Publications by authors named "Angelo Pappalardo"

Article Synopsis
  • - The study examines how cognitive impairment affects upper limb (UL) function assessments in people with multiple sclerosis (PwMS), using various objective and subjective measures, highlighting a gap in existing research.
  • - A total of 246 PwMS were evaluated through tests like the Nine-Hole Peg Test and Box and Block Test, revealing that those with mild to moderate cognitive impairment had poorer performance on certain UL tasks compared to those without cognitive issues.
  • - Results indicate that cognitive impairment influences UL function assessment outcomes, particularly affecting the relationship between objective (e.g., Nine-Hole Peg Test) and subjective measures (e.g., MAM-36), though hand grip strength was not impacted.
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Background And Purpose: Upper limb (UL) function is often affected in people with multiple sclerosis (PwMS) and is typically assessed through objective measures, including the Nine Hole Peg Test (9-HPT), Box and Block Test (BBT), and Hand Grip Strength (HGS). It is important to include the subjective perspective of PwMS in the assessment. This study aims to evaluate associations between Manual Ability Measure-36 (MAM-36) and 9-HPT, BBT, and HGS in MS.

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Background: Upper limb (UL) function is affected in about 50% of people with Multiple Sclerosis (PwMS). In the last decade, Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROM) are playing an important role in clinical trial and practice. ABILIHAND-26 is a PROM that assess self-perceived manual ability defined as the capacity to manage daily activities using the upper limbs.

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Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic autoimmune disease of the central nervous system with an unpredictable course. During its course, deficits affecting upper limb functions may occur. Hence, there is a need for self-administered scales providing a comprehensive assessment of upper limb functions.

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Article Synopsis
  • This study explored the experiences of patients with severe multiple sclerosis and their caregivers involved in a home-based palliative approach (HPA) trial, focusing on strengths and challenges of the intervention.
  • Semi-structured interviews and focus groups revealed themes related to expectations, met and unmet needs, and barriers, indicating benefits like improved symptom control and reduced isolation.
  • Key limitations included the intervention's insufficient duration, added burdens from the trial's design, and a lack of available services and rehabilitation input.
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Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic neurological disease impacting patients' health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Since MS specific HRQoL questionnaire are often time consuming; thus, simple, feasible and ease administering instruments are needed to assess MS HRQoL in clinical practice and clinical trials. Hence, aim of our study was to investigated the HRQoL in a large cohort of MS patients using the Coop/Wonca charts.

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Purpose: The impact of interferon beta (IFNβ) therapy on a patient's quality of life (QoL) has not been completely clarified. This multicenter, independent, observational and longitudinal study was aimed to evaluate the impact of different pharmaceutical formulations of IFNβ-1a on QoL in patients affected by relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS).

Methods: The multiple sclerosis quality of life-54 questionnaire was used to assess patients' QoL.

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The aim of this study was to assess the reliability, validity and sensitivity of the Guy's Neurological Disability Scale (GNDS) translated into Italian and administered to Italian-speaking patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). In total, 202 outpatients with MS were enrolled in the study; 153 had relapsing-remitting (RR) MS and 49 had secondary progressive (SP) MS; 189 healthy individuals were recruited as control subjects. Inter-rater agreement, as expressed by the alpha coefficient, was 0.

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Multiple sclerosis is a frequent neurologic disease, which causes sensory impairment, fatigue, cognitive deficits, imbalance, loss of mobility, spasticity, and bladder and bowel dysfunction. Several new therapies have been introduced in the past decade, but additional drugs are needed to slow disease progression and reduce disability. Natalizumab (NA) is an α4 integrin antagonist, effective in decreasing the development of brain lesions in experimental models and in several studies of patients with MS.

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The Functional Assessment of Multiple Sclerosis (FAMS) quality of life (QoL) instrument is a disease-specific, self-report questionnaire that was developed originally for US English-speaking patients. Here, the psychometric properties of the FAMS QoL questionnaire for Italian-speaking patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) are evaluated and compared with the results from the original FAMS validation survey (n=377). Eighteen Italian centers and 344 patients with MS participated in the study.

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