Related topics: muscle
Muscular dystrophy
hideMuscular dystrophy (abbreviated MD) refers to a group of genetic, hereditary muscle diseases that weaken the muscles that move the human body. Muscular dystrophies are characterized by progressive skeletal muscle weakness, defects in muscle proteins, and the death of muscle cells and tissue. Nine diseases including Duchenne, Becker, limb girdle, congenital, facioscapulohumeral, myotonic, oculopharyngeal, distal, and Emery-Dreifuss are always classified as muscular dystrophy but there are more than 100 diseases in total with similarities to muscular dystrophy. Most types of MD are multi-system disorders with manifestations in body systems including the heart, gastrointestinal and nervous systems, endocrine glands, skin, eyes and other organs.
In the 1860s, descriptions of boys who grew progressively weaker, lost the ability to walk, and died at an early age became more prominent in medical journals. In the following decade, French neurologist Guillaume Duchenne gave a comprehensive account of 13 boys with the most common and severe form of the disease (which now carries his name — Duchenne muscular dystrophy). It soon became evident that the disease had more than one form, and that these diseases affected males of all ages.[citation needed]
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News tagged with muscular dystrophy
Muscular dystrophy mystery solved; scientists move closer to MD solution
Feb 26, 2009 |
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Muscular dystrophy, which affects approximately 250,000 people in the United States, occurs when damaged muscle tissue is replaced with fibrous, bony or fatty tissue and loses function. While scientists have identified one ...
Living longer and happier
Aug 19, 2009 |
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A new study from the University of Missouri may shed light on how to increase the level and quality of activity in the elderly. In the study, published in this week's edition of Public Library of Science - ONE, MU resear ...
Genetic source of muscular dystrophy neutralized
Jul 16, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center have found a way to block the genetic flaw at the heart of a common form of muscular dystrophy. The results of the study, which were ...
Investigating muscle repair, scientists follow their noses
Nov 16, 2009 |
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When muscle cells need repair, they use odor-detecting tools found in the nose to start the process, researchers have discovered.
Study reveals intermediary steps of genetic encoding for the first time
Mar 27, 2009 |
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In a new study this week in Nature, researchers at Brandeis University and the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology (Cambridge, U.K.) for the first time shed light on a crucial step in the complex process by which human geneti ...
Gene therapy for muscular dystrophy shows promise beyond safety
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Apr 15, 2009 |
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Researchers have cleared a safety hurdle in efforts to develop a gene therapy for a form of muscular dystrophy that disables patients by gradually weakening muscles near the hips and shoulders.
Chemists Rationally Design Inhibitors Against an RNA Molecule that Causes Myotonic Muscular Dystrophy
Aug 07, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Chemists at the University at Buffalo have used rational drug design to synthesize small, cell-permeable molecules that are effective in vitro against two common types of myotonic muscular ...
Study may explain exercise-induced fatigue in muscular dystrophies
Oct 26, 2008 |
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A University of Iowa study suggests that the prolonged fatigue after mild exercise that occurs in people with many forms of muscular dystrophy is distinct from the inherent muscle weakness caused by the disease.
Robotics research: Enhancing the lives of people with disabilities
Aug 07, 2008 |
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Robots may be the solution for people with disabilities who are struggling to regain the use of their limbs, thanks to a research team that includes engineers and students from Rochester Institute of Technology.
First treatment for muscular dystrophy in sight: Scientists successfully harness exon-skipping
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Mar 16, 2009 |
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Genetic researchers at Children's National Medical Center and the National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry in Tokyo published the results of the first successful application of "multiple exon-skipping" to curb the devastating ...
Researchers develop DNA 'patch' for canine form of muscular dystrophy
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Mar 16, 2009 |
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Using a novel genetic technology that covers up genetic errors, researchers funded in part by the National Institutes of Health have developed a successful treatment for dogs with the canine version of Duchenne muscular dystrophy, ...
New old drug fights colon cancer
Oct 13, 2009 |
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A new Tel Aviv University drug, based on an older generation antibiotic, may provide doctors with an effective and innovative method of treating colon cancer in both its incipient and full-blown stages -- and minimize the ...
Mice holding back muscular dystrophy research
Dec 04, 2009 |
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Humans and mice have previously unknown and potentially critical differences in one of the genes responsible for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Biology have found that t ...
Scientist clears hurdles for muscular dystrophy therapy
Oct 29, 2008 |
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Approximately 250,000 people in the United States have some form of muscular dystrophy. Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is the most common type of the disease, predominantly affecting males. Boys with DMD will lose the ...
Stem cell breakthrough gives new hope to sufferers of muscle-wasting diseases
Mar 05, 2009 |
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An experimental procedure that dramatically strengthens stem cells' ability to regenerate damaged tissue could offer new hope to sufferers of muscle-wasting diseases such as myopathy and muscular dystrophy, according to researchers ...
