As a vegan what supplements do I need to take? I am in the process of researching the dietary landscape for people with MS and will not be ready to make any firm recommendations for some time, but I can make a recommendation of what diets to avoid. The first is a strict vegan diet without supplements. My index patient was an Asian woman, in her mid-20s, with RRMS who referred for a second opinion...
Effect of cladribine tablets on lymphocyte reduction and repopulation dynamics in patients with relapsing multiple sclerosis.Comi G, Cook S, Giovannoni G, Rieckmann P, Sørensen PS, Vermersch P, Galazka A, Nolting A, Hicking C, Dangond F. Mult Scler Relat Disord. 2019 Apr;29:168-174. BACKGROUND: Immune reconstitution therapies (IRT) for patients with multiple sclerosis are used for short...
This the first of our Barts-MS non-personalised, more factual, blog posts. We, Barts-MS, hope you will find this format more agreeable. Happiness is associated with better health outcomes, which may apply to people living with MS and their families. More research needs to be done in this area before any definitive statements can be made in relation to applying happiness therapy as part of the...
There is mounting evidence that the brain blood supply is affected in MS. Perfusion MRI studies have found that blood flow is globally impaired in the normal appearing brain of both relapsing and progressive forms of MS. Interestingly, there appears to be an association between this and cognitive (memory and intelligence) dysfunction in MS. In animal models, chronic hypoperfusion of the brain...
Background: Pathologic changes in cortical gray matter (GM) and leptomeninges contribute to disability worsening in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), but there is little evidence whether disease-modifying treatments can slow down cortical pathology in MS. Objectives: To investigate the effect of teriflunomide (TFM) and dimethyl fumarate (DMF) in reducing cortical...
One of the beauties of getting older without Alzheimers is that you still have a memory. So a new study from the lab of Prof Franklinstein finds another new target to get repair. Transforming growth factor-beta renders ageing microglia inhibitory to oligodendrocyte generation by CNS progenitors.Baror R, Neumann B, Segel M, Chalut KJ, Fancy SPJ, Schafer DP, Franklin RJM. Glia. 2019 Mar 12. doi: 10...
This post has been moved to Medium. From now on Prof G will do all personal postings on Medium. He will continue to post on this platform but will be limiting his posts on the Barts-MS blog to factual content, no random personal musings and no off-beat MS topics.
Response to therapy is the ultimate human experiment. It can tell us so much more than thousands of animal experiments. A successful trial tells us a load, but likewise a failed trial, if done properly and many failed trials are not done properly I would say, tells us alot. Now it may tell us something we don’t want to hear and a good example is the effect of anti-CD20 (Ocrelizumab for...
Demyelination precedes axonal loss in the transneuronal spread of human neurodegenerative disease. You Y, Joseph C, Wang C, Gupta V, Liu S, Yiannikas C, Chua BE, Chitranshi N, Shen T, Dheer Y, Invernizzi A, Borotkanics R, Barnett M, Graham SL, Klistorner A. Brain. 2019 Jan 19. doi: 10.1093/brain/awy338. [Epub ahead of print] The spread of neurodegeneration through the human brain network is...
Prof G why are you missing the annual UK MS Debating Society meeting?
This is a summary of my talk at the ACTRIMS 2019 Forum, describing the current state of research using a technique called “metabolomics” in MS patients. The term refers to the measurement of levels of small molecules (for example glucose) in blood or spinal fluid (could be any body fluid). Most metabolomics studies utilize one of two platforms to measure metabolites: nuclear magnetic resonance...