The Myelin Repair Foundation has produced this update on their research progress. It shows never before seen graphics of what the chief scientists at MRF think happens in Myelin diseases. Video Produced by WMSMedia

The Myelin Repair Foundation (MRF) is a non-profit medical research foundation dedicated to accelerating basic medical research into myelin repair treatments that will dramatically improve the lives of people suffering from multiple sclerosis (MS). Produced by WMSMedia

Myelin

Track uploaded for practice use only. Expect full band version soon

Washington State's MS Rider

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This is a film i made about the myelin sheath. It's a parody of the twilight zone, for the most part.

Myelin's First show w/ Maila and On the Last day at Monkey Mania www.myspace.com/themyelinsupreme

Myelin's First show w/ Maila and On the Last day at Monkey Mania www.myspace.com/themyelinsupreme

Myelin's First show w/ Maila and On the Last day at Monkey Mania www.myspace.com/themyelinsupreme

Myelin's First show w/ Maila and On the Last day at Monkey Mania www.myspace.com/themyelinsupreme

Two kids playing an axon and a myelin sheath... And a little of the nucleus of a neuron. P.S. The kid playing the myelin sheath is the one hugging the other. ^^ P.P.S. I know their names, I just don't want to type them out. ... Because I can.

Myelin's First show w/ Maila and On the Last day at Monkey Mania www.myspace.com/themyelinsupreme

An example of why myelin sheath helps action potentials travel quicker.

Anatomy of a Nerve More than ten thousand million nerve cells and their fibers, or axons, make up the nervous system. The axons are grouped together in nerve trunks containing sensory fibers, which conduct information from the sensory organs to the central nervous system, and motor fibers, which carry information to the central nervous system of the body. The nerve fibers which carry information quickly are enclosed in a thick sheath made of the fatty substance myelin. They are called myelinated nerve fibers. The myelinated sheath has regular indentations along its length called the nodes of Ranvier. The nonmyelinated nerve fibers, which carry information slowly, are grouped together and enclosed in a single sheath. The anatomy of a nerve includes: the cell body, which is composed of cytoplasm and contains the cell nucleus; the nucleus, which contains the information needed to control the activity of the neuron; the dendrites, outgrowths of the cell body to which and from which they conduct impulses; the epineurium, a fibrous sheath that surrounds the whole nerve; the perineurium, the connective tissue sheath that surrounds bundles of nerve fibers; the endoneurium, the fine sheath of connective tissue around each nerve bundle; the axon, the extended fiber of the nerve cell which carries impulses to and from the cell body; the fatty myelin sheath, the insulating coat that separates the axon in a nerve bundle; the Schwann cell nucleus, the mechanism responsible for the production and maintenance of the myelin sheath and the Nodes of Ranvier, constrictions in the myelin sheath.

Definition Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic autoimmune disorder affecting movement, sensation, and bodily functions. It is caused by destruction of the myelin insulation covering nerve fibers (neurons) in the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord). Description MS is a nerve disorder caused by destruction of the insulating layer surrounding neurons in the brain and spinal cord. This insulation, called myelin, helps electrical signals pass quickly and smoothly between the brain and the rest of the body. When the myelin is destroyed, nerve messages are sent more slowly and less efficiently. Patches of scar tissue, called plaques, form over the affected areas, further disrupting nerve communication. The symptoms of MS occur when the brain and spinal cord nerves no longer communicate properly with other parts of the body. MS causes a wide variety of symptoms and can affect vision, balance, strength, sensation, coordination, and bodily functions. Multiple sclerosis affects more than a quarter of a million people in the United States. Most people have their first symptoms between the ages of 20 and 40; symptoms rarely begin before 15 or after 60. Women are almost twice as likely to get MS as men, especially in their early years. People of northern European heritage are more likely to be affected than people of other racial backgrounds, and MS rates are higher in the United States, Canada, and Northern Europe than in other parts of the world. MS is very rare among Asians, North and South American Indians, and Eskimos. This video is dedicated to all those suffering from Multiple sclerosis and their family and friends who suffer along with them

Raising awareness of Transverse Myelitis, a rare illness that destroys the myelin sheath that protects spinal nerves. For more info: http://www.codysfirststep.org/ http://www.hopkinsneuro.org/tm/

See how the Myelin Repair Foundation is using a new "mapping" tool to identify links between researchers in the search for multiple sclerosis treatments. http://www.myelinrepair.org

The Myelin Project

Vanderbilt researchers have produced the first time-lapse movies of the process that wraps an outer, insulating layer of myelin around the nerve fibers as the spinal cord develops in vertebrates. The movies were taken of the process in living zebrafish embryos. The researchers discovered that the initial stage in this process is surprisingly dynamic. Special glial cells, called oligodendrocyte progenitors (OPCs), spread out along new axons and continually jockey for position until they are uniformly spaced along the length of the spinal cord. Two of OPCs have been colored green to make them easier to follow. When they are properly spaced, a fraction of these OPCs transform into oligodendrocytes which extrude myelin membranes that wrap around the axons. For more information and additional videos, go to Exploration, Vanderbilt's online research magazine, at www.exploration.vanderbilt.edu.

-CNS=Central Nervous System -Multiple sclerosis (abbreviated MS, also known as disseminated sclerosis or encephalomyelitis disseminata) is an autoimmune condition in which the immune system attacks the central nervous system, leading to demyelination. Disease onset usually occurs in young adults, and it is more common in women. It has a prevalence that ranges between 2 and 150 per 100,000. MS was first described in 1868 by Jean-Martin Charcot. MS affects the areas of the brain and spinal cord known as the white matter, destroying a fatty layer called the myelin sheath, which wraps around nerve fibers and electrically insulates them. When myelin is lost, the axons of neurons can no longer effectively conduct action potentials. The name multiple sclerosis refers to the scars (scleroses better known as plaques or lesions) in the white matter. Although much is known about the mechanisms involved in the disease process, the cause remains unknown. Theories include genetics or infections. Different environmental risk factors have also been found. Almost any neurological symptom can appear with the disease, and often progresses to physical and cognitive disability. MS takes several forms, with new symptoms occurring either in discrete attacks (relapsing forms) or slowly accumulating over time (progressive forms). Between attacks, symptoms may go away completely, but permanent neurological problems often occur, especially as the disease advances. There is no known cure for MS. Treatments attempt to return function after an attack, prevent new attacks, and prevent disability. MS medications can have adverse effects or be poorly tolerated, and many patients pursue alternative treatments, despite the lack of supporting scientific study. The prognosis is difficult to predict, it depends on the subtype of the disease, the individual patient's disease characteristics, the initial symptoms and the degree of disability the person experiences as time advances. Life expectancy of patients is nearly the same as that of the unaffected population. -BY ED ZERATI http://www.zerati.com

http://www.abc.net.au/health/healthyliving/ TRANSCRIPT: http://www.abc.net.au/health/healthyliving/stories/2008/06/17/2242986.htm As if the expanding waistline and the fading eyesight weren't enough... The accepted thinking on how middle age affects your brain was enough to give anyone a midlife crisis. Reach 40, the thinking went, and your brain began a long, slow decline. Cheery thought! Well, memory for factual information does decrease with age. And late-life dementia is a very real problem. But in certain aspects of brain function, the phrase 'life begins at 40' rings true. Despite the toll of passing years, the brain of a 40, 50 or 60-year-old might actually beat that of a 20-year-old in some respects. That's because the ageing brain brings onboard a number of new strategies to help make the most of what it's got. One of the key changes allows faster information processing. There's an increase in a substance called myelin, that forms the insulating fatty layers around brain cells, helping them transmit information quickly. Extra layers of myelin are one of the things that help the brain become more nimble as we age. In the parts of the brain where higher level thinking happens, myelin peaks around the age of 45 or 50. So later in life, we actually have more of this performance enhancer than earlier on. The effect of those extra myelin layers has been likened to the upgrading of an internet connection from dial-up to broadband. You get faster connections. You mightn't have the same amount of raw data in your memory as when you were 20, but it seems you can make better use of it. What's more, as we age, different brain regions can work together in ways not seen in younger adults, improving reasoning and making the whole better than the sum of its parts. There's even evidence we get better at regulating and controlling emotion. On the whole, we get less neurotic and happier. It all suggests the term 'senior moment' should have much more positive connotations! After all, the brain in midlife is much more flexible and adaptable than was previously thought. It's enough to make you buy a red sports car to celebrate.

-Multiple sclerosis (abbreviated MS, also known as disseminated sclerosis or encephalomyelitis disseminata) is an autoimmune condition in which the immune system attacks the central nervous system, leading to demyelination. Disease onset usually occurs in young adults, and it is more common in women. It has a prevalence that ranges between 2 and 150 per 100,000. MS was first described in 1868 by Jean-Martin Charcot. MS affects the areas of the brain and spinal cord known as the white matter, destroying a fatty layer called the myelin sheath, which wraps around nerve fibers and electrically insulates them. When myelin is lost, the axons of neurons can no longer effectively conduct action potentials. The name multiple sclerosis refers to the scars (scleroses better known as plaques or lesions) in the white matter. Although much is known about the mechanisms involved in the disease process, the cause remains unknown. Theories include genetics or infections. Different environmental risk factors have also been found. Almost any neurological symptom can appear with the disease, and often progresses to physical and cognitive disability. MS takes several forms, with new symptoms occurring either in discrete attacks (relapsing forms) or slowly accumulating over time (progressive forms). Between attacks, symptoms may go away completely, but permanent neurological problems often occur, especially as the disease advances. There is no known cure for MS. Treatments attempt to return function after an attack, prevent new attacks, and prevent disability. MS medications can have adverse effects or be poorly tolerated, and many patients pursue alternative treatments, despite the lack of supporting scientific study. The prognosis is difficult to predict, it depends on the subtype of the disease, the individual patient's disease characteristics, the initial symptoms and the degree of disability the person experiences as time advances. Life expectancy of patients is nearly the same as that of the unaffected population. -BY ED ZERATI http://www.zerati.com

Created by Luis Concha and Daniel Torres University of Alberta, Canada. Please note: This work is licensed using Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License. Please email me if you would like to use this video. Note: Send email to my gmail account (below). lconcha __ at ___ gmail.com http://lconcha.googlepages.com/ The complex circuitry interconnecting different areas in the brain, known collectively as white matter, is composed of millions of axons organized into fascicles and bundles. Upon macroscopic examination of sections of the brain, it is difficult to discern the orientation of the fibers. The same is true for conventional imaging modalities. However, recent advancements in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) make such task possible in a live subject. By sensitizing an otherwise typical MRI sequence to the diffusion of water molecules it is possible to measure their diffusion coefficient in a given direction1. Normally, the axonal membrane and myelin sheaths pose barriers to the movement of water molecules and, thus, they diffuse preferentially along the axon2. Therefore, the direction of white matter bundles can be elucidated by determining the principal diffusivity of water. The three-dimensional representation of the diffusion coefficient can be given by a tensor and its mathematical decomposition provides the direction of the tracts3; this MRI technique is known as diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). By connecting the information acquired with DTI, three-dimensional depictions of white matter fascicles are obtained4. The virtual dissection of white matter bundles is rapidly becoming a valuable tool in clinical research. Our journey begins with a transverse section of tightly packed axons as seen through light microscopy. Although represented as a two-dimensional "slice", we see that these axons in fact resemble tubes. A simulation of water molecules diffusing randomly inside the axons demonstrates how the membranes and myelin hinder their movement across them and shows the preferred diffusion direction --along the axons. The tracts depicted through DTI slowly blend in and we ride along with them. As we zoom out even more, we realize that it is a portion of the corpus callosum connecting the two sides of the brain we were traveling on and the great difference in relative scale of the individual axons becomes evident. The surface of the brain is then shown, as well as the rest of the white matter bundles--a big, apparently chaotic tangle of wires. Finally, the skin covers the brain. With the exception of the simulated water molecules, all the data presented in the animation is obtained through microscopy and MRI. Computer algorithms for the extraction of the cerebral structures and a custom-built graphics engine make our journey through the brain's anatomy possible in a living person. Micrograph courtesy of Dr. Christian Beaulieu, University of Alberta. Music by Mario Mattioli. References: 1. Stejskal, E.O., et al., J. Chem. Phys., 1965. 42: 2. Beaulieu, C., NMR Biomed., 2002. 15:435-55. 3. Basser, P.J., et al., J. Magn. Reson. B, 1994. 103:247-54. 4. Mori, S., et al., NMR Biomed., 2002. 15:468-80.

Myelin. House Show