Barts-MS rose-tinted-odometer: ★★★★★ #UseItOrLoseIt I am receiving an increasing number of emails and messages via my social media channels asking me for an update on how I am doing. I am continuing to improve slowly. I still have pain in my pelvis as a result of the fractures I sustained. However, the pain is manageable and I have stopped all my analgesics except a once-daily dose of an...
Barts-MS rose-tinted-odometer: ★★★★★★★★★★ Would you volunteer to participate in a clinical trial of an antiviral drug cocktail to suppress MS disease activity, in particular smouldering MS? There is reasonable evidence in the literature that HERVs (human endogenous retroviruses) may play a role in autoimmunity, in particular MS. HERVs are viruses (genetic code) that have been incorporated into...
Barts-MS rose-tinted-odometer: ★★★ (some readers have asked for this feature to stay) How old are you? It depends. You may be aware that there can be a disconnect between your chronological or actual age and your biological age. As ageing or senescence is a biological process driven by metabolic, genomic and environmental factors you can see how there can be a disconnect between the two. As a...
As 2021 rapidly speeds up and COVID-19 leaves its trail of destruction it is clear to see how important general and brain health is for resilience against disease and its broader impact. These lessons go beyond COVID-19 and apply to any disease. This is why our #BrainHealth #TimeMatters campaign is so important for people with MS (pwMS) and the general public and why prehabilitation needs to...
During my physical rehabilitation exercise session yesterday I realised that I have not reflected on the New Year from an MS or personal perspective be it MS research, MS clinical practice or my personal life. I suspect I have been distracted by my injuries and recovery and that the COVID-19 pandemic has pushed the New Year transition into the future. The political mayhem across the world has...
The Association of British Neurologists has also published COVID-19 vaccine guidelines.
CoI: multiple
The new MSIF International COVID-19 guidelines have just been published.
CoI: multiple
There has been a lot of comments on this blog about private carers and private healthcare workers not been eligible for COVID-19 vaccination under the current NHS England vaccine priority system. I have just discovered that government guidelines don’t distinguish between public or private employees. So if you are an active healthcare worker, working in the private sector, you are eligible...
Barts-MS rose-tinted-odometer: ★ My prediction or dream for 2021 is that smouldering MS will be accepted by the wider MS community as being the ‘real MS’ and that simply suppressing the immune response to what is causing MS, i.e. relapses and/or focal MRI activity, will be accepted as folly. What matters most to pwMS will be their end-organ, i.e. the size, reserve capacity and function of their...
Barts-MS rose-tinted-odometer: zero-★s The scale and intensity of the 2nd or 3rd wave of COVID-19 in London, the SouthEast of England and now in the remainder of the UK is worrying. It is being blamed on a new more infectious ‘British’ variant of SARS-CoV-2. This variant has many more mutations in its RNA genome and resulting changes in its protein structure. Most pundits are confident that this...