With biofeedback abilities unrivalled in current products, the Tensegrity foot (currently in research) promises an entirely different experience for people who have lost a foot. With a flexible mid-foot joint, and spring loaded heel, a natural and rhythmic walking gate has been the goal of the inventors and it looks like they’re well on their way to putting their best foot forward.

While still in its prototype phase, the Tensegrity foot is designed to mimic the action of a jointed foot to allow for a more natural and stable gait. Built by inventor and mechanical engineer Jerome Rifkin, the artificial foot bends like a normal foot and ankle, and conforms to the terrain underneath it.

Researchers at the University of Alabama, Birmingham, have discovered that an increase in grey matter in the brains of stroke patients and accident victims can result in drastically increased mobility of a disabled limb. While the mechanism for this improvement is not yet fully understood, research into this phenomena is expected to produce information and results over the next few years.

Newswise — A rehabilitation therapy developed by a UAB (University of Alabama at Birmingham) neuroscientist produces changes in the structure of the brain, the first evidence of actual brain remodeling resulting from a rehabilitation therapy. In findings presented online in Stroke, a Journal of the American Heart Association, sophisticated analysis of MRI images of stroke patients showed that Constraint Induced (CI) therapy produced a significant increase in the amount of gray matter present in the brains of patients receiving the therapy.

“This changes all of our perspectives about what is possible in the brain,” said UAB neuroscientist Edward Taub, Ph.D., a study author and the developer of CI therapy. “For years, science thought the adult brain was hardwired, with no ability to change or adapt. Now we have further proof of the concept of neuroplasticity, the brain’s remarkable ability to respond to damage to compensate for the injury.”

The efficacy of CI therapy as a rehabilitation technique for stroke patients has been well documented. Taub and other researchers worldwide have seen remarkable clinical changes in patients, such as dramatically improved use of an affected arm or leg. They also have observed functional changes in the brain, such as increased blood flow or an increase in excitability of brain cells. The new study confirms what Taub and his colleagues have long suspected….that the brain also has the ability to remodel itself structurally.

Stem cell experimentation has long been touted as the panacea for treatment of many mobility limiting diseases, particularly those that are neurologic in nature. The FDA is taking tenative first steps toward getting a productive and viable clinical trial and research program operational. CNN reports:

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — The Food and Drug Administration looks like it’s bowing to the inevitable this week and drawing the blueprint for the first-ever human experiments with human embryonic stem cells.

FDA advisors meet Thursday and Friday to begin to design how these embryonic stem cell tests will be conducted. It’s an important regulatory step that could lead to human testing as early as this year. So far, biotechs have tested their spinal-cord drugs in animals, not people.

“[The FDA meeting] is the first step towards clinical trials,” said Laurie Zoloth, professor of medical humanities and bioethics at Northwestern University. “It’s an important moment. And it’s only the very beginning.”

Public release date: 2-Apr-2008
Contact: Marla Paul
Marla-Paul@northwestern.edu
312-503-8928
Northwestern University

CHICAGO — A spinal cord injury often leads to permanent paralysis and loss of sensation below the site of the injury because the damaged nerve fibers can’t regenerate. The nerve fibers or axons have the capacity to grow again, but don’t because they’re blocked by scar tissue that develops around the injury.

Northwestern University researchers have shown that a new nano-engineered gel inhibits the formation of scar tissue at the injury site and enables the severed spinal cord fibers to regenerate and grow. The gel is injected as a liquid into the spinal cord and self -assembles into a scaffold that supports the new nerve fibers as they grow up and down the spinal cord, penetrating the site of the injury.

When the gel was injected into mice with a spinal cord injury, after six weeks the animals had a greatly enhanced ability to use their hind legs and walk.

The research is published today in the April 2 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience.

“We are very excited about this,” said lead author John Kessler, M.D., Davee Professor of Stem Cell Biology at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. “We can inject this without damaging the tissue. It has great potential for treating human beings.”

Kessler stressed caution, however, in interpreting the results. “It’s important to understand that something that works in mice will not necessarily work in human beings. At this point in time we have no information about whether this would work in human beings.”

“There is no magic bullet or one single thing that solves the spinal cord injury, but this gives us a brand new technology to be able to think about treating this disorder,” said Kessler, also the chair of the Davee Department of Neurology at the Feinberg School. “It could be used in combination with other technologies including stem cells, drugs or other kinds of interventions.”

“We designed our self-assembling nanostructures — the building blocks of the gel — to promote neuron growth,” said co-author Samuel I. Stupp, Board of Trustees Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, Chemistry, and Medicine and director of Northwestern’s Institute for BioNanotechnology in Medicine. “To actually see the regeneration of axons in the spinal cord after injury is a fascinating outcome.”

The nano-engineered gel works in several ways to support the regeneration of spinal cord nerve fibers. In addition to reducing the formation of scar tissue, it also instructs the stem cells –which would normally form scar tissue — to instead to produce a helpful new cell that makes myelin. Myelin is a substance that sheaths the axons of the spinal cord to permit the rapid transmission of nerve impulses.

The gel’s scaffolding also supports the growth of the axons in two critical directions — up the spinal cord to the brain (the sensory axons) and down to the legs (the motor axons.) “Not everybody realizes you have to grow the fibers up the spinal cord so you can feel where the floor is. If you can’t feel where the floor is with your feet, you can’t walk,” Kessler said.

Now Northwestern researchers are working on developing the nano-engineered gel to be acceptable as a pharmaceutical for the Food & Drug Administration.

If the gel is approved for humans, a clinical trial could begin in several years.

“It’s a long way from helping a rodent to walk again and helping a human being walk again,” Kessler stressed again. “People should never lose sight of that. But this is still exciting because it gives us a new technology for treating spinal cord injury.”

Misericordia University will host the 4th annual Assistive Technology Research Institute Conference, “Giving the Non-Verbal a Voice,” on Thursday, May 22 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Banks Student Life Center on campus.

How now brown cow? That’s the question for Wilhelmina, an 8 year old dairy cow who sustained an injury to her cruciate ligament so severe, it would have normally been the end of her. Wilhelmina’s owners though, were willing to allow doctors from Kansas State University to attempt a radical procedure to completely replace her ligament with a fully synthetic material called “Wildcat Power Cord”.

An 8-year-old Jersey dairy cow is back at her Kansas farm thanks to a decade of research and an experimental surgery performed at Kansas State University’s Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital.

The cow, named Wilhelmina Jolene by the veterinary students assigned to her case, sustained a breeding injury in December 2007 when the cruciate ligament in her right knee ruptured. Dr. David Anderson, professor and head of agricultural practices at K-State’s College of Veterinary Medicine, replaced the ligament using synthetic material called monofilament nylon. The procedure’s success could have enormous implications for breeding quality cows and bulls with the same injury.

Fortunately, Wilhelmina’s owner recognized the value of saving her. Mike Frey is the son of Dr. Russ Frey, a prominent professor at K-State’s College of Veterinary Medicine. “She’s owned by the son of an important faculty member in our college’s history,” Anderson said. “It’s wonderful that there is a connection to Dr. Frey with this case and that Mike understands the teaching value.”

Mike Frey said he was happy to be part of an effort that could help animals, producers and students.

“I was always under the assumption that an animal with this problem was going to be heading down the road,” he said. “If they could perfect this so that a cow could be kept in production, that would be worth quite a bit.”

The cruciate ligament is a dense tissue that connects the bones in the knee joint. Injuring it can be career-ending and often life-ending - until now, Anderson said.

The three surgical techniques for cruciate ligaments in large animals have a failure rate of approximately 50 percent, Anderson said. This fact caused him and surgery colleagues Drs. Guy St-Jean and Andre Desrochers to investigate alternatives in the 1990s. That’s when the team designed a cruciate ligament using braided polyester; however, the material was not strong enough for heavy cattle.

Anderson continued to experiment with a variety of materials until he discovered an unusual form of nylon monofilament, a solid material about the diameter of a coffee straw. But the question remained: Could this man-made material replace the natural ligament of a 1,500 pound animal?

On Jan. 17, Anderson replaced Wilhelmina’s torn ligament with the artificial one, dubbed the “Wildcat Power Cord.” Anderson’s surgery team included surgery residents Drs. Kara Schulz and Jose Bras, intern Dr. Manuel Chamorro, along with anesthesiologists, veterinary students and technicians.

The next day, the Jersey cow was led across the hospital’s video synchronization pressure mat to determine her level of lameness. “Her stride length had increased 30 percent, and she bore 25 percent more weight on her operated leg,” Anderson said. “To have that much improvement is spectacular.”

His long-term goal is to develop a replacement ligament strong enough for bulls. Lab tests reveal that the Wildcat Power Cord can withstand up to 12,000 newtons of pressure - roughly 50 percent more than an adult bull requires.

Wilhelmina retuned home and was kept in a box stall for a week or so, Mike Frey said. After that, she had the run of the free stall. “It’s been a tough winter with all of the snow and ice,” he said. “I didn’t think she’d get around as good as she did.”

Shelby Reinstein, a senior veterinary student from Tulsa, Okla., was one of the K-State students who worked with — and named — Wilhelmina the cow.

Reinstein said she appreciated the learning opportunities this case presented, especially those relative to anatomy of the stifle and monitoring Wilhelmina for specific conditions dairy cows are at risk for developing. These include inflammation of the udder (mastitis) or of the uterus (metritis), a metabolic imbalance (ketosis), ulcers and displacement of the abomasum, the fourth compartment of a ruminant’s stomach.

“We worked really hard for her and spent long hours at the hospital, but it was definitely worth it after seeing how well she did post-op,” Reinstein said. “I love being part of the discovery aspect of veterinary medicine, and it is always really rewarding to try something you’re not sure about and have it work. And, my parents were quite impressed that I could milk a cow!”