The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed. – Albert Einstein




Monday, March 25, 2013

Anatomy Reading Reaction and Response 5

What happens in spinal cord injury? Find out here. In the space below, leave a comment. You should react to the article AS WELL AS your classmates' comments. Feel free to pose questions that will invigorate the conversation.

14 comments:

  1. i found it interesting how a spinal cord injury could happen through things that happen every day like a car crash and that could potentially change your life forever. even at our age now it could happen. Its terrible how those who do survive go through so much pain it affects so many of the organs in the body like the bladder and how it can lead up to other things like pressure sores or spasm. overall i found this to be a very interesting article.

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  2. I thought this article was very interesting and informative. I realized as I was reading it that many of the facts were true and I related some of them to people I know that are paralyzed. Some occasionally do have difficulty controlling their bladder, and one person was also hospitalized for a blood clot in his leg (which he didn't move often because he's in a wheelchair). I think it's great that there are more cures and treatments coming out for the future. I was also somewhat shocked when it said that more than 80% of paralyzed patients were men. Why do you think men have a much higher percentage than women? - Micayla G

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  3. This article was very interesting. I learned a lot of things like spinal cord injuries and their treatment date back to ancient times. In Ancient Greek Hippocratic ladder and board were used to treat spinal fractures with paralysis. The price of managing the care of spinal cord injury patients is $4 billion each year shocked me the most. That is too much money. Courtney

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  4. I find it interesting that this can be dated back all the way to ancient times and that they documented it back then because when I hear ancient I think mummies and cavemen but the fact that they had documentation of this is pretty cool. Also, I like the fact that a gunshot wound can cause the same amount of damage to the spinal cord as a car accident but I also find it weird cause a car can have a heaver impact but its whatever. But I have question... Can any part of the axons get lost in the body when the spinal cord if dislocated and if so is it possible if they will work again if they put them back to where they were in the first place?

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  5. This was a pretty interesting article. I was not aware that facial injury could also cause spinal cord injury. I also did not know that spinal cord injury can lead to numerous other complications. It is good that doctors are making advances in this specific area because it is such an important part of the body that we are still relatively unclear on. To answer Malika's question, when the axons are dislocated or damaged, the signal going from one nerve cell to the next is blocked. I don't believe that nerve cells regenerate but theoretically it would be possible to create an artificial axon and implant it to connect nerve cells that were separated.

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  6. I agree with Malika as far as my reaction goes, because I was surprised to see that the research goes back so long ago. One thing this article made me think about was stem-cell research. Although I am conflicted about whether or not stem-cell research is acceptable or ethical I think it should be considered more as an option to try to help deal with spinal cord injuries. Did anybody else think of stem-cell research while reading?
    And to answer Micayla's question I think one possibility might be many of the spinal injuries occur in sports and more males play sports at higher levels than females. I also think it is interesting to note that cheer leading is one of the sports most plagued with spinal injuries, even though it is primarily women.
    -Jerry Manning

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  7. I agree with Stephen because I think that it is shocking that spinal cord injury can lead to numerous other complications. I did not know that it could cause spasms or increased chance of blood clots. I think it is scary how an accident that hurts the spinal cord can negatively affect a person's life because it can affect so many other parts of their body too. I also think that it is interesting that getting in a car accident and playing sports can cause the same damage to the spine if they are both hurt at the same level. I agree with Deidre that this was an interesting article because it shows that spinal cord injuries can happen in a second, but the side effects can last forever. -Kathryn Zablocki

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  8. This article was very informative. i thought that when you had a spinal injury, it was only caused by trama to the spine. Like stephen said i didnt realize that spinal injuries can also be caused by trauma to the face. I see the research done as a break through because the spine is an essential part to the human body, and the more thats known about it, the safer we will be. Spinal cord injuries also happen more frequently than i thought which freaks me out because even messing around could really hurt you. there are many other complications that go along with a spine injury and that makes spine injuries that much more dangerous and unfortunate. PS-Stephen you sound like a scientist-Eric

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  9. Like Stephen and Eric, I was surprised to find out that so many different instances such as trauma to the face can cause spinal injuries. I found it scary to know that spinal cord injuries occur quite frequently and that they can cause many other complications in the body like lack of bladder control. Thus, it is reassuring that doctors and scientists are researching new ways to treat spinal injuries because they could decrease the amount of damage done to the body from spinal injuries.

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  10. It is surprising and scary to know that more than eighty percent of spinal cord injuries occur in men. I agree with Malika and Jerry and was surprised to see that spinal cord research goes back so long ago. It's interesting and alarming to know that before World War II a spinal cord injury meant certain death. To answer Micayla's question, I would guess that men have a higher percentage of spinal cord injuries because of physical professional sports like football and hockey where there is a lot of contact and collisions. Unfortunately, there have been many incidents where athletes have been paralyzed from breaking their neck or spinal cord. It's relieving to know that advances in research hope that spinal cord injuries will be repairable in the future. -Eamonn

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  11. I found this article very informative and interesting, but also a little scary. As Stephen said, I didn't know that after you've suffered a spinal cord injury, there were so many more complications that could potentially follow. However, knowing that the spinal cord is such a vital part of the body, it's surprising, but also makes sense that complications such as irregular heartbeat, blood clots, and bladder/bowel can occur after an injury to the spinal cord. It is however, relieving to know that there are so many advancements being made to this life-threatening injury including the regeneration of nerve cells. -Mich

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  12. Going off of Malika and Corutney's interests; i think it's really cool that the spinal chord is "the main information pathway between the brain and the rest of the body." Granted, we learned that in class, but it's still cool! I normaly only think of things like the lungs and the heart being what keeps me alive. I'm now understanding that the spinal cord is actually the gluekeeping everything together. It is the place where all of the signals are being sent to the brain so you can think and react to stimuli. Then i started thinking about people saying you're not actually dead until your brain stops working. I assume that means that even though the heart is dying, the spinal cord is still letting signals be sent to the brain until you die fully. Pretty cool article ~Milan

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  13. Before reading this article, I already knew that there could be a lot of devastating outcomes when it comes to a spinal cord injury. What I didn't know was that 80% of spinal cord injuries happened in men and like Eamonn said, it most likely is because most athletes who play in collision sports are men. Without even looking at sports, most men tend to be in gangs, which a lot of gun violence and stab wound occur. And like Malika said, I found it interesting that research went as far back as ancient Egypt, but when I think about it, it should come as no surprise because people lived back then too and they got hurt. It's only good that we live in a time where immediate care can be given to those with spinal cord injuries and with stem cell research, there is hope that most spinal cord injuries can be recovered from.
    -Yetunde

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