Maybe those rather snide jokes made about Christopher Reeve trying to convince himself that he could regain his ability to walk, with little actual results, were in fact misplaced. A recent study in Switzerland by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology has discovered that rats, with completely severed, but otherwise still whole spines, could, with a mixture of drugs, electrical current and mental stimulus, completely regain the use of their motor functions below the spinal breakages.
So complete was the recovery, that there must be renewed hope for millions of people around the world who have spinal injuries. One leading specialist has been quoted as saying that "We are on the edge of a truly profound advance in modern medicine: the prospect of repairing the spinal cord after injury" .... although another urged caution, and warned that in the "real world", the injuries might be "more complicated, with less tissue for new nerves to grow through" ... but even so, its a nice righteous story to end (or start) the week on.
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| Walking Rat - Hope For Millions |
So complete was the recovery, that there must be renewed hope for millions of people around the world who have spinal injuries. One leading specialist has been quoted as saying that "We are on the edge of a truly profound advance in modern medicine: the prospect of repairing the spinal cord after injury" .... although another urged caution, and warned that in the "real world", the injuries might be "more complicated, with less tissue for new nerves to grow through" ... but even so, its a nice righteous story to end (or start) the week on.
