COVID-19 in Patients with Multiple Sclerosis: Associations with Disease-Modifying Therapies.

Background: Disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) for multiple sclerosis (MS) target immunity and have the potential to increase the risk of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection and alter its clinical course. We assessed these risks in patients with MS (PwMS).

Objective: The objective of this study was to describe the overall risk of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection, severe disease course, and potential population-level predictors of COVID-19 infection in PwMS, and to provide a context using a cohort of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).

Clinical Translation of Cell Therapies in Stroke (CT2S) Checklist-a pragmatic tool to accelerate development of cell therapy products.

Background: Cell therapies present an exciting potential but there is a long history of expensive translational failures in stroke research. Researchers engaged in cell therapy research would benefit from a practical framework that can help in planning research and development of investigational cell therapies into viable medical products.

Methods: We developed a checklist using a mixed methodology approach to evaluate the impact of study design, regulatory policy, ethical, and health economic considerations for efficient implementation of early phase cell therapy studies.

Economic Evaluation of Stem Cell Therapies in Neurological Diseases: A Systematic Review.

Objectives: To examine economic evaluation studies of stem cell therapies (SCTs) in neurological disorders and to provide an overview of the quality of the economic evidence available on this topic.

Methods: The review examined studies that performed an economic evaluation of the use of stem cells in adult patients with neurological diseases and that were published in English during the period 2007 to 2017. Data analyzed and reported included study population, disease indication, main analytical approaches for the economic analysis and perspective, key assumptions made or tested in sensitivity analyses, cost outcomes, estimates of incremental cost effectiveness, and approaches to quantifying decision uncertainty.

Safety and effectiveness of stem cell therapies in early-phase clinical trials in stroke: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Stem cells have demonstrated encouraging potential as reparative therapy for patients suffering from post-stroke disability. Reperfusion interventions in the acute phase of stroke have shown significant benefit but are limited by a narrow window of opportunity in which they are beneficial. Thereafter, rehabilitation is the only intervention available.

Stem cell therapy clinical research: A regulatory conundrum for academia.

The encouraging pace of discovery and development in the field of regenerative medicine holds tremendous potential for bringing therapies to the clinic that may offer meaningful benefit to patients, particularly in diseases with no or suboptimal therapeutic options. Academic researchers will continue to play a critical role in developing concepts and therapies, thus determining whether regenerative medicine will be able to live up to this potential that clearly excites clinicians, researchers and patients alike. This review summarises recent developments in regulatory frameworks across different countries that aim to ensure adequate oversight of the development of regenerative medicine products, which are unique in structural and functional complexity when compared to traditional chemical drugs and fully characterised biological drugs.

TOOTH (The Open study Of dental pulp stem cell Therapy in Humans): Study protocol for evaluating safety and feasibility of autologous human adult dental pulp stem cell therapy in patients with chronic disability after stroke.

Rationale: Stroke represents a significant global disease burden. As of 2015, there is no chemical or biological therapy proven to actively enhance neurological recovery during the chronic phase post-stroke. Globally, cell-based therapy in stroke is at the stage of clinical translation and may improve neurological function through various mechanisms such as neural replacement, neuroprotection, angiogenesis, immuno-modulation, and neuroplasticity.

Inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor: an unusual mimicker of childhood intrathoracic tuberculosis.

Inflammatory myofibroblastic tumors are rare lesions of uncertain etiology that are often difficult to diagnose because of their myriad clinical presentations. Not uncommon, they mimic persistent pneumonia. We report a 4-year-old girl who presented with prolonged pyrexia, weight loss, severe anemia, hepatosplenomegaly, and nonresolving pneumonia.

Plasmodium vivax malaria complicated by splenic infarct.

An 11-year-old girl presented with Plasmodium vivax malaria complicated by shock and acute renal failure. The diagnosis of malaria was based on demonstration of trophozoites of P. vivax in the peripheral blood smear and a positive rapid malarial antigen test for P.