreased overall function of the brain. (ncbi) Parkinson’s destroys the nerves in your brain that produce dopamine which helps you send signals between different parts of the brain. With these parts of the brain gone, cretin parts cannot send messages to the other parts causing you to lose control of your muscles.(ncbi) However since embryonic stem cells are indeterminate, if they are introduced to the damaged part of the brain, they could possibly regenerate the lost brain tissues and restore the normal functioning of the individual. This procedure however has not been sufficiently tested because of the small amount of stem cells available and the harsh restrictions on research, and lack of funding in many states. The government only very recently allocated funds to help aid in stem cell research but the money only goes to places that do research on adult stem cells which are not as effective as embryonic stem cells because they are already somewhat specialized and cannot produce the same amount of tissues. They could also possibly produce a cure for paralysis. When someone has a spinal cord injury that causes them to be paralyzed the damage to the spine does not heal on its own because nerves take an almost indefinite time to heal on their own. However if we introduce embryonic stem cells the damaged area then we could grow new nerves, reconnecting the broken spinal cord and restoring movement to the paralyzed part of the body. (ncbi)

Revised :

There are many potential health benefits to embryonic stem cell research. One example of this is Parkinson’s disease. Parkinson’s is a nervous system disorder that leads to: tremors, difficulty walking, and a major decrease in coordination. It is caused by the disintegration of nervous tissue in the brain, leading to decreased overall function of the brain (ncbi). Parkinson’s destroys the nerves in your brain that produce dopamine, which helps you send signals between different parts of the brain. With these parts of the brain gone, cretin parts cannot send messages to other parts of the brain, causing you to lose control of your muscles (ncbi). However, since embryonic stem cells are indeterminate, if they are introduced to the damaged part of the brain they could possibly regenerate the lost brain tissues, and restore the normal functions of the individual. However, this procedure has not been sufficiently tested because of the small amount of stem cells available, the harsh restrictions on research, and lack of funding in many states.

Stem Cell Research

The article Stem Cell research does too much good to be evil by Janet Rowley is an opinion article in the U.S News. She is arguing for increased funding and ability to do research on embryonic stem cells. Reaserches are currently able to use Pluripotent stem cells for research. This however is not as effective as embryonic stem cells because they can only produce a few types of tissues. However if we can derive these cells from patients with illnesses such as muscular dystrophy, Parkinson's, and juvenile diabetes, they could be used for research to try and better understand these conditions. Embryonic stem cells however, have the most potential for curing these currently un-curable conditions. Rowley is very in favor of stem cell research and supports it whole heatedly. she uses many examples to support her point. She states that there are currently many fertilized embryos at fertility clinics that cant be used and will be simply thrown away. Why couldn't we use those embryos to do some good, they are still perfectly suitable for research and will serve a much greater purpose that way than being thrown out. She also uses the example about how there are strict restrictions in the industry itself to make sure that everything is done ethically and correctly, and this would continue to happen with the new research. I agree with her. I believe that we should increase our stem cell research and use stem cells from aborted fetuses and the embryos from fertility clinics to do some good. Just discarding them doesn't do anyone any good and we have a real chance to make a difference to cure some of these conditions.

The author sets up the paper very well. The thesis and stance of the paper is clearly stated in the introduction and I did not feel like she was contradicting her self at any point in this paper. She lays out her main points very well and I did not feel lost at any point in the paper. She gives the reader suficant background information to understand the article and very clearly states her points. I thought this was a very good article. I like d how the author made very good points and she never wavered on the point she was trying to make. She also mixed her ethos in very well with her opinions. She uses the example of the value of human life and refutes it because the stem cells that would be used to do this research would come from embryos that will be discarded and would die anyway. It is stuff like that that I want to include in my paper. I want to find a good mix of ethos and facts. I also want to make sure that I am always supporting my point even when bringing up opposing views. This was a very good piece and I hope to use some of it in my paper.