Tuesday, July 22, 2014
Surgeon joins staff
SHARON, PA.
Board certified general surgeon, Dr. Mark Roth, recently joined the medical staff of Sharon Regional Health System. He is associated with general surgeon specialists Drs. Ravi Sachdeva, Gene Marcelli, and Sheetal Nijhawan.
Dr. Roth specializes in general, breast, and cancer surgery; laparoscopic surgery including ventral and inguinal hernias, abdominal wall hernias, and colon resections; colonoscopy and gastroscopy; and wound care.
He is certified by the American Board of Surgery, a fellow of the American College of Surgeons and a member of the American Society of Breast Surgeons. Dr. Roth received his medical education from the Medical College of Pennsylvania and completed a general surgical residency at Western Pennsylvania Hospital in Pittsburgh.
Breakthrough in paralysis treatment
COLUMBUS
For the first time, a paralyzed man can move his fingers and hand with his own thoughts thanks to an innovative partnership between The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and Battelle.
Ian Burkhart, a 23-year-old quadriplegic from Dublin, Ohio, is the first patient to use Neurobridge, an electronic neural bypass for spinal-cord injuries that reconnects the brain directly to muscles, allowing voluntary and functional control of a paralyzed limb. Burkhart, paralyzed four years ago during a diving accident, is the first of a potential five participants in a clinical study.
The Neurobridge technology combines algorithms that learn and decode the user’s brain activity and a high-definition muscle stimulation sleeve that translates neural impulses from the brain and transmits new signals to the paralyzed limb. In this case, Ian’s brain signals bypass his injured spinal cord and move his hand, hence the name Neurobridge.
Applicant deadline
YOUNGSTOWN
Friday is the deadline to file applications for grants from The Hope Foundation of the Mahoning Valley. The nonprofit Hope Foundation’s mission is the furtherance of charitable and financial support and volunteer services to and for chronically/terminally ill children.
This foundation will support, but is not limited to, providing grants and dedicating its resources to the education, research and/or charitable centers that provide services for chronically/terminally ill children. The maximum grant that can be awarded to an organization is $5,000. Information can be found on the Hope Foundation website at www.hopemv.org.
Promising care for marrow transplants
ST. LOUIS, MO.
Use of a lower intensity bone-marrow transplantation method showed promising results among 30 patients, 16 to 65, with severe sickle-cell disease, according to a study in the July 2 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association.
Myeloablative (the use of high-dose chemotherapy or radiation) allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (receipt of hematopoietic stem cells “bone marrow” from another individual) is curative for children with severe sickle- cell disease, but associated toxicity has made the procedure prohibitive for adults.
However, the development of nonmyeloablative conditioning regimens (use of lower doses of chemotherapy or radiation to prepare the bone marrow to receive new cells) may facilitate safer application of allogeneic HSCT to eligible adults, according to the article.