Brief International Cognitive Assessment for Multiple Sclerosis (BICAMS): discrete and regression-based norms for the Brazilian context.

Background: The Brief International Cognitive Assessment for Multiple Sclerosis (BICAMS) has been recently developed as a brief, practical, and feasible tool for cognitive impairment in multiple sclerosis (MS).

Objective: This study aimed to provide continuous and discrete normative values for the BICAMS in the Brazilian context.

Methods: Normatization was achieved using six hundred and one healthy controls from the community assessed at five Brazilian geopolitical regions.

Early alcohol use with parental permission: Psychosocial characteristics and drinking in late adolescence.

The earliest experiences with alcohol for many children occur in the family context with parental supervision. The current study examined individual and sociocultural characteristics associated with early (prior to age 13years) sipping and tasting alcohol with parental permission in two longitudinal community samples. Early sipping/tasting was also tested as a predictor of frequency and quantity of alcohol use, and alcohol-related problems seven years later in late adolescence.

Latent profile analysis of regression-based norms demonstrates relationship of compounding MS symptom burden and negative work events.

Objective: We endeavored to clarify how distinct co-occurring symptoms relate to the presence of negative work events in employed multiple sclerosis (MS) patients. Latent profile analysis (LPA) was utilized to elucidate common disability patterns by isolating patient subpopulations.

Method: Samples of 272 employed MS patients and 209 healthy controls (HC) were administered neuroperformance tests of ambulation, hand dexterity, processing speed, and memory.

Benchmarks of meaningful impairment on the MSFC and BICAMS.

Background: Cognitive and motor abilities in multiple sclerosis (MS) are typically quantified using reliable, consensus standard tests validated in the MS population. While these performance measures are associated with vocational disability in parametric analyses, translation of raw scores into anchors reflecting clinically relevant, functional impairment requires further research.

Objective: To examine performance-based motor and cognitive outcomes among definitive anchors that designate varying degrees of functional impairment, thereby establishing benchmarks for score interpretation.

Cross-cultural Adaptation, Reliability, and Validity of the BICAMS in Brazil.

Objective: To investigate the reliability and validity of a Brazilian-Portuguese adaptation of the Brief International Cognitive Assessment for Multiple Sclerosis (BICAMS).

Method: A Brazilian sample of 58 multiple sclerosis (MS) patients and 58 healthy controls (HC) were administered the Brazilian-Portuguese BICAMS test battery, comprising the Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT), California Verbal Learning Test Second Edition (CVLT2), and the Brief Visuospatial Memory Test Revised (BVMTR). Mean differences between groups on BICAMS tests were assessed using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA), controlling for age, gender, education, anxiety, and depression.

Identifying employed multiple sclerosis patients at-risk for job loss: When do negative work events pose a threat?

Background: Physical disability and cognitive impairment are significant predictors of unemployment in multiple sclerosis (MS). However, little is known about the frequency of work problems in employed patients, in comparison to employed healthy persons.

Objective: Use an online monitoring tool to compare the frequency of negative work events in MS patients and healthy controls, and determine a threshold at which the frequency of work problems is clinically meaningful.

Negative work events reported online precede job loss in multiple sclerosis.

Purpose: Determine if a recently validated online survey of negative work events can predict future job loss among multiple sclerosis (MS) patients.

Method: Evaluated were 284 employed individuals (63 healthy controls, 221 MS patients), every three months, using an online vocational monitoring tool. Job loss rates in MS patients were compared with the healthy controls.

An ecological study of food desert prevalence and 4th grade academic achievement in new york state school districts.

Background: This ecological study examines the relationship between food desert prevalence and academic achievement at the school district level.

Design And Methods: Sample included 232 suburban and urban school districts in New York State. Multiple open-source databases were merged to obtain: 4(th) grade science, English and math scores, school district demographic composition (NYS Report Card), regional socioeconomic indicators (American Community Survey), school district quality (US Common Core of Data), and food desert data (USDA Food Desert Atlas).

Disclosure of disease status among employed multiple sclerosis patients: association with negative work events and accommodations.

Background: Unemployment is common in multiple sclerosis (MS) and detrimental to quality of life. Studies suggest disclosure of diagnosis is an adaptive strategy for patients. However, the role of cognitive deficits and psychiatric symptoms in disclosure are not well studied.