In handling fraudulent stem-cell research articles, journal editors went above and beyond existing procedures to try and verify the findings, but in today's competitive publishing environment, more stringent, less trusting safeguards are now essential, an independent committee has concluded.

Although editors at the journal Science "made a serious effort - substantially greater than that for most papers" to scrutinize research submitted by Woo Suk Hwang, the committee found, "the cachet of publishing in Science can be an incentive not to follow the rules."

Terry Cole of Sikeston works on core muscle strength during a therapy session with Brooke Reed.

He’s already able to move his toes.

“Jan. 4 will be 32 years,” Cole said about recalling the last time he’s felt any movement in his feet since he was paralyzed after suffering a spinal cord injury in a car accident.

A Rugby Safety Indaba held in Cape Town recently concluded that existing data on the serious spinal cord injuries in the game was incomplete due to the lack of a proper injury reporting system. It was agreed that further research was required to ensure the accuracy and integrity of the data.

It's uncertain whether supporters of the measure can muster enough votes to override another veto.

It's uncertain whether supporters of the measure can muster enough votes to override another veto.

White House spokesman Tony Fratto said he would not "issue veto threats on hypothetical legislation" but added that Bush's position on the issue hasn't changed.

"The findings are promising as spinal cord injury pain is a condition which generally responds poorly to currently available treatments," said study author Philip J. Siddall, MBBS, PhD, with Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney, Australia.

Beaverton - Suffering from a spinal cord injury and becoming paralyzed is a devastating and life altering event.

Those once told they might never walk again are proving doctors wrong at a local rehabilitation center.

Project Walk is a state of the art facility in Beaverton. Trainer J.J. Fowler opened the center in Portland in June from the company's headquarters in Carlsbad, California. They started the new location to be closer to nine of their clients.

“How can you side with those people?”

In 2002, a paralyzed research advocate who actively supports embryonic-stem-cell and human-cloning research asked me this question. By “those” people she meant Christians, conservatives, and pro-life groups.

“It’s simple,” I said. “Why is it in our interest to sit in these wheelchairs for the rest of our lives so science can puzzle over safety problems linked to embryonic stem cells and human cloning, while ignoring the cells that nature designed for the treatments we need?”