Vertebral body tethering: Another option for treating scoliosis in children

Fusion surgery has been the long-standing treatment for people with scoliosis – a side-to-side curve of the spine. But other options have become available — including vertebral body tethering for children with scoliosis. “Vertebral tethering is a new tool in the tool kit for the treatment of scoliosis,” says A. Noelle Larson, M.D., a pediatric orthopedic surgeon at Mayo

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Activity-dependent spinal cord neuromodulation rapidly restores trunk and leg motor functions after complete paralysis in three patients as published in Nature Medicine

A system developed by Grégoire Courtine and Jocelyne Bloch now enables patients with a complete spinal cord injury to stand, walk and even perform recreational activities like swimming, cycling andcanoeing. The images made headlines around the world in late 2018. David Mzee, who had been left paralyzed by a partial spinal cord injury suffered in

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NIH researchers develop first stem cell model of albinism to study related eye conditions

A human induced pluripotent stem cell colony from OCA1A patient. The image was acquired using a confocal microscope and is stained for pluripotency marker proteins. The red color depicts transcription factor OCT4, green is SSEA4 protein and blue represents the nucleus of the cells.NEI “Animals used to study albinism are less than ideal because they

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Illinois College University researchers uncover new information about cellular death process, previously thought to be irreversible

A study published by researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago describes a new method for analyzing pyroptosis — the process of cell death that is usually caused by infections and results in excess inflammation in the body — and shows that process, long thought to be irreversible once initiated, can in fact be halted

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Naive T-cell depletion approach results in lower rates of chronic GVHD after transplant

Removing one type of T cell from donor blood used for stem cell grafts could greatly reduce a serious complication called graft-versus-host disease in patients with leukemia, according to a new study. Published today in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, the study reports that only 7% of leukemia patients who received stem cell transplants depleted of

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Ferric carboxymaltose for iron deficiency at discharge after acute heart failure: a multicentre, double-blind, randomised, controlled trial shows reduction risk of heart failure hospitalizations.

1. Treatment with IV ferric carboxymaltose reduced the risk of heart failure hospitalizations in patients with iron deficiency and acute heart failure with a left ventricular ejection fraction less than 50%. 2. IV ferric carboxymaltose was generally safe but had no significant effect on the risk of cardiovascular death compared to placebo. Evidence Rating Level: 1

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Research advances understanding of life-threatening lung inflammation following the flu

Preclinical studies are underway at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital to develop small molecule inhibitors to prevent deadly inflammation and lung damage following respiratory infections and asthma. St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital scientists have identified fibroblasts as the cells that serve as the gatekeeper of the inflammatory immune response in the lungs following influenza and other respiratory infections.

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