Assessing the Impact of IL-6 and Serotonin on Pain and Symptomatology in Fibromyalgia: An Exploratory Clinical Study.

Background And Objectives: Fibromyalgia (FM) is a chronic musculoskeletal pain syndrome characterized by widespread pain and a variety of other symptoms, including fatigue, cognitive dysfunction, and sleep disturbances. Recent research has highlighted the potential role of pro-inflammatory cytokines and neurotransmitters in the pathophysiology of FM. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between serum levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6) and serotonin with the clinical parameters observed in patients with fibromyalgia.

Cognitive Complaints Assessment and Neuropsychiatric Disorders After Mild COVID-19 Infection.

Objectives: This study aimed to analyze cognitive impairment associated with long-term coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) syndrome and its correlation with anxiety, depression, and fatigue in patients infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional study of 127 patients with COVID-19. Tests to screen for neuropsychiatric symptoms included the Fatigue Severity Scale, Mini-Mental State Exam 2 (MMSE-2), Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT), and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale.

Optic neuritis in Asian type opticospinal multiple sclerosis (OSMS-ON) in a non-Asian population: A functional-structural paradox.

Background: Biomarkers have improved the classification of autoimmune inflammatory disorders, including optic neuritis (ON) as a frequent presentation of multiple sclerosis, neuromyelitis spectrum disorders, MOG antibody-related disease (MOGAD), and opticospinal multiple sclerosis (OSMS). The phenotype of OSMS in non-Asian populations is less well known.

Objective: We investigated the clinical features and prognosis of OSMS-ON in a Brazilian cohort.

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.

CLINICAL course of acute disseminated encephalomyelitis in adults from Rio de Janeiro: Retrospective study of 23 cases and literature review.

Background: Acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM) is a rare inflammatory demyelinating disorder. Most studies involve white children in developed countries in the northern hemisphere. The authors aimed to describe the clinical course and prognostic of a cohort of adult patients with ADEM from Rio de Janeiro city, where most of the population is Afro-descendant.

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.

Author Correction: A systematic literature review on the European, African and Amerindian genetic ancestry components on Brazilian health outcomes.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

Neuromyelitis optica and pregnancy-puerperal cycle.

Introduction: Since neuromyelitis optic is a disease associated with humoral immunity (Th2), it is speculated that the pregnancy period is associated with increased relapses of the disease, as well as the presence of aquaporin 4 in the placental tissue, could lead to gestational loss. The aim of this study is to evaluate the influence of the puerperal pregnancy cycle on the course of NMO.

Methods: Interviewed women with gestation after diagnosis of optic neuromyelitis and submitted to questionnaires with data on the disease, such as annualized rate of relapses and EDSS score before, during and after gestation.

A systematic literature review on the European, African and Amerindian genetic ancestry components on Brazilian health outcomes.

The variables such as race, skin colour and ethnicity have become intensely discussed in medicine research, as a response to the rising debate over the importance of the ethnic-racial dimension in the scope of health-disease processes. The aim of this study was to identify the European (EUR), African (AFR) and Amerindian (AMR) ancestries on Brazilian health outcomes through a systematic literature review. This study was carried out by searching in three electronic databases, for studies published between 2005 and 2017.

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.

Benign multiple sclerosis: aspects of cognition and neuroimaging.

The existence of a benign multiple sclerosis (BMS) form is a controversial subject. Recent studies of these patients reveal different levels of cognitive impairment, despite the apparent preservation of motor function. The objective of this study was to review and analyze a number of publications that discuss the general aspects of this disease form, such as the definition criteria, prevalence, and clinical and neuroimaging markers.

Malignant multiple sclerosis: clinical and demographic prognostic factors.

Patients with malignant multiple sclerosis (MMS) reach a significant level of disability within a short period of time (Expanded Disability Status Scale score of 6 within five years). The clinical profile and progression of the disease were analyzed in a Brazilian cohort of 293 patients. Twenty-five (8,53%) patients were found to have MMS and were compared with the remaining 268 (91,47%).

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.

Fatigue favors in vitro Th1 and Th17-like cell expansion and reduces corticoid sensitivity in MS patients.

Fatigue is a common "ghost" symptom in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), an autoimmune disease mediated by T cells that target myelin antigens of the central nervous system. As fatigue has been associated with inflammatory states, its occurrence may negatively impact MS progression. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of fatigue on the cytokine profile of patients with relapsing-remitting (RR) MS.

Disability and progression in Afro-descendant patients with multiple sclerosis.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) prevalence is higher in Caucasian (CA) populations, narrowing the analysis of the impact of Afro-descendant (AD) populations in disease outcomes. Even so, recent studies observed that AD patients have a more severe course. The main objective of this study is to confirm and discuss, through a systematic review, that being AD is a risk factor for disability accumulation and/or severe progression in patients with MS.

Prognostic factors associated with long-term disability and secondary progression in patients with Multiple Sclerosis.

Background: Predicting the long-term prognosis of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) remains an uncertain and difficult task, with most data having been obtained exclusively from Caucasian cohorts.

Objective: To investigate clinical prognostic factors in a Brazilian mixed-race cohort.

Methods: Demographic, clinical and therapeutic factors were investigated in 303 patients with relapsing-remitting MS in relation to the following outcomes: time until reaching Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) 3 and EDSS 6, and until secondary progression.

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.

Combined exercise training reduces fatigue and modulates the cytokine profile of T-cells from multiple sclerosis patients in response to neuromediators.

Fatigue is a common and disabling symptom of multiple sclerosis (MS), a classical Th1- and Th17-mediated autoimmune disease. There is no effective pharmacological treatment for fatigue, but some reports point towards beneficial effects of physical activity on management of the fatigue in MS patients. As both MS and fatigue have been associated with dysregulated cytokine network production, the objective of the present study was to evaluate the impact of a physical activity program consisting of a 12-week series of combining Pilates and aerobic exercises on fatigue severity, determined by FSS, and cytokine production, quantified by ELISA, by T cells from MS patients (n=08) with low disability (EDSS≤2).

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.