Source: Multiple Sclerosis News Today

A variation in the NLRP1 gene is associated with multiple sclerosis that runs in families, Slovenian researchers report.

Their study, “Identification of rare genetic variation of NLRP1 gene in familial multiple sclerosis,” was published in the journal Scientific Reports. The research was led by Dr. Borut Peterlin of Ljubljana University Medical Center’s Clinical Institute of Medical Genetics.

Scientists believe MS arises from a combination of a person’s genetic background and the environment. Although previous studies have suggested that genes are behind MS that runs in families, researchers had yet to confirm that hypothesis.

The Slovenian team wanted to identify any genes that were at play in both the MS and malignant melanoma that two siblings had. Although disease surveys indicate the two conditions can occur together, scientists had been unable to identify a shared cause for the two conditions.  Read on.

Source: BBC

The world’s most detailed scan of the brain’s internal wiring has been produced by scientists at Cardiff University.

The MRI machine reveals the fibres which carry all the brain’s thought processes.

It’s been done in Cardiff, Nottingham, Cambridge and Stockport, as well as London England and London Ontario.

Doctors hope it will help increase understanding of a range of neurological disorders and could be used instead of invasive biopsies.

I volunteered for the project – not the first time my brain has been scanned.  Read on and watch fascinating video of the scan here.

Source Israel21c

Israeli scientists discover an abnormality in neurons’ protective membrane may enable the immune system to launch a mistaken attack.

Researchers have long speculated that MS is triggered by the body’s own immune system unleashing an uncontrolled attack on myelin sheaths that protect nerve cells (neurons).

A study published by Israeli scientists in the Journal of the American Chemical Society (JACS) pinpoints a structural instability in the myelin membranes, the “insulating tape” surrounding neurons.

This vulnerability seems to be what gives the immune system access to otherwise protected regions.  Read on.

Source MS Society

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