European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 12, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                My of Hope for muscle diseases l Gina Kolata i York times t of first attempt in humans to Correct the muscle defect that is at the heart of muscular dystrophy was a Success researchers report. The therapy involves transplanting healthy i muscle cells from another person into the i Yscle of a patient with muscular dystrophy. L healthy cells began making the protein that is i fing in patients with the disease. _ i the work does not mean a treatment is imminent for i Utar dystrophy a genetic disease that causes los and irreversible muscle deterioration that i progressive Fet always leads to death by the age of 30. I among other things scientists must determine Luther the transplants will work on Large muscle Loups and whether patients will reject the i transplanted tissue. Nevertheless experts who cited the new results and i previous work in animals said the finding held out a real lot Hope not Only for muscular dystrophy but also i for other degenerative muscle diseases. The results were announced by or. Peter Law a professor of neurology at the University of Tennessee in Memphis at a meeting of the muscular dystrophy i association in Tucson Ariz. Law s finding involved just a single patient Sam Looper of Pickens s.c., a 9-year-old boy with Duchenne muscular dystrophy the most common form of the disease. To avoid possible damage to important Muscles the researchers tested the treatment in one of his big toes. At least seven other patients in this country Are undergoing the experimental treatment Law said. But those results Are not yet available. Or. Leon Charash chairman of the National medical advisory Board of the muscular dystrophy association said he believed another group of researchers at the Montreal neurological Institute had replicated the feat. Two other groups Are also pursuing the treatment and Are supported in part by the muscular dystrophy association which encouraged the concurrent studies to have a Quot horse race Quot Charash said. Charash added that the finding is promising enough that the researchers will now be moving quickly to try the muscle cell injections in larger Muscles of the leg that help control balance. In addition Law said the method could be applied to other forms of muscular dystrophy or to any disease of muscular degeneration whether or not the exact genetic defect causing the degeneration is known. Quot this represents the first time a treatment has been offered a Charash said. A it is a moment of great scientific  if the finding is confirmed said or. W. French Anderson a Branch chief at the National institutes of health who has devoted his entire 22-year scientific career to designing human Gene therapies Quot this would be a  investigators also sounded a note of caution. Or. Francis Collins a Gene therapy researcher at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor said Quot it is encouraging to see that there Are some real possibilities Here but there Are a lot of hurdles ahead Quot before there can be an effective treatment. Collins said the research Quot is a promising Lead but we ought to have our eyes open. Patients with muscular dystrophy Are in a desperate situation and i think we should be very careful not to give them false  Collins said it is not known How effective the treatment will be in larger Muscles nor whether the body will reject transplants of massive numbers of muscle cells. It is also not known How Long the treatment will last. A sleepless therapy by Michael Specter Washington Post do naps make you feel even More tired or depressed have you Ever struggled through a nearly sleepless night Only to find yourself surprisingly Alert or even euphoric in the morning most people need plenty of sleep to function properly during the Day and if they lose too much it can cause chronic illness fatigue and anxiety. But for others there is a Paradox. Too much sleep depresses them and a simple night of sleeplessness can make them feel better at once. Psychiatrists have recognized for years that depressed patients often sleep Long hours and that sleep deprivation can produce dramatic a but Brief a improvements in their symptoms. But they Are not sure Why. By searching for the exact biological relationship Between sleep and depression scientists now Hope to learn How depression works and find a better Way to treat it. Quot we have known for some time that depressed patients often respond very Well to a night of sleeplessness Quot said Ellen Leibe Luft a researcher in the clinical psychobiology Branch of the National Institute of mental health. She spoke at a recent seminar on sleep deprivation conducted Here by the american psychiatric association. Quot but it has been hard to find a clinical application that works for More than a Day Quot she said. Physicians have used several strategies in attempts to find a useful Way to harness sleep deprivation As a therapy. They have combined it with a regimen of drugs they have experimented with special Nap schedules and they have altered fundamental sleep patterns. So far few of the methods have produced consistent benefits. Still it is Clear that something important is happening in the brain while people sleep. In various studies of a total of More than 1,500 depressed patients researchers have consistently found that nearly two thirds improve enormously after Only one night without sleep. The studies rely mostly on the results of extensive mood tests taken by the patients. The Benefit has largely been Short lived however because most patients relapse As soon As they get some rest. That obviously makes it hard to use sleep deprivation As a Long term treatment. But the mood altering effects of sleeplessness can be As powerful As those of any drug. The opposite has also been reported in Many cases the briefest of naps can Send improved patients spiralling Back into a world of despair. In one recent study by Joseph c. We and William e. Bunney in the psychiatry department at the University of California at Irvine three quarters of their depressed patients who were helped by sleeplessness relapsed after a 60-minute Nap. One patient suffered a Sharp measurable mood shift after Only 90 seconds of deep sleep in the so called Rem rapid Eye movement phase. Results like those have led teams of researchers to probe the Way sleep affects the brain hoping an answer May yield important clues or new drugs that could treat one of the worlds most common and debilitating afflictions. Is a a a How to choose the right gift for dad on his special  and stripes offers you an outstanding selection of books discounted 25% off or More from which to choose just the right gift for dad on his special Day. You can find a Book that a perfect for his interests like exotic cars fishing or Fine wines or you can give him a special message of love with a Book like i love you  just the right gift for dad at your stars and stripes shopping Center Bookstore a today. Love a a collection of poems edited by Susan polls Schutz regular Price $5.95 our Price $4.45tuesday, june 12, 1990 the stars and stripes a a a Page 17