Breakthrough neurotechnology for treating paralysis
Three paraplegics who sustained cervical spinal cord injuries many years ago are now able to walk with the aid of crutches or a walker thanks to new rehabilitation protocols that combine targeted electrical stimulation of the lumbar spinal cord and weight-assisted therapy.
This latest study, called STIMO (STImulation Movement Overground), establishes a new therapeutic framework to improve recovery from spinal cord injury. All patients involved in the study recovered voluntary control of leg muscles that had been paralyzed for many years. Unlike the findings of two independent studies published recently in the United States on a similar concept, neurological function was shown to persist beyond training sessions even when the electrical stimulation was turned off. The STIMO study, led by the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) and the Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV) in Switzerland, is published in the 1 November 2018 issues of Nature and Nature Neuroscience .
Deep understanding of the mechanisms
“Our findings are based on a deep understanding of the underlying mechanisms which we gained through years of research on animal models. We were thus able to mimic in real time how the brain naturally activates the spinal cord,” says EPFL neuroscientist Grégoire Courtine.
“All the patients could walk using body weight support within one week. I knew immediately that we were on the right path,” adds CHUV neurosurgeon Jocelyne Bloch, who surgically placed the implants in the patients.
“The exact timing and location of the electrical stimulation are crucial to a patient’s ability to produce an intended movement. It is also this spatiotemporal coincidence that triggers the growth of new nerve connections,” says Courtine.
Click link for full article
https://actu.epfl.ch/news/breakthrough-neurotechnology-for-treating-paralysi/
Wow - this is amazing.
I had a friend who was paralyzed after falling out of his spotter. He was in his late 20's and was married with a young child. I haven't seen him in quite awhile but this article reminds me of his optimism. He always said that he believed he would walk again.
E.A It is but more so is the Insitu Stem cell repairs!
Lab mouse (stock image). Stem cells derived from human muscle tissue were able to repair nerve damage and restore function in an animal model of sciatic nerve injury.
Credit: Stock photo, © anyaivanova / Fotolia
E.A I am sure the Rats of the WORLD are so happy to know, that THEY are no Part of " Humanity " and its so many Inhumane acts!!!
Lab-grown oesophagus implanted in mice
The aim is to make replacement organs and tissues for humans, after successful early trials in mice.
GOSH/ICH/CRICK
Image caption
The lab-engineered oesophagus was capable of wave-like muscle contractions
Around one in 3,000 babies is born with abnormalities of the oesophagus, usually involving a gap between the upper and lower section, or where it does not connect with the stomach.
Hudson, who was born with part of his oesophagus missing, and his twin brother, Hank
I have heard of research like this, but I wonder how it actually works? All this complex re-wiring has to happen again.
Amazing.
E.A Ask and it shall be answered :-)
In this case it is a " Controller surgically implanted " with a computer controller outside the body. But as the article also mentioned is that the Nerve Gets Stronger with Use, make sense " Use it or Loose it "
So, then, there is a controller stimulating the nerves to send the signals to the muscles. Then at some point they can work without the external stimulation.
I guess the more detailed question is, how exactly does that leap of what I guess is continuity of the nerve happen? Hope do both ends of the various nerve find that re-connection.
E.A Ahh I Love a " Beautiful Question "
If I may Answer that in Two Forms::
1) Please look up " Bone Strengthening and Micro Fractures " It has been know doe a long time that Bones that are Separated ( fragments )will grow towards one another, that had been used to Make people Taller, or fix a medical condition where one leg is shorter then the other. So what that has in common that this article is " Messaging System " and how little we know how the bodies electro/chemical system operates
2) In this Case the Nerve was not completely severed but was " crimped "
the signal getting through was not enough to motivate the muscle, like a Spark to a plug that is Blue, not sufficient for ignition, but enough to drive one NUTS!!
So in this case the Signal was amplified and it did the task, what many are working on is where the Nerve is completely severed and that is what the Link I posted with the Rats is part of the research!
Ask and it shall ...
E.A Amazingly from what I have read Yes! Seems one end is " Searching for the Message " even if one is not received, While the Other end keeps Sending the Messages, while still not getting the " Roger " back!
E.A What is also amazing is how the four letters in out DNA allow for EACH cell to have a complete Library of " all our body parts down in " writing "" and be ably to order the right part to be made at the right location at the right time, Beats " Part orders " of any conglomerate right??
Sebastian, Gertan and David have all benefited from the work of Dr Courtine
Three paralysed men, who were told they would spend the rest of their lives in a wheelchair, are able to walk again thanks to doctors in Switzerland.
An electrical device inserted around the men's spines boosted signals from their brains to their legs.
And it also helped damaged nerves in the spinal cord to regrow.
The researchers hope that this unexpected bonus will enable some paralysed people ultimately to regain independent movement.
BBC News has had exclusive access to the patients in the clinical trial, the results of which are published in the journal Nature.
The first patient to be treated was 30-year-old Swiss man David M'zee, who suffered a severe spinal injury seven years ago in a sporting accident.
E.A
By Greg Hassall
Dr Justin Yerbury is a world expert in motor neurone disease, a disease that is also slowly killing him. To continue his search for a cure, he chose radical life-prolonging surgery with a hefty after-care cost, prompting the question — what price a life?
Australian Story
By Greg Hassall
Dr Justin Yerbury is a world expert in motor neurone disease, a disease that is also slowly killing him. To continue his search for a cure, he chose radical life-prolonging surgery with a hefty after-care cost, prompting the question — what price a life?
Parkinson's disease 'may' start in gut
By James Gallagher
Health and science correspondent, BBC News
E.A Years ago we spoke about " You are what you eat. " How true is THAT!!
French Ain babies: Missing limb births prompt national inquiry
E.A A while back I was reading that Philidemide, was again being allowed to be used in some products! One has to wonder, will we ever Learn?
What!!!? Where did you read this? Is it here in the US or abroad?
"France has launched a national investigation into the number of babies being born with missing arms or hands - weeks after an initial inquiry closed.
The first investigation began after it emerged more than a dozen children had been born with the condition in clusters in three French regions.
It ended after health authorities failed to identify a common cause.
But now another 11 cases have emerged in the eastern region of Ain, prompting officials to open a fresh inquiry.
The condition is a type of agenesis, where the upper limbs of a fetus fail to form correctly during pregnancy.
It includes entire missing upper limbs, missing forearms and hands, or fingers - but not unrelated medical conditions, such as missing thumbs.
The cases are clustered in the rural Ain area not far from the Swiss border, as well as in Brittany and Loire-Atlantique, two neighbouring regions on the north-west coast."
E.A Hey PJ notice that " Blue " on the First words : Guess what that IS?? you know a LINK
Yeah - I clicked it and read it after I posted my comment. lol
E.A LOL ok " If ALL else FAILS read Manual "
Phalidomide
[deleted]
[Although] I [see] the [tremendous value] of [potential seed] and [good community dialogue.]
the [comment is off topic.........]
E.A PJ want to seed an Article on Breast Feeding?
As all can see Most of MY Posts are …….
E.A You Know Breast Feeding,, WOW!! it can be a VERRY Delirious Commentary@@
Cows do it Monkeys do but HUMANS ohhh NO NO NO!! Humans must NOT do IT!!!
AMEN!
You can post it and I'll contribute. Deal?
E.A No Dear, I can not Seed, see My " Battle as to why " you have to get the " Queen " to let you read ALL the " Deleted " posts to get the WHOLE Picture tho, so will you seed it please!
E.A After ALL it comes with HIGH Recommendations of the ONE that Deleted it :-)
I think PJ's getting sweet on you EA!
E,A Your Jealousy is " dripping "::
But I am FAR too OLD for anyone to get " sweet " Comes with time!
Hmmmm.....now EA, I don't want to be a contributor to a disagreement between you and management.
You wouldn't do that to me, would you?
E.A Me err NEVER… I says NEVER::
But why would the " Management " not agree YOU going with their I say THEIR recommendation ? " ] I [see] the [tremendous value] of [potential seed] and [good community dialogue.] " they SHOULD by ALL err Right and tight give YOU an AWARD!! for taking their LEAD!!!
Well I will seed an article but I'll be upset with you if you are putting me in the middle of a disagreement.
E.A But I Say BuTT how can that be even SO, when YOU as a GOOD Member are following their Instructions? HHHMMmmmm ??
E.A Thank YOU!!::
The article says there is no link but it may be another drug with similar affects. I see this is abroad and not the US. We follow these adverse effects closely here in the US.
E.A Yes I take THAT with a Wheelbarrow full of SALT remember what they used to say about Philidemide? But indeed there could well be a plurality of causses, like Dioxin, remember that and the Hudson river system!
Europe has approved many drugs that FDA will not for a variety of reasons. I would be interested in learning what drugs may have been used or combined.
Also, a lot of people are using supplements and they don't think to tell their PCP about them. It's possible a prescription combined with a supplement is creating an adverse affect.
Curious.....
E.A Yes there is a Whole article about Supplements and how DANGEROUS they are, want me to post it?
E.A The body can only deal with so many and so much " Vitamin " at any one time, ZINC being critical for the use of, so any excess can lead to minor AND or Serious Issues!
E.A::
'I was in excruciating pain from excess iron'
By Laurel Ives
BBC Health
Katherine Hough
Image caption
Katherine Hough suffers from hair loss, IBS, and joint pain
It matters if the vitamins are water soluble or not. Taking too much of water soluble vitamins causes no problems.
To be able to heal spinal cord injuries would be the best thing ever...
E.A Why?
Llama blood clue to beating all flu
Scientists design an antibody based on llama blood that is highly effective against flu strains.
E.A
Human antibodies tend to attack the tips of those proteins, but that's the part influenza mutates most readily.
Llama antibodies use their size advantage to wriggle a little bit deeper and attack the parts that flu cannot change.
The team at the Scripps Institute in California infected llamas with multiple types of flu to provoke an immune response.
They then scoured llama blood for the most potent antibodies that could attack a wide range of flu strains.
'The food supplement that ruined my liver'
What is it about green tea supplements that might cause harm at certain doses to some people? Scientists do not know for certain. Because green tea has been drunk for thousands of years, supplements consisting of its concentrated form are regulated in the US and Europe as foods, not medicines. That means that specific safety testing has not been required, so the scientific picture of how green tea supplements might affect our health is incomplete.
"If you are drinking modest amounts of green tea you're very safe," says Prof Herbert Bonkovsky, director of liver services at Wake Forest University School of Medicine in North Carolina, who has been tracking injuries linked to green tea supplements for nearly 20 years. "The greater risk comes in people who are taking these more concentrated extracts."
Concern has focused on a potentially toxic ingredient called Epigallocatechin-3-gallate or EGCG, the most abundant of the naturally occurring compounds with antioxidant properties in green tea, called catechins. There are likely to be a number of factors that might make an individual susceptible to harm from EGCG including genetics, and the way supplements are used.
"Usually people are taking these green tea extracts trying to lose weight, so they're often not eating," Dr Bonkovsky explains. "We know from animal studies that fasted animals absorb a much higher percentage of the catechins than do fat animals. There may well be other factors of other drugs, other chemicals, use of alcohol that are also important as modifying factors."
British army officer Naima Houder-Mohammed paid thousands of dollars to the father of the alkaline diet, Robert O Young, for a treatment that she falsely believed would cure her cancer. The treatment consisted mainly of intravenous infusions of baking soda.
Read: The dying officer treated for cancer with baking soda
'Test tube trees': An insurance policy against extinction?
BBC News
Why trees grown in test tubes could be the answer to preserving the world's forests for the future.
Related content
This is about another "Breakthrough " for MARS
Yes we still Learning NO we do not know as Much as the " Religious " NT member pretend we do!! :-)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bz4f7zlGETI
E.A Any one notice how Little we know about almost ALL " Mater Concerning MARS " and yet so many Claim that we can Tell so MUCH about " Exoplanets " like Atmosphere, Rock Formation mass and even if water is Present?!! Right, info for the Gullible right :
Hi Dean, what are your Thoughts?
A " Breakthrough " on the Long time Lie about " Light speed being a Constant "
Ken MacDonald
It is 45 years since Arthur C Clarke produced his Third Law: "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
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