Cumbersome security procedures, rising airfares, and shrinking legroom have made commercial air travel difficult enough these days — even for healthy passengers. Imagine how much harder it is for patients with rare diseases who must get to doctors’ appointments or clinical trials that are hundreds of miles away from home.
The Canadian province of Saskatchewan has joined that of Quebec in granting access to Spinraza (nusinersen) therapy to a wider range of people with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), Biogen Canada announced in a press release. Only those with type 1 SMA, the disease’s most severe form, had access to Spinraza.
High-intensity training can improve fitness and may be performed safely by patients with spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy (SBMA), a small pilot study suggests. According to patients, high-intensity training (HIT) did not increase their muscle fatigue and was preferred to other workouts. Although more studies are needed to understand the long-term…
Parents of children with neuromuscular diseases who are prescribed wheelchair use should be involved in this process and receive psychological care and social support to facilitate transition to wheelchair equipment, according to a recent study. The study, “It’s not just the wheelchair, it’s everything else”: Australian parents’ perspectives of wheelchair prescription…
With an estimated 1.37 billion inhabitants, India will likely surpass China in five years as the world’s most populous country. That also means it will have more rare-disease patients than any nation. It already has more than twice as many as the 28-member European Union. Harsha K. Rajasimha, a genomics…
A global dysregulation affecting multiple signaling cascades operating inside motor neurons may be the underlying cause of spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy (SBMA), results of a mouse study reveal. The findings of the study, “Gene expression analysis reveals early dysregulation of disease pathways and links Chmp7 to pathogenesis of…
Zolgensma (AVXS-101), an investigational gene therapy for patients with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), improves motor function and prolongs survival in infants with SMA type 1 under six months of age, Phase 3 trial interim data show. These findings from the ongoing, multicenter and open-label Phase 3 STR1VE trial (…
SMN protein deficiency in spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) may lead to gastrointestinal (GI) dysfunction by shrinking the smooth muscle in the bladder and altering specific cells in the colon, according to a mouse study. The study, “Smooth muscle atrophy and colon pathology in SMN deficient mice,”…
A video game called ACTIVE could be used to monitor changes in motor function in people with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) types 2 and 3, according to a new study. The video game’s measurements aligned with standard tests used to monitor people with SMA, but require less expertise to administer than these…
More frequent participation in social and leisure activities is associated with less caregiver burden and emotional distress for mothers of patients with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), according to a Dutch study. The research, “Participation and mental well-being of mothers of home-living patients with spinal muscular atrophy,”…
