California Approves Spinal Cord Injury Research Bill

A spinal cord injury research bill authored by Assemblyman Bob Wieckowski (D-Fremont) was recently approved by way of 46 to 27 voting during the California State Assembly last August 27.

The bill, titled AB 1657, aimed to raise funds to sustain a program backed by disability rights advocates, biotech industry, and neuro-scientists that provide important research into spinal cord injuries.

At present, the approved bill is awaiting Governor Jerry Brown’s approval. Once the California governor signed the bill, it will finally become a law.

While being victorious with the initial success earned by his proposed bill, Wieckowski in his statement claimed that by putting the best scientific minds to work in universities, a state of the art research that will improve the quality of life for thousands of Californians with spinal cord injury will be achieved. The bill does not only give hope to the disabled but also shows that the Golden State’s current leaders want to maintain its position in the field of bioscience, Wieckowski added.

It can be remembered that way back in 2000, the state’s program called “The Roman Reed Spinal Cord Injury Research Fund” was created. The said fund is run out of the University of California and supervised out of the Reeve-Irvine Research Center at UC Irvine.

Furthermore, it was initially funded out of the state general fund; however, upon years of budget deficit, its funding has been eliminated. Originally, for every dollar in state funds invested, $5 of federal funds was received.

Now, the bill would fund the program through a $1 penalty on every moving traffic violation. In fact, aside from California, at least seven other U.S. states use the same method to collect funds for spinal cord injury research.

Wieckowski further explained that traffic accidents are the major cause of spinal cord injuries in the county. Through the said bill, drivers are expected to become more responsible and vigilant while behind the wheel to avoid being charged with extra penalties. 

Meanwhile, advocates of the bill include the University of California, the huge industry group, Bay Bio, The California Healthcare Institute, the Boston Scientific, and other teams of medical researchers throughout the state.

Apparently, the approval of the said bill comes in line with the previous declaration of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie proclaiming the month of September as spinal cord injury awareness month. Of course, California would not miss its opportunity to show the nation that like any other states, California likewise intends to lead the way to cure paralysis, claimed a Los Angeles injury lawyer.

Researchers Eye MS Drug as Possible Treatment for Spinal Cord Injury

A drug that was known to lessen physical problems and outburst of multiple sclerosis is now seen by researchers to be a potential treatment for spinal cord injury.

In a recent study, Japanese researchers found a new hope to treat spinal cord injury in a multiple sclerosis drug which is commonly known as Gilenya. The said drug has been tested by the researchers of Jichi Medical University School of Medicine and University of Tokyo’s Graduate School of Medicine through some mice with spinal cord injury. The researchers found some motor function recovery from the mice. 

Authors of the said research wrote that Gilenya, which is manufactured by Novartis, has significant treating powers. Researchers explained that spinal cord injury can worsen once swelling effects occur, therefore the drug is originally provided to reduce inflammation that happens after injury. 

Moreover, authors noted that the primary activity responsible for these actions is considered to be immunological. However, their data suggests that the non-immunological functions of the drug are important as well in the treatment of spinal cord injury.

Even so, though the said study had progressed considerably, researchers still have to work on it further; as they still need to test the drug on larger animals. Nevertheless, they firmly believe that the drug will not waste their time and efforts, since they see clear hope for its potential in treating spinal cord injury.

As expected, this would definitely be a long way process before researchers eventually determine the drug’s effectiveness in treating spinal cord injury in human beings.

This is actually another great leap in getting into a higher level of discovering a better future for the victims of spinal cord injuries. The only issue arising from such research is the best time of prescribing the drug to patients.

Unfortunately, at present, studies have yet to prove that there is a drug that can protect the nervous system. The only thing that it can do is to help in the rehabilitation process.

Therefore, victims of spinal cord injury are not yet rejoicing for the said study of MS drug, but instead, they just look upon the possibility of achieving the right compensation that they deserve after being injured due to other people’s negligence.

Usually, most victims of spinal cord injury make sure that they have the best representative with years of experience like a Los Angeles personal injury attorney to help them obtain greater recovery for the injury they sustained.

A Study of Spinal Cord Injury

Spinal cord injury is one of the most devastating injuries. Spinal cord injury happens when your body is forcefully jolted or hit breaking the spinal cord or pinching on the nerves that transmits brain activities to different parts of the body. Spinal cord injury causes discomfort and pain. At its worst it could cause temporary or even permanent paralysis.

A lot of factors contributes to accidents resulting in spinal cord injury. Alcohol consumption is the cause of many car accidents, slip and fall incidents, and even drowning, among many other accidents.

Incidents caused by excessive drinking could be minimized or prevented by means of educating people on the adverse effects of drinking and the harms it may do to the drinker and the public in general. Public awareness and restriction of alcohol provisions are options which can be looked at to prevent accidents causing devastating and even permanent injuries like spinal cord injuries.

However, even if you are the most careful person in the world. Accidents may still happen to you by reason of the negligence of other persons.