Mashhad to host Int’l Congress on MS

The Eighth International Congress on Multiple sclerosis (MS) will be held in Mashhad on November 16-17. Mashhad to host Int’l Congress on MS Talking to IRNA, director of the congress, Mohammad Mehdi Etemadi said that the event will be attended by the neurologists, psychiatrists, neurosurgeons and immunologists from Iran and foreign countries. Sponsored by Mashhad Medical University, Khorasan Razavi Association of Brain and Nerves, Iran’s Association of MS and London University, the congress will present the latest findings on the disease. Topics for discussion at the event include treatment and diagnosis of the disease, symptoms and pathology of MS. MS affects the ability of nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord to communicate with each other. Nerve cells communicate by sending electrical signals called action potentials down long fibers called axons, which are wrapped in an insulating substance called myelin. In MS, the body's own immune system attacks and damages the myelin. MS is caused by damage to the myelin sheath, the protective covering that surrounds nerve cells. When this nerve covering is damaged, nerve impulses are slowed down or stopped. The nerve damage is caused by inflammation. Inflammation occurs when the body's own immune cells attack the nervous system.