You may know that symptoms can get worse when you are too hot and this is because temperature can affect how nerves function. We have been looking into the reasons behind this and can see a way to potentientially reduce this Mark Baker Mechanism of sodium ion movement in optic nerve axons and implications for MS Energy deficit in neurons and axons is part of the zeitgeist of present-day MS...
Specificity of oligoclonal bands…Viruses?
Recombinant antibodies derived from laser captured single plasma cells of multiple sclerosis brain identified phage peptides which may be used as tools for characterizing intrathecal IgG response.Kennedy PGE, Graner MW, Walker D, Pointon T, Fringuello A, Yu X.J Neuroimmunol.2020 Jul 14;347:577319. doi: 10.1016/j.jneuroim.2020.577319. Online ahead of print. Oligoclonal bands and...
Dr Dooley will be happy that their uncited work from 2016 has been repeated….MS drugs affect memory B cells!
Part of the scientific process is repetition, but at some point in time you need to believe it and move one. This study is Open access and so you can read it, but it is further supportive evidence of the memory B cell hypothesis Memory B Cells are Major Targets for Effective Immunotherapy in Relapsing Multiple Sclerosis.Baker D, Marta M, Pryce G, Giovannoni G, Schmierer K. EBioMedicine. 2017;...
Swallowing difficulties in MS
Swallowing difficulty or dysphagia occurs in a third of MS cases. Aside from the discomfort, it is dangerous for small bits of food to go down the wrong way into the lungs rather than in to the gullet. The latter can lead to chest infections (termed aspiration pneumonia), and is the leading cause of death in neurodegenerative conditions including MS. Early review of swallowing by Speech and...
Ker ching
ProfG has been asking questions about the prescribing habits of his colleagues and asks why alemtuzumab and HSCT are not being used by some. I wonder if the other end of the spectrum will be questioned and the use of lower efficacy agents. This is going strong Rome BN, Tessema FA, Kesselheim AS. US Spending Associated With Transition From Daily to 3-Times-Weekly Glatiramer Acetate [published...
Remyelination. Is this war amongst scientists?
Remyelination is a hot topic In the paper below they say “The view that differentiation of OPC into mature myelinating oligodendrocytes is required for successful remyelination in humans has been challenged recently. Measuring the integration of 14C derived from nuclear testing into DNA of oligodendroglial lineage cells Yeung et al. suggest that pre-existing oligodendrocytes and not...
How to reduce the time to Siponimod
How to reduce the delay of diagnosing secondary progression in multiple sclerosis. Hernan Inojosa, Tjalf Ziemssen July 22, 2020 Letterhttps://doi.org/10.1177/1352458520943799 Do you have secondary progressive MS?. This article points you to a tool devleoped by Novartis who are the makers of Siponimod . This has been licenced for secondary progressive MS so you need to know when this begins It is...
#MSCOVID19 Goes Dutch
Here is the Dutch experience. Here, we provide an extensive overview of all reported COVID-19 cases in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients in the Netherlands between 27 February and 9 June 2020, gathered by the Dutch MS Taskforce of the Netherlands Society of Neurology. A total of 86 MS patients were reported, 43 of whom tested positive for COVID-19. Of 43 patients who tested positive, 22 patients...
Don’t Get MS under control and you lose Brain!
WBV = whole brain volume This is the extension study of ocrelizumab when people who had taken beta interferon were switched onto ocrelizumab and compared to ocrelizumab. You can read what the medical writer, drafted for the authors, I mean drafted in response to the input from the authors:-). You can have a read, but the important point is this the brain volume lost in the 2 years of being put on...
Progresssive trials its all sorted or is it?
Serum neurofilament light as a biomarker in progressive multiple sclerosis.Kapoor R, Smith KE, Allegretta M, Arnold DL, Carroll W, Comabella M, Furlan R, Harp C, Kuhle J, Leppert D, Plavina T, Sellebjerg F, Sincock C, Teunissen CE, Topalli I, von Raison F, Walker E, Fox RJ.Neurology. 2020 Jul 16:10.1212/WNL.0000000000010346 There is an unmet need in multiple sclerosis (MS) therapy for treatments...