Unilateral olfactory sensitivity in multiple sclerosis.

It is not known whether lateralized olfactory sensitivity deficits are present in MS. Since projections from the olfactory bulb to the olfactory cortex are largely ipsilateral, and since both functional imaging and psychophysical studies suggest that the right side of the brain may be more involved in olfactory processing than the left, we addressed this issue by administering well-validated tests of odor detection, along with tests of odor identification, to each side of the nose of 73 MS patients and 73 age-, gender-, and race-matched normal controls. We also determined, in 63 of the MS patients, whether correlations were present between the olfactory test measures and MRI-determined lesions in brain regions ipsilateral and contralateral to the nose side that was tested.

Taste dysfunction in multiple sclerosis.

Empirical studies of taste function in multiple sclerosis (MS) are rare. Moreover, a detailed assessment of whether quantitative measures of taste function correlate with the punctate and patchy myelin-related lesions found throughout the CNS of MS patients has not been made. We administered a 96-trial test of sweet (sucrose), sour (citric acid), bitter (caffeine) and salty (NaCl) taste perception to the left and right anterior (CN VII) and posterior (CN IX) tongue regions of 73 MS patients and 73 matched controls.

Imaging in the Age of Precision Medicine: Summary of the Proceedings of the 10th Biannual Symposium of the International Society for Strategic Studies in Radiology.

During the past decade, with its breakthroughs in systems biology, precision medicine (PM) has emerged as a novel health-care paradigm. Challenging reductionism and broad-based approaches in medicine, PM is an approach for disease treatment and prevention that takes into account individual variability in genes, environment, and lifestyle. It involves integrating information from multiple sources in a holistic manner to achieve a definitive diagnosis, focused treatment, and adequate response assessment.

Gray matter in amnestic mild cognitive impairment: voxel-based morphometry.

Multiple regression voxel-based morphometry analyses were used to examine the relationship between regional gray matter volumes and neurocognitive performance in 10 patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment and 20 healthy age-matched controls. Cognitive functioning was assessed with seven standardized neuropsychological tests. Patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment exhibited impaired cognitive performance (on the Mini Mental State Examination, tests of verbal fluency, verbal and spatial learning and memory, and visual-motor abilities) and reduced gray matter volume in the right temporal pole.