Free Republic

WASHINGTON, Aug. 7, 2009 – With immobility causing degeneration in the bones, joints, heart, lungs and skin of tens of thousands of disabled veterans, scientists are developing equipment that could get them back on their feet. Ronald Triolo, a senior research scientist with the Veterans Affairs Department, discussed the creation of an innovative bracing system to provide enhanced mobility and improve the quality of life for paraplegics during an Aug. 5 webcast of “Armed with Science: Research and Applications for the Modern Military” on Pentagon Web radio. Hundreds of thousands of people living in the United States have spinal cord...

On his way to Alaska to tape his TV show, Tred Barta recently suffered a rare occurrence called a spinal stroke. He is currently paralyzed from just below the chest down. Prognosis is way up in the air at the moment. His message to everyone is… "Don't take a single second of your life for granted." Send him best wishes at tred.barta@bartaiso.com.

Cells from human embryos could be used to help some people with spinal injuries to walk again, successful work involving rats has indicated. Scientists from the University of California at Irvine college of medicine said that paralysed rats walked again after being injected with stem cells from "early-stage" human embryos. They hope that the breakthrough will prove to American policy makers that the use of human embryonic stem cells and therapeutic cloning - presently banned in the US - are justified. The team, led by Hans Keirstead, took stem cells from early-stage human embryos, and altered them in the laboratory...