La vida es sencilla y el dinero la complica.

miércoles

Deja de hurgarte la nariz

"Las células de la nariz podrían ayudar a andar a los paralíticos". Cualquiera que lea este titular y le corra la sangre por la venas se queda sorprendido. Y esperanzado.

Vía The Guardian, nos enteramos que un equipo de neurocirujanos del University College de Londres está haciendo pruebas con humanos para restaurar los nervios de jóvenes heridos en accidentes de moto (de momento sólo vale para este tipo de accidentes) mediante una revolucionaria técnica. Dice el artículo:

Surgeons will attempt early next year to mend the severed nerves of young people who have suffered motorbike accidents in the first trial of a simple but potentially revolutionary technology that could one day allow the paralysed to walk again.

At least ten operations will be carried out to test in humans a technique pioneered in animals by the neuroscientist Geoffrey Raisman, who heads the spinal repair unit of University College, London. He discovered 20 years ago that cells from the lining of the nose constantly regenerate themselves. Professor Raisman's team believes that if those cells were implanted at the site of the damage they would build a bridge across the break, allowing the nerve fibres to knit back together.

Christopher Reeve, the actor who played Superman and became paralysed after falling from a horse, had hoped that Prof Raisman's work would bring a breakthrough, and they had planned to meet shortly before Reeve died.

No sabemos cuánto tardará en funcionar, pero sin duda es una nueva muestra de que sin la ciencia es imposible evolucionar (esto por hilar gordo con anteriores entradas de este blog).

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