The BBC are reporting that a paralysed man has been able to walk again after a transplant of cells from his nose into his spine.
Darek Fidyka, who was paralysed from the chest down in a knife attack in 2010, can now walk using a frame.
The treatment, a world first, was carried out by surgeons in Poland in collaboration with scientists in London.
Details of the research are published in the journal Cell Transplantation.
Of further interest is the indication that those involved in the research do not seek to profit from it:
Prof Geoff Raisman said: "It would be my proudest boast if I could say that no patient had had to pay one penny for any of the information we have found."
[The Nicholls Spinal Injury Foundation] said if there were any patents arising, it would acquire them so as to make the technique freely available.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 22 2014, @02:47AM
"NSIF was set up by chef David Nicholls after his son Daniel was paralysed from the arms down in a swimming accident in 2003. ... When [his son] had his accident I made him a promise that, one day, he would walk again. I set up the charity to raise funds purely for research into repairing the spinal cord. The results with Darek show we are making significant progress towards that goal."
I hope Nicholls will be able to keep his promise.
(Score: 2) by opinionated_science on Wednesday October 22 2014, @02:55AM
The very fact he may have to take out patents to stop the idea being locked up commerically, suggest that patents are not helping society.
Software there is no case.
Stem cells etc..?
There needs to be a serious rethink of the relationship between intellectual property and applications thereof.
Very important work, because once a proof of concept is proven, it and be expanded for more difficult cases.
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Wednesday October 22 2014, @03:05AM
Patents are there to protect two things:
1) People that refined their skills for years to make a breakthrough - needs to get something back for their effort
2) Corporation that has invested in research to accomplish something
As always the originality needs to meet a minimum standard regardless. The other factor to deal with is that the pace is increasing. It's a better deal to have a short patent for cheap price. If a patent for a circular wheel would still be valid, it would hamper development.
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Wednesday October 22 2014, @03:15AM
Does this patent issue mean that it's forbidden unless you pay a license (extortion fee) to use the surgeon knife in certain ways or do certain procedures? seems really insane if that is so.
Regarding the source of the cells. How does it go for the function of the nose?
(Score: 2) by M. Baranczak on Wednesday October 22 2014, @03:36AM
Regarding the source of the cells. How does it go for the function of the nose?
I'm not an expert, but my understanding is that the olfactory nerve cells are always vigorously rebuilding themselves, unlike the rest of the nervous system, and that this was the main reason they were chosen for this procedure. Meaning that if the guy lost any sense of smell, it would probably come back.
(Score: 2) by mhajicek on Wednesday October 22 2014, @04:21AM
Those cells are probably also better suited to rebuilding in the spine after being transplanted.
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 3, Informative) by c0lo on Wednesday October 22 2014, @03:38AM
Depends what you are using your nose for, I guess (grin)
Otherwise, quoting TFA (with my emphasis):
Theoretically, the sense of smell should recover after harvesting some cells. However:
Seems the procedure was more invasive than harvesting just some cells, I'm not that sure about the capability to regrow a full bulb.
That being said, it is only one of the two olfactory bulbs that was removed, so the sense of smell shouldn't be totally lost.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 1) by gottebag on Wednesday October 22 2014, @04:19AM
Not to mention that even if it was invasive enough that the sense of smell was lost. If I'm given the choice between being able to walk and being able to smell, I'm definitely choosing the walking.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 22 2014, @02:19PM
Given that the next article [soylentnews.org] basically makes the point that our sense of taste is intimately tied to our sense of smell, would you be able to endure not being able to properly enjoy coffee or any other food for that matter?