Use of the FIM instrument in a trial of intramuscular interferon beta-1a for disease progression in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis.

Objective: This study is a secondary analysis of results from the Multiple Sclerosis Collaborative Research Group multicenter trial. We investigated the effect of interferon beta-1a on disability in patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (MS), using the FIM instrument to assess levels of decline in total, motor, and cognitive items.

Design: Of the 301 patients enrolled in the trial, 274 subjects with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis with baseline FIM and Kurtzke Expanded Disability Status Scale scores were studied in this secondary analysis.

Predictive immunophenotypes: disease-related profile in chronic fatigue syndrome.

Background: There is a growing body of evidence supporting the theory that problems with immune function play an important role in chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS).

Methods: We studied 90 CFS cases and 50 healthy controls from two different areas of upstate New York to determine whether there were differences in the absolute number and pattern of natural killer (NK) and cytotoxic T-cell phenotypes between CFS cases and healthy controls in the two regions. One group was from a small town where a cluster of cases existed; the other was from a large metropolitan area where there was not a known cluster.