In novel study a team of researchers from US found that the sternness of MS ( multiple sclerosis) alters with seasons. Researchers compared the brain scans of MS sufferers with climate patterns which showed the greater levels of disease progression in the spring and summer seasons.
Additional studies have shown that intake of vitamin D from the exposure to sunlight can have defensive effect against MS which is enduring inflammatory condition related to central nervous system. The results had insinuations for testing new drugs that can humiliate different findings depending on the time of year explained researchers.
To check the effect of seasons on MS, researchers compared brain scans of forty-four adults with untreated MS from 1991 to 1993. Their daily temperature, solar radiation and precipitation measurements were taken for the same period. All participants had eight weekly brain scans that are followed by eight scans every fifteen days then six monthly checkups.
After, one year of study researchers found more than three hundred brain lesions or grazes in thirty-one sufferers. They also found that lesions were three times prone to appear in the spring and summer months.
Not only were more grazes found throughout the spring and summer season, their study also found that hotness and solar radiation were connected to disease action, explained lead author Dr Dominik Meier from Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. More psychotherapy also demonstrated a connection between new disease activity and intensity of disease activity and warmer months.
The experimental trails often use MRI to review the efficacy of a drug and investigations normally last between six to twelve months that can have insinuations for how effectual a new medication seems to be, added Dr Meier.
The small study is fascinating and, if authenticated in larger studies, has the potential to manipulate the way clinical trials are planned, explained Dr Susan Kohlhaas, a research communication an officer from MS Society.