A doctor yesterday said that stem-cell therapy may be capable of enabling first lady Wu Shu-chen (吳淑珍), paralyzed from the waist down for almost 17 years, to walk again.
"Stem-cell therapy could help repair the damaged neurons in adults' central nervous system. It seems to be the treatment that could most likely help the first lady in the future," Dr. Chiang Yung-hsiao (
Chiang, director of the spinal cord division at the Tri-Service General Hospital (
Following the experiments on rats, Chiang and his team extracted stem cells from human brains and miscarried human embryos to culture them outside of the body, where they found that the stem cells were able to reproduce under laboratory conditions.
Chiang said stem cells could be injected into a human spinal cord to let them develop into new healthy neurons.
Stem cells are the progenitor cells from which all other cells develop and can be found in blood from the umbilical cords, embryos, spinal cords and brains. Studies have shown that stem cells are useful in curing a number of diseases, growing organs and killing viruses.
"However, stem cells extracted from the cords of newborn babies are expected to have more potential because they are fresh and young," Chiang said at a seminar organized by Baby Bank (
"The belief that no new neurons could be produced in the adult central nervous system and that cultured neural cells have a short life span has been challenged," he said.
But Chiang stressed that since no clinical tests have been carried out, stem-cell therapy is still in an experimenting stage.
Baby Bank is one of the three local companies that "banks" stem cells by freezing newborn babies' cells extracted from umbilical cords. The stored stem cells could be defrosted in case the babies or their blood relatives need to undergo stem-cell therapy in the future.
As first daughter Chen Hsing-yu (
"The baby's stem cells from the cord are an ideal source for the first lady's stem-cell therapy because the chance of rejection is low among blood relatives," Chiang said.
According to local media, although the first lady is grateful for doctors' suggestions, her family doctors have said that they would not try for any new medical treatment without fully examining the risk involved.
Wu, paralyzed from the waist down after being hit by a truck, has been in a wheelchair since 1985.
Taiwan yesterday expelled four China Coast Guard vessels that entered Taiwan-controlled restricted waters off Lienchiang County (Matsu) shortly after the Chinese People’s Liberation Army announced the start of its “Joint Sword-2024B” drills around Taiwan. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said in a statement that it had detected two China Coast Guard ships west of Nangan Island (南竿) and another two north of Dongyin Island (東引) at 8am yesterday. After Chinese ships sailed into restricted waters off Matsu shortly afterward, the CGA’s Kinmen-Matsu-Penghu Branch deployed four patrol vessels to shadow and approach the vessels, it said. The incidents pushed up to 44 the number
Renovations on the B3 concourse of Taipei Main Station are to begin on Nov. 1, with travelers advised to use entrances near the Taiwan Railway or high-speed rail platforms or information counter to access the MRT’s Red Line. Construction is to be completed before the end of next year, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said last week. To reduce the impact on travelers, the NT$95 million (US$2.95 million) project is to be completed in four stages, it said. In the first stage, the hall leading to the Blue Line near the art exhibition area is to be closed from Nov. 1 to the end
The government has issued a deportation order for a Spanish fugitive, ordering him to leave the country within 10 days, as he is wanted by European authorities for allegedly operating a car rental scam. National Immigration Agency (NIA) officials yesterday said Salvador Alejandro Llinas Onate, 48, had been notified that he must leave Taiwan, as he was wanted for committing serious crimes. The Spaniard has been indicted by Italian prosecutors for allegedly leading a 30 million euros (US$32.74 million) car rental scam and setting up a fraudulent company in Trento, Italy. The deportation order is based on Article 18 of
Taipei’s Ximending (西門町) shopping area welcomed the most international visitors, followed by Taipei 101, Songshan Cultural and Creative Park and Yangmingshan National Park (陽明山國家公園), a list of the city’s most popular tourist attractions published by the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism showed. As of August, 69.22 million people had visited Taipei’s main tourism spots, a 76 percent increase from 39.33 million in the same period last year, department data showed. Ximending had 20.21 million visitors, followed by Taipei 101 at 8.09 million, Songshan Cultural and Creative Park at 6.28 million, Yangmingshan at 4.51 million and the Red House Theater (西門紅樓) in
RSS