Researchers who have pinpointed an antibody linked to life-threatening autoimmune disorders in children say their discovery could lead to faster diagnosis and treatment of these patients. The investigators identified the myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG) antibody in their study of 535 children with central nervous system demyelinating disorders and encephalitis. MOG antibodies damage the protective covering (myelin sheath) that surrounds nerve fibers in the brain, optic nerves and spinal cord, which means that messages can’t be passed along these nerves. Of the 116 children who tested positive for MOG antibodies and received appropriate treatment, 85% had complete or near-complete recovery, according to the study published Feb. 10 in The Lancet Neurology journal. The findings suggest that the MOG antibody is associated with more life-threatening autoimmune conditions than previously thought. These include neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders and encephalitis, which cause severe brain and nervous system symptoms such as vision loss, muscle weakness and loss of coordination and speech, the researchers said. This group of neurological disorders can mimic similar conditions like multiple sclerosis (MS), making them difficult to diagnose correctly. Until about 10 years ago, patients with these diseases were thought to have atypical forms of MS, and the prognosis and best treatment methods were unknown. Over the last 10 years, research has shown that several demyelinating diseases are associated with the MOG-antibody biomarker, and that patients…  read on >

A deadly virus that’s surging through a foreign country makes its way into the United States, carried into this country by an unwitting traveler. In response, Americans panic, convinced the pathogen will soon sweep through the nation — even though only a handful of people in the United States have fallen ill. That may sound like the current state of affairs with the new coronavirus. While it has killed 1,113 and infected over 44,653 in mainland China, only 13 people have fallen ill with it in the United States and there have been no deaths. But this is actually a recurring pattern in the United States, where media coverage of a new global health threat causes distress and fear among Americans even though the risk here is fairly limited, experts say. “While an outbreak is small and simmering it doesn’t get much coverage, but then some event happens that creates an onslaught of coverage, some of which is very sensationalistic, and drops the context of what’s going on and ends up really panicking people,” said Dr. Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, in Baltimore. The most recent example before the coronavirus was the 2014-2016 Ebola outbreak in West Africa, said Roxane Cohen Silver, a professor of psychology at the University of California, Irvine. Coronavirus panic mirrors reaction to…  read on >

Suicidal behavior is declining among U.S. teenagers who identify as LGBT, but the problem remains pervasive. That’s the conclusion of two new studies that tracked trends among U.S. teenagers over the past couple of decades. Over the years, more kids have been identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT) — and their likelihood of reporting suicidal thoughts and behavior has gone down. The bad news is they remain at much higher risk of suicide than their heterosexual peers, the researchers said. In one study, LGBT teenagers were over three times more likely than heterosexual teens to report a suicide attempt. The other study charted a similar pattern, with LGBT kids still reporting a high prevalence of suicidal thoughts in 2017 — and roughly a quarter saying they’d attempted suicide in the past year. The studies, published online Feb. 10 in Pediatrics, could not dig into the reasons. But past research has suggested that bullying plays a role, according to Brian Mustanski, director of the Institute for Sexual and Gender Minority Health and Wellbeing at Northwestern University in Chicago. LGBT students are more likely to be targeted by bullies than their heterosexual peers are. But in school districts with strong anti-bullying policies, Mustanski said, LGBT students typically report less suicidal behavior. So efforts to combat bullying could be part of the solution, according to Mustanski.…  read on >