July 03, '09: study from Netherlands finds statins can protect nerve cells against damage known to occur in Alzheimer's
Category: Misc. Medical News - Not MS Related
Posted by: stuart
Information provided by Carmen B., in Miami
American Heart Association reports percentage meeting cholesterol standards has doubled in decade; study from Netherlands finds statins can protect nerve cells against damage known to occur in Alzheimer's
STATINS GET CREDIT FOR BIG REDUCTION OF BAD CHOLESTEROL, PROTECTION FROM ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE
June 22, 2009 – The news for statins today was great. The American Heart Association credits statins as a significant reason that the percentage of people lowering their elevated “bad” cholesterol to within the recommended range has almost doubled in the last decade. And, from The Netherlands comes a study showing statins can protect us from Alzheimer’s disease.
The good newsabout the dramatic reduction in “bad” cholesterol comes from a multi-national survey reported today in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.
In the Lipid Treatment Assessment Project (L-TAP) 2 — a survey of nearly 10,000 patients (average age 62) from nine countries undergoing cholesterol-lowering and management efforts — researchers found that:
=============================================American Heart Association reports percentage meeting cholesterol standards has doubled in decade; study from Netherlands finds statins can protect nerve cells against damage known to occur in Alzheimer's
STATINS GET CREDIT FOR BIG REDUCTION OF BAD CHOLESTEROL, PROTECTION FROM ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE
June 22, 2009 – The news for statins today was great. The American Heart Association credits statins as a significant reason that the percentage of people lowering their elevated “bad” cholesterol to within the recommended range has almost doubled in the last decade. And, from The Netherlands comes a study showing statins can protect us from Alzheimer’s disease.
The good newsabout the dramatic reduction in “bad” cholesterol comes from a multi-national survey reported today in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.
In the Lipid Treatment Assessment Project (L-TAP) 2 — a survey of nearly 10,000 patients (average age 62) from nine countries undergoing cholesterol-lowering and management efforts — researchers found that:
June 03, '09: Vitamin-D Levels Inversely Correlated With Disability and Disease Progression in Multiple Sclerosis
Category: Alternative Therapies
Posted by: stuart
Medscape Today
Information provided by Jodi Swanson:
June 2, 2009 (Atlanta, Georgia) — Vitamin-D deficiency may be associated with a higher disability score and increased rate of disease progression for patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), new research findings suggest.
Allison Drake, a researcher with the Jacobs Neurological Institute at the State University of New York (SUNY) Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, presented the findings here at the Consortium of Multiple Sclerosis Centers (CMSC) 23rd Annual Meeting.
Vitamin D has been implicated as a risk factor for MS, the investigators note. In addition, preclinical in vivo studies have demonstrated that vitamin D may inhibit experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis and prevent disease progression.
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Information provided by Jodi Swanson:
June 2, 2009 (Atlanta, Georgia) — Vitamin-D deficiency may be associated with a higher disability score and increased rate of disease progression for patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), new research findings suggest.
Allison Drake, a researcher with the Jacobs Neurological Institute at the State University of New York (SUNY) Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, presented the findings here at the Consortium of Multiple Sclerosis Centers (CMSC) 23rd Annual Meeting.
Vitamin D has been implicated as a risk factor for MS, the investigators note. In addition, preclinical in vivo studies have demonstrated that vitamin D may inhibit experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis and prevent disease progression.
Category: Misc. MS Related
Posted by: stuart
Written by Kate in Washington
May 2009
I'd like to thank, and share with you, a man who is devoting his life to the war on MS. A most celebrated researcher, one of international renown, a teaching professor, author whose works have appeared in Lancet, director of the new MS Clinic and Rehab Center at the University of Washington (where, in addition to turning out 8 fellows in its short existence, research is now underway to show the world that physical therapy "is still the only way to improve function in MS."), now in clinical trials with people for stem cell transplantation, CO-PI for the MSSRTC, and, among his many other achievements, the instigator behind the book that, in 1980, put fatigue on the formal MS menu, he is Dr. George Kraft, MS Neurologist and Physiatrist.
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May 2009
I'd like to thank, and share with you, a man who is devoting his life to the war on MS. A most celebrated researcher, one of international renown, a teaching professor, author whose works have appeared in Lancet, director of the new MS Clinic and Rehab Center at the University of Washington (where, in addition to turning out 8 fellows in its short existence, research is now underway to show the world that physical therapy "is still the only way to improve function in MS."), now in clinical trials with people for stem cell transplantation, CO-PI for the MSSRTC, and, among his many other achievements, the instigator behind the book that, in 1980, put fatigue on the formal MS menu, he is Dr. George Kraft, MS Neurologist and Physiatrist.
Category: M.S. Research Study Reports
Posted by: stuart
Medical News Today (url found below)
A drug currently FDA-approved for use in diabetes shows some protective effects in the brains of patients with relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis, researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine report in a study currently available online in the Journal of Neuroimmunology.
In a small, double-blinded clinical trial, patients with relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis were assigned to take pioglitazone (a drug commercially known as Actos used to treat type-2 diabetes) or a placebo. Patients continued their normal course of therapy during the trial.
=============================================A drug currently FDA-approved for use in diabetes shows some protective effects in the brains of patients with relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis, researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine report in a study currently available online in the Journal of Neuroimmunology.
In a small, double-blinded clinical trial, patients with relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis were assigned to take pioglitazone (a drug commercially known as Actos used to treat type-2 diabetes) or a placebo. Patients continued their normal course of therapy during the trial.
May 26, '09: Diagnosing Multiple Sclerosis
Category: Facts about M.S.
Posted by: stuart
At this time, there are no symptoms, physical findings or laboratory tests that can, by themselves, determine if a person has MS. The doctor uses several strategies to determine if a person meets the long-established criteria for a diagnosis of MS and to rule out other possible causes of whatever symptoms the person is experiencing. These strategies include a careful medical history, a neurologic exam and various tests, including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), evoked potentials (EP) and spinal fluid analysis.
Continue reading this article of knowledge by clicking here
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=============================================Continue reading this article of knowledge by clicking here
If not yet receiving our weekly MS Related e-newsletter, called "Stu's Views and MS Related News", then please click this link to complete the registration. It will take less than 30 seconds and you will be rewarded with current MS information to your inbox each week.
*********************************
May 26, '09: Pediatric Multiple Sclerosis (Childhood MS)
Category: Pediatric MS
Posted by: stuart
Although multiple sclerosis occurs most commonly in adults, it is also diagnosed in children and adolescents. Estimates suggest that 8,000-10,000 children (defined as up to 18 years old) in the United States have multiple sclerosis, and another 10,000-15,000 have experienced at least one symptom suggestive of MS.
Facts:
>Studies suggest 2 to 5% of all people with MS have a history of symptom onset before age 18.
Diagnosis in children is more challenging than in adults due to the frequency of other childhood disorders with similar symptoms and characteristics.
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Facts:
>Studies suggest 2 to 5% of all people with MS have a history of symptom onset before age 18.
Diagnosis in children is more challenging than in adults due to the frequency of other childhood disorders with similar symptoms and characteristics.
Category: ADDITIONAL MS Resource Sites
Posted by: stuart
May 25, 2009
Six Questions with Stuart Schlossman of
"Stu's Views and MS News" (an MS advocate, blogger, source for MS information and MS peer).
Click this link, to read this MSF ( MS Foundation) interview
If not yet receiving our weekly MS Related e-newsletter, called "Stu's Views and MS Related News", then please click this link to complete the registration tab found on the MS Views and News Website.
It will take less than 30 seconds and you will be rewarded with current MS information to your inbox each week.
........................................
It will take less than 30 seconds and you will be rewarded with current MS information to your inbox each week.
Category: M.S. Research Study Reports
Posted by: stuart
Source - MSRC-Uk
UMDNJ researchers have identified a key pathway that could lead to new therapies to repair nerve cells’ protective coating stripped away as a result of autoimmune diseases such as Multiple Sclerosis (MS). An article reporting their findings will appear in the May 13 online edition of the Journal of Neuroscience.
Myelin is fatty material that coats and protects the ends of nerve cells. The loss of myelin and myelin-producing cells impairs the ability of nerves to conduct signals. A severe loss may lead to erosion of nerve tissues and result in permanent damage.
“In people with MS that is relapsing-remitting, the body can replace myelin that has been stripped away,” explained Teresa L. Wood, Ph.D., the study’s lead investigator. “But, after repeated attacks, that process of replacement no longer functions well,” she added.
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UMDNJ researchers have identified a key pathway that could lead to new therapies to repair nerve cells’ protective coating stripped away as a result of autoimmune diseases such as Multiple Sclerosis (MS). An article reporting their findings will appear in the May 13 online edition of the Journal of Neuroscience.
Myelin is fatty material that coats and protects the ends of nerve cells. The loss of myelin and myelin-producing cells impairs the ability of nerves to conduct signals. A severe loss may lead to erosion of nerve tissues and result in permanent damage.
“In people with MS that is relapsing-remitting, the body can replace myelin that has been stripped away,” explained Teresa L. Wood, Ph.D., the study’s lead investigator. “But, after repeated attacks, that process of replacement no longer functions well,” she added.
Category: M.S. Research Study Reports
Posted by: stuart
source: MSRC
A new protein identified as critical to insulating the wiring that connects the brain and body could one day be a treatment target for divergent diseases, from rare ones that lower the pain threshold to cancer, Medical College of Georgia researchers say.
They report this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Online Early Edition that in the peripheral nervous system that controls arms and legs, the protein erbin regulates the protein neuregulin 1, stabilizing and interacting with the ErbB2 receptor on Schwann cells so they can make myelin, which insulates the wiring.
Their studies in mice have shown that when erbin is missing or mutated, the insulation is inadequate, slowing communication.
=============================================A new protein identified as critical to insulating the wiring that connects the brain and body could one day be a treatment target for divergent diseases, from rare ones that lower the pain threshold to cancer, Medical College of Georgia researchers say.
They report this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Online Early Edition that in the peripheral nervous system that controls arms and legs, the protein erbin regulates the protein neuregulin 1, stabilizing and interacting with the ErbB2 receptor on Schwann cells so they can make myelin, which insulates the wiring.
Their studies in mice have shown that when erbin is missing or mutated, the insulation is inadequate, slowing communication.
May 08, '09: Positive Results of Stem Cell Transplantation to Treat Multiple Sclerosis: Study May be Key to Unlocking a Cure
Category: Stem Cell Related
Posted by: stuart
Source: Red Orbit
United Spinal Association Reports Positive Results of Stem Cell Transplantation to Treat Multiple Sclerosis: Study May be Key to Unlocking a Cure
Posted on: Friday, 8 May 2009, 07:32 CDT
NEW YORK, May 8 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- An article published in the Summer 2009 edition of Multiple Sclerosis Quarterly Report, a joint publication of United Spinal Association (www.UnitedSpinal.org) and the North American Research Committee on Multiple Sclerosis (NARCOMS), highlights the positive initial results of patients who have improving neurologic function after receiving a stem cell transplant, despite no longer taking any MS medications.
The results are reported in a National Institutes of Health (NIH)-sponsored study called HALT-MS to confirm whether high-dose immunosuppression followed by autologous stem cell transplantation will prevent MS attacks in patients who are not responding to available treatment options and ultimately protect against the degeneration of nerve fibers.
The article, written by George H. Kraft, MD, MS, director of the Western MS Center in Seattle, Washington, and colleagues, reveals the promising outcomes of the first three patients entered into the HALT-MS Study, including a 27-year-old woman with an 8-year history of relapsing MS who was treated with five different MS drugs, but continued to have relapses.
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United Spinal Association Reports Positive Results of Stem Cell Transplantation to Treat Multiple Sclerosis: Study May be Key to Unlocking a Cure
Posted on: Friday, 8 May 2009, 07:32 CDT
NEW YORK, May 8 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- An article published in the Summer 2009 edition of Multiple Sclerosis Quarterly Report, a joint publication of United Spinal Association (www.UnitedSpinal.org) and the North American Research Committee on Multiple Sclerosis (NARCOMS), highlights the positive initial results of patients who have improving neurologic function after receiving a stem cell transplant, despite no longer taking any MS medications.
The results are reported in a National Institutes of Health (NIH)-sponsored study called HALT-MS to confirm whether high-dose immunosuppression followed by autologous stem cell transplantation will prevent MS attacks in patients who are not responding to available treatment options and ultimately protect against the degeneration of nerve fibers.
The article, written by George H. Kraft, MD, MS, director of the Western MS Center in Seattle, Washington, and colleagues, reveals the promising outcomes of the first three patients entered into the HALT-MS Study, including a 27-year-old woman with an 8-year history of relapsing MS who was treated with five different MS drugs, but continued to have relapses.
