improved disaster response has led to higher survival rates and an increasing number of injuries in relation to deaths (injury to death ratio). Recent earthquakes, in particular, have led to unprecedented numbers of spinal cord injuries. Meeting the needs of individuals with spinal cord injuries is particularly challenging when disaster strikes a low resource environment. clinicians who care fo...

The aim of this present study is to evaluate the therapeutic effect of co-transplantation of neuregulin-1-transfected Schwann cells (SCs) and bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs) on a rat model of spinal cord hemi-section injuries (Brown-Séquard syndrome), which is relevant to human clinical spinal cord injury. Both in vivo and in vitro data we received demonstrated that co-transplantation BMSCs w...

For people with spinal cord injuries, the selection of a wheelchair and seating system involves many factors. This clinical perspective describes a model that includes consideration of the person, the wheelchair, the immediate environment between the person and the wheelchair, the intermediate environment of the home and work, and the community environment. The seated posture is examined biomec...

STANDARDS There is insufficient evidence to support treatment standards. GUIDELINES There is insufficient evidence to support treatment guidelines. OPTIONS Intensive care unit (or other monitored setting) management of patients with acute central cervical spinal cord injuries, particularly patients with severe neurological deficits, is recommended. Medical management, including cardiac, hem...

T he goals of treatment of acute spinal injury after penetrating trauma are to ensure stability of the spine, to minimize the extent of neurologic deficit, and to prevent further loss of neurologic function. MR imaging directly reveals the spinal cord parenchyma so that the radiologist can detect missile tracts, contusions, and hematomas resulting from direct cord penetration and indirect concu...

     The overall goal of this study was to identify the appropriate biomaterials able to facilitate the regeneration in rat's injured adult spinal cord. Acute damage to axons is manifested as a breach in their membranes, ionexchange distortion across the compromised region, local depolarization and even conduction block. It would be of particular importance to interrupt the progress of events h...

Axonal regeneration in the lesioned mammalian central nervous system is abortive, and this causes permanent disabilities in individuals with spinal cord injuries. In adult rats, olfactory ensheathing glia (OEG) transplants successfully led to functional and structural recovery after complete spinal cord transection. From 3 to 7 months post surgery, all OEG-transplanted animals recovered locomot...

PURPOSE Phantom sensations are somatic phenomena arising from denervated parts of the body. There is very little research, and much diagnostic confusion, regarding such experiences in people with spinal cord injuries. In the case of 'complete' spinal cord lesions, phantom experiences may challenge, and indeed, contradict, the understanding that both clinicians and patients have of such injuries...

Functional recovery can occur after incomplete spinal cord injury. Takeoka et al. now report that such recovery relies on muscle spindle feedback that is necessary for neuronal circuit remodeling, suggesting novel targets to restore motor functions following spinal cord injuries.