Clinically relevant increases in serum neurofilament light chain and glial fibrillary acidic protein in patients with Susac syndrome.

Background And Purpose: Serum levels of neurofilament light chain (sNfL) and glial fibrillary acidic protein (sGFAP) are promising neuro-axonal damage and astrocytic activation biomarkers. Susac syndrome (SS) is an increasingly recognized neurological condition and biomarkers that can help assess and monitor disease evolution are highly needed for the adequate management of these patients. sNfL and sGFAP levels were evaluated in patients with SS and their clinical relevance in the relapse and remission phase of the disease was assessed.

Performance of McDonald 2017 multiple sclerosis diagnostic criteria and evaluation of genetic ancestry in patients with a first demyelinating event in Argentina.

Background: Information on performance of multiple sclerosis (MS) diagnostic criteria is scarce for populations from Latin America, Asia, or the Caribbean.

Objective: To assess performance of revised 2017 McDonald criteria as well as evaluate genetic ancestry in a group of MS patients from Argentina experiencing a debut demyelinating event.

Methods: Demographic and clinical characteristics, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings and new T2 lesions were recorded at baseline and during relapses.

Susac syndrome: challenges in the diagnosis and treatment.

Susac syndrome is a disorder thought to be mediated by an autoimmune response towards endothelial cells, leading to a characteristic clinical triad of encephalopathy, visual disturbances due to branch arterial occlusions and sensorineural hearing impairment. Although it is a rare disease, three reasons make it important. First, given its variable presentation, Susac syndrome is underdiagnosed.

The frequency and characteristics of multiple sclerosis misdiagnosis in Latin America: A referral center study in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Objective: Most contemporary data concerning the frequency and causes of multiple sclerosis (MS) misdiagnosis are from North America and Europe with different healthcare system structure and resources than countries in Latin America. We sought to determine the frequency, and potential contributors to MS misdiagnosis in patients evaluated at an MS referral center in Argentina.

Methods: The study was a retrospective medical record review.

Theory of mind, emotion recognition and emotional reactivity factors in early multiple sclerosis: Results from a South American cohort.

Objectives: To study different components of social cognition and quality of life in patients with early multiple sclerosis and low Expanded Disability Status Scale and to test the influence of cognitive performance, fatigue and neuropsychiatric symptoms on social cognition performance.

Methods: Thirty-four patients with relapsing-remitting MS, with ≤2 years of disease duration and scores ≤2 on the EDSS and 30 healthy controls underwent neuropsychological assessment with the Brief Repeatable Neuropsychological Test Battery. Components of social cognition, such as emotion recognition, theory of mind, empathy, and emotional reactivity, were assessed with the Reading the Mind in the Eyes test, the Faux Pas task, the International Affective Imagery System, and the Empathy Quotient.

Absence of latitudinal gradient in oligoclonal bands prevalence in Argentina.

Background: Like MS prevalence, oligoclonal bands (OCB) frequency seems to follow a latitudinal gradient. Argentina is extensive, latitude-wise, and previous studies have not found an MS prevalence latitudinal gradient. Our aim is to describe OCB prevalence in MS, clinically isolated syndrome (CIS) and radiologically isolated syndrome (RIS) patients included in the Argentinean MS and NMOSD registry (RelevarEM) and to investigate if it follows a latitudinal gradient.

Adaptation and validation of a Spanish version of the treatment burden questionnaire in patients with multiple sclerosis.

Background: The Treatment Burden Questionnaire (TBQ) is a self-reported measure of the effect of treatment workload on patient wellbeing. We sought to validate the TBQ in Spanish and use it to estimate the burden of treatment in Argentinian patients with multiple sclerosis (MS).

Methods: The TBQ was forward-backward translated into Spanish.

Quality of Life Assessment in Multiple Sclerosis: Different Perception between Patients and Neurologists.

Background: In recent years, neurologists are noticing that evaluation of multiple sclerosis (MS) patients based on combining relapses, disability progression, and magnetic resonance imaging activity may be insufficient to adequately assess suboptimal responses to available therapy. Inclusion of quality of life (QoL) parameters may contribute to breach this gap.

Objective: To evaluate agreement levels between doctor and patient perception of QoL in MS.

Progressive multiple sclerosis: from pathogenic mechanisms to treatment.

During the past decades, better understanding of relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis disease mechanisms have led to the development of several disease-modifying therapies, reducing relapse rates and severity, through immune system modulation or suppression. In contrast, current therapeutic options for progressive multiple sclerosis remain comparatively disappointing and challenging. One possible explanation is a lack of understanding of pathogenic mechanisms driving progressive multiple sclerosis.

Sodium intake is associated with increased disease activity in multiple sclerosis.

Background: Recently, salt has been shown to modulate the differentiation of human and mouse Th17 cells and mice that were fed a high-sodium diet were described to develop more aggressive courses of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis. However, the role of sodium intake in multiple sclerosis (MS) has not been addressed. We aimed to investigate the relationship between salt consumption and clinical and radiological disease activity in MS.

White matter relapsing remitting disease: "Susac's syndrome"-An underdiagnosed entity.

Susac's syndrome is a treatable microangiopathy of unknown etiology affecting arterioles of the brain, retina, and cochlea. The typical clinical manifestation is the triad of encephalopathy, visual loss, and sensorineural hearing loss. One or more of these features may not be present at onset and therefore Susac's syndrome's diagnosis may be difficult.

Benign multiple sclerosis: does it exist?

Although the definition of benign multiple sclerosis (BMS) remains controversial, it is generally applied to a subgroup of MS patients showing little disease progression, with minimal disability decades after disease onset, and is based mainly on changes in motor function. Recent studies, however, reveal that deterioration of cognitive function, fatigue, pain, and depression also occur in BMS patients, causing negative impact on work and social activities, despite complete preservation of motor function. Using conventional MRI techniques, lesion load observed in BMS is similar to levels in other disease subtypes; however, newer quantitative MRI techniques show less tissue damage, as well as greater repair and compensatory efficiency following MS injury.