The Alberta government says it will spend $1-million to track the results of people who have travelled overseas to have a controversial multiple sclerosis treatment not currently available in Canada.
Health Minister Gene Zwozdesky says the web-based study will help determine whether the province should proceed with a clinical trial of a procedure that opens veins in an MS sufferer’s neck.
More about Alberta to observe MS patients who went abroad for ‘liberation therapy’ – The Globe and Mail
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Aaron Thompson has loved sports since he was in high school. Then, he was a keen basketball player. As a young adult, he continued to enjoy an athletic lifestyle, working out daily even after being diagnosed with relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS), a disease of the central nervous system, when he was 23.
RRMS is characterized by clearly defined attacks followed by periods of partial or complete recovery.
“I was an energetic guy who happened to have multiple sclerosis,” Thompson says.
More about Staying positive while coping with MS
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“The results seem very promising but we don’t have details,” he said, noting they will be presented in early 2011. “Then, we will be much smarter.”
Teva said the laquinimod study comparing efficacy against a placebo met the primary endpoint of reducing annualized relapse rates, and treatment with the drug significantly slowed progression of disability.
More about RPT-UPDATE 2-Teva multiple sclerosis pill shines in big study | Reuters
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Eating purple-coloured fruit such as blueberries “could help ward off Alzheimer’s, Multiple Sclerosis and Parkinson’s”, The Daily Telegraph has reported. The newspaper says the foods act by soaking up harmful iron compounds.
This theory is based on a scientific paper that looked at the chemical and biological actions of iron and chemicals that bind to it. The author summarises a body of evidence that suggests that a form of iron may play a role in many different diseases, also providing a number of simple predictions of how this might occur.
Crucially, this paper only presents a theory, and we do not yet know if the theory is true. Foods that might react with iron, such as blueberries, are also only mentioned in passing in this paper. Stronger evidence is needed to see whether iron plays a role in the development of diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease. If it does, this could be followed by studies looking at how food might intervene in the actions of iron.
More about News claims that purple fruits may combat Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s – Health News – NHS Choices
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Studies on rats by Cambridge and Edinburgh University researchers identified how to help stem cells in the brain regenerate myelin sheath, needed to protect nerve fibres.
MS charities said the “exciting” Nature Neuroscience work offered hope of restoring physical functions.
But they cautioned it would be some years before treatments were developed.
More about BBC News – Study offers hope of ‘repairing’ MS damage
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