While I lay on a plinth, a Swiss doctor gestured that I should lift up my left leg. He bear-hugged my leg and resisted its elevation with his full body weight. He grunted as he fought my movement.

He wasn’t the only person prodding and inspecting me. A team of doctors, biokineticists and physiotherapists surrounded me. It was like the United Nations of medics. Besides the Swiss doctor, there was a lady from Israel, a young athletic Austrian and two Americans.

Letters to Quest: Camp is so important ** Moms on Wheels ** All camps not the same ** No guarantees (life expectancy) ** FMLA and sibling caregivers ** Pay for family caregivers.

This article contains items about: Duchenne muscular dystrophy and spinal muscular atrophy

Nearly 600 conferees gathered at the South Point Hotel in Las Vegas Jan.

Recently published findings from two independent groups have suggested possible treatment pathways for the merosin-deficient and integrin-deficient forms of congenital muscular dystrophy (CMD).

Doxycycline fights cell death and lessens disease severity in merosin-deficient mice

Story includes research items about: Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, congenital muscular dystrophy, Duchenne muscular dystrophy, Emery-Dreifuss muscular dystrophy (EDMD), type 1 myotonic muscular dystrophy, and spinal muscular atrophy - including, type 3 SMA and spinal-bulbar muscular atrophy (SBMA, Kennedy disease).

On Jan. 21, AVI BioPharma of Portland, Ore., announced its experimental compound AVI4658 for the treatment of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) yielded promising results in a phase 1 clinical trial in the United Kingdom.

Updated MD-CARE Act is now law

The Paul D. Wellstone Muscular Dystrophy Community Assistance, Research and Education (MD-CARE) Amendments of 2008 received final Congressional approval on Sept. 27 and were signed into law by President Bush Oct. 8.

This article contains items about: Pompe disease (acid maltase deficiency), Lambert-Eaton myasthenic syndrome, Duchenne and Becker muscular dystrophies, mitochondrial myopathy, myasthenia gravis and spinal muscular atrophy