Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

New Treatment Helps Cure Spinal Injuries

Posted by michael on from the twisted-stomach-still-a-problem dept.

wap writes "Researchers have found that an injection of polyethylene glycol (PEG) into the site of neural injury was very effective in saving neurons in dogs, allowing them to recover their movement after the injury. This is an amazing development. PEG is a simple, safe chemical. Using it as a post-injury treatment could prevent paralysis in thousands of accident victims every year, if hospitals start using it. This doesn't mean we don't need stem cell research, but it is a simple and potentially cheap way to get many of the benefits for spinal injury."

12 of 193 comments (clear)

  1. Yes, but... by k4_pacific · · Score: 4, Funny

    Yes, but, does it work if you are paralyzed from the neck up?

    --
    Unknown host pong.
    1. Re:Yes, but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      Only if you're over 65 and you live in Korea...

  2. with advancement comes obsolescence... by viva_fourier · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...and we now sadly bid adieu to the doggy hind-leg cart.

    --
    and now back to the fallout shelter...
  3. Re:Safe? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    I wasn't aware that PEG was safe.

    It isn't! I knew this one guy who had a hot girlfriend. And she was really into pegging. My buddy was squimish about it, of course, but she was treatening to dump him and find someone who'd let her do it. Anyhow, she just rode him silly. He was so torn up that he had to go to the Emergency Room that night and tell them what happened! Man, talk about embarrasing! I would never let my girlfriend ... what? Oh. I thought we were talking about something else. Nevermind.

  4. Re:Safe? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Is that the same stuff that is in Dr. Pepper.

  5. wiener dogs make another contribution to mankind.. by dvd_tude · · Score: 4, Funny

    ... besides eating and burrowing under the covers in one's bed.

    (I'd wish they had tried this on my Roxy when she blew a disk a couple of years back.)

  6. Too late for the last election but ...... by Dark+Bard · · Score: 1, Funny

    the conservation right is very interested. This condition has reached pandemic proportions among their ranks. Maybe this treatment can avoid the ethical delemia that has left so many right wingers untreated.

  7. This is what happens when I read /. at midnight by deathazre · · Score: 5, Funny

    confused polyethylene glycol with ethylene glycol and wondered what they were doing injecting antifreeze into dogs (and wouldn't it be easier to put it in their water dish?)

    --
    Karma: Negative (Mostly affected by dorm trolling)
  8. Times have changed by Bill_Royle · · Score: 3, Funny

    Does that mean we'll have to refer to these recovered dogs as PEG-legs?

  9. I don't understand by jborho · · Score: 1, Funny

    "This doesn't mean we don't need stem cell research, but it is a simple and potentially cheap way to get many of the benefits for spinal injury."

    What exactly are the benifits of a spinal injury? A

    --
    http://www.freeiPods.com/default.aspx?referer=1123 0619
  10. yeah but can it do anything useful? by commodoresloat · · Score: 2, Funny

    The important question is, if you mix some of this stuff with LSD and put it in a squirtgun and go around squirting people, will they hallucinate?

  11. Re:Safe? by Psychofreak · · Score: 2, Funny

    Maybe, but I think you are thinking of propolyne glycol. It is an alternative to Ethylene Glycol as an antifreese agent.

    --
    Laugh, it's good for you!