A major dilemma facing clinicians is whether to continue treatment with disease-modifying drugs, effective in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS), as the disease progresses to secondary progressive MS (SPMS). In SPMS,  these treatments seem to lose their benefits and — as they are often associated with severe side effects and high costs — clinicians…

Researchers found that nerve cell connections in the brain, called synapses, were damaged in a mouse model of multiple sclerosis (MS) through a process wholly unrelated to myelin destruction. As the damaged mice synapses studied were in regions crucial for memory processing, finding ways of protecting these neurons would be a crucial step toward developing a…

Silvana L. Costa, PhD from the Kessler Foundation, was recently awarded a Switzer Research Fellowship by the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR). Dr. Costa is a Hearst Fellow in Neuropsychology & Neuroscience Research at Kessler, where she investigates cognitive deficits in multiple sclerosis (MS). The Merit Fellowship,…

New long-term research indicates that having multiple children does not lessen or otherwise impact disability in women with multiple sclerosis (MS). The study, titled “Offspring Number Does Not Influence Reaching the Disability’s Milestones in Multiple Sclerosis: A Seven-Year Follow-Up Study,“ was published in The International Journal…

Researchers analyzing gait in people with multiple sclerosis (MS) using wearable inertial sensors have established two new and highly sensitive observer-independent measures of disability that strongly correlate with fatigue and patient-perceived health status. Their article, titled “Disability and Fatigue Can Be Objectively Measured in Multiple Sclerosis,” was published in the journal PLOS…

A new study underscores the variability of immune responses in different people with multiple sclerosis (MS) and suggests this heterogenity affects responses to the commonly prescribed MS medication interferon-β, but blood biomarkers may exist that can help to determine those most likely to benefit from such treatment. The study, “Cytokine profiles…

When Microsoft rolled out its original Kinect system for playing Xbox video games in November 2010, the technology caught the eye of giant multinational healthcare company Novartis. A longstanding research challenge for Novartis has been to devise and design more consistent methods of quantifying whether multiple sclerosis (MS) treatments…

Clinical trials suggest that hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), a common treatment for bone marrow and blood cancers, could also help people with multiple sclerosis (MS). The technique involves harvesting new, undeveloped blood or bone marrow (hematopoietic) cells, typically from the person affected with the disease (autologous). The goal is to…

In a special feature published in the journal American Health & Drug Benefits, authors Stanton R. Mehr, President of SM Health Communications, and Marj P. Zimmerman, President of RxDirections, discuss the many unmet medical needs multiple sclerosis (MS) patients still face in dealing with the…

Difficulties with cognitive function and fatigue are the main reasons patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) struggle to stay gainfully employed, a new study published in the December edition of the International Journal of MS Care has found. The study is titled “Factors Associated with Employment Status in Individuals with…

In a new study titled “Adipsin Is Associated with Multiple Sclerosis: A Follow-Up Study of Adipokines,” researchers report a correlation between an adipokine called adipsin and the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis (MS). The study was published in the Multiple Sclerosis International journal. Obese adolescents…