MbShea@PWP@English@UMCP

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is an incredibly common and, often, severely debilitating affliction. As an extreme example, the Reeve foundation in a 2013 study found that approximately one in fifty Americans is currently living with paralysis. Despite this, the prognosis for SCI has been quite bleak for many years, with palliative options being the only ones on the table for the most part. The corticospinal tract (CST), a major descending tract in mammals and the most important for voluntary movement in humans, has been at the bottom of the barrel of successful regeneration throughout. Recently however, more and more studies have been rolling in positive results using various methods for regeneration of spinal cord tracts, including the CST. These methods include wildly different procedures such as progenitor cell grafts, cell infused and cell-less scaffolds, and glial injection/infusion using the power of the inflammatory response. These different methods have been tested to varying degrees in rats and mice, with some already at the level of clinical trials. Each method comes with a unique set of strengths and weaknesses, with combinations of methods also providing promising results in rodents. While SCI will surely remain a frightening and fragile injury, there is plenty of space on the near-horizon for the impact to be greatly reduced and function to be restored to even the most stubborn of tracts.

WC: 224

Reader’s Profile: I imagine a reader skeptical that the current research is at a level anywhere near ready for clinical application, and that the results are not strong enough to claim this.

Reader’s Response: While I agree that plenty of recent research has been focused on the regeneration of central nervous system connections, there just isn’t convincing enough evidence yet that any of this might apply to humans. While “success” has been observed in non-human mammals, we have seen before how this doesn’t always translate to success in humans, and how some results may not be reproducible. While I have much hope for future success in this area of research, I think it’s a little hasty to claim that this body of research is sufficient to raise hopes about near-future treatments for SCI-related disability.

M, good set up for your medical school seminar paper. Formal APA citation is best for you.

You can address the uncertainty in the last paragraph. Just a sentence or two.

Any ABT statement?