Neurol Neuroimmunol Neuroinflamm
November 2020
Objective: To investigate the involvement of interleukin (IL)-26 in neuroinflammatory processes in multiple sclerosis (MS), in particular in blood-brain barrier (BBB) integrity.
Methods: Expression of IL-26 was measured in serum, CSF, in vitro differentiated T helper (T) cell subsets, and postmortem brain tissue of patients with MS and controls by ELISA, quantitative PCR, and immunohistochemistry. Primary human and mouse BBB endothelial cells (ECs) were treated with IL-26 in vitro and assessed for BBB integrity.
Background: Recent progress in multiple sclerosis (MS) management has contributed to a greater life expectancy in persons with MS. Ageing with MS comes with unique challenges and bears the potential to greatly affect quality of life and socioeconomic burden.
Objectives: To compare frailty in ageing persons with multiple sclerosis (pwMS) and controls; to correlate frailty with MS clinical characteristics.
Background: The benefits of physical activity are well documented, but scalable programs to promote activity are needed. Interventions that assign tailored and dynamically adjusting goals could effect significant increases in physical activity but have not yet been implemented at scale.
Objective: Our aim was to examine the effectiveness of an open access, Internet-based walking program that assigns daily step goals tailored to each participant.
Background: Well-being encompasses physical, psychological, and social aspects of health and predicts healthcare utilization and expenditures. Despite their potential clinical impact, interventions that leverage social network effects to target well-being are uncommon.
Purpose: Using a pragmatic design, to evaluate the effectiveness of an online well-being intervention as part of ongoing program development.
Transl Behav Med
September 2013
Rigorous evaluation of eHealth interventions is acutely needed but can be challenging to execute in a cost- and time-efficient way. The purpose of this study is to describe a randomized controlled trial carried out as part of an approach that evaluates and informs product development throughout an intervention's life cycle. We present the methodological case of a pragmatic randomized controlled trial evaluating the effectiveness of the web-based intervention "Daily Challenge.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFParallelism effects refer to the facilitated processing of a target structure when it follows a similar, parallel structure. In coordination, a parallelism-related conjunction triggers the expectation that a second conjunct with the same structure as the first conjunct should occur. It has been proposed that parallelism effects reflect the use of the first structure as a template that guides the processing of the second.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn multiple sclerosis, encephalitogenic CD4(+) lymphocytes require adhesion molecules to accumulate into central nervous system inflammatory lesions. Using proteomic techniques, we identified expression of melanoma cell adhesion molecule (MCAM) on a subset of human effector memory CD4(+) lymphocytes and on human blood-brain barrier endothelium. Herein, we demonstrate that MCAM is a stable surface marker that refines the identification of interleukin 17(+), interleukin 22(+), RAR-related orphan receptor γ and interleukin 23 receptor(+) cells within the CD161(+)CCR6(+) subset of memory CD4(+) lymphocytes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Med Internet Res
February 2012
Background: Web-based health interventions can drive behavior change, but their effectiveness depends on participants' usage. A well-recognized challenge with these interventions is nonusage attrition or weak engagement that results in participants receiving low doses of the intervention, negatively affecting outcomes. We present an approach based on the theoretical concepts of social influence and complex contagion in an effort to address the engagement problem in a specific, commercial, online behavior change intervention.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFClonally expanded CD8(+) T lymphocytes are present in multiple sclerosis lesions, as well as in the cerebrospinal fluid of patients with multiple sclerosis. In experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis, CD8(+) T lymphocytes are found in spinal cord and brainstem lesions. However, the exact phenotype of central nervous system-infiltrating CD8(+) T lymphocytes and the mechanism by which these cells cross the blood-brain barrier remain largely unknown.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEllipsis refers to an element that is absent from the input but whose meaning can nonetheless be recovered from context. In this cross-modal priming study, we examined the online processing of Sluicing, an ellipsis whose antecedent is an entire clause: The handyman threw a book to the programmer but I don't know which book the handyman threw to the programmer(ellipsis.) To understand such an elliptical construction, the listener arguably must 'fill in' the missing material ("the handyman threw___ to the programmer") based on that which occurs in the antecedent clause.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: There is substantial evidence supporting the role of interferon (IFN)-gamma-producing T helper (T(H)) 1 and interleukin (IL)-17-expressing T(H)17 lymphocytes in multiple sclerosis (MS) and its animal model, experimental allergic encephalomyelitis (EAE). However, to date little is known about the potential cooperative interplay between these 2 cytokines. In the current study, we sought to evaluate the frequency of IFN-gamma-expressing T(H)17 lymphocytes in MS and EAE, and study their recruitment into the central nervous system (CNS).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe investigate the on-line processing of verb-phrase ellipsis (VPE) constructions in two brain injured populations: Broca's and Anomic aphasics. VPE constructions are built from two simple clauses; the first is the antecedent clause and the second is the ellipsis clause. The ellipsis clause is missing its verb and object (i.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIdiopathic generalized epilepsy (IGE) has evidence of a strong genetic etiology. We conducted genomewide linkage analysis for genes responsible for familial IGE in French-Canadian pedigrees. Twenty families segregating autosomal dominant epilepsy were collected.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe introduction of disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) for multiple sclerosis (MS) over the last 7 years has had a significant effect on the management of those living with this disease. Initially, the focus of improving treatment outcomes was on ensuring adherence to therapy by managing drug-related adverse events. However, treatment adherence is only one facet of ensuring optimal health outcomes for patients using DMTs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFContext: T-lymphocyte migration through the blood-brain barrier is a central event in the process of lesion formation in multiple sclerosis (MS).
Objectives: To assess the ability of lymphocytes derived from the peripheral blood of patients with clinically active and inactive MS to migrate across an artificial model of the blood-brain barrier and to elucidate the molecular mechanisms involved in such a process.
Design: We developed an in vitro model of lymphocyte migration using a Boyden chamber coated with a monolayer of human brain microvascular endothelial cells.