Scottish Scientists Lead the Way- New Blood for Old
Scottish Scientists Lead the Way-
New Blood for Old
This is our 300th post on James's Musings and a nice one it is.
The list of Scottish medical pioneers is pretty extensive and covers the spectrum from penicillin to anaesthetics what with Fleming and Lister, who despite the handicap of being born in England lived all his top medical life in Scotland. Why we even had RD Laing, the eminent psychiatrist, but lets not tie ourselves up in Knots on that one. And now Scottish scientists are at the vanguard of medical science again pioneering a cheap and easy way of making new blood vessels. This is big news for the kiddies and this could revolutionise treatment for thousands of children with heart defects.
Major Breakthrough
Those clever men and women at universities in Glasgow and Edinburgh have now successfully demonstrated that by dipping a needle in gel containing stem cells that they can create new blood vessels - tiny, delicate living tubes that survive in the laboratory for months. Working with a paediatric heart surgeon from the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Glasgow they are aiming to grow living arteries for children with life threatening illnesses. This is a major breakthrough as without such techniques the kids have to have round after round of surgery, each with significant attendant risks before they can live more easily. In Scotland over 312 children a year, that’s a shocking 26 a month, are diagnosed with life threatening heart defects. In the past that was a death sentence with most not living beyond their first year, but now most make it to adulthood. This can only be improved by the pioneering work taking place with the Royal Hospital for Sick Children taking care of the little ones. Well done to them!
No News Is Good News
Now here at James Pirie we don’t have any major breakthroughs to report. We are ploughing our usual straight furrow to make life easier for you when ordering a gift for a loved one or friend. As usual we endeavour to keep our customers happy, whether with cheerful blogs, free delivery or free gift wrapping and keen prices and lovely brands. Why we’ve even created a category called OCCASIONS where you can speed you way to the perfect gift. A tiny bit of pioneering of our own.
