The Dog and Cat Wing: Hospital Sets Up a Scanner Center for Pets
A hospital looks to the four-legged to pad its bottom line while improving care for our furry companions
January 20, 2015 |By Dina Fine Maron


A dog patient relaxes near a MRI machine.
Credit: Rebecca Krimins

BALTIMORE—Down the hall from the hospital waiting room where patients await their turn to get medical scans, a middle-aged patient was undergoing an MRI of her lower back. That she had arrived at the hospital in a cage is only the first clue this was no ordinary MRI procedure. There’s the pulse-reading clip normally affixed to a finger that instead was clamped to her tongue. And the disposable bubble wrap tucked under her front paws to keep her warm.

Having our furry friends like eight-year-old Glacier, a Boxer, undergo a pricey medical scan may come as no surprise to devoted pet owners. But with few exceptions most veterinary centers lack the expensive scanners, so four-legged patients must use the ones originally meant for two-legged ones. The new animal medical-imaging center at The Johns Hopkins Hospital ...

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Paralyzed Rats Walk Again with Flexible Spinal Implant
Elastic material bridges gaps, relays nerve impulses, in damaged spinal cords
January 20, 2015 |By Josh Fischman


The e-dura soft spinal impant helps transmit nerve impulses.
Courtesy EPFL

A rubbery ribbon of silicone, laced with cracked bits of gold that transmit nerve signals, has been spliced into the broken spinal cords of paralyzed rats, restoring their ability to move. The implant may be the first step towards helping paralyzed people in the same way.

Injuries that cause paralysis are like cuts in a telephone cable. Signals that start in the brain are supposed to travel down nerves in the spinal cord to muscles, but breaks in the nerves interrupt them. Patching the breaks with new wires, jumping over the cut in the phone line, should restore communication.

But it is an unfortunate paradox that, in people who cannot move, their spines still can. The nerves stretch and bend. Rigid wires implanted next to them rub them raw, creating scars ...

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