Spotlight on a Landmark discovery: DMD is a stem cell disease

By Gail Balfour, Muscular Dystrophy Canada

Late last year, a breakthrough study out of Ottawa made headlines around the globe as the first to show that Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) directly affects muscle stem cells – findings that are already changing long-held beliefs around the causes of the disease.

The study, entitled “Dystrophin expression in muscle stem cells regulates their polarity and asymmetric division” was published in Nature Medicine on November 16, 2015. The research concluded that muscle wasting in DMD not only is caused by myofiber fragility, but also is made worse by impaired regeneration due to satellite cell dysfunction.

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Respiratory Health – Living Longer AND Better

By Gail Balfour, Muscular Dystrophy Canada

People affected by neuromuscular disorders today are living longer than ever before – which is very positive news. But the challenge of these disorders becoming more of a chronic disease state is that while many of these people are living longer into adulthood, they continue to face major quality-of-life challenges.

One of the key things having a negative impact on the quality of life in these individuals is their respiratory health. Although neuromuscular disorders do not impair the lungs directly, they often affect the muscles involved in breathing, coughing and swallowing.

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Keep Coughing! Maintaining Respiratory Health with Neuromuscular Disorders

By Gail Balfour, Muscular Dystrophy Canada

Having a nagging cough can be really frustrating. But did you know your ability to produce a strong cough is actually a blessing in disguise? The act of coughing is something many of us take for granted, and is even seen as a nuisance. But if you have a neuromuscular disorder, coughing can be one of the most important things you can do to improve the quality of your life and slow down the progress of breathing problems, infections and weakness.

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Aging and Muscular Dystrophy -Why you should consider physiatry

By Gail Balfour, Muscular Dystrophy Canada

Most people are familiar with the terms “physiotherapist” and “chiropractor.” But a “physiatrist” is a particular type of specialist that you may have not heard of before.

A physiatrist is a physical medicine and rehabilitation specialist, who treats conditions involving muscle and nerves, with a goal of helping to maintain and restore abilities and function, says Dr. Rajiv Reebye, a physiatrist and staff physician with G.F. Strong Rehabilitation Centre in Vancouver. Dr Reebye was one of the presenters at Muscular Dystrophy Canada’s Empowerment in Action (EIA) Conference, held recently in Richmond BC.

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Big Data’s big promise

By Gail Balfour
Backbone Magazine

Almost every company, large or small, has more data than it knows how to handle. And it can be downright overwhelming. Think of how many e-mails you read, answer and store in a day. Throw in your financial reporting, your corporate data, daily transactions and other core business information, and the list goes on, year after year. On the surface, these massive stores of data may seem like a burden, or even a liability. But what if you could use that information to make wiser business decisions, or predict problems before they happen? Does your data have a lot more value than you realize?

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Canadians are steadily developing digital telepathology networks

By Gail Balfour
Canadian Healthcare Technology

According to Dr. Andrew Evans, the benefits we will see from telepathology projects taking place throughout the country will go far beyond the ability to quickly share biopsy images with remote pathologists for consultation and diagnosis. This emerging technology will also have a profound impact on clinical education and research, quality assurance, accuracy and speed of diagnosis, as well as storage of data and integration with electronic health records.

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Here’s why your website doesn’t rank higher

By Gail Balfour
Backbone Magazine

Have you ever Googled your own company? How about searched for terms that are related to your products or services? If you have, you may have noticed how difficult it can be to get your Web site to appear at the top of the search engine’s results page, or even on the first few pages. Yes, you are competing with countless other businesses worldwide, and a lot of other noise online, but is that why you appear so far down the list? Maybe it’s time to take a closer look at what you could be doing differently.

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Cybercrime: A global epidemic nobody’s really talking about

By Gail Balfour
Backbone Magazine

Your credit card information is likely sitting on a hard drive somewhere in eastern Europe, and criminals may choose to use it at any time. At least, that is what Joseph Menn’s research suggests. Menn, a Los Angeles-based journalist and author of the non-fiction book Fatal System Error, gave a sobering keynote at the mesh conference held in Toronto earlier this year. His message: cybercrime is a global epidemic and it’s a war we probably will not win.

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