Hope for those who are paralyzed is now brighter:
‘Scientists have made paralyzed rats run again by using a new technique that could one day have wheelchair-bound people walking, reports AFP. Rats, whose spinal cords had been severed, ran when scientists applied electrical charges and drugs. “In some cases they actually walked with more consistent locomotive patterns than non-injured animals,” said one researcher.
‘With electrical charges sent directly to the animal’s spines, the rats were able to run both forward and backward on a treadmill, even though no signal was coming from the brain to the spine—implying “the spinal network is almost capable of cognitive processing,” said a researcher. It’s the first time science has been able to restore nearly normal motor function to a paralyzed animal. Human tests are about four years away.’ —Mat Probasco Source: AFP
Meanwhile, British officials have pressured Swiss politicians to battle “suicide tourism”. Assisted suicide is currently legal in Switzerland. A Swiss clinic named Digitas runs this kind of operation where some 115 Britons have died. SOURCE: Independent
Guess what’s the downside of rising life expectancy. Give up?
It will lead to a dramatic increase in the number of people stricken by Alzheimer’s disease, HealthDay News reports, mostly in the developing world.
An Alzheimer’s Disease International official also mentioned that economic globalization and globalizing dementia epidemic are related.
So which would you prefer? Rising life expectancy with dementia or the reverse?
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