Spinal Cord Injury News and Research

RSS

A spinal cord injury usually begins with a sudden, traumatic blow to the spine that fractures or dislocates vertebrae. The damage begins at the moment of injury when displaced bone fragments, disc material, or ligaments bruise or tear into spinal cord tissue. Most injuries to the spinal cord don't completely sever it. Instead, an injury is more likely to cause fractures and compression of the vertebrae, which then crush and destroy the axons, extensions of nerve cells that carry signals up and down the spinal cord between the brain and the rest of the body. An injury to the spinal cord can damage a few, many, or almost all of these axons. Some injuries will allow almost complete recovery. Others will result in complete paralysis.

New roles for growth factors

During embryonic development, nerve cells hesitantly extend tentacle-like protrusions called axons that sniff their way through a labyrinth of attractive and repulsive chemical cues that guide them to their target.

18 Jun 2006

Stem cell breakthrough

Researchers at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) and the University of Calgary have found that stem cells derived from adult skin can create neural cell types that can be transplanted into and function in mouse models of disease.

14 Jun 2006

Taking astrocytes seriously

By blowing gentle puffs of air onto a mouse's whiskers and watching how its brain reacts, scientists are discovering that a long-overlooked signaling system in the brain is crucial to our everyday activity.

17 May 2006

Researchers discover naturally occurring growth factor that stimulates regeneration of injured nerve fibers in the central nervous system

Researchers at Children's Hospital Boston have discovered a naturally occurring growth factor that stimulates regeneration of injured nerve fibers (axons) in the central nervous system.

16 May 2006

Economic benefit of federally finded clinical trials exceeds $15 billion

A comprehensive review of all phase III clinical trials supported by one Federal agency finds that, estimated conservatively, the economic benefit in the United States from just eight of these trials exceeded $15 billion over the course of 10 years. The study also found that new discoveries from the trials were responsible for an estimated additional 470,000 healthy years of life. The clinical trials were sponsored by the National Institutes of Health's National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS).

28 Apr 2006

Economic benefit of federally finded clinical trials exceeds $15 billion

28 Apr 2006

Stem cells can repair damaged spinal tissue and help restore function in rats with spinal cord injuries

Each year, some 11,000 Americans sustain spinal cord injury, most often in traffic accidents. Costs of the condition approach $10 billion per year.

11 Apr 2006

Early intervention is a critical consideration in efforts to preserve the musculoskeletal system after spinal cord injury

Richard Shields, Ph.D., University of Iowa professor in the Graduate Program in Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Science, can foresee a time when it might be possible to cure spinal cord injury (SCI).

7 Apr 2006

For some with partial spinal cord injury, two different therapies show positive results

Body weight-supported treadmill training isn't more effective than conventional mobility rehabilitation for restoring movement to those with partial spinal cord injury, according to a new study.

28 Feb 2006

Gene mutation discovered that causes a rare form of Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease

A multi-national research team that includes a Saint Louis University neurologist has discovered a gene mutation that causes a rare form of Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, an inherited progressive nerve disorder. The findings are published in an advance online issue of Nature Genetics

13 Feb 2006

Breakthrough in brain injury study at University of Leicester

A breakthrough by scientists at the University of Leicester in understanding mechanisms within the brain which cause injury could lead to better treatments in the future for conditions such as as cerebral palsy and multiple sclerosis.

24 Jan 2006

Australian stem cell breakthrough

A University of New South Wales (UNSW) researcher based at the Diabetes Transplant Unit (DTU) at Sydney's Prince of Wales Hospital has produced a human embryonic stem cell (hESC) line without the use of any animal products. The breakthrough eliminates the risk of animal-to-human contamination in potential stem cell therapy treatments.

23 Jan 2006

Astrocytes play a direct role in controlling blood flow in the brain - influencing Alzheimer's

New findings that long-overlooked brain cells play an important role in regulating blood flow in the brain call into question one of the basic assumptions underlying today's most sophisticated brain imaging techniques and could open a new frontier when it comes to understanding Alzheimer's disease.

6 Jan 2006

Australian bionic ear pioneer awarded science medal

University of Melbourne Laureate Professorial Fellow and bionic ear pioneer Professor Graeme Clark has been awarded the 2006 Ian Wark Medal from the Australian Academy of Science.

15 Dec 2005

Desperate patients cause stem cell web site to crash

The web site of South Korea's new stem cell bank has crashed even before it began taking applications to take part in research.

2 Nov 2005

Discovery could lead to tests for the clinic or battlefield to diagnose ailments with just a few drops of blood

A way to detect fragments of broken brain cells that leak into the bloodstream may help doctors more quickly and precisely treat people with severe head injuries or brain diseases, say researchers at the University of Florida's McKnight Brain Institute.

17 Oct 2005

Discovery has implications for research on restoring mobility to people who have lost motor functions due to spinal cord injury

Yale School of Medicine researchers report in Science this week genetic evidence for the hypothesis that myelination, or formation of a protective sheath around a nerve fiber, consolidates neural circuitry by suppressing plasticity in the mature brain.

3 Oct 2005

Adult human neural stem cells used to successfully regenerate spinal cord tissue

Researchers at the UC Irvine Reeve-Irvine Research Center have used adult human neural stem cells to successfully regenerate damaged spinal cord tissue and improve mobility in mice.

26 Sep 2005

Phantom pain following spinal cord injury is the result of hypersensitive neurons in the thalamic region of brain

Yale researchers report the first evidence that phantom pain following spinal cord injury is the result of hypersensitive neurons in the thalamic region of the brain that can be suppressed with specially designed molecular agents.

20 Sep 2005

Workshop - stem cells in reproduction and in the brain

"Once we have found the factors by which body cells can be re-programmed into stem cells, then therapeutic cloning might become superfluous," said Hans R. Scholer, director of the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine in Munster, Germany, at an international scientific symposium on stem cell research in Kobe, Japan.

10 Sep 2005

Spinal Cord Injury News and Research

Further Reading

New roles for growth factors

Stem cell breakthrough

Taking astrocytes seriously

Researchers discover naturally occurring growth factor that stimulates regeneration of injured nerve fibers in the central nervous system

Economic benefit of federally finded clinical trials exceeds $15 billion

Economic benefit of federally finded clinical trials exceeds $15 billion

Stem cells can repair damaged spinal tissue and help restore function in rats with spinal cord injuries

Early intervention is a critical consideration in efforts to preserve the musculoskeletal system after spinal cord injury

For some with partial spinal cord injury, two different therapies show positive results

Gene mutation discovered that causes a rare form of Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease

Breakthrough in brain injury study at University of Leicester

Australian stem cell breakthrough

Astrocytes play a direct role in controlling blood flow in the brain - influencing Alzheimer's

Australian bionic ear pioneer awarded science medal

Desperate patients cause stem cell web site to crash

Discovery could lead to tests for the clinic or battlefield to diagnose ailments with just a few drops of blood

Discovery has implications for research on restoring mobility to people who have lost motor functions due to spinal cord injury

Adult human neural stem cells used to successfully regenerate spinal cord tissue

Phantom pain following spinal cord injury is the result of hypersensitive neurons in the thalamic region of brain

Workshop - stem cells in reproduction and in the brain

One Health, One Mission: The World Organisation for Animal Health on the AMR Frontline

Uniting Against Resistance: The World Health Organization for World Antimicrobial Awareness Week 2023

Tackling Antimicrobial Resistance: A Conversation with Dr. Beverley Isherwood

Latest News