This Is MS Multiple Sclerosis Community: Knowledge & Support

Hi folks,

I've just been to the UCSF MS Clinic, and been invited to be in a study. The study is about genotype and phenotype, so they are looking for--and sorely lacking--control participants. This is in San Francisco, CA, of course. Obviously, the faster they can get the number of people, the faster they can conduct the study, the faster we get answers. Feel free to re-post this on any other MS or non-MS related sites you wish.

Here are details:

Thank you, too, for attempting to locate people who might be willing
serve as controls for this project! Here is some information that you could
forward to any friends or associates who might be interested in being a
control for the GeneMSA Study:

Controls, as you know, are vital to the success of our genetic
investigation -- in order to conduct the genetic analyses, each patient
must be closely matched to a control (similar age, ethnicity & gender).
Controls receive a one-time reimbursement of $50 to help cover their travel expenses related to participation in the study.

Controls must meet all of the following conditions:
*no history of MS in their family
*not blood related to anyone participating in this study (not even
another control)
*between the ages of 18-65 (we particularly need women between the ages of 20-50)
*be of Caucasian or Hispanic decent
*no chronic inflammatory disease (eg, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis) or
contagious disease (eg, hepatitis, HIV)

A control would be asked to:
*sign an informed consent document which describes the study and
details information about participation
*spend approximately 45 min with one of our study staff at 350
Parnassus, Ste #601, to complete forms asking ethnicity, family medical history and demographic information /and/ to have 90 ml (6 tablespoons) of blood drawn
*this is NOT a fasting blood draw -- so people should eat a good meal
and drink plenty of water prior to their appointment
*within 8 weeks of the Parnassus appointment, controls will receive a
reimbursement check in the amount of $50 to offset transportation
expenses

We will be enrolling controls until well into the fall. The more people
that you can send our way, the better!

Any interested parties should contact our data manager Michaela either
by telephone or email:
Michaela George
Data Manager
tel: 415-514-2497
email: mgeorge@itsa.ucsf.edu

Me again, with an update. Apparently, there was some confusion in the note regarding "controls," so let me add a point:

Controls must meet all of the following conditions:
*no history of MS in their family
*MUST NOT have MS themselves--the controls portion is to get genetic and medical data from people without the disease so it can be measured against us lucky souls who do have it.

The rest remains the same.

Please, folks, if you can convince friends who meet the qualifications of controls to participate, it will be a great service to us all. Not surprisingly, they're having a tougher time convincing "healthy people" to take the time to come in and do this, but it's so critical in being able to help determine the root causes of MS. It's an interview, a blood draw and a chance to help find a solution and offer hope.