Medical Malpractice Lawyers

Cleveland Spinal Injury Attorney: New Study Suggests Sleeplessness Persistent Problem for Spinal Injury Victims

Our Cleveland spinal injury attorney hears from clients all the time that they have trouble sleeping. While we’re not doctors – we’re attorneys – we can tell you it’s not your imagination. A recent study led by a University of Calgary researcher at the Cumming School of Medicine (CSM) suggests that sleeplessness is a huge problem for those who suffer from a spinal injury. More alarmingly, the lack of sleep can even contribute to stroke.

“People with spinal cord injury have alarming rates of stroke, and we wanted to understand why,” says study lead Dr. Aaron Phillips, Ph.D., assistant professor, in the Department of Physiology & Pharmacology, and member of the CSM’s Libin Cardiovascular Institute of Alberta and the Hotchkiss Brain Institute.

The study found that fatigue and sleep issues were prevalent in people with spinal cord injury and that sleep-related breathing problems were associated with reduced brain health in this population.

“The risk of fatigue is nine times greater in individuals with spinal cord injury compared to those without,” says Phillips. “Prior to these results, I don’t really think we realized what a huge problem sleep and sleepiness are for people with spinal cord injury.”

Lack of Sleep Hard on Brain Health

Unfortunately, sleeping problems can have negative effects on the brain.

“People with spinal cord injury were suffering from very disturbed breathing during sleep that was actually preventing them from carrying oxygen to vital organs like their brain,” says Dr. Jordan Squair, Ph.D., post-doctoral scholar in the Phillips lab and first author on the study. “It’s not just about a good night’s sleep. Our study found sleep-related disorders are negatively associated with brain health for individuals with spinal cord injury.”

If you or a loved one have been the victim of a spinal injury, call The Linton Law Firm for a free consultation with a Cleveland spinal injury attorney.

Cleveland Spinal Injury Attorney: New Study Sheds Light on Why Injuries Worsen After Accident

It’s a phenomenon we see all the time as spinal injury attorneys in Cleveland. The real damage caused by a spinal injury often occurs long after the original injury.

A new study could shed some light on why.

Science Daily reports:

“Yi Ren, a professor of biomedical sciences at the Florida State University College of Medicine, is making progress in understanding why such significant harm is inflicted in the weeks and months after a spinal injury. In a study published today in the journal Nature Neuroscience, Ren explained how a natural immune system response may contribute to additional injury.”

After an injury, endothelial cells that line blood vessels are activated to remove potentially harmful material, like myelin debris, from the site of the injury. But researchers suspect this process may also contribute to further damage after the incident.

“The consequences of the effort of endothelial cells to clear myelin debris is often severe, contributing to post-traumatic degeneration of the spinal cord and to the functional disabilities often associated with spinal cord injuries,” said Ren, whose team conducted the study over a period of five years.

An Optimistic Prognosis

As science and doctors better understand how these mechanisms work, more might be done to help spinal injury victims recover functioning to lead fuller lives. And that is certainly promising news for the clients of a spinal injury attorney in Cleveland.

A New Study Holds Promise for the Clients of a Spinal Injury Attorney in Cleveland

What’s the biggest takeaway from a promising new study from Tel Aviv University? Aside from the fact that the future continues to get brighter and brighter for spinal injury sufferers, it’s this: Don’t wait for a diagnosis to begin treatment. Start right away, from the very moment of injury.

In addition to the great advice, the study also offers much-needed hope to the clients of spinal injury attorneys in Cleveland. The study found that intravenous injection of a potent enzyme, just hours after an accident, has the potential to diminish a cascade of pathological events responsible for a neuronal death, such as inflammation and scarring.

“Primary mechanical damage to spinal cord tissue kills a certain amount of neuronal cells. But there’s secondary damage due to the release of excess glutamates, which are responsible for additional functional disability,” study co-conductor Dr. Yona Goldshmit of TAU’s Sackler Faculty of Medicine and the Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute told MedicalXpress. “The main idea is to reduce the secondary damage as soon as possible—to block the body’s natural reaction to spinal cord trauma. This is the role of the enzyme injection we devised.”

The new treatment could dramatically reduce the consequences of spinal injury.

The Positive Potential of Glutamate

As MedicalXpress explains:

“Glutamate accounts for approximately 60 percent of total neurotransmitter activity in the brain. Dr. Ruban’s research has shown the positive effect of the blood glutamate treatment in models of glioblastoma, ALS, and others.”

The sooner the treatment can be applied – the better.

“Our takeaway is, ‘Don’t wait to diagnose it, treat it,'” study o-conductor Dr. Angela Ruban of TAU’s Sackler Faculty of Medicine told MedicalExpress. “It’s similar to aspirin, which can rescue a cardiac patient from irreversible damage if taken within the first few hours of a heart attack. We suggest administering the injection even in cases of an uncertain diagnosis. There’s no side effect to the injection, but it might just mitigate secondary damage and dramatically improve the quality of a person’s life.”

And that is extremely promising news for each and every client of a spinal injury attorney in Cleveland.

Cleveland Spinal Injury Attorney: The Healing Benefits of Oxygen and Breathing Deeply

What’s a spinal injury victim’s best recovery tool? No, not his or her spinal injury attorney in Cleveland, though we certainly can help lead the path to recovery – especially financially. We’re talking about breathing. A patient’s health can vastly improve simply by breathing a little more.  A recent study from the University of Alberta discovered surprising benefits in oxygen.

The study found that more oxygen through the spinal cord can improve blood flow, and thereby increase motor functioning for better walking, movement and balance.

Neuroscientists found that spinal blood flow in rats was unexpectedly compromised following a spinal injury. Improving blood flow or simply inhaling more oxygen produces lasting improvements in cord oxygenation and motor functions.

“We’ve shown for the first time that spinal cord injuries (SCI) lead to a chronic state of poor blood flow and lack of oxygen to neuronal networks in the spinal cord,” says co-principal investigator Karim Fouad, professor, Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine and Canada Research Chair for spinal cord injury. “By elevating oxygen in the spinal cord we can improve function and re-establish activity in different parts of the body.”

A Deep Breath for Progress, but Still a Long Way to Go

Though there is still much to learn when it comes to treatment, this discovery is a big step.

“Possibly even simple therapies such as exercise or just breathing will play a role in preventing long-term hypoxia and damage to the spinal cord, Fouad told Science Daily. “It’s a small but important step in the right direction, stemming from studying an obscure enzyme in the spinal cord — and that’s the beauty of basic science.

And that is good news for the clients of a spinal injury attorney in Cleveland.

Cleveland Spinal Injury Attorney: Metro-Health Grant Announced

Clients of our Cleveland spinal injury attorney should take note of some good news that might directly benefit them one day, to say nothing of spinal injury victims everywhere:

The Cleveland Metro-Health System recently announced $2.26 million in grant funding to conduct studies on spinal injury and recovery.

“This will allow us to attract more (spinal care) patients for care,” said Dr. Gregory Nemunaitis, director of Spinal Cord Rehabilitation at MetroHealth.

Designated over a five year period, the grant will enable the center to, according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer:

“Collect data on the recovery of people with spinal cords injuries that will provide a database for future research and care.

Assess recovery patterns in the arms and hands of people with spinal cord injuries to develop guidelines for treatment to restore upper extremity function.

Redesign a spine board used to transport patients from the scene of an injury to the hospital. Led by MetroHealth in collaboration with the University of Toledo’s Department of Engineering, the research will focus on reducing pressure ulcers.”

MetroHealth treats about 100 traumatic spinal cord injuries a year. The announcement of this funding should be good news for them as well as clients of Cleveland spinal injury attorneys.

From the Desk of Our Cleveland Spinal Injury Attorney: Robotic Therapies Help People Regain Function

Here’s some good news for the clients of a spinal injury attorney in Cleveland. While helping spinal injury victims become more mobile, researchers in Brazil discovered that interacting with robot-like machines could help them regain some sensation and movement.

Published in Scientific Reports, the findings suggest that spinal injury victims may be able to retrain brain functions through repetition and practice.

While the eight paralyzed people did not regain the ability to support their own weight standing up, they did make partial recovery including the use of bowel and bladder functions. Some men were even able to have erections. One woman was even able to deliver a baby vaginally.

“For the first time in many years they were able to voluntarily control their muscles,” Dr. Miguel Nicolelis, a neuroscientist and physician with Duke University who led the research, told NPR. “They could move their legs or contract muscles under voluntary control. This has not been seen before. I call this an important milestone.”

Indeed, this remarkable finding could meaningfully change the lives of the clients of a spinal injury attorney in Cleveland.

Could a Global Data Base Help the Clients of a Spinal Injury Attorney in Cleveland?

Australian spinal cord injury experts are currently lobbying their federal government for a national registry of patients to track treatments in an effort to improve conditions. Advocates for the effort contend that millions of dollars could be saved in treatment, not to mention that victims’ lives could be substantially improved. It is an effort any spinal injury attorney in Cleveland could get behind.

“We have pools of acute data in the spinal units around Australia, we have some rehab data,” Chris Bertinshaw from the Australian Spinal Cord Injury Network told ABC. “None of it is connected, and we have no information once they leave rehab.”

The proposed registry would track patients throughout their lifetimes, noting treatment, medications and any complications. Such data could substantially improve treatment and in the process help patients lead more fulfilling lives.

“We don’t know what treatment works and what doesn’t work, and we don’t know the risks involved,” Jonathan Tang, a spinal injury patient and wheelchair racer, told ABC.”[A registry] will allow us to answer questions such as, if I had a kidney infection, what would be the best medication to use.”

Who knows? Perhaps other countries will launch similar efforts and combine databases into a universal resource? That would definitely be promising news for anyone who needs a spinal injury attorney in Cleveland.

Electronic Implants Respond to Brain Waves of Spinal Injury Patients in Cleveland

Every day, the clients of any spinal injury attorney in Cleveland face a brighter future. Scientists at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland recently used electronics to enable a spinal injury patient to use an implant in his brain to move his arm and hand.
The test marks the first time brain signals have been conveyed directly to electrodes placed in an arm to restore movement, according to Robert Kirsch, a biomedical engineer at Case Western.
The project is a big step towards wireless systems being able to transmit brain signals over airwaves to electronics implanted in the limbs or paralyzed patients. Yet there is still much progress that needs to be made.
“It’s not a fluid natural movement like you are picking up a cup of coffee to drink it,” says John Donoghue, one of the leaders of of BrainGate, a consortium that is developing brain-computer interfaces with the Case Western team told the MIT Technology Review. “But the fact that they got a person to control their own body, to stimulate muscles in a specific way to make them move, and do it from a small patch of brain, is incredible.”
The research is a big step forward that can drastically improve the lives of spinal patients. “If I could take the system I am using right now home with me, I would do it in a heartbeat,” said Ian Burkhart, the participant in the Ohio State study. “There are limitations to it, but they’re easily outweighed by the benefit of being able to grasp something and move it around.”
And that’s good news for both patients and any spinal injury attorney in Cleveland.

StemCells Inc. has Good News for Clients of Spinal Injury Lawyers in Cleveland

Offering good news for any client of a spinal injury lawyer in Cleveland, StemCells Inc. recently reported its experimental stem cell therapy improved functioning and strength in the limbs of spinal cord injury patients.

That makes Stem Cells Inc. the second research company to recently report promising results for spinal therapy research as a result of stem cell studies. Last August, Asterias Biotherapeutics said its research indicated stem cell therapy could improve mobility for patients.

No serious adverse effects have been found in the study. The next two years for the company should prove critical.

“In a year from now, our goal would be to complete the enrollment in the study and get final results in 2017,” Chief Financial Officer Greg Schiffman told Reuters.

“The early analyses of motor improvement from the first cohort of the Pathway Study are consistent with an evolution of the sensory outcomes seen in StemCells’ previous thoracic study,” said Armin Curt, MD, the principal investigator at the University of Zurich for the Company’s previous Phase I/II thoracic spinal cord injury study, in a statement. “The emerging data are the first clinical evidence of a treatment effect improving muscle strength and function following cellular transplant in spinal cord injuries. These findings are even more compelling given that all the patients are between one and two years post injury.”

Thanks to stem cell research, clients of a spinal injury lawyer in Cleveland face a much brighter future. It may take several years to develop, but the research prompts brighter optimism as more about this incredible science is discovered.

Clients of Cleveland Spinal Injury Attorneys May Be Eligible for Stem Cell Study

Clients of spinal injury attorneys in Cleveland may be eligible for a new study designed to improve treatment through stem cell research.

Rush University Medical Center scientists are researching a potential new therapy to use human embryonic stem cells to treat spinal cord injuries within 14 to 30 days of an injury. The stem cells contain progenitor cells that support nerve cells and can potentially make poorly functioning nerves function better.

“There are currently no therapies which successfully reverse the damage seen in the more than 12,000 individuals who suffer a spinal cord injury each year in the United States alone,” Dr. Richard G. Fessler told Science Daily. Fessler is a professor of neurological surgery at Rush University Medical Center and principal investigator for the Phase 1 clinical trial involving AST-OPC1 (oligodendrocyte progenitor cells).

“These injuries can be devastating, causing both emotional and physical distress, but there is now hope. This is a new era where we are now able to test whether a dose of stem cells delivered directly to the injured site can have an impact on motor or sensory function,” says Fessler. “If we could generate even modest improvements in motor or sensory function, it would result in significant improvements in quality of life.”

The trial will test three escalating doses of AST-OPC1 in patients with subacute, C5-C7, neurologically-complete cervical spinal cord injury.

“In the future, this treatment may be used for peripheral nerve injury or other conditions which affect the spinal cord, such as MS or ALS,” Fessler said.

The trial is currently looking for patients, many of whom may be the clients of a spinal injury attorney in Cleveland.