Touching Lives - November 2007

Bring Your Bear is a tremendously important event for us. It gives everyone the chance to celebrate Paddington’s birthday and raise vital funds through having loads of fun. It’s also a lovely way to unwind at the end of term!

Around 2 million people in the UK have Dupuytren’s disease, an abnormal thickening of the tissues below the skin in the fingers and palm of the hand. Cords and nodules form, causing discomfort.The cords gradually contract, meaning the fingers — often the little finger and the ring finger — bend into the palm.

Osteoporosis affects one in two women and one in five men over the age of 50 in the UK. It causes a reduction in bone density resulting in an increased risk of bone fractures in anyone suffering from the condition. When the spine is affected, osteoporotic fractures may cause chronic pain and deformity — the characteristic ‘dowager’s hump’ — as the fractured vertebrae change shape, causing the spine to become more curved.

Tendonitis — when the tendon becomes inflamed — is not a well understood condition, even though it affects many thousands of people each year. Progress is being made though. A little-known family of enzymes could hold a key to unlocking some of the mystery of tendon diseases, and funding from Action Medical Research has been the launch pad for a valuable laboratory-based study.

In spring 2006, Phil Taylor was busy juggling his work as an IT consultant for a major bank and fitting in training for the Action Medical Research London to Paris bike ride that summer.

On Sunday 24 June over 1000 cyclists set off from the small highland town of Pitlochry into the surrounding hills on either a 25 or 83 mile route. Amongst the Action Medical Research team of 100 cyclists were two of our researchers, Dr Mark Mon-Williams and Professor Jane Norman.

Avanti on par for £50,000 target

As part of its continued support for Action Medical Research,Avanti Systems was proud to be among the first companies to become Action Partners.The business is the largest privately-owned partitioning specialist in the UK and has raised £50,000 for the Touching Tiny Lives campaign over the last three years via the company’s highly successful annual golf days.This year’s event in July was no exception.

Dr Mark Mon-Williams (whose robot therapy research in Aberdeen is helping children with movement coordination problems) took the bold step of signing up for the 83 mile challenge. Scottish TV interviewed him about his research and his training for the event. Professor Jane Norman, based at Glasgow’s Royal Infirmary, was also interviewed about the event in her local paper.

Cartilage

Cartilage is a structural material used throughout the body and can be thought of as like bone but without the mineral content. One kind gives rigidity to the external ear; there it behaves like a stiff rubbery substance composed largely of strands of a protein called collagen (incidentally, collagen, when it is boiled, becomes old-fashioned glue, and when purified, gelatine). If the ear is frequently damaged, for example in boxing, the cartilage is robbed of its blood supply and so deteriorates and curls up, resulting in ‘cauliflower ear’.

Featured in the Spring issue of Touching Lives, Caroline, from Southend on Sea, suffered from debilitating epilepsy for more than 30 years. As well as coping with weekly seizures, she also had to deal with the side-effects of taking a range of medications to try and control her condition.

One of the Charity’s new grants is that awarded to a team at Imperial College London, led by Dr Dan Agranoff.

Ultrasound scanning in pregnancy, pioneered with funding from Action Medical Research, has been relied on for over 30 years to provide valuable information on the state of health of unborn babies in the womb.

About 1,500 people each year in the UK are diagnosed with motor neurone disease (MND). Many die within just 5 years, after progressively losing control of their speech, swallowing and breathing, and there is no cure.

Researchers funded by Action Medical Research are investigating how nerve cells try to recover from the destruction caused by this cruel disease, in the hope of identifying possible future treatments.

Oxygen deprivation at birth can cause brain injury. However the damage may be influenced by other factors, such as infection. Dr Kendall has been studying how infection affects the degree of damage and hence the eventual disability. His laboratory research has shown that an infection-like stimulus causes a cascade of changes in chemicals within brain tissue and blood vessels.This appears to make the brain more sensitive to a lack of oxygen during labour and delivery, which in turn could put a baby at greater risk.

Meningitis and septicaemia are feared by health professionals worldwide. Both illnesses can kill in a matter of hours, or result in devastating disability, and the majority of cases occur in childhood. Dr Manish Sadarangani is using an Action Medical Research grant to focus on Neisseria meningitidis, the dangerous bacterium responsible for meningitis and septicaemia. N. meningitidis kills more children in the UK than any other infection — one in ten of those infected die. Survivors can be left with permanent complications, like deafness, epilepsy and learning disabilities.

For many thousands of couples, having a baby will be far from easy and may end in tragedy, particularly if labour occurs prematurely. Not only will many babies spend a life-time coping with possible long-term effects of having been born too soon, but some will die and doctors may not be able to tell their parents why the pregnancy ended abruptly. Not knowing why something bad happens can be almost as painful as the experience itself.

The UK is experiencing an epidemic of liver disease, with death rates from cirrhosis increasing dramatically over the last 30 years. Many different things can put people at risk, including hepatitis C, drinking too much alcohol, inherited liver disorders and certain cancers.

In this fellowship, Dr Ben Underwood is focusing on ways to delay the onset of Huntington’s disease, a devastating inherited condition.Typically, sufferers die in middle age after enduring a 15-year deterioration in their physical and mental well-being. The first symptoms of Huntington’s disease, which include subtle changes in personality or mood, and occasional jerks or spasms, normally begin around age 40. Sufferers gradually become increasingly disabled, and eventually have to give up work.They lose the ability to walk.

What is ADHD?

Attention deficit disorder (ADD), also known as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), is one of the most common childhood-onset behavioural disorders. Often referred to as ‘hyperactivity’, ADHD refers to a range of problem behaviours relating to poor attention span, which often prevent children from learning or socialising well. ADHD shouldn’t, however, be confused with normal boisterous or exuberant childhood behaviour.

Action Medical Research has awarded a grant to fund a two year study into the causes of Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. Dr Rachel Cooney aims to boost our understanding of the causes of inflammatory bowel disease by looking for faulty genes.

Why did you decide to give to charity at this time?

I was born in June 1907. A centenary is a very special occasion to celebrate, and it was most important to me to honour my late wife’s memory. I decided to ask friends and family to mark my 100th birthday by making donations to Action Medical Research in commemoration of my dear departed wife, Peggie.