The study’s conclusion is important for two reasons. First, folic acid benefits women of all ages, races and additional health factors. Second, premature birth is a substantial risk factor for birth injuries and complications like cerebral palsy, blindness, mental retardation and chronic lung disease.

Reducing these devastating injuries will not only reduce human disability but also the economic costs of caring for the disabled.

This recent study supports what doctors have been telling women for years – that they should injest 400 micrograms of folic acid every day if they are able to become pregnant. Doctors have known for quite a while that increased folic acid intake before pregnancy and during the first trimester can substantially reduce the risk of serious birth defects of the brain and spinal cord.

The study, published in the journal PLOS Medicine looked at 38,033 participants.

The robots reduce physical impairment by stimulating neurological development. By guiding a user’s limb when they initiate movement, the robots “teach” the children to move differently. That new movement done repeatedly then stimulates neurological development as the child’s brain and nerves learn to move differently.

The technology has been targeted for use with children because their neurological connections are much more malleable than adults’. Thus they will experience much more neurological development in response to the robot treatment than adults.

The robots work with shoulder, elbow, wrist and hand movements as well as ankle movement. The next step MIT wants to take is to allow the robots to assist users with improving their grip

The technology was originally developed to treat stroke patients and was adapted for use with cerebral palsy sufferers. One in 278 children have cerebral palsy.

The Limbs Alive project won a top award recently for its study of specially designed Wii games for cerebral palsy children. Researchers hope their result will spur more computer scientists to develop similar games.

The games are not as fast or as complex as traditional Wii games and requires players to use both controllers in both hands. That encourages improved coordination and muscle control in the child’s weaker hand as well.

In addition, children are more motivated to engage in their therapy if it takes the form of a Wii game.

The games tested in the study were customized to each child’s impairment after a complete interview and evaluation. They then took the Wii games home with them and used them there.

The next step for the Limbs Alive program is to conduct a random, double blind study to determine if these specially deseigned games improve function of the affected arm in children with hemiplegic cerebral palsy following neonatal stroke.

The two toddlers will travel the more than 6,000 miles to China to undergo treatments using stem-cells obtained from donated umbilical-cord blood.

The treatment is still experimental but the stakes are high. Without improvement, the toddlers will likely never walk or grasp objects.

President Barack Obama favors looser restrictions on stem-cell research and is currently moving in that direction. However, it will likely take years for American scientist to match the progress seen overseas and the children’s parents don’t want to wait that long.

Stem-cells posses the ability to become almost any type of cell, including nerve tissue cells. Embryonic stem-cells can become a wider range of cells than cord-blood stem-cells, but the hope is that the stem-cells introduced into the children will grow into new nerve tissue cells and will repair some of the damage that causes the children’s cerebral palsy.

Cerebral palsy generally occurs from damage to the brain in the womb or early infancy. It can affect coordination and muscle movement.

New studies show that cerebral palsy Botox treatments have serious side effects even up to three weeks after the treatment. If your child is experiencing difficulty breathing, difficulty swallowing, muscular weakness, drooping eyelids, constipation, aspiration pneumonia, speech disorder, facial drooping, or double vision, seek immediate emergency medical attention.

This new warning is an update to a 2008 safety review of cerebral palsy Botox treatments and will be included on the label and patient information packet going forward.

Although the FDA never approved Botox for cerebral palsy pediatric patients, it is a very commonly used and widely accepted treatment  across the country. Cerebral palsy Botox treatments involve the injection of large amounts of Botox deep into spastic muscles for the purpose of relaxing them.

The problem noted in the new study is that the Botox spreads well beyond the spastic muscles and has drastic side effects. The most serious side effects include hospitalizations involving ventilatory support and death.

The FDA also requests that all side effects be reported through MedWatch Every report helps the next child.

Four-year-old Henry Ford underwent selective dorsal rhizotomy surgery on March 31, 2009 to sever problem causing nerves in his spinal cord. The procedure permanently reduces muscle spasticity.

Ford suffered a birth injury that resulted in cerebral palsy leaving him unable to walk. He began displaying symptoms just after birth mostly in his leg muscles, which became stiff and immobile. As he grew, it became painful to use his legs.

Now, Ford is able to walk with the help of a walker and can crawl up onto his couch and kick.