People with spinal muscle atrophy (SMA), an inherited neuromuscular disease, usually experience muscle weakness that impacts movement.

New research suggests that electrical spinal cord stimulation could improve muscle function for these patients, even restoring the capability to walk.

In studies at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, sessions of spinal cord stimulation were shown to restore motor neuron activity and improve muscle strength in the legs for patients with SMA.

The findings were published in Nature Medicine on Feb. 5.

SPINAL CORD TREATMENT RESTORES FUNCTION FOR PARALYZED PATIENTS IN STUDY: ‘NEW HOPE’

“The patients all had a rare disease that destroys neurons in the spinal cord (much like polio) due to a genetic disorder from birth,” Dr. Peter Konrad, chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery at WVU Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute in West Virginia, told Fox News Digital. (Konrad was not involved in the study.)

“The disease weakens the legs and ability to walk … causing a form of slow paralysis. Stimulation of the input to the remaining neurons was thought to improve strength and stamina in patients treated this way.”

Study co-author Marco Capogrosso, assistant professor of neurological surgery at Pitt School of Medicine, said that two things need to happen to counteract neurodegeneration: neuron death must be stopped and the function of surviving neurons must be restored.

“There has been no major breakthrough in curing this disease, and so treatment is still focused on helping improve their quality of life.”

“In this study, we proposed an approach to treat the root cause of neural dysfunction, complementing existing neuroprotective treatments with a new approach that reverses nerve cell dysfunction,” Capogrosso said in a press release.

Three people with SMA participated in the study. For one month, they received spinal cord stimulation five times a week for four hours each. At the end of the trial period, they all experienced “improved motoneuron function, reduced fatigue and improved strength and walking in all participants,” the release stated.

Research participant Doug McCullough uses a bodyweight support system to walk during a testing session at the University of Pittsburgh. (Nate Langer, UPMC and University of Pittsburgh Health Sciences)

“The three patients saw an average of 40% improvement in step length, up to 180% improvement in strength, and 26-minute improvement in walking time,” said Konrad, based on his review of the study.

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“That’s a big deal for patients with this condition, who depend on assistive devices to move about with little stamina.”

One of the participants, Doug McCullough, was experiencing advanced symptoms and had difficulty walking.

NEW BRAIN THERAPY ALLOWS PARALYZED PATIENTS TO WALK AGAIN: ‘I FEEL MY LEGS’

“Because my hip flexors are so weak, I basically have this waddling gait where my hips sway back and forth and I swing my legs out to the side because I can’t pick them straight up,” he said in the release. “You could clearly see from the video that my walk was improved and that I was walking faster. I had a little more natural gait. It still wasn’t completely normal, but it was better than what it was before the study.” 

Researchers Genis Prat Ortega (left) and Serena Donadio (right) with the research participant Doug McCullough (center) during a testing session at the University of Pittsburgh. (Nate Langer, UPMC and University of Pittsburgh Health Sciences)

Although SMA is a progressive disease that worsens over time, the patients in the study had noticeable improvements, according to study co-author Elvira Pirondini, assistant professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation at Pitt School of Medicine.

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“Over the four weeks of treatment, our study participants improved in several clinical outcomes, with improvements in activities of daily living,” she said in the release. 

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“For instance, toward the end of the study, one patient reported being able to walk from their home to the lab without becoming tired.”

The study is a “proof of concept” that gives hope to people with this type of genetic disability, according to Konrad.

“Toward the end of the study, one patient reported being able to walk from their home to the lab without becoming tired.”

“There has been no major breakthrough in curing this disease, and so treatment is still focused on helping improve their quality of life,” he told Fox News Digital. 

“It also shows that devices such as spinal cord stimulation and other types of neuromodulation are a safe and effective method to treat paralysis when there is little to offer in the form of medications or gene therapy.”

Graduate student Scott Ensel (left) assists research participant Doug McCullough during a testing session at the University of Pittsburgh. (Nate Langer, UPMC and University of Pittsburgh Health Sciences)

Looking ahead, the team plans to continue research with other SMA patients in a new clinical trial to test the treatment’s safety and efficacy.

In the future, they hope to apply this therapy to other neurodegenerative diseases, such as ALS or Huntington’s disease.

A mother is speaking out after she says her 12-year-old daughter was denied a place on the heart transplant list at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital because of her vaccination status.

Brayton and Jeneen Deal, who adopted Adaline from China, said she was born with two heart conditions that will now require a transplant.

When the Deals were in the process of adopting Adaline, the adoption agency told them to pick another child because “her heart was so bad, she wasn’t going to make it,” they wrote in a GoFundMe campaign.

“We continued to support Adaline so she could stay in a foster home, but shortly after we arrived home with our other adopted child, the agency stopped taking the funds out of our account,” they wrote. “So, we thought she had passed away.”

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After starting the process a second time to adopt from China, the Deals saw Adaline was still in the system.

They brought her home, where they said she excelled – despite her medical challenges. 

Adaline Deal, 12, was allegedly denied a spot on the heart transplant list over concerns about her vaccination status. (Photo courtesy of Jeneen Deal)

However, Jeneen Deal said her health has started to decline over the last few months.

“Since we brought her home, she’s been in and out of the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital,” the family wrote. “She has grown so much that now her heart can’t sustain her. She is now to the point where she will be needing a heart transplant.”

Stephanie Stock, president of Ohio Advocates for Medical Freedom, posted a video to Facebook speaking with Jeneen Deal about why Adaline is not yet on the list.

“The doctors at Cincinnati Children’s were talking with us and told us that one of the requirements [for being] put on the list is to have the COVID vaccination and the flu vaccination,” Deal said. “That is against everything we believe in.”

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The family said they asked for a religious exemption, but the hospital declined – citing its transplant policy.

Stock claimed the hospital’s policy is based on recommendations from the National Institution of Health (NIH), which she described as “discriminatory.”

“I can’t think of anything more horrible than denying a child a heart transplant or a kidney because of their vaccination status,” Stock said.

In an interview with Fox News Digital, Deal said there isn’t much they can do beyond pleading with the hospital.

Adaline Deal, 12, was allegedly denied a spot on the heart transplant list over concerns about her vaccination status. (Photo courtesy of Jeneen Deal)

“We really don’t have many options,” she said. “We’re just hoping that we can change their minds.”

Deal noted the family never experienced an issue with previous treatments.

Since sharing their story, the family said the hospital has received a number of calls advocating for Adaline.

The family claims the hospital has yet to put the denial in writing, and lawyers are not yet involved.

Adaline Deal, 12, has multiple heart conditions, according to her family. (Photo courtesy of Jeneen Deal)

While Adaline is cognitively delayed, her mother said she can tell something is wrong.

“She knows mom is upset, and she knows something’s going on,” Deal said. “She knows her heart is really sick because she doesn’t feel good, and she doesn’t want to go to school or do basic things like taking a shower or play on her iPod… She knows mom is crying a lot, and she’ll say, ‘it’s OK mom’ and pat me on the back.”

Still, they remain faithful.

“I tell her, God’s going to get us through this,” Deal said. “It’s just such a process. I never dreamed it would be this difficult, especially with a religious exemption.”

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Cincinnati Children’s provided a statement to Fox News on Thursday night noting the safety of its protocols.

“At Cincinnati Children’s, clinical decisions are guided by science, research, and best practices,” the hospital wrote. “We tailor care plans to each patient in collaboration with their family to ensure the safest, most effective treatment.”

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A GoFundMe campaign was set up to help raise money for the heart transplant process, according to the family.

More than 133 million Americans (40%) had at least one chronic disease in 2022, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Topping the list of chronic diseases are heart disease, cancer, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and diabetes.

Dr. Aseem Malhotra, a cardiologist and public health campaigner based in London, believes a big part of what’s fueling all those conditions are the foods on Americans’ plates.

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“I think you cannot fix health or health care without fixing the food,” he said during an on-camera interview with Fox News Digital.

Studies have shown that only one in eight Americans has optimal metabolic health, which Malhotra defines as “the state of balance the body maintains between storing fat and burning it for energy.”

What drives metabolic health?

In his bestselling book, “The 21-Day Immunity Plan,” Malhotra writes that metabolic health is measured using five markers.

Those include blood glucose levels, blood pressure, waist circumference, cholesterol profile (the body’s levels of triglycerides, a type of harmful fat found in the blood), and high-density lipoprotein (a beneficial cholesterol-carrying molecule).

‘GOD-INTENDED FOODS’ ARE KEY TO A HEALTHIER AMERICA, EXPERT SAYS

“A person is considered to have metabolic syndrome when they fail to meet three of these optimal values,” he writes. “For example, someone who has high blood pressure, high blood glucose and high triglycerides would be considered to be at the highest risk of experiencing health problems.”

Poor metabolic health is directly linked to the development of heart disease, type 2 diabetes and stroke, Malhotra cautioned.

Improvements can happen within just 21 to 28 days, according to Malhotra — purely from changing dietary habits.  (iStock)

It also puts people at a higher risk of cancer and dementia, as well as complications from infections.

The worst things someone can do for their metabolic health, Malhotra said, is to eat a diet high in ultraprocessed foods, sugar and other low-quality carbohydrates, such as flour-based products, rice and pasta.

More than 133 million Americans (40%) had at least one chronic disease in 2022.

To optimize metabolic health, he recommends eating whole foods, avoiding the aforementioned foods, keeping active and reducing stress through yoga, Pilates, meditation or even regularly hugging close friends and loved ones.

Improvements can happen within just 21 to 28 days, according to Malhotra — purely from changing dietary habits. 

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“That means cutting out ultraprocessed foods and eliminating what we call low-quality carbohydrates — the refined breads, the pastas, rice, potatoes,” he said. “If you eliminate those — I’m not saying forever, but if you do that for four to six weeks, you will actually start to reset your metabolic health.”

“And then, of course, you can have those foods occasionally.”

Topping the list of chronic diseases are heart disease, cancer, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and diabetes. (iStock)

Optimizing metabolic health doesn’t mean people can’t enjoy food, said Malhotra, whose father taught him to cook when he was a teenager.

“I love food like most people — it’s one of the greatest pleasures of life,” he told Fox News Digital. “I cook every day.”

“But I have the resources to be able to afford healthy food as well, which a lot of people don’t have, and that’s a real issue,” he added.

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In his daily diet, Malhotra avoids ultraprocessed foods — but it wasn’t always that way. He refers to himself as a “reformed junk food and sugar addict.”

“I used to eat fast food all the time and lots of sugar,” he shared. “But when I realized it wasn’t good for me, I looked to the research. I converted very quickly and broke that addiction.”

Fighting ultraprocessed foods

Sixty percent of the calorie consumption in the U.S. diet comes from ultraprocessed foods, the doctor pointed out, going on to share his definition.

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“These are industrial formulations made up of five or more ingredients, usually with additives and preservatives, and they basically contain unhealthy oils, sugar. They lack fiber [and have] a lot of refined carbohydrates.”

In Malhotra’s view, ultraprocessed foods have been “designed deliberately” by the food industry to make them “hyper-palatable and probably addictive.”

Sixty percent of the calorie consumption in the U.S. diet comes from ultraprocessed foods, the doctor pointed out. (iStock)

“I think that would be one of the most important things that needs to be tackled — how do we curtail the consumption of ultraprocessed food while simultaneously increasing consumption of whole foods?”

To accomplish this, Malhotra suggested taking lessons from tobacco control, which he believes the U.S. did very well.

“I think you cannot fix health or health care without fixing the food.”

“Public health advocates and scientists called out the manipulations of big tobacco through three processes — targeting the availability, the affordability and the acceptability of cigarettes,” he said. 

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Malhotra recommends applying the same principle to processed foods, which might mean raising the price or using the taxation of those foods to subsidize healthier foods.

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“I also think banning advertising of ultraprocessed foods … would definitely go a long way to curbing that consumption,” he added. 

There is also a need for public health education campaigns to help people understand what ultraprocessed foods are, according to the doctor.

Microplastics were detected in almost every seafood sample found off the coast of the western U.S. in a recent study, researchers claim. 

The study, led by Portland State University (PSU), identified “anthropogenic particles” — which are materials produced or modified by humans — in the edible tissue of six different species of fish. 

Those included black rockfish, lingcod, Chinook salmon, Pacific herring, Pacific lamprey, and pink shrimp, according to a PSU press release.

MICROPLASTICS FOUND IN OVERWHELMING MAJORITY OF AMERICAN MEAT, WATER, PLANTS: STUDY

Specifically, the peer-reviewed study found microplastics — “tiny particles that shed from clothing, packaging and other plastic products” — in 180 out of 182 samples of seafood that were either purchased at a store or obtained from a fishing boat in Oregon, the release stated.

The highest concentration of particles occurred in pink shrimp, and Chinook salmon contained the lowest.

“We found that the smaller organisms that we sampled seem to be ingesting more anthropogenic, non-nutritious particles,” said microplastics researcher and study co-author Elise Granek in the release. 

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“Shrimp and small fish, like herring, are eating smaller food items like zooplankton. Other studies have found high concentrations of plastics in the area in which zooplankton accumulate, and these anthropogenic particles may resemble zooplankton and thus be taken up for animals that feed on zooplankton.”

“What we put out into the environment ends up back on our plates.”

Susanne Brander, an ecotoxicologist and associate professor in Oregon State University’s College of Agricultural Sciences, added, “It’s very concerning that microfibers appear to move from the gut into other tissues such as muscle. This has wide implications for other organisms, potentially including humans.”

The findings were published in the journal Frontiers in Toxicology.

Is it safe to eat seafood?

The study authors do not recommend that people specifically avoid seafood, as microplastics have been widely found in other food products, Granek noted in the release.

“If we are disposing of and utilizing products that release microplastics, those microplastics make their way into the environment, and are taken up by things we eat,” she said. 

Microplastics — “tiny particles that shed from clothing, packaging and other plastic products” — were found in 180 out of 182 samples of seafood. (iStock)

“What we put out into the environment ends up back on our plates.”

The high prevalence of microplastics in the seafood samples does not automatically mean that consuming seafood poses an immediate health risk, according to Bing Wang, PhD, associate professor of food safety risk assessment at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. 

“’Safe’ is a relative term in toxicology,” Wang told Fox News Digital. “Toxicity depends on dose and exposure duration — and currently, we lack a definitive understanding of linkage between the oral intake of microplastics and nanoplastics and the adverse effects in human health.”

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Experts agree that the nutritional benefits of seafood, such as high-quality protein and omega-3 fatty acids, play a crucial role in a healthy diet, according to Wang.

“There is no current evidence to suggest that seafood consumption poses an immediate danger to human health,” she added.

Sources of contamination

For this study in particular, Wang said it’s crucial to recognize that beyond microplastics, nanoplastics are also present in the environment and food supply. 

“Unlike microplastics, which may pass through the digestive system with minimal absorption, nanoplastics are small enough to cross biological barriers, including the intestinal lining, potentially reaching the bloodstream and accumulating in organs,” she cautioned.

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In PSU’s findings, 80% of microplastics detected among the samples were derived from clothing or textile fibers, but there are other sources of contaminants. 

Since the 1960s, plastic production has increased by approximately 8.7% annually, according to Andrew Ortiz, a PhD student in the department of food science and technology at University of Nebraska-Lincoln. 

The study authors do not recommend that people specifically avoid seafood, as microplastics have been widely found in other food products. (iStock)

“Much of the contamination comes from everyday human activities, such as improper disposal of plastic products, littering, and inadequate waste management systems, which lead to plastics entering waterways and eventually reaching the oceans,” Ortiz told Fox News Digital.

Completely avoiding microplastics is challenging, Wang emphasized.

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“They are pervasive in the environment and present in various food sources, not just seafood,” she said.  

“While this study is the first of its kind in the Oregon region, its findings align with global research on microplastic contamination in seafood,” said Wang. “In fact, the levels reported in this study are within the global average.”

“There is no current evidence to suggest that seafood consumption poses an immediate danger to human health.”

“Given that humans already consume microplastics from multiple sources — including water, air and packaged foods — the presence of microplastics in seafood should be considered within this broader context rather than as an isolated risk,” she added.

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The PSU study was funded by Oregon Sea Grant at Oregon State University.