News Summary: Paralysed rats can walk again

Hi to everyone! I guess all of you are busy studying this week, I include myself :S
Anyway, I'm going to tell you something that I think is interesting:

It's known when people suffer spinal cord injuries is unable to walk and they have to live bound to a wheelchair. It's possible they regain their mobility through a rehabilitation programme being developed by scientists; however, they have found that a combination of drugs, muscle stimulation and treadmill exercises can be used to reawaken 'walking circuits' in the spinal cords of paralysed rats! This treatment was suggested by neurologists at the University of Zurich and California.
In normal people, walking circuits send a signal to the brain through the spinal cord, but if this last one is injured, the signal never reaches the brain and the circuits shut down.
A team of scientists used drugs, known as serotonin agonists, in order to awaken the walking circuits in paralysed rats; then they used a tiny electrodes to stimulate its spinal circuitry.
During the study, rats were subjected to a treadmill treatment for 20 minutes/day. Progressively they were regaining the ability to walk. but still reliant on the electrical stimulation.
It's possible to apply this to humans, but it's required the developing of implantable electrodes to stimulate the walking circuits on spines' pacients.

I think this would be so beneficial for all those people that can't walk, so they can come to their normal lives if they had suffered an accident, don't you think the same thing?

Here I leave you the link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2009/sep/20/paralysed-rats-walk-rehabilitation

And don't forget to comment, please!

My Favourite Animal(s)

Hello ladies and gentlemen! Time to talk about something interesting for me, I can say it's my reason to keep living in this planet...I refer to animals!! In this case, my favourite one.
It's a little difficult to choose one of them as my favourite animal, because I have two animals in my house that I think both they are special for me. Dog or Cat? which of them I should choose??
I guess it would be fair if I talked about both of them, being so I'm going to start about the dog:

Who doesn't know a dog, for God's sake?? Dogs are mammals, from the canine family; they are quadruped, carnivores with claws and sharp teeth because in the nature they are great predators, but they were domesticated by human beings to serve us as an animal of company.
I've got two dogs in my whole life, the first one was a female dog that today is in the dogs' heaven xD. I don't remember so much about her, because I was a child, but I know she lost her life when she got poisoned or something, that was terrible...
However, the second one is alive!! it's a male dog, white and black face coloured, like a cow!! he's 9 years old and is so restless, so hiperkinetic! I hope he doesn't die of a heart attack...he has lived since he was a two-months puppy and I love him so much, it doesn't matter if he's old today and exasperate me sometimes!
One of things I like about dogs is they're very lively, friendly (if we take care of them) and faithful to humans, so they can protect us from strange people. I can resume it in one phrase: "They make us our lives more interesting"
Now, I need to say something about the cat: In general, cats aren't so faithful and friendly like dogs. They're more introverted, they're always watching around, perceiving sounds (as dogs perceive smells). They're also predators in nature, that's why they have sharp claws (it really hurts when they attack us, I know that by own experience).
My sister adopted a little male cat, so practically he's my nephew xD. He's beautiful, gray-black striped and he's healthy, that's important. He has been living in my home one year ago, so he's one more of my family. The most part of the day he's always sleeping, but at night he gets crazy haaaa....sorry, I meant he turns more active and playful. It becomes a headache when he awakens too early in the morning, so my parents have to open the door, otherwise they can't keep sleeping anymore!

I really like him so much, in spite of I didn't like cats in the past...I remember before he arrived, we had another one, but he died by infection and I couldn't do anything to save him, that was so sad...I hope that doesn't happen again, that will be my mission. In one phrase "Cats show us the beauty of animals".

I like how different can be these two animal species: faithfulness in dogs and alert state in cats...that's simply the only way how God could do it :D

What to do and where to go in Santiago

Hi again, people from this world and other ones!! Welcome to Santiago of Chile, our great active capital, I've lived here since I have memory, trapped forever! mmm, maybe in the future that won't be so xD
Certainly most people here know many places to visit, however, some foreigners don't. In that case, I want to tell you about some of these places. We have museums, parks, hills, representative buildings, theaters, and so on, but I'm going to suggest you some of them:

-The Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino is Santiago 's finest museum, with a beautifully presented collection of pre-Hispanic art drawn from the whole South American continent. Highlights include elaborate Meso-American incense burners, Andean textiles dating back as far as 3,000 years, and Maya carvings - not to be missed on any account.
-Try a fresh seafood lunch at the stately Mercado Central, surrounded by stalls packed with glistening sea bass and salmon, and buckets of salt-crusted oysters, mussels and clams.
-Don't miss the changing of the guard at the government palace (the splendid Palacio de la Moneda) when hundreds of green-uniformed soldiers in high black boots "goose-step" around the square to the Chilean national anthem.
-Climbing up the exuberantly landscaped Santa Lucía hill - via a maze of swirling stairways, turrets and fountains - is an essential part of the Santiago experience. Your reward is sweeping views over the city, impressive even when the smog is out in force.
-I can't forget our dear Plaza de Armas. This central plaza features famous monuments, the Governor's palace and is the point from which all distances to other parts of Chile are measured. Moreover, you'll have time to sit and relax on the many benches at all hours of the day. Nice place, there's no doubt.

Anyway, there is a lot of things that foreigners can do in this city, for example: travelling on our well-known subway, Metro of Santiago, which I think is a good and fast transport to get to many areas of the city (don't take the Transantiago, please, when you do that you'll know why I tell it you xD)
Biking traits, eating typical chilean food, going to theaters...I can't describe you so much, my head's spinning haaaa!! If you want to enjoy all these places mentioned or do a lot of things here, you can visit us anytime, it's really worth to live in this city.