Current Treatments
BETASERON® (interferon beta-1b) is indicated for the treatment of relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis to reduce the frequency of clinical exacerbations. Patients with multiple sclerosis in whom efficacy has been demonstrated include patients who have experienced a first clinical episode and have MRI features consistent with multiple sclerosis

AVONEX® (Interferon beta-1a) is a 166 amino acid glycoprotein with a predicted molecular weight of approximately 22,500 daltons. It is produced by recombinant DNA technology using genetically engineered Chinese Hamster Ovary cells into which the human interferon beta gene has been introduced. The amino acid sequence of AVONEX® is identical to that of natural human interferon beta.

COPAXONE is the brand name for glatiramer acetate (formerly known as copolymer-1). Glatiramer acetate, the active ingredient of COPAXONE, consists of the acetate salts of synthetic polypeptides, containing four naturally occurring amino acids: L-glutamic acid, L-alanine, L-tyrosine, and L-lysine with an average molar fraction of 0.141, 0.427, 0.095, and 0.338, respectively. The average molecular weight of glatiramer acetate is 5,000 – 9,000 daltons. Glatiramer acetate is identified by specific antibodies.

Rebif® (interferon beta-1a) is a purified 166 amino acid glycoprotein with a molecular weight of approximately 22,500 daltons. It is produced by recombinant DNA technology using genetically engineered Chinese Hamster Ovary cells into which the human interferon beta gene has been introduced. The amino acid sequence of Rebif® is identical to that of natural fibroblast derived human interferon beta. Natural interferon beta and interferon beta-1a (Rebif®) are glycosylated with each containing a single N-linked complex carbohydrate moiety.

Tysabri is a monoclonal antibody that affects the actions of the body's immune system. Monoclonal antibodies are made to target and destroy only certain cells in the body. This may help to protect healthy cells from damage. Tysabri is used to treat relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis. 		Gilenya™ is a new class of medication called a phingosine 1-phosphate receptormodulator, which is thought to act by retaining certain white blood cells (lympohcytes) in the lymph nodes, thereby preventing those cells from crossing the blood-brain barrier into the central nervous system (CNS). Preventing the entry of these cells into the CNS reduces inflammatory damage to nerve cells.

Early Symptoms
The most common early symptoms of MS include:
* Tingling * Numbness
* Loss of balance
* Weakness in one or more limbs
* Blurred or double vision

Less common symptoms of MS may include
* Slurred speech
* Sudden onset of paralysis
* Lack of coordination
* Cognitive difficulties
Listed above, the early symptoms. I tend to be a poster child for these. The symptoms that occur later on are too numerous just to list. There will be a link included that will get you to a site where these symptoms are listed and explained. Keep in mind that someone may have some of these or many of these, there is no way to tell.
Multiple sclerosis statistics show that approximately 250,000 to 350,000 people in the United States have been diagnosed with this disease. The life expectancy for people with multiple sclerosis is nearly the same as for those without MS. Because of this, multiple sclerosis statistics place the annual cost of MS in the United States in the billions of dollars. MS is five times more prevalent in temperate climates -- such as those found in the northern United States, Canada, and Europe -- than in tropical regions. Furthermore, the age of 15 seems to be significant in terms of risk for developing the disease. Some studies indicate that a person moving from a high-risk (temperate) to a low-risk (tropical) area before the age of 15 tends to adopt the risk (in this case, low) of the new area and vice versa. Other studies suggest that people moving after age 15 maintain the risk of the area where they grew up.

Thursday, October 1, 2009

BusinessWeek 5 October 2009 Volume 4149, Issue English (c) 2009 McGraw-Hill, Inc.
By Reena Jana

This article shows how society has become aware of the needs of the disabled and is accommodating those needs. I am creating this post using voice software from
"Nuance" on a blog provided by "Google" with software from "Microsoft". In order to do this there are many other companies that have provided products that I am using along with knowledge that I have gained over the years. I thank these companies because without these tools, as I have Multiple Sclerosis I would have no choice but to watch television and watch the paint dry.

HOW TECH FOR THE DISABLED IS GOING MAINSTREAM;





Designs conceived for the handicapped, such as voice commands for PCs, often lead to products for the masses
Apple is widely celebrated for making devices as easy to use as they are elegantly designed. What customers probably don't know is that some of these features aren't exactly new--they evolved from software Apple created to help disabled people use PCs. Among them: the new iPhone's voice control option, which allows users to speak to their handsets to prompt an action, such as calling Mom, or to get a spoken answer to such questions as "What song is playing?"
And "mainstreaming" tools for the disabled is spreading. Software developer Nuance Communications, for instance, invented voice command technology to help people who are unable to type on a computer. Today, the company's algorithms are used in products ranging from Amazon.com's latest Kindle e-reader to cars from Ford Motor. Meantime, Mattel is incorporating technology, initially intended to help paraplegics, into a soon-to-be-released game controlled by players' brainwaves.
Other companies should consider following these trailblazers, say innovation consultants. "Companies could look at designing for accessibility as a sales opportunity. Most features that are accessible for the disabled have great value to everybody," says Donald A. Norman, a former Apple vice-president for advanced technology who heads a joint business and engineering program at Northwestern University.
BENEFITS FOR THE BLIND
Mainstreaming has a long history. Thomas Edison saw his invention of the phonograph as a way to open the printed world to the blind by recording book readings. More recently, predictive-text software, the algorithms that finish words people type in search engines or e-mail, had its roots in technology geared to the disabled, according to patents filed for related programs.
Apple's VoiceOver feature can be traced back to the late 1980s, says Norman, when the computer maker decided to try to embed "universal access" in its Macintosh PC line. The term is used in engineering and design circles to describe goods, from scissors to cell phones, made in such a way that people of any age or physical ability can use them. VoiceOver became a standard feature of Apple computers in 2006. When it's activated, the Mac reads everything highlighted by the cursor, from text on a Web page to numbers in a database, in a natural-sounding voice.
While VoiceOver helped broaden Apple's reach to the blind, it also became a mini-engine for innovation within the company. "When we created the VoiceOver idea and concept for the Mac, we also realized we could take advantage of it by mainstreaming it," says Greg Joswiak, Apple's vice-president for iPod and iPhone marketing.
Now the technology has made its way into the iPod Shuffle. Unlike its larger brethren, the Shuffle is too small to have a screen to display information about its music content. The latest model, introduced last March, gets around this shortcoming with software that can say what song is playing. Sales were 51% higher in the new Shuffle's first week than they were for the previous model's debut, says Barclays Capital analyst Benjamin Reitzes. The low $79 price undoubtedly was part of the reason. But many users raved online about the voice interface, indicating that the feature helped popularize the music player, too.
Apple added a reverse version of VoiceOver to its third-generation iPhone, released in June, that enables users to tell the phone to perform functions rather than type commands. That permits hands-free use of the smartphone and makes the device functional for people with visual and other physical handicaps, as well as for motorists. "Some customers need assistive technologies, and other people want convenience," says Joswiak. "We try to solve problems for the disabled community, then we drive the solutions into the mainstream, to let everyone take advantage of them."
The rising demand for devices that can speak and be spoken to has been a boon for Nuance Communications. The Burlington (Mass.) company supplies voice control software for a growing number of products, from its Dragon NaturallySpeaking speech recognition software for PCs to hands-free voice dialing for phones from Nokia, Samsung, LG Electronics, and BlackBerry maker Research in Motion. Through a joint Ford-Microsoft venture called Sync, Nuance also provides voice command capabilities in top-selling GPS navigation devices, such as Garmin and TomTom, as well as in Ford, Lincoln, and Mercury vehicles.
"While the disabled aren't a significant percentage of our users today, they are our biggest power users," says Peter Mahoney, general manager of Nuance's Dragon unit. "They help us push the envelope" when it comes to improving products for mass-market customers.
Other companies are borrowing technology that aids the deaf. At Google, a deaf software engineer, Ken Harrenstein, spearheaded the creation of a captioning tool for videos posted on Google's YouTube site. His original intention was to help deaf users. But the company soon figured out the software could also help translate languages. That idea led in late 2008 to an auto-translation tool that allows people to add captions in 50 languages instantly to YouTube videos they upload, increasing the number of people who can watch and understand the clips.
MIND CONTROL
Mattel is taking mainstreaming into the toy market. In October it plans to release Mindflex, an $80 game that borrows from technology used by severely disabled people to control electronic devices by channeling brainwaves via sensors. Mattel has licensed the toy's brainwave-harvesting technology from a San Jose company called NeuroSky. To play, users put on a headband with sensors. By focusing their thoughts on motion, they can cause a motor to propel small plastic balls through a tabletop obstacle course. When they relax, the objects stop moving.
Mattel is betting that the technology will become the basis for a line of mind-controlled physical games like Mindflex, opening up a new category for the toy industry, says Geoff Walker, a senior marketing vice-president at the El Segundo (Calif.) company.
As pioneers boost sales by incorporating technology once confined to products for the handicapped, other companies are sure to follow. They could come out ahead, says Tim Bajarin, president of technology consultancy Creative Strategies in Campbell, Calif. "It's smart, because there is an aging population that will need easier-to-use tech. It's even smarter to follow Apple's lead--and then call these features out and get people's attention. Then it becomes a competitive advantage."
Posted by Steve at Thursday, October 01, 2009

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North Grafton, Massachusetts, United States
Well-educated, disabled at this point with Multiple Sclerosis. I am very glad that I was able to do the things that I have been able to do over the years. had to change the picture, this one's more realistic.