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News tagged with amputation

Overturning 250 years of scientific theory: Age, repeated injury do not affect newt regeneration

(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists have been wrong for 250 years about a fundamental aspect of tissue regeneration, according to a University of Dayton biologist who says his recent discovery is good news for humans.

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Jul 12, 2011 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (14) | comments 5 | with audio podcast

How injured nerves grow themselves back

Unlike nerves of the spinal cord, the peripheral nerves that connect our limbs and organs to the central nervous system have an astonishing ability to regenerate themselves after injury. Now, a new report in the October 1st ...

Medicine & Health / Medical research

created Sep 27, 2010 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (10) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Unraveling the mechanisms behind organ regeneration in zebrafish

The search for the holy grail of regenerative medicine -- the ability to "grow back" a perfect body part when one is lost to injury or disease -- has been under way for years, yet the steps involved in this ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Nov 02, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 1

Zebrafish regrow fins using multiple cell types, not identical stem cells

What does it take to regenerate a limb? Biologists have long thought that organ regeneration in animals like zebrafish and salamanders involved stem cells that can generate any tissue in the body. But new ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created May 16, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Ancient gene gives planarians a heads-up in regeneration

A seldom-studied gene known as notum plays a key role in the planarian's regeneration decision-making process, according to Whitehead Institute scientists. Protein from this gene determines whether a head or tail will regrow ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created May 12, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

New contrast agents detect bacterial infections with high sensitivity and specificity

A new family of contrast agents that sneak into bacteria disguised as glucose food can detect bacterial infections in animals with high sensitivity and specificity. These agents -- called maltodextrin-based ...

Chemistry / Materials Science

created Jul 18, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Body builders -- the worms that point the way to understanding tissue regeneration

(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists at The University of Nottingham have discovered the gene that enables an extraordinary worm to regenerate its own body parts after amputation -- including a whole head and brain.

Biology / Biotechnology

created Apr 23, 2010 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (8) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Figuring out the heads or tails decision in regeneration

Amputations trigger a molecular response that determines if a head or tail will be regrown in planaria, a flatworm commonly studied for its regenerative capabilities. Until now, no molecular connection between wounding and ...

Medicine & Health / Medical research

created Sep 14, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

Body's own veins provide superior material for aortic grafts

A vascular surgical technique pioneered at UT Southwestern Medical Center and designed to replace infected aortic grafts with the body's own veins has proved more durable and less prone to new infection than similar procedures ...

Medicine & Health / Medical research

created Dec 30, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Study shows how gene action may lead to diabetes prevention, cure

A gene commonly studied by cancer researchers has been linked to the metabolic inflammation that leads to diabetes.

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Dec 11, 2009 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (7) | comments 2

Researchers to implant pig cells in diabetics

(AP) -- A New Zealand biotech company began a trial Thursday that will implant cells from newborn pigs into eight human volunteers as an experimental treatment for their diabetes.

Medicine & Health / Medical research

created Jul 23, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Study explains how exercise helps patients with peripheral artery disease

Peripheral artery disease (PAD) affects 5 million individuals in the U.S. and is the leading cause of limb amputations. Doctors have long considered exercise to be the single best therapy for PAD, and now a new study helps ...

Medicine & Health / Medical research

created Dec 03, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 2

In double transplant, left hand works first

(AP) -- When patients had both hands transplanted, their brains re-established connections much more quickly with the left hand than the right, a team of researchers in France reports.

Medicine & Health / Medical research

created Apr 07, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

New technology could stamp out bacteria in persistent wounds

(PhysOrg.com) -- Using an advanced form of a rubber stamp, researchers have developed a way to adhere an ultra-thin antibacterial coating to a wound.

Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine

created Apr 05, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 1

Calif. woman shows off newly transplanted hand

(AP) -- For the first time in five years, Emily Fennell has two hands.

Medicine & Health / Other

created Apr 19, 2011 | popularity 3 / 5 (2) | comments 0

Amputation

Amputation is the removal of a body extremity by trauma, prolonged constriction, or surgery. As a surgical measure, it is used to control pain or a disease process in the affected limb, such as malignancy or gangrene. In some cases, it is carried out on individuals as a preventative surgery for such problems. A special case is the congenital amputation, a congenital disorder, where fetal limbs have been cut off by constrictive bands. In some countries, amputation of the hands or feet is or was used as a form of punishment for people who committed crimes. Amputation has also been used as a tactic in war and acts of terrorism; it may also occur as a war injury. In some cultures and religions, minor amputations or mutilations are considered a ritual accomplishment. Unlike some non-mammalian animals (such as lizards that shed their tails, salamanders that can regrow many missing body parts, and hydras, flatworms, and starfish that can regrow entire bodies from small fragments), once removed, human extremities do not grow back, unlike portions of some organs, such as the liver. A transplant or a prosthesis are the only options for recovering the loss.

In the US, the majority of new amputations occur due to complications of the vascular system (of or pertaining to the blood vessels), especially from diabetes. Between 1988 and 1996, there was an average of 133,735 hospital discharges for amputation per year in the US. .

For more information about Amputation, read the full article at Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.