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Spinal electrical implants helps three paralyzed men walk

Three paralyzed men were able to take their first steps after their accidents due to the spinal implants from doctors in Switzerland.

2 Nov 2018

Trump rollback of disability rules can make doctor’s visits painstaking

Going to the doctor's office can feel so routine. You sit in the waiting room, fill out the paperwork, get measured and hop onto the exam table.

31 Oct 2018

FDA and EMA accept Novartis' regulatory application for siponimod to treat SPMS in adults

Novartis today announced that both the US Food and Drug Administration and European Medicines Agency have accepted the company's New Drug Application and Marketing Authorization Application respectively, for investigational oral, once-daily siponimod (BAF312) for the treatment of secondary progressive multiple sclerosis in adults.

8 Oct 2018

Without safety net of kids or spouse, ‘elder orphans’ need fearless fallback plan

It was a memorable place to have an "aha" moment about aging. Peter Sperry had taken his 82-year-old father, who'd had a stroke and used a wheelchair, to Disney World. Just after they'd made their way through the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, nature called. Sperry took his father to the bathroom where, with difficulty, he changed the older man's diaper.

4 Oct 2018

MS Society: Link between smoking and multiple sclerosis is 'clearer than ever'

The link between smoking and multiple sclerosis (MS) is “clearer than ever”, the MS Society has announced. Not only are people who smoke more likely to develop MS, smoking can also speed up how fast people with MS become disabled.

24 Sep 2018

UTA researchers patent new smart seat cushion technology that helps prevent painful ulcers

The University of Texas at Arlington has patented a smart seat cushion that uses changes in air pressure to redistribute body weight and help prevent the painful ulcers caused by sitting for long periods of time in a wheelchair.

20 Sep 2018

GeckoSystems further improves features of power wheelchairs in reduced cost

GeckoSystems Intl. Corp. CEO, Martin Spencer, addresses their 2018 progress in multiple markets. For over twenty years, GeckoSystems has dedicated itself to development of "AI Mobile Robot Solutions for Safety, Security and Service."

20 Sep 2018

Doctor with Guillain Barré syndrome recovers back to normal life

Doctors do the darndest things. Take the one who walked right up to Dan Thomas, MD, at a lecture, got into the ready position, and proceeded to perform several squats as Thomas watched, puzzled.

6 Sep 2018

Avoidable sepsis infections send thousands of seniors to gruesome deaths

Shana Dorsey first caught sight of the purplish wound on her father's lower back as he lay in a suburban Chicago hospital bed a few weeks before his death.

6 Sep 2018

Creating rituals to honor the dead at long-term-care facilities

One by one, their names were recited as family members clutched one another's hands and silently wept.

4 Sep 2018

Stanford researchers show how to prevent immune response to gene therapy in mouse model

Stanford University School of Medicine researchers have demonstrated that gene therapy can be effective without causing a dangerous side effect common to all gene therapy: an autoimmune reaction to the normal protein, which the patient's immune system is encountering for the first time.

4 Sep 2018

The pluses and minuses of allowing medical marijuana at school

Every school day at noon, Karina Garcia drives to her son’s South San Francisco high school to give him a dose of cannabis oil to prevent potentially life-threatening seizures.

30 Aug 2018

Study evaluates relative importance of specific functional abilities after traumatic spinal cord injury

Independence in mobility is the single most important factor affecting quality of life in patients with traumatic spinal cord injury, reports a study in the American Journal of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, the official journal of the Association of Academic Physiatrists. The journal is published by Wolters Kluwer.

30 Aug 2018

Researchers successfully reproduce effects of traumatic brain injury in petri dish

Researchers in the University of Georgia's Regenerative Bioscience Center have succeeded in reproducing the effects of traumatic brain injury and stimulating recovery in neuron cells grown in a petri dish.

24 Aug 2018

HSS takes young patients with physical challenges on a surfing trip

Hospital for Special Surgery made a splash this week with a surfing trip for young patients. Giving new meaning to the term "patient care," the Adaptive Sports Academy at Lerner Children's Pavilion at HSS treated 12 patients, along with some of their siblings, to sand and surf in Long Beach, Long Island.

17 Aug 2018

Researchers design new way to grow nose cells for treating spinal cord injuries

Researchers have designed a new way to grow nose cells in the lab heralding hope for sufferers of spinal cord injuries, including those who are wheelchair bound.

14 Aug 2018

‘No one is ever really ready’: Aid-in-dying patient chooses his last day

In the end, it wasn't easy for Aaron McQ to decide when to die. The 50-year-old Seattle man — a former world traveler, triathlete and cyclist — learned he had leukemia five years ago, followed by an even grimmer diagnosis in 2016: a rare form of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS.