The Global Innovation Index (GII) is a recognition of the key role that innovation serves as a driver of economic growth

and prosperity. It is also an acknowledgement of the need for a broad horizontal vision of innovation that is applicable to both developed and emerging economies, with the inclusion of indicators that go beyond the traditional measures of innovation (such as the level of research and development in a given country). Stem-cell therapy is an intervention strategy that introduces new adult stem cells into damaged tissue in order to treat disease or injury. The ability of stem cells to self-renew and give rise to subsequent generations with variable degrees of differentiation capacities,[2] offers significant potential for generation of tissues that can potentially replace diseased and damaged areas in the body, with minimal risk of rejection and side effects. For over 30 years, bone-marrow, and more recently, umbilical-cord blood stem cells, have been used to treat cancer patients with conditions such as leukemia and lymphoma.[4][5] During chemotherapy, most growing cells are killed by the cytotoxic agents. These agents, however, cannot discriminate between the leukaemia or neoplastic cells, and the hematopoietic stem cells within the bone marrow. It is this side effect of conventional chemotherapy strategies that the stem-cell transplant attempts to reverse; a donor's healthy bone marrow reintroduces functional stem cells to replace the cells lost in the host's body during treatment. Brain damage(progenitor cells) , Cancer, Spinal cord injury(adult stem ceel from the umbilical cord blood), Heart damage, Hematopoieses, (blood cell formation), Baldness, Missing teeth, Deafness (emrayonic stem cells), Blindness and visio impairment, diabetes and many more.. MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) Rappler talked to Department of Health (DOH) Secretary Enrique Ona and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Director Kenneth Hartigan-Go to clarify the governments stance on stem cell therapy. Stem cell therapy or regenerative medicine is a medical intervention that uses the bodys repair cells to substitute old cells. It is done for medical and aesthetic purposes that are still being investigated, according to the health secretary.Asked why the treatment was allowed in the market despite no definitive curative and preventive benefits, FDA's Hartigan-Go said authorities never allowed the treatment to begin with. Its just there. Now, the DOH under Secretary Ona's leadership took action," he said. (READ: DOH: Stem cell therapy not yet proven to be curative) On March 18, the DOH issued the rules and regulations for the accreditation of health facilities engaging in human stem cell and cell-based or cellular therapies in the Philippines.The FDA has also released a circular on Monday, Jully 8, regarding the guidelines on registering stem cell-based products. The circular covers all products with a "claim, label, or poster" that says stem cells. (READ: FDA Circular: Registration of Stem Cell-Based Products)Below are 6 things the public needs to know

about the procedure:1. The curative and preventive benefits of stem cell therapy are still under investigation.Secretary Ona says patients must be made aware when they undergo the stem cell therapy that they are part of a treatment still being investigated by the DOH in terms of preventive and curative benefits.2. Stem cell products are injectible.Wary about reports that a number of stem cell products available in the market are in tablet and lotion form, Hartigan-Go warns that all stem cell products are injectible.3. There is no such thing as a plant stem cell.Plants have stems but not stem cells. Doctors who say they source stem cells from plants are most likely duping their patients. 4. Lack of effect is a form of adverse effect. You promised that this is going to work, and it has no effect. So therapeutic failure is a form of adverse effect, Hartigan-Go explains.Physicians who promise cure and fail to deliver should be reported to the authorities, specifically the Professional Regulatory Commission. 5. Treatments can only be conducted in accredited facilities.Be wary of procedures being proposed to be done at hotels. Stem cell therapies should be performed in health facilities accredited by the DOH. These facilities comprise mainly of hospitals. Nonhospital-based facilities should be linked through a contractual agreement with a hospital licensed by the DOH. 6. The DOH intends to regulate the conduct of stem cell therapy in the country using 6 principles, which patients can also use to guide them in their decision-making:

Professional (if the medical doctor is qualified to perform the treatment). Place (if the procedure will be conducted in an accredited hospital with the proper facilities). Process (if the necessary laboratory testing is conducted and sterility and proper temperature control are maintained). Product (if the injectible stem cell product has been registered with the FDA). Publicity (if the practitioners claims match and are validated by scientific proofs). Population (if there has been substantial recorded data of patients who have benefited from the procedure in a span of a year).

The DOH encourages the development of the science of stem cell therapy, as it has the potential to provide tremendous medical benefits. It urges practicing stem cell transplant physicians to submit data regarding the conduct and results of the treatments they have done.

1. There are different types of stem cellseach with their own purpose. There are many different types of stem cells that come from different places in the body or are formed at different times in our lives. These include embryonic stem cells that exist only at the earliest stages of development and various types of tissue-specific or adult stem cells that appear during fetal development and remain in our bodies throughout life. Just because people say stem cells helped them doesnt mean they did. There are three main reasons why a person might feel better that are unrelated to the actual stem cell treatment: the placebo effect, accompanying treatments, and natural fluctuations of the disease or condition. The intense desire or belief that a treatment will work can cause a person to feel like it has and to even experience positive physical changes, such as improved movement or less pain. This phenomenon is called the placebo effect. Even having a positive conversation with a doctor can cause a person to feel improvement. Likewise, other techniques offered along with stem cell treatmentsuch as changes to diet, relaxation, physical therapy, medication, etc.may make a person feel better in a way that is unrelated to the stem cells. Also, the severity of symptoms of many conditions can change over time, resulting in either temporary improvement or decline, which can complicate the interpretation of the effectiveness of treatments. These factors are so widespread that without testing in a controlled clinical study, where a group that receives a treatment is carefully compared against a group that does not receive this treatment, it is very difficult to determine the real effect of any therapy. Be wary of clinics that measure or advertise their results primarily through patient testimonials Just because stem cells came from your body doesnt mean they are safe. Every medical procedure has risks. While you are unlikely to have an immune response to your own cells, the procedures used to acquire, grow and deliver them are potentially risky. As soon as the cells leave your body they may be subjected to a number of manipulations that could change the characteristics of the cells. If they are grown in culture (a process called expansion), the cells may lose the normal mechanisms that control growth or may lose the ability to specialize into the cell types you need. The cells may become contaminated with bacteria, viruses or other pathogens that could cause disease. The procedure to either remove or inject the cells also carries risk, from introducing an infection to damaging the tissue into which they are injected. Stem cell science is constantly moving forward. Stem cell science is extraordinarily promising. There have been great advances in treating diseases and conditions of the blood system using blood-forming stem cells, and these show us just how powerful stem cell therapies can be. Scientists all over the world are

researching ways to harness stem cells and use them to learn more about, to diagnose, and to treat various diseases and conditions. Every day scientists are working on new ways to shape and control different types of stem cells in ways that are bringing us closer to developing new treatments. Many potential treatments are currently being tested in animal models and some have already been brought to clinical trials. In February 2010 the British company ReNeuron announced it had been approved to conduct a Phase I clinical trial of a neural stem cell treatment for stroke. The first embryonic stem cell-based treatment for acute spinal cord injury has been authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to move into Phase I clinical trials. Although it is sometimes hard to see, stem cell science is moving forward. We are tremendously optimistic that stem cell therapies will someday be available to treat a wide range of human diseases and conditions.Stem cells have an interesting history that has been somewhat tainted with debate and controversy. In the mid 1800s it was discovered that cells were basically the building blocks of life and that some cells had the ability to produce other cells. Attempts were made to fertilise mammalian eggs outside of the human body and in the early 1900s, it was discovered that some cells had the ability to generate blood cells. In 1968, the first bone marrow transplant was performed to successfully treat two siblings with severe combined immunodeficiency. Other key events in stem cell research include:

1978: Stem cells were discovered in human cord blood 1981: First in vitro stem cell line developed from mice 1988: Embryonic stem cell lines created from a hamster 1995: First embryonic stem cell line derived from a primate 1997: Cloned lamb from stem cells 1997: Leukaemia origin found as haematopoietic stem cell, indicating possible proof of cancer stem cells

In 1998, Thompson, from the University of Wisconsin, isolated cells from the inner cell mass of early embryos and developed the first embryonic stem cell lines. During that exact same year, Gearhart, from Johns Hopkins University, derived germ cells from cells in foetal gonad tissue; pluripotent stem cell lines were developed from both sources. Then, in 1999 and 2000, scientists discovered that manipulating adult mouse tissues could produce different cell types. This meant that cells from bone marrow could produce nerve or liver cells and cells in the brain could also yield other cell types. These discoveries were exciting for the field of stem cell research, with the promise of greater scientific control over stem cell differentiation and proliferation. Bogus Findings The unfortunate reality of this enormous breadth of information, however, is that scientists may fabricate studies and findings. This was the case in 2004 to 2005, when

Hwang Woo-Suk, a Korean researcher, claimed to have produced human embryonic stem cell lines from unfertilised human eggs. The lines were eventually shown to be completely false and therefore fabricated, but the huge international scandal left the public doubtful and mistrusting of the scientific community. More recently, in 2005, scientists at Kingston University in England were purported to have found another category of stem cells. These were named cord blood embryonic-like stem cells, which originate in umbilical cord blood. It is suggested that these stem cells have the ability to differentiate into more cell types than adult stem cells, opening up greater possibilities for cell-based therapies. Then, in early 2007, researchers led by Dr. Anthony Atala claimed that a new type of stem cell had been isolated in amniotic fluid. This finding is particularly important because these stem cells could prove to be a viable alternative to the controversial use of embryonic stem cells. Over the last few years, national policies and debate amongst the public as well as religious groups, government officials and scientists have led to various laws and procedures regarding stem cell harvesting, development and treatment for research or disease purposes. The goals of such policies are to safeguard the public from unethical stem cell research and use while still supporting new advancements in the field. Today Stem cell research has now progressed dramatically and there are countless research studies published each year in scientific journals. Adult stem cells are already being used to treat many conditions such as heart disease and leukaemia. Researchers still have a long way to go before they completely control the regulation of stem cells. The potential is overwhelmingly positive and with continued support and research, scientists will ideally be able to harness the full power of stem cells to treat diseases that you or a loved one may suffer from one dayThe discovery of stem cells is largely credited to Alexander A. Maximow. He was a Russian-American physician, biologist and scientist. He was born on January 22nd, 1874 in Russia. He studied in Germany and America and achieved an M.D. from the Imperial Military Academy in St. Petersburg. He was a histology and embryology professor from 1903 to 1922. He also served at the University of Chicago as professor of anatomy from 1922 to 1928.

Advantages It provides medical benefits in the fields of therapeutic cloning and regenerative medicine. It provides great potential for discovering treatments and cures to a plethora of diseases including Parkinson's disease, schizophrenia, Alzheimer's disease, cancer, spinal cord injuries, diabetes and many more. Limbs and organs could be grown in a lab from stem cells and then used in transplants or to help treat illnesses. It will help scientists to learn about human growth and cell development. Scientists and doctors will be able to test millions of potential drugs and medicine, without the use of animals or human testers. This necessitates a process of simulating the effect the drug has on a specific population of cells. This would tell if the drug is useful or has any problems. Stem cell research also benefits the study of development stages that cannot be studied directly in a human embryo, which sometimes are linked with major clinical consequences such as birth defects, pregnancyloss and infertility. A more comprehensive understanding of normal development will ultimately allow the prevention or treatment of abnormal human development. Another advantage is that it holds the key to reversing the effects of aging and prolonging our lives. It has already found many treatments that help in slowing the aging process, and a bonus of further research is a possible 'cure' for aging altogether. An advantage of the usage of adult stem cells to treat disease is that a patient's own cells could be used to treat a patient. Risks would be quite reduced because patients' bodies would not reject their own cells. Embryonic stem cells can develop into any cell types of the body, and may then be more versatile than adult stem cells. Disadvantages The use of embryonic stem cells involves the destruction of blastocysts formed from laboratoryfertilized human eggs. For those people who believe that life begins at conception, the blastocyst is a human life and to destroy it is immoral and unacceptable. Like any other new technology, it is also completely unknown what the long-term effects of such an interference with nature could materialize. Embryonic stem cells may not be the solution for all ailments. According to a new research, it was used on heart disease patients. It was found that it can make their coronary arteries narrower. A disadvantage is that they are pre-specialized, for instance, blood stem cells make only blood, and brain stem cells make only brain cells. These are derived from embryos that are not a patient's own and the patient's body may reject them. Read more at Buzzle: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/advantages-anddisadvantages-of-stem-cell-research.html

Alexander A. Maximow developed the theory that all cells come from the same precursor cell, which he later calls as stem cells.