The Society’s annual list of clinical trials in MS is now available online at www.nationalMSsociety.org/clinicaltrials.
likely to develop MS later in life and were at higher risk for symptoms in the optic nerve and spinal cord.
It features 130 studies that are in progress or recently completed. These cover neuro-protective agents; symptom medications; rehabilitation interventions such as cycling for improving MS-related depression, mobility and cognitive function; and more.
More than 52,000 volunteers have participated or are currently participating in these studies. Their participation—and yours— Viruses are well recognized as causes of nervous makes it possible to look forward to new therapies for MS. system damage and inflammation, so it is possible that a virus may set off MS. Various types of evidence point in particular to an association between MS and Epstein-Barr, a herpes virus that causes infectious mononucleosis and other disorders. Now, a new study hints at another possible link, this time Research continues to confirm it’s OK to mix between herpes zoster and MS. pregnancy and MS.
A link to herpes?
OK to mix pregnancy and MS
Researchers in Taiwan have reported that people who experienced an attack of the virus-triggered herpes zoster—which usually shows up as the skin rash known as shingles—were more than three times as likely to develop MS over the next year than individuals who did not have an attack. The study, reported in The Journal of Infectious Diseases (6/7/2011), used a large data set of Taiwanese people. However, since people of Chinese genetic background are at lower risk for MS than Caucasians, the researchers do not know yet if this finding will translate to other populations.
A study published online in Annals of Neurology June 27, 2011, compared 432 births to women with MS and 2975 births to women without MS, confirming previous findings that, overall, the women with MS had normal pregnancies. The mean birth weight and gestational age of babies did not differ and women with MS were not at greater risk of adverse deliveries, including Caesarean sections. It was the first study where researchers were able to control for other factors that could affect outcomes, such as disability levels, obstetrical history and body mass index. TOLL FREE NUMBER 1 800 344 4867 11
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Clinical trials update