Medical researchers in the United Kingdom have reportedly developed a way to create artificial nerves from fatty stem cells to replace the damaged nerves in injured limbs and organs.

That is great news for patients suffering from many kinds of nerve damage. Eventually it could lead to reversal of spinal cord damage, allowing paraplegics and quadraplegics full use of their limbs again. Meanwhile, it will be several years before the new procedures are approved for use on humans. It may be several more years before the treatments are available in most of the United States and other parts of the world.

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In recent years medical researchers discovered that small children and preteens can regrow severed fingertips (below the first joint) if the injured fingers are loosely bandaged without reconstructive surgery.

Adults, however, were out of luck. According to the Wall Street Journal there is now some hope for adults because of new medical research being done on Iraq War veterans at a military base in Texas.

The thyroid is a tiny gland with a big effect on your metabolism. Age, pregnancy, or other conditions can cause it to malfunction, and you may not know it unless you have a simple blood test.

If the thyroid doesn’t make enough of the thyroid hormone that governs metabolism, you may feel weak, tired and cold, and it seems that you gain weight no matter what you do. If your thyroid is overactive, you feel hyper, jumpy, and hot, and you tend to lose weight easily. That may sound great to some people, but is unpleasant for those who suffer from it.

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Stroke victims are often paralyzed for life. Until recently they were told that nerves cannot be regrown. Now a neurologist has found a way to turn off an enzyme called nogo that prevents nerve regrowth in adults. The treatment works with rats and is expected to work with humans, too.

This is in addition to the post I wrote a couple of weeks ago, that progesterone administered quickly after a brain injury or stroke dramatically improves recovery.

Though the nogo treatment is also still a few years away from approval for widespread use in humans, this discovery is big news for stroke victims and those who are at risk for stroke.

For more information, watch this video:

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If you have ever studied yoga, you know that it is an ancient technology of mind and body. Certain postures are said to realign or stimulate internal organs. And that’s not all.

Adept yoga practioners can stop arterial bleeding if they are wounded. They can hold their breath underwater far past the time when anyone else would have drowned. And their bodies remain agile, flexible and strong well into old age.

Now there is medical evidence that practicing yoga can help control chronic pain. That is great news for those many people who are unwilling or unable to take strong pain medication.

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You’ve probably heard or read that eating less can help you live longer. I had, too, but never with a good explanation of just why that would be. It turns out that medical researchers didn’t really know why, but now they think they do.

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