Neuromyelitis optica is an HLA associated disease different from Multiple Sclerosis: a systematic review with meta-analysis.

Neuromyelitis Optica and Multiple Sclerosis are idiopathic inflammatory demyelinating diseases of the central nervous system that currently are considered distinct autoimmune diseases, so differences in genetic susceptibility would be expected. This study aimed to investigate the HLA association with Neuromyelitis Optica by a systematic review with meta-analysis. The STROBE instrument guided research paper assessments.

State of the Art and Future Challenges in Multiple Sclerosis Research and Medical Management: An Insight into the 5th International Porto Congress of Multiple Sclerosis.

The 5th International Porto Congress of Multiple Sclerosis took place between the 14th and 16th of February 2019 in Porto, Portugal. Its intensive programme covered a wide-range of themes-including many of the hot topics, challenges, pitfalls and yet unmet needs in the field of multiple sclerosis (MS)-led by a number of well-acknowledged world experts. This meeting review summarizes the talks that took place during the congress, which focussed on issues in MS as diverse as the development and challenges of progressive MS, epidemiology, differential diagnosis, medical management, molecular research and imaging tools.

Is Asian type MS an MS phenotype, an NMO spectrum disorder, or a MOG-IgG related disease?

Background: A specific particularity of neurological diseases in Asia is the relative commonality of neuromyelitis optica (NMO) and Asian type MS (OSMS). Both conditions also occur in South American patients. The Brazilian population differs from the European and the Asian populations due to the mixture of ancestralities between European colonizers and African slaves.

Prevalence of multiple sclerosis in Goiânia, Goiás, Brazil.

Objective: Multiple sclerosis (MS) prevalence, in some cities in Brazil, was estimated and was found to range from 0.75 to 30.7/100,000.

Familial multiple sclerosis in a Brazilian sample: Is HLA-DR15 involved in susceptibility to the disease?

Background: The HLA-DR15 extended haplotype HLA-DRB1*15:01-DQA1*01:02-DQB1*06:02 comprises the strongest genetic risk factor for multiple sclerosis (MS). The aim of this work was to investigate whether HLA-DR15 alleles were significantly associated with the susceptibility to MS familial forms (MSf) in an admixed Brazilian population.

Methods: Association analyses between DR15 and the clinical and demographic variables were made.

Lower frequency of antibodies to MOG in Brazilian patients with demyelinating diseases: An ethnicity influence?

Objective: Antibodies against Myelin Oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG-Ab) have been investigated as potential biological marker for neuromyelitis optica (NMO) and high-risk syndromes (HR) negative for AQP4-Ab in populations with different ethnic background. We tested AQP4 and MOG antibodies in a Brazilian population with high African ethnic background.

Method: The study population was composed of adult patients from Rio de Janeiro with inflammatory demyelinating diseases (new and old cases).

Normative values of the Brief Repeatable Battery of Neuropsychological Tests in a Brazilian population sample: discrete and regression-based norms.

Objective Cognitive dysfunction is common in multiple sclerosis. The Brief Repeatable Battery of Neuropsychological Tests (BRB-N) was developed to assess cognitive functions most-frequently impaired in multiple sclerosis. However, normative values are lacking in Brazil.

Neuromyelitis optica: phenotypic characteristics in a Brazilian case series.

Objective: To describe the characteristics of 34 Brazilian NMO patients. To evaluate the contribution of the 2015 criteria to the diagnosis of NMO spectrum disorders (NMOSD) in 40 patients with longitudinal extensive transverse myelitis (LEMT).

Methods: This is a retrospective, descriptive and analytic study.

Risk factors for convertion to clinically defined multiple sclerosis after clinically isolated syndrome in a racially mixed Brazilian cohort.

Unlabelled: Clinically isolated syndrome may reflect the first symptom of Multiple Sclerosis. Though more prevalent in Caucasians, MS can also affect Afrodescendts. Modifying disease drugs can delay convertion to clinically defined multiple sclerosis, therefore, identify patients at a higher risk of convertion is important.

Prevalence of multiple sclerosis in Brazil: A systematic review.

Epidemiological studies of multiple sclerosis (MS) conducted in Latin America have revealed prevalence rates of this disease from low to medium. The aim of this study was to gather and analyze surveys on prevalence conducted in Brazil, noting its variability in different regions. Systematic review was held in electronic databases and manual search in abstracts concerning ECTRIMS, LACTRIMS and Brazilian Congress of Neurology.

Central Nervous System Idiopathic Inflammatory Demyelinating Disorders in South Americans: A Descriptive, Multicenter, Cross-Sectional Study.

The idiopathic inflammatory demyelinating disease (IIDD) spectrum has been investigated among different populations, and the results have indicated a low relative frequency of neuromyelitis optica (NMO) among multiple sclerosis (MS) cases in whites (1.2%-1.5%), increasing in Mestizos (8%) and Africans (15.

Familial forms of multiple sclerosis and neuromyelitis optica at an MS center in Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil.

Objective: To describe familial forms of demyelinating diseases from an MS referral center in Río de Janeiro State, Brazil.

Methods: A descriptive, cross-sectional study was done to identify familial IIDD cases in Hospital da Lagoa, a public hospital where 75% of patients with IIDD who live in Rio de Janeiro state, located in the Southeast region of Brazil, are referred. The diagnoses of all consecutive patients followed in 2011 were reviewed to apply new diagnostic criteria (Wingerchuk et al.

Fingolimod Prescribed for the Treatment of Multiple Sclerosis in Patients Younger Than Age 18 Years.

Background: There have been no clinical trials for approval of medications for treating multiple sclerosis in patients younger than age 18 years. All treatments are based on personal experience and data from open observational studies. Fingolimod is an oral drug for multiple sclerosis that has been shown to be efficient and safe in adults.

There is still a role for the blink reflex in the diagnosis and follow-up of multiple sclerosis.

Objective: The evolution of the diagnostic criteria for multiple sclerosis (MS) has essentially evolved to clinical manifestations and magnetic resonance imaging. Inexpensive, quick to apply, non-invasive, quantitative and reliable neurophysiological tests are rare in daily practice and absent in clinical trials.

Method: The blink reflex was assessed in 50 patients with remitting-relapsing MS (RRMS) and 100 matched controls.

Postpartum Treatment With Immunoglobulin Does Not Prevent Relapses of Multiple Sclerosis in the Mother.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic, neurological, immune-mediated disease that can worsen in the postpartum period. There is no consensus on the use of immunoglobulin for prevention of disease relapses after delivery. We have shown that the controversial beneficial effect of immunoglobulin given immediately after birth could not be observed in patients with MS.

Does fatigue occur in MS patients without disability?

Background: Motor dysfunction and fatigue are the most common impairments that are associated with multiple sclerosis (MS). Walk tests and scales demonstrate the presence of fatigue in patients with MS with different levels of disability.

Objective: To evaluate objective and subjective fatigue in MS patients without disability.

Long-term effects of exposure to disease-modifying drugs in the offspring of mothers with multiple sclerosis: a retrospective chart review.

Introduction: Multiple sclerosis (MS) mainly affects women of fertile age. To date, the only recommendation for women with MS intending to become pregnant is to stop all treatment. This recommendation reflects the concerns about the effects of disease-modifying drugs (DMDs) on the offspring.

The impact of diagnostic criteria for neuromyelitis optica in patients with MS: a 10-year follow-up of the South Atlantic Project.

Background: It is recognized that there is a particular geographic and ethnic distribution of neuromyelitis optica (NMO) among Caucasian and non-Caucasian populations.

Objective: To review the diagnoses of patients whom were enrolled in the South Atlantic Project, a Brazilian multiple sclerosis (MS) survey performed from 1995-1998, and to identify NMO and MS case frequencies.

Methods: We reviewed the data from a 10-year follow-up of MS patients.

African ancestry is a predictor factor to secondary progression in clinical course of multiple sclerosis.

Background. Studies on the clinical course of multiple sclerosis have indicated that certain initial clinical factors are predictive of disease progression. Regions with a low prevalence for disease, which have environmental and genetic factors that differ from areas of high prevalence, lack studies on the progressive course and disabling characteristics of the disease.

Is it useful to perform carbon monoxide diffusion capacity and respiratory muscle function tests in patients with multiple sclerosis without disability?

Background And Objective: Impairment of respiratory function has been described in end-stage multiple sclerosis (MS), as well as in patients with mild to severe disability. No data are available regarding the respiratory function of MS patients without disability. The objective of this study was to assess the pulmonary function, respiratory muscle strength and carbon monoxide diffusion capacity of the lungs (DL(CO)) in patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) without disability.

Differences in the progression of primary progressive multiple sclerosis in Brazilians of African descent versus white Brazilian patients.

Recent studies have suggested faster clinical progression and greater disability in multiple sclerosis patients of African descent. This study analysed the effect of ethnicity on progression and disability. Sixty-five patients with primary progressive multiple sclerosis were selected and classified as being of African descent or white.

The clinical course of idiopathic acute transverse myelitis in patients from Rio de Janeiro.

The aim of this study was to describe the demographic, clinical and laboratory features of idiopathic acute transverse myelitis (IATM). Patients with non-compressive ATM receiving care at Hospital da Lagoa, Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) between 2000 and 2008 were selected. Of the 70 cases of acute myelopathies, the idiopathic form was identified in 41 following exclusion of the cases associated with systemic lupus erythematosus (n = 1), Sjogren's syndrome (n = 1), herpes zoster (n = 1), cytomegalovirus in an HIV-positive patient (n = 1), Schistosoma mansoni (n = 1), actinic myelitis (n = 1), infectious myelitis of unknown etiology (n = 2) and those that, following the first attack of myelitis, converted to NMO (n = 19) or to clinically defined MS (n = 2).

Diffusion tensor MR imaging evaluation of the corpus callosum of patients with multiple sclerosis.

Objective: To evaluate the fractional anisotropy (FA) values of the normal-appearing white matter of the corpus callosum (CC) in patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (MS).

Method: Fifty-seven patients with diagnosis of relapsing-remitting MS and 47 age- and gender-matched controls were studied. A conventional MR imaging protocol and a DTI sequence were performed.

The reliability of specific primary progressive MS criteria in an ethnically diverse population.

Unlabelled: Three different diagnostic criteria for primary progressive MS were recently proposed for Caucasian population of Western European region.

Objective: The objective of the study was to apply these criteria to a series of Brazilian patients with high ethnic diversity background to evaluate reproducibility and reliability.

Methods: 52 patients classified as form of the disease that is progressive from onset and followed between 2000 and 2006 were included.