News

Atlas of MS update begins
We are pleased to announce that MSIF is beginning the process of updating the Atlas of MS website, which currently contains epidemiological and resource accessibility data for 112 countries around the world. In September 2008, the World Health Organization (WHO) and MSIF published the comprehensive report Atlas: Multiple Sclerosis Resources in the World 2008 , and made the complete dataset available in the online Atlas of MS. Read more

Survival in MS: A randomized cohort study 21 years after the start of the pivotal IFNβ-1b trial. 

Goodin DS, Reder AT, Ebers GC, Cutter G, Kremenchutzky M, Oger J, Langdon D, Rametta M, Beckmann K, Desimone TM, Knappertz V 

Neurology. 2012 Apr 11. [Epub ahead of print]

This newly published data examines the effects of interferon beta (IFNβ)-1b on all-cause mortality over 21 years in the cohort of 372 MS patients who participated in the pivotal (IFNβ)-1b randomised clinical trial.

81 deaths were reported in the median 21 year follow up. The analysis shows a significant survival advantage (p = 0.0173) following treatment with (IFNβ)-1b at either dose compared with placebo. 

The data from this study provide class 3 evidence that early treatment with IFNβ-1b is associated with prolonged survival in initially treatment-naive patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis.

 

Chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency (CCSVI): does ultrasound really distinguish multiple sclerosis subjects from healthy controls? Eur Radiol. 2012 May;22(5):970-9.  Epub 2011 Nov 29  This article is the first from Turkish researchers attempting to verify previous reports of ultrasonographically detectable differences in the extracranial venous drainage in people with MS compared to healthy controls.  Read more » The magnitude of the antigen-specific T cell response is separated from the severity of spinal cord histopathology in remitting-relapsing experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis. Glia. 2012 May;60(5):794-805. doi: 10.1002/glia.22309.  Epub 2012 Feb 8. The authors from Germany report experimental data from remitting-relapsing experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) in the SJL mouse strain.  Read more » Longitudinalgray matter changes in multiple sclerosis-Differential scanner and overalldisease-related effects Hum Brain Mapp. 2012 May;33(5):1225-45. doi: 10.1002/hbm.21279. Epub 2011 Apr 29. The authors have performed a longitudinal study to evaluate inter-site differences and inter-site comparability of regional grey matter (GM) atrophy measurements in MS using Voxel Based Morphometry.  Read more »

Du Pré award winners announced Twice each year MSIF awards Du Pré grants to MS scientists from emerging countries. In  the 2012 Spring round, MSIF has given eight grants to enable young researchers from Austria, Greece, India, Indonesia, Iran, Portugal and Spain to travel to work on short-term MS research projects in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, UK and USA. Read about this year's winners! Find out more about MSIF's Du Pré grants and how to apply.

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