Friday, 15 June 2012
Researchers at the Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Göteborg have
managed to implant a blood vessel made from a patient’s own stem cells
in a ten year old, sick girl. One year after surgery she now is doing
pretty fine making the researchers to hope that this could be a method
to assist patients who need bypass surgery.
The process involves approach, in making the vein perform better
took three to four weeks, according to Michael Olausson, a professor at
the Transplantation Center at the hospital. The vein for the girl was
obtained from a donation from a deceased person, reports radio Sweden. “Then we have
removed all cells and all the genetic material, and after that we have
brought stem cells from the patient who will receive the blood vessel
and then grow this vessel out again,” says Michael Olausson, Professor
and Director of the Transplant Center at the Sahlgrenska University
Hospital in Gothenburg to radio Sweden.
At the moment, Michael Olausson and his team believe that the approach
could be of great help to many people with plug formation in their
blood vessels and that they need to undergo a so-called "bypass
surgery".
Asked how important is it that the patient's own stem cells are
included in the vein? Michael Olausson replied that it has to do with
the immune system recognizing the tissue as its own and thus will not
reject it. For him and the patient, it's a big advantage. All the
medications that are normally given to avoid the body rejecting the new
cell is very powerful and can cause side effects, so it is desirable to
avoid them.
He adds that this new method is also very important so that “we’ll be
able to solve problem around such things as hearts or kidneys in the
future. The next big step for us is probably a work around to get
arteries to function well. This opens the door and then maybe, be able
to produce whole organs,” says Michael Olausson.
By Scancomark.se Team
Swedish Finance Minister starts feeling bad as banks begin to report increased profits
Tuesday, 07 February 2012
How can the repo rate remain this low, but banks’ mortgage rates remain
soo high? The Swedish Finance Minister, Anders Borg ponders, as Swedish
big banks start reporting astronomical profits and increase dividend
payments while households are squeezed in the middle with runaway
mortgage rate charges.
He has vocally called such phenomenon provocative in that the major
Swedish banks keep up their profits by charging high interest margins
on household mortgages.
As SEB on Tuesday reported a profit of Skr3.1 billion for the fourth
quarter of 2011, including the margins on lending which showed a
decrease, the minister has now criticized the big banks for keeping up
their profitability on household expense.
For him the big banks are trying to abuse their dominate position in
the market by manipulating and holding household to ransom by forcing
them to pay higher interests on their mortgages.
It is like a cartel because all the big banks behave the same and for household, there is no way to hide or to run to.
In December, the Swedish repo rate was cut further, but the Swedish big
banks instead have seen this as a gift to them and have not joined in
lowering their mortgage rates.
In an interview with Swedish newspaper, Svenska Dagbladet, Mr Borg
pointed out that, there is evidence to suggest that Swedbank, SEB,
Handelsbanken and Nordea have the highest interest rate margins in
Europe in terms of the mortgage charges.
“I think it is provocative that they maintain their profitability by
having very wide interest rate margins on households in a situation
where the economy would thrive if the margins were to decline. It is
important that we put pressure on banks,” says Anders Borg, to Svenska
Dagbladet.
Anders Borg said that the major banks make high profits because there
are few other options for customers, and that you have read the state –
aid systems. The Minister of Finance is reported to be in favour of new
taxes for banks and the financial sector, such as a tax on financial
transactions.
“It is partly this that makes us in the long run probably to have to
have a discussion about how we should view the treasures of the banking
sector,” Anders Borg told Svenska Dagbladet.
By Scancomark.se Team
