Four men participated in a pilot study where an epidural stimulator would be implanted. All four men were paralyzed from the waist down and two of the four lost all sense of feeling below their waists in separate incidents. A different participant of a similar study in 2011 showed fantastic results and became the basis for this study, sponsored by the Christopher and Diana Reeve Foundation. After the epidurals were implanted, three of the four men were able to voluntarily move their legs. Researchers from UCLA and the University of Louisville concluded that nerve pathways remain even after injury, giving hope for full recovery and voluntary movement. This kind of innovation was only possible with animal research.
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Collaborative: Scientists from UCLA and Louisville worked together
Repeatability: This is a repeat of another study done 3 years ago
Curiosity: This was inspired by the same study that was done 3 years ago
This topic is really interesting. I read this article that explains a study and experiment that is being conducted at the University of Miami. They are also taking on the daunting task of curing paralysis. Their approach to this is doing cell transplantations so the patient will no longer have the cells that refrain them from movement. It is amazing that scientists are accomplishing things now that once we thought was impossible to solve.
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This new discovery will help many people as they further their studies and find the cure. Most people want to focus on big cures like cancer, but cures like this will help us get further in medical research.
ReplyDeleteThis is such a cool experiment that they ran. It is amazing how a little motivation to do a study like this could lead to a massive discovery. Hopefully, they will continue to run further tests to make more discoveries on the topic of paralysis.
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