Suppression of host gene expression is associated with latent TB infection: a possible diagnostic biomarker.

The World Health Organization End TB strategy aims for a 90% reduction of tuberculosis (TB) incidence by 2035. Systematic testing and treatment of latent TB infection (LTBI) among contacts of active TB patients is recommended as one of the ways to curtail TB incidence. However, there is a shortage of tools to accurately diagnose LTBI.

Parameter clustering in Bayesian functional principal component analysis of neuroscientific data.

The extraordinary advancements in neuroscientific technology for brain recordings over the last decades have led to increasingly complex spatiotemporal data sets. To reduce oversimplifications, new models have been developed to be able to identify meaningful patterns and new insights within a highly demanding data environment. To this extent, we propose a new model called parameter clustering functional principal component analysis (PCl-fPCA) that merges ideas from functional data analysis and Bayesian nonparametrics to obtain a flexible and computationally feasible signal reconstruction and exploration of spatiotemporal neuroscientific data.

Brain networks construction using Bayes FDR and average power function.

Brain functional connectivity is a widely investigated topic in neuroscience. In recent years, the study of brain connectivity has been largely aided by graph theory. The link between time series recorded at multiple locations in the brain and the construction of a graph is usually an adjacency matrix.

Sympathetic skin response in multiple sclerosis: a meta-analysis of case-control studies.

The usefulness of sympathetic skin responses (SSR) in multiple sclerosis (MS) has been advocated by several studies in the last 20 years; however, due to a great heterogeneity of findings, a comprehensive meta-analysis of case-control studies is in order to pinpoint consistencies and investigate the causes of discrepancies. We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE and Cochrane databases for case-control studies comparing SSR absence frequency and latency between patients with MS and healthy controls. Thirteen eligible studies including 415 MS patients and 331 healthy controls were identified.

ApoE and SNAP-25 Polymorphisms Predict the Outcome of Multidimensional Stimulation Therapy Rehabilitation in Alzheimer's Disease.

Background: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a highly prevalent neurodegenerative disorder. Rate of decline and functional restoration in AD greatly depend on the capacity for neural plasticity within residual neural tissues; this is at least partially influenced by polymorphisms in genes that determine neural plasticity, including Apolipoprotein E4 (ApoE4) and synaptosomal-associated protein of 25 kDa (SNAP-25).

Objective: We investigated whether correlations could be detected between polymorphisms of ApoE4 and SNAP-25 and the outcome of a multidimensional rehabilitative approach, based on cognitive stimulation, behavioral, and functional therapy (multidimensional stimulation therapy [MST]).

Relationship between herpes simplex virus-1-specific antibody titers and cortical brain damage in Alzheimer's disease and amnestic mild cognitive impairment.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a multifactorial disease with a still barely understood etiology. Herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) has long been suspected to play a role in the pathogenesis of AD because of its neurotropism, high rate of infection in the general population, and life-long persistence in neuronal cells, particularly in the same brain regions that are usually altered in AD. The goal of this study was to evaluate HSV-1-specific humoral immune responses in patients with a diagnosis of either AD or amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI), and to verify the possible relation between HSV-1-specific antibody (Ab) titers and cortical damage; results were compared to those obtained in a group of healthy controls (HC).

The EP-score to assess treatment efficacy in RRMS patients: a preliminary study.

Aim Of The Study: The aim of this retrospective study was to preliminarily assess whether the EP-score, a summary score derived from multimodal evoked potentials tests, might be used as a measure of treatment efficacy in multiple sclerosis (MS).

Materials And Methods: A sample of 56 relapsing remitting MS (RRMS) patients who at diagnosis started treatment with interferon β (INFβ, n = 19), glatiramer acetate (GA, n = 15) or refused any chronic treatment were assessed at baseline (before treatment) and at a median of 1.7 and 3.

The evoked potentials score improves the identification of benign MS without cognitive impairment.

Background And Purpose: The presence of cognitive impairments (CI) among Benign MS (BMS) patients has challenged actual BMS criteria. We hypothesized that a low evoked potentials score (EP-score) at first neurological evaluation would help identify BMS patients without CI.

Methods: The EP-score was retrospectively computed in 29 putative BMS patients who were then tested for CI during 2012.

Exploring the predictive value of the evoked potentials score in MS within an appropriate patient population: a hint for an early identification of benign MS?

Background: The prognostic value of evoked potentials (EPs) in multiple sclerosis (MS) has not been fully established. The correlations between the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) at First Neurological Evaluation (FNE) and the duration of the disease, as well as between EDSS and EPs, have influenced the outcome of most previous studies. To overcome this confounding relations, we propose to test the prognostic value of EPs within an appropriate patient population which should be based on patients with low EDSS at FNE and short disease duration.

Sensory evoked potentials to predict short-term progression of disability in multiple sclerosis.

To devise a multivariate parametric model for short-term prediction of disability using the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) and multimodal sensory EP (mEP). A total of 221 multiple sclerosis (MS) patients who underwent repeated mEP and EDSS assessments at variable time intervals over a 20-year period were retrospectively analyzed. Published criteria were used to compute a cumulative score (mEPS) of abnormalities for each of 908 individual tests.