Advances In Multiple Sclerosis Research Mdash Series I

Designing immunotherapeutics, drugs, and anti-inflammatory reagents has been at the forefront of autoimmune research, in particular multiple sclerosis, for over 20 years. Delivery methods that are used to modulate effective and long-lasting immune responses have been the major focus. This Special Issue focused on delivery methods to be used for vaccines, immunotherapeutic approaches, drug design, and anti-inflammatories and their outcomes in preclinical studies and clinical trials.

Looking at the lastest advances in research into multiple sclerosis, from genetics to the use of magnetic resonance imaging and the organization of MS care.

This book reviews the therapeutic developments in clinical trial design that have resulted in new treatment options for patients suffering from MS. Important ethical considerations that arise with the new treatments are included, as well as the perspective on the emergence of MS as a treatable disease.

Over the past decade, we have made great advances in the field of multiple sclerosis (MS) research, and this book focuses on those advances in MS pathogenesis and treatment. While some of these advances have been through new approaches and ideas that have emerged in the last decade such as the newly identified protective role that amyloid proteins may play in MS or the use of helminths to treat autoimmune diseases, others have evolved from previous theories and ideas that have only now gained momentum and a deeper understanding such as the role of HLA or gender in MS susceptibility. This book covers these emerging and evolving topics and highlights the substantial advancements made in elucidation of the factors regulating susceptibility or disease progression, identification of new ways to monitor or predict MS pathology, and development of new strategies for treating MS.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a life-long chronic disease diagnosed primarily in young adults. During an MS attack, inflammation occurs in areas of the white matter of the central nervous system (nerve fibres that are the site of MS lesions) in random patches called plaques. This process is followed by destruction of myelin, which insulates nerve cell fibres in the brain and spinal cord. Myelin facilitates the smooth, high-speed transmission of electrochemical messages between the brain, the spinal cord, and the rest of the body. The initial symptom of MS is often blurred or double vision, red-green colour distortion, or even blindness in one eye. Most MS patients experience muscle weakness in their extremities and difficulty with co-ordination and balance. Most people with MS also exhibit paresthesias, transitory abnormal sensory feeling such as numbness or pins and needles. Some may experience pain or loss of feeling. About half of people with MS experience cognitive impairments such as difficulties with concentration, attention, memory, and judgement. This volume presents leading research from around the globe.

Controversy still exists regarding how early disease-modifying agents (DMA) should be commenced and whether all patients with relapsing-remitting MS should in fact be treated. To answer these questions, it is also important to know the natural history of the disease. MS affects nearly 400,000 people in the United States. With their novel, multifaceted approach to basic science, the authors of this book offer help to clinicians and hope to patients.

At the annual meetings of the International Federation of Multiple Sclerosis Socie ties (IFMSS) the representatives of the national MS societies of numerous countries assemble for discussions and reports on work accomplished, under way, and to be undertaken in the future. In addition to publicity work, education, and patient ser vices, there has been an increasing interest in obtaining first hand, reliable, and re alistic information not only on the medical problems relevant to diagnosis, treat ment, and the management of MS, but also on progress in the difficult field of MS research. For this purpose the International Medical Advisory Board (IMAB) was founded. In the past years its members have organized a number of symposia in conjunc tion with the IFMSS meetings in New York, Copenhagen, Barcelona, Toronto, Am sterdam. The program of the G6ttingen symposium, relevant in its focus to the 1978 meeting of the IFMSS in Hannover, had the double purpose of bringing together scientists from many countries with active MS societies, and to inform the organi zers and members of these societies, and thereby also the MS patients, of problems and progress in a number of areas of MS research. The program was conceived as a survey of newer work undertaken in basic and experimental MS research and, on the clinical side, as a reassessment of the prerequisites in the diagnosis of MS, the value of laboratory tests, some therapeutic approaches, and organizational princi ples in the management of MS.