Facioscapulohumeral Muscular Dystrophy (FSH or FSHD)

An MDA-supported team of scientists in the United States and the Netherlands has uncovered new leads about the origins of facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD), a disease whose biochemical underpinnings have proved elusive to scientists despite years of investigation.

An MDA-supported team of scientists in the United States and the Netherlands has uncovered new leads about the origins of facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD), a disease whose biochemical underpinnings have proved elusive to scientists despite years of investigation.

Lack of understanding of the mechanisms involved in FSHD has impeded treatment development, a phase of research that generally moves forward after disease mechanisms have been described.

Scientists in the United States and Japan have identified a three-protein cluster that reseals damaged muscle-fiber membranes. The findings, published June 5, 2009, in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, could have implications for development of treatments for muscular dystrophies.

In experiments in mice, Michael Rudnicki, an MDA grantee at the Sprott Center for Stem Cell Research at Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (OHRI), and colleagues, found the WNT7a protein stimulates muscle repair by causing proliferation (an increase in number) of "satellite stem cells." They say the protein probably operates similarly in humans. The findings were published June 5, 2009, in the journal Cell Stem Cell.

A new gene therapy approach to "silencing" disease-causing genetic information has been developed by researchers at Rutgers University in Piscataway, N.J., and Integrated DNA Technologies in Coralville, Ia.

Learning that Gregg Kuersteiner snow-skis black diamond (expert) slopes at high speed doesn’t seem unusual until you see the rig he skis on.

Kuersteiner, 47, began skiing at age 2 every weekend of the season in his native upstate New York, under the tutelage of his father, a ski school instructor. He became an expert skier at an early age, and raced on the giant slalom team in high school.

Flying automobiles … flying lawnmowers … flying doghouses … where’s this madness going to end?

If Chris “Lucky” Carnes has his druthers, the sky’s the limit.

For the past four years, the 33-year-old from Chase City, Va., has been busy practically every weekend with the rapidly growing hobby/sport of model aviation.