Clinic to in-home telemedicine reduces barriers to care for patients with MS or other neuroimmunologic conditions.

Objective: To describe the routine use of telemedicine-enabled neurologic care in an academic outpatient MS and neuroimmunology clinic and quantify its role in reducing patient burden.

Methods: Between January 2017 and December 2017, we surveyed patients and MS neurologists after 50 consecutive routinely scheduled televideo visits and a convenience sample of 100 in-clinic visits. Summary statistics were calculated and comparisons performed.

Disease-modifying therapies alter gut microbial composition in MS.

Objective: To determine the effects of the disease-modifying therapies, glatiramer acetate (GA) and dimethyl fumarate (DMF), on the gut microbiota in patients with MS.

Methods: Participants with relapsing MS who were either treatment-naive or treated with GA or DMF were recruited. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells were immunophenotyped.

Advanced Symptom Management in Multiple Sclerosis.

Meaningful symptom management can have a profound impact on quality of life. It can challenge time parameters during clinic, and therefore thought should be given to strategies that can improve efficiency and thereby make the undertaking more tenable. For any given symptom, the building blocks of care, such as vitamin D status, exercise/physical therapy, nutrition, and stress management, and ensuring disease-modifying therapy coverage, should be maximized.

Gut bacteria from multiple sclerosis patients modulate human T cells and exacerbate symptoms in mouse models.

The gut microbiota regulates T cell functions throughout the body. We hypothesized that intestinal bacteria impact the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis (MS), an autoimmune disorder of the CNS and thus analyzed the microbiomes of 71 MS patients not undergoing treatment and 71 healthy controls. Although no major shifts in microbial community structure were found, we identified specific bacterial taxa that were significantly associated with MS.