Nothing to worry about.
Posted on 01/09/2015 1:26:03 PM PST by Mellonkronos
[For me, these kinds of stories are inspirational and show what human beings are capable of!]
Paralysed patients have been given new hope of recovery after rats with severe spinal injuries walked again through a ‘groundbreaking’ new cyborg-style implant.
In technology which could have come straight out of a science fiction novel or Hollwood movie, French scientists have created a thin prosthetic ribbon, embedded with electrodes, which lies along the spinal cord and delivers electrical impulses and drugs. The prosthetic, described by British experts as ‘quite remarkable’, is soft enough to bend with tissue surrounding the backbone to avoid discomfort.
Paralysed rats who were fitted with the implant were able to walk on their own again after just a few weeks of training.
Researchers at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne are hoping to move to clinical trials in humans soon. They believe that a device could last 10 years in humans before needing to be replaced.
The implant, called ‘e-Dura’, is so effective because it mimics the soft tissue around the spine – known as the dura mater – so that the body does not reject its presence.
“Our e-Dura implant can remain for a long period of time on the spinal cord or cortex,” said Professor Stéphanie Lacour.
“This opens up new therapeutic possibilities for patients suffering from neurological trauma or disorders, particularly individuals who have become paralyzed following spinal cord injury.”
Previous experiments had shown that chemicals and electrodes implanted in the spine could take on the role of the brain and stimulate nerves, causing the rats' legs to move involuntarily when they were placed on a treadmill.
But this is the first study to show a simple gadget can help rats walk again and be tolerated by the body. Scientists have struggled to find a device…
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Maybe if there’s any left over they can implant it in Boehner.
Encouraging news.
Nothing to worry about.
Wonderful news! I have always thought it was just a matter of time, given our technology, that a way of dealing with spinal paralysis would be found.
I would like to know what they consider a “long time” to be in the body.
BTW, the strangest experiments I have read about is one scientist working on changing heads and bodies.
I have a neurostimulator spinal cord implant that helps me walk. It blocks the pain to my brain but, unfortunately I have to decide between blocking a small amount of pain and feeling like I am being electrocuted or being in horrendous pain.
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