Good News On Multiple Sclerosis And Pregnancy
There is good news for women with multiple sclerosis (MS) who are pregnant or thinking about becoming pregnant. A new study shows that pregnant women with multiple sclerosis are only slightly more likely to have cesarean deliveries and babies with a poor prenatal growth rate than women who do not have MS. ...more
19 Nov 2009
Early Research Into The Role Of Vitamin D Suggests It May Ease Symptoms Of MS
Australian researchers have presented findings at a national scientific conference for medical research in Hobart, Australia that suggests vitamin D may play a role in preventing relapses in people with multiple sclerosis (MS). The research, which is yet to be published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal, may form the basis of a larger clinical trial that would take several years to complete. ...more
19 Nov 2009
MS Is More Aggressive In Children But Slower To Cause Disability Than In Adults
Magnetic resonance images (MRI) of patients diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in childhood show that pediatric onset multiple sclerosis is more aggressive, and causes more brain lesions, than MS diagnosed in adulthood, researchers at the University at Buffalo have reported. Interestingly, however, patients with pediatric-onset MS -- which comprise up to 5 percent of total MS cases -- develop disabilities at a slower pace than patients with adult-onset MS, the data showed. ...more
18 Nov 2009
Smoking May Now Be Considered An Established Risk Factor For ALS, Also Known As Lou Gehrig's Disease
While previous studies have indicated a "probable" connection between smoking and ALS, a new study published in the Nov. 17, 2009 issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology, states that smoking may now be considered an "established" risk factor for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. The findings come from Baystate Medical Center neurologist Dr. ...more
Mayo Clinic Neurologist Reports: "Thousands Of NMO Patients Are Misdiagnosed With Multiple Sclerosis"
Thousands of Neuromyelitis Optica (NMO) patients are potentially being misdiagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS), according to Mayo Clinic Neurologist Sean Pittock, M.D., largely due to lack of awareness of NMO within the medical community. Dr. Pittock shared this finding with more than 50 of the world's leading doctors and medical researchers - from Harvard to Oxford - who gathered at the 2009 NMO Roundtable Conference, sponsored by the Guthy-Jackson Charitable Foundation. ...more
13 Nov 2009
Men Leave: Separation And Divorce Far More Common When The Wife Is The Patient
A woman is six times more likely to be separated or divorced soon after a diagnosis of cancer or multiple sclerosis than if a man in the relationship is the patient, according to a study that examined the role gender played in so-called "partner abandonment." The study also found that the longer the marriage the more likely it would remain intact. The study confirmed earlier research that put the overall divorce or separation rate among cancer patients at 11. ...more
11 Nov 2009
Real-Time Observation Sheds New Light On Multiple Sclerosis
In diseases such as multiple sclerosis, cells of the immune system infiltrate the brain tissue, where they cause immense damage. For many years, it was an enigma as to how these cells can escape from the bloodstream. This is no trivial feat, given that specialized blood vessels act as a barrier between the nervous system and the bloodstream. Until now, tissue sections provided the sole evidence that the immune cells really do manage to reach the nerve cells. ...more
10 Nov 2009
Teenage Obesity Linked To Increased Risk Of MS
Teenage women who are obese may be more than twice as likely to develop multiple sclerosis (MS) as adults compared to female teens who are not obese, according to a study published in the November 10, 2009, print issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The research involved 238,371women from the Nurses' Health Study and Nurses' Health Study II who were 25 to 55 years old. ...more
10 Nov 2009
Teenage Obesity Linked To MS
New research has investigated the possibility that teenage obesity may be linked with an increased risk of multiple sclerosis (MS) in women. The results of the study, published in the scientific journal Neurology, examined information gathered information from women who claimed they were obese between the ages of 18 and 20 and linked a two-fold increase in the risk of developing MS. ...more
10 Nov 2009
Multiple Sclerosis: What Part Do Relapses Play In Severe Disability?
People with multiple sclerosis (MS) who have relapses within the first five years of onset appear to have more severe disability in the short term compared to people who do not have an early relapse, according to a new study published in the November 4, 2009, issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The study is one of the first to examine how MS relapses affect people during different time periods of the disease. ...more
05 Nov 2009
Modifying Neural Stem Cells Improves Their Therapeutic Efficacy
Stem cells isolated from the brain of adult mice (adult neural stem cells [aNSCs]) have shown very modest therapeutic effects in a mouse model of the chronic inflammatory neurodegenerative disease multiple sclerosis. But now, Guang-Xian Zhang and colleagues, at Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, have developed an approach to enhance the therapeutic effects of aNSCs in this model of multiple sclerosis. ...more
03 Nov 2009
New Tool To Accelerate Discovery Of Autoimmune Disease Mechanisms And Therapies
Currently, 5 - 8% of the U.S. population is afflicted with an autoimmune disease. Many of these are chronic and require life-long care. Moreover, different autoimmune diseases aggregate within a single family, suggesting they are caused by disruptions in common biological pathways. To help researchers investigate these common pathways, The Jackson Laboratory has published Pathways to Discovery: Autoimmune Diseases ( ...more
31 Oct 2009
26 New Research Projects Launched Totaling $9.2 Million To Propel Multiple Sclerosis Research
The National MS Society has just committed $9.2 million to launch 26 new MS research projects as part of its comprehensive research program and commitment to move research forward. This investment comes despite a challenging economic environ¬ment, and is the latest in the Society's relentless research effort to stop MS, restore function, and end this disease forever. ...more
Possible New Underlying Cause Of MS Investigated By Neurologists
Neurologists at the University at Buffalo are beginning a research study that could overturn the prevailing wisdom on the cause of multiple sclerosis (MS). The researchers will test the possibility that the symptoms of MS result from narrowing of the primary veins outside the skull, a condition called "chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency," or CCSVI. (For more details on the study, go to http://www. ...more
26 Oct 2009
'Life-Changing' MS Drug Could Save NHS £300 Million A Year, UK
The lives of 100,000 Multiple Sclerosis sufferers in the UK could be greatly improved while saving the NHS £300 million a year. The claim comes from the LDN Research Trust ahead of the first International LDN Awareness Week which begins this monday. ...more
22 Oct 2009
Acorda Therapeutics Announces Positive Vote By FDA Advisory Committee For Fampridine-SR
Acorda Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: ACOR) announced the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Peripheral and Central Nervous System Drugs (PCNSD) Advisory Committee voted 12 to 1 that clinical data on Fampridine-SR 10 mg twice daily demonstrated substantial evidence of effectiveness as a treatment to improve walking in people with multiple sclerosis (MS) and voted 10 to 2 (1 abstention) that it is clinically meaningful and can be safe for use. ...more
16 Oct 2009
Gentle Touch May Aid Multiple Sclerosis Patients
While gripping, lifting or manipulating an object such as drinking from a cup or placing a book on a shelf is usually easy for most, it can be challenging for those with neurological diseases such as multiple sclerosis or Parkinson's, or for people who had a stroke. For them, the tight gripping can cause fatigue, making everyday tasks difficult. ...more
15 Oct 2009
Multiple Sclerosis Researchers To Meet In Boston To Design Largest-Ever Vitamin D Study
On Saturday, October 17, leading MS researchers from around the country will meet at the Hyatt Regency, Boston to evaluate the feasibility of conducting what would be the largest clinical study ever undertaken to explore the role that Vitamin D may play in Multiple Sclerosis. The meeting will be led by Dr. ...more