Recovery from MS relapses is variable. The factors influencing persistence of residual disability (RD) after a relapse are still to be thoroughly elucidated. This study out of the University of Turin in Italy, sought to assess RD after MS relapses and to define the factors associated with persistence of RD. The full article can [...]

This article, published in the European Journal of Radiology, identifies MS as a chronic, persistent inflammatory-demyelinating disease of the central nervous system that typically presents as an acute clinically isolated syndrome attributable to a monofocal or multifocal demyelinating lesion, which usually affects the optic nerve, spinal cord, or brainstem and cerebellum.

According to a study published in the January 2005 issue of Journal of the American Medical Association exposure to an infant sibling in the first 6 years of life was associated with a reduced risk of multiple sclerosis (MS) among 408 people studied in Tasmania, Australia. A history of exposure to infants was also associated [...]

Context
Infection with common viruses, particularly Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), has been postulated to contribute to the pathobiology of MS. Detailed virological studies in pediatric MS have not been previously reported.
Objective
To evaluate whether children with MS are more likely to be seropositive for EBV or other common viruses than their healthy age-matched peers.
Design, Setting, and Patients
Case-control study [...]

Over 30% of people with multiple sclerosis (MS) suffer from swallowing symptoms, a higher rate than previously assumed. Neurogenic dysphagia (ND) may cause many different kinds of oropharyngeal sensorimotor dysfunctions in people with MS, and is associated with both the amount of disability and brainstem signs. About 15% of people with MS with mild disability [...]

Tuula Tyry, PhD, MAED, Program Manager, NARCOMS Project— Barrow Neurological Institute, St. Joseph’s Hospital, Phoenix, AZ
Introduction
The NARCOMS MS Patient Registry continues to grow and, as of June 2004, has over 24,000 active participants. Online participation has climbed to 66%, which is a much appreciated and cost-saving trend that we hope will continue. In this [...]

Angiotech Pharmaceuticals, Inc., of Vancouver, B.C., Canada, announced in February that it would not be continuing development of micellar paclitaxel (also known as Paxceed®) as a possible treatment for secondary progressive MS. The company said the drug, “failed to meet statistical significance” in a double blind, placebo-controlled treatment trial. The study involved 174 people with [...]

According to a recently published study, relatives of patients with MS have a higher risk of developing MS than the general population. The study to evaluate risk involved 30 relatives of patients at the Department of Neurology, Medical Academy in Lodz, Poland, and the Department of Neuroscience, Scientific Institute and University Ospedale San Raffaele, in [...]

Researchers at the State University of New York at Buffalo and the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center recently reported on the association between regional measures of cortical atrophy and neuropsychological (NP) dysfunction found in a study of 35 patients with MS.
Patients underwent neurological examination, MRI, and NP testing. Blind quantitative MRI analysis yielded total [...]

Sexual dysfunction is a highly prevalent symptom of MS with little published research on effective treatments. A pilot study at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, NY, tested the efficacy of a counseling intervention in 9 couples utilizing a quasi-experimental research design. The intervention consisted of 12 counseling sessions, communication [...]

Studies in mice suggest that popular cholesterol-lowering statin drugs might someday double as treatment for MS. Mice prone to an MS-like disease showed reversal or prevention of symptoms after being fed doses of Lipitor® (atorvastatin), according to researcher Dr. Sawsan Youssef of Stanford University in California.
Previous studies have suggested that the statin class of [...]

Researchers have found a new therapy that can alleviate the fatigue that often accompanies MS. Many therapies have been developed to treat symptoms of MS, but few have helped, to any degree, the excessive and debilitating fatigue that is characteristic of MS. Now researchers have found that modafinil, also known as Provigil®‚ significantly increased [...]

A Rockefeller University research team led by Sidney Strickland has reported the identification of the blood clotting factor fibrin as a critical protein in the regulation of regeneration of the myelin sheath following injury. MS is characterized by damage to nerve fibers’ “myelin sheaths,” the thick layers of specialized insulating cells that normally wrap [...]

In early March the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Serono’s Rebif® (interferon beta-1a) for the treatment of relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis (MS), thereby breaking the orphan status of Biogen’s Avonex®‚ (interferon beta-1a). The two drugs are similar.
The approval of Rebif® was based upon data from the PRISMS study and the head-to-head EVIDENCE [...]

News Flash From the American Academy of Neurology (AAN)
There is a potential new treatment for people with severe cases of MS, according to research presented during the American Academy of Neurology’s 54th Annual Meeting in Denver in April. The new treatment involves removing stem cells from the patients’ blood, killing the cells that are working [...]