Patients who develop myasthenia gravis (MG) either before or after surgical removal of the thymus (thymectomy) due to a thymoma — a tumor originating from the thymus — share similar clinical characteristics, a study shows. Moreover, testing for anti‐acetylcholine receptor (AChR) antibody levels, or…

Treatment with Soliris (eculizumab) provides comparable and sustained improvements in daily living and muscle strength in Japanese and Caucasian patients with treatment-resistant generalized myasthenia gravis (gMG), according to one-year data of REGAIN’s extension study. Efficacy and safety were maintained up to 52 weeks in both patient groups and were consistent…

Analyzing microbial and metabolic changes in fecal samples may provide a highly reliable way to diagnose myasthenia gravis (MG) and monitor its severity, according to a new study in patients and mice. The research, “Perturbed Microbial Ecology in Myasthenia Gravis: Evidence from the Gut Microbiome and…

Screening newborns for genetic diseases with treatments that can prevent crippling or deadly progression, especially for rare disorders, has a ways to go in the United States. No state today tests for all 35 disorders recommended under a federal screening panel, and even in those that come close, rare…

Oklahoma suffers more tornadoes than any other state, has the highest per-capita rate of women in U.S. prisons, ranks second in the number of teen births per 100,000 teenage girls, and has the nation’s third-highest rate of uninsured residents — with 13.9% of all Oklahomans lacking health coverage. As if…

Patients with mild myasthenia gravis (MG) but with poorer nerve cell response in initial diagnostic tests are more likely to progress to more aggressive therapy regimens than those with better nerve responses, known as decrement scores. The study “Baseline Decrement in Patients with Mild Myasthenia Gravis Predicts Immunomodulation…

Myasthenia gravis (MG) can co-occur with premature ovarian failure (POF). Prompt and proper MG treatment, however, can help restore reproductive organ health, a recent report of two cases suggests. The case report, titled “Clinical characteristics and relationship between myasthenia gravis and premature ovarian failure: report of two…

High levels of PCO2 — a measure of the amount of carbon dioxide gas dissolved in blood — may be a useful biomarker for higher mortality risk in people with myasthenia gravis undergoing acute respiratory crisis, a study suggests. The study, titled “Myasthenic crisis treated in a…

The use of blood cholesterol-lowering medications called statins is linked to a small risk of myasthenia gravis (MG), according to a large World Health Organization database study. The study, “Statin‐induced myasthenia: a disproportionality analysis of the WHO’s VigiBase pharmacovigilance database,” was published in the journal Muscle&Nerve. Statins…

A new international consortium based in Paris, and funded largely by the 28-member European Union, intends to speed the diagnosis of rare diseases, while also accelerating the development of treatments for the 95% of such illnesses that currently don’t have one. The European Joint Programme on Rare Diseases (EJP…