People who suffer traumatic injuries to their neck or spinal cord oftentimes remain paralyzed, unable to walk ever again. For these individuals, there may still be hope in alleviating their condition, if we are to trust a new study by researchers at the medical university Karolinska Institutet. In experiments they conducted on mice, the scien
ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- For the first time in the United States, stem cells have been directly injected into the spinal cord of a patient, researchers announced Thursday.
Doctors injected stem cells from 8-week-old fetal tissue into the spine of a man in his early 60s who has advanced ALS, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. It was part of a clinical trial designed to determine whether it is safe to inject stem cells into the spinal cord and whether the cells themselves are safe.
ALS is a fatal neurodegenerative disease that causes the deterioration of specific
Tommy Mead of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, used to run track and cross-country, play basketball, and play football. He was wrestling with a friend in 2007 when he was injured. Doctors discovered that Tommy had broken two vertebrae in his neck. A Web site dedicated to Tommy’s recovery from his spinal cord injury reported that the boy could not “feel or move anything below his chest,” after his injury.
Tommy has since regained movement...
TUESDAY, Jan. 19 (HealthDay News) -- Transplanted neurons grown from embryonic stem cells were able to form proper brain connections in newborn mice, U.S. scientists report.
Researchers from Stanford Medical School say their study was the first to show that stem cells can be directed to become specific brain cells and to
Physical therapist Sandra Stevens first explored the use of underwater treadmills at Middle Tennessee State University with children suffering from cerebral palsy. She hypothesized that the underwater system might also have profound benefits for spinal cord injury patients struggling to relearn how to walk and move. Stevens noted dramatic improvement...