Muscular Dystrophy

The gene that causes a common form of muscular dystrophy has been located after years of detective work, giving scientists a key to understanding and possibly treating the fatal muscle-wasting disease. The Muscular Dystrophy Association, which timed its announcement of the discovery yesterday to coincide with today's publication of Dr. Louis Kunkel's findings in the British science journal Nature, called it a "monumental breakthrough. " The association, which provided much of the financial support for the research, cautioned that the discovery would not immediately help children with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, an illness that afflicts 20,000 to 50,000 American boys who will not survive beyond their 20s. "We're extremely encouraged and excited by this historic discovery," said Donald Wood, the association's associate director of research.

Volunteering was a new experience for Josh Winheld, and it felt good. "So many people help me; I really enjoyed being important to someone else," Winheld said, referring to his work five summers ago tutoring young people for their high school equivalency diplomas. For Winheld, 23, of Cheltenham, doing for others is no easy task. He has muscular dystrophy, which has severely limited his physical abilities. He uses a motorized wheelchair and has only minimal use of his hands.

Going upstairs is becoming a harrowing experience for Joe Fisicaro. With his diminished strength he has trouble keeping his balance. He is a big man, and if he falls, he knows he'll get hurt. He fell last month while shopping on Market Street in Philadelphia. Luckily, two men were there to help him up. But if he falls at home, his wife, Mary Ann, can only pull him up with the help of a ledge or a chair to boost him. "If somebody had a problem with their legs, they can use the upper-body strength.

In June, when he was thought to be near death, Mattie Stepanek was asked by doctors about his fondest wishes. The 11-year-old Maryland boy, suffering from complications of muscular dystrophy, said he had three dreams: to talk with his hero, Jimmy Carter; to get a book of his poetry published; and to share his message of peace with people by being on television with Oprah Winfrey. Five months later, with the help of a hospital's public-relations staff, he has scored all three.

Sitting in his bedroom, looking at his dead brother, Andrew Vizuete saw his future. He talked to his brother's still form for a long time just hours after Nick Vizuete's death last month, telling him how he would meet him in heaven. In the days between, he promised, he would be the thick soul Nick wanted him to be. Along with their mother's hugs and plates of "Papi's" fried chicken, the two young men had shared Duchenne muscular dystrophy since they were children. And in more than 10 years of the same doctor's visits and shared treatments, they had heard the same prayers for divine intervention to cure a disease that seemed to gain on them every year.

AIDS DRUG. A drug designed to stop the spread of the AIDS virus by mimicking a part of the blood cells it usually infects has proved highly effective in experiments on monkeys. Preliminary research on the drug, CD4, reported in the British journal Nature, provides the first clear evidence outside the test tube that this strategy has a chance of slowing and perhaps arresting - though not curing - the disease in people. Doctors recently began tests on people infected with the AIDS virus, but the results will not be known for several weeks or months.

Ernie Johnson is stepping aside as the lead play-by-play announcer for TBS' postseason baseball coverage to be with his son, Michael, 23, who has muscular dystrophy. "Michael has been in intensive care since about Sept. 11," Jeff Behnke, TBS executive producer, said yesterday. "Ernie is going to take the postseason time to be with Michael and his family. " Behnke said Brian Anderson, Ron Darling and John Smoltz will be TBS' lead announcing team. The network's postseason coverage begins Friday with the two AL division series.

Last month, Josh Winheld made the final revisions to his master's thesis on handicapped accessibility, a subject he began researching at age 10, when Duchenne muscular dystrophy forced him into a wheelchair. "With a deadline looming and on the verge of exhaustion, nothing was going to stop me," he wrote on his blog. "If only for a moment, I was able to recapture some of my old magic, pushing myself every time I wanted to take a break. Just after midnight, I submitted my paper. " It was a final herculean achievement in a short life that, by all accounts, was defined by accomplishment, grit, and wit. Mr. Winheld, who was 31, died Saturday at Elkins Park Hospital from complications of muscular dystrophy.

JIM JEFFERIES likes Philadelphia: "I think the cheesesteak's an overrated food, but it's a cracking place. " The Australian comedian, whose new series, "Legit" (10:30 p.m. Thursdays, FX) launched Jan. 17, will play the Trocadero for the third time on Saturday. Speaking Tuesday from Los Angeles, where he's been fighting a bad cold - he insists he'll be better by the time he arrives for the sold-out show - he quickly backpedaled on the sandwich slur. His objection, he said, wasn't to the cheesesteak but to any town's taking "ownership of putting cheese and meat together.

TRICK OR SHEIK? Planning to go trick-or-treating or to a Halloween party tonight dressed as an evil Arab? Don't - Halloween shouldn't be an occasion for Arab-bashing, says the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. The group is protesting an "Instant Arab" kit, saying that selling the mock Arab headdress alongside such costumes as "Instant Executioner" and "Instant Pirate" reinforces "the distorted image of Arabs as sinister and frightening. " Officials at Fun World Division, the manufacturer, couldn't be reached for comment.

JIM JEFFERIES likes Philadelphia: "I think the cheesesteak's an overrated food, but it's a cracking place. " The Australian comedian, whose new series, "Legit" (10:30 p.m. Thursdays, FX) launched Jan. 17, will play the Trocadero for the third time on Saturday. Speaking Tuesday from Los Angeles, where he's been fighting a bad cold - he insists he'll be better by the time he arrives for the sold-out show - he quickly backpedaled on the sandwich slur. His objection, he said, wasn't to the cheesesteak but to any town's taking "ownership of putting cheese and meat together.

The disabled man said he had never before seen the two people who showed up at his apartment door, but he let them in anyway. They proceeded to beat him, yank him out of his wheelchair, drag him "like a rag doll" from the kitchen to the living room, and make off with his 55-inch TV, X-Box 360, and painkillers, according to Upper Darby Police Superintendent Michael Chitwood. They then took the cellphone from the 37-year-old man, who has muscular dystrophy, and threw it behind a chair to keep him from calling for help.

Ernie Johnson is stepping aside as the lead play-by-play announcer for TBS' postseason baseball coverage to be with his son, Michael, 23, who has muscular dystrophy. "Michael has been in intensive care since about Sept. 11," Jeff Behnke, TBS executive producer, said yesterday. "Ernie is going to take the postseason time to be with Michael and his family. " Behnke said Brian Anderson, Ron Darling and John Smoltz will be TBS' lead announcing team. The network's postseason coverage begins Friday with the two AL division series.

A legal marijuana dispensary could open in South Jersey as soon as December if everything goes as planned for Compassionate Care Foundation Inc., one of the state's six licensed cannabis distributors. Planning for a growing operation and dispensary can resume now that Gov. Christie finally gave the go-ahead to the state's medical-marijuana program, said the group's chief executive officer, William Thomas. On Tuesday, Christie directed the state health department to move forward after he put the initiative on hold in April.

HARRISBURG - Disabled activists, many in wheelchairs, were cited for camping outside the Capitol and threatened with arrest before cooler heads prevailed. The drama began around 9 p.m. Monday when Capitol Police ordered members of American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today to disperse from their perch near a fountain. They told police they planned a three-day vigil to protest proposed cuts in Gov. Corbett's budget for home-care services to the disabled - and that they weren't leaving.

When a murder is solved, you usually hear that everyone - the victim's family, the homicide detectives, the concerned neighbors - will finally be able to find closure, justice, peace of mind. Sometimes, though, the only thing those people will find are disturbing, horrifying answers to questions that will haunt them forever. Like in the case of Antonio Quinton Clarke, a 15-year-old Bartram High School sophomore whose body was found behind a Grays Ferry electronics store on Nov. 27, 2007.

Marie Clarke stood there in the morgue, stood there quiet and still and filled with emotions that can't be described with words. She looked down at a body, at a face she didn't know. It was her 15-year-old son, Antonio Quinton Clarke, who had been missing for two days. "He was so badly beaten, his face was unrecognizable," she said. "I told them, 'That doesn't look like my son.' But my daughter, she recognized him. I realized it was actually him. " That moment in the morgue, when Clarke's heart shattered into a million pieces, was three years ago today.

Last month, Josh Winheld made the final revisions to his master's thesis on handicapped accessibility, a subject he began researching at age 10, when Duchenne muscular dystrophy forced him into a wheelchair. "With a deadline looming and on the verge of exhaustion, nothing was going to stop me," he wrote on his blog. "If only for a moment, I was able to recapture some of my old magic, pushing myself every time I wanted to take a break. Just after midnight, I submitted my paper. " It was a final herculean achievement in a short life that, by all accounts, was defined by accomplishment, grit, and wit. Mr. Winheld, who was 31, died Saturday at Elkins Park Hospital from complications of muscular dystrophy.

To scientists, it was a mystery. Most of the genetic material we carry in our cells seemed to have no purpose. It seemed so useless, some called it "junk DNA. " Weirder still, geneticists noticed that some of the junk has a life of its own, copying itself, viruslike, and jumping around the DNA. This phenomenon had never been documented in humans until geneticist Haig Kazazian started studying boys with the blood-clotting disorder hemophilia....

Care for caregivers Re: "Pa. takes aim at a killer," April 10. I would like to applaud Gov. Rendell for bringing the issue of chronic illness to the forefront of the health-care debate. Most chronically ill Pennsylvanians live at home. Many receive care from family and friends. It is estimated that there were more than 1.2 million caregivers in Pennsylvania who provided $13.4 billion worth of free care in 2004. So I was disappointed that Rendell's plan does not address the health needs of caregivers.