A robotic exoskeleton controlled by the wearer's own nervous system could help users regain limb function, which is encouraging news for people with partial nervous system impairment, say University of Michigan researchers.

Science and the legal system have been facing off for some time, with no end in sight. For example, every time a consumer sues a pharmaceutical company or a manufacturer for injuries, a complex mixture of scientific and legal constructs and values comes into play.

About 3.4 percent of patients treated in rural trauma centers appear to be recidivists, meaning that they have visited the facility more than once for separate injuries, according to a report in the January issue of Archives of Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. Substance abuse appears to be the common feature among urban and rural recurrent trauma patients.

Sword swallowers are more likely to sustain an injury - such as a perforation of the oesophagus - if they are distracted or are using multiple or unusual swords, finds a study in this week's Christmas issue of the BMJ.

While great interest has followed the discovery of neural stem cells and their potential for someday treating diseases and injuries of the brain and spinal cord, recent research identified "cancer stem cells," a small population of cells that appear to be the source of cells comprising a malignant brain tumor.