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I couldn't find the interview, but did get to read about Peggy's experimental surgery. I saw the video of Brownback and Dennis and 2 women with spinal cord injuries sometime ago. Ray ----- Original Message ----- From: "Peggy Willocks" <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Sunday, February 05, 2006 3:42 PM Subject: Re: Dr. Levesque/Adult cells >I have been reading your many questions as to why the work of Dr. Levesque > has not been mentionend more in the media. In November, 2002, Grassroots > Connection (GRC), an advocacy website - co-edited by Paula Wittekind, > Linda > Herman, and myself - conducted an interview at the height of interest of > Dennis Turner (NOT Dr. Dennis Turner) a Parkinson's patient who had > autologous (his own) cell injections into his brain. The entire interview > can be found at http://grassrootsconnection.com/ > > > > Dr. Michel Levesque (correct spelling) was working at the Cedars Sinai > Medical Center in Los Angeles, CA and as an Associate Professor at UCLA, > but > had personal interests in a company which he owned in Canada. > > > > Part of the GRC interview states: > > Using an adult's own neural stem cells, Dr. Levesque reports that after > culturing the cells to grow into mature, dopamine-producing neurons and > then > *reimplanting them into the patient, an 80% improvement in symptoms > continues in the patient 3 years post-implantation. The patient, a > 57-year > old former fighter pilot, needed no immunosuppression to overcome > rejection. > Interestingly, although the patient experienced an increase in measured > dopamine following the implantation, the dopamine level eventually > returned > to the original low measurement taken prior to surgery. Something else > appears to also be contributing to the symptom relief. > > > > *NOTE that this was a reimplanting of Turner's own cells. He had > previously > had a DBS procedure when Dr. Levesque took some of his own brain cells. > That means he had two surgeries. There has been some question by the FDA > and other professionals about the protocol followed by Dr. Levesque. A > few > years later, Turner had a set-back, and I have not heard anything since > that > time. > > > > This is ENTIRELY SPECULATION on my part, but the FDA has either held up > the > trial to work out study specifics , or Turner is not doing so well. AS it > is now set up, one's brain would have to be drilled into twice; once to > retrieve cells, and another to implant them. The experiment does warrant > further studies, so let's keep a lookout. > > Peggy > > > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: > mailto:[log in to unmask] > In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn