Researchers are zeroing in on what looks like an effective treatment for the symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis. Teams from UC Riverside and New York's Rockefeller University have both used the same compound, indazole chloride, to successfully reverse the progression of MS in mice. The drug appears to be able to stimulate the regeneration of the myelin sheath the nerve pathway coating that is progressively destroyed as MS attacks the nervous system. MS affects around 400,000 people in the United States alone, and some 2.5 million around the world, according to Healthline. It's a debilitating disease in which the body's immune system begins to attack its own nervous system, gradually breaking down the protective cover called the myelin sheath, which coats the axons of nerve fibers in the brain and spinal cord. As this demyelination progresses, patients begin to slowly experience the breakdown of their nervous system sensation, vision and motor control begin to slowly degenerate, and permanent paralysis can be the end result. It's a horrible sentence. One well known quirk of the disease is that female sufferers seem to have a reversal of their MS symptoms during the third trimester of pregnancy. This reversal has them feeling great for … Continue reading →

By C. Rajan, contributing writer Researchers at the National University of Singapore (NUS) have discovered a new type of immune cells that play an important role in multiple sclerosis (MS) and other inflammatory diseases, thus providing a new avenue for therapies for these diseases. The multi-disciplinary research team led by Professor Xin-Yuan Fu, Senior Principal Investigator from CSI Singapore and Professor at the Department of Biochemistry at the NUS School of Medicine, found that a new type of immune T helper cells called TH-GM cells are involved in causing neuronal inflammation. The researchers found that a member of the STAT family of proteins, called STAT5, programs these newly discovered TH-GM cells and initiates an immune response triggered by interleukin IL-7, causing neuro-inflammation and damage in the central nervous system. By blocking the activity of IL-7 or STAT5, the neuro-inflammation could be prevented. The study opens up new treatment options for MS that can be used as stand-alone therapies or used along with other available treatments. The findings also provide an insight into the mechanism of the disease. The signaling pathway of the STAT proteins, the JAK-STAT signaling pathway, is involved in the regulation of the immune system, and disturbances in … Continue reading →

Published: Tuesday, 12/2/2014 - Updated: 1 minute ago BY TOM TROY BLADE POLITICS WRITER After five years of successfully battling her heroin addiction, Toledo resident Tiffany Brackett joined U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown Monday in support of a bill in Congress to get more help for people like her. Ms. Brackett, 27, said she supported Senator Browns bill to broaden access to medical treatment of opiate addiction as Ohio grapples with an epidemic of the problem, and even thought it didnt go far enough. The bill, still awaiting action in the Senate, would increase the number of patients who would be able to get methadone medication to help them break their drug habits. Senator Brown is co-sponsoring the Recovery Enhancement for Addiction Treatment Act, and said hes looking for bipartisan support in the Senate and the House. We expect bipartisan support. Theres no reason this would not pass next year, he said. Ms. Brackett told guests and the media at a news conference in the Zepf Center near downtown that medication was an important part of her kicking heroin. She said she started abusing pain bills as a teenager and progressed to shooting heroin. Shes been sober since 2009. I lost … Continue reading →