Cornell research may have implications for treating human

ITHACA, N.Y. — Using a state-of-the-art technique to map neurons in the spinal cord of a larval zebrafish, Cornell University scientists have found a surprising pattern of activity that regulates the speed of the fish’s movement. The research may have long-term implications for treating injured human spinal cords and Parkinson’s disease, where movements slow down and become erratic.

The study, “A Topographic Map of Recruitment in Spinal Cord,” published in the March 1 issue of the journal Nature, maps how neurons in the bottom of the fish’s spinal cord become active during slow movements, while cells further up the spinal cord activate as movements speed up. Continue Reading »

The Department of National Defence is working with the Canadian Paralympic Committee on a program called “Soldier On” to help members of the military who have been permanently injured in action or on the job to use sports to recover.

The program is still in its infancy and funding and other details are still being worked out. But there’s hope that some of the soldiers involved in the program will choose to compete for Canada, perhaps at the 2008 or 2010 Paralympic Games. Continue Reading »

Milpitas Firefighter Sean Simonson didn’t face flames or rescues in 2006, but as he fought a spinal cord injury that left him immobile after a bicycle accident, he inspired many of Milpitas’ first responders.

For his determination and positive attitude, Simonson has been named Firefighter of the Year for 2007.

Simonson’s cycling accident last April came seven years after he began as a firefighter in Milpitas. He was riding on a trail in Santa Cruz when he rode over a pothole that looked as if it had been filled. Continue Reading »

LAYTON, Utah (AP) — Some miracles take a lot of work — and even more time.

After a five-week stay in a hospital in China to receive a series of five stem cell transplant injections, 23-year-old quadriplegic Kirk Green has returned home to Layton.

But the hard work has just begun for the man paralyzed from the chest down since a 2004 snowmobile accident.

“It is going to be interesting to see what happens in the months ahead,” Green said. Continue Reading »

Your Spinal Cord is important because without a spinal cord your brain and your body couldn’t communicate with each other.

The spinal cord is the pathway for impulses from the body to the brain, and from the brain to the body. These impulses are different signals our brain sends and receives from our bodies.

The effects of Spinal Cord Injury depend on the type of injury and the level of the injury. SCI can be divided into two types of injury – complete and incomplete. Continue Reading »

David Albright will not miss the Chicken McNuggets. Or the 400-mile round trip. He will not miss the motel bills or memorizing the graffiti on overpasses along the way.

Now that a special bike for people with spinal cord injuries has arrived at a Virginia Beach facility, he also won’t have to miss his workout.

Albright said he lost the use of his legs during back surgery in August 2004. Last May, he started working out on an Ergys 2 bike – the same one that Christopher Reeve used after the actor’s horse-riding accident and that his family donated after his death. The bike uses electrical impulses to stimulate the muscles to pedal. Continue Reading »

A small group of dedicated competitors are aiming to achieve more than just completing this weekend’s Ironman at Taupo.

They will be completing a fundraising mission that has seem them raise over $26,000 to purchase a piece of equipment for New Zealanders disabled by spinal cord injury – many through sports such as rugby, horse-riding, cycling or skiing.

The Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES) Bicycle the Ironmen are looking to purchase was originally designed for Superman Christopher Reeves after he was paralysed in a horse-riding accident.

This bike ‘automates’ cycle movement with the aim of restoring movement for the patients. Continue Reading »

The Other Side Of Broken

Site by John E. Smith, the father of aquadriplegic. Includes excerpts frominterviews with young men and womenwith SCIs, commentary written by thesite’s creator, links, and photographs.

John is also an advocate for the spinal cord injured community and, by extension, forthose living with any neuro-degenerative condition leading to paralysis.

A state Senate bill calls for a program to educate expecting parents on the benefits of donating umbilical cord blood to stem cell research.

MORE PARENTS might decide to donate the stem cells from their babies’ umbilical cord blood if they knew the procedure was free, easy and could save lives.

That’s the aim of state Senate Bill 148, which would establish a statewide education and awareness program. Continue Reading »

New England States Struggle To Find The Right Formula

Juan Martinez had not seen a doctor in the five years since he left Peru when he arrived one recent winter afternoon at the converted camper-turned-clinic operated by the Malta House of Care Foundation.

After waiting for a short while in the church basement that served this day as the mobile clinic’s waiting room, he was examined by Dr. William Harris, a retired family physician who volunteers his time. Continue Reading »