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March 2003

Reeve Announces Human Spine Repair Trials

During a January visit to Sydney, Australia, Superman actor Christopher Reeve announced that human trials were under way into therapeutic cloning that could help repair spinal injuries like the one that paralyzed him from the neck down 7 years ago, according to a January 24, 2003, Reuters report. Reeve was in Sydney for a spinal-injury forum, and declined to give details about the trials to reporters because, he said, scientific advances required peer review and other steps before being made public.

Reeve is an active supporter of nuclear transfer or therapeutic cloning, which involves taking stem cells from embryos to repair injury or cure illness. This process has nothing to do with reproductive cloning, which can re- create an entire person. According to the Reuters report, Reeve believes reproductive cloning should be banned.

Ultrasound Therapy Attracting Attention

Researchers at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, Philadelphia, have successfully tested a minimally invasive technique called ultrasound needle-guided therapy by treating muscle, tendon, and ligament injuries in 306 patients.

The researchers, who presented their results at the recent Radiological Society of North America annual meeting in Chicago, reported that 65% of those treated showed improvement. The study participants had various injuries, including tennis and golfer’s elbow, jumper’s knee, hamstring and rotator cuff injuries, and Achilles tendon problems.

Ultrasound is used to get a clear image of abnormal tendons, to identify areas of scar tissue on tendons, and to determine if the scar tissue is infiltrated with calcification. After the patient receives a local anesthetic, the needle is guided by ultrasound to areas with scar tissue and the tip is used to break up the tissue and any calcification.

None of the study participants had responded to other therapies such as medication, bracing, or rest, and had symptoms for periods ranging from 3 months to 15 years.

Report Says Leg Exercise Aids Breathing

According to a newly published report in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, light exercise such as treadmill and stationary bike sessions helps people with failing hearts breathe easier.

A study of 25 heart patients conducted at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in New York City showed that 3 months of light leg exercises reduced the labored breathing called dyspnea, which often afflicts people with moderate heart failure.

The exercise program in the study concentrated on improving function of the muscles of the legs in order to prove that better breathing does not only come from better heart muscle function, according to Donna Mancini, PhD, an associate professor of medicine at the center.

She says that the benefits of exercise probably come from improvements in muscle metabolism that change the activity of receptors that set off signals triggering shortness of breath. However, it has also been suggested that the training simply makes people feel better overall, meaning that symptoms of breathlessness become less bothersome to them.

Exercise Program for MS Patients May Boost Immune Function

Researchers at the Universtiy at Buffalo, New York, recently reported that their work showed an exercise program performed by persons with multiple sclerosis (MS) may have a positive effect on the disease by bolstering the immune system and reducing inflammation.

The researchers presented information at the recent annual meeting of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology that showed that a 16-week program of resistance exercise lowered levels of several pro-inflam- matory blood components and increased levels of certain anti-inflammatory factors in 13 MS patients.

The research, led by Nadine Fisher, EdD, an assistant professor of occupational therapy and rehabilitation sciences at the university, is being done to test the theory that a program of resistance exercise will lessen the fatigue MS patients experience after the activities of a regular workday and decrease the amount of fatigue that remains the next morning. The exercisers use machines or free weights, concentrating on improving muscular strength, endurance, and contraction speed in the arms and legs.

If inflammation of nerve tissue plays a major role in MS symptoms, reducing inflammation could improve the ability to perform daily activities.

Fear of Back Pain Can Be Overcome

Patients with lower back pain who are afraid of making movements that might worsen their pain (a condition called kinesiophobia) can conquer those fears through gradual reintroduction of normal movements, a researcher recently told the 10th World Congress on Pain in San Diego.

Johan W.S. Vlaeyen, an associate professor of behavioral medicine at Maastricht University, the Netherlands, said at the conference that humans have a built-in fear network, which sometimes requires reprogramming. “There is a tendency to stay as still as possible to avoid any more pain,” he said. He pointed out that inactivity can often make pain worse.

In cases of phobia, Vlaeyen says the best approach in changing a patient’s attitude is exposure to movement. Patients, he says, must make the very movements they are afraid of in order to overcome that fear.

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