Source Multiple Sclerosis News Today: Stem cells tweaked in the laboratory have allowed researchers, reportedly for a first time, to generate and maintain ball-shaped cultures — called spheroids — of human brain cells in 3D that contain oligodendrocytes, the cells that produce myelin, along with neurons and the astrocytes that are essential to nerve cell health.

These long-surviving spheroids (which the researchers call “human oligodendrocyte spheroids”) will help scientists in studying how oligodendrocytes develop and interact with other brain cells, and what happens when they lose the ability to regenerate myelin — the protective coating on nerve cell fibres that promote cell-to-cell communication. Myelin’s loss, called demyelination, marks diseases like multiple sclerosis (MS).

The study “Differentiation and maturation of oligodendrocytes in human three-dimensional neural cultures” was published in the journal Nature Neuroscience.  Read on.

Source MS Trust: A letter signed by the MS Society, MS Trust, Shift MS and leading neurologists calls on NICE, NHS England and drug manufacturer Roche to make ocrelizumab available for people with primary progressive MS.

Back in September, NICE announced that it would not be recommending ocrelizumab as an NHS treatment for early primary progressive MS. This decision was met with anger and dismay from people with MS and MS charities, and the MS Society started a petition, calling for urgent action. 

Primary progressive MS (PPMS) can have a huge impact on the lives of people with the condition and their families. There are currently no approved treatments for PPMS and people with this form of MS experience disability significantly quicker than those with other forms. The lack of treatments that can modify their disease often forces them to rely on wheelchairs and mobility aids sooner, impacting on their independence.  People do everything they can to minimise the impact PPMS has on their lives, but what they really want is access to treatment which will slow down the progression of their disease.  Read on.

Source Independent Living: Exercise is frequently cited as a good way of helping to prevent falls, and now we have strong evidence that a programme of exercise can indeed prevent falls amongst older people living in the community.

Falls are a leading cause of accidental or unintentional injury deaths worldwide. Older adults suffer the greatest number of fatal falls and over 37 million falls are severe enough to require medical attention each year. 

New evidence has been published in the Cochrane Library, following a review produced by a team of researchers from the University of Sydney, Australia and Britain’s Oxford University.  Read on.

Source Multiple Sclerosis News Today:  Multiple sclerosis (MS) experts in the United Kingdom have proposed consensus guidelines for the management and treatment of pregnant women with the disease, and couples affected by MS who are planning a pregnancy.

The new guidelines are expected to reduce uncertainty about treatments that are considered to be safe and appropriate for this particular MS population.  

The guidelines were published in the journal Practical Neurology, in an article titled “UK consensus on pregnancy in multiple sclerosis: ‘Association of British Neurologists’ guidelines.”  Read on.