A solar-powered airplane finished crossing the United States on Saturday, landing in New York City after flying over the Statue of Liberty during its historic bid to circle the globe, the project team said. The spindly, single-seat experimental aircraft, dubbed Solar Impulse 2, arrived at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport at about 4 a.m. local time after it took off about five hours beforehand at Lehigh Valley International Airport in Pennsylvania, the team reported on the airplane's website. Such a pleasure to land in New York! For the 14th time we celebrate sustainability," said the project's co-founder Andre Borschberg on Twitter after flying over the city and the Statue of Liberty during the 14th leg of the trip around the globe. The Swiss team flying the aircraft in a campaign to build support for clean energy technologies hopes eventually to complete its circumnavigation in Abu Dhabi, where the journey began in March 2015. The solar cr...
In 2014, surgeons in Poland announced they had reversed Darek Fidyka's paralysis using cells taken from his nose to repair his spinal cord. The former fireman says he has noticed a gradual return of feeling and muscle control below his injury. The surgical team are now launching a search for two more paralysed patients who they will try to help walk again. Mr Fidyka told me: "I can tell that sensation is coming back and I am getting stronger. A year ago I would not have been able to ride a tricycle. Now I can feel each muscle and each press of the foot on the pedals."The medical team are now launching the worldwide search as they are looking for patients with an uncommon type of injury, where the spinal cord has been completely severed, which can happen after a knife injury.
The head of the project, surgeon Dr Pawel Tabakow said: "If we can bridge the gap between two spinal cord stumps then there will be no doubt that our technique works and this will be historic - if we succeed we will have found a cure for paralysis.
"Then we will be able to help other patients with the most common type of injury, caused by a crush or compression."The Wroclaw Walk Again Project will be conducted in Poland, but patients anywhere in the world aged 16-65 will be able to apply via the team's website, which will be officially launched on 8th March in Wroclaw. All the treatment will be free, but to be eligible patients must have no feeling or voluntary muscle function below the injury and they must be prepared to spend around three years in Poland.
They will undergo extensive physiotherapy before and especially after the transplant surgery. The medical team are expecting to be inundated with applications in the months ahead. They will make an initial shortlist based on patient scans and medical notes and then invite a few potential volunteers for assessment in Poland.
Those selected will undergo the same pioneering surgery that was performed on Darek Fidyka which was published in Cell Transplantation.
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