Reduced production of myelin, a type of protective nerve fiber that is lost in diseases like multiple sclerosis, may also play a role in the development of mental illness. Myelin is an insulating material that wraps around the axon, the threadlike part of a nerve cell through which the cell sends impulses to other nerve cells. Depriving mice of social contact reduced their myelin production. Does this make MS a "lonely" disease?
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High school students in the small town of Leroy, New York have been coming down with strange tics and verbal outbursts, with no obvious cause. Several girls have even started using wheelchairs. Some people are saying that these are a result of "mass hysteria," but environmental activist Erin Brockovich thinks a toxic chemical spill 40 years ago could be the cause.

On ABC News, Katie Moisse and Linsey Davis quote Brockovich as saying, "They have not ruled everything out yet. The community asked us to help, and this is what we do."
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YOU may not be racist, but your immune system is: A major difference in the way that cells from African-Americans respond to inflammation could be an answer to why this group has so much more hypertension, something that has eluded scientists for many years. It’s another indication that our immune systems are racial.

Researcher Michael Brown tested the effects of a protein that causes inflammation when cells are damaged on the cells that line blood vessels in both African-Americans and Caucasians, to determine whether the inflammation affected the cells differently.
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