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Annette Funicello: Her life with multiple sclerosis

A very good three-part report done by CTV (Canada) in 2012.

… 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

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

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    This site posts excerpts and summaries of articles of interest to people with multiple sclerosis and their families, along with links to the full articles in the journals in which they were published.

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