Stem cells cultured by researchers on a simple contact lens miraculously restored sight to sufferers of blinding corneal disease.
The simple and inexpensive procedure, considered a breakthrough, requires a minimal hospital stay and significantly improves vision within weeks.
University of New South Wales (UNSW) researchers from its School of Medical Sciences harvested stem cells from patients’ own eyes to rehabilitate the damaged cornea.
The stem cells were cultured on a common therapeutic contact lens which was then placed onto the damaged cornea for 10 days, during which the cells were able to re-colonise the damaged eye surface.
While the novel procedure was used to rehabilitate damaged corneas, the researchers say it offers hope to people with a range of blinding eye conditions and could have applications in other organs.
The trial was conducted on three patients; two with extensive corneal damage resulting from multiple surgeries to remove ocular melanomas (a cancer of the eye), and one with the genetic eye condition aniridia.
Other causes of cornea damage can include chemical or thermal burns, bacterial infection and chemotherapy.
“The procedure is totally simple and cheap,” said study author, UNSW’s Nick Di Girolamo. “Unlike other techniques, it requires no foreign human or animal products, only the patient’s own serum, and is completely non-invasive.
“There’s no suturing, there is no major operation: all that’s involved is harvesting a minute amount — less than a millimetre — of tissue from the ocular surface,” Mr. Di Girolamo said.
“If you’re going to be treating these sorts of diseases in third world countries all you need is the surgeon and a lab for cell culture. You don’t need any fancy equipment.”
Because the procedure uses the patient’s own stem cells harvested from their eye, it is ideal for sufferers of unilateral eye disease. However, it also works in patients who have had both eyes damaged, Mr. Di Girolamo said, according to an UNSW release.
“If we can do this procedure in the eye, I don’t see why it wouldn’t work in other major organs such as the skin, which behaves in a very similar way to the cornea,” Mr. Di Girolamo said.
At 19, Kent Klawer had the arthritic left shoulder of an 80-year-old man.
The damage almost forced the Riverside college student to forsake competitive swimming.
Now 23, he’s the beneficiary of a promising surgical procedure called the Graftjacket that saved his shoulder, salvaged his swimming stroke and eased his pain.
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Through tiny incisions into the bone, an orthopedic surgeon covered Klawer’s shoulder socket with transplanted cadaver tissue, its cells removed to prevent rejection. The goal was to allow Klawer’s bone marrow to seep into the graft and eventually regenerate cartilage through his own stem cells.
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That’s exactly what happened, said Klawer’s doctor, Joseph Burns. In fact, he said it was the best outcome he’d ever seen in such a severe case of arthritis. Anecdotal testimonials from Klawer and two biopsies have revealed almost-normal cartilage, Burns said.
“My shoulder is so much better,” said Klawer. He got married, enrolled in a master’s program in counseling at California Baptist University and works as a barista at Starbucks.
“I couldn’t hold my arm up at all,” he said. “We’d go out to eat, the waiter would hand me water, and I’d drop the glass on the table.”
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PIONEERING EFFORT
A swimmer since youth, Klawer’s troubles flared up four years ago when he was an undergraduate at Cal Baptist. “The burning and throbbing in my left shoulder was chronic,” he said.
His pain worsened after traditional arthroscopic surgery in March 2006. That summer he returned home to Santa Clarita and consulted Burns at the Southern California Orthopedic Institute in Van Nuys. A shoulder specialist, he’s considered a pioneer in the use of potentially regenerative material instead of the standard plastic or metal.
After Klawer weighed his options, he agreed that August to the surgery, which his insurance covered.
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Burns vetoed the usual shoulder replacement for Klawer — a metal ball and a thick plastic socket– as a poor option for a young person with advanced arthritis. The inserts work well for people in their 70s and 80s, but eventually wear out, Burns said.
Instead, he turned to the burgeoning field of biologics, using materials that come back to life and is especially widespread in hernia repair, wound healing, foot and ankle surgeries.
Burns noted that surgeons have grafted tissues from cadavers in patients’ shoulders to repair torn rotator cuffs with “very good success” in the past eight years. But using grafts to reconstruct an arthritic shoulder socket is fairly rare, said Burns.
“When you put the graft in, you’re asking the body to grow into the new matrix, make it come alive,” Burns said. He compared the cadaver tissue to an empty building, populated by the body’s own regenerated cells.
The doctor placed a 4.5-by-3.5 centimeter of skin patch from a cadaver’s low back onto Klawer’s shoulder. With the graft’s cells removed, the patient’s body recognizes the tissue as its own rather than as foreign material to cast off. “The patient’s own stem cells inside the shoulder joint from the bone marrow will differentiate into cartilage cells,” Burns said
Klawer began to feel better in three months when the cells started to regenerate. Unlike a shoulder replacement with a plastic insert, the two-hour Graftjacket procedure can be repeated, Burns said.
Klawer needed 1 ½ years to rehabilitate his shoulder.
“The recovery was long and hard,” Klawer said. He still exercises his rotator cuff and is delighted that the shoulder doesn’t hurt when he swims or lifts his left arm.
Burns predicted that Klawer’s graft should last only three or four years. But of the 15 patients with arthritic shoulders on whom he’s performed the surgery, the doctor said that Klawer has shown the most improvement.
“This surgery is the last resort,” Burns said. “I don’t have other good options.”
Genetically engineered adult stem cells, armed with a cancer-killing protein, have proven successful at targeting several types of tumors while sparing healthy cells, new research has found.
Stem cells carrying TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) destroyed lung, squamous, breast and cervical cancer cells in laboratory cultures, according to British researchers. When tried on mice, the specialized cells shrunk subcutaneous breast tumors by about 80 percent, and when injected intravenously, they helped destroy about 38 percent of metastasized lung tumors in rodents.
The study results combined findings from two previous areas of research: one that found that mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), which come from bone marrow, can work as messengers to tumors cells, and another that found TRAIL effective at killing cancer while sparing healthy cells.
“This is the first study to demonstrate a significant reduction in tumor burden with inducible TRAIL-expressing MSCs in a well-controlled and specifically directed therapy,” the authors, Dr. Michael Loebinger and Dr. Sam M. Janes of the Centre for Respiratory Research at the University College London, noted in a news release from the American Thoracic Society. The findings were to be presented Tuesday in San Diego at the society’s International Conference.
Despite the success, the authors said it could be at least two years before these specialized stem cells are tried on people. Loebinger noted, for example, that while the MSCs seem to be naturally drawn to the cancer cells, the reasons for this are not fully understood.
More information
The U.S. National Institutes of Health has more about stem cells.
LifeCell International India’s first & the largest stem cell banking service provider, which has also pioneered in stem cell research and technology, today announced its association with Harvest Technologies, a world leader in developing technologies that accelerate natural healing, to bring-in a next generation technology Bone Marrow Aspirate Concentrate (BMAC) system in India. BMAC is a USFDA and CE approved biological technology that accelerates the body’s natural healing capacity, thereby improving surgical outcomes.
Existing methods to produce a stem cell concentrate therapy are time consuming, labour intensive, and require complex logistical considerations. The BMAC System helps in safe and rapid preparation of cell concentrate from bone marrow. The process takes only about 15 minutes and can be conducted in the point of care setting.
The system is currently being used clinically in many developed countries like US and Europe for various medical disciplines. These applications range from fractures, non-unions, osteonecrosis, cartilage repair applications and critical limb ischemia (CLI). The system will soon be applied for cardio vascular regeneration.
LifeCell has implemented this technology for an ongoing Indian CLI study which is being led by Dr. K. S. Vijayragavan at Department of Vascular Surgery, SRMC. As per the data available on the interim study conduted on 30 patients after a 12 week followup major amputations were seen only in 4 patients and 6 of them went for minor amputation. The patients’s also reported significant reduction in their pain perception and considerable improvement in quality of life. The study also emphasised the fact that the BMAC process is safe and the Intra-arterial infusion does not cause any adverse reaction.
Talking on the association with Harvest Technologies, Mr. Mayur Abhaya, Executive Director, LifeCell International says, “We are excited to partner with Harvest Technologies to bring-in international standards to India. LifeCell International is today India’s only comprehensive stem cells solutions provider as we offer a complete spectrum of services and with this association we intend to accelerate the availability of advanced stem cell therapy in India.
According to Scott Shea, Managing Director, Harvests Technologies GmbH, “The Autologous regenerative cells from bone marrow offer profound potential for therapies. Harvest has conducted about 30,000 clinical procedures for various applications, the highest number of procedures in the world, using the BMAC System. Our novel technology now makes it possible to harvest the regenerative cells safely and rapidly in order to develop new therapies for heretofore incurable diseases.”
“We are delighted to be associated with LifeCell, an undisputed market leader in stem cell technology space and extend our services in India. LifeCell has a well established network with hospitals and clinical institutions across India and we would leverage their strength to rapidly deploy our service across the country and provide HOPE in addressing unmet medical challenges by offering cellular therapeutic options.”
Commenting on the interim report presented on the studies conducted for CLI in India using the BMAC technology, Mr. Mayur added, “Through our clinical research, we have identified that the transplantation of autologous Bone Marrow Aspirate Concentrate (BMAC) into critically ischemic leg can increase blood flow and support in healing the wounds quickly. It also helps in reducing pain and avoiding leg amputation of otherwise incurable patients. This is also validated by the outcome of the CLI study which showed that 86.6% of patients could avoid amputation.”
About LifeCell International Pvt. Ltd: LifeCell is India’s first & largest umbilical cord blood stem cell bank to bring the revolutionary concept of banking a baby’s umbilical cord blood stem to the country. LifeCell facilitates the cryogenic preservation of stem cells in technological collaboration with Cryo-Cell International Inc, USA – the world’s largest and oldest stem cell bank with more than 16 years of expertise in stem cell banking.
LifeCell in the past 4 years has positioned itself as leaders in the Industry and was recently accredited by AABB (American Association of Blood Banks) for adopting their international standards and today LifeCell is the “First & only AABB Accredited Stem Cell Bank in India” and recognized by DSIR, Govt. of India for R&D. Today LifeCell has over 20,000 members who have preserved their baby’s cord blood stem cells and has over 40 centers across India and abroad. The company will soon be launching another revolutionary service of Menstrual Blood Stem Cell Banking for every woman to preserve her stem cells and potentially secure her future from life-threatening diseases. With addition of this service LifeCell will become the first & only comprehensive stem cells solutions provider in the world to offer a complete spectrum of services in stem cells through multi-service banking, R&D, Clinical Trials and Stem Cell Therapy.
The 2009 World Stem Cell Summit will focus on the science, business, policy, law and ethics of all stem cell types including human embryonic stem cells, adult stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells.
To maximize the potential of stem cell research, the 2009 World Stem Cell Summit program is designed to cover the field’s most pressing topics including: progressive research strategies, translational and preclinical findings, cross disciplinary initiatives, drug discovery, funding opportunities (federal, public and private), commercialization plans, technology transfer platforms, venture capital insight, market trends, regulatory issues, ethical and societal implications, philanthropic opportunities, medical tourism challenges, cell banking projects, intellectual property landscapes, insurance questions, international perspectives, clinical use and the 2009-10 advocacy agenda.
Blood can be collected from the umbilical cord of a newborn baby shortly after birth. This blood is rich in blood stem cells that can be used to generate red blood cells and cells of the immune system. Cord Blood stem cells can be used to treat a range of blood disorders and immune system conditions such as leukaemia, anaemia and autoimmune diseases. Once collected, cord blood can be stored in a cord blood bank and would be available for use by the donor and compatible siblings.
Alternatively, the cord blood may be donated to a general cord blood bank for use by other tissue matched individuals in need of a transplant. It is hoped that over time a store of cord blood stem cells from people of different tissue types may be established. Someone requiring a transplant would be treated with stem cells from the sample most closely matching their own tissue type, thus minimising complications associated with immune rejection.
Cord blood stem cells may also be useful for treatment of diseases other than blood disorders. Preliminary research reports suggest that cord blood stem cells may have a greater ability to differentiate into different cell types than was previously thought possible. Using animal model, several research groups have used human cord blood stem cells to treat heart attacks and repair injured blood vessels. However, this research is at a very early stage. Scientists are presently unsure whether the cord blood stem cells are transformed into heart muscle or blood vessels, or if they secrete growth factors, that trigger repair. If further studies and clinical trials prove successful, cord blood stem cells may provide a new treatment for cardiovascular disease with fewer side effects than current drug based and surgical treatments.
Ethical Issues
The use of cord blood stem cells in cell-based therapies for blood and immune diseases, and for other potential applications, would be welcomed by the majority of the community. Although cord blood stem cells are less versatile than Embryonic Stem cells, their use in research is less controversial as it does not involve the destruction of embryos. Their potential use for cell-based therapies is also attractive as it would be possible to use a patient’s own cord blood stem cells to generate tissue for transplantation, thus avoiding problems with immune rejection.
.Saviour Siblings
Controversy has arisen over the practice of genetically selecting embryos created during infertility treatment, for the purpose of using the donor baby’s cord blood to treat an ill sibling. In this procedure, genetic testing is performed to ensure that the embryo will provide cord blood devoid of the genetic defect afflicting the sibling, but which matches the sibling’s genetic make up. The donor baby in this case is sometimes referred to as a ‘savior sibling’.
The first ‘saviour sibling’ to be born in Australia was reported in March 2004. A Tasmanian couple used this technology to have a second child who was free of a genetic condition, Hyper IgM Syndrome. Cord blood from this child could be used to treat the affected sibling. As a result of this selection process carried out Sydney IVF Clinic, the woman started her pregnancy knowing that her baby was free of Hyper IgM Syndrome and would be a potential tissue donor for her existing son.
The creation of ‘saviour siblings’ has evoked a quite heated debate in both the medical and general community. Some are vehemently opposed to this application, considering this the first step in ‘designer babies’. Others consider it highly unethical not to use this technology to help the sick sibling. The overarching issue to be considered is the well being of the ‘savior sibling’, and to ask the question whether they will be disadvantaged by the procedure. These are questions to be considered by both the biomedical and general community when considering applications of any new technology.
PHILADELPHIA – Stem cell research is a topic that just won’t go a way and for good reason, depending on who your talk to.
Now, some local veterinarians are reportedly using stem cell therapy to treat arthritic dogs, and doing so is turning into a rather profitable business, according to the editor of the Philadelphia Business Journal, Bernie Dagenais.
The procedure involves veterinarians taking fat tissue from an animal — usually disabled dogs — and sending it to a California-based company called Vet-Stem. In a laboratory, the company extracts cells and sends them back in a syringe. That shot is then given to the animal in the area where it has arthritis.
The cutting-edge procedure typically costs $2,500 to $3,500, but the results are said to be dramatic, especially for dogs with arthritis, Dagenais said.
About 1,500 dogs in the country have received this, and a few local centers are doing them. They must be specially certified by Vet-Stem to do the procedure.
“These are the types of procedures that a lot of people will not normally do on a pet. But if you want to go the extra distance, this is a new option that is available and it’s making a big difference,” Dagenais said.
We know all about the controversy surrounding stem cell research and humans. Is the company or local vets doing this kind of therapy, receiving any flack for their actions?
“People get it confused, but this is very different because you’re extracting something from the adult animals themselves. This has nothing to do with the stem-cell controversy that we hear about. … It’s really not dealing with embryos,” Dagenais said.
As people find out about this option, he expects it to be used more often, and the bigger question is whether this will some day be happening for humans, as well.
When people think of the word ‘cloning’ they are often hit with frightening images of duplicate human beings being created in somewhat of a mad scientist style experiment. In fact, many members of the public were outraged when Dolly the sheep resulted from a cloning experiment in Scotland. Therapeutic cloning, however, is entirely different and does not involve the creation of a perfectly copied human being. It is reproductive cloning that results in a copy of a specific human being. In therapeutic cloning, no sperm fertilisation is involved nor is there implantation into the uterus to create a child.
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How is Therapeutic Cloning Performed?
Therapeutic cloning is another phrase for a procedure known as somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT). In this procedure, a researcher extracts the nucleus from an egg. The nucleus holds the genetic material for a human or laboratory animal. Scientists then take a somatic cell, which is any body cell other than an egg or sperm, and also extract the nucleus from this cell. In practical human applications, the somatic cell would be taken from a patient who requires a stem cell transplant to treat a health condition or disease.
The nucleus that is extracted from the somatic cell in the patient is then inserted into the egg, which had its nucleus previously removed. In a very basic sense, it’s a procedure of substitution. The egg now contains the patient’s genetic material, or instructions. It is stimulated to divide and shortly thereafter forms a cluster of cells known as a blastocyst. This blastocyst has both an outer and inner layer of cells and it is the inner layer, called the inner cell mass that is rich in stem cells. The cells in the inner cell mass are isolated and then utilised to create embryonic stem cell lines, which are infused into the patient where they are ideally integrated into the tissues, imparting structure and function as needed.
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Benefits of Therapeutic Cloning
A major benefit of therapeutic cloning is that the cells removed are pluripotent.
Pluripotent cells can give rise to all cells in the body with the exception of the embryo. This means that pluripotent cells can potentially treat diseases in any body organ or tissue by replacing damaged and dysfunctional cells. Another distinct advantage to this type of therapy is that the risk of immunological rejection is alleviated because the patient’s own genetic material is used. If a cell line were created with cells from another individual, the patient’s body would be more likely to recognise the foreign proteins and then wage an attack on the transplanted cells. The ultimate consequence would be a rejected stem cell transplant. This is one of the major challenges of organ transplants, alongside the fact that there is a huge shortage of available organs for those who require the procedure. This means that therapeutic cloning has the potential to dramatically reduce the wait times for organ transplants as well as the immunological concerns associated with organ transplant therapy.
Therapeutic cloning is also important to enhancing our understanding of stem cells and how they and other cells develop. This understanding can hopefully lead to new treatments or cures for some of the common diseases affecting people today. In addition, the procedure would allow for scientists to create stem cell therapies that are patient specific and perfectly matched for the patient’s medical condition.
Problems with Therapeutic Cloning
One problem with therapeutic cloning is that many attempts are often required to create a viable egg. The stability of the egg with the infused somatic nucleus is poor and it can require hundreds of attempts before success is attained.
Therapeutic cloning does result in the destruction of an embryo after stem cells are extracted and this destruction has stirred controversy over the morality of the procedure. Some argue that the pros outweigh the cons with regards to treating disease whilst others have likened the destruction to an abortion. Still others state that this doesn’t change the fact the embryo could potentially be a human being and so destruction of the embryo is no different than destruction of a human life.
Because reproductive cloning does utilise SCNT as the primary step, there is also still fear that given our knowledge base to perform reproductive cloning, a scientist may attempt to move beyond therapeutic cloning to creation of a human being.
To this date, no human being has been successfully cloned but the possibility of this occurring is a frightening one not only for the general public and policy makers, but also for most of the ethical scientific field. The majority of scientists are adamantly opposed to reproductive cloning and instead, support therapeutic cloning for treating disease. With policies and careful monitoring in place to ensure that therapeutic cloning is used responsibly, we can all benefit from the potential of this procedure to eventually treat, or perhaps one day cure, many diseases.
The Regenerative Medicine Laboratory at the William R. Pritchard Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital allows for processing, culturing and storing stem cells for horses.The stem-cell lab is one of only four nationwide, and is available to clients and referring veterinarians.
“We are excited to be able to offer this new clinical service to our clients for their horses as a complement to our stem-cell research program,” veterinary medicine school dean Bennie Osburn said. “Stem cell science is leading us into a new era in human and veterinary medicine.”
Regenerative medicine involves creating living, functional tissues to repair or replace tissues or organs that have been damaged by injury, disease or birth defects. Stem cells can be collected and become specific cell types, such as muscle, blood and nerves.
“The stem cell, with its ability to recreate, repair or revitalize damaged organs or tissues, is rapidly changing all of medicine,” said Gregory Ferraro, a veterinary professor and director of UC Davis’ Center for Equine Health. “The application of stem cell science to treating horses is advancing so quickly that with three to five years, the treatments that are currently being provided for orthopedic repair in athletic horses will seem crude in hindsight.”
The UC Davis lab will collect stem cells from the horse’s own blood or bone marrow, and not embryonic stem cells — a controversial issue for human and veterinary medicine.
Horses have benefited from stem-cell therapy in recent years, especially from diseases such as colic and neuromuscular degeneration, burns and other injuries.
“The marvelous thing about stem-cell therapy is that it holds the promise of a cure,” said Sean Owens, a veterinary professor and director of the Regenerative Medicine Laboratory. “We can use pharmacological medicine to alleviate the pain associated with orthopedic injuries in horses, but only with biological medicine such as stem-cell therapy can we actually repair the damage that has already been done.”
The lab, located on the first floor of the UC Davis William R. Pritchard Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital, will support the clinical area of the veterinary stem cell program. Private veterinarians can harvest stem cells from the lab for their patients and return the cells for processing or storage. Some of the horses undergoing stem-cell therapy treatment could be referred to the teaching hospital.
Stem cell processing and treatment costs will vary. The fee for processing and expansion of a bone marrow sample will be about $1,800. Stem cell injections for most patients will cost about $1,500.
Eddie Floyd, a pet store owner had a heart attack a couple of years ago. When he was brought to the hospital, he was asked if he wanted to participate in a stem cell research clinical trial using Adult Stem Cells to help heal his heart muscle. Eddie said yes and he is happy he did. The stem cell therapy healed his heart muscle completely so there is now no sign of damage or any complications from his heart attack.
Stem Cell Video of Heart Attack Victim
The video describes a clinical trial at Austin Heart Hospital and while it doesn’t mention the company, it is obviously Osiris and their “off the shelf” Adult Stem Cell product Prochymal. This stem cell video is the future of stem cell medicine. Adult Stem Cell treatment being used right away to treat a heart attack- not waiting for 2 years and a decrease in ejection fraction by 50%.
Below, see the excellent stem cell video which tells Eddie’s story. The video was created by The Texas Alliance for Life where they are supporting the creation of an Adult Stem Cell consortium that will “put patients first”.
Yes, this is a true story. An English priest has extracted his own adult stem cells for fighting his Multiple Sclerosis.
Here’s the story:
An English priest living in Baghdad, Iraq has had his own Adult Stem Cells used to treat his Multiple Sclerosis. Canon Andrew White, the vicar of St. George’s Church in Baghdad was the recipient of this stem cell therapy to treat MS.
No Ethical Issues to Use His Own Stem Cells for Multiple Sclerosis
Andrew has a medical background and had helped establish the Bone Marrow Transplant Centre in Baghdad in 2001. He was good friends with Dr. Majid, the director of the center who saw that Andrew was suffering from the effects of his Multiple Sclerosis and approached him about using his own Adult Stem Cells for treatment. Andrew had no objections or ethical issues about using his own stem cells and agreed to the stem cell therapy.
Process of Using Andrew’s Own Adult Stem Cells
Both his arms were cannulised
He was connected to the Blood Cell Separator
Blood was taken from one arm and the stem cells were removed and then the blood was returned through his other arm (took 2 hours)
Andrew’s own Adult Stem Cells were injected into his spinal cord via lumbar puncture
I have been waiting for stem cell research to be permitted again in a way that may actually help us, so am delighted that President Obama has reversed the ban on federal funding. I do not believe that there will be anything that happens in my lifetime that will change things materially for me, but I hope research will help our younger generations.
The bishops of the United States will meet in San Antonio next month and there is a new agenda item for them: Deal with the fallout from the controversy surrounding Notre Dame’s bestowal of an honorary degree upon the President.
At the center of that debate has been a document the bishops issued in 2004 entitled “Catholics in Political Life.” As the title indicates, it was unclear to many of us, including Notre Dame’s President, Father John Jenkins, C.S.C., why a document so entitled would even apply to President Obama who is not a Catholic at all. And the text was issued by a committee set up to focus on (and the text only refers to) “Catholic politicians.” Bishop John D’Arcy replied that if there was any question, Father Jenkins should have asked him. To clarify for everyone, however, the bishops need to decide if the document and the strictures it contemplates are meant to apply to everyone or just to Catholics.
Most opponents of Notre Dame’s decision to honor the President focused on one part of the text: “The Catholic community and Catholic institutions should not honor those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles.” Now, it is a fair question whether Barack Obama, in promising policies that seek to reduce the abortion rate, is acting in defiance of anyone’s fundamental moral principles. (The abortion reduction language he used throughout the campaign and again at Notre Dame certainly annoys and angers some pro-choice activists.) There was a time when Catholics could be skeptical of the claim by some that they were “pro-choice but not pro-abortion” but Obama seems to making that a distinction with a difference.
It is also the case that virtually every American politician acts in defiance of some fundamental principle of the Catholic Church. Former Vice-President Dick Cheney is justifying the use of torture (and his arguments are echoed on EWTN) by invoking the age old maxim that the ends justify the means, but that is a utilitarian principle not a Catholic one. Nor is the recourse to the category of intrinsic evil much help here. Lots of things are intrinsically evil including birth control and as I have pointed out before there is not a mayor nor a governor who does not sign a budget that funds some form of birth control policy.
Commentators have tended to ignore the second sentence in the document’s bullet point on the conferral of honors: “They should not be given awards, honors or platforms which would suggest support for their actions.” Now, I thought Father Jenkins made it very clear, both in his initial announcement in March and at the commencement ceremony on Sunday, that Notre Dame was not honoring the President because of his positions on abortion and embryonic stem cell research but for his other notable accomplishments. The bishops may want to strike this sentence and say – do not honor these guys period. But, any fair-minded person would be wrong to fault Father Jenkins for violating this document when you read it in its entirety.
So, the bishops have their work cut out for themselves at San Antonio. I suspect that at the end of the day, the authority of the local bishop in such matters will, and should, be highlighted. As Archbishop Donald Wuerl of Washington, one of the most thoughtful and theologically sophisticated bishops in the country, wrote in his weekly column last week discussing this very document, “While everyone may not agree with how an individual bishop applies this principle for institutions within his own diocese, it, nonetheless, is the bishop’s call.” That may not make everyone happy – indeed, it won’t make everyone happy. But, the central role of the bishop as teacher within his diocese is more important than any political point. Yes, some bishops may turn their universities into intellectual ghettoes, allowed to invite no one with a differing or provocative position to campus. Others will follow James Joyce’s view: “Here comes everybody!” But, as Wuerl said, at the end of the day, in a hierarchical church, it’s the bishop’s call.
While the novel procedure was used to rehabilitate damaged corneas, the researchers say it offers hope to people with a range of blinding eye conditions and could have applications in other organs. 
The University of California Davis School of Veterinary Medicine has opened a 