Articles - July 2008 en-us http://www.thescizone.com/news N/A http://www.thescizone.com/news michael@thescizone.com 20 http://www.thescizone.com/news/articles/1624/1/Wheelchair-Bound-Coach-Ricker-Still-Sharing-Knowledge/1.html For more than twenty years, Coach Larry Ricker has been spending a portion of his summers teaching, encouraging, and instilling the game of basketball into young Greene County athletes. The exception was last year when the coach was continuing to recover from a tragic accident that nearly cost him his life.Earlier this month, however, Coach Ricker was back on the basketball court holding camp, traveling quickly across the gym floor in a motorized wheelchair, and continuing to share his knowledge and love for a game that he cultivated through decades of coaching. michael@thescizone.com (Michael Feger) Wed, 23 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0400 http://www.thescizone.com/news/articles/1630/1/THE-TIME-TO-ADVOCATE-IS-NOW/1.html This is a very exciting time for the Christopher & Dana Reeve Paralysis Act! After years of advocating for this bill, we have just received word it will be included in the bill titled Advancing America's Priorities Act, Senate Bill # 3297. This is a bill that is made up of 40 pieces of legislation, including the CDRPA. All of the bills in this package are non-controversial and have strong bipartisan support, all have passed with overwhelming majority in the U.S. House (the CDRPA won by unanimous vote in the House), they have all passed in their committees in the Senate, and all have merely been awaiting a full vote by the Senate. It is crucial that we send a strong message to our Senators asking them to pass this package, S.3297, NOW! michael@thescizone.com (Michael Feger) Tue, 22 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0400 http://www.thescizone.com/news/articles/1625/1/Paralyzed-driver-ahead-of-schedule-/1.html Whatever anyone thinks of him or his situation, Josh Howard says, never call him a quitter. Howard, 22, of Byhalia, Miss., has been paralyzed since crashing his sprint car at Little Rock’s I-30 Speedway on Oct. 25. Though still considered a quadriplegic, Howard said he continues to see improvement through a daily regimen of physical therapy. michael@thescizone.com (Michael Feger) Sat, 19 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0400 http://www.thescizone.com/news/articles/1629/1/Colours-Wheelchair-Paraplegic-Athlete-Ricky-James-to-Compete-on-His-Adapted-Motocross-Bike-at-X-Games-14/1.html Ricky James, 19 years old from Murrieta, Ca. has been selected to compete in a new exhibition sport "Adaptive Motox" at X Games 14 in Carson California on August 1, 2008. James suffered a spinal cord injury in a motocross crash in 2005 leaving him a paraplegic at the age of 16. Ricky did not let his injury stop him from doing what he loved most. Barely 6 months after his injury Ricky started designing adaptive components that would allow him to ride his dirt bike again. michael@thescizone.com (Michael Feger) Fri, 18 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0400 http://www.thescizone.com/news/articles/1627/1/Rise-above-Tour-brings-message-of-hope/1.html Tour stop focuses on spinal cord injury awareness and rehabThe Rise Above Tour, a cross-country bicycle and handcycle ride devoted to bringing a message of hope and awareness about spinal cord injuries, completed another leg of their trek across the country with stops in Utah. The tour members hope to raise funds for spinal cord research and to educate people about the benefits of continued rehabilitation and perseverance in the face of a spinal cord injury. michael@thescizone.com (Michael Feger) Fri, 18 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0400 http://www.thescizone.com/news/articles/1626/1/Study-identifies-cells-for-spinal-cord-repair/1.html A researcher at MIT’s Picower Institute for Learning and Memory has pinpointed stem cells within the spinal cord that, if persuaded to differentiate into more healing cells and fewer scarring cells following an injury, may lead to a new, non-surgical treatment for debilitating spinal-cord injuries.The work, reported in the July issue of the journal PLoS (Public Library of Science) Biology, is by Konstantinos Meletis, a postdoctoral fellow at the Picower Institute, and colleagues at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden. Their results could lead to drugs that might restore some degree of mobility to the 30,000 people worldwide afflicted each year with spinal-cord injuries. michael@thescizone.com (Michael Feger) Fri, 18 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0400 http://www.thescizone.com/news/articles/1623/1/Gene-map-charts-spinal-cord-mysteries/1.html Online mouse atlas could lead to new treatments for humans, scientists sayA new online atlas that links mouse genes to spinal cord function should point researchers toward new treatments for maladies that affect millions of people, the project's leaders said Thursday.The first "pages" of the Allen Spinal Cord Atlas, backed by software billionaire Paul Allen and an unusual consortium of contributors, were made available on the Internet for an official unveiling. michael@thescizone.com (Michael Feger) Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0400 http://www.thescizone.com/news/articles/1621/1/Allen-Institute-will-give-preview-of-spinal-cord-atlas/1.html The Allen Institute for Brain Science is releasing the first data from a project to map the spinal cord. The spinal-cord atlas will provide a boost to research on disorders that attack the nervous system and also will help efforts to treat, and perhaps repair, spinal-cord injuries.When Jane Roskams started studying spinal-cord injuries, she kept coming across cells she couldn't identify. Other experts were often stumped, too. "I quickly found out what a black box the spinal cord is," said the University of British Columbia (UBC) scientist. "People don't even know what half the cells are, let alone what they do." michael@thescizone.com (Michael Feger) Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0400 http://www.thescizone.com/news/articles/1622/1/Got-your-bars-down-/1.html Anti Tip Bars that is! Craig Hospital has been rated every year in the Top Ten Rehabilitation Hospitals by US News and World Report since the ratings began eighteen years ago. Today, Wednesday July 16, 2008, Craig Hospital raised the bar in its rankings with the ribbon cutting ceremony of the new Mike Utley Terrain Park thanks to the generous support from the Mike Utley Foundation, the Cloverleaf Foundation, the Colorado Garden Show and supporters of Craig Hospital. A dream visualized by John Minden and the Craig Hospital Physical Therapy Department became reality today! michael@thescizone.com (Michael Feger) Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0400 http://www.thescizone.com/news/articles/1614/1/Christopher-Reeve---A-true-superhero/1.html 2008 has been a year marred by injuries to horses and people riding them.When I see a rider go down, it reminds me of the accident that paralyzed and ultimately killed Christopher Reeve. Like Rock Hudson for AIDS and Lou Gehrig for ALS, Reeve put a famous and courageous face on an ailment. Because of Reeve, money and resources have been devoted to possible cures for spinal cord injuries. michael@thescizone.com (Michael Feger) Tue, 15 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0400