Word: insertable
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Kennedy and Moakley are longtime proponents of organ donation legislation. They were founders of the bi-partisan Congressional Task Force on Organ and Tissue Donation and championed the Organ Donor Card Insert Act and the Organ and Bone Marrow Transplant Program...
...gene therapy, most of the current "smart bombs," as in the case of Ashanthi DeSilva, are viruses, which by their nature invade cells and deposit their genetic material into the cell nucleus. Researchers have learned how to strip the viruses of their reproductive genes, insert into the viral DNA the beneficial gene they want to deliver, and then let the virus infect a patient's cells. The virus inserts its own now harmless genes, as well as the beneficial one, into the cellular DNA. If all goes well and the gene "expresses" itself, the cell begins producing the needed protein...
...problem is that the altered viruses do not always seek out the target cells and sometimes insert themselves in the wrong place in the cellular DNA. Then too, once in place, the new genes sometimes fail to express themselves. "There are still a few walls to get over," Anderson concedes. He points out that in the initial trial, viruses used for cystic fibrosis, for example, produced an inflammatory response: "So the trials were halted, and another generation of viral vectors was developed. Now we're going to restart the clinical trials with these new-generation vectors," which he thinks will...
Another problem is getting viral vectors into bone-marrow stem cells, from which all of the blood's white cells are descended. Even when the rare stem cells are found, inserting genes into them is difficult because they divide infrequently, and the vectors used in gene therapy insert genes only into cells that are dividing. Had Anderson's group been able to use stem cells in the landmark therapy with little Ashanthi DeSilva, for example, follow-up treatments would not have been necessary. Endowed with the normal gene, the marrow stem cells would have produced a continuing supply...
From headache sufferers to cancer patients, 50 million Americans live with pain, sometimes mild, sometimes crippling. Researchers are currently testing, in animals, a more convenient and safer way to deliver relief. Taking their cue from the birth-control implant Norplant, which is inserted under the skin and provides long-term contraceptive protection, researchers have packed a button-size insert with a powerful narcotic. Implanted under the skin, the device releases analgesic into the bloodstream continuously for three months. Tests on cancer patients will begin within a year...