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44 Comments
- crawfishsoul, on 10/12/2007, -1/+19don't make fun of otheruser's typing stu-stutter.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+17Innacurate headline. This is an animal stem cell study done as a proof of concept with no evidence that the spinal cord is even functional.
- mark_in_bc, on 10/12/2007, -0/+13I've been living with a incomplete spinal cord injury for over 25 years and I've seen all kinds of research that looked promising in everything from mice to geese and this one is nothing new. In fact there is a clinic in China that will transplant stem cells into people with spinal cord injury's for $10,000 US. When I start seeing people in wheelchairs getting up and walking then I'll get excited. For now I'll count my blessings that my injury was incomplete and I will always remember that their are many disabled people in world who are a lot worse off than me.
- rholloway, on 10/12/2007, -5/+16huh...so Ben would have lived even if Jack hadn't crashed on the island. Interesting.
- noreturn, on 10/12/2007, -2/+11Co-correcting? I'm not saying you should remember the quotes word for word, but what the hell is co-correcting?
- robdiggity, on 10/12/2007, -3/+9Plus, it's Christopher Reeve. Not Reeves. Think of it like this: you were making fun of only ONE dead quadraplegic. But I'll go ahead and credit you as the sort of douche who would make fun of many.
The other actor who died tragically who played the role of Superman was George Reeves. - uther, on 10/12/2007, -5/+11I do wish Christopher Reeves could have lived to see this information. Such a tragic loss, but he did so much for awareness of spinal cord injuries.
- chimona, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7Chiropractors are very useful for very specific things. For example, after a car accident, I had been having back and chest pain on one side with difficulty breathing. My doctor tried muscle relaxants and all I got was drowsy. Then, I went to a chiropractor who told me my rib was dislocated. After using heat to loosen the muscles, he put something behind my back, had me lay back and then he squeezed and a series of loud cracks emanated from my spine. It nearly knocked my breath out, but my back immediately felt better, and the next day the pain was completely gone. So I guess my point is, don't knock it before you try it. It definitely worked for me.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -4/+10Chiropractic treatment is pseudo-science. It may work for certain muscular symptoms but most of what they claim is unproven and has not physiological basis in science.
- sjbdallas, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7I seem to remember seeing video of these rats after their nerves supposedly grew back. They weren't exactly back in tip-top shape. They were dragging themselves around, or only one foot worked, and stuff like that. Not exactly a miracle cure.
- captinherb, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5I don't know whether there is any science or evidence supporting chiropractic treatment but a couple of years ago I had severe back pain for two weeks. I couldn't even stand up straight. I went to go see a chiro and when I got off the table I could stand up pain free. I don't think this was any placebo effect.
- DyDx, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4@realitybias: They have already done this: http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2006/06_20_06.html
This is a study in which Hopkins researchers restored motor function to rats whose spinal cords had been damaged by a virus using embryonic stem cells. A class I took at Hopkins last semester was basically about stem cell engineering, and the professor was very excited about this study and told us about it in great detail. Very remarkable and amazing stuff.
[edit] DOH should have read the article first! Talking about the same study. Anyhow, it shows that this can be done so I don't know what you're talking about. - bstevenson72, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4This is great research. Even though it is not conclusive at this point it is nice to see that they are making headway on the research. My father-in-law was shot during an attempted robbery and the bullet severed his spinal cord. He is now a paraplegic. You can not imagine what people with spinal cord injuries go through on a daily basis. Things that we take for granted are now monumental tasks for these people. Hats off the researchers!! I hope they continue this research and that it may someday help people who suffer from spinal cord injuries.
- robdiggity, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3But what about Christopher Reeve? He actually suffered a spinal cord injury that left him a quadraplegic, and recently passed away. You think this kind of information would have been relevant to him.
- Tmacman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3You're right, they've got a long way to go before patients with spinal cord injuries can stand up and walk. But this does give a glimmer of hope that a stem cell therapy might work for spinal cord injuries. Let's hope that more of these studies will convince the politicians to keep religion out of science and give stem cell research the funding it deserves.
- rshu4you, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5If I ever destroy my spinal cord, I sure hope I am a rat.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Chiropractic treatment's is definately effective in certain illneses when it comes to muscular skeletal problems. However their basic philosophy and treatment of certain diseases(asthma, pneumonias, kidney stones etc.) is worrisome and very pseudo-scientific(look at wiki for some basics). Multiple review have never proven it to be effective in these cases while there is some information that shows specific manipulations for muscular complaints have some evidence to back it up although the placebo effect plays a major factor.
- Raian, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5Now I can tell people to go grow a spine with confidence!
- CedEx, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I did my fourth year university thesis on this topic (though I'm no longer in medical science anymore, I still remember a bit), nerve regeneration anyway.
What happens in human spinal cord after an injury is a scarring of tissue. This is a natural repair function of the body to grow back connective tissue to rejoin the two severed edges. However, it is because of this repair growth that blocks the nerve cells from making nerve to nerve connection, therefore resulting in paralysis.
In certain amphibians like newts, this scar tissue does not occur in the same manner as human, and as such, they can lose limbs, and tails and still regrow proper nerve connections.
In this experiment, they created lesions in the rat's spine, then later added human stem cells. Now it doesn't mention whether the rat's spinal cord had scarred over or not, but it did suggest that the human stem cells had formed nerve cells surrounding the lesion. This would indicate that we could potentially by-pass the lesion site by growing the nerve cells around the damaged area. A detour of sorts to transmit the nerve signals.
Looks promising if they can determine whether or not the nerves actually transmit a signal. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3It is known for a few years that the spinal cord BLOCKS it's own repair. The big question nobody has a answer to is WHY . . .
- myborgdrone, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Then don't picture it. Just benefit from it. You, and the rest of the human race.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3And if it can?
Who knows. Evidence seems to be building, though, that the spinal cord can be regenerated using stem cell technology.
Wouldn't it be such a great thing when we discover how to impliment it? - DaveRasch, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1We've known nerves can regenerate for many years. We also know that they're touchy and grow slowly. The problem with a broken spinal cord is that scar tissue grows faster than the nerves and blocks the nerves off. Stem cells just help the nerves grow faster and better. There have been drugs that inhibit scar tissue growth with mixed results.
Neck injuries almost always have substantial function restoration in the first 6-12 months post injury because the nerves to the arms and upper body muscle are simpler than to the legs and lower extremities. When a cure starts to come out it will benefit quadriplegics first. Older guys like me who are paraplegics will be last in line to get fixed due to age and amount of time post injury. Plus, our corrupt medical system is just sucking money away from us. Why should they cure us when researching for a cure is making researchers millions of dollars every year?
The bottom line: We don't know how all this stuff works and it's going to be a long time before we can fix anything. - IHUsol, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1ya Shane, you are right, rats have it made as long as they are not getting their backs broken in the name of medical research. Why don't we try this experiment on some of the death row inmates? They are set to die anyway. Then at least we will know if it will work on people and not just a small rodent.
- DyDx, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Buried as inaccurate because the spinal cords did NOT "repair itself." This is a stem cell based therapy, not some magical self-repair. Why don't submitters actually read the damn articles they submit??
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Don't any of you watch LOST.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1I agree with the gist of your comment, it didn't repair "itself"; if a hose has a leak and I inject glue into the leak, the hose has not "repaired itself."
However you seem to make a semantic point regarding something not being a "study" but being an "experiment." While certainly all studies are not experiments, an experiment is correctly referred to as a study.
As far as false conclusions, the method itself isn't the problem, people sometimes like to draw strong conclusions for evidence that does not lend itself to a strong conclusion. - sgunes, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3Sorry to burst your bubble but there is not much scientific evidence that chiropractic stuff works. I am not only referring to the Penn and Teller episode but there was also a detailed analysis by an Oxford professor which showed that chiropractic manipulations are at best voodoo without a scientific basis and at worst very harmful. Just read the German study about strokes in young healthy patients after chiropractic neck "adjustments". You can always count on the placebo effect just like with "therapeutic touch" and other new-age nonsense.
- sgunes, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1And the biggest rip-off is the "preventive care". Great concept to have people pay every week for something that doesn't work, otherwise they would not need to come back.
I understand that it works for some folks, but it does not for the majority.
I am sure that if you look long enough you will find people who improved with eating cow dung or using their rosary beads. - ShaneMcDeath, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Rats have it made don't they? No cancer. No aids. No diabetes. Prolonged lifespan. So basically they'd save a hell of a lot of work if all scientists work on finding a way of turning humans into rats.
- seamuslp, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0@sjbdallas
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZ6J4Q-m2Tk this is the video you are referring to I assume. The control mouse can barely walk, but the one treated with stem cells has full control over its hind legs. - dashham98, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1I guess I'm a wimp, but it bothers me reading about giving rats spinal cord injuries. I hate rats, and would probably gladly shoot one if I saw it (if I ever had a gun, which I don't). And I can't argue against the usefulness and value of this research. But it does bother me to picture it.
- CedEx, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0You're totally right (and someone dugg you down). It's a good question but hard to answer.
For instance, if you severe a child's finger tip who's younger than 5 years old and don't stitch it up, the finger tip will grow back. Above the age of 5, we don't see this occur anymore. Apparently cells work differently in toddlers than adults. Something occurs in the aging process that stops this regenerative behaviour. But the fact that kids can regrow shows that potentially adults can do the same.
Cross studies have been done in amphibian regeneration, where entire limbs can be regenerated in some frogs and newts, both in juvenile and adult animals.
Eventually the secret will be found, lots of smart people working on it. - rudy23, on 10/12/2007, -5/+3someone please notify the democratic leadership.
/democrat here - zephc, on 10/12/2007, -6/+3Like Klingons.
/in before Kirk! - FullMetalMonkey, on 10/12/2007, -6/+2digg down
- Enjoikr3w, on 10/12/2007, -10/+3He eats babies tho...
- otheruser, on 10/12/2007, -11/+3hahahhaha
but remember, the universe has a way of co-correcting itself. - raynar, on 10/12/2007, -10/+2Everyone should go see a chiropractor on a regular basis for preventive action, not pain relief. The spinal cord is where all your nerves are centralized, and if your cord gets dicked up, then so does everything else.
- unlimitedorb, on 10/12/2007, -10/+2It's about time that someone grew a backbone and came out with this research.
No pun intended. - rudy23, on 10/12/2007, -18/+7in Soviet Russia Spinal cord repairs you
- gallagherFTW, on 10/12/2007, -14/+2stem cell the ***** ***** out of that *****
- FullMetalMonkey, on 10/12/2007, -21/+8Not funny dude. You have to wait 22.3 years before it will be funny.
- Alfdog, on 10/12/2007, -30/+10Somebody should have told Christopher Reeves... doh, too soon?
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