In both Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) and Becker muscular dystrophy (BMD), deterioration of the heart muscle, a condition known as cardiomyopathy, is a major cause of disability and death.

Researchers at the Psychology of Disability Lab at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor are exploring the social identity of people with disabilities through a short, anonymous, Web-based questionnaire.

The lab's Disability Identity Project is being headed by principal investigator Adena Rottenstein, a doctoral candidate in psychology.

The study closes the week of Aug. 22, 2011.

Idebenone may help maintain respiratory function in DMD

Santhera Pharmaceuticals announced May 9, 2011, that its drug Catena (generic name idebenone) appears to slow the decline in respiratory function associated with aging in people with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). Idebenone may improve energy production in muscle and nerve cells.

Three small molecules that normalize muscle structure and function and improve survival in dystrophin-deficient zebrafish have been identified by scientists at Children's Hospital Boston, Harvard Medical School, and Alaska Fisheries Science Center in Juneau.

The three chemicals, which already are approved for other medical uses, were found to increase survival and normalize muscle structure and function in the dystrophin-deficient fish without increasing  production of the muscle protein dystrophin. 

Moving therapeutic strategies from the laboratory to clinical trials and ultimately to the market as treatments was the theme of the MDA National Scientific Conference held March 13-16, 2011, in Las Vegas.

Some 300 people attended the conference, the first in a planned series of such MDA-sponsored meetings that will emphasize new research and current medical care. The majority of presenters and many of the audience members were current or former MDA research grantees or physicians at MDA-supported clinics.

Congenital myasthenic syndromes

A multinational team of scientists has identified mutations in the gene for glutamine-fructose-6-phosphate transaminase 1 (GFPT1) as responsible for some forms of a congenital myasthenic syndrome (CMS).

Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease