Welcome to Gaia! ::

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/7508087.stm


"It was January 2000 and I'd just started a new job, my dream job as political correspondent for BBC Scotland.

I was very busy, working long hours, so I didn't have much time to pay attention to this strange tingling in my face, but the tingling grew until eventually everything to the left was tingling and pins and needles, and everything to the right was fine.

I convinced myself the problem lay in my wisdom teeth and I'd have to have them extracted: a prospect that terrified me.

So, I went to my GP, sure I was wasting his time, and that he would send me to the dentist. He didn't. Instead he made me an appointment with the neurologist at the Southern General Hospital in Glasgow for the next day.

Despite the speed of the appointment, I didn't realise the seriousness of the situation.

The neurologist did a few tests, asked me to move my legs about, and examined my face. He said: "I think it's inflammation of the nerves, but to make sure we should get an MRI scan done, and we'll do that tomorrow."

I still didn't think any of this was a big deal. I went along for the MRI scan and was called in for diagnosis.

I remember sitting in the waiting room and as I was getting up to go across, feeling a complete fraud, and this lady said to me as I was walking away, "you've got nothing to worry about, you're very healthy".

And I walked away past her along to the neurologist's office thinking you're right, I've nothing to worry about, I'm a complete fraud, what a waste of time.

I went in and sat down opposite the neurologist, noticed there was a nurse there as well, which struck me as a bit strange, but I didn't really think too much about that.

And then the neurologist said: "Yeah, the MRI scan that has confirmed that it is inflammation of the nerves". And I'm thinking, "fine, well you knew that already apparently".

But the shock hit me when he added: "And that is eh multiple sclerosis."

Back then I didn't know anyone with multiple sclerosis, no-one in my family had the disease, and it wasn't an illness I knew much about.

But since, I've learned Scotland is believed to have the highest rates of multiple sclerosis in the world.

About 10,500 - or one in 500 people here - has MS.

Their symptoms range from the mild and hidden, to the more severe.

For me, eight years ago it was a tingling in my face, now I get tired more easily and sometimes have to use a stick to walk.

In terms of the progression of the disease, the most frustrating thing is not knowing what the future holds. MS is not something I think about every minute of every day, but it is something I've had to face while making a BBC documentary. I'm determined to find out why Scotland has such a high rate of the disease.

Whenever I mention the statistics to people the immediate response is always the same - Why? Why is that? Well the simple answer is - no-one knows.

As a journalist, it's annoying not to be able to find a satisfactory answer to that question and as someone living with MS it's extremely frustrating.

Building blocks

I wanted to delve deeper, and that's why I've spent the last few months investigating the disease for the documentary "Scotland's Hidden Epidemic: The truth about MS", to be broadcast on Wednesday, July 23, at 2245 BST.

My journey to find out about this curious connection between MS and the country I love, where I was born and grew up is what this programme is all about.

I've travelled to Orkney and Canada, interviewed world leaders in the study of MS and met other people living and coping with MS just like me who are keen to find out why it's so common here.

MS can often quite literally be mapped along lines of latitude. It's more common the further north you travel from the equator - and lack of sunlight and Vitamin D are all factors. Another theory is that a virus triggers the onset of the illness.

And it looks like it's probably a combination of all these things - a combination of building blocks - building up to MS.

But these are not the only factors in explaining why and where MS occurs.

Genetics seem to play a role in all this. Dr Jim Wilson of Edinburgh University has just launched a major study looking at MS in the Northern Isles. Orkney and Shetland are widely believed to have the highest rates of MS on the planet.

Dr Wilson wants anyone with MS, whether an Orcadian living at home or away, to get in touch.

So, could there be a Scottish gene, or genes? Could MS really be something we Scots have taken around the globe over the centuries? It's a startling thought, and one which I investigate in the documentary.

It's been tough at times. MS is a disease I have, but not one I think about every minute of every hour of every day. But it's also been fascinating, and inspiring.

And, however the mystery tour of my MS ends, finding a cure or even some answers as to why it's so common here, would definitely be a very good ending to my story of MS."

Whoops, I meant to lock this thread >.<

Me and my dodgy skin thank you MM! Happily mine isn't severe at the moment, merely mild and only on one elbow. But it's good to know that they're finding new treatments, since there's a genetic fator to eczema, my children could end up with it sad

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7525115.stm

Alzheimer's drug 'halts' decline

UK scientists have developed a drug which may halt the progression of Alzheimer's disease.

Trials of the drug, known as rember, in 321 patients showed an 81% difference in rate of mental decline compared with those not taking the treatment.

The Aberdeen University researchers said the drug targeted the build-up of a specific protein in the brain.

Alzheimer's experts were optimistic about the results, but said larger trials were now needed.

Presenting the results at the International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease, Professor Claude Wischik said the drug may be on the market by 2012.

Patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease were given either 30, 60 or 100mg of the drug or a placebo.

The 60mg dose produced the most pronounced effect - over 50 weeks there was a seven-point difference on a scale used to measure severity of dementia.

At 19 months there was no significant decline in mental function in patients taking the drug, the researchers said.

Imaging data also suggests the drug may be having its biggest effect in the parts of the brain responsible for memory.

The link between clumps or "tangles" of protein inside nerve cells in the brain and Alzheimer's disease was first made over 100 years ago.

Later shown to be made up of a protein called Tau, the tangles build up inside cells involved in memory, destroying them in the process.

Rember, or methylthioninium chloride, is the first treatment specifically designed to target the Tau tangles.

Other treatments for Alzheimer's tend to focus on combating a waste protein in the brain, beta-amyloid, which is known to form hard plaques. The latest work suggests targeting Tau may produce better results.

Methylthioninium chloride is more commonly used as a blue dye in laboratory experiments.

Professor Wischik discovered it by accident 20 years ago, when a drop in a test tube led to the disappearance of the Tau protein he had been working on.

"We have demonstrated for the first time that it may be possible to arrest the progression of this disease by targeting the tangles which are highly correlated with the disease," he said.

"We did an analysis of the effect size at 24 weeks and at 50 weeks compared to the average effect size of the current treatments and it was about two and a half times better," he added.

Larger trials of the drug are planned to start in 2009, and researchers are also investigating whether the drug has a role in prevention of the disease in the first place.

Professor Clive Ballard, head of research at the Alzheimer's Society, said: "This is a major new development in the fight against dementia.

"It is the first realistic evidence that a new drug can improve cognition in people with Alzheimer's by targeting the protein tangles that cause brain cell death.

"This first modestly sized trial in humans is potentially exciting.

"It suggests the drug could be over twice as effective as any treatment that is currently available."

Rebecca Wood, chief executive of the Alzheimer's Research Trust, said: "In this exploratory trial, rember reduced the decline in blood flow to parts of the brain that are important for memory.

"This bodes well but we need more human trials to assess the treatment's possible side effects."

She added the fact the trial was funded by a pharmaceutical company highlighted the lack of funding for Alzheimer's research in the UK.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7561724.stm

Pratchett Criticises Drugs Ruling

Author Terry Pratchett has criticised a decision to limit the drug Aricept through the NHS to people in the later stages of Alzheimer's disease.

He told the BBC's Panorama programme the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence's ruling "feels like an insult" and needs a rethink.

NICE decided the drug was not cost-effective in the early stages.

Pratchett, who has sold 55 million books worldwide, has PCA, a rare early-onset form of the disease.

He was diagnosed with PCA, which affects the back of the brain and therefore vision and motor skills, in December 2007.

Speaking to Panorama for its programme The NHS Postcode Lottery - It Could be You, he said his doctor told him about Aricept straight after he was diagnosed, but she initially said she could not prescribe it for him.

"I didn't have a specialist at that time and so I was a bit in limbo," he said. "I think she took pity and sort of did it."

Difficult route

He now pays for his Aricept, which is prescribed to him by a specialist in Bath, but is highly critical of the Byzantine route he had to take to get the drugs he says he needs:

"It's probably easier to get drugs off Fat Charlie round the back of the bus station than it is to get medicines - but there we are," he told Panorama.

The head of NICE, Andrew Dillon, told Panorama: "The evidence is absolutely clear."

"The extent of the benefits and the numbers of patients involved" meant the NHS should not give the drug to patients before they, "as they inevitably will, move into the moderate stage of the disease", he said.

Recommendation reversed

NICE guidance in 2001 recommended the drug - which can make it easier to carry out everyday tasks - should be used as standard.

But revised advice published in November 2006, stated that Aricept should only be prescribed to people with moderate-stage disease.

NICE said that Aricept, which costs about £2.50 a day, did not make enough of a difference to recommend it for all patients and therefore was not good value for money.

Pratchett acknowledges that through his success as an author - his Discworld series has sold 55 million books worldwide - he is easily able to afford to Aricept.

But he is concerned for other people with Alzheimer's who lack his means.

"I feel particularly angry on behalf of early onset patients because it feels like an insult and the younger you are the more insulting it is," he says.

"A lot of people with early onset have got dependents both younger and older and they're trying to hold down a job."

"It is a really nasty disease and I cannot imagine cancer patients being denied a drug like this in similar circumstances," Pratchett added.

Fear factor

He says that he has noticed a huge change in his condition since he started taking Aricept.

"If I'm not on the drug I'd find certain things difficult, doing up buttons so you get a line of buttons in the shirt done up right can be a problem," he said.

"In theory I should be that much worse, but my wife has said that I'm better now than I was in the autumn."

But Pratchett says that the advantages of taking the drug are wider than that.

"Alzheimer's scares people and at four o'clock in the morning it scares me, and Aricept is well worth having for the relief that it brings."

He said that the decision to not give it to early stage sufferers, but to provide free treatment for obesity and sexual impotence indicates the NHS "priorities are not right".

And the author also told Panorama that he thinks it is possible that NICE's decision was in part shaped by the fact that Alzheimer's is a disease predominantly affecting older people, whom he says are thought of as "a softer target".

for those in the U.S., this is really nice~

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090324/ap_on_he_me/insurers_sick_people

Insurers offer to stop charging sick people more
By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR

WASHINGTON – The health insurance industry offered Tuesday for the first time to curb its controversial practice of charging higher premiums to people with a history of medical problems. The offer from America's Health Insurance Plans and the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association is a potentially significant shift in the debate over reforming the nation's health care system to rein in costs and cover an estimated 48 million uninsured people. It was contained in a letter to key senators.

In the letter, the two insurance industry groups said their members are willing to "phase out the practice of varying premiums based on health status in the individual market" if all Americans are required to get coverage. Although the letter left open some loopholes, it was still seen as a major development.

"The offer here is to transition away from risk rating, which is one of the things that makes life hell for real people," said health economist Len Nichols of the New America Foundation public policy center. "They have never in their history offered to give up risk rating."

"This letter demonstrates that insurance companies are open to major insurance reform, and are even willing to accept broad consumer protections," said Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., a moderate who could help bridge differences on a health care overhaul. "It represents a major shift from where the industry was in the 1990s during the last major health care debate."

Insurers are trying to head off the creation of a government insurance plan that would compete with them, something that liberals and many Democrats are pressing for. To try to win political support, the industry has already made a number of concessions. Last year, for example, insurers offered to end the practice of denying coverage to sick people. They also said they would support a national goal of restraining cost increases.

The latest offer goes beyond that.

Insurance companies now charge very high premiums to people who are trying to purchase coverage as individuals and have a history of medical problems, such as diabetes or skin cancer. Even if such a person is offered coverage, that individual is often unable to afford the high premiums. About 7 percent of Americans buy their coverage as individuals, while more than 60 percent have job-based insurance.

"When you have everyone in the system, and you can bring (financial) assistance to working families, then you can move away from health status rating," said Karen Ignagni, president of America's Health Insurance Plans, the leading trade group.

The companies left themselves several outs, however. The letter said they would still charge different premiums based on such factors as age, place of residence, family size and benefits package.

"If the goal is to make health care affordable, this concession does not go far enough," said Richard Kirsch, campaign manager for Health Care for America Now. "It still allows insurers to charge much more if you are old." His group, backed by unions and liberals, is trying to build support for sweeping health care changes.

Importantly, insurers did not extend to small businesses their offer to stop charging the sick higher premiums. Small employers who offer coverage can see their premiums zoom up from one year to the next, even if just one worker or family member gets seriously ill.

Ignagni said the industry is working on separate proposals for that problem.

"We are in the process of talking with small-business folks across the country," she said. "We are well on the way to proposing a series of strategies that could be implemented for them."