Muscular Dystrophies

Beauty pageants are not events that just happen by themselves, as Will Isgett can attest.

He’s one of 42 local executive directors of preliminary beauty pageants in South Carolina cities that culminate every year in the Miss South Carolina pageant. In 2010, the Miss South Carolina Board of Directors voted him the best of the bunch, for the pageant he directed in his hometown of Darlington.

Families affected by either of two forms of congenital muscular dystrophy (CMD), known as Ullrich CMD and Bethlem myopathy, are invited to help with an MDA-supported data collection project at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. The project's investigators are seeking to correlate genetic and clinical (symptom-related) information to improve understanding of these diseases and begin to develop treatments.

About Ullrich CMD and Bethlem myopathy

The “passenger” in Steve Williams’ motorcycle sidecar doesn’t say much, but if it could talk, it probably would have plenty of stories to tell.

Steve Williams explains how he and his brother outfitted this Honda Nighthawk with a special wheelchair-carrying sidecar.

The passenger is Williams’ manual wheelchair.

A new generation of molecules — peptide nucleic acid single-stranded oligodeoxynucleotides or PNA-ssODNs — can help cells permanently repair errors in the dystrophin gene, fixing the underlying cause of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), researchers report.

The research group, headed by MDA grantee, Carmen Bertoni, at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), published its findings online June 23, 2010, in the journal Human Molecular Genetics.

Eighteen-year-old Austin Puckett — Puck — is an up-and-coming hip-hop (rap) artist from Waynesville, Ohio, who uses his experiences with congenital muscular dystrophy as inspiration for his musical career.

Puckett has released two albums, “Million Dollar Dreams” and “Still Wishing,” on which he both wrote and performed the lyrics. ReFraze Studios in Dayton handled recording of both. The albums convey upbeat messages about the challenges in Puckett’s life — with none of the violence or vulgarities often associated with rap.

Scientists in the United Kingdom have found that mice carrying a genetic mutation that causes oculpharyngeal muscular dystrophy (OPMD) in humans and showing a disease resembling human OPMD benefited from treatment with a chemical called cystamine, provided in their drinking water.

About the new findings

David Rubinsztein and colleagues at the University of Cambridge announced their findings June 2, 2010, in Science Translational Medicine.

The biopharmaceutical company AVI BioPharma has announced additional encouraging results from its clinical trial of AVI4658, an experimental treatment for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD).

The new results show that, at higher doses, AVI4658 can result in substantial production of the needed dystrophin protein in muscle fibers.

The company has not yet released results of any tests of muscle function in the 19 children in this trial.

What started out as an item on O'Connell's bucket list is now an almost nightly occurance: performing comedy on stage.

“So this woman comes up and tries to give me a dollar. I wanted to say, ‘Hey! Just because I’m in a wheelchair doesn’t mean I’m homeless!’”

Idebenone, a substance believed to act as an antioxidant and to aid in energy production in cellular structures called mitochondria, has failed to benefit people with Friedreich's ataxia (FA) in a phase 3 trial conducted at several European centers. The drug is similar to coenzyme Q10, a naturally occurring molecule.