Ever hear of magnetic resonance spectroscopy? It has been around for some time now, at least as long as I’ve been in MS research. Its only current clinical use is in distinguishing brain tumours from potential mimics. But, there has been great interest for this imaging technology in neurodegenerative conditions including MS and Alzheimer’s disease. In this new publication in Science...
Pain quotidien: lesion detection algorithms as an add-on treatment?
In the MS field, the equivalent of humanoid robots are computer algorithms aimed at replacing the expert eye of radiologists. To assess whether new lesions are present on a follow-up MRI, a radiologist needs to compare your previous brain scan with the current one ‘slice-by-slice’. This sounds more straightforward than it is. Especially if scans are not performed on the same scanner...
Loneliness and MS: Could e-health be a Solution?
By Rachel Horne For people with multiple sclerosis, we know this much is true. Dealing with the physical side of the disease is just one part of the struggle. Feeling alone is another. Not only are people with MS significantly more prone to loneliness compared to the general population, but strong evidence shows it also puts our brain health and overall health at risk. It can lead to depression...
Brain resilience correlates with cognitive performance in MS
What causes cognitive issues in MS? Not a straightforward question to answer. It has been postulated that there is a global cognitive dysfunction in MS largely due to connectivity issues (for example, thalamic grey matter volume loss and also lobar connectivity due to interruptions by MS lesions), but also secondary to cortical MS lesions. What is unknown is the resilience of the whole system and...
Don’t be a technophobe – virtual reality therapy for Fatigue
As darkness falls on the Northern Hemisphere, fatigue, depression and anxiety creep upon the population. For those with MS these symptoms can become unmanageable during this period. Fatigue on average affects 75% of individuals with MS, and affects both physical and mental quality of life. Quality of life is an intangible barometer of well-being with a number of influences that adversely or...
MS lesions that smoulder
Iron Rims image from Frontiers The characteristic feature of is multi-focal inflammatory activity; an infiltration of immune cells leading to loss of myelin and axons within these areas creating the appearance of round lesions. The natural evolution of these lesions like any area of injury in the rest of the body and shrink to a certain degree overtime. A fraction, however, continue to smoulder...
MS Vaccine
The development of COVID-19 and the rapid way that RNA vaccines have been developed means that you have a rapid way of developing vaccines against your viruses of choice. So which virus do you want to get rid off…The ones that cause warts Hope this doesn’t put you off your rice crispies this morning:-) Epstein Barr Virus? Well ProfGs wish is their command, maybe he can convince them...
If you have the Lumper’s you get the Splitters too. Can imaging spot the progressors
Diagnosis of Progressive Multiple Sclerosis From the Imaging PerspectiveA ReviewFilippi et al. JAMA Neurol 2020. doi:10.1001/jamaneurol.2020.4689 Importance Although magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is useful for monitoring disease dissemination in space and over time and excluding multiple sclerosis (MS) mimics, there has been less application of MRI to progressive MS, including...
Anti-drug antibody awareness: HCP survey
Hello, my name is Farhana and I am a third year Biomedical Sciences student at Queen Mary University of London. I was born and brought up in Rome and moved to the UK when I was 12 where I completed my GCSE and A-Levels. After completing my degree, I am hoping to study medicine and become a doctor specialising in neuroscience or paediatrics. I am hoping work around the world as my ambition to...
Optic Neuritis App Development survey
Hello, my name is David and I’m a final year Biomedical Science student at Queen Mary University of London. I was born in Lagos, Nigeria and brought up in Middlesbrough, located in the north east of England. After my current degree I hope to study medicine and specialise as an ophthalmologist. My interest in ophthalmology grew as a result of my part time work at King’s College Hospital’s...