Spinal Cord Injury Articles Posted by Manouli

[manouli]

Health + Behavior
Experimental implant shows promise for restoring voluntary movement after spinal cord injury


UCLA scientists test electrical stimulation that bypasses injury; technique boosts patient?s finger control, grip strength up to 300 percent
Elaine Schmidt | December 13, 2016
A spinal stimulator being tested by doctors at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center is showing promise in restoring hand strength and movement to a California man who broke his neck in a dirt bike accident five years ago.
In June, Brian Gomez, now 28, became one of the first people in the world to undergo surgery for the experimental device.
UCLA scientists inserted the 32-electrode stimulator below the site of Gomez?s spinal cord injury, near the C-5 vertebrae in the middle of his neck. That?s the area most commonly associated with quadriplegia, the loss of function and feeling in all four limbs.
?The spinal cord contains alternate pathways that it can use to bypass the injury and get messages from the brain to the limbs,? said Dr. Daniel Lu, an associate professor of neurosurgery at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and director of the school?s Neuroplasticity and Repair Laboratory. ?Electrical stimulation trains the spinal cord to find and use these pathways.?
Although other devices have shown promise recently for treating paralysis, they were either tested in animals or relied on robotic limbs. The approach used by the UCLA doctors is unique because it is designed to boost patients? abilities to move their own hands, and because the device is implanted in the spine instead of the brain.
more...
http://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/ex...al-cord-injury

[manouli]

Drug trial for spinal injuries could reduce damage
By Ellie Sibson
Posted about 3 hours ago
Queensland researchers are optimistic a world-first trial will revolutionise the recovery for people with new spinal cord injuries.
The University of Queensland and Princess Alexandra Hospital have begun a three-year study on humans, after animal testing proved effective.
As part of the trial, people will be given an anti-inflammatory drug called "intravenous immunoglobulin therapy" within 12 hours of suffering spinal cord trauma.
When a spinal cord is injured, it becomes inflamed which causes more damage.
Dr Marc Ruitenberg from the University of Queensland's School of Biomedical Science said the drug was found to reduce tissue damage in mice.
more...
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-01-2...damage/8198784

[manouli]

Generating Improvement In Spinal Cord Injuries
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Source: Rush University Medical Center
- See more at: https://www.news-line.com/PO_news265....kut9oa19.dpuf



A new therapy to treat spinal cord injuries in people who have lost all motor and sensory function below the injury site shows additional motor function improvement at 6-months and 9-months following treatment with 10 million AST-OPC1. The positive efficacy results from an ongoing research study were announced on Jan. 24 in a conference held by Asterias Biotherapeutics, Inc., the biotechnology company that manufactures AST-OPC1.

“With these patients, we are seeing what we believe are meaningful improvements in their ability to use their arms, hands and fingers at six months and nine months following AST-OPC1 administration,” said Dr. Richard G. Fessler, professor in the department of neurosurgery at Rush University Medical Center and lead investigator in the SCiStar Phase 1/2a study. Rush is one of six centers in the country currently studying this new approach.

- See more at: https://www.news-line.com/PO_news265....kut9oa19.dpuf

[manouli]

University of Miami's Miami project successfully completes SCI clinical trial
March 8, 2017



The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, today announced the publication of its first Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Phase I clinical trial involving human nerve cells used to repair the damaged spinal cord, in the February issue of the Journal of Neurotrauma. The cells, known as Schwann cells, are essential for the repair of nerve damage, and long thought to be able to increase recovery after spinal cord injury. The trial, performed at University of Miami / Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, is the first in a series designed to evaluate the safety and feasibility of transplanting autologous human Schwann cells to treat individuals with spinal cord injuries.

Read more at: https://medicalxpress.com/news/2017-...nical.html#jCp

[manouli]

Rubber-like fibers may help combat spinal cord injuries
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April 4, 2017 at 3:22 AM
Implantable fibers have been an enormous boon to brain research, allowing scientists to stimulate specific targets in the brain and monitor electrical responses. But similar studies in the nerves of the spinal cord, which might ultimately lead to treatments to alleviate spinal cord injuries, have been more difficult to carry out. That's because the spine flexes and stretches as the body moves, and the relatively stiff, brittle fibers used today could damage the delicate spinal cord tissue.
Now, researchers have developed a rubber-like fiber that can flex and stretch while simultaneously delivering both optical impulses, for optoelectronic stimulation, and electrical connections, for stimulation and monitoring. The new fibers are described in a paper in the journal Science Advances, by MIT graduate students Chi (Alice) Lu and Seongjun Park, Professor Polina Anikeeva, and eight others at MIT, the University of Washington, and Oxford University.
read...
http://www.news-medical.net/news/201...-injuries.aspx

[manouli]

Progenitor cell therapy improves motor function in patients with spinal cord injury
March 21, 2017 By Sarah Faulkner Leave a Comment
Shares in Asterias Biotherapeutics (NYSE:AST) jumped 11% today to $3.53 apiece after the company reported positive data for its AST-OPC1 progenitor cell therapy in patients with spinal cord injuries.
The Phase 1/2A clinical trial includes 6 patients in the AIS-A 10 million cell cohort. The company’s AST-OPC1 progenitor cell therapy is derived from human embryonic stem cells and has been shown to produce neurotrophic factors, stimulate vascularization and induce remyelination of denuded axons in animal models – functions that are critical for restoring nerve impulses in patients with spinal cord injuries, according to Asterias.
more...
http://www.drugdeliverybusiness.com/...l-cord-injury/

[manouli]

Neuralstem Expands Phase 1 Safety Trial of NSI-566 Neural Stem Cells in Spinal Injury
Investigating New Patient Cohort with Cervical Injury
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April 12, 2017 07:35 ET | Source: Neuralstem, Inc.
GERMANTOWN, Md., April 12, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Neuralstem, Inc. (Nasdaq:CUR), a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of nervous system therapies based on its neural stem cell technology, announced that a new cohort of four patients will be added to its ongoing Phase 1 human clinical trial evaluating the safety and feasibility of using NSI-566 spinal cord-derived neural stem cells to repair chronic spinal cord injury (cSCI). The amended protocol was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Institutional Review Board at the study site, University of California San Diego (UCSD). NSI-566 is Neuralstem’s lead stem cell therapy candidate.
Under the amended protocol, updated on clinicaltrials.gov (NCT01772810), four qualifying patients with AIS-A complete, quadriplegic, cervical injuries involving C5-C7 cord will be added to the study. The injury must have occurred 1-2 years prior to the time of stem cell treatment, which is a one-time surgery involving six injections of NSI-566 into the affected area of the cord. The study has begun active recruitment of patients.
read....
https://globenewswire.com/news-relea...en/Neuralstem-

[manouli]

March 28, 2017
An old drug with new potential: WWII chemical-weapon antidote shows early promise as treatment for spinal cord injuries
Riyi Shi Download image
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – A drug developed during World War II as an antidote for a chemical warfare agent has been found to be effective at suppressing a neurotoxin that worsens the pain and severity of spinal cord injuries, suggesting a new tool to treat the injuries.
The neurotoxin, called acrolein, is produced within the body after nerve cells are damaged, increasing pain and triggering a cascade of biochemical events thought to worsen the injury's severity.
Researchers have now found that the drug, dimercaprol, removes the toxin by attacking certain chemical features of acrolein, neutralizing it for safe removal by the body. The findings, detailed in a paper published online this month in the Journal of Neurochemistry, involved research with cell cultures, laboratory animals and other experiments.
more....
https://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/rele...-injuries.html

[manouli]

An old drug with new potential: WWII chemical-weapon antidote shows early promise as treatment for spinal cord injuries
Riyi Shi Download image
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – A drug developed during World War II as an antidote for a chemical warfare agent has been found to be effective at suppressing a neurotoxin that worsens the pain and severity of spinal cord injuries, suggesting a new tool to treat the injuries.
The neurotoxin, called acrolein, is produced within the body after nerve cells are damaged, increasing pain and triggering a cascade of biochemical events thought to worsen the injury's severity.
Researchers have now found that the drug, dimercaprol, removes the toxin by attacking certain chemical features of acrolein, neutralizing it for safe removal by the body. The findings, detailed in a paper published online this month in the Journal of Neurochemistry, involved research with cell cultures, laboratory animals and other experiments.
read more...
https://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/rele...-injuries.html

[manouli]

University of Alberta discovery offers promise of new therapies for spinal cord injuries
http://edmontonjournal.com/author/ke...monton-journal Keith Gerein
More from Keith Gerein
Published on: May 1, 2017 | Last Updated: May 1, 2017 8:10 PM MDT

Neuroscientists at the University of Alberta have made a major discovery on the nature of spinal cord injuries that may unlock a number of new treatment possibilities for those suffering impairment.
The researchers’ work challenges previous assumptions about the importance and behaviour of blood flow following an injury, finding that a treatment as simple as increased oxygen can lead to improved motor function.
more...

http://edmontonjournal.com/news/loca...-cord-injuries