Article #1 and #2

The first article: http://repairstemcell.wordpress.com/2009/09/20/news-adult-stem-cell-research-creating-miracles-in-covington-st-tammany-la/
Summary: "It's about how adults can benefit from stem cells. They have successfully treated cardiac and other vascular conditions as well. Taken a step further, the researchers are designing protocols for other possible uses such as Parkinson’s disease and even diabetes. The possibilities are endless. The research involves two types of stem cells that are found in bone marrow. Bone marrow transplants have been used for years in the treatment of certain types of cancer."

Article #2: http://www.cell.com/cell-stem-cell/fulltext/S1934-5909(09)00453-6

Summary: CB cells are considered an alternative to bone marrow (BM) as a source of hematopoietic stem cells for transplantation. CB cells can be collected from young cells and possess the immunological immaturity of newborn cells. This article is sort of confusing, but I'm pretty sure they isolated some CB cells to obtain a purity range of 90%-94%. They were reprogrammed and cultivated in Human Foreskin Fibroblasts. They were able to repeat the process with six other individual cells. They accomplished efficient reprogramming.

Other: I was really confused with this. There was so many citations in between words of information and it made it difficult to read and understand. There was lots of terminology I didn't know like "HLA-donor-recipient" and "Trombopoietin (TPO)". I want to look for an article next time that is easier to understand. I hardly got any information from this. One thing I did find interesting though was where is talking about how, "CB cells can be collected without any risk for the donor, are young cells expected to carry minimal somatic mutations, and possess the immunological immaturity of newborn cells." I was wondering if newborns can be unharmed when these cells are taken from them. This brings up the question of why is some aspects of stem cell research controversial if it doens't harm the donor?