Cerebral Palsy (CP) is a disabling condition that affects a child’s life and his/her family irreversibly. It is usually a non-progressive condition but improvement over time is rarely seen. The condition can be due to prenatal hypoxia, metabolic, genetic, infectious, traumatic or other causes. It is therefore a heterogeneous group that results in functional motor disability associated with different degrees of cognitive abnormalities. There are no treatments that can cure or even improve CP and the best available approach aims at functional, social and nutritional supportive care and counseling. In this paper, we report 17 sequential patients with CP treated with intrathecal administration of Bone Marrow Mononuclear Cells (BMMC). All patients had an uneventful post-injection course with 73% of the evaluable patients treated having a good response using the Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS). The average improvement was 1.3 levels on the GMFCS with cognitive improvements as well.

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In this study, 6 patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) underwent autologous bone marrow mononuclear stem cell (BM-MNSC) infusion into the celiac and superior mesenteric arteries without pretreatment with any myeloablative or immune-suppressive therapy. Five of 6 (83%) showed normalization of their fasting glucose and the glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1C) with significant reduction of their medication requirements. The HbA1C dropped on average 2.2 points. The three patients with diabetic complications showed improvement or stabilization and most patients reported improved energy and stamina. The durations of response varied between 6 months and 2 years. No patients had any significant adverse effects.

Folic acid (FA) given before and during pregnancy reduces the risk of several birth defects, including neurologic, cardiac, urinary and other congenital anomalies in the newborn. Several studies around the world showed less than satisfactory awareness and intake of this important vitamin. We undertook the task of exploring this question among Lebanese women of childbearing age. Between June and November 2014, we conducted this cross-sectional study on women aged 20 to 40 years. The subjects, who agreed to participate, completed a questionnaire, which included questions on sociodemographic characteristics, lifestyle, and knowledge about FA roles during pregnancy, as well as their babies’ health. Seventy-six percent reported having knowledge about FA during pregnancy, but only a small proportion knew the benefits for taking it. Also, 93.9% of women took FA supplements during pregnancy, however only 33.6% of the participants took FA before becoming aware of their pregnancy. Public health interventions to improve awareness of FA’s roles before and during pregnancy are crucial to curtail birth defects. It is our opinion that it is a very fruitful preventive medicine tool in which every community should invest.

Stem cell therapy, an evolving, progressive field of therapeutics has shown several successes in areas where classic treatments failed to prevent or stop disability. Starting in 2009, twenty two sequential patients with progressive Multiple Sclerosis (MS) courses were treated with Autologous Bone Marrow Mononuclear stem cells (BM-MNSCs). The cells were given both intravenously and intrathecally. Using the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) score for evaluation, our data indicates that the majority of the patients benefited on the average one point on the scale. This paper adds to the body of evidence suggesting the safety and efficacy of autologous BM-MNSCs in the treatment of MS and awaits validation through larger, randomized studies.