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
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.
Aug
22
MS Patient, Singer Gives to Others – WSJ.com
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In true country-music fashion, Clay Walker can boil his life down to a simple refrain: “I don’t have to think about tomorrow, I don’t need anything money can buy, I don’t have to beg, steal, or borrow, I just want to live until I die.”
The sentiment from his 1994 hit single, “Live Until I Die,” still holds true for the singer, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis more than a decade ago.
What he initially viewed as a death sentence turned into a second career with the 2003 launch of Band Against MS, a nonprofit to support research and help people with multiple sclerosis.
Now, through the foundation, he’s making a $50,000 donation to fund pediatric multiple sclerosis research at Stony Brook University Medical Center in Stony Brook, N.Y., bringing his total giving for research of this kind to more than $2 million.
“Stony Brook is taking the fresh ideas of doctors who aren’t just running down the same trails,” Mr. Walker says. “There’s no better way to start looking for a cure than by working with children.”
About 400,000 people in the United States have the chronic, neurological disease and 200 others are diagnosed each week, according to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.
Until this decade, multiple sclerosis had been seen as an adult disease, says Lauren Krupp, director of the national Pediatric MS Center at Stony Brook University, whose research Mr. Walker’s donation will fund.
The center itself was founded in 2006 to work specifically with clinical care and scientific research of children and adolescents with multiple sclerosis.
Ironically, Dr. Krupp says it makes more sense to study the disease in children, rather than adults, because children haven’t had as much exposure to the environmental toxins that many doctors think contribute to the cause of the disease.
Read the rest via MS Patient, Singer Gives to Others – WSJ.com.