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“Brain cap” technology being developed at the University of Maryland allows users to turn their thoughts into motion. Associate Professor of Kinesiology José ‘Pepe’ L. Contreras-Vidal and his team have created a non-invasive, sensor-lined cap with neural interface software that soon could be used to control computers, robotic prosthetic limbs, motorized wheelchairs and even digital avatars. Included in this report is a video interview with several of the researchers involved in this interesting line of research.
Researchers at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine bridged a spinal cord injury and biologically regenerated lost nerve connections to the diaphragm, restoring breathing in an adult rodent model of spinal cord injury. The work, which restored 80 to more than 100 percent of breathing function, will be published in the online issue of the journal Nature July 14. The scientists say that more testing is necessary, but are hopeful their technique will quickly be used in clinical trials. Included in this report is a video interview with the lead researcher who discusses this potentially groundbreaking technique for people with spinal cord injuries.
Bringing the real world into the brain scanner, researchers at The University of Western Ontario from The Centre for Brain and Mind can now determine the action a person was planning, mere moments before that action is actually executed. Included in this report is several videos – one that shows FMRI data and another that contains interviews with the two lead researchers.
A team of scientists at the University of Louisville, UCLA and the California Institute of Technology has achieved a significant breakthrough in its initial work with a paralyzed male volunteer at Louisville’s Frazier Rehab Institute. It is the result of 30 years of research to find potential clinical therapies for paralysis. The study is published today in the British medical journal The Lancet.
Age, injury, poor posture, or diseases such as arthritis can lead to degeneration of the bones or joints of the cervical spine, causing disc herniation or bone spurs to form. Herniated discs or bone spurs may narrow the canal through which the spinal cord runs or narrow the small openings through which spinal nerve roots exit. Pressure on a nerve root from a herniated disc or bone spur may cause pain in the arm and neck, numbness or weakness in the arm, or tingling in the fingers or hand. Cervical stenosis occurs when the spinal canal narrows and compresses the spinal cord and is most frequently caused by aging. Degenerative changes associated with cervical stenosis can affect the vertebrae by contributing to the growth of bone spurs that compress the nerve roots.
A study performed by researchers at Boulder Neurosurgical Associates and the University of Colorado at Boulder suggests that more optimistic patient expectation and mental health are significant factors that lead to improved clinical outcomes and higher patient satisfaction scores following cervical spine surgery. The results of this study, The Effects of Preoperative SF-36 Mental Component Summary Scores and Patient Pain Expectations on Clinical Outcomes Following Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion, will be presented by Alan T. Villavicencio, MD, 2:40-2:49 pm, Tuesday, April 12, during the 79th Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons in Denver. Co-authors are Frances A. Carr, BA, Theresa D. Hernández, PhD, Kyle M. Healy, BA, Ewell L. Nelson, MD, Alexander Mason, MD, Sharad Rajpal, MD, and Sigita Burneikiene, MD.
After a spinal cord injury a number of factors impede the regeneration of nerve cells. Two of the most important of these factors are the destabilization of the cytoskeleton and the development of scar tissue. While the former prevents regrowth of cells, the latter creates a barrier for severed nerve cells. Scientists of the Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology in Martinsried and their colleagues from the Kennedy Krieger Institute and University of Miami in the United States, and the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands, have now shown that the cancer drug Taxol reduces both regeneration obstacles.
The traditional way to predict whether children can regain movement after spinal cord injuries may exclude a small subset of patients who could benefit from therapy, according to two studies presented by University of Florida researchers at the Society for Neuroscience meeting this week in San Diego.
Scientists have developed a brain implant that essentially melts into place, snugly fitting to the brain’s surface. The technology could pave the way for better devices to monitor and control seizures, and to transmit signals from the brain past damaged parts of the spinal cord. “These implants have the potential to maximize the contact between [...]
The early November edition of the Science Daily Research New Update series features a good variety of newly published Health Psychology related studies. Read on to learn more about: a new link between pregnant womens’ folate levels and ADHD, fish oil may not only help fight cardiovascular disease, but also stroke and rheumatoid arthritis, researchers [...]
