OBJECTIVE To determine gray matter (GM) atrophy rates in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients at all stages of disease, and to identify predictors and clinical correlates of GM atrophy. METHODS MS patients and healthy control subjects were observed over 4 years with standardized magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and neurological examinations. Whole-brain, GM, and white matter atrophy rates were ca...

PURPOSE Eye and hand motor dysfunction may be present early in the disease course of relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS), and can affect the results on visual and written cognitive tests. We aimed to test for differences in saccadic initiation time (SI time) between RRMS patients and healthy controls, and whether SI time and hand motor speed interacted with the written version of the ...

BACKGROUND Clinical outcome of Chinese relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) patients is uncertain. AIM To study the long-term clinical outcome of Chinese RRMS patients. METHOD RRMS patients with duration of 10 years or longer followed up in our hospital is retrospectively studied. RESULTS 61 RRMS patients (75% female) were studied. Their mean symptom onset age was 25.9 years and ...

BACKGROUND Sample size calculation is a key aspect in the planning of any trial. Planning a randomized placebo-controlled trial in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) requires knowledge of the annualized relapse rate (ARR) in the placebo group. OBJECTIVES This paper aims (i) to characterize the uncertainty in ARR by conducting a systematic review of placebo-controlled, randomized tr...

background: little in known regarding the clinical relevance of sirt1 in multiple sclerosis (ms).   here, we aimed to evaluate mrna expression, protein level and enzyme activity of sirt1 in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (pbmcs) isolated from relapsing –remitting ms patients (rrms) and healthy controls. materials and methods: twenty patients with rr-ms and twenty two age- and sex-matched he...

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) annualized relapse rates (ARRs) in trials may be declining due to changes in diagnostic criteria, MS etiology, study criteria, and selection biases. This review examines if there is a trend in the ARR for relapsing-remitting MS patients (RRMS) over time and if so, why. A comprehensive literature search was performed using PubMed, Web of Science(®), and the Cochrane Libra...

Alemtuzumab (Lemtrada™) is a humanized monoclonal antibody approved in more than 50 countries. Within the European Union, alemtuzumab is indicated for the treatment of adult patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) with active disease defined by clinical or imaging features; in the USA, the indication states that alemtuzumab should generally be reserved for the treatment of p...

OBJECTIVE To characterize effects of alemtuzumab treatment on measures of disability improvement in patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) with inadequate response (≥1 relapse) to prior therapy. METHODS Comparison of Alemtuzumab and Rebif Efficacy in Multiple Sclerosis (CARE-MS) II, a 2-year randomized, rater-blinded, active-controlled, head-to-head, phase 3 trial, compar...

Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) is necessary for the synthesis of methionine and S-adenosylmethionine, which is necessary for CNS (re-)myelination. The MTHFR variant c.1298A>C was associated with the development of relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) in a German population. This study aimed at analyzing whether further genetic variants of methionine metabolism are associat...

BACKGROUND Reduced N-acetyl-aspartate (NAA) levels in magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) may visualize axonal damage even in the normal appearing white matter (NAWM). Demyelination and axonal degeneration are a hallmark in multiple sclerosis (MS). OBJECTIVE To define the extent of axonal degeneration in the NAWM in the remote from focal lesions in patients with relapsing-remitting (RRMS) a...