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Loading ...MELBOURNE is to host possibly the world’s first human trial to help cure long-term spinal injuries.
But researchers must first raise $5 million.
They hope the trial will help begin to restore bladder, bowel and sexual function, which are the first and most important steps for spinal-cord patients.
Eventually, researchers say, all such patients will walk again. Continue Reading »
If there was anything good that came from banning embryonic stem cell research during the Bush administration, is that it forced scientists to find more creative alternative solutions for acquiring other sources of stem cells for therapeutic use. Certainly, the clinical or biomedical use of either embryonic stem cells generates a lot of controversy with ethical and moral dimensions. Although the Obama administration lifted an eight year federal ban that prohibits the use of federal money to fund embryonic stem cell research, novel techniques such as single blastomere transfer and the ability to reprogram adult somatic cells to an “embryonic-like” state may show similar or better therapeutic potential compared to embryonic stem cells. Thus, these techniques may preclude the use embryonic stem cells altogether in the near future. Continue Reading »
Those with spinal cord injuries, who have multiple sclerosis, or who’ve suffered a stroke are also often diagnosed with central pain syndrome.
It’s a harsh reality for people with debilitating conditions like spinal cord injury or stroke.
Many of them live with chronic, excruciating pain.
Kellye Lynn reports research is underway in Baltimore which could someday end the suffering for patients with central pain syndrome.
Patients who have the condition say it feels like being stabbed with a thousand burning knives. Continue Reading »
An Australian first study will test live online rehabilitation with video gaming to give spinal cord injury patients the hope of regaining the movement of their hands.
The ReJoyce workstation is being used for the first time in Australia in tele-rehabilitation which allows patients to get real time specialist physiotherapy over the internet.
The patient wears a glove that enables electrical impulses to stimulate the muscles in the hand to grasp and release, in the hope of sprouting new connections in the spinal cord and re-establishing hand function. Continue Reading »
The National Institute of Health (NIH) granted $500,000 to ThermoGenesis Corp. for stem cell research. The company will study for two years and build biomaterials that will deliver stem cells for use in regenerative medicine.
According to the ThermoGenesis chief executive officer Mel Engle, they are looking forward to find out the best method to combine stem cells with biomatetials with the help of this grant. Continue Reading »
In vivo preclinical imaging of spinal cord injury (SCI) in rodent models provides clinically relevant information in translational research. This paper uses multimodal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to investigate neurovascular pathology and changes in blood spinalcord barrier (BSCB) permeability following SCI in a mouse model of SCI. Continue Reading »
The regeneration capacity of axons within the central nervous system, of which the spinal cord is part, has until now been much debated. Axons can regenerate toward the muscles, whereas in the opposite direction inhibiting factors prevent regrowth toward the nerve centers. The observation made by Geneviève Rougon’s team at IBDML shows that the axons also regrow in the direction of the spinal cord within a short lapse of time after the injury. Moreover, this regrowth is encouraged by post-traumatic angiogenesis, in other words by the process of formation of new blood vessels in the damaged tissue. Continue Reading »
It was the early 1980s, and Robb Dunfield, 19, was ready to celebrate the first night of summer with his friends in Vancouver’s Spanish Banks.
Looking for a high spot to watch a flotilla of tall ships in the dimming light, they climbed up to the third floor of a condo under construction, and were ready to settle into an unfinished balcony.
The two-by-four that was the railing, attached to the skeletal building by two nails, gave way as his two friends put their weight on it. Continue Reading »
Inspiration comes from places you least expect. On Friday, it was in a West Bloomfield sports memorabilia-blazed garage, when former Detroit Lions offensive guard Mike Utley was in town to talk about a bicycle tour fundraiser with proceeds going to help find a cure for paralysis.
When I think of biking, I go to places like the West Bloomfield Woods Trail Network, Proud Lake Recreation Area, Macomb Orchard Trail, or many of the trails in the Huron-Clinton Metropolitan parks in southeast Michigan. Continue Reading »
Transplanted embryonic stem cells are recognized as a potential treatment for patients suffering from the effects of spinal cord injury (SCI). However, in studies using embryonic stem cells transplanted into SCI laboratory animals, a serious drawback has been the development of tumors following transplantation.
Publishing in the current issue of Cell Transplantation (Vol. 18 No.1), a team of Japanese researchers describe their study that demonstrates a way to eliminate the problem of tumor growth by co-transplanting bone marrow stem cells (BMSCs) along with embryonic stem cells. Continue Reading »