Monthly Archives: October 2011

Four wheelchair-bound friends are touring India in an effort to sensitise the government and the people to the need of making travel barrier-free for the disabled

Finding your way across the sprawling Rock Gardens in Chandigarh is not meant to be an effort, unless your movement is restricted by the wheelchair you are travelling in. The uneven paths make progress difficult and negotiating the narrow lanes is an exercise in patience. When Arvind Prabhoo, Sunita Sancheti, Neenu Kewlani and Nishant Khade decided to undertake a road trip across India, it was difficulties such as these that the wheelchair-bound friends had anticipated and hoped to document to sensitise governments to the need of making travel barrier-free.

With Nov. 1 quickly approaching, there is still no start to the NBA season in sight. If you’re a basketball fan and you’re feeling depressed, angry and/or incomplete right now because of the lockout, you’re not alone. Even with college basketball still carrying on as usual, without the NBA, I fear that I won’t get my appropriate dose of hoops this season.

Thankfully, exactly what the doctor ordered to counter these gloomy lockout side-effects can be found right here in Mesa. Allow me to introduce you to the Banner Wheelchair Suns of the National Wheelchair Basketball Association.

ROBUST FUNCTIONAL REGENERATION BEYOND THE GLIAL SCAR

The world’s first test on patients of a treatment for spinal cord injury using human embryonic stem cells is so far proving safe, one year after the first of four patients received injections.

The treatment, developed by researchers at UC Irvine, involves injection of neural cells derived from human embryonic stem cells into the site of a spinal cord injury within seven to 14 days — known as “acute” injuries, as opposed to longer-term injuries known as “chronic.”

None of the patients has experienced any adverse reactions from the treatment, according to Geron Corp., which is conducting the trials, although a few “mild” adverse reactions were reported from a drug used to suppress the patients’ immune responses.

The Challenges of Chondroitinase Development for Spinal Cord Injury

Brian Keefer expects a lot of tears when he and his family watch the episode of “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” on Friday, accompanied by hundreds, if not thousands, of the volunteers who helped rebuild their house.

Keefer, 24, was paralyzed by a gymnastics accident in 2008. His upbeat attitude and close family caught the attention of the Extreme Makeover crew, who spent a week in June rebuilding the family home in Newberry Twp. to help Brian become as independent as possible and, perhaps, someday walk again.

Not even the Keefers have seen the episode yet, and they have not been allowed to invite outsiders into their home until the episode airs in order to keep the element of surprise.

THE MIAMI PROJECT TO CURE PARALYSIS: CURRENT STUDIES TARGETING THERAPEUTIC HYPOTHERMIA AND SCHWANN CELL TRANSPLANTATION

COURAGE DEFINES MOMENT: Sara Gallagher, seriously injured in an ATV accident, wants chance to run again

Sara Gallagher doesn’t take the fact she will step off an airplane on Friday for granted. Two months ago, that wasn’t possible.

On Aug. 6, the once-elite high school girls lacrosse player and daughter of Carthage coach Sue Gallagher was enjoying a summer afternoon in Croghan with friends when she hopped on the back of an all-terrain vehicle. She strapped on her helmet and the ATV took off on Trail S87C off Fish Creek Road.

The new approach, currently being studied by the FDA for phase I trials, avoids the problems of immunological rejection and the controversy around the use of embryonic stem cells

ROCKVILLE, Md.—A new experiment aimed at achieving actor Christopher Reeve​’s dream of finding an effective treatment for spinal paralysis was announced this week at an international meeting of scientists and people with spinal cord injury sponsored by the United 2 Fight Paralysis Foundation. The approach, which already is shown to be promising in animals and avoids the need for patients to take immunosuppressive drugs, has not yet been proved effective in humans. Nonetheless, patients are excited to see this advance as they have been frustrated waiting for the first human trials of the new approach.