Research

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World Renowned Doctor using the First Dissolvable Implant for Spinal Surgery

Dr. Nitin Bhatia, Director of the Spine Center and Combined Spine Program at the University of California, Irvine, Medical Center, is using a new product for spinal surgery called the MYSTIQUE™ Resorbable Graft Containment Plating System. Read More!

Key to Integrating Transplanted Nerve Cells Into Injured Tissue

MASSACHUSETTS - Scientists at the Schepens Eye Research Institute, an affiliate of Harvard Medical School, have identified a key mechanism for successfully transplanting tissue into the adult central nervous system that may make retina, spinal cord and other central nervous system transplants possible. Read More!

Bed sores aren't always a sign of negligent care

MASSACHUSETTS - Until recently, most experts believed bed sores could be avoided by frequent turnings, skin care, and good nutrition - that is still true, but experts now believe that some develop not only as a result of lying in the same position for hours at a time but also because of malfunctioning blood vessels...Read More!

Spina Bifida Gene Identified; Groundbreaking Research Can Make Diagnosis Easier

“This discovery won’t have a major impact on the search for a cure yet, but it can have an immediate impact on diagnosis or risk assessment,” noted Dr. Gros, whose lab is funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. “A pre-natal diagnosis would allow physicians to decide whether to follow a pregnancy more closely.” Read More!

Correcting Rna Splicing May Help Treat Spinal Muscular Atrophy, CSHL Shows

U.K. - RNA splicing antisense technology studied at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) effectively corrected an mRNA splicing defect found in spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) patients, and is now ready to be tested in mouse models. "SMA patients who suffer from motor-neuron degeneration may benefit from our ability to correct the mRNA splicing defect that makes their SMN2 genes only partially functional," Read More!

Scientists plan China, HK, Taiwan stem cell trial

CHINA - Scientists are preparing for a large clinical trial in 2008 which aims to use stem cells to help 400 patients with spinal cord injuries in Hong Kong, mainland China and Taiwan grow new cells and nerve fibers.
Stem cells from umbilical cord blood will be injected into the spinal cords of the participants, who will also be given lithium to help stimulate cell regeneration, said Wise Young, a leading neuroscientist and spinal cord injury researcher. "What we'd like to do is study a broad range of patients, not just (those with) complete (spinal cord injuries)," said Young, professor at Rutgers' department of cellbiology and neuroscience. Rutgers is the state university in New Jersey in the U.S...Read More!

Enabling nerve regeneration means evicting the cleanup crew

D.C. - Macrophages are the immune cells that engulf and destroy the debris of damaged tissue to enable the healing process to begin. Their presence at the scene of damage is critical, but once their task is complete, it is just as critical that macrophages exit rapidly. Now, researchers have identified a key process by which macrophages are cleared from sites of peripheral nerve injury. Read More!

Scientists alter electrical properties of cells inducing regeneration

AUSTRALIA - Scientists at Forsyth may have moved one step closer to regenerating human spinal cord tissue by artificially inducing a frog tadpole to re-grow its tail at a stage in its development when it is normally impossible. Using a variety of methods including a kind of gene therapy, the scientists altered the electrical properties of cells thus inducing regeneration. Read More!

Device to restore sensation and motor function sent to FDA

MASSACHUSETTS - Cyberkinetics Neurotechnology Systems, Inc. (OTCBB: CYKN; "Company;" "Cyberkinetics"), announced that it submitted a Humanitarian Device Exemption (HDE) to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to obtain market clearance for the implantable Andara(tm) OFS(tm) (Oscillating Field Stimulator) System, a nerve growth stimulator. If approved, Cyberkinetics' Andara(tm) OFS(tm) System would be the first commercially available neurotechnology device designed to partially restore sensation and motor function in acute spinal cord injuries by stimulating nerve repair. If it receives FDA approval, it would become the first commercially available neurotechnology device. Read More!

Hormone produced in pregnancy may hold key to reversing some damage from MS

CANADA - ...there is evidence that MS goes into remission when women become pregnant, and in some cases the body actually begins to repair some of the damage. Researchers found the hormone prolactin, which is produced during pregnancy, encouraged the spontaneous production of myelin in the brains and spinal cords of pregnant mice. In addition, during pregnancy, the immune system no longer destroyed myelin. Read More!

70% of Spinal Cord Injuries in Children Result from Motor Vehicle Accidents; Most Not Wearing Seatbelts

USA - Of the nearly 1,500 spinal cord injuries (SCIs) sustained by children age 18 and younger every year, approximately 70 percent are a result of a motor vehicle accident. In 68 percent of those accidents, the child is not wearing a seatbelt. Other common causes of pediatric SCI include accidental fall (14 percent), firearm injury (9 percent) and sports injury (7 percent). Alcohol and drugs were involved in 30 percent of all cases."Our findings reinforce the need to educate teenagers on the importance of taking safety precautions when operating a motor vehicle and the tragic consequences that can result from the irresponsible use of alcohol and drugs," Read More!

"Volume Knob" found for "Walk"command:
Dalhousie scientist offers hope for spinal cord repair

CANADA - A Dalhousie University scientist and his colleagues have discovered a "volume knob" for the brain when it tells the body to walk. The finding reveals a new aspect of the complex neurological system that could one day improve treatment for spinal cord injuries and diseases like amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, said Dr. Robert Brownstone, a neurosurgeon and professor of anatomy and neurobiology. Their findings are outlined in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. Read More!

Miracle worker's new aim to help paraplegics walk

AUSTRALIA - The Melbourne scientist who pioneered the bionic ear is working to help paraplegics walk again. Professor Graeme Clark, who developed the cochlear implant, is developing a spinal cord implant. The implant relies on the same bionic technology that has restored hearing to more than 50,000 people around the world. Read More!

Russian Researchers find promise in hematoietic stem cells

RUSSIA - Injection of the patient's own hematopoietic stem cells promotes restoration of injured spinal cord. The experiment involved 67 patients of different ages with severe spinal cord injuries.Researchers said that after the second injection of cells was performed, many of the 33 patients were able to stand on their knees and to move with the help of "go-carts". It should be noted that they had not experienced the slightest improvement for several years. Read More!

Rerouting brain circuits with implanted chips

MASSACHUSETTS - A chip being tested in monkeys could one day reconnect areas of a damaged brain. Researchers from the University of Washington in Seattle showed for the first time in live animals that an implantable device could record signals from one part of the brain and transmit them to another part, reshaping neural connections in the process, a significant first step in developing neural prosthetics that can help bridge broken connections...Read More!

New tool eases a painful meningitis diagnosis

CALIFORNIA - A UC Davis doctor joined in a study to pinpoint meningitis cases that need aggressive treatment. Meningitis. For any parent with a sick child, the dreaded diagnosis -- and its immediate consequences -- are traumatic. Fortunately, only about 4 percent of meningitis cases turn out to be the potentially deadly bacterial type of illness; the rest are viral, and usually far less serious...Read More!

Device under study helps quadriplegic to cough again

OHIO - Eric Schnetz once loved to mountain bike many miles a day. Today, the Akron quadriplegic appreciates simpler tasks, like coughing. On Wednesday, Schnetz, 28, coughed robustly for the first time in more than two years, thanks to a procedure being pioneered in Cleveland. ``It's unbelievable. I can't explain it,'' he said. ``This is something that I used to take for granted.'' Schnetz is the fourth patient and the first one from the Akron area to take part in a $1.5 million trial funded by the National Institutes of Health which aims to restore the coughing mechanism in 18 test patients, all quadriplegics who have lost the use of their legs, arms and lower chest through spinal cord injuries. Read More!

Study shows Pfizer's Pregabalin relieving central neuropathic pain

AUSTRALIA - Findings from a new study published in the journal Neurology demonstrate that the oral medication pregabalin is significantly effective in relieving central neuropathic (nerve) pain and improves pain-related sleep disturbance and anxiety in patients with spinal cord injury. The study is the largest controlled clinical trial ever of patients with spinal cord injury who suffer from central neuropathic pain...Read More!

Vitamin D Linked to Reduced Risk of Multiple Sclerosis

MARYLAND - Multiple Sclerosis is an autoimmune disorder that affects two million people worldwide and is daignosed in 350,000 Americans each year. Now, a study by the Harvard School of Public Health reported today in the Journal of the American Medical Association linking Vitamin D to a lowered risk of MS offers some new hope. Researchers found that the risk of developing multiple sclerosis was highest for those individuals with the lowest levels of vitamin D in their blood. Read More!

Human Stem Cells Delay Start of Lou Gehrig's Disease in Rats

MASSACHUSETTS - Researchers at Johns Hopkins have shown that transplanting human stem cells into spinal cords of rats bred to duplicate Lou Gehrig's disease delays the start of nerve cell damage typical of the disease and slightly prolongs life. The grafted stem cells develop into nerve cells that make substantial connections with existing nerves and do not themselves succumb to Lou Gehrig's, also known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS...Read More!

Parkinson's study: A promising first step

NEW YORK - U.S. medical scientists say brain cells derived from human embryonic stem cells improved the condition of rats with Parkinson's-like symptoms. Although that improvement was dramatic, researchers say the treatment caused a significant problem -- the appearance of brain tumors. The scientists are working to solve that dilemma. Read More!

Substance Inhibits Progress Of Multiple Sclerosis In Animal Model

NEW YORK - Researchers at SUNY Downstate Medical Center have developed a substance that inhibits the progress of multiple sclerosis (MS) in an animal model. The agent, a novel calpain inhibitor, can be administered orally.
Calpains are a family of proteolytic enzymes naturally found in the human body. Inappropriate activation of calpain is associated with a number of neurodegenerative and autoimmune diseases such as MS. It is known to destroy the myelin sheath that coats and protects the nerves. Read More!

Drug Relieves Pain From Spinal Cord Injuries

AUSTRALIA - A drug used to treat two of the most common types of nerve pain -- diabetic nerve pain and pain after shingles -- may also help treat pain from spinal cord injuries. New research from Sydney, Australia, shows spinal cord injury patients with moderate to severe nerve pain had less or no pain when they took the drug pregabalin (Lyrica). This is promising news because patients don't get much relief from treatments currently available. Read More!

Human Stem Cells Delay Start of Lou Gehrig’s Disease in Rats

New Device Used to Reverse Paralysis

Studies probe new MS treatments

Enlisting the immune system to fix broken spines?

Treatment breakthrough for Morquio A Syndrome

Severed nerve fibers in spinal cord can regenerate for long distances

Stem cell trigger pinpointed

Stem Cell Research - Spinal cord injury repaired by new type of stem cells

Power of thought opens gate of hope to paralyzed

Cancer-Causing Protein May Heal Damaged Spinal Cord & Brain Cells

Diet May Slow Lou Gehrig's Disease

Drug Discovery Collaboration for Spinal Muscular Atrophy

Can Stem Cells and a Gel Repair Older Spinal Injuries?

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