Prof James said end-stage prostate cancer attacks the bones and could lead to spinal cord compression and paralysis.

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Transverse myelitis affects the spinal cord and causes paralysis and numbness in the limbs leaving many victims with severe disabilities, while others can make a complete or partial recovery within two years.

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Diving into shallow water could result in paralysis from a spinal injury.

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The work paves the way for stem cells that particularly match the genes of injured patients to be used to treat ailments ranging from diabetes to paralysis due to spinal cord injury.

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The doctors said it wasn't yet known if the spinal column injury had caused any paralysis.

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In 1952 Jonas Salk (1914-1995) and Albert Sabin (1906-1993) raced to come up with a vaccine for poliomyelitis--a virus that causes inflammation of nerve cells in the spinal cord, which can cause paralysis, atrophy of the skeletal muscles and death.

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So spinal damage, a common cause of paralysis, does not affect these nerves.

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Spinal injuries are rare but can have devastating consequences, such as permanent paralysis.

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Takeshita Noboru is hospitalized for treatment of spondylitis deformans, a spinal deformation caused by aging which puts pressure on the nervous system and causes back pain and paralysis in the limbs.

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