REPORT FROM THE ACTRIMS-ECTRIMS – BOSTON, MA, SEPTEMBER 10-13, 2014 – A U.S. survey of academic and community neurologists from the Consortium of Multiple Sclerosis Centers (CMSC) reports that clinicians tend to favour an earlier, more aggressive treatment approach (Tornatore et al. ECTRIMS 2014; abstract P295). Read More
Latest News
Novel theory proposed for AD
September 3, 2014Researchers in Texas have proposed that vascular activation contributes to the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease, resulting in the overexpression of amyloid-beta and other factors (Grammas et al. J Alzheimers Dis 2014;40:619-630). Read More
Atacicept: the aftermath
September 3, 2014The debate about the relative importance of T cells and B cells in the pathogenesis of MS will be refueled with the long-awaited publication of the results of the failed ATAMS study of atacicept (Kappos et al. Lancet Neurol 2014;13:353-363). Preliminary results from the two atacicept studies, ATAMS in relapsing MS and ATON in optic neuritis, were presented at ECTRIMS 2011 (Kappos et al. Abstract 107; Sergott et al. Abstract P436) and signalled the death knell for the drug in MS. Read More
Cognitive function in PD: gender effect?
August 20, 2014Sex differences have been reported in Parkinson’s disease, notably with respect to a lower incidence and less severe motor symptoms in females.
For example, in the Oxford PD Disease Center discovery cohort study, males demonstrated a pattern of more symmetrical and severe symptoms in the upper body whereas postural problems were more evident in women (Szewczyk et al. Parkinsonism Relat Disord 2014;20:99-105). Non-motor symptoms of cognitive impairment, REM behaviour disorder, orthostatic hypotension and sexual dysfunction, were more common in men. Read More