Words of Wisdom

OH WHERE OH WHERE COULD THEY BE........

A news release, excerpted below - January 6, 2007 - from Wake Forest University describes a breakthrough in the stem cell field, which we should all applaud for its potential for the future treatment of illnesses and diseases.

However, one interesting side note is its mention of the afterbirth (last ¶) and its potential as another source for stem cells, which takes me back to my own birth on January 14, 1936. Here's that story.....

When I became a young adult - maybe age 19 or 20 - Mom, Grandma Elsie sat me down and related to me for the first time that I - Herbert Peress - was born with a caul. A most interesting once-in-a-million happinstance of birth - read the exposition at the link.

She then described what it was, how she had saved it all those years, its significance as an omen of good luck for the bearer, handing me a small wrapped object which when I carefully opened revealed itself to indeed be my caul wrapped in its original gauze from the delivery room. With that Mom entrusted it to me from then on as its rightful possessor.

Over the ensuing years throughout my travels - college>>marriage>>jobs>>my own kids>>etc. - I kept it well protected in the back of my sock drawer, always hoping it would bring me the good fortune that legend had it; only to turn around and toss it into the rubbish one day when I was in my thirties - in an unwarranted fit of despondency over some thing or another - cursing it for the streak of "bad luck" that I was going through.

Setting aside the temptation for a philosophical discussion at this point of this thing we call "luck" as well as the idea of free will and individual responsibility; with these 21st century breakthroughs being announced like every day now, it suddenly occurred to me that the legend of the caul as a talismen for good luck may have been some kind of intuitive but uncannily correct notion on the part of our ancient forebearers of the potential of this accidental piece of human biology: carry your caul around for life and if you ever get into trouble, say like loosing a leg or a finger - no problemo - just whip out the c. rub it on the wound and lo and behold a new limb regenerates itself. BINGO!

Tongue in cheek ?? - Absolutely - but food for thought, definitely.
Anyone wanting to comment - please jump in.

Since I no longer possess my caul - and am now in good company with 99.9999% of the rest of my fellow humanity - I feel better on the one hand for having leveled the playing field as I'm never the one to rejoice at being one-up on anyone who is slogging along just like all the rest of us - but inside me, with this news that science has now begun to learn how to exploit the potential of a caul - something which legend knew all along!! - I could kick myself in the proverbial shins for having tossed away a piece of rub-a-dub-dub magic.


WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. –Scientists have discovered a new source of stems cells and have used them to create muscle, bone, fat, blood vessel, nerve and liver cells in the laboratory. The first report showing the isolation of broad potential stem cells from the amniotic fluid that surrounds developing embryos was published today in Nature Biotechnology.

"Our hope is that these cells will provide a valuable resource for tissue repair and for engineered organs as well," said Anthony Atala, M.D., senior researcher and director of the Institute for Regenerative Medicine at Wake Forest University School of Medicine.

Atala announced the breakthrough with colleagues from Wake Forest University School of Medicine and Harvard Medical School........

...........An advantage of the [amniotic fluid-derived stem (AFS)] cells for potential medical applications is their ready availability. The report describes how the cells were harvested from backup amniotic fluid specimens obtained for amniocentesis, a procedure that examines cells in this fluid for prenatal diagnosis of certain genetic disorders. Similar stem cells were (also) isolated from "afterbirth," the placenta and other membranes that are expelled after delivery.