** Stu's Views & M.S. News **: 4/1/10

ABOUT this BLOG and How to use it

WELCOME to Stu's Views & MS News. A product of MS Views and News, a Not-for-Profit [501c3] organization that was founded in 2008, that provides educational Multiple Sclerosis information via live seminars and via the internet.

Our Mission is dedicated to the global collection and distribution of current information concerning Multiple Sclerosis via the Internet and Live Seminars.

Key-Notes: Our live seminars average approx 60 people per educational program. Our blog is visited over 2900 times per week and our website is visited by thousands each month.

Register at our website to receive our globally transmitted Multiple Sclerosis e-newsletter, currently being received in (88) Countries.

On the left side of this page find: Blog Directory, Blog Archives, Recent Blog Posts (most recent blogged titles). Use the Blog Search box (to enter a keyword). Find Resources (LOTS of resources), See our Facebook information AND Links to other MS Organizations / bloggers. .. At the Bottom of this page, find: Resourceful informational videos and some for fun.

Please SCROLL through this entire blog site to see all that we provide to keep those affected by MS (Patients and Caregivers), up-to-date and informed with information, education and resources.

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Friday, April 30, 2010

MSVN to host an MS education program in Ft. Lauderdale

MSV&N invites you to attend this MS Education Program

"Staying on Your MS Treatment"

and

“Urological Implications on MS”

Presented by:

Brian Steingo, MD – Neurology

To Discuss: The importance of staying on your MS Therapy

and

Bill Pintauro, MD – Urology

To Discuss: Neurologic Issues concerning the bladder

Where: The Signature Grand Catering Center

6900 W State Road 84 - Davie,FL 33317

Google Map

When: Tuesday, May 11th, 2010

6:00pm - Registration

6:30 - Program and Dinner

RSVP required: To obtain a confirmation number

Please Contact Stuart at (954) 684-1683

Or send an email to: stuart@msviewsandnews.org

Limited to the MS Patient & (1) caregiver

Program Supported through an educational grant from Biogen-Idec

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The Viking Hypothesis the global distribution of certain northern-European genes which appear to be present in cases of MS

Information provided by Terence in Spain.

RESEARCHERS working on the island of Sicily recently discovered that Enna has an unexpectedly high and rising incidence of MS¹. This, in the warm wine/oil-growing region of the Mediterranean where the incidence of MS is supposedly lower than in northern Europe. It was Dr. Roy L. Swank, MD Ph.D in his book based on years of study, research and experience with MS patients who noticed that is was the beer-drinking, bread-eating people of northern Europe who were more susceptible to the disease and he suggested the problem was possibly due to their wheat-based diet. But is there another reason?

Click here to read more of this interesting story

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Remain up-to-date and Informed with Multiple Sclerosis News and Information. If not yet receiving the"Stu's Views and MS Related News", weekly M.S. e-newsletter, then please take 20 seconds to register at: http://www.msviewsandnews.org. - - Thank you -

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The most detailed genetic investigation ever of multiple sclerosis has produced more questions than answers

A Twins Study, Deepens Multiple Sclerosis Mystery

By Brandon Keim
April 28, 2010

Using extremely fine-grained analytical tools, scientists compared genetic information in three sets of identical twins. One of each pair had MS, and the other didn’t — yet their genes proved essentially identical.

“We find no smoking gun on the genetic level,” said National Center for Genome Resources geneticist Stephen Kingsmore, co-author of the study published April 28 in Nature.

The research cost $1.5 million, and the scientists took 18 months to sequence 2.8 billion DNA units in each twin, and determine whether they came from the mother or father. Most genomic comparisons look for differences in a just handful of suspect genes, and even whole-genome approaches don’t differentiate between parental contributions.

The researchers also analyzed the twins’ CD4 cells, a type of white blood cell that plays a central role in the development of MS. In these cells, the researchers sequenced epigenomes — chemical instructions that turn genes on and off — and transcriptomes, or a chemical record of genes that are actively coding proteins.

These multiple layers of information represent the cutting edge of genomic analysis, and are expected to reveal what rougher tools cannot. “This was a technical tour de force, and potentially represents a new way of looking at disease states,” said Kingsmore. Nevertheless, they found no differences.

The absence of genetic differences doesn’t mean that genetics are irrelevant to multiple sclerosis. Identical twins, who are descended from the same egg, are six times more likely to develop MS than non-identical twins, who come from two different eggs.

It’s still possible that some as-yet-unknown genetic factor, undetectable by even the most advanced tools, may explain the discordance in the study. However, Kingsmore thinks the culprit is probably an unknown environmental influence. “There must be a nongenetic factor, probably environmental,” that combines with known genetic and environmental risks, he said.

The researchers would like to look at more twins, and other types of cells. Even so, the study “was a pioneering effort on a scale that hasn’t been done before,” said Kingsmore. “We’re left with this mystery.”

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Mouse DNA Stops Progression Of Multiple Sclerosis

By Dayle Cedars, 7NEWS Reporter

Patients Get Infusion Of Tysabri Every Four Weeks

AURORA, Colo. -- A tiny creature could hold the key to stopping the progression of multiple sclerosis. DNA from a mouse is being infused into patients. It's FDA approved and patients are seeing results.

"I am not expecting a cure," said Violet Lotito, who suffers from MS. "I am just expecting some help."

Lotito loves being in the middle of the mix -- either substitute teaching or cutting and styling hair.

But recently she couldn't even stand, let alone work. Her MS got so bad, life wasn't fun.

"The benefit hasn't gone higher than the risk until now," said Lotito. "Now that my symptoms have increased it is time to do something."

Lotito turned to infusions of a drug called tysabri -- a monoclonal antibody that contains DNA from a mouse and a human.

"Monoclonal antibodies are designed in the lab and they are specifically targeted toward specific molecules on white blood cells," said Dr. John Corboy, of University of Colorado Hospital.

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PLEASE DONATE to MSVN :
www.donations.msviewsandnews.org

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Bill Bradbury has put his multiple sclerosis front and center in his campaign

By Anna Griffin, The Oregonian

April 29, 2010,

Let's play the "what if" game.

You're a candidate for major public office. You suffer from a debilitating physical condition. You're running against a guy who looks and acts like the Marlboro Man, if the Marlboro Man fought cancer instead of encouraging it.

Do you downplay your health problems. Highlight them?

Bill Bradbury figures he doesn't have a choice. When he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis 30 years ago, the symptoms were barely noticeable. When he ran for the senate in 2002, the only sign was a minor limp. Bradbury scoffed then at suggestions that he talk much about it.

Today, the Democratic gubernatorial candidate has enough trouble controlling his leg muscles that he uses a Segway scooter to get around. The slow progression of the illness is obvious enough that there was almost no debate within his campaign about making the condition, in which a person's immune system attacks the insulation around their nerves, a centerpiece of his TV and radio campaigns.

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"Providing You with 'MS Views and News', is What We Do"

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When and where people are born may affect their odds of developing multiple sclerosis

April 29, 2010, Bloomberg Business Week

Sunlight May Play Role in Multiple Sclerosis Risk

Adequate vitamin D in months before birth could be key, Australian study suggests

THURSDAY, April 29 (HealthDay News) -- When and where people are born may affect their odds of developing multiple sclerosis, according to researchers who found that children born in the early summer months in the Southern Hemisphere are more likely to develop multiple sclerosis than those born in early winter.

A similar pattern has been found in the Northern Hemisphere, where the summer and winter months are the reverse of those in the Southern Hemisphere. The researchers think the higher disease rates may have something to do with the children's mothers getting less exposure to sunlight during pregnancy.

Scientists have linked low vitamin D levels to higher rates of multiple sclerosis, and sunlight boosts vitamin D levels. Click here to continue

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"Providing You with 'MS Views and News', is What We Do"

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Study: Environment Plays Major Role in Development of Multiple Sclerosis

April 29, 2010 By Jessica Berman

A new study concludes that young adults genetically predisposed to developing multiple sclerosis, a crippling neurodegenerative disease, could be at greater risk of developing that condition because of environmental factors.

Multiple sclerosis, or M.S.,affects an estimated 1.2 million people worldwide. The progressive disease leaves many of its victims unable to walk unassisted. It mostly strikes women of northern European descent.

M.S. is an auto-immune disorder, caused when the patient's own immune system attacks the myelin sheath that covers human nerve cells. Myelin plays a vital role in speeding nerve impulses to the rest of the body and its destruction can eventually cause disability.

Researchers have long suspected that M.S. is caused in people who are predisposed to the disease by a combination of inherited genetic mutations and an environmental trigger, such as a viral infection or living in temperate climates since the disease is rare in those of African and Middle Eastern descent who live close to the Equator.

Now, a team of scientists has discovered that some people with genetic mutations for M.S. in their DNA never develop the disease. They conducted an exhaustive genetic analysis of three sets of identical twins - including two female pairs - and found no biological explanation for why, in 30 percent of the cases, one twin developed MS and the other one did not.

Continue reading from the 6th Paragraph

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"Providing You with 'MS Views and News', is What We Do"

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Thursday, April 29, 2010

Low Vitamin D Levels Are Related to MS Brain Atrophy, Cognitive Function, Studies Show

Release Date: April 28, 2010

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Low vitamin D levels may be associated with more advanced physical disability and cognitive impairment in persons with multiple sclerosis, studies conducted by neurologists at the University at Buffalo have shown.

Their results, reported at the American Academy of Neurology meeting, held earlier this month, indicated that:

• The majority of MS patients and healthy controls had insufficient vitamin D levels.

• Clinical evaluation and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) images show low blood levels of total vitamin D and certain active vitamin D byproducts are associated with increased disability, brain atrophy and brain lesion load in MS patients.

• A potential association exists between cognitive impairment in MS patients and low vitamin D levels

Click here to continue reading

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Environmental factors likely play a role in multiple sclerosis

Source: Los Angeles Times - April 28, 2010

Speculation about the cause of multiple sclerosis includes genes and environmental factors. A study published Thursday supplies strong evidence that environmental factors play a critical role.

Multiple sclerosis is a disease in which the immune system goes awry and attacks healthy tissue in the body. Researchers at UC San Francisco conducted the most advanced gene analysis ever on identical twins in which one twin has MS and the other does not. The analysis did not yield evidence for genetic differences that could explain why one sibling had the disease and the other did not. Nor did researchers find any differences in the epigenome -- mechanisms that change the way genes are expressed apart from changes in DNA -- to explain the disease in one twin.

Exactly what environmental factors contribute to causing MS is still unknown, however. The leading theory is that a virus triggers the immune system reaction that leads to the disease. Smoking and vitamin D deficiency have also been suggested as possible environmental contributors. But, "the results put us a step closer to teasing out the relative contributions of genetic and environmental factors on multiple sclerosis," the lead author of the study, Sergio Baranzini, said in a news release.

The findings do not mean genes don't play a role in the disease. When one identical twin has MS, there is 30% increased risk that the identical sibling will develop it. That compares with an increased risk of only 5% for a nonidentical twin.

The study is in the current issue of the journal Nature.

-- Shari Roan

Photo: A doctor uses a fluorescent microscope to view a brain section of a patient with MS. Credit: Julia Malakie / Associated Press