New MRI Test May Predict Severity of MS
MONDAY, July 16, 2018 (HealthDay News) -- Vitamin D does little to defend your brain against multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease or Alzheimer's disease, a new review shows.
The finding is based on an analysis of more than 70 studies.
"Our work counters an emerging belief held in some quarters suggesting that higher levels of vitamin D can impact positively on brain health," said study author Krystal Iacopetta, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Adelaide, in Australia.
"Past studies had found that patients with a neurodegenerative disease tended to have lower levels of vitamin D compared to healthy members of the population," she explained in a university new release.
"This led to the hypothesis that increasing vitamin D levels, either through more UV [ultraviolet] and sun exposure or by taking vitamin D supplements, could potentially have a positive impact. A widely held community belief is that these supplements could reduce the risk of developing brain-related disorders or limit their progression," Iacopetta said.
"The results of our in-depth review and an analysis of all the scientific literature, however, indicates that this is not the case and that there is no convincing evidence supporting vitamin D as a protective agent for the brain," she said.
Study co-author Mark Hutchinson added, "We've broken a commonly held belief that vitamin D resulting from sun exposure is good for your brain."
While vitamin D is essential for health, it "is not going to be the miracle 'sunshine tablet' solution for brain disorders that some were actively hoping for," said Hutchinson, who is a professor at the University of Adelaide.
The study was published July 10 in the journal Nutritional Neuroscience.
-- Robert Preidt
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SOURCE: University of Adelaide, news release, July 10, 2018
New Method of Getting Drugs Into Brain Shows Promise
A new approach to getting drugs through the blood-brain barrier shows promise, according to researchers.
Canadian scientists say a sound wave technology called focused ultrasound safely created openings in that barrier, and that those openings quickly closed.There were no serious side effects or worsening of mental function.This barrier prevents germs and other harmful substances in the bloodstream from getting into the brain. But it also blocks medications for brain tumors and brain diseases such as Alzheimer's, the Associated Press reported.
The early-stage research was conducted in six people with Alzheimer's disease and presented at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference in Chicago and published in the journal Nature Communications.
"It's been a major goal of neuroscience for decades, this idea of a safe and reversible and precise way of breaching the blood-brain barrier," said study leader Dr. Nir Lipsman, a neurosurgeon at Toronto's Sunnybrook Health Sciences Center, the AP reported.
"It's exciting," Lipsman added.
The first study participant was Rick Karr, a retired truck driver who was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 2011, the AP reported.
"It's not painful or anything," he said.
Further research is needed but this approach is "definitely promising," Dr. Eliezer Masliah, U.S. National Institute on Aging, told the AP.
"What is remarkable is that they could do it in a very focused way, they can target a very specific brain region," said Masliah, who wasn't involved with the study.
A similar safety study is currently underway with Lou Gehrig's disease patients, and another study is assessing if the tool can boost the amount of chemotherapy that reaches a type of deadly brain tumor called glioblastoma, the AP reported.
"We don't want to broadly open the blood-brain barrier everywhere. We want to open the blood-brain barrier where we want the treatment to be delivered," said Dr. Graeme Woodworth of the University of Maryland Medical Center, who will lead an upcoming brain tumor study.
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Your Earliest Memories May Be False
Maybe not, a new study suggests.THURSDAY, July 19, 2018 (HealthDay News) -- Can you trust your very first childhood memories?
People's earliest memories are typically formed around 3 to 3.5 years of age, past research has shown.
But in a survey of more than 6,600 people, British scientists found that 39 percent of participants claimed to have memories from age 2 or younger, with some people claiming memories from age 1 or younger. These first memories are likely false, the researchers said.
This was particularly the case for middle-aged and older adults.
For the study, researchers asked participants to describe their first memory and the age at which it occurred. Participants were told they had to be sure the memory was one they were sure happened. For example, it shouldn't be triggered by a photograph, family story or any source other than direct experience.
Then the researchers examined the content, language, nature and details of these earliest memories and evaluated the likely reasons why people would claim to have memories from an age when memories cannot be formed.
Many of these memories dated before the age 2 and younger, which suggests they were not based on actual fact, but facts or knowledge about their infancy or childhood from photographs or family stories.
Often these false memories are triggered by a fragment of an early experience, such as a stroller, family relationships or feeling sad, the researchers explained.
The report was published July 18 in the journal Psychological Science.
"We suggest that what a rememberer has in mind when recalling fictional, improbably early memories is … remembered fragments of early experience and some facts or knowledge about their own infancy or childhood," study author Shazia Akhtar said in a journal news release. She's a senior research associate at the University of Bradford.
Additionally, details may be inferred or added later, Akhtar said.
Study co-author Martin Conway, director at the Centre for Memory and Law at City, University of London, said, "When we looked through the responses from participants we found that a lot of these first 'memories' were frequently related to infancy, and a typical example would be a memory based around a pram [stroller].
"For this person, this type of memory could have resulted from someone saying something like 'mother had a large green pram.' The person then imagines what it would have looked like. Over time, these fragments then become a memory and often the person will start to add things in such as a string of toys along the top," he added.
"Crucially, the person remembering them doesn't know this is fictional," Conway said. "In fact, when people are told that their memories are false they often don't believe it."
-- Steven Reinberg
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SOURCE: Association for Psychological Science, news release, July 18, 2018
Pain, Sleeplessness Often Precede MS: Study
Knowing about these symptoms could help doctors diagnose and start treating MS earlier, possibly slowing the damage it causes to the brain and spinal cord, says a Canadian team of researchers.WEDNESDAY, July 18, 2018 (HealthDay News) -- Pain, sleep problems and mental health disorders are common in the five years before someone is diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, a new study reveals.
"The existence of such 'warning signs' are well-accepted for Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease, but there has been little investigation into a similar pattern for MS," said study leader Helen Tremlett, a professor of neurology at the University of British Columbia.
Her group tracked the health records of 14,000 Canadians with MS and a control group of 67,000 people without the disease.
Compared to the control group, fibromyalgia (a syndrome characterized by widespread musculoskeletal pain) was three times more common, and irritable bowel syndrome was nearly twice as common among those who were later diagnosed with MS, the records showed.
People who were later diagnosed with MS also had much higher rates of migraines and mental health conditions such as depression, anxiety and bipolar disorder, and they were 50 percent more likely to have seen a psychiatrist, Tremlett's group found.
The people later diagnosed with MS also had higher use of medications for musculoskeletal, nervous system, and urinary tract disorders, as well as antidepressants and antibiotics, according to the study published this week in the Multiple Sclerosis Journal.
The researchers said their findings provide definitive evidence that MS can be preceded by early symptoms.
"We now need to delve deeper into this phenomenon … to see if there are discernible patterns related to sex, age, or the" type of MS, Tremlett said in a university news release.
Dr. Asaf Harel is a neurologist who cares for MS patients at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. He said many of the findings were "not surprising," but added that more and better research may be needed.
According to Harel, the average age of MS onset in this Canadian study "was older than the accepted average age at onset of MS," suggesting that many patients were diagnosed late in life.
Also, the study "does not address any differences amongst MS subtypes," Harel said. "One would expect progressive-onset MS to present with gradual onset of symptoms that eventually reach threshold for clinical detection, which would be consistent with the results of the study. However, this may occur less frequently in relapse-onset MS."
-- Robert Preidt
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SOURCES: Asaff Harel, M.D., neurologist, Lenox Hill Hospital, New York City; University of British Columbia, news release, July 16, 2018
New MRI Test May Predict Severity of MS
By Serena GordonHealthDay Reporter
TUESDAY, July 17, 2018 (HealthDay News) -- People with multiple sclerosis (MS) often live with uncertainty because it's hard to predict how quickly the disease will progress and how disabling it might become.
But researchers hope a new MRI test that tracks iron levels in the brain will help answer those questions.
The test -- called quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) -- looks at different areas of the brain and how much iron is deposited in each.
In some brain areas, a higher iron level is linked to longer disease duration, greater disability and disease progression, according to the researchers. One such area is the basal ganglia, a group of structures important for movement.
Surprisingly, in at least one other brain area -- the thalamus -- researchers linked low levels of iron to longer disease duration and greater disability and disease progression.
"Dysregulation of iron is something we know happens in MS. It's thought that iron contributes to the damage to the nervous system in MS, and learning more about how iron is dysregulated will help us understand the disease better," said Bruce Bebo. He's executive vice president of research for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society (NMSS).
"This is a piece of the puzzle that could help us speed diagnosis, but it's not the last piece of the puzzle," Bebo said. He called the study an important contribution from a well-regarded research team.
Study author Dr. Robert Zivadinov was not available for comment. He is a professor of neurology at the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University at Buffalo, State University of New York.
Multiple sclerosis is a disease of the central nervous system. It interferes with the messages that nerve cells send within the brain and from the brain to the body, according to NMSS.
The disease is usually diagnosed when people are between 20 and 50 years old. Right now, there's no way to know at diagnosis what course the disease will take. There are four types of MS. Some don't cause lasting disability. Others do, NMSS explains.
The University at Buffalo study included 600 people with MS -- 452 had the most common form of MS, called relapsing-remitting. It causes attacks on the central nervous system followed by periods of remission. Damage often isn't evident during the remission phase.
Another 148 had secondary progressive MS. For many, relapsing-remitting progresses to secondary progressive. This type causes more damage and disability, according to NMSS.
Researchers also compared QSM MRI scans from MS patients to 250 sex-matched people without MS.
Neurologist Dr. Asaff Harel, who specializes in MS treatment at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, also reviewed the study's findings. He said it was a "well-designed study," but questions remain.
"While the authors hypothesize as to the role of iron dynamics in MS, the connection is currently only in the association stage, and a causative role of iron in leading to disability, while possible, is still unclear," Harel said.
Both Harel and Bebo said more study of the new test is needed. Bebo also noted that this type of specialized MRI isn't widely available.
The study was published July 17 in the journal Radiology.
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SOURCES: Bruce Bebo, Ph.D., executive vice president, research, National Multiple Sclerosis Society; Asaff Harel, M.D., neurologist, Lenox Hill Hospital, New York City; July 17, 2018, Radiolog
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