WASHINGTON (AP) — A man who battled childhood cancer has received the first known transplant of sperm-producing stem cells, in a study aimed at restoring the fertility of cancer’s youngest survivors.

Jaiwen Hsu was 11 when a leg injury turned out to be bone cancer. Doctors thought grueling chemotherapy could save him but likely leave him infertile. His parents learned researchers at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center were freezing testicular cells of young boys with cancer in hopes of preserving their future fertility — and signed him up.

Hsu, now 26, is the first to return as an adult and test if reimplanting those cells might work.

“The science behind it is so incredibly new that right now it’s kind of a waiting game,” said Hsu, of Vienna, Virginia. “It’s kind of eagerly crossing our fingers and hoping for the best.”

It may seem unusual to discuss future fertility when a family is reeling from the diagnosis of a child’s cancer. But 85 per cent of children with cancer now survive to adulthood and about 1 in 3 are left infertile from chemotherapy or radiation.

Young adults with cancer can bank sperm, eggs or sometimes embryos ahead of treatment. But children diagnosed before puberty don’t have that option because they’re not yet producing mature sperm or eggs.

Boys are born with stem cells inside spaghetti-like tubes in the testes, cells that start producing sperm after puberty sparks a rise in testosterone. With funding from the National Institutes of Health, Pitt reproductive scientist Kyle Orwig studies how to preserve and potentially use testicular cells to restore fertility.

It starts with a biopsy-like removal of a small amount of testicular tissue that contains millions of cells – some of them precious sperm-producing stem cells. Since 2011, Orwig’s team has frozen samples from about 1,000 prepubertal boys.

It’s impossible to tell if enough stem cells are in each tiny sample to matter. But in 2019, Orwig used preserved testicular tissue from a young male monkey that, in an animal version of IVF, led to the birth of a healthy baby monkey.

By 2023, Orwig was ready to reimplant now-grown cancer survivors’ cells when Hsu — not ready to start a family yet but curious about his long-ago study participation — reached out.

“We’re not expecting a miracle result,” cautioned Orwig, whose colleagues transplanted Hsu’s thawed cells in November 2023.

In a paper posted online this week, Orwig reported the injection, guided by ultrasound to the right spot, was safe and easy to perform. His work has not yet been reviewed by other scientists.

And Orwig said it’s too soon to know if the experiment worked and standard tests likely won’t tell, as animal testing found assisted reproduction techniques were needed to detect and retrieve small amounts of sperm. Still, he hopes the ongoing research will alert more families to consider fertility preservation so they’d have the option if it eventually pans out.

Belgian researchers announced a similar experiment in January, implanting pieces of testicular tissue rather than cells in a childhood cancer survivor.

“These developments are of great importance,” said researcher Ellen Goossens of Vrije Universiteit Brussel. While animal research “was very promising, transplantations in humans will be the only way” to tell if this really works.

Similar research with immature ovarian tissue is underway for female childhood cancer survivors, too, noted Dr. Mahmoud Salama, who directs the Oncofertility Consortium at Michigan State University.

Hsu said even if his experimental transplant doesn’t work, it will guide further research. He’s grateful his parents years ago “made a call that gave me the option to make the choice for myself today.”

(AP) – Our homes have been multitasking for a while now. They may be where we work, they are certainly where we play, and in today’s stress-filled world, they’re often the place where we feel most at peace.

Spurred by the pandemic, dens became offices, extra bedrooms became workout zones, dining rooms morphed into multifunctional creative spaces.

Often, we’re seeing rooms transformed into sanctuaries of self-care: welcome to the “wellness room.”

“Small sophisticated home gyms, music rooms, meditation rooms and Zen gardens are some of the wellness spaces we’ve designed recently,” says designer Gonzalo Bueno, who owns the firm Ten Plus Three in Dallas. “Spaces for wellness, retreat and recharging are all really popular right now.”

Bueno and his team combined several of these ideas in a home renovation in Austin, Texas. There is an outdoor Zen garden, flanked indoors by a meditation room on one side and the soaking tub of the primary bath on the other, with both facing a serene green space.

Holistic high and low tech

“Soundbathing,” where you immerse yourself in soothing instrumental and natural sounds, has become popular at many professional spas. Now, companies are making versions for the home, or you can set one up yourself.

Create a low-tech soundbathing studio with some comfy pillows, yoga mats, essential oil scent and dimmed lights or candles and then either play or use recorded sounds of chimes, singing bowls and gongs. You can find links to meditation sounds online.

There are full-size beds available that use low frequency sound and vibrations, or you can find cushion-y mats with some of the same features, far less costly.

Traditional saunas use steam, but infrared light saunas are an easier-to-install alternative for indoors. Several makers offer single, two-or three-person versions made of wood or just an insulated fabric. Fancy ones come equipped with Bluetooth audio and color-changing lights.

If you really want to splash out on an in-house, multi-sensory, luxury experience, there are shower units integrating tech into customisable water, steam, lighting and music.

Quiet and maybe deep

Jack Ovadia, whose eponymous design firm is based in New York, created a one-person onsen, the Japanese deep-soak-style tub, for a Phoenix client. The cocoon-like space has a contemplative wall of terrazzo pebbles and a pretty, petal-bedecked chandelier above.
But he also is doing wellness rooms that can multi-serve with a sauna and then an invigorating cold plunge tub. In his own home, he has an area to practice yoga and Pilates.
“Having a private space is essential,” Ovadia says. “A wellness room should be a space where the outside world dissolves; no background noise, no movement beyond your own.

This is where you go to let go; to drop into something quieter, something deeper.”

Celebrating creativity solo or with your peeps

Your ideal wellness room might be a little more energetic than the serene, spa-like versions.

“We’re designing more music rooms,” Bueno says, “which isn’t surprising since music is so healing. “

He notes how much fun it is to work with clients who have a passion — “art, yoga, music or entertaining” — and design spaces to help bring that passion home.

“Recent clients had an extensive vinyl collection,” he says. “Others have wanted a room to enjoy music during large family gatherings.”

Materials and accessories to set the mood

Make sure the size of the space suits your activity and you use materials to set the tone.
“Bring in warmth and a sense of calm with things like natural tan oak, cork, bamboo, neutral tones and organic textures,” Ovadia says.

Small table lights can be set on a timer to play calming nature sounds. Some offer a soft amber glow or an array of soothing day-to-evening hues. Invest in a comfy sectional if you have space, or look for flop-worthy giant beanbags and squooshy oversize chairs.

If it’s an energy-filled space you’re after, Bueno has some suggestions for lighting that kicks things up a little, or a lot.

“We did a home gym with red accents, to bring in passion and motivating energy,” he says.
Engaging art can add to that vibe. Bueno mounted a clubby neon work in a large music/family room that says, “This Must Be the Place.” In the red gym hangs a contemporary piece that reads, “Keep On Keeping On.”

And for the quiet well room? Dreamy nature photographs, prints or mural wallpaper would be the chef’s kiss.

If you don’t have room for a wellness room

Nowhere to stake out a wellness room in your own place? You might have something similar in your hometown.

Public wellness spaces are becoming places to jive and gather as well. So-called social spas offering traditional spa services, as well as group hangout spaces and social activities, are popping up around the US.

“It’s the new nightclub,” Ovadia says. “Self-care is evolving into a shared experience, becoming a prominent scene rather than just a side routine.”