Medical rehabilitation of chronic progressive disseminated encephalomyelitis (MS).

Eight years after diagnosis, 40% of MS patients develop a chronically progressive form. Annually we treat approximately 200 patients with progressive MS. Treatment consists of medication, i.

Cerebral magnetic resonance imaging pathology and cerebro-spinal fluid protein in sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (sALS).

In 3 out of 20 patients with sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (sALS), cranial magnetic resonance imaging detected multiple demyelinating lesions. All 3 patients died from definite upper and lower motor neuron degeneration. In all 3 cases total cerebro-spinal fluid (CSF) protein remained within normal ranges, and a blood-CSF barrier dysfunction was not detectable.

Sporadic ALS/MND: a global neurodegeneration with retroviral involvement?

Sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis may be an aetiologically heterogenous disease. We confirmed elevated circulating IgG immune complexes, and altered IgG seroreactivities against human retroviral antigens (HIV-2 and HTLV immunoblots) in overlapping subgroups of patients. Together with preliminary findings of a positive polymerase chain reactivity for human T-lymphotropic virus (HTLV.

HTLV tax-rex DNA and antibodies in idiopathic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

In an attempt to verify the possible role of retrovirus in idiopathic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), the sera of 21 ALS patients admitted to the Neurological Unit of the Don Gnocchi Foundation in Milan, Italy, and of 9 ALS patients from Ulm University in Germany have been evaluated for the presence of antibodies to the human T-lymphotropic viruses (HTLV-I and HTLV-II). The sera of 30 healthy individuals and 20 HIV-infected but HTLV-negative subjects have been also studied as control. Moreover, the HTLV tax-rex and pol DNA sequence have been searched in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of 15 ALS patients and 15 HIV-positive HTLV-negative subjects using a nested PCR currently employed in our laboratory for the study of HTLV infections.