Here's a video from a few weeks ago of me getting some steps in. Hopefully this winter won't snow me in as much as last year's did, so I can keep on my two sessions per week schedule.
There's also been some exciting news on the research front, out of Case Western Reserve University:
Injections of a new drug may partially relieve paralyzing spinal cord injuries, based on indications from a study in rats, which was partly funded by the National Institutes of Health.
After spinal cord injury, axons try to cross the injury site and reconnect with other cells but are stymied by scarring that forms after the injury. Previous studies suggested their movements are blocked when the protein tyrosine phosphatase sigma (PTP sigma), an enzyme found in axons, interacts with chondroitin sulfate proteoglycans, a class of sugary proteins that fill the scars.
Dr. Bradley Lang and his colleagues designed a drug called ISP to block the enzyme and facilitate the drug’s entry into the brain and spinal cord. Injections of the drug under the skin of paralyzed rats near the injury site partially restored axon growth and improved movements and bladder functions.
“There are currently no drug therapies available that improve the very limited natural recovery from spinal cord injuries that patients experience,” said Lyn Jakeman, Ph.D., a program director at the NIH’s National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, Bethesda, MD. “This is a great step towards identifying a novel agent for helping people recover.”
“It was amazing. The axons kept growing and growing,” said Dr. Silver.Truly great news.
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