Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Helper Monkeys for People with Disabilities - Disaboom

College: It isn’t just for humans anymore.

Welcome to the world of Helping Hands and their Monkey College in Boston, MA. Founded in 1979, Helping Hands is a nonprofit “that places specially trained capuchin monkeys with people who are paralyzed, or who suffer other severe mobility impairments.”

When I first found out about Helping Hands a couple of weeks ago, I was intrigued with the idea of using monkeys as assistance animals and had lots of questions. I interviewed Skott Wade, a Helping Hands employee, about the world of the Monkey Helpers.

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Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Overcoming Cerebral Palsy, Gregg Mozgala Learns to Dance - NYTimes.com

Gregg Mozgala, a 31-year-old actor with cerebral palsy, had 12 years of physical therapy while he was growing up. But in the last eight months, a determined choreographer with an unconventional résumé has done what all those therapists could not: She has dramatically changed the way Mr. Mozgala walks.

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Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Blogger unites today to fight for premature babies

November 17th bloggers from around the world are posting and tweeting in an effort to raise awareness about prematurity. A staggering 12.7% of all births in the United States (500,000 babies every year) are born prematurely.

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DailyTech - Tiny Enzyme-carrying Particles Used to Treat Heart Attack Victims

Researchers announced last week that they were using nano-sized micelles to treat spinal cord injury with impressive restoration of coordinated limb movement in injured lab rats that would leave them paralyzed without treatment. Researchers at Emory University and the Georgia Institute of Technology today announced that they have developed microscopic polymer beads that are capable of delivering an antioxidant enzyme directly to the heart. When mice in lab tests were treated with the beads after a simulated heart attack, the number of dying cells was reduced resulting in improved heart function days later.

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Norwalk Reflector A break for parents of special-needs children

She, and other parents of special needs children are taking advantage of a new local respite program called Parents Night Out. The program, a partnership between area churches, allows such parents to take a break from providing round-the-clock care. At the same time, it gives special needs children and their siblings a chance to have fun in a safe environment.

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Woman dies of H1N1 in Highland, coroner reports | new, coroner, reports - Local News - The Telegraph

Dead teen had H1N1 virus in system

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fullstory

More exposure to sun may reduce chances of multiple sclerosis

Melbourne, Nov 17 (PTI) A team of Australian scientists claim to have discovered that frequent exposure to sun and the resulting production of Vitamin D in the body could result in lowering the risk of developing multiple sclerosis (MS).

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Multiple sclerosis more aggressive in children: Study

Washington: Multiple sclerosis (MS) diagnosed in childhood is more aggressive and causes more brain lesions than that detected in adulthood, according to magnetic resonance images (MRI) performed by University at Buffalo researchers.

However, patients with pediatric-onset MS-- which comprise up to 5% of total MS cases--develop disabilities at a slower pace than patients with adult-onset MS, the data showed.

"Patients with pediatric-onset MS have three times as many relapses annually than patients with adult-onset disease, which suggests there is greater disease activity in this population," said Bianca Weinstock-Guttman.

"But surprisingly, the average time to reach the secondary progressive phase of the disease is longer in patients who develop MS in childhood than in adult onset MS. Reaching the next stage of disability is almost 10 years longer in pediatric-onset patients," she continued.

MS causes demyelination-- destruction of the sheath that protects and insulates nerve fibers. Breaks in the myelin sheath disrupt the flow of electrical impulses, causing loss of sensation and coordination.

The UB study involved four sets of patients--17 children with an average age of 13.7 who were diagnosed with MS 2.7 years earlier; 33 adults with an average age of 36.5 years who were diagnosed with pediatric MS 20 years earlier; 81 adults with an average age of 40 who have had MS for an average of 2.6 years; 300 adults with an average age of 50.5 who've had MS for 20 years.

All participants underwent a brain MRI scan and specific MRI metric analysis.

The MRI measured two types of brain tissue damage--T1-lesion volume, which shows "black holes," or hypointense lesions, which are areas of permanent axonal damage; and T2-lesion volume, which shows the total number of lesions (lesion load) and overall disease burden.

Both of these measures indicated that MS is more aggressive in children in the early stages, said the researchers.

"This corresponds with recent data that suggest a higher lesion burden in pediatric MS than adult-onset MS. These findings are somewhat surprising, considering we have assumed that children generally have a greater capacity for central nervous tissue repair," they added.

"Our findings, which are limited to a cross-sectional study design, suggest that children have a somewhat better reserve and functional adaptability than adults, but less support for a better remyelination process. However, the remyelination process may require a more in-depth prospective analysis," said Weinstock-Guttman.

She said that the data support the need for early diagnosis and therapeutic intervention in paediatric MS patients. The study was published online on November 5.

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Friday, November 13, 2009

Boosting NAD+ after spinal cord injury may prevent permanent nerve death

Substances naturally produced by the human body may one day help prevent paralysis following a spinal cord injury, according to researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College.

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Paralyzed Teen, Dog Take Up Surfing

Los Angeles (myFOXla.com) - Fifteen-year-old Patrick Ivison suffered a spinal-cord injury in a car accident when he was 14 months old and he has been paralyzed since but he has not given up on his goal to walk again.
To raise money for Ivison's physical therapy, which is not covered by insurance, it was suggested that the pair take up surfing.
So with the help of his best buddy, Richochet, the pair hit the waves.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Determination is his partner - Chicago Tribune

Determination is his partner - Chicago Tribune: "When 22-year-old Brent Sapit stepped onto the dance floor, his shoes may have been the only indication he wasn’t quite like the other ballroom dancers."
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