The nerve-damaging effects of multiple sclerosis can be dramatically reduced with daily injections of glatiramer acetate (Copaxone), according to University of Maryland researchers.
After 30 months of treatment, patients had 32 percent fewer relapses and a 50-percent decrease in measurable neurologic disability, Dr. Kenneth P. Johnson reported in Neurology, a scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology. MS, which affects 300,000 Americans, involves progressive inflammation of parts of the brain or spinal cord, causing partial or complete paralysis, visual loss, incontinence, tremors or loss of balance.
“Glatiramer acetate, with its significant effect on MS relapses and disability and its excellent history of patient tolerance, should be considered as a first-line drug for the prevention of relapses and as replacement treatment for patients who fail therapy with the beta interferons or are unable to tolerate their side effects,” Johnson said.
WATCH YOUR WORDS
People who say nasty things about others may have some of that nastiness rub off on themselves, according to psychologists at Ohio State, Purdue and Indiana universities.
In a series of studies the researchers found that when someone attributes negative or positive traits to someone else, the listener often attributes the same traits to the speaker.
“Politicians who allege corruption by their opponents may themselves be perceived as dishonest, critics who praise artists may themselves be perceived as talented and gossips who describe others’ infidelities may themselves by viewed as immoral,” Ohio State’s John J. Skowronski reported in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
WEIGHT BELTS? BAH!
Leather weight-lifting belts often worn by people working out in gyms may be counterproductive, according to a New York orthopedic surgeon.
A two-year study of 25 men who wore the belts and 25 who didn’t found that those who did not wear weight-lifting belts had better abdominal and lower back strength.
“They are placing a lot of pressure on their abdominal and back muscles,” said Dr. Sohail Ahmad of the Albany Medical Center. “As a result, they are increasing their muscle strength in this area.” Upper body strength was about the same in both groups.
The belt may have some use, however, for people who have jobs that involve heavy lifting on a daily basis by providing support and alleviating discomfort, Ahmad reported at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons.
