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Mar. 23rd, 2010
Judaism 101: A brief history of Pesach
Mar. 23rd, 2010 03:36 pm
In Jerusalem ultra-Orthodox Jewish men prepare matza, an unleavened bread eaten during Pesach.
(AP Photo/Dan Balilty)
Pesach (or Passover) is one of three Jewish holidays that began as harvest festivals, evolved into pilgrimage holidays during the Second Temple period, and are now celebrated in the home as well as in synagogue. In a commentary he is writing for congregations that use the triennial cycle for Torah reading Brooklyn resident Larry Magarik writes:
Passover was originally a fellowship meal of a spring lamb, and a parallel festival of unleavened bread. These were combined and linked to the narrative of the exodus from Egypt. The Torah reflects this earlier version of Passover when it sets forth a ritual calendar beginning with the 1st, selection of a lamb on the 10th, slaughter on the 14th, eating on the 15th, and use of matzah through the 21st, days of the month of Nisan. The Passover ritual was originally home-based. During the Babylonian Exile (500s BCE), the prophet Ezekiel advocated a centralized celebration of Passover, focused on the Prince and Priests in a restored Temple. In fact, during Second Temple times, Passover did change from a family rite to a centralized national celebration in Jerusalem. After the Temple's destruction in 70 CE, the rabbis transformed Passover back into a home-based educational seminar about theholiday. The Haggadah passage Yachol mey-Rosh Chodesh thus explains that the telling of the exodus story does not follow the Biblical sacrificial schedule (1st-10th-14th of the month), but is (now) appropriately conducted at the Seder on the 15th of Nisan, when Matzah and Maror (but no longer the Paschal lamb) are present.
The Passover seder as we know it today evolved in the rabbinic period after the destruction of the Second Temple modeled on Greco-Roman drinking parties. It is for many Jews their earliest exposure to rabbinic commentary. The exodus narrative in the Haggadah does not quote the relevant chapters at the end of Genesis and the beginning of Exodus at length but rather the synopsis of these chapters in Deuteronomy 26:5-8 and its rabbinic commentary. Because such commentary is above the heads of little children a game of finding a hidden piece of matzah known as the afikomen is included as is singing holiday songs. In contemporary seders the festival of freedom may include supplementary readingsreminding us that in the recent past and in the world today there are people who still do not enjoy freedom, human rights, and basic dignity.
Wherever and however you celebrate I wish you a sweet Pesach as kosher as you want it to be.
A 10 year old boy received a new trachea grown from his own stem cells attached to a colagen scaffold.
Doctors at the Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) along with colleagues at the University College London, the Royal Free Hospital, and Careggi University Hospital in Florence have successfully transplanted a trachea into a 10 year old boy using his own stem cells. A donor trachea was taken, stripped of its cells into a collagen-like scaffold, and then infused with the boy’s stem cells. The trachea was surgically placed into the boy and allowed to develop in place. Because his own cells were used, there was little to no risk of rejection. This was the first time a child had received such a stem cell augmented transplant and the first time that a complete trachea had been used. This also marks only the second time that an organ has been transplanted into a person while stem cells were still forming the new body part. Previous attempts required the donor organ to be infused with stem cells and incubated for weeks before transplantation. This surgery is an amazing step forward for regenerative medicine and organ transplants, and could be a sign of a new direction in these kinds of surgeries.
We reported earlier about the first person to ever receive a stem cell grown windpipe. Claudio Castillo was around 30 when her stem cells were used to grow a new bronchea on a donated trachea scaffold in 2008. That windpipe was incubated in a lab for weeks before she was operated upon. In 2009, Dr. Macchiarini (leader of the team responsible for the earlier procedure) operated on a 53 year old Italian woman, replacing a portion of her trachea with a scaffold covered in her stem cells. As with the recent 10 year old boy, this operation did not require weeks of incubation. In fact, the stem cells were applied just hours before the scaffold was placed inside the patient. In just two years time, then, Dr. Macchiarini (and his colleagues in the EU and UK) has gone from producing the first stem cell organ transplant, to streamlining that procedure so that the organ is mostly reformed while still in the body. That’s simply incredible. Following this trend forward several iterations, and it may be possible to completely renew an organ, or replace it, simply through the correct application of stem cells.
Compared to the newest non-stem cell surgical options, this procedure was considerably faster and less expensive. The unnamed 10 year old boy had Long Segment Tracheal Stenosis, a condition which narrows the trachea and makes the patient feel as if they are breathing through a straw. It is a potentially fatal condition. Typical treatments (which are still relatively new) involve a conventional transplant. The boy had received such a treatment but a metal stent used in that procedure damaged his aorta several years later. Rather than face the uncertainties of another transplant, with the risk of rejection, GOSH doctors requested Dr. Macchiarini’s help in transplanting a stem cell covered scaffold. Letting the trachea develop in the patient may eventually make this process cost just tens of thousands of pounds rather than hundreds of thousands.
The procedure can be seen in a simulation developed by Dr. Macchiarini. The video can be found on the UCL News site by clicking the photo below. There is no sound.
To further the development of the stem cells on the trachea scaffold, Dr. Macchiarini used various cytokine drugs (shown as injections in the video). These drugs help signal to the stem cells where and how to develop. While not directly stated in the press releases or news segments about this procedure, I suspect that such drug augmentation may become a more integral part of stem cell therapies in the future. As multipotent cells are directed to replace a wide variety of different organs and tissues, proteins and other chemicals may be necessary to speed stem cell specialization and keep it focused on the type of cell that is desired.
When Claudio Castillo received her stem cell scaffold windpipe the procedure was basically just a lab test. It had never been tried before and was likely years from being developed to a point of clinical use. Now, with two more patients having undergone a new (and improved) version of the transplant, we can cautiously pronounce this a developing trend in treatment. Oh, we’re still years from seeing transplants of this kind from becoming commonplace, but every successful case is a step in the right direction. Also, with every new patient there are more doctors that gain experience in the procedure. I think that we are very likely to see more of these transplants (at the rare, lab-based level) in the near future. Hopefully we’re all a little closer to being able to use stem cells and scaffolds to grow new organs when we need them. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: medicine is cool.
The doctors and surgeons responsible for this miraculous trasnplant. From left to right: Dr. Martin Birchall (UCL), Dr. Mark Lowdell (RFH), Dr. Paolo Macchiarini (Careggi), Dr. Martin Elliott (GOSH).
[screen capture credit: Paolo Macchiarini]
[image credit: UCL News]
[source: UCL News, GOSH, BBC News]Related Posts:
- A Tale of Two Windpipes - Determining the Future of Organ Transplants
- Crohn's Disease Cured By Stem Cell Therapy
- Stem Cell Transplant Defeats HIV? Patient Still HIV Free After 2 Years
- Watch This 5 Minute Video Explain Why Stem Cell Research Has to Take so Long.
- Extraordinary TEDMED Video About Growing New Organs
Tags: Careggi University Hospital in Florence, Great Ormond Street Hospital, long sement trachael stenosis, Mark Lowdell, Martin Birchall, Martin Elliott, organ transplant, Paolo Macchiarini, royal free hospital, trachea, University College London, windpipe
Share
A 10 year old boy received a new trachea grown from his own stem cells attached to a colagen scaffold.
Doctors at the Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) along with colleagues at the University College London, the Royal Free Hospital, and Careggi University Hospital in Florence have successfully transplanted a trachea into a 10 year old boy using his own stem cells. A donor trachea was taken, stripped of its cells into a collagen-like scaffold, and then infused with the boy’s stem cells. The trachea was surgically placed into the boy and allowed to develop in place. Because his own cells were used, there was little to no risk of rejection. This was the first time a child had received such a stem cell augmented transplant and the first time that a complete trachea had been used. This also marks only the second time that an organ has been transplanted into a person while stem cells were still forming the new body part. Previous attempts required the donor organ to be infused with stem cells and incubated for weeks before transplantation. This surgery is an amazing step forward for regenerative medicine and organ transplants, and could be a sign of a new direction in these kinds of surgeries.
We reported earlier about the first person to ever receive a stem cell grown windpipe. Claudio Castillo was around 30 when her stem cells were used to grow a new bronchea on a donated trachea scaffold in 2008. That windpipe was incubated in a lab for weeks before she was operated upon. In 2009, Dr. Macchiarini (leader of the team responsible for the earlier procedure) operated on a 53 year old Italian woman, replacing a portion of her trachea with a scaffold covered in her stem cells. As with the recent 10 year old boy, this operation did not require weeks of incubation. In fact, the stem cells were applied just hours before the scaffold was placed inside the patient. In just two years time, then, Dr. Macchiarini (and his colleagues in the EU and UK) has gone from producing the first stem cell organ transplant, to streamlining that procedure so that the organ is mostly reformed while still in the body. That’s simply incredible. Following this trend forward several iterations, and it may be possible to completely renew an organ, or replace it, simply through the correct application of stem cells.
Compared to the newest non-stem cell surgical options, this procedure was considerably faster and less expensive. The unnamed 10 year old boy had Long Segment Tracheal Stenosis, a condition which narrows the trachea and makes the patient feel as if they are breathing through a straw. It is a potentially fatal condition. Typical treatments (which are still relatively new) involve a conventional transplant. The boy had received such a treatment but a metal stent used in that procedure damaged his aorta several years later. Rather than face the uncertainties of another transplant, with the risk of rejection, GOSH doctors requested Dr. Macchiarini’s help in transplanting a stem cell covered scaffold. Letting the trachea develop in the patient may eventually make this process cost just tens of thousands of pounds rather than hundreds of thousands.
The procedure can be seen in a simulation developed by Dr. Macchiarini. The video can be found on the UCL News site by clicking the photo below. There is no sound.
To further the development of the stem cells on the trachea scaffold, Dr. Macchiarini used various cytokine drugs (shown as injections in the video). These drugs help signal to the stem cells where and how to develop. While not directly stated in the press releases or news segments about this procedure, I suspect that such drug augmentation may become a more integral part of stem cell therapies in the future. As multipotent cells are directed to replace a wide variety of different organs and tissues, proteins and other chemicals may be necessary to speed stem cell specialization and keep it focused on the type of cell that is desired.
When Claudio Castillo received her stem cell scaffold windpipe the procedure was basically just a lab test. It had never been tried before and was likely years from being developed to a point of clinical use. Now, with two more patients having undergone a new (and improved) version of the transplant, we can cautiously pronounce this a developing trend in treatment. Oh, we’re still years from seeing transplants of this kind from becoming commonplace, but every successful case is a step in the right direction. Also, with every new patient there are more doctors that gain experience in the procedure. I think that we are very likely to see more of these transplants (at the rare, lab-based level) in the near future. Hopefully we’re all a little closer to being able to use stem cells and scaffolds to grow new organs when we need them. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: medicine is cool.
The doctors and surgeons responsible for this miraculous trasnplant. From left to right: Dr. Martin Birchall (UCL), Dr. Mark Lowdell (RFH), Dr. Paolo Macchiarini (Careggi), Dr. Martin Elliott (GOSH).
[screen capture credit: Paolo Macchiarini]
[image credit: UCL News]
[source: UCL News, GOSH, BBC News]Related Posts:
- A Tale of Two Windpipes - Determining the Future of Organ Transplants
- Crohn's Disease Cured By Stem Cell Therapy
- Stem Cell Transplant Defeats HIV? Patient Still HIV Free After 2 Years
- Watch This 5 Minute Video Explain Why Stem Cell Research Has to Take so Long.
- Extraordinary TEDMED Video About Growing New Organs
Tags: Careggi University Hospital in Florence, Great Ormond Street Hospital, long sement trachael stenosis, Mark Lowdell, Martin Birchall, Martin Elliott, organ transplant, Paolo Macchiarini, royal free hospital, trachea, University College London, windpipe
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