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SCI Science Perspectives

SCI Science Perspectives

By: American Spinal Injury Association
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About this listen

The American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) brings you SCI Science Perspectives. The podcast is built around two-part dialogues with spinal cord injury (SCI) professionals regarding their emerging scientific work spanning the full spectrum of SCI research, from discovery to clinical application. The SCI Science Perspectives podcast disseminates the latest-and-greatest scientific work in the SCI field via a conversation with researchers that approaches their work from two perspectives: the “scholarly” perspective and the “community” perspective. The process begins with ASIA’s Committees informing the podcast about new and influential scientific papers relevant to the committee’s interests. Then the podcast host(s) then interview the author(s) of the papers, approaching their project from each perspective. Finally, the conversation from each perspective is published as its own episode type: "Scholarly" and "Community" episodes. Keep an eye out too for "Admin" episodes too, communicating administrative information relevant to ASIA members and stakeholders.American Spinal Injury Association 2022 Hygiene & Healthy Living Physical Illness & Disease Politics & Government
Episodes
  • Community EP051 - Continuing to Shorten the ISNCSCI (or "ASIA") Exam with Dr. Stephen Burns
    Oct 30 2025

    Join us this episode for a conversation with Stephen Burns, MD, physiatrist, Professor of PM&R at University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle, and Director of SCI Service at VA Puget Sound. In this conversation we discuss the process of shortening, or expediting, the International Standards for the Neurological Classification of Spinal Cord Injury (ISNCSCI) exam. Most people know this exam, which assigns a level and grade to their injury, as their "ASIA" exam. The paper explaining the process is titled "“Development and validation of an algorithm for item reduction of the International Standards for Neurological Classification of Spinal Cord Injury examination to determine level and severity of SCI" which was recently accepted for publication in Topics in Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation." In this paper Dr. Burns and their team discuss the process by which this rather long exam can be reduced to less than half the items with acceptable accuracy for some, but not all, types of spinal cord injury. We invite you to listen in as Dr. Burns gives an insider perspective on the new E-ISNCSCI, and trust you will enjoy this episode on making an important but long exam quite a bit shorter.

    Other resources:

    • ASIA's webpage on the E-ISNCSCI: https://asia-spinalinjury.org/expedited-isncsci-exam/
    • Upcoming webinar on the E-ISNCSCI: https://asia-spinalinjury.org/tscir-webinars/
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    27 mins
  • Scholarly EP050 - Version 2 of the "Expeditited" ISNCSCI with (E-ISNCSCI) Dr. Stephen Burns
    Oct 30 2025

    Join us this episode for a conversation with Stephen Burns, MD, physiatrist, Professor of PM&R at University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle, and Director of SCI Service at VA Puget Sound. In this conversation we discuss the process of minting a shortened, or expedited, version of the International Standards for the Neurological Classification of Spinal Cord Injury (ISNCSCI) exam. The paper explaining the process is titled "“Development and validation of an algorithm for item reduction of the International Standards for Neurological Classification of Spinal Cord Injury examination to determine level and severity of SCI" which was recently accepted for publication in Topics in Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation." In this paper Dr. Burns and their team discuss the process by which a 134 item physical exam can be reduced to 42 +/- 10 exam items with acceptable accuracy for some, but not all, neurological levels and impairment scales. We invite you to listen in as Dr. Burns gives an insider perspective on the E-ISNCSCI-V2, and trust you will enjoy this episode on the second iteration of shorting the ISNCSCI.

    Other resources:

    • ASIA's webpage on the E-ISNCSCI: https://asia-spinalinjury.org/expedited-isncsci-exam/
    • Upcoming webinar on the E-ISNCSCI: https://asia-spinalinjury.org/tscir-webinars/
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    27 mins
  • Community EP049 - Early Delivery of a Drug Against Nogo-A with Dr. Norbert Weidner
    Aug 28 2025

    Join us this episode for a conversation with Norbert Weidner, MD, Professor and Chair of the Spinal Cord Injury Center at Heidelberg University Hospital. In this conversation we discuss results of a clinical trial called the Neuroimmunophilin Nogo-A Antibody in Spinal Cord Injury (NISCI) trial. Findings from this trial were published in a paper titled "Safety and efficacy of intrathecal antibodies to Nogo-A in patients with acute cervical spinal cord injury: a randomised, double-blind, multicentre, placebo-controlled, phase 2b trial" in the journal Lancet Neurology. In this paper Weidner and the NISCI team discuss the top-line findings from this large multi-center clinical trial where a drug (with antibodies against Nogo-A, a protein found in the walls of spinal cord neurons and their support cells) were given to people early after their accident. We invite you to listen in as Dr. Weidner gives an insider perspective on the NISCI trial, and trust you will enjoy our conversation on new pharmaology in the acute phase of SCI.

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    26 mins
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