Neurology
Bee sting therapy no help in multiple sclerosis
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Bee sting therapy is not effective in treating the symptoms of multiple sclerosis (MS), and does not improve quality of life, according to the first controlled study to investigate the alternative treatment in MS patients.
Patients with MS should not undergo bee venom therapy “unless better evidence to justify its use becomes available,” warn Dr. Jacques De Keyser of the University Medical Center Groningen in The Netherlands and colleagues in the journal Neurology this month.
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Not Caused by Workplace Computer Use
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A new Special Health Report from Harvard Medical School refutes the common assumption that computer use causes carpal tunnel syndrome. Instead, says this report edited by Harvard-based hand experts, carpal tunnel syndrome is caused by the compression of the median nerve in the wrist. This compression may occur because of heredity, body weight, fracture, or even pregnancy—but not computer use.
This 40-page report, “Hands: Strategies for strong, pain-free hands,” also explains the many causes of hand pain and describes the exercises, therapies, and medications used to treat them.
Evidence Links Cocaine Abuse and Parkinson’s Disease
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Adults who abuse cocaine might increase their risk of developing Parkinson’s disease (PD), and pregnant women who abuse cocaine could increase the risk of their children developing PD later in life, according to results of laboratory studies performed by investigators at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
The study’s findings are important because there are currently more than 2 million cocaine abusers in the US today, the researchers said. Many individuals who abused the drug during the height of the cocaine abuse epidemic of the 1970s and 1980s are now entering their older years, when symptoms of PD are likely to emerge.
Testosterone Therapy May Help Elderly Men with Mild Alzheimer Disease
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Testosterone replacement therapy may help improve the quality of life for elderly men with mild cases of Alzheimer’s disease, according to a study posted online today that will appear in the February 2006 print issue of Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
“There is a compelling need for therapies that prevent, defer the onset, slow the progression, or improve the symptoms of Alzheimer disease (AD),” the authors provide as background information in the article. They note that hormonal therapies have been the focus of research attention in recent years since male aging is associated with a gradual progressive decline in testosterone levels. “The gradual decline in testosterone level is associated with decreased muscle mass and strength, osteoporosis, decreased libido, mood alterations, and changes in cognition, conditions that may be reversed with testosterone replacement.” The authors add that the age-related decline in testosterone is potentially relevant to AD as previous studies have found significantly lower concentrations of the hormone in middle-aged and elderly men who developed AD.
Immunosuppressive Drug Reduces New Brain Lesions in MS Patients
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A medication that reduces relapse rates in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) appears to be effective in reducing new brain inflammatory lesions and is well tolerated, according to a study in the December issue of Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
The drug is azathioprine, an immunosuppressive agent that is well tolerated, easy to administer and monitor, and has been used for many years in the treatment of transplant rejections and autoimmune diseases. Azathioprine reduces relapse rates in MS patients, but its effects on the frequency and accumulation of new brain inflammatory lesions has not been studied in MS, according to background information in the article. MS is a disease of the central nervous system, marked by numbness, weakness, loss of muscle coordination, and problems with vision, speech, and bladder control.
Genetic testing for Parkinson disease, is there a point?
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Should we start being genetically tested for Parkinson’s disease (PD)? According to research just published in the December issue of the “journal Movement Disorders” this might be a possibility in the future if you belong to a family affected by G2019S, a genetic mutation responsible for some PD cases.
Parkinson disease results from the death or loss of function of the nervous cells (neurons) in a brain area called substancia nigra, which is involved in the regulation of movement. Neurons within this region produce dopamine, a neurotransmitter that acts as messenger between the substancia nigra (the control centre) and other neurons around the body, leading to a correct regulation of the body movements. If the substancia nigra degenerates, like it happens in PD, dopamine is no longer properly produced and the individual starts presenting the typical symptoms of Parkinson’s disease such as slowed movements, tremors, loss of movement control and rigidity.
Dendritic Cells Offer New Therapeutic Target for Drugs to Treat MS
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Scientists at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center have found that a gene pathway linked to a deadly form of leukemia may provide a new way to treat autoimmune diseases, including multiple sclerosis. Their tests in cell cultures and mice suggest that blocking the pathway by interfering with a blood cell growth gene, known as FLT3, targets an immune system cell often ignored in favor of T-cell targets in standard therapies.
FLT3, which controls the development of healthy blood cells, was identified as a treatment target in patients with acute myeloid leukemia, a blood cell cancer, several years ago by the same Johns Hopkins investigators. In the current work, the Hopkins team has confirmed that the gene is activated in dendritic cells, whose role is to distribute “look here” information about unwanted foreign invaders to soldiering T-cells.
Dietary restriction helps Parkinson’s disease patients
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A new Oregon Health & Science University and Portland Veterans Affairs Medical Center study suggests that early-stage Parkinson’s disease patients who lower their calorie intake may boost levels of an essential brain chemical lost from the neurodegenerative disorder.
The study by Charles Meshul, Ph.D., associate professor of behavioral neuroscience in the OHSU School of Medicine and the VAMC’s Neurocytology Lab, shows that dietary restriction reverses a Parkinson’s-induced drop in glutamate, a brain neurotransmitter important for motor control, function and learning, in a mouse model for the disease’s early stages.
Neurologists Refine Multiple Sclerosis Diagnostic Criteria
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An international panel of neurologists has updated the current guidelines for diagnosing multiple sclerosis (MS), strengthening the role of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The guidelines, published online November 10, 2005 in the Annals of Neurology, update the “McDonald criteria,” created five years ago and named after the chair of the previous panel, Prof W. Ian McDonald of the Institute of Neurology in London.
“We hope, and trust, that these revisions will allow an even earlier diagnosis of MS, without any loss of diagnostic accuracy,” said Chris H. Polman, M.D., of the Free University Medical Center in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and chair of the current panel, which was organized and supported by the US National MS Society.
Change in neurons’ responsiveness marks newly formed sensory associations during learning
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During our waking hours, our brains are inundated with sensory information that shifts from one moment to the next.
Recognizing meaningful associations between different snippets of this information is a basic form of learning that is essential for survival, even for animals with much simpler brains than our own. For learning to occur, these associations must be made and reinforced in some way at the neuronal level, but how this happens is poorly understood. Research reported this week sheds light on this problem by identifying a group of neurons whose activity changes during the learning process in a way that reflects the new association that is formed between two different sensory stimuli.
Heart surgery does not induce cognitive decline
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Coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) is not a major risk factor for either short- or long-term cognitive decline or dementia, according to two reports in the journal Neurology. The widespread assumption that a decline in cognition occurs after CABG is apparently based on studies that did not include comparable control groups.
To rectify this limitation, researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, led by Dr. Guy M. McKhann, prospectively followed patients who had undergone CABG. One hundred forty had conventional bypass surgery, in which the heart is stopped and a heart-lung machine is used to circulate blood during the operation; and 72 patients underwent “off-pump” bypass surgery, during which only a portion of the heart is immobilized.
Multiple Sclerosis Progression Linked to Immune-Cell Substance
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A new study suggests that a substance made by immune cells plays a key role in the progression of a disease in animals that closely mimics multiple sclerosis (MS). The findings further suggest that blocking the molecule, known as macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) might prevent the progression of the disease.
Researchers at The Ohio State University Medical Center conducted the study using mice that develop a disease that mimics MS. They compared these animals to similar mice that lacked MIF, an immune-system signaling molecule.
Retina disease linked to stroke in nondiabetics
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New research suggests deterioration of the retina, or retinopathy, as determined with retinal photography, is an independent predictor of stroke or stroke-related death in older adults without diabetes.
“The blood vessels in the eyes share similar anatomic characteristics and other characteristics with the blood vessels in the brain,” lead author Dr. Paul Mitchell, from the University of Sydney in Australia, and colleagues note. “More research needs to be done to confirm these results, but it’s exciting to think that this fairly simple procedure could help us predict whether someone will be more likely to have a stroke several years later.”
Stroke treatment a step closer after trial
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A potential new treatment for stroke has taken a major step forward following promising results from the first clinical trial.
Researchers at The University of Manchester have shown in laboratory studies that a naturally occurring protein called IL-1ra protects brain cells from injury and death.
Stroke Patients Regain Language Skills After Intense Therapy
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Short term, intense language therapy has improved communication skills in stroke patients left with chronic aphasia, researchers here reported.
The intense, 30-hour language training program improved measurable communication skills by 85%, according to Marcus Meinzer, Ph.D., of the Unversita"t Konstanz here.
