Safety and efficacy of faecal microbiota transplantation in patients with mild to moderate Parkinson's disease (GUT-PARFECT): a double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomised, phase 2 trial.

Background: Dysregulation of the gut microbiome has been implicated in Parkinson's disease (PD). This study aimed to evaluate the clinical effects and safety of a single faecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) in patients with early-stage PD.

Methods: The GUT-PARFECT trial, a single-centre randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial was conducted at Ghent University Hospital between December 01, 2020 and December 12, 2022.

Gut microbiome composition is associated with long-term disability worsening in multiple sclerosis.

Predicting the long-term outcome of multiple sclerosis (MS) remains an important challenge to this day. As the gut microbiota is emerging as a potential player in MS, we investigated in this study whether gut microbial composition at baseline is related to long-term disability worsening in a longitudinal cohort of 111 MS patients. Fecal samples and extensive host metadata were collected at baseline and 3 months post-baseline, with additional repeated neurological measurements performed over (median) 4.

Plasma glial fibrillary acidic protein and neurofilament light chain in relation to disability worsening in multiple sclerosis.

Background: Predicting disability worsening in multiple sclerosis (MS) remains an important challenge. Glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) and neurofilament light chain (NfL) seem promising biomarkers. Studies investigating blood GFAP in relation to longitudinal outcome measures in MS are scarce.

Gut microbiome variation is associated to Multiple Sclerosis phenotypic subtypes.

Objective: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a heterogenous, inflammatory disease of the central nervous system. Microbiota alterations in MS versus healthy controls (HC) are observed, but results are inconsistent. We studied diversity, enterotypes, and specific gut microbial taxa variation between MS and HC, and between MS subgroups.

Relation between Heart Rate Variability and Disease Course in Multiple Sclerosis.

Little is known about the interplay between the autonomic nervous system and disease activity in multiple sclerosis (MS). We examined the relationship between heart rate variability (HRV), a reliable measure of vagal nerve function, and disease characteristics in a prospective MS cohort. Standard deviation of each normal-to-normal inter-beat interval (SDNN) and root mean square of successive differences (RMSSD), global indices of HRV, were measured in 114 MS patients, which included four predefined subgroups, and 30 age and sex-matched healthy controls (HC).