Sensor-Derived Measures of Motor and Cognitive Functions in People With Multiple Sclerosis Using Unsupervised Smartphone-Based Assessments: Proof-of-Concept Study.

Background: Smartphones and wearables are revolutionizing the assessment of cognitive and motor function in neurological disorders, allowing for objective, frequent, and remote data collection. However, these assessments typically provide a plethora of sensor-derived measures (SDMs), and selecting the most suitable measure for a given context of use is a challenging, often overlooked problem.

Objective: This analysis aims to develop and apply an SDM selection framework, including automated data quality checks and the evaluation of statistical properties, to identify robust SDMs that describe the cognitive and motor function of people with multiple sclerosis (MS).

Konectom™ cognitive processing speed test enables reliable remote, unsupervised cognitive assessment in people with multiple sclerosis: Exploring the use of substitution time as a novel digital outcome measure.

Background: The Konectom™ smartphone-based cognitive processing speed (CPS) test is designed to assess processing speed and account for impact of visuomotor function on performance.

Objective: Evaluate reliability and validity of Konectom CPS Test, performed in clinic and remotely.

Methods: Data were collected from people with multiple sclerosis (PwMS) aged 18-64 years and healthy control participants (HC) matched for age, sex, and education.

Differential vulnerability of thalamic nuclei in multiple sclerosis.

Objectives: Investigating differential vulnerability of thalamic nuclei in multiple sclerosis (MS).

Methods: In a secondary analysis of prospectively collected datasets, we pooled 136 patients with MS or clinically isolated syndrome and 71 healthy controls all scanned with conventional 3D-T1 and white-matter-nulled magnetization-prepared rapid gradient echo (WMn-MPRAGE) and tested for cognitive performance. T1-based thalamic segmentation was compared with the reference WMn-MPRAGE method.

Amygdala network reorganization mediates the theory of mind performances in multiple sclerosis.

Theory of mind (ToM) seems to be affected in multiple sclerosis (MS). MRI studies suggested a role of the amygdala in social cognitive performances. Therefore, we explored the role of the amygdala network in ToM using a multimodal MRI approach.

Validation of a Brief Computerized Cognitive Assessment in Multiple Sclerosis (BCCAMS) and comparison with reference batteries.

Background: The Brief Computerized Cognitive Assessment in Multiple Sclerosis (BCCAMS) is a short neuropsychological battery for persons with multiple sclerosis (PwMS).

Objectives: The main objective of the study is to validate the BCCAMS.

Methods: PwMS and healthy subjects (HS) were evaluated using the BCCAMS which include two computerized tests, the Computerized Speed Cognitive Test and the Computerized Episodic Visual Memory Test (CEVMT), a newly developed visuospatial memory test, and the French learning test.

Insights on the Relationship Between Hippocampal Connectivity and Memory Performances at the Early Stage of Multiple Sclerosis.

While memory impairment in multiple sclerosis (MS) is known to be associated with hippocampal alterations, whether hippocampal networks could dynamically reorganize as a compensation mechanism is still a matter of debate. In this context, our aim was to identify the patterns of structural and functional connectivity between the hippocampus and the rest of the brain and their possible relevance to memory performances in early MS. Thirty-two patients with a first episode suggestive of MS together with 10 matched healthy controls were prospectively explored at baseline, 1 and 5 years follow up.

Validation of the French version of the minimal assessment of cognitive function in multiple sclerosis (MACFIMS).

Background: The Minimal Assessment of Cognitive Function in Multiple sclerosis (MACFIMS) is an internationally recognised battery of neuropsychological tests for patients with multiple sclerosis (MS).

Objectives: To establish regression-based norms for the MACFIMS in French-speaking healthy subjects (HS) and validate its use in persons with multiple sclerosis (PwMS).

Methods: 136 PwMS, including 43 with relapsing-remitting MS, 46 with secondary progressive MS and 45 with primary progressive MS, as well as 276 HS were enrolled.

Structural constraints of functional connectivity drive cognitive impairment in the early stages of multiple sclerosis.

Background: The relationship between structural and functional deficits in multiple sclerosis (MS) is unclear.

Objective: This study explored structure-function relationships during the 5 years following a clinically isolated syndrome and their role in cognitive performance.

Methods: Thirty-two patients were enrolled after their first neurological episode suggestive of MS and followed for 5 years, along with 10 matched healthy controls.

Dynamic modular-level alterations of structural-functional coupling in clinically isolated syndrome.

Structural and functional connectivity abnormalities have been reported previously in multiple sclerosis. However, little is known about how each modality evolution relates to the other. Recent studies in other neurological disorders have suggested that structural-functional coupling may be more sensitive in detecting brain alterations than any single modality.

Preliminary evidence of the cerebellar role on cognitive performances in clinically isolated syndrome.

Background: Cerebellar and cognitive dysfunction can occur early in clinically isolated syndrome (CIS). Eye tracking is a reliable tool for the evaluation of both subtle cerebellar symptoms and cognitive impairment.

Objectives: To investigate the early cognitive profile using neuropsychological and ocular motor (OM) testing in CIS with and without cerebellar dysfunction with OM testing compared to healthy subjects (HS).

Improvement of quality of life and its relationship with neuropsychiatric outcomes in patients with multiple sclerosis starting treatment with natalizumab: A 3-year follow-up multicentric study.

Background: Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is impaired in multiple sclerosis (MS) but can be improved by disease-modifying therapies such as natalizumab. However, the predictive factors and neuropsychiatric correlates of HRQoL improvement are unknown.

Methods: In this study, 48 patients with relapsing-remitting MS were included in a 3-year open-label, single group, multicenter, clinical trial (NCT01392872).

Pattern separation performance is decreased in patients with early multiple sclerosis.

Background: Hippocampal-dependent memory impairment is frequent and occurs early during the course of multiple sclerosis (MS). While mechanisms responsible for episodic memory dysfunction in patients with MS remain largely unknown, dentate gyrus structure has been suggested as particularly vulnerable at the early stage of the disease. If true, we hypothesized that the pattern separation component of episodic memory (a function known to be critically dependent to dentate gyrus function) would be impaired in patients with early MS (PweMS).

Microstructural analyses of the posterior cerebellar lobules in relapsing-onset multiple sclerosis and their implication in cognitive impairment.

Background: The posterior cerebellar lobules seem to be the anatomical substrate of cognitive cerebellar processes, but their microstructural alterations in multiple sclerosis (MS) remain unclear.

Objectives: To correlate diffusion metrics in lobules VI to VIIIb in persons with clinically isolated syndrome (PwCIS) and in cognitively impaired persons with MS (CIPwMS) with their cognitive performances.

Methods: Sixty-nine patients (37 PwCIS, 32 CIPwMS) and 36 matched healthy subjects (HS) underwent 3T magnetic resonance imaging, including 3D T1-weighted and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI).

Social cognition according to cognitive impairment in different clinical phenotypes of multiple sclerosis.

The objective of this study is to evaluate the relationship between social cognition (SC) and cognitive impairment in persons with multiple sclerosis (PwMS). A prospective study was conducted in 60 PwMS, 30 with relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS), 15 with secondary progressive MS (SPMS) and 15 with primary progressive MS (PPMS), and in healthy subjects (HS). All subjects were assessed by the Bordeaux Social Cognition Evaluation Protocol (PECS-B) (facial emotion recognition, theory of mind, emotional awareness and cognitive and affective alexithymia), by a large neuropsychological battery and by questionnaires (depression and anxiety).

Cerebellar Assessment in Early Multiple Sclerosis.

Cerebellar impairment is frequent and predictive of disability in multiple sclerosis (MS). The Nine-Hole Peg Test (NHPT) is commonly used to assess cerebellar symptoms despite its lack of specificity for cerebellar ataxia. Eye-tracking is a reliable test for identifying subtle cerebellar symptoms and could be used in clinical trials, including those involving early MS patients.

Deciphering Depressive Mood in Relapsing-Remitting and Progressive Multiple Sclerosis and Its Consequence on Quality of Life.

Background: Depressive mood and other emotional symptoms are common in multiple sclerosis (MS). The patient-reported outcome version of the "Echelle d'Humeur Dépressive" (EHD-PRO) aims to differentiate between two dimensions of depressive mood in people living with MS (PwMS).

Objectives: First, to compare EHD-PRO assessment and its two dimensions, lack of emotional control and emotional blunting, between a large sample of healthy controls (HCs) and two samples of PwMS, relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS) and primary progressive MS (PPMS); and second, to analyse the relationships between EHD-PRO scores with neurological disability, cognitive function, fatigue and health-related quality of life (HR-QOL).

Information processing speed impairment and cerebellar dysfunction in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis.

Objective: The aim of this work is to study the relationship between information processing speed (IPS) impairment and motor testing that reflects cerebellar function in persons with multiple sclerosis (PwMS).

Methods: 60 persons with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis with a mean disease duration of 4.2 ± 4 years were studied cross-sectionally.

Cognitive impairment differs between primary progressive and relapsing-remitting MS.

Objectives: To characterize the cognitive abilities of patients with primary progressive multiple sclerosis (PPMS) and relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) compared with healthy controls (HCs) matched for age, sex, and education level while considering the different characteristics of PPMS and RRMS and to compare the cognitive patterns of these types of multiple sclerosis.

Methods: Forty-one patients with PPMS, 60 patients with RRMS, and 415 HCs were recruited in a cross-sectional study. Controls were divided into 20 groups according to age, sex, and education level.

A new computerised cognitive test for the detection of information processing speed impairment in multiple sclerosis.

Background: Cognitive impairment in multiple sclerosis (MS) primarily applies to information processing speed (IPS).

Objective: To evaluate psychometric properties of a new digit/symbol substitution test in healthy subjects and patients with MS, and assess its ability to detect IPS impairment in patients with MS.

Methods: A sample of MS patients, 60 relapsing-remitting (RRMS) and 41 primary progressive MS (PPMS), and 415 healthy controls (HCs) underwent an IPS battery, including assessment of reaction times of subtests of the Test of Attentional Performance battery and a newly developed in-house digit/symbol substitution task, the Computerised Speed Cognitive Test (CSCT).