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The 6 W’s: Who, what, where, when, why and what of it …

Today’s Gospel: A cynical and frustrating day … as the market … tripped on retail data … there’s a lot of cash sitting on the sidelines and you haven’t seen that money come back into … equities … from a risk standpoint so we’re looking for a little bit of a pullback … We’ve had great gains since the beginning of the year, but things are … overdone. There are a lot of macro-economic headwinds coming from Europe and the US as well that could give us a bit of a … pullback.

Mid-Day: The NASDAQ is DOWN -16.94  (-0.58%) to 2,914.45 while the Dow is also DOWN -51.56 (-0.40%) to 12,82.38.

Mid-Day Market Commentary: Stocks have shown a notable move to the downside in MID-DAY trading on Tuesday amid renewed concerns about the financial situation in Europe. The major averages have slid firmly into negative territory after ending the previous session firmly positive.  Much of the weakness in the market stems from news that Moody’s cut the debt ratings of 6 EU countries, includingItaly,Spain andPortugal, and warned it could cut the triple-A ratings of France, Britain and Austria.  Traders are also reacting to a report on US retail sales in the month of January, which showed that sales rose by less than expected amid a notable drop in auto sales

Who is UP … Mid-Day: 

• Advanced Cell Technology (OTC BB: ACTC);
• Aastrom (ASTM);
• International Stem Cell (OTC BB: ISCO);
• Osiris (OSIR);  
• StemCells (STEM);
• ThermoGenesis (KOOL);
• Verastem (VSTM).

What’s new in the regenerative medicine/stem cell market … 3 … things to know today … 

Bioheart (OTC BB: BHRT) acquires Exclusive Rights to Ageless Regenerative Institute’s Adipose Cell Technology:  BHRT.OB has acquired the worldwide exclusive rights adipose (fat) derived therapeutic cell technology for use in the cardiac field.  The Bottom Line: The Ageless adipose stem cell technology supposedly allow them to broaden their portfolio < what portfolio??> of product candidates for cardiac patients. A lot to say … and “they have successfully treated patients in Mexico and now we are ready to expand into the US” … doing WHAT?? Also what dollars do they have for development … they are broke …!!!  Next joke…

Umbilical cord stem cells may restore infants’ hearing: After promising results in mice, researchers in Texas are testing umbilical cord blood stem cell transplants in infants as a way to treat their hearing loss. An AFP story, via The Vancouver Sun, explains that scientists at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center in Houston say the treatment could either limit or reverse infant hearing loss. They’ve already enrolled 1 patient and will sign up 9 others, ages 6 weeks to 18 months, in the P1 trial over the next year to test both safety and efficacy of the cord blood transfusions. The Bottom Line: Mice, as usual are the trailblazers here. AFP recounts that the mouse studies showed that the blood, which contains stem cells known as hematopoietic cells, helped rebuild inner ear structures in the little rodents.   

Capricor, New Study in Regenerative Heart Therapy: A new study in which patients had their hearts repaired with stem cells. http://www.scimitarequity.com/blog/2012/02/14/capricor-new-study-in-regenerative-heart-therapy .The P1 study, which was chiefly conducted to evaluate safety, was published in an online edition of The Lancet medical journal.  It follows a similar trial by US scientists at Harvard Medical School and the University of Louisville whose findings were reported last year, also in The Lancet. That study, which used a different kind of heart stem cell, produced a 12% average increase in ejection fraction.  The Bottom Line: There is a … however,  future work will need to see if stem cell treatment can bring any long-term improvement in patients who experience heart failure after a heart attack. This occurs when a weakened heart is not strong enough to pump sufficient blood around the body, causing breathlessness and exhaustion.  This discovery challenges the conventional wisdom but, once established, scar is permanent and that, once lost, healthy heart muscle cannot be restored. The 2^nd however … is that … these cells have been proven to form heart muscle … in a Petri dish but now they seem to be doing the same thing when injected back into the heart as part of an apparently safe procedure.