SMA weakens muscles by killing off motor neurons in the spine. The first motor neurons to go are typically those controlling muscles in the shoulders, back, hips and thighs. The most severe form of ...

This image from video provided by UPMC and University of Pittsburgh Health Sciences shows Doug McCullough, who has spinal muscular atrophy, during tests of experimental spinal cord stimulation to ...

Daily electrical stimulation of certain nerves in the spinal cord appeared to help three people with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), an inherited disorder that causes muscles to waste away. The ...

WASHINGTON — Three people with a muscle-destroying disease destined to worsen got a little stronger – able to stand and walk more easily – when an implanted device zapped their spinal cord. On ...

Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is an inherited disease that attacks motor neurons, the nerve cells that control our muscles. SMA hits children and adults. Children inherit the gene for SMA from both ...

Living in space can take its toll on an astronaut’s back, causing the muscles within the spine to weaken over time, a new study confirms. In microgravity, these muscles are prone to atrophy, and that ...

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