I am interested in stem cell therapy for diabetics because I am a newly diagnosed Type 1 diabetic. Type 1 Diabetes is an autoimmune disorder in which the pancreas makes no insulin. Due to this hormonal deficiency, diabetics have to take multiple daily injections, and check their blood sugar multiple times a day. I have had Type 1 for two and a half years, and it is a struggle I must overcome each and every day. Diabetes affects every aspect of my day-to-day life, which is why finding a cure is so important to me. Type 1 Diabetes is not something that you can take a break from. It is a 24-hour job that could cost you your life if not taken seriously. Stem cell therapy directly affects me because it could be used to treat a disease that comes with many related health issues. I have been hospitalized three times in a period of two years due to this disease, which is why I am qualified to write about this topic. I would be willing to try anything that could make my life a little easier, and stem cell therapy could potentially be the answer. Not only do I know about this from firsthand experience, but I have also done extensive research about many different aspects concerning Type 1 diabetes. 

"Stem Cell Therapy to Cure Type 1 Diabetes: From Hype to Hope" describes many different strategies that can be used to cure Type 1 Diabetes. The three strategies it describes are: the regeneration of insulin-producing cells, immunomodulation, and tissue repair. The article then proceeds to discuss many different types of cells that can be used to help carry out these strategies. While the article explains why these types of stem cells should be used, it also explains the drawbacks of using some of these cells. For example, iPSCs (induced Pluripotent Stem Cells) have not been clinically tested because they can potentially cause tumors. These cells are also extremely costly, and not very efficient. The long-term effect of implanting stem cells is still unknown, requiring more research to be done. The authors of this article are Preeti Chhabra and Kenneth L. Brayman. They are both from the Department of Surgery at the University of Virginia School of Medicine. This article was posted in Stem Cells Translational Medicine, a website with articles only related to stem cell therapy. The article is biased towards the use of stem cells to cure Type 1 Diabetes, but it provides evidence to support its argument. 

The "Stem Cell-based Treatments for Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus: Bone Marrow, Embryonic, Hepatic, Pancreatic and Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells" article starts off by giving an explanation of what Type 1 diabetes is, and the current therapies used for helping to treat diabetes. The article also gives a very beneficial chart describing where certain stem cells originate, the advantages and disadvantages, and whether insulin was produced in vivo, or in mice. Some of the main stem cells that were outlined in this article were pancreatic stem cells, induced pluripotent stem cells, hepatitic stem cells, bone marrow stem cells, and embryonic stem cells. Each of these cells shows great potential for being used to cure Type 1 Diabetes. This article also does a great job of explaining some of the disadvantages of using certain stem cells. One of the most common disadvantages with stem cell therapy is that there are no long-term studies on how they  could affect the diabetic patient. Also, cell mass is a huge factor that must be overcome before stem cells can be used. The stem cells would have to be mass-produced in order to provide enough cells for each patient. Embryonic stem cells are one of the more promising stem cells to use, but they have a lot of ethical controversy, which is preventing them from being used in clinical trials. K. J. Godfrey, B. Mathew, J. C. Bulman, O. Shah, S. Clement and G. I. Gallicano, are the authors of this article. Godfrey, Mathew, Bulman, and Shaw, are all from the Georgetown University School of Medicine. Clement is from the Department of Medicine at Georgetown University Medical Center, and Gallicano is from the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular and Cellular Biology at the Georgetown University Medical Center. Having 6 different authors from three different fields of medicine really validates the credibility of this article. While this article does strongly push for the use of stem cell therapy, it also notes the disadvantages of using these stem cells. However, it also gives many advantages for using these stem cells, and uses evidence to back these up. 

"Preclinical and Clinical Evidence for Stem Cell Therapies as Treatment for Diabetic Wounds" explains how stem cell therapy can be used to treat diabetic wounds in all diabetic patients. It explains both the causes and effects of diabetic wounds, which usually requires some type of procedure, or potentially amputation. It then discusses the different types of stem cells that can be used such as: bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells, bone marrow-derived mononuclear stem cells, peripheral blood mononuclear cells, placenta-derived stem cells, umbilical cord blood-derived stem cells, adipose tissue-derived stem cells, and human fetal aorta-derived progenitor cells. It describes a lot of clinical trials that have been performed to reduce diabetic wounds through stem cells. The  article makes no mention of the disadvantages of using these stem cells, or clinical trials that weren't successful. The authors of this article are Hannes Heublein, Augustinus Bader, and Shibashish Giri. Heublein is from the Centre of Biotechnology and Biomedicine. Bader is from the Department of Cell Techniques and Applied Stem Cell Biology, and Giri is from the Medical Faculty of University of Leipzig. All of the authors are credible and give a lot of evidence towards the use of stem cell therapy. However, the article is very biased towards the use of stem cell therapy, which is why it would be best used as a reference. While they do give evidence to support all of the different types of stem cells, they fail to point out the drawbacks, or unsuccessful clinical trials that used stem cells to treat diabetic wounds. 

