> At 12:42 PM 7/16/97 +0100, you wrote:
> Actually that's all dependant on the age and type of neuron involved.
The only nervous system cells that seem to self repair are stem cells from
zygotic tissues. These have been used to treat spinal injuries, brain damage
to alzheimers patients, etc. The ethical delemna of course creates questions
that Larry Niven brought up in his story "Message from Earth" and his other
works where different excuses were employed to use human organs, etc to keep
the elite alive and well.
> The only nervous system cells that seem to self repair are stem
and
> his other works where different excuses were employed to use human
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I seem to remember seeing on Quantum (Australia's
T.V. science program) that some researchers in the U.K. (?) had managed to get
peripheral motor neurons to reproduce in vitro but were yet to reproduce the
results in a living biological system. This was about
12-18 months ago and I am pretty vague on the whole thing, but at the
time was pretty impressed. Getting any biological matter to reproduce when it
shouldn't is pretty amazing.
Of course I could be wrong! I have been before.:)
> Phillip E. Pournelle wrote:
> The only nervous system cells that seem to self repair are
Ummm.. yes and no. Any neural net is constantly changing biases and
connections while it's learning. This means that if relatively mild trauma is
induced, it is possible to get some degree of function back under some
circumstances.
For example, in 1981 I had E-II viral Encephalo-Meningitis. I was one of
4 survivors of that particular pandemic in Australia. All had neural damage to
some degree. I lost complete sensitivity in all my extremities, plus some
major damage to reflexes in my legs, and slight aphasia due to damage in the
speech section of the brain.
Not fun.
I had to go through the same routine as Hansen's disease victims, doing a
visual scan on my hands and feet for damage. I had to be extremely careful
when cooking, as I could easily (and once did) leave my hand on a hotplate.
The smell brought it to my attention before really bad damage occurred. It
was, however, both frightening and upsetting.
However... over 10 years or so, some degree of function has returned. I
> Phillip E. Pournelle wrote:
I read somewhere a ways back (one of those science mags...), that there is a
parrot (songbird? something with feathers...) that can rebuild it's brain. It
has an unusual brain DNA chain, and researchers said that in humans, we have
the SAME DNA chain...except it is turned off...