Vitamin D and Multiple Sclerosis
Vitamin D has been known as an essential nutrient for the body. It is known to regulate calcium and phosphorus levels in the body and aiding in their proper absorption in the intestines. Vitamin D is also known to help boost the immune system. And recently, some studies have shown that Vitamin D may also help in reducing the rick of multiple sclerosis.
The study involved seven million members of the US military. This large number of military personnel were examined and from which about 260 developed multiple sclerosis. Those who developed MS were then selected and had their blood examined and analyzed. They were then compared to a similar group of people who did not develop MS. The study aimed to find out the differences between the two groups which might help explain how the disease develops in those who were affected.
During the study, the researchers were able to discover that the risk of developing multiple sclerosis went down as the levels of Vitamin D intake rose. The study showed that those who had the highest amounts of Vitamin D in their bloodstream had their risk of developing multiple sclerosis go down by as much as 60 percent. The effect of vitamin D on reducing MS risk seems only to affect Caucasians. There seem to be no significant change seen between vitamin D intake and MS risk among the minorities. Not only that, the protective effect of vitamin D seem to be more effective in people who are under 20 years of age.
According to Alberto Ascherio, lead researcher and associate professor of nutrition and epidemiology at Harvard School of Public Health, “This converges with a body of experimental evidence and other studies that strongly suggest that vitamin D could be truly protective”. But then the researcher also said that further studies are needed in order to fully understand the effects of vitamin D on multiple sclerosis. The answer may not yet be clear for researchers how vitamin D works to reduce risk of multiple sclerosis in some people. The believe that it may have something to do with the vitamin’s function in regulating the immune system or at least the vitamin’s role in calcium absorption.
Source: http://www.thisisms.com/article282.html
Current Multiple Sclerosis Treatments
With the certain advances in research involving multiple sclerosis, scientists have been able to find some effective treatments for multiple sclerosis. Even though a cure for MS still evades researchers, studies have advanced the knowledge that scientists now have about the disease that will eventually lead to finding the elusive cure. But what current drugs and known treatments there are today help MS patients manage the disease better than before.
Fingolimod
Fingolimod is a drug that has been used to treat relapsing remitting MS, considered as the most common form of the disease. Clinical trials for treatment of progressive MS will also be underway. Fingolimod, or FTY720 binds to lymphocytes and holds them into the lymph nodes. This allows lower T cells circulating in the blood stream and thus helps in reducing inflammation and myelin damage in the central nervous system that is caused by the immune system.
Teriflunomide
Another drug used to treat relapsing remitting MS is teriflunomide. It can also be used to treat patients with secondary progressive MS who are still suffering from relapses. The drug blocks the action of T cells, the immune cells that are known to cause the damage to the brain and the spinal cord of people suffering from MS. Teriflunomide only affects the body’s T cells and leaves the other immune functions intact, giving MS patients some level of immune protection against other pathogens.
Laquinimod
Laquinimod is a relatively new treatment aimed for patients with multiple sclerosis. Although scientists are not yet fully aware of how the drug actually works, clinical studies have shown that it has been very effective in reducing disease activity in people with MS. Researchers believe that the drug has some effect on the body’s immune system.
Cladribine
Cladribine is more known as a drug used for treating leukemia. But since it has been known to affect T cells in the immune system, it has been eyed as a promising treatment also for people with MS. In fact, some studies have indicated that Cladribine may be able to reduce relapse rates and lesions in the brain caused by MS. Cladribine may also aid in slowing down disability progression in people with MS.
Minocycline
Minocycline is a known anti-bacterial drug more commonly used to treat acne, respiratory and urinary infections. But the said drug has also been known to have anti-inflammatory properties that may help in preventing inflammation which can cause damage to the brain and the spinal cord for patients with MS.
New MRI Contrast Medium Seen To Improve Early MS Diagnosis
With multiple sclerosis quite a difficult disease to diagnose, doctors are depending on MRI scans in order to determine tissue damage on the central nervous system that is one of the primary signs of possible multiple sclerosis. But then, current MRI scan may not be able to distinctly provide a more distinct and clearer picture for an early diagnosis if a patient truly has developed MS. But recent studies have shown that a new MRI contrast medium may help aid doctors in determining the early stages of multiple sclerosis in patients.
Neuroradiologists and neurologists from the hospitals of the University of Heidelberg and Wurzburg have been able to visualize inflammatory tissue damage in an animal model that was caused by multiple sclerosis using Gadofluorine M, a new contrast medium in magnetic resonance imaging. The new MRI contrast medium was able to to make inflammatory damage on tissues clearer in MRI scans, such damage of which are previously unrecognizable.
Multiple sclerosis is an auto-immune disease characterized by tissue damage in the central nervous system. MS causes the body’s own immune system to attack the myelin cells that acts as insulation to the nerve fibers in the spinal cord that transmits electrical signals from the brain to the other parts of the body. The damage of myelin further causes the insulation to deteriorate until such time that the transmitted electrical signals from the brain and back are seriously affected, causing a variety of neurological malfunctions.
Although multiple sclerosis is still considered as a disease without a known effective cure, still drug treatment during the early stages are found to be very effective in controlling the disease. But early diagnosis of MS is not often established using the current methods. But with the use of Gadofluorine M as an MRI contrast medium, researchers are hoping to improve the early diagnosis of MS.
What makes it difficult for doctors to diagnose MS in its early stages is that current MRI scans can’t seem to visualize or display effectively new or the few of the developing inflammatory lesions that are there during the early stages of the disease. With using the new contrast medium on a animal models with MS, the doctors were able to visualize inflammation damage about five to ten times better than conventional MRI images and contrast media.
The researchers, headed by Prof. Dr. Martin Bendszus, Medical Director of the Department of Neuroradiology at the University Hospital of Heidelberg, examined the brains and the spinal cords of animals displaying the different stages of the multiple sclerosis using the new MRI contrast medium. The scientist were able to detect significantly more inflammatory lesions and thus was more superior than by using conventional MRI contrast media. It was seen to be quite effective especially in the spinal cord and nerve regions, areas that are particularly difficult for conventional MRI to examine.
Source: University Hospital Heidelberg. “Multiple Sclerosis: New MRI Contrast Medium Enables Early Diagnosis In Animal Model.” ScienceDaily 4 August 2008. 5 August 2008
