Jan
6
Hopes for reversing age-associated effects in MS patients
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… In multiple sclerosis, the insulating layers that protect nerve fibres in the brain, known as myelin sheaths, become damaged. The loss of myelin in the brain prevents nerve fibres from sending signals properly and will eventually lead to the loss of the nerve fibre itself. However, early in the disease, a regenerative process, or remyelination, occurs and the myelin sheaths are restored. Unfortunately, as people with MS age, remyelination decreases significantly, resulting in more nerve fibres being permanently lost.
However, a new study in mice shows that the age-associated decline in the regeneration of the nerve’s myelin sheath, or remyelination, is reversible. The proof of principle study demonstrates that when old mice are exposed to the inflammatory cells (called monocytes) from young mice, the ageing remyelination process can be reversed.
Professor Robin Franklin, Director of the MS Society’s Cambridge Centre for Myelin Repair at the University of Cambridge, said: “What we have shown in our study, carried out in collaboration with Dr Amy Wagers and colleagues at Harvard University, is that the age-associated decline in remyelination is reversible. We found that remyelination in old adult mice can be made to work as efficiently as it does in young adult mice.
“For individuals with MS, this means that in theory regenerative therapies will work throughout the duration of the disease. Specifically, it means that remyelination therapies do not need to be based on stem cell transplantation since the stem cells already present in the brain and spinal cord can be made to regenerate myelin – regardless of the patient’s age.”
read the article: Hopes for reversing age-associated effects in MS patients
Jul
9
Canadian dies following MS surgery in U.S.
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A Calgary woman has died in the United States following controversial neck vein surgery to treat her multiple sclerosis.
Maralyn Clarke died April 18, shortly after undergoing treatment at Synergy Health Concepts Inc. in Orangeville County, Calif.She becomes the second victim of the vein procedure, almost a year after Mahir Mostic of St. Catharines, Ont., died in October 2010 following a similar operation in Costa Rica.
The treatment is based on a procedure developed by Italian Dr. Paolo Zamboni, whose research suggests that multiple sclerosis may be associated with vascular problems.
Clarke, 56, flew to California on April 13 in search of a cure for an illness she had lived with for years.Her husband, Frank Lamb, said his wife experienced severe headaches, nausea and vomiting a few hours after being discharged and was taken to a nearby hospital. She was taken off life support on April 18.
[more] via Canadian dies following MS surgery in U.S. – thestar.com
Oct
30
Multiple sclerosis changes Garland man’s outlook on marijuana
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Tim Timmons once was a stalwart in the Church of Christ, a conservative Republican, a buttoned-down insurance executive with a busy life, a wife and three children. Slowly but surely, multiple sclerosis robbed him of that life.
Tim Timmons gets a light from his wife and caretaker, Lou-Ann, at their Garland home. Timmons smokes marijuana at night to ease pain caused by multiple sclerosis.
Today, at age 54, Timmons is mostly bedridden and rarely sees the outside of his Garland home. What he lacks in physical ability, however, he more than makes up for with his ardent support for legalizing marijuana for seriously ill people.
In fact, he has become the poster boy for the medical marijuana movement in Texas. One organization has named a model law to set up a medical marijuana industry in Texas the Tim Timmons Compassionate Care Act. An Internet search quickly yields videos of Timmons smoking pot and daring politicians and cops to come arrest him.
“I would love [Texas Gov.] Rick Perry to be the guy who arrests me,” he said. “It would cost the state of Texas $500,000 a year to take care of me in prison.”
Aug
30
Multiple Sclerosis Changes With the Seasons
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MONDAY, Aug. 30 (HealthDay News) — Multiple sclerosis may be more active in the spring and summer months, new research shows.
In a study using MRI scans to detect brain lesions tied to MS, researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston found that new lesions occurred two to three times more often in the spring and summer compared to colder times of the year.
“We found significantly increased levels of disease activity, as defined by new T2 lesion occurrence, during the spring and summer seasons,” the study authors wrote in the Aug. 31 issue of Neurology.
About 400,000 people in the United States have MS, according to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society (NMSS), and as many as 2.1 million people may be affected by the illness worldwide.
The exact cause of MS is unknown, but it is believed to be an autoimmune disease. That means the body’s immune system mistakenly turns on itself and damages or destroys healthy cells instead of diseased ones. Both genetic and environmental factors are believed to play a role in the development of the disease. Environmental factors that have been implicated include geography and vitamin D, a nutrient that is primarily manufactured by the skin when it comes into contact with sunlight.
In general, more cases of MS occur the farther you get from the equator, according to the NMSS. People with lower levels of vitamin D may also be more at heightened risk of developing MS.
The current study included 939 brain scans from 44 people with MS from the Boston area. At the time of the study (1991 through 1993), the volunteers weren’t receiving any treatment for MS. Each person had an average of 22 scans during the study period.
The researchers also collected information on daily temperatures, solar radiation and precipitation for the Boston area.
After one year, 310 new brain lesions were found in 31 people. The remaining 13 study volunteers didn’t develop new lesions during the study.
They found that from March to August, the occurrence of new lesions was two to three times as high versus the fall and winter months. They also found that warmer temperatures and solar radiation were associated with more disease activity. Rainfall was not associated with new lesions.
read the rest via Multiple Sclerosis Changes With the Seasons.