New Solutions For The Prevention Of Memory Loss From Multiple Sclerosis

New Solutions For The Prevention Of Memory Loss From Multiple Sclerosis.
Being mentally working may domestic reduce memory and learning problems that often crop up in people with multiple sclerosis, a new study suggests. It included 44 people, about majority 45, who'd had MS for an average of 11 years. Even if they had higher levels of capacity damage, those with a mentally active lifestyle had better scores on tests of learning and reminiscence than those with less intellectually enriching lifestyles. "Many people with MS struggle with learning and memory problems," work author James Sumowski, of the Kessler Foundation Research Center in West Orange, NJ, said in an American Academy of Neurology news programme release.

So "This study shows that a mentally strenuous lifestyle might reduce the harmful effects of brain damage on learning and memory". "Learning and homage ability remained quite good in people with enriching lifestyles, even if they had a lot of imagination damage brain atrophy as shown on brain scans ," Sumowski continued. "In contrast, persons with lesser mentally acting lifestyles were more likely to suffer learning and memory problems, even at milder levels of knowledge damage".

Sumowski said the "findings suggest that enriching activities may build a person's 'cognitive reserve,' which can be meditation of as a buffer against disease-related memory impairment. Differences in cognitive standoffishness among persons with MS may explain why some persons suffer memory problems early in the disease, while others do not bloom memory problems until much later, if at all".

The study appears in the June 15 question of Neurology. In an editorial accompanying the study, Peter Arnett of Penn State University wrote that "more investigation is needed before any firm recommendations can be made," but that it seemed within reason to encourage people with MS to get involved with mentally challenging activities that might improve their cognitive reserve.

What is Multiple Sclerosis? An unpredictable cancer of the central nervous system, multiple sclerosis (MS) can series from relatively benign to somewhat disabling to devastating, as communication between the brain and other parts of the body is disrupted. Many investigators feel MS to be an autoimmune disease - one in which the body, through its safe system, launches a defensive attack against its own tissues. In the case of MS, it is the nerve-insulating myelin that comes under assault. Such assaults may be linked to an mysterious environmental trigger, it may be a virus.

Most people experience their first symptoms of MS between the ages of 20 and 40; the opening symptom of MS is often blurred or double vision, red-green color distortion, or even blindness in one eye. Most MS patients participation muscle weakness in their extremities and difficulty with coordination and balance. These symptoms may be unembroidered enough to impair walking or even standing. In the worst cases, MS can exhibit partial or complete paralysis.

Most people with MS also exhibit paresthesias, transitory unusual sensory feelings such as numbness, prickling, or "pins and needles" sensations. Some may also experience pain. Speech impediments, tremors, and dizziness are other ordinary complaints. Occasionally, people with MS have hearing loss. Approximately half of all commoners with MS experience cognitive impairments such as difficulties with concentration, attention, memory, and necessitous judgment, but such symptoms are usually mild and are frequently overlooked. Depression is another usual feature of MS.

Is there any treatment? There is as yet no cure for MS. Many patients do well with no psychotherapy at all, especially since many medications have serious side effects and some carry significant risks. However, three forms of beta interferon (Avonex, Betaseron, and Rebif) have now been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for curing of relapsing-remitting MS.

Beta interferon has been shown to change the number of exacerbations and may slow the progression of physical disability. When attacks do occur, they disposed to be shorter and less severe. The FDA also has approved a counterfeit form of myelin basic protein, called copolymer I (Copaxone), for the treatment of relapsing-remitting MS. Copolymer I has few inconsequential effects, and studies indicate that the agent can reduce the get rate by almost one third. An immunosuppressant treatment, Novantrone (mitoxantrone), is approved by the FDA for the therapy of advanced or chronic MS. The FDA has also approved dalfampridine (Ampyra) to improve walking in individuals with MS.

One monoclonal antibody, natalizumab (Tysabri), was shown in clinical trials to significantly tone down the frequency of attacks in relatives with relapsing forms of MS and was approved for marketing by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2004. However, in 2005 the drug's fabricator voluntarily delayed marketing of the painkiller after several reports of significant adverse events. In 2006, the FDA again approved sale of the treat for MS but under strict treatment guidelines involving infusion centers where patients can be monitored by exclusively trained physicians.

While steroids do not affect the course of MS over time, they can reduce the duration and intensity of attacks in some patients. Spasticity, which can occur either as a sustained stiffness caused by increased muscle attitude or as spasms that come and go, is usually treated with muscle relaxants and tranquilizers such as baclofen, tizanidine, diazepam, clonazepam, and dantrolene. Physical cure and exercise can help preserve remaining function, and patients may on that various aids - such as foot braces, canes, and walkers - can help them stay put independent and mobile.

Avoiding excessive activity and avoiding heat are probably the most important measures patients can book to counter physiological fatigue. If psychological symptoms of fatigue such as depression or apathy are evident, antidepressant medications may help. Other drugs that may cut down fatigue in some, but not all, patients comprehend amantadine (Symmetrel), pemoline (Cylert), and the still-experimental drug aminopyridine bestvito. Although upgrading of optic symptoms usually occurs even without treatment, a short course of treatment with intravenous methylprednisolone (Solu-Medrol) followed by healing with oral steroids is sometimes used.