Safety and efficacy of MD1003 (high-dose biotin) in patients with progressive multiple sclerosis (SPI2): a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase 3 trial.

Background: There is an unmet need to develop therapeutic interventions directed at the neurodegeneration that underlies progression in multiple sclerosis. High-dose, pharmaceutical-grade biotin (MD1003) might enhance neuronal and oligodendrocyte energetics, resulting in improved cell function, repair, or survival. The MS-SPI randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled study found that MD1003 improved disability outcomes over 12 months in patients with progressive multiple sclerosis.

Factors associated with benign multiple sclerosis in the New York State MS Consortium (NYSMSC).

Background: This retrospective analysis explored prognostic factors associated with a benign multiple sclerosis (BMS) disease course at baseline and over the 4-year follow-up.

Methods: Patients from the centralized New York State Multiple Sclerosis Consortium registry were classified as having BMS according to 3 different criteria centered on disease duration and disability. Additional analyses explored prognostic factors associated with BMS using the most conservative disability criteria (Expanded Disability Status Scale ≤2 and disease duration ≥10 years).

Relationship between Inflammation and Aspirin and Clopidogrel Antiplatelet Responses in Acute Ischemic Stroke.

Objective: We measured serum levels of proinflammatory/prothrombotic markers P-selectin, CD40L, matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP-9), intracellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM-1), and interleukin (IL)-6 in ischemic stroke patients, correlating their levels with the results of aspirin (ASA) and clopidogrel antiplatelet responses, using 3 "point of care" platelet function instruments, thromboelastograph (TEG), Accumetrics (ACU), and impedance aggregometer (IMP).

Methods: Patients on chronic ASA regimen at the time of stroke were switched to 300 mg clopidogrel loading dose and 75 mg clopidogrel maintenance dose. Serum levels of the aforementioned inflammatory mediators were measured in 51 patients at baseline (on ASA regimen), and at 26 ± 5 hours and 64 ± 18 hours postclopidogrel administration by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.

Quantitative and qualitative pleiotropic differences between Simvastatin single and Vytorin combination therapy in hypercholesterolemic subjects.

Aims: This cross-sectional study tested the hypothesis that treatment with the combination of Ezetimibe/Simvastatin (Vytorin) leads to broader changes in the expression levels of immunomodulatory genes as compared to Simvastatin monotherapy.

Methods: Illumina's GenomeStudio gene expression module was used to compare gene profiles of Vytorin and Simvastatin in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells of 20 hypercholesterolemic subjects.

Results: The characteristics of the immunomodulatory genes, which were altered by Vytorin, differed from those genes which were altered by Simvastatin.

Flow cytometry and gene expression profiling of immune cells of the carotid plaque and peripheral blood.

Objectives: The relative contribution of the local vs. peripheral inflammation to the atherothrombotic processes is unknown. We compared the inflammatory status of the immune cells of the carotid plaque with similar cells in peripheral circulation of patients with advanced carotid disease (PCDs).