Dear Spinal Cord reader,

The International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) launched a new website recently for patients considering stem cell treatments (please see the link below). An article in Science (link also given below) stated that ‘the society has been speaking out for several years against purveyors of dubious therapies that have little or no scientific basis. Now they are going a step further. This month, the society launched a new website for patients considering such treatments, which clinics around the world claim can treat dozens of conditions from paralysis to lupus. Clinics that don't meet minimum standards for independent patient safety oversight will soon appear on a black list, warning potential patients away.’

Also the European Spinal Cord Injury Federation have set up a small working group whose primary goal is to collect and evaluate information about therapies and treatments for spinal cord injuries (SCI), saying: ‘We are horrified by the explosion in ‘stem cell tourism’ and other dubious interventions that ‘prey’ on the vulnerability of (especially) newly injured (or diagnosed) SCI patients. In addition, we would like to promote serious scientific research into functional recovery’. This will be done in collaboration with ISCOS.

In this issue of Spinal Cord we have three review articles.

Pouw et al. discuss diagnostic criteria of traumatic central cord syndrome and in an associated original article van Middendorp et al. describe what came out of a survey of spinal specialists on the diagnostic criteria.

Ditunno's review deals with the evolution of outcome measures in clinical trials of neurological/functional recovery in SCI.

Emmanuel reviews the efficacy and safety of transanal irrigation for neurogenic bowel dysfunction.

Several original articles deal with important questions: satisfaction with participation for those using a manual wheelchair (Rushton et al.); bladder dysfunction in spinal tuberculosis (Kalita et al.); a falls concern scale (Boswell-Ruys et al.); and surgical treatment of post-traumatic syringomyelia (Ushewokunze et al.).

Horiuchi et al. investigated the reduction of hyperalgesia with adenosine A1 receptor agonists in a rat model.

Ho et al. present a case report of autonomic dysreflexia and myocardial ischemia.

Frisbie sent a letter concerning physical therapy versus heparin for the prevention of deep venous thrombosis.

Enjoy reading.

ISSCR's new website: A closer look at stem cell treatments.

http://www.closerlookatstemcells.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Home&Template=/Templaaates/TemplateHomepage/UnprovenTherapies_1510_20100323T144422_LayoutHomePage.

Article in Science

http://news.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2010/06/stopping-stem-cell-snake-oil.html