By Amy Norton HealthDay Reporter WEDNESDAY, July 30, 2014 (HealthDay News) -- Babies born with so-called "bubble boy" disease can often be cured with a stem cell transplant, regardless of the donor -- but early treatment is critical, a new study finds. Severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID), as the condition is medically known, actually refers to a group of rare genetic disorders that all but eliminate the immune system. That leaves children at high risk of severe infections. The term "bubble boy" became popular after a Texas boy with SCID lived in a plastic bubble to ward off infections. The boy, David Vetter, died in 1984 at the age of 12, after an unsuccessful bone marrow transplant -- an attempt to give him a functioning immune system. Today, children with SCID have a high chance of survival if they receive an early stem cell transplant, researchers report in the July 31 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. In the best-case scenario, a child would get stem cells -- the blood-forming cells within bone marrow -- from a sibling who is a perfect match for certain immune-system genes. But that's not always an option, partly because kids with SCID are … Continue reading →

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 31-Jul-2014 Contact: Meng Zhao eic@nrren.org 86-138-049-98773 Neural Regeneration Research Spinal cord injury (SCI) currently ranks second after mental retardation among neurological disorders in terms of cost to society. Pain is a debilitating consequence of SCI related to the nature of the lesion, neurological structures damaged, and secondary pathophysiological changes of surviving tissues1. Approximately two-thirds of persons who have sustained SCI experience clinically significant pain after injury, of whom one-third have severe pain2, 3. Post-SCI pain can increase with time and is often refractory to conventional treatment approaches4. Over the past decade, clinical studies have shown that post-SCI pain interferes with rehabilitation, daily activities, and quality of life and may substantially influence mood, leading to depression and even suicide4-7.Chronic neuropathic pain following SCI is divided into three types: at-level pain (pain within the body segments innervated by spinal cord segments at the level of the injury), below-level pain (pain within body segments caudal to the level at which the spinal cord was injured), and above-level pain (pain within body segments rostral to the level at which the spinal cord was injured)8. The mechanisms underlying SCI-induced chronic neuropathic pain are not well understood. Aberrant central sprouting of nociceptive fibers … Continue reading →