BrainBlog

A randomized controlled trial of a cognitive rehabilitation intervention for persons with multiple sclerosis Clin Rehabil . 2012 Feb 2; Stuifbergen AK, Becker H, Perez F, Morison J, Kullberg V, Todd A Abstract Objective: To explore the feasibility and effects of a computer-assisted cognitive rehabilitation intervention - Memory, Attention, and Problem Solving Skills for Persons with Multiple Sclerosis (MAPSS-MS) - for persons with multiple sclerosis on cognitive performance, memory strategy use, self-efficacy for control of symptoms and neuropsychological competence in activities of daily living (ADL).Design: A randomized controlled single-blinded trial with treatment and wait list control groups.Setting: Southwestern United States.Subjects: Convenience sample of 61 persons (34 treatment, 27 wait list control) with multiple sclerosis (mean age 47.9 years, SD 8.8).Intervention: The eight-week MAPSS-MS intervention program included two components: (a) eight weekly group sessions focused ...

From the FDA: FDA permits marketing of first test for risk of rare brain infection in some people treated with Tysabri For Immediate Release: January 20, 2012 [snip] "Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration allowed marketing of the first test to help determine the risk for a rare brain infection called progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) in people using the drug Tysabri (natalizumab) to treat multiple sclerosis (MS) or Crohn’s disease (CD). "The Stratify JCV Antibody ELISA test, when used with other clinical data from the patient, can help health care providers determine the risk for developing PML in MS and CD patients." [snip] Read the full press release

Narrative accounts like this are not common, but still excellent reading for students of neuropsychology: A Mind "Surrounded by a Moat": A First-person Account of Cognitive Impairment in Multiple Sclerosis Cogn Behav Neurol . 2011 Nov 29; Anonymous , Stern EB Abstract This is a first-person account of the cognitive impairments-in speaking, writing, and thinking-caused by multiple sclerosis in a professional writer. The patient explains how she has worked around her deficits in rebuilding her life over the 18 years since her diagnosis. Her personal account is woven together with her clinical history, including her neuropsychological testing and magnetic resonance imaging results. A companion article giving perspectives on the case was written by a cognitive neuroscientist who has been studying some of the types of deficits reported by the patient. PMID: 22134193 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Neuropsychological rehabilitation for multiple sclerosis Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2011;11:CD009131 Rosti-Otajärvi EM, Hämäläinen PI Abstract BACKGROUND: Cognitive deficits are a common manifestation in multiple sclerosis (MS) and have a wide effect on the patient's quality of life. Alleviation of the harmful effects caused by these deficits should be a major goal of MS research and practice. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this review was to evaluate the effects of neuropsychological/cognitive rehabilitation in MS by conducting a systematic review. SEARCH STRATEGY: A systematic literature search was carried out on reports drawn from Cochrane MS Group Specialised Register (To October 2010), Evidence-based medicine (EBM) reviews (To September 2010), MEDLINE (January 1950 to September 2010), EMBASE (1974 to September 2010), PsycINFO (January 1806 to September 2010), WEB OF SCIENCE (WOS) (January 1986 to September 2010), CINAHL (1982 to September 2010), and identified from the references in...

Study Evaluating Rebif, Copaxone, and Tysabri for Active Multiple Sclerosis (SURPASS): ClinicalTrials.gov Description === Corporate press release ===

From FierceBiotech : FDA approves Acorda's new MS drug January 22, 2010 — 4:49pm ET By John Carroll [snip] The FDA announced Friday afternoon that it has approved Ampyra (dalfampridine) extended-release tablets to improve walking in patients with multiple sclerosis. In clinical trials, patients treated with Ampyra had faster walking speeds than those treated with a placebo. This is the first drug approved for this use. [snip] Read the FierceBiotech full article

Novartis, Merck KGaA Pills Bring ‘New Horizon’ for MS (Update1) By Naomi Kresge Bloomberg 20 January 2010 "Jan. 20 (Bloomberg) -- The first oral medicines for multiple sclerosis from Novartis AG and Merck KGaA may offer patients who are willing to run the risk of infections and other side effects an easier route toward treating the debilitating neurological disease, according to three studies." (The drugs are immunosuppressive.) Read full article

In the final several days of Antony Gormley's One & Other project on the Fourth Plinth at Trafalgar Square, London, Cara is going to ascend the plinth in support of Multiple Sclerosis awareness. Her plinth hour is 1900 hrs BST, Monday the 12th of October. She writes in her bio: "I thought that this project was an unusual and unique opportunity and so put my name forward. During the hour on the plinth, I am going to try to bring awareness to www.shift.ms - an online community for young people with Multiple Sclerosis. When I was diagnosed with MS, I found the website to be a source of support and reassurance during a weird and shocking time. So, if anyone who is affected by MS, or anyone who'd like to know more about it, you are welcome to become part of the shift.ms community!" Bests wishes, Cara! Cara's plinth hour can be viewed live at http://www.oneandother.co.uk/ . If you miss it live, a refeed of the hour is available on the One&Other website within...

From the FDA: Information on Natalizumab (marketed as Tysabri) Updated Information: [9/2009] The FDA continues to receive reports of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) in patients receiving Tysabri. Tysabri was approved by the FDA for the treatment of relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis (MS) in November 2004 and for moderately to severely active Crohn’s disease in January 2008. From July 2006, (when Tysabri marketing resumed) to September 8, 2009, 13 reported cases of Tysabri-related PML were confirmed worldwide in patients being treated for MS with Tysabri monotherapy. Of these, four cases were patients in the United States (U.S.). There have been no postmarketing reports of PML in patients treated with Tysabri for Crohn’s disease. Less than 2% of Tysabri use in the U.S. has been in patients with Crohn's disease. The risk for developing PML appears to increase with the number of Tysabri infusions received. The number of monthly infusions of Tysabri in the 13...

From FierceBiotech : Merck KGaA pulls ahead in hot oral MS drug race By John Carroll September 11, 2009 — 8:22am ET Researchers for Merck KGaA say that new analysis of the late-stage data for their oral drug cladribine highlight the drug's potential as a new therapy for multiple sclerosis. Patients taking a short course of the therapy were more likely to go two years without seeing the disease flare up, and that could prove crucial for the developer as it prepares to make its case that cladribine should be neurologists' preferred choice among a slate of experimental oral MS therapies. Read the full article

An article in The Times (U.K.): Blood test could predict severity of multiple sclerosis Mark Henderson, Science Editor August 31, 2009 [snip] Patients whose MS is thought likely to progress quickly could be started swiftly on therapies that can reduce the frequency and severity of attacks, while those at lower risk could be spared medication they do not need immediately. More accurate ways of assessing prognosis could also help to prepare patients for what they should expect in the future, removing the uncertainty that can be a distressing feature of the disease. [snip] Read the full article Dr. Rachel Farrell, of the Institute of Neurology at University College London, is the principal investigator.

From The Guardian : 'Dramatic' breakthrough in MS research Scientists find a substance called galanin is resistant to a multiple sclerosis-like disease in both mice and human brain tissue The Guardian 24 August 2009 Read the article About a research finding from a neuroscience team at the University of Bristol.

From The Wall Street Journal's Health Blog : AUGUST 17, 2009, 11:12 AM ET Novartis’s Big Plans for Multiple Sclerosis By Jeanne Whalen [snippet] The FDA gave Novartis the green light today to start selling a copy of Betaseron, the multiple sclerosis drug long sold by Bayer. Why would Novartis want to sell somebody else’s years-old drug? Largely to gain experience in the MS marketplace as Novartis plots a future launch of the MS drug FTY720. “It’s a way to build a strong commercial organization and a strong medical organization ahead of FTY,” Novartis pharmaceuticals chief Joe Jimemez told the Health Blog recently. [snippet] Read the full blog entry ========== Note: Here is a reference to FTY720: Horga A, & Montalban X. (2008). FTY720 (fingolimod) for relapsing multiple sclerosis. Expert Rev Neurother., 8(5) 699-714. Clinical Neuroinmunology Unit, Multiple Sclerosis Center of Catalonia (CEM-Cat), Vall d'Hebron University Hospital, Barcelona, Spain. FTY720 (fingolimod) ...

Morrow S, Weinstock-Guttman B, Munschauer F, Hojnacki D, & Benedict R. (2009). Subjective fatigue is not associated with cognitive impairment in multiple sclerosis: cross-sectional and longitudinal analysis. Multiple Sclerosis, 15(8), :998-1005. School of Medicine, The Jacobs Neurological Institute, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York, USA. Background Studies in multiple sclerosis (MS) report conflicting conclusions regarding fatigue and cognition, which may partly be due to the use of small sample sizes and frequent reliance on a cross-sectional approach. Objective The ability to distinguish between these two disabling symptoms is necessary in order to properly assess and treat MS patients. Methods In a retrospective analysis, we assessed the correlation between fatigue and neuropsychological (NP) testing using a cross-sectional (n = 465) and longitudinal approach (n = 69). Cognition was measured using a comprehensive battery called the Minimal Assessment o...

From a National Institutes of Health press release issued on the 29th: After a Decades-Long Search, Scientists Identify New Genetic Risk Factors for Multiple Sclerosis A pair of large-scale genetic studies supported by the National Institutes of Health has revealed two genes that influence the risk of getting multiple sclerosis (MS) — data sought since the discovery of the only other known MS susceptibility gene decades ago. The findings could shed new light on what causes MS — a puzzling mix of genes, environment and immunity — and on potential treatments for at least 350,000 Americans who have the disease. "These studies describe the first genes conclusively linked to MS in more than 20 years," said Ursula Utz, Ph.D., a program director at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), a part of NIH. "This breakthrough was made possible through persistence, an elegant search strategy, and genomic data and techniques that were not available until ...

From the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation : Neurological conditions cost Canada nearly $9B a year: report Last Updated: Friday, June 22, 2007 | 5:02 PM ET CBC News Neurological conditions such as stroke and Alzheimer's disease cost Canada nearly $9 billion a year in direct costs, say neurologists who warn the health-care system may not be able to handle increased costs of an aging population. Early diagnosis of neurological diseases will help reduce long-term costs, says Dr. Charles Tator. Friday's report from the Canadian Institute for Health Information, titled The Burden of Neurological Diseases, Disorders and Injuries in Canada is a consensus report by neurologists who tallied the costs of 11 conditions they treat: Alzheimer's disease Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig's disease) Brain tumours Cerebral palsy Epilepsy Head injury Headaches Multiple sclerosis Parkinson's disease Spinal injuries Stroke The conditions represent an estimated almost seven per...