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"Why is MS so like an iceberg? It is the one analogy I like best." [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

We post on CCSVI on the last saturday of the month. Looks like today there has been a group meeting here. When there is something positive to report it will be reported, when there is something negative to report...it will be reported. We have no vested interest in this. There is no conspiracy by neuros not to talk to the vascular radiologists, many countries are spending millions of dollars on this [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Is MS a pink-ribbon disease? #MSblog #MSResearch Epub: Alcalde-Cabero et al. Incidence of multiple sclerosis among European Economic Area populations, 1985-2009: the framework for monitoring.BMC Neurol. 2013 Jun 12;13(1):58.  BACKGROUND: A debate surrounding multiple sclerosis epidemiology has centred on time-related incidence increases and the need of monitoring. The purpose of this study is to reassess multiple sclerosis incidence in the European Economic Area. METHODS: These investigators' conducted a systematic review of literature from 1965 onwards and integrated elements of original research, including requested or completed data by surveys authors and specific analyses. RESULTS: The review of 5323 documents yielded ten studies for age- and sex-specific analyses, and 21 studies for time-trend analysis of single data sets. After 1985, the incidence of multiple sclerosis ranged from 1.12 to 6.96 per 100,000 population, was higher in females, tripled with latitude, and... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Karimi et al. The relation of multiple sclerosis with allergy and atopy: a case control study. Iran J Allergy Asthma Immunol. 2013;12(2):182-9. Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and Allergy are believed to up regulate T helper cell type 1 (Th1) and T helper cell type 2 (Th2) responses, respectively. It has been shown that disequilibrium in the ratio of Th1/Th2 activities may increase frequency of one disease and decrease the frequency of the other. The aim of this study was to investigate the relation of MS with allergy and atopy in new diagnosed MS patients. This case-control study was conducted on 40 new diagnosed MS patients and the same number of normal controls. All of the patients were diagnosed (according to McDonald criteria) at most 2 years prior to the study. Demographic data and clinical characteristics of both groups were recorded in a questionnaire. The total IgE and allergen specific IgE in the serum were measured in all the cases. Forty MS patients (female/male: 4.71) with mean... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Nakatani et al. Ascl1/Mash1 Promotes Brain Oligodendrogenesis during Myelination and Remyelination.mJ Neurosci. 2013 Jun 5;33(23):9752-9768. Oligodendrocytes are the myelin-forming cells of the CNS. They differentiate from oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPCs) that are produced from progenitors throughout life but more actively during the neonatal period and in response to demyelinating insults. An accurate regulation of oligodendrogenesis is required to generate oligodendrocytes during these developmental or repair processes.  We hypothesized that this regulation implicates transcription factors (things that initiate or help turn genes into proteins) , which are expressed by OPCs and/or their progenitors (immature myelinating cells). Ascl1/Mash1 is a proneural (something that helps promote nerves) transcription factor previously implicated in embryonic oligodendrogenesis (production of myelinating cells during development) and operating in genetic interaction with Olig2... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Alemtuzumab reduces the rate of brain atrophy compared to interferon-beta and protects brain tissue integrity. #MSBlog #MSResearch "As you can see from the 4 studies below Alemtuzumab (aka Campath or Campath-1h) has a positive effect on brain atrophy, when compared to interferon-beta. It slows the rate of brain shrinkage. In addition it has a positive effect on an MRI metric called MTR that is a measure of tissue integrity." "The fact that Alemtuzumab does not stop brain atrophy is not surprising; all of us lose brain volume. Brain volume loss in MS is probably a delayed phenomenon from previous damage years earlier. The process by which nerve cells and their processes (axons) degenerate takes months to years to run its course. Therefore, it will be very interesting to see if Alemtuzumab normalises brain atrophy rates after 2 years? That will be the litmus test. If that is the case it will be protecting brain reserve and hopefully allow you to reach old age with sufficient brain to... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Wang Y, Marling SJ, McKnight SM, Danielson AL, Severson KS, Deluca HF. Suppression of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis by 300-315 nm ultraviolet light. Arch Biochem Biophys. 2013 Jun 5. doi:pii: S0003-9861(13)00168-9. 10.1016/j.abb.2013.05.010. [Epub ahead of print] Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic debilitating disease, with lowest incidence in equatorial regions and highest incidence in temperate regions. This relationship is believed to be related to sunlight or UV light exposure. Recent evidence with experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), an animal model of MS, established that this suppression is not mediated by vitamin D production. UV is comprised of three general wave bands: UVC (100-280 nm), UVB (280-320 nm) and UVA (320-400 nm). In the present study we used four lamps that emit different wavelengths of UV: (1) broad band UVB (BB-UVB: 280-320 nm); (2) narrow band UVB (NB-UVB: 300-315 nm); (3) broad band UVA (BB-UVA: 300-400 nm); and (4) long wavelength... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

A medical test previously developed to measure a toxin found in tobacco smokers has been adapted to measure the same toxin in people suffering from spinal cord injuries and multiple sclerosis, offering a potential tool to reduce symptoms.

News on the wire is that GlaxoSmithKline's research chief in China fired for data fraud. There is an allegation that there has been a misrepresentation of a paper published in Nature medicine.  Liu X, Leung S, Wang C, Tan Z, Wang J, Guo TB, Fang L, Zhao Y, Wan B, Qin X, Lu L, Li R, Pan H, Song M, Liu A, Hong J, Lu H, Zhang JZ. Crucial role of interleukin-7 in T helper type 17 survival and expansion in autoimmune disease. Nat Med. 2010 Feb;16(2):191-7. Interleukin-7 receptor (IL-7R) is genetically associated with susceptibility to multiple sclerosis. Here we describe that IL-7 is essential for survival and expansion of pathogenic T helper type 17 (T(H)17) cells in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). IL-7 directly expanded effector T(H)17 cells in EAE and human T(H)17 cells from subjects with multiple sclerosis, whereas it was not required for T(H)17 differentiation. IL-7R antagonism rendered differentiated T(H)17 cells susceptible to apoptosis through the... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Daclizumab SELECTION results. Slide presentation from the ENS. #MSBlog #MSResearch Giovannoni et al  Efficacy and safety of daclizumab high-yield process (DAC HYP) treatment in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis: results from the SELECTION extension study. Multiple Sclerosis III: Other Objective: Results from the SELECT trial, a 1-year study of the efficacy and safety of daclizumab high-yield process (DAC HYP) in RRMSers, have been reported. SELECTION was a 52-week extension study to evaluate the safety and efficacy of extended treatment with DAC HYP and assess the impact of a 24-week treatment interruption.  Methods: 517 MSers were randomised in SELECTION. MSers who received placebo in SELECT (n=170) were randomised to subcutaneous 150mg or 300mg DAC HYP every 4 weeks. MSers who received 150mg or 300mg DAC HYP in SELECT were randomized to continue their current dose or to a 24-week treatment interruption before resuming their original dose. Because efficacy data... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

"What do you think of this of short animation? It tries to explain the impact of MS on the brain; in the other words the early phases of MS Dementia." Disclaimer: This animation is part of a series of animations on a MSer website, called "MS and Our Story"; I note the site is sponsored by Novartis. Novartis are a Pharma Company that produce and market a drug called Gilenya (Fingolimod) that is licensed to treat relapsing forms of MS. "Should we rebrand MS as dementia? Have your say?" [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Epub: Cui et al. Oligodendrocyte Progenitor Cell Susceptibility to Injury in Multiple Sclerosis. Am J Pathol. 2013 Jun 4. doi:pii: S0002-9440(13)00334-9. Remyelination in multiple sclerosis (MS) is often incomplete. In experimental models, oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPCs) rather than previously myelinating oligodendrocytes (OLs) are responsible for remyelination. This study compares the relative susceptibility of adult human OPCs and mature OLs to injury in actively demyelinating MS lesions and under in vitro stress conditions.  In all lesions (n = 20), the relative number of mature OLs (Olig2 weak/NogoA positive) was reduced compared to control white matter (mean 38 ± 4% of control value). In 11 cases, relative OPC numbers (Olig2 strong; NogoA negative) were also decreased; in eight of these, the percentage reduction was greater for OPCs than for mature OLs. In the other nine samples, relative OPC numbers were greater than control white matter, indicating... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Will the latest JCV lab study prove to be due to contamination? #MSBlog #MSResearch "The following study may, or may not, be important. These investigators' find JC virus, the cause of PML, in blood sample of MSers who do not have antibodies to the virus. This implies the antibody test is not good enough to detect carriers of the virus and imply that these MSers are potentially at increased risk of PML.""I am sceptical of the results. Why? Simply because our immune systems are so good at detecting and responding to viruses that the results are not credible. Our immune systems seldom lie; they may forget when we get older or when we hit them with an immunosuppressant sledgehammer, but they seldom ignore foreign  agents in such a systematic way." "In addition, this study is not supported by other studies published in the literature on this topic. Therefore this study needs to be reproduced by not one but several laboratories.""I would like to see what efforts these investigators... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

"For me the best thing about going to conferences is that it allows you thinking time, and time to interact with like minded colleagues. After my platform presentation on early aggressive treatment several European neurologists came up to me and suggested we form a lobby group to get the EMA to change their philosophy regarding treating MS. I agree if we don't do it who will? We have to be advocates for the people we are looking after." "At the moment we can't offer highly effective therapies to MSers in Europe as first line therapies. This is a great tragedy. By the time we have cycled active MSers through first-line therapies to show they don't work MSers with active MS have lost brain. They may have developed cognitive impairment that is irreversible and will almost certainly have lost brain reserve that they need in the future to deal with the ravages of ageing." "Time is brain!" "Tell me of another chronic, destructive, progressive disease in which we wait before treating?... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

"This is a post from earlier this year; 24 March 2013. It uses an analogy of  train crash to explain what is happening in MS." "Peter Stys has agreed to allow us to reproduce his train crash analogy that he uses to propose an alternate interpretation of the pathology of MS. It makes a lot of sense to those of us close to the field. I hope you enjoy it." Dr Stys is a basic scientist at the University of Calgary. His research is focused on understanding normal physiology and cellular and molecular injury mechanisms of axons, myelin and glial cells in the mammalian nervous system. He believes these insights will drive the development for more effective therapies for common and debilitating disorders such as multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injury, brain trauma and stroke. photograph: Ingo Wagner Because we know how trains work, we know that a loose rail very quickly results in a stereotyped response of derailed train, bystander damage (overpass taken out), infiltration of... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

( Purdue University ) A medical test previously developed to measure a toxin found in tobacco smokers has been adapted to measure the same toxin in people suffering from spinal cord injuries and multiple sclerosis, offering a potential tool to reduce symptoms.

"The post on re-branding MS as dementia has generated heated debate. MouseDoc and I think this sort of post needs more air time for us to explain the concept in more detail and the rationale for our proposal(s). One way for engaging with you, our readers, in real time is to do a monthly Webinar or Twitter Chat." "Before committing our resources to this project, which are strained at the moment, we would need to get some input from you. The plan would be to run them every month on a  a topic that is suggested by you. To get the initiative off the ground we would do the first one on "Re-branding MS as a Dementia". The subscription rates for access to webinar software depends on the number of users; therefore we need to know if this would be of interest to you or not." Loading... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Müller et al.Width of 3. Ventricle: reference values and clinical relevance in a cohort of patients with relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis. Open Neurol J. 2013 May 3;7:11-6. OBJECTIVE: To estimate the quantity of multiple sclerosis (MS) patients with brain atrophy as indicated by third ventricular enlargement using transcranial colourcoded ultrasound (TCCS). METHODS: The width of the 3. ventricle was assessed by TCCS in 70 healthy controls (male 31, female 39, mean age 41 ± 15 years, age range 18 - 79 years), and in a cohort of 54 patients with relapsing remitting MS (male 16, female 38, mean age 40 ± 10 years, median EDSS 2 [1-3]). RESULTS: In the controls, the width of the 3. ventricle increased with age (without any sex differences) from 3.0 ± 0.76 mm in the age group < 40 years to 4.0 ± 0.74 mm in the age group of 60 years or more (ANOVA p=0.0001). Derived from regression analysis, the upper limit of the 95% Confidence Interval for each year provided... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

ROCKVILLE, Md., June 13, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Synthetic Biologics, Inc. (NYSE MKT: SYN), a developer of biologics focused on the prevention and treatment of serious infectious diseases, announced today ...

The Neurosciences Institute at Abington Memorial Hospital recently opened the Multiple Sclerosis Center to diagnose, treat and improve the overall quality of life of those affected by Multiple Sclerosis (MS). (PRWeb June 13, 2013) Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/6/prweb10827744.htm