Paraplegia News and Research

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Paraplegia is an impairment in motor or sensory function of the lower extremities. It is usually the result of spinal cord injury or a congenital condition such as spina bifida which affects the neural elements of the spinal canal.

SPG-15: A Mother's Fight for a Gene Therapy Cure, Maddi's Story

News Medical spoke to the CEO and founder of the Maddi Foundation to gain a patient perspective on how important research in gene therapy is.

3 Jul 2023

Revolution in neuroscience: 2D nanomaterials propel advances in brain repair, treatment, and diagnosis

Review discusses the increasing importance of two-dimensional nanomaterials like graphene in neuroscience, highlighting their potential in nerve repair, creating brain-mimicking synaptic devices, and treating neurological disorders. It also considers the challenges and future prospects of these materials in this complex field.

11 Jun 2023

Using brain organoids to test gene therapies for a rare disease in children

Brain tissue grown in a laboratory by University of Queensland researchers will be used to test a treatment for a rare disease in children and help unlock therapies for a range of neurological disorders.

5 Apr 2023

Researchers discover a new role for one of the genes linked to hereditary spastic paraplegia

Researchers from the University of Seville and the Seville Institute of Biomedicine (IBiS), in collaboration with the University of Cambridge, have identified a new role for one of the genes related to hereditary spastic paraplegia.

27 Mar 2023

Research shows the role of PCYT2-mediated lipid synthesis in vertebrate muscle health

Muscle degeneration, the most prevalent cause of frailty in hereditary diseases and aging, could be caused by a deficiency in one key enzyme in a lipid biosynthesis pathway.

20 Mar 2023

New research model enables scientists to test therapeutics for rare neurodegenerative diseases

For the first time, scientists will be able to test therapeutics for a group of rare neurodegenerative diseases that affect infants and young children thanks to a new research model created by scientists at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

26 Sep 2022

Genetic discovery may pave the way to new diagnostic approaches, treatments for motor neurone diseases

A new genetic discovery adds weight to a theory that motor neurone degenerative diseases are caused by abnormal lipid (fat) processing pathways inside brain cells.

20 Jun 2022

Search for a treatment to stop nerve cell degeneration yields promising results

Researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago found promising results in their search for a treatment to stop nerve cell degeneration that happens in some types of disorders, such as hereditary spastic paraplegia and Parkinson's disease, which can cause significant disability.

17 Feb 2022

Targeting the brain should be the focus of ALS therapy, not just spinal cord

The brain is indeed a target for treating ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), Northwestern Medicine scientists have discovered.

4 Dec 2021

Research gauges reductions in the quality of life during COVID-19

The results of a survey were published on the medRxiv* preprint server, the purpose of which was to assess the relative well-being of the population under Covid-19 restrictions – through 952 survey respondents from France, India, Italy, the UK, and the US.

29 Sep 2021

FB-EVAR is safe and effective for treatment of aortic aneurysms, study shows

A recent study revealed that endovascular repair of complex aortic aneurysms using fenestrated and branched endografts provides a safe and effective alternative to open surgical repair, with the lowest ever reported mortality rate in this patient population, according to researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston and Memorial Hermann Heart and Vascular Institute Aortic Center.

10 Sep 2021

Scientists identify new compound that reverses ALS neuron damage

Northwestern University scientists have identified the first compound that eliminates the ongoing degeneration of upper motor neurons that become diseased and are a key contributor to ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), a swift and fatal neurodegenerative disease that paralyzes its victims.

23 Feb 2021

New therapeutic approach enables functional recovery after spinal cord injury in mice

Using gene therapy, a research team has succeeded for the first time in getting mice to walk again after a complete cross-sectional injury. The nerve cells produced the curative protein themselves.

16 Jan 2021

Artificial network model describes entire movement planning in the brain

Every day we effortlessly make countless grasping movements. We take a key in our hand, open the front door by operating the door handle, then pull it closed from the outside and lock it with the key. What is a natural matter for us is based on a complex interaction of our eyes, different regions of the brain and ultimately our muscles in the arm and hand.

7 Dec 2020

Early, late stages of neurodegeneration are distinct, finds study

Rice University biochemists Michael Stern and James McNew have studied how neurodegeneration kills cells.

23 Nov 2020

Individuals with spinal cord injury show improvements in mobility with exoskeleton-assisted walking

Exoskeletal-assisted walking is safe, feasible, and effective in individuals disabled by spinal cord injury, according to the results of a federally funded multi-site randomized clinical trial.

12 Nov 2020

Study challenges current standard for managing blood pressure in people with spinal cord injury

New research from the International Collaboration on Repair Discoveries (ICORD) challenges the current standard for managing blood pressure in people with spinal cord injury (SCI).

16 Oct 2020

Risk factors for mortality among hospitalized patients with COVID-19

A new study by scientists at biotechnology company Genentech, Inc., and published on the preprint server medRxiv in September 2020 attempts to identify the factors which may shape the risk for death in COVID-19 disease.

27 Sep 2020

Doctors with disabilities call for a paradigm shift to make medical education, profession more inclusive

Doctors treat and heal patients, but they are seldom seen as people who may themselves require care or accommodation. Medics with disabilities are now calling for a paradigm shift in this mindset to make medical education and the profession more inclusive.

21 Aug 2020

Paired associative stimulation promotes walking rehabilitation in paraplegic patient

The simultaneous stimulation of the motor nerves of the brain and limbs (paired associative stimulation) has yielded promising research results.

17 Aug 2020