Micro Implants could Restore Standing and Walking

Biomedical engineering researcher Vivian Mushahwar is developing spinal implants that could one day restore the ability to stand and walk in patients with paralysis. (Photo: Ross Neitz)

When Vivian Mushahwar first applied to grad school, she wrote about her idea to fix paralysis by rewiring the spinal cord. It was only after she was accepted into a bioengineering program that the young electrical engineer learned her idea had actually prompted laughter. “I figured, hey I can fix it, it’s just wires,” Mushahwar said. “Yeah, well, it’s not just wires. So I had to learn the biology along the way.”

It’s taken Mushahwar a lot of work over two decades at the University of Alberta, but the Canada Research Chair in Functional Restoration is still fixated on the dream of helping people wal...

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Hidden Giant Planet revealed around Tiny White Dwarf Star

Artist’s impression of the giant planet and white dwarf. Credit: University of Warwick/Mark Garlick

The first evidence of a giant planet orbiting a dead white dwarf star has been found in the form of a disc of gas formed from its evaporating atmosphere.

The Neptune-like planet orbits a star a quarter of its size about once every ten days, leaving a comet-like tail of gas comprised of hydrogen, oxygen and sulphur in its wake.

The discovery by astronomers from the University of Warwick’s Department of Physics and the Millennium Nucleus for Planet Formation (NPF) at the University of Valparaíso is published today (4 December) in the journal Nature...

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Migraine Headaches? Consider Aspirin for Treatment and Prevention

Aspirin, Migraines, Review, Prevention, Treatment, Clinicians, Study, Review, Recurrent Attacks
Aspirin is readily available without a prescription, is inexpensive, and based on the review by FAU researchers and collaborators, was shown to be effective in many migraine patients when compared with alternative more expensive therapies

Evidence from 13 randomized trials of the treatment of migraine in 4,222 patients and tens of thousands of patients in prevention of recurrent attacks supports the use of high dose aspirin from 900 to 1,300 milligrams to treat acute migraine as well as low dose daily aspirin from 81 to 325 milligrams to prevent recurrent attacks. Aspirin is available without a prescription, is inexpensive, and has a relatively favorable side-effect profile compared to alternative more expensive medications.

Migraine headache is the third most common disease in th...

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Bending an Organic Semiconductor can Boost Electrical Flow

Organic transistors based on single crystals of rubrene, a hydrocarbon, can roughly double the speed of electricity flowing through them when a crystal is slightly bent (strained). This useful behavior cannot be easily achieved with traditional semiconductors made, for example, of silicon. Molecules of rubrene are arranged in a herringbone pattern (upper left), forming highly ordered semiconducting molecular crystals that can be used to create rigid (upper right) or flexible (lower left) high-performance organic transistors, based on thick or ultra-thin single crystals, respectively. An example of a freestanding rubrene transistor is shown on a finger tip (lower right).
Image: Vitaly Podzorov/Rutgers University-New Brunswick

Slightly bending semiconductors made of organic materials ca...

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