Astronaut launches parenting website

OU had kept tabs on every detail of Datuk Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor’s space exploration in October 2007, now Malaysians will have the chance to follow the national astronaut on a different but no less important journey – parenthood.

“I’ve always loved children,” said the country’s first astronaut orangkasawan, who will be a first-time father next month.

The 38-year-old Dr Sheikh Muszaphar was at the launch of the parenting portal www.parenthood.my at a shopping mall in Kuala Lumpur last week. With him was Datin Dr Halina Mohd Yunos, 30, whom he married last October.

Besides featuring their parenting journey, the portal also serves as a social networking forum that provides a platform and support group for new parents.

Firsttime parents: The couple at the launch of the portal last week.

It covers topics like baby’s health, pregnancy health, maternity tips and post-maternity do’s and don’ts.

The couple are also signed on as spokespersons for the website sponsored by CellSafe International, which specialises in stem cell banking.

“When we found out about the pregnancy, we were both very excited and grateful for the opportunity to raise a child together,” said Dr Halina.

As medical doctors, both of them are aware of stem cell banking through their work in hospitals, but they had difficulty identifying a suitable company, said Dr Sheikh Muszaphar.

“More awareness is needed for stem cell banking. In Taiwan, 50% of parents do it, but in Malaysia, it’s only 2%. People need to know. Stem cells can treat more than 70 types of diseases,” he added.

Lau Kin Wai, CellSafe founder and executive director, said the company had always been on the lookout for a Malaysian who could become CellSafe’s spokesperson.

When he found out that Dr Sheikh Muszaphar and his wife were expecting a child, and that both were doctors, he thought they were the perfect candidates.

'Space child' on the way!

By Noorsila Abd Majid

Malaysian astronaut Datuk Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor Al-Masrie and his wife, Datin Dr Halina Mohd Yunos are expecting their first child.

The angkasawan has posted the baby news on his official Dr Sheikh Muszaphar FanClub on Facebook.

"We are looking forward for this coming July
for the due of our tiny baby astronaut ....
Just sharing the good news .....," he writes.

His publicist, Dewi Safina further confirms the good news, "Dr Halina is exactly three months' pregnant," she says.

The photogenic doctors tied the knot on Oct 10 last year.

Published Jan 11 2011

Read more/More news on: http://www.dailychilli.com/news/

Credits to and source taken from: http://www.dailychilli.com/news/

Value of cordblood

What makes cord blood more usable than bone marrow?
First, cord blood stem cells are easily extracted, resulting in no risk or pain for the mother or baby. Alternatively, bone marrow collection is an invasive procedure and requires general anesthesia with its inherent risks. Also, cord blood stem cells have a high rate of engraftment, are more tolerant of HLA mismatches, result in a reduced rate of graft-versus-host disease and are rarely contaminated with latent viruses—which simply means that the body often accepts cord blood stem cells better than those from bone marrow. Plus, banked cord blood is readily accessible, allowing treatment to begin earlier if required, with no time wasted in the search and matching process required for publicly banked stem cells. And lastly, when you bank with Cryo-Cell, there is no cost to retrieve your baby’s stored stem cells if they are needed for transplant.

Are there other benefits to banking my newborn’s cord blood?
Yes, many. Often, matched stem cells, which are necessary for transplant, are difficult to obtain due to strict matching requirements. But cells taken from your newborn are a perfect match for your baby for his or her lifetime. For example, in the event your child contracts a disease, which must be treated with chemotherapy or radiation, there is a probability of a negative impact on the immune system. While an autologous (self) transplant may not be appropriate for every disease, there could be a benefit in using the preserved U-Cord® stem cells to bolster and repopulate your child’s blood and immune system as a result of complications from other treatments.

Additionally, your child’s cord blood stem cells have at least a one-in-four chance of matching a sibling. Using genetically related stem cells, which are free from the disease being treated, often results in successful transplants with fewer complications. Also, cord blood is ‘privileged’ or unexposed to most diseases. And what’s more, cord blood may have uses in the future well beyond stem cell transplants. New medical technology may utilize U-Cord stem cells to rebuild cardiac tissue, repair damage due to stroke or spinal cord injuries and reverse the effects of such diseases as multiple sclerosis or Parkinson's. While the research is in its early stages, the possibilities are extremely promising. So by banking your child's U-Cord stem cells now, you increase his or her access to any of these technologies in the future.

Still not convinced of how stem cell banking can help your family?
While saving your child's U-Cord stem cells is an investment, it still costs less than many families spend on their child's nursery. Plus, storage fees after the first year are less than $3/week. And if that’s not enough, consider this: if you donate the cord blood to a public bank, be aware that the stem cells may not be available for your use in the future.

Process

Cord Blood has already saved thousands of lives. It has been used successfully in the treatment of over 70 life-threatening diseases. See how simple and painless the cord blood collection process is. Visit for more information http://parenthood.my/

Cord blood stem cell banking?

Before you try to understand the concept of cord blood stem cell banking, you must have a basic knowledge of what cord blood is and why is it so important?

Cord blood is also known as “placental blood” and refers to the blood that remains behind in the placenta and umbilical cord after a birth. This cord blood is an excellent source of stem cells.

Stem cells are the “fundamental” cells of a body from which all body cells are created. They are essential for immunity. These cells have the ability to differentiate into specialized cells of organs such as heart, lungs and liver and function accordingly. For obvious reasons, their potential in the field of medical science is huge.

They have been found to be useful in the treatment of diseases such as leukemia, type I diabetes and Parkinson’s disease.

The best part is that stem cells can be harvested from this cord blood and preserved for future use.

Now that you know what cord blood cell is and why stem cells are so important, you can understand the concept and working of a stem cell bank better.

Cord blood collection is done in the first 10 minutes after the birth. The umbilical cord is cut and removed from the new-born baby and the blood is collected. This cord blood is a very rich source of stem cells.

75ml of cord blood is sufficient to produce enough stem cells for any future use. After the cord blood has been collected, it is sent to a lab where it is processed and cryopreserved. Some processing techniques separate the red blood cells while others don’t. For the cells to survive the cryogenic process, a cryopreservant must be added to the blood unit.

The blood unit is then cooled to a temperature of -90 degree Celsius. Next, it is kept in a liquid nitrogen tank that maintains a temperature of -196 degree Celsius.

Tests for viral diseases such as HIV and Hepatitis B and C are performed on the blood before it is stored.

2 types of cord blood stem cell banks exist: Public and Private

You can donate cord blood to public banks, which is then given to anyone who needs it. Private Banks are more expensive in comparison to public banks.

You should also consider preserving the cord blood of your child for future medical requirements.

Malaysian Hottest Astronaut

MALAYSIA’S FIRST ASTRONAUT & WIFE LEND SUPPORT TO STEM CELL BANKING AWARENESS

Kuala Lumpur, 22 June 2011 – The casual but chic setting of an upmarket noodle bar in Bangsar was the ideal spot for the media gathering by Cellsafe International Group (“Cellsafe”) to launch its latest parenting and stem cell banking awareness campaign. Emceed by Xavier Mah, the informative media conference was attended by more than 50 members of the media and Malaysia’s very first astronaut – Datuk Dr. Sheikh Muszaphar (“Datuk Dr Sheikh”).

The orthopaedic surgeon-turned-astronaut attended the event with his wife Datin Dr. Halina Mohd Yunos (“Dr Halina”), who met our national hero spaceman at medical school. Today’s event sees the couple jointly promoting stem cell banking, a scientific cause they both firmly believe in.

Stem cell banking refers to the scientific practice of preserving a newborn baby’s umbilical cord blood in an extremely low temperature environment referred to as cryogenic preservation. A new born baby’s cord blood is rich with stem cells that can be utilised in the treatment of various diseases. Parents in the United States, the United Kingdom and Taiwan often capitalise on such facilities so that when required the stem cells are readily available for retrieval.

Stem cell banking or cryogenic preservation of stem cells is hence offered by specialist laboratories worldwide. Cellsafe is one such service provider in the region that has made its presence felt in Malaysia since 2007.

Mr. Lau Kin Wai, founder and executive director of Cellsafe gave the welcome speech at the event. “Many parents in Asia have now made informed decision to store their babies’ cord blood stem cells as a precautionary measure for the future. I see this practice as a bio-insurance that could one-day be as important as subscribing to a medical insurance” he explained. “We are a regional high-tech biotech venture that is able to provide non-controversial cord blood stem cell cryogenic preservation. Our lab in Malaysia offers high quality but yet affordable service to the Malaysian population. However, we find the awareness of stem cell banking is often very low outside of the major urban cities of Malaysia.”

This was followed by a testimonial by Datuk Dr Sheikh who also elaborated on his journey to parenthood: “When my wife was expecting, we prepared ourselves by reading parenting websites on the Internet. Incidentally, we came across the topic of stem cell banking that was immensely popular in the United States. Enquiring, we found out that many Malaysians are unaware of such services. We did our due diligence on a highly recommended company named Cellsafe and signed up immediately, throughout impressed by what they were offering. When approached by Cellsafe to help promote stem cell banking awareness, we gladly obliged.”

Dr Halina added “As parents, we think stem cell banking is a very good gift for our newborn. Hence, we want to champion the cause to promote its awareness. My husband when he came back from space was exposed to a host of technological advancements, yet he still tells me that he is humbled by the fact that there live saving discoveries at our doorstep yet awareness is still minimal.”

Datuk Dr Sheikh further elaborated that the flipside would require scouring the public stem cell banks in the region, likely the ones in Singapore or Taiwan. However this acquisition is costly and compatibility issues often arise due to DNA-profiling that might not always match.

In conjunction with the event, a new parenting website aptly named Parenthood.My was also launched. The website is a social networking forum that provides a discussion platform for young parents to form a community support group. In addition, there are plans for a panel of experts who will share their insights from time to time on the website. The website is sponsored by Cellsafe as part of its ongoing efforts to ease the transition for young adults into parenthood.

For more information, please log on cellsafegroup.com and Parenthood.my.

About CellSafe International Group

CellSafe International Group (“CellSafe”) is a regional biotechnology group that focuses on non-controversial stem cells technologies (i.e. from non-embryonic sources). CellSafe specializes mainly in the harvesting and cryogenic preservation of cord blood stem cells.

In Malaysia, CellSafe is a biotech service provider fully licensed by The Ministry of Health of the Government of Malaysia (MOH) to operate a stem cell bank and to provide cord blood stem cell cryogenic preservation services. CellSafe has also been awarded the Bionexus Status by the Malaysian Biotechnology Corporation, the governmental agency in charge of developing the biotech industry of Malaysia . The Bionexus status allows CellSafe to enjoy a 10-year tax-free pioneer status and access to the R&D grants specifically set-up for the biotechnology sector.

CellSafe currently operates from Malaysia and Indonesia. They are planning to expand into other ASEAN countries in the near future.

CellSafe is staffed with well-qualified medical technologists and receive advice from experienced medical doctors and scientists. CellSafe is one of the fastest growing network of cord blood in Southeast Asia.

(Source taken from : (http://www.budiey.com/journey-to-parenthood-my-by-sheikh-muszaphar-dr-halina/)

Fairytales

You think fairy tales are only for girls? Here’s a hint – ask yourself who wrote them. I assure you, it wasn’t just the women. It’s the great male fantasy – all it takes is one dance to know that she’s the one. All it takes is the sound of her song from the tower, or a look at her sleeping face. And right away you know – this is the girl in your head, sleeping or dancing or singing in front of you. Yes, girls want their princes, but boys want their princesses just as much. And they don’t want a very long courtships. They want to know immediately.