A pilot, randomized, placebo-controlled study of mindfulness meditation in treating insomnia in multiple sclerosis.

Objective: Mindfulness is an established approach to reduce distress and stress reactivity by improving awareness and tolerability of thoughts and emotions. This study compares mindfulness training to sleep hygiene in persons with multiple sclerosis (PWMS) who report chronic insomnia, examining sleep efficiency (SE), self-reported sleep quality and quality of life.

Methods: Fifty-three PWMS were randomized (1:1) in a single-blinded, parallel group design to ten, two-hour weekly sessions of Mindfulness Based Stress Intervention for Insomnia (MBSI-I) over a span of ten weeks or a single, one hour sleep hygiene (SH) session over one day.

Teriflunomide levels in women whose male sexual partner is on teriflunomide for relapsing multiple sclerosis.

Background: For small molecules such as teriflunomide, used to treat relapsing multiple sclerosis (MS), that are potentially embryotoxic, there is a theoretical risk of transmission of the medication from males on the drug to female sexual partners. However, that risk has been undefined up to now.

Methods: Teriflunomide concentrations were assayed concomitantly in ten sexually active couples, not using barrier methods of contraception, in whom the male partner with MS was on treatment with teriflunomide 14 mg daily for at least two months.

Fingolimod modulates T cell phenotype and regulatory T cell plasticity in vivo.

Fingolimod is an approved therapeutic option for patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis that primarily functions by sequestering T cells in lymph nodes inhibiting their egress to the central nervous system. However, recent data suggests that Fingolimod may also directly affect the immune cell function. Here we examined the in vivo effects of Fingolimod in modulating the phenotype and function of T cell and Foxp3 regulatory T cell populations in patients with multiple sclerosis under Fingolimod treatment.

Sex differences in decreased limbic and cortical grey matter volume in cocaine dependence: a voxel-based morphometric study.

Structural neuroimaging studies have provided evidence of differences in local brain volume between cocaine-dependent and healthy control individuals. While sex differences in aetiology, course and brain dysfunction associated with chronic cocaine abuse have been previously documented, evidence of sex-specific differences in brain volume has not been examined thus far. This study examined sex-related differences in grey matter volume between cocaine-dependent and healthy control subjects using voxel-based morphometry.

Cumulative adversity and smaller gray matter volume in medial prefrontal, anterior cingulate, and insula regions.

Background: Cumulative adversity and stress are associated with risk of psychiatric disorders. While basic science studies show repeated and chronic stress effects on prefrontal and limbic neurons, human studies examining cumulative stress and effects on brain morphology are rare. Thus, we assessed whether cumulative adversity is associated with differences in gray matter volume, particularly in regions regulating emotion, self-control, and top-down processing in a community sample.

Association of frontal and posterior cortical gray matter volume with time to alcohol relapse: a prospective study.

Objective: Alcoholism is associated with gray matter volume deficits in frontal and other brain regions. Whether persistent brain volume deficits in abstinence are predictive of subsequent time to alcohol relapse has not been established. The authors measured gray matter volumes in healthy volunteers and in a sample of treatment-engaged, alcohol-dependent patients after 1 month of abstinence and assessed whether smaller frontal gray matter volume was predictive of subsequent alcohol relapse outcomes.

Factors that influence adherence with disease-modifying therapy in MS.

Background: The complexity and cost of injection treatment can represent a formidable challenge for patients affected by a chronic illness, particularly those whose treatment is primarily preventative and only modestly effective on the more conspicuous symptomatic aspects of the disease process. The aim of this investigation was to identify which factors most influenced nonadherent behavior with the available disease-modifying injection therapies for multiple sclerosis (MS).

Methods: A multicenter, observational (three-wave) study using surveys was developed and administered to patients with MS through the World Wide Web.

Stiff-person syndrome with amphiphysin antibodies: distinctive features of a rare disease.

Background: Stiff-person syndrome (SPS), formerly Stiff-man syndrome, is a rare autoimmune disease usually exhibiting severe spasms and thoracolumbar stiffness, with very elevated glutamic acid decarboxylase antibodies (GAD Ab). A paraneoplastic variant, less well characterized, is associated with amphiphysin antibodies (amphiphysin Ab). The objective of this study was to identify distinctive clinical features of amphiphysin Ab-associated SPS.

Noninvasive measurement of carbon monoxide levels in ED patients with headache.

Objectives: Carbon Monoxide (CO), the third most common cause of acute poisoning death, is easily overlooked in the emergency department (ED). Nonspecific complaints such as headache, weakness, or malaise may easily result in misdiagnosis. The objectives of this study are to determine the frequency of CO poisoning in patients presenting to the ED complaining of headaches and to determine the feasibility of using noninvasive CO analyzers as a screening tool.

Quality of life for veterans with multiple sclerosis on disease-modifying agents: Relationship to disability.

Our objective was to compare self-reported health-related quality of life (HRQOL) for U.S. veterans with multiple sclerosis (MS) on disease-modifying agents with provider reports of HRQOL from standard disability measures.

IM interferon beta-1a delays definite multiple sclerosis 5 years after a first demyelinating event.

Background: The Controlled High Risk Subjects Avonex Multiple Sclerosis Prevention Study (CHAMPS) showed that IM interferon beta-1a (IFNbeta-1a) significantly slows the rate of development of clinically definite multiple sclerosis (CDMS) over 2 years in high-risk patients who experience a first clinical demyelinating event. This report highlights the primary results of a 5-year, open-label extension of CHAMPS (the Controlled High Risk Avonex Multiple Sclerosis Prevention Study in Ongoing Neurologic Surveillance [CHAMPIONS Study]).

Objective: To determine if the benefits of IFNbeta-1a observed in CHAMPS are sustained for up to 5 years.