The role of disease modifying therapies in late-onset multiple sclerosis: A Portuguese multicentric characterization study.

Introduction: Knowledge about the effect of disease modifying treatment (DMT) in late-onset multiple sclerosis (LOMS, onset ≥50 years-old) is scarce. This study aims to evaluate the association between DMT use and multiple sclerosis (MS) evolution in a LOMS cohort.

Methods: This multicentre, retrospective and observational study included LOMS patients with ≥2 years of follow-up.

Unlocking the potential of low-molecular-weight (Poly)phenol metabolites: Protectors at the blood-brain barrier frontier.

Neurodegenerative diseases (NDDs) are an increasing group of chronic and progressive neurological disorders that ultimately lead to neuronal cell failure and death. Despite all efforts throughout decades, their burden on individuals and society still casts one of the most massive socioeconomic problems worldwide. The neuronal failure observed in NDDs results from an intricacy of events, mirroring disease complexity, ranging from protein aggregation, oxidative stress, (neuro)inflammation, and even blood-brain barrier (BBB) dysfunction, ultimately leading to cognitive and motor symptoms in patients.

Posterior semicircular canal cupulolithiasis during acute pontomedullary demyelination.

Positional vertigo poses a diagnostic challenge in people with multiple sclerosis (MS). The characteristics of positional nystagmus and its response to repositioning manoeuvres are usually sufficient to diagnose benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV). However, certain BPPV variants respond poorly to repositioning manoeuvres and their nystagmus pattern can resemble that of central positional vertigo caused by infratentorial demyelination.

Privacy and data protection in the surveillance society: The case of the Prüm system.

The simultaneous localisation and globalisation of 'terrorist threats' and cross-border criminality have led to increased expansion of surveillance activities and greater cross-border police and judicial cooperation, placing a greater priority on these activities within the political agenda of the EU. In this scenario, the expansion of technological systems for surveillance and monitoring, and the large-scale exchange of citizens' personal data play a pivotal role in the "fight against crime". This paper explores the multiplicity of data protection regimes in different EU Member States within the framework of the Prüm system.

X-chromosome STR markers data in a Cabo Verde immigrant population of Lisboa.

Population genetic data of 12 X chromosomal short tandem repeats markers (DXS10074, DXS10079, DXS10101, DXS10103, DXS10134, DXS10135, DXS10146, DXS10148, DXS7132, DXS7423, DXS8378 and HPRTB) were analysed in 54 females and 95 males of an immigrant population from Cabo Verde living in Lisboa. The obtained results for forensic statistical parameters such as observed heterozigosity, polymorphism information content, power of discrimination and mean exclusion chance, based on single allele frequencies, reveal that this multiplex system is highly informative and can represent an important tool for genetic identification purposes in the immigrant population of Cabo Verde. Since the studied short tandem repeats genetic markers are distributed on four linkage groups, that can provide independent genotype information, we studied those groups as haploytes.

Cyclodextrin-Based Ionic Liquids as Enantioselective Stationary Phases in Gas Chromatography.

New permethylated mono-6-deoxy-6-pyridin-1-ium and mono-6-deoxy-6-(1-vinyl-1H-imidazol-3-ium)-α- and -β-cyclodextrin trifluoromethanesulfonate ionic liquids were synthesized from the corresponding permethylated mono-6-hydroxycyclodextrins in a one-pot reaction and solvent-free procedure. Regioselective transformation of native α- and β-cyclodextrins with the use of a bulky tert-butyldiphenylsilyl protecting group afforded the desired 6-monosubstituted permethylated cyclodextrin derivatives in moderate yields. The new ionic liquids were tested as stationary phases in capillary GC columns towards chiral discrimination in enantio-GC analysis of racemic mixtures.