Health
Men with spinal cord injuries become fathers thanks to rare fertility treatment at Miami clinic
A spinal cord injury can be life-altering – and the potential for infertility is often a devastating blow as well.
Among men who experience spinal cord injuries (SCIs) in the U.S., nearly eight in 10 have fertility and reproduction issues due to erectile dysfunction or poor sperm quality.
But one clinic in Miami, Florida, is on a mission to help men with SCIs start a family.
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The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, part of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, has aided in the birth of 200 babies since the 1990s.
Fox News Digital spoke with Dr. Emad Ibrahim, director of the Male Fertility Research Program, about how “amazing” this achievement has been.
A patient with a spinal cord injury enters the lab with Dr. Emad Ibrahim at his clinic in Miami, Florida. (The University of Miami)
The doctor said “nothing beats the feeling” of finding out one of his patients is expecting a child.
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“Every time we get an email with an ultrasound picture that shows the baby … it’s a mission accomplished,” he said. “It’s the most gratifying sensation you’ll ever have.”
Ibrahim, an associate professor of urology and neurological surgery at UMiami, said the clinical research program is “very unique” in its quest to help men father their own children through techniques rarely found elsewhere.
New dads Eric Rosemary, left, and Darris Straughter, right, both underwent procedures with the Miami Project under the direction of Dr. Ibrahim, center. (Eric Rosemary; The University of Miami)
While men with erectile dysfunction can be given medication to address this issue, men with ejaculatory dysfunction face a bigger challenge that the Miami clinic addresses through two unique procedures.
The two techniques include penile vibratory stimulation and electroejaculation, both FDA-approved and selected based on the nature of the spinal cord injury.
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The electroejaculation machine activates and contracts the glands responsible for producing sperm. (The machine is also available in Sweden, its only other location besides Miami.)
This method is guaranteed to be successful “almost 100% of the time,” according to Ibrahim.
‘Amazing’ fatherhood
Men from all over the U.S., and even outside the country, have come to seek this treatment — including Darris Straughter, 44, a Miami native.
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Straughter was a victim of gun violence in 2018, he told Fox News Digital in an interview.
While sitting at a traffic light, he was shot eight times. The injuries left him paralyzed from the chest down.
Darris Straughter plays with his daughter, who will turn 2 on Aug. 5, 2024. Straughter was paralyzed by gunfire in 2018. (The University of Miami)
“I don’t feel anything,” he said. “It’s a crazy situation. You just have to roll with the punches and keep moving and try to stay positive.”
Despite the incident, Straughter — who already had one child of his own — was determined to provide children for his wife.
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“I kept saying, ‘She deserves a kid,’” he said. “She was by my side the whole time. So, I was like, ‘I’m going to try any way possible to make it happen.’”
Straughter received treatment from Ibrahim, which ultimately led to his wife’s successful pregnancy. His daughter is now almost 2 years old and is “healthy and strong,” he said.
“[Fatherhood] is amazing. It’s so joyful,” he said. “I just love everything about it.”
“I pray God continues to guide us on a great path,” Straughter, pictured with his wife and daughter, told Fox News Digital. (The University of Miami)
Fellow Florida resident Eric Rosemary, 46, also found success at the Miami facility after a Memorial Day accident 15 years ago left him paralyzed.
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“I was on a boat … in West Palm Beach, and I fell off the boat and shattered my C4, C5, C6 vertebrae and became a quadriplegic,” he said.
Rosemary, who has been married for eight years, told Fox News Digital that he turned to the Miami Project when the timing was right to have kids.
Eric Rosemary of Florida, pictured with his family, said the Miami Project is “leading the way” in helping people with spinal cord injuries adapt. (Eric Rosemary)
Rosemary was previously involved in clinical trials with the project.
He and his wife have since had two sons, born in 2020 and 2023, after three attempts at the first pregnancy and two attempts with the second.
“When you first get injured, there are so many other things you have to worry about,” Rosemary said.
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“In my 30s, I was able to cope with having a spinal cord injury, rebuilding my business, re-building my life, then getting married and having my boys,” he continued. “I was fortunate enough that I had the time to do that.”
As patients who have suffered from an SCI mainly focus on mobility and medical care at first, sexual function is usually “brushed off,” Ibrahim noted.
Darris Straughter, pictured in the background with his daughter, is now a stay-at-home dad. His wife is shown in the foreground. (The University of Miami)
“They rarely talk about fertility,” he said. “And unfortunately, we still have some rehab centers in remote areas in the country that will tell these patients, ‘Forget it. You’re not going to have any children.’”
He added, “If [providers] knew that our program exists, and they could actually refer the patients to us, that would be of great help.”
Ongoing research
As the Miami Project’s procedures have shown excellent results, more research on a potential fertility treatment is underway, Ibrahim revealed.
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The program was awarded a $3.24 million, 40-year grant in July 2023 from the U.S. Department of Defense to conduct a clinical trial to study a drug called Probenecid, which was previously used to treat gout.
Dr. Ibrahim specializes in reproductive and sexual dysfunction in men with spinal cord injuries. He said “nothing beats the feeling” of finding out one of his patients is expecting a child. (The University of Miami)
Through years of research, Ibrahim and his team found that this drug targets the internal issues that some SCI patients experience, he said.
In the pilot study, which included 18 patients with spinal cord injuries, Ibrahim reported that all participants saw improved sperm quality.
“The medication is safe, and we have the publication to support that it works,” he said.
The larger clinical trial is currently ongoing as the Miami Project is in search of new volunteers.
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An accidental lab discovery has opened the door to entirely new ways of preventing the flu.
While investigating how influenza replicates, researchers discovered that different flu strains use completely different strategies to infiltrate human cells, SWNS reported.
By targeting the specific molecules the viruses rely on, scientists found that they could block them from entering new cells and halt their replication altogether.
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Researchers say these “fundamental insights” into seasonal influenza highlight a clear path toward developing better preventive medications.
“The hope is that fundamental, curiosity-based research like this helps to pave the way for novel strategies to treat and prevent influenza infections,” principal investigator Dr. Emily Bruce, from the University of Vermont’s Larner College of Medicine, said in the SWNS report.
While investigating how influenza replicates, researchers discovered that different flu strains use completely different strategies to infiltrate human cells. (iStock)
While several flu strains cause illness, H1N1 and H3N2 influenza A viruses are the most common. However, current flu tests cannot differentiate between them, and clinical treatments are identical for both.
Although vaccines and antivirals are available, Bruce noted a “dire” need for better medications to stop the virus from spreading cell to xxcell.
“You don’t get sick when a virus is in one cell,” he noted. “You get sick because a virus replicates itself and goes into many more cells.”
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The study, which was published in The Journal of Virology, originally aimed to map how viral RNA segments are transported within cells to create new viral particles.
The team used H1N1 and H3N2 viruses isolated from the nasal passages of positive patients in 2022.
Clinical treatments remain identical for both primary strains of the flu virus. (iStock)
During the investigation, the team unexpectedly stumbled upon a cellular pathway that blocked the virus from entering lung cells, SWNS reported.
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The data revealed that when a specific human protein called Rab11B was depleted, H3N2 viruses failed to enter human lung cells. H1N1 viruses were completely unaffected.
Using reverse genetics, the team mapped this defect and uncovered a brand-new, H3N2-specific role for Rab11B during viral entry.
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This discovery challenged the scientific assumption that all flu viruses enter cells the same way.
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“Viruses are like pirates from different countries hijacking someone’s ship,” Bruce said. “Different viruses, like different types of pirates, use different methods to get onboard.”
This discovery challenged the scientific assumption that all flu viruses enter cells the same way. (iStock)
“We had previously thought that all flu viruses used the same way to get into a cell, but we discovered that this is not true,” she went on. “H1N1 and H3N2 need different proteins to get in, and if you get rid of the right protein, a specific virus can’t get in.”
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While these findings identify a critical cellular pathway for viral entry, the study was conducted using isolated cells, the researchers acknowledged.
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Further research is needed to determine whether blocking the protein is safe and effective within a live, complex human respiratory system.
Bruce and the team hope to conduct further research to determine whether this Rab11B-dependency is a fundamental property of H3N2, or if it’s a trait unique to currently circulating flu strains.
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Eating processed meat like ham, sausage and bacon may be linked to a higher risk of certain types of cancer, according to new research.
While health organizations have already confirmed that processed meat can contribute to colon cancer, this study looked closer at cancers in the upper digestive tract, where the link has historically been less clear.
To understand these connections, researchers from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC), one of the world’s largest long-term nutrition and cancer cohorts, tracked the health and diets of 450,112 people across Europe for an average of 14 years.
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The study group included 131,426 men and 318,686 women, according to the study’s press release.
During the follow-up period, 876 people developed stomach cancer and 215 people developed esophageal adenocarcinoma, which is cancer of the tube connecting the mouth to the stomach.
For female participants, eating both processed meat and white meat was linked to an increased risk of developing the disease. (iStock)
Researchers tracked where the stomach cancers grew, separating them into the upper part of the stomach near the throat and the lower part of the stomach.
The researchers also sorted the tumors into two categories based on how the cancer cells appeared under a microscope: intestinal, which forms more organized structures, and diffuse, in which the cells are more scattered throughout the tissue.
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After adjusting for other lifestyle factors, the researchers found that for every extra 30 grams of processed meat a person ate per day, their overall risk of stomach cancer went up by 9%. Eating that same extra 30 grams a day was also linked to a 13% higher risk of esophageal adenocarcinoma.
A standard single slice of regular deli-sliced ham or lunch meat averages around 28 grams, according to USDA data and nutritional tracking databases.
An extra 20 grams of white meat, such as chicken and turkey, was linked to a 12% higher risk of cancer in the main body of the stomach. (iStock)
An extra 20 grams of white meat, such as chicken or turkey, was linked to a 12% higher risk of cancer in the main body of the stomach, the researchers noted.
The study also revealed differences between men and women. For male participants, only processed meat showed a clear, statistically significant link to a higher risk of stomach cancer. For female participants, however, eating both processed meat and white meat was linked to an increased risk.
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These findings align with global health benchmarks, particularly those established by the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer.
The agency has long classified processed meat as a known human carcinogen, primarily due to its strong, well-documented links to colorectal cancer.
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However, health organizations have also consistently pointed to a potential, yet less definitive, relationship between these meats and cancers of the stomach.
Eating 30 grams of processed meat a day, or the equivalent to one slice of ham, was linked to a 13% higher risk of esophageal adenocarcinoma. (iStock)
Further scientific investigation is needed to confirm the findings and to account for other underlying risk factors, such as certain stomach infections, which could interact with dietary habits.
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A key limitation of the study is its reliance on self-reported diets, which can sometimes lead to inaccuracies in how participants recall their meat consumption over time, the researchers noted.
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The findings were published in the International Journal of Cancer.
Fox News Digital reached out to the researchers requesting comment.
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