Real-world data on siponimod-related lymphopenia among people with secondary progressive multiple sclerosis.

Background: Siponimod-related lymphopenia in real-world clinical practice has implications for dose adjustment and infection risk.

Objective: To characterise siponimod-related lymphopenia in people with secondary progressive multiple sclerosis (pwSPMS).

Methods: This is a retrospective cohort of 188 pwSPMS.

Enhancing emotion regulation with an in situ socially assistive robot among LGBTQ+ youth with self-harm ideation: protocol for a randomised controlled trial.

Introduction: Purrble, a socially assistive robot, was codesigned with children to support in situ emotion regulation. Preliminary evidence has found that LGBTQ+ youth are receptive to Purrble and find it to be an acceptable intervention to assist with emotion dysregulation and their experiences of self-harm. The present study is designed to evaluate the impact of access to Purrble among LGBTQ+ youth who have self-harmful thoughts, when compared with waitlist controls.

The central autonomic system revisited - Convergent evidence for a regulatory role of the insular and midcingulate cortex from neuroimaging meta-analyses.

The autonomic nervous system regulates dynamic body adaptations to internal and external environment changes. Capitalizing on two different algorithms (that differ in empirical assumptions), we scrutinized the meta-analytic convergence of human neuroimaging studies investigating the neural basis of peripheral autonomic signal processing. Among the selected studies, we identified 42 records reporting 44 different experiments and testing 758 healthy individuals.

Language systems from lesion-symptom mapping in aphasia: A meta-analysis of voxel-based lesion mapping studies.

Background: Aphasia is one of the most common causes of post-stroke disabilities. As the symptoms and impact of post-stroke aphasia are heterogeneous, it is important to understand how topographical lesion heterogeneity in patients with aphasia is associated with different domains of language impairments. Here, we aim to provide a comprehensive overview of neuroanatomical basis in post-stroke aphasia through coordinate based meta-analysis of voxel-based lesion-symptom mapping studies.

Mapping brain activity of gut-brain signaling to appetite and satiety in healthy adults: A systematic review and functional neuroimaging meta-analysis.

Understanding how neurohormonal gut-brain signaling regulates appetite and satiety is vital for the development of therapies for obesity and altered eating behavior. However, reported brain areas associated with appetite or satiety regulators show inconsistency across functional neuroimaging studies. The aim of this study was to systematically assess the convergence of brain regions modulated by appetite and satiety regulators.

Neuromelanin-MRI to Quantify and Track Nigral Depigmentation in Parkinson's Disease: A Multicenter Longitudinal Study Using Template-Based Standardized Analysis.

Background: Clinical diagnosis and monitoring of Parkinson's disease (PD) remain challenging because of the lack of an established biomarker. Neuromelanin-magnetic resonance imaging (NM-MRI) is an emerging biomarker of nigral depigmentation indexing the loss of melanized neurons but has unknown prospective diagnostic and tracking performance in multicenter settings.

Objectives: The aim was to investigate the diagnostic accuracy of NM-MRI in early PD in a multiprotocol setting and to determine and compare serial NM-MRI changes in PD and controls.

Pet Ownership and Multiple Sclerosis during COVID-19.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is associated with lower quality of life, reduced social participation, and decreased self-efficacy. The COVID-19 pandemic has had documented effects on the health and wellbeing of people with and without MS. Previous research has demonstrated the positive impact pets can have for people living with long-term conditions.

Dysregulated anterior insula reactivity as robust functional biomarker for chronic pain-Meta-analytic evidence from neuroimaging studies.

Neurobiological pain models propose that chronic pain is accompanied by neurofunctional changes that mediate pain processing dysfunctions. In contrast, meta-analyses of neuroimaging studies in chronic pain conditions have not revealed convergent evidence for robust alterations during experimental pain induction. Against this background, the present neuroimaging meta-analysis combined three different meta-analytic approaches with stringent study selection criteria for case-control functional magnetic resonance imaging experiments during acute pain processing with a focus on chronic pain disorders.

Childhood pet ownership and multiple sclerosis: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Many studies have been conducted investigating a range of environmental factors which have been implicated in the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis (MS). We collated available data about exposure to domestic animals before symptom onset in MS to perform a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Methods: Medline, Embase and Cinahl were searched for relevant articles, based on pre-defined inclusion and exclusion criteria and reference lists were hand-searched.

Investigating Brain Microstructural Alterations in Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes Using Diffusion Tensor Imaging: A Systematic Review.

Type 1 and type 2 diabetes mellitus have an impact on the microstructural environment and cognitive functions of the brain due to its microvascular/macrovascular complications. Conventional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) techniques can allow detection of brain volume reduction in people with diabetes. However, conventional MRI is insufficiently sensitive to quantify microstructural changes.

Localised Grey Matter Atrophy in Multiple Sclerosis and Clinically Isolated Syndrome-A Coordinate-Based Meta-Analysis, Meta-Analysis of Networks, and Meta-Regression of Voxel-Based Morphometry Studies.

Background: Atrophy of grey matter (GM) is observed in the earliest stages of multiple sclerosis (MS) and is associated with cognitive decline and physical disability. Localised GM atrophy in MS can be explored and better understood using magnetic resonance imaging and voxel-based morphometry (VBM). However, results are difficult to interpret due to methodological differences between studies.

Hookworm Treatment for Relapsing Multiple Sclerosis: A Randomized Double-Blinded Placebo-Controlled Trial.

Importance: Studies suggest gut worms induce immune responses that can protect against multiple sclerosis (MS). To our knowledge, there are no controlled treatment trials with helminth in MS.

Objective: To determine whether hookworm treatment has effects on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) activity and T regulatory cells in relapsing MS.

Reduced Myelin Signal in Normal-appearing White Matter in Neuromyelitis Optica Measured by 7T Magnetic Resonance Imaging.

Whether the integrity of normal-appearing white matter (NAWM) is preserved in neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders (NMOSD) is open to debate. To examine whether the tissue integrity of NAWM in NMOSD is compromised compared to that in healthy controls and patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), we prospectively enrolled 14 patients with NMOSD, 12 patients with MS, and 10 controls for clinical functional assessments and quantitative imaging, including T1 relaxation time (T1) and magnetization transfer ratio (MTR) at 7 Tesla. Cognitive performance on the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test with a 3-second interstimulus interval (PASAT-3) was significantly lower in the NMOSD compared to the MS group (mean number of correct answers, 34.

Coordinate based meta-analysis of motor functional imaging in Parkinson's: disease-specific patterns and modulation by dopamine replacement and deep brain stimulation.

Objective: To investigate factors affecting the pattern of motor brain activation reported in people with Parkinson's (PwP), aiming to differentiate disease-specific features from treatment effects.

Methods: A co-ordinate-based-meta-analysis (CBMA) of functional motor neuroimaging studies involving patients with Parkinson's (PwP), and healthy controls (HC) identified 126 suitable articles. The experiments were grouped based on subject feature, medication status (onMed/offMed), deep brain stimulation (DBS) status (DBSon/DBSoff) and type of motor initiation.

Ten simple rules for neuroimaging meta-analysis.

Neuroimaging has evolved into a widely used method to investigate the functional neuroanatomy, brain-behaviour relationships, and pathophysiology of brain disorders, yielding a literature of more than 30,000 papers. With such an explosion of data, it is increasingly difficult to sift through the literature and distinguish spurious from replicable findings. Furthermore, due to the large number of studies, it is challenging to keep track of the wealth of findings.

Seven-Tesla Magnetization Transfer Imaging to Detect Multiple Sclerosis White Matter Lesions.

Background And Purpose: Fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) imaging at 3 Tesla (T) field strength is the most sensitive modality for detecting white matter lesions in multiple sclerosis. While 7T FLAIR is effective in detecting cortical lesions, it has not been fully optimized for visualization of white matter lesions and thus has not been used for delineating lesions in quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies of the normal appearing white matter in multiple sclerosis. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the sensitivity of 7T magnetization-transfer-weighted (MT ) images in the detection of white matter lesions compared with 3T-FLAIR.

Imaging pain relief in osteoarthritis (IPRO): protocol of a double-blind randomised controlled mechanistic study assessing pain relief and prediction of duloxetine treatment outcome.

Introduction: Osteoarthritis (OA) pain is a major cause of long-term disability and chronic pain in the adult population. One in five patients does not receive satisfactory pain relief, which reflects the complexity of chronic pain and the current lack of understanding of mechanisms of chronic pain. Recently, duloxetine has demonstrated clinically relevant pain relief, but only in half of treated patients with OA.

Smoking Cessation and the Reduction of Disability Progression in Multiple Sclerosis: A Cohort Study.

Background: Smoking is associated with a more severe disease course in people with multiple sclerosis (MS). The magnitude of effect of smoking cessation on MS progression is unknown. The aim of this study was to quantify the impact of smoking cessation on reaching MS disability milestones.

The association between human endogenous retroviruses and multiple sclerosis: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: The interaction between genetic and environmental factors is crucial to multiple sclerosis (MS) pathogenesis. Human Endogenous Retroviruses (HERVs) are endogenous viral elements of the human genome whose expression is associated with MS.

Objective: To perform a systematic review and meta-analysis and to assess qualitative and quantitative evidence on the expression of HERV families in MS patients.

Potential pitfalls when denoising resting state fMRI data using nuisance regression.

In resting state fMRI, it is necessary to remove signal variance associated with noise sources, leaving cleaned fMRI time-series that more accurately reflect the underlying intrinsic brain fluctuations of interest. This is commonly achieved through nuisance regression, in which the fit is calculated of a noise model of head motion and physiological processes to the fMRI data in a General Linear Model, and the "cleaned" residuals of this fit are used in further analysis. We examine the statistical assumptions and requirements of the General Linear Model, and whether these are met during nuisance regression of resting state fMRI data.

Lesion Topography and Microscopic White Matter Tract Damage Contribute to Cognitive Impairment in Symptomatic Carotid Artery Disease.

Purpose To investigate associations between neuroimaging markers of cerebrovascular disease, including lesion topography and extent and severity of strategic and global cerebral tissue injury, and cognition in carotid artery disease (CAD). Materials and Methods All participants gave written informed consent to undergo brain magnetic resonance imaging and the Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination-Revised. One hundred eight patients with symptomatic CAD but no dementia were included, and a score less than 82 represented cognitive impairment.

Functional reorganisation in chronic pain and neural correlates of pain sensitisation: A coordinate based meta-analysis of 266 cutaneous pain fMRI studies.

Maladaptive mechanisms of pain processing in chronic pain conditions (CP) are poorly understood. We used coordinate based meta-analysis of 266 fMRI pain studies to study functional brain reorganisation in CP and experimental models of hyperalgesia. The pattern of nociceptive brain activation was similar in CP, hyperalgesia and normalgesia in controls.

Imaging central veins in brain lesions with 3-T T2*-weighted magnetic resonance imaging differentiates multiple sclerosis from microangiopathic brain lesions.

Background: White matter lesions are frequently detected using brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) performed for various indications. Most are microangiopathic, but demyelination, including multiple sclerosis (MS), is an important cause; conventional MRI cannot always distinguish between these pathologies. The proportion of lesions with a central vein on 7-T T2*-weighted MRI prospectively distinguishes demyelination from microangiopathic lesions.