A research team led by a professor at National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) said it had succeeded in developing a new therapy for heart repair using stem cells.
Patrick Hsieh (謝清河), an assistant professor at NCKU’s Institute of Nanotechnology and Microsystem Engineering in the College of Medicine, along with his team, successfully combined self-assembling peptide nanofiber hydrogel with stem cells from autologous bone marrow to treat an acute heart attack, or myocardial infarction, according to a press release.
Their experiment on Lanyu miniature pigs, which have a similar cardiac structure to that of humans, proved successful, making it possible that the new stem cell therapy for treating heart disease — the first of its kind — can help boost the regeneration of myocardial muscle.
The discovery of the novel stem cell therapy was published last month in Circulation, the top international journal in the cardiovascular field, and both foreign and domestic patent applications are being applied for.
In Taiwan, there are approximately 2 million heart disease -patients and 400,000 people suffer heart attacks each year.
Hsieh said that even if patients were lucky enough to survive a heart attack, their myocardial cells lack the ability to regenerate. The cells cannot take intraventricular pressure and thus they will gradually expand and become thin, leading to heart failure.
“Even though recent research studies have indicated that many types of stem cells can be used to improve heart function and be clinically effective and secure, there is still room for improvement,” he said.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
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