Different clinical response to interferon beta and glatiramer acetate related to the presence of oligoclonal IgM bands in CSF in multiple sclerosis patients.

Objective: To study the efficacy of interferon beta (IFNβ) and glatiramer acetate (GA) related to the presence of oligoclonal M bands (OCMB) in the cerebrospinal fluid in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS).

Method: This is an observational, multicenter and retrospective study with prospectively collected data of patients that started treatment with IFNβ or GA. Treatment decision was made blinded to the OCMB status.

Autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis: comparison with secondary progressive multiple sclerosis.

The main objective of our work is to describe the long-term results of myeloablative autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplant (AHSCT) in multiple sclerosis patients. Patients that failed to conventional therapies for multiple sclerosis (MS) underwent an approved protocol for AHSCT, which consisted of peripheral blood stem cell mobilization with cyclophosphamide and granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF), followed by a conditioning regimen of BCNU, Etoposide, Ara-C, Melphalan IV, plus Rabbit Thymoglobulin. Thirty-eight MS patients have been transplanted since 1999.

Neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders: Comparison according to the phenotype and serostatus.

Objective: To (1) determine the value of the recently proposed criteria of neuromyelitis optica (NMO) spectrum disorder (NMOSD) that unify patients with NMO and those with limited forms (NMO/LF) with aquaporin-4 immunoglobulin G (AQP4-IgG) antibodies; and (2) investigate the clinical significance of the serologic status in patients with NMO.

Methods: This was a retrospective, multicenter study of 181 patients fulfilling the 2006 NMO criteria (n = 127) or NMO/LF criteria with AQP4-IgG (n = 54). AQP4-IgG and myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein immunoglobulin G (MOG-IgG) antibodies were tested using cell-based assays.

On the diagnosis of CADASIL.

Cerebral autosomal dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy (CADASIL), a genetic arteriopathy related to Notch3 mutations, is difficult to diagnosis. The goal of this study was to determine the value of clinical, immunohistochemical, and molecular techniques for the diagnosis of CADASIL. Clinical features and the immunohistochemical and molecular findings in 200 subjects with suspected CADASIL in whom 93 biopsies and 190 molecular studies are reported.

Multiple sclerosis as first manifestation in oral and facial area: presentation of four cases.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory disease of the central nervous system, whose etiology is unknown, and which is characteristic by the appearance of a diverse neurological symptomatology consisting of outbreaks or gradual deterioration and lesions in any location of the brain s white matter which may provoke the after-effect of a definitive demyelination of the area. The disease affects young people, with its appearance being most frequent between 20 and 40 years of age, in temperate and cold climates, and with a man-woman rate of 0.46/0.

Orofacial pain as the sole manifestation of syringobulbia-syringomyelia associated with Arnold-Chiari malformation.

This is a case report of a male patient who presented with orofacial pain for a year as the only manifestation of syringobulbia-syringomyelia associated with Arnold-Chiari malformation. This article places emphasis on the clinical presentation and possible differential diagnoses. The pain was continuous and affected the left side of the face.