Lancet neurology
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
Assessment of a home-based standing frame programme in people with progressive multiple sclerosis (SUMS): a pragmatic, multi-centre, randomised, controlled trial and cost-effectiveness analysis.
People severely impaired with progressive multiple sclerosis spend much of their day sitting, with very few options to improve motor function. As a result, secondary physical and psychosocial complications can occur. Effective and feasible self-management strategies are needed to reduce sedentary behaviour and enhance motor function. In this study, we aimed to assess the clinical and cost effectiveness of a home-based, self-managed, standing frame programme. ⋯ UK National Institute of Health Research.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Safety and efficacy of epigallocatechin gallate in multiple system atrophy (PROMESA): a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.
Multiple system atrophy is a rare neurodegenerative disease characterised by aggregation of α-synuclein in oligodendrocytes and neurons. The polyphenol epigallocatechin gallate inhibits α-synuclein aggregation and reduces associated toxicity. We aimed to establish if epigallocatechin gallate could safely slow disease progression in patients with multiple system atrophy. ⋯ ParkinsonFonds Deutschland, German Parkinson Society, German Neurology Foundation, Lüneburg Foundation, Bischof Dr Karl Golser Foundation, and Dr Arthur Arnstein Foundation.
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Although prenatal alcohol exposure causes craniofacial anomalies, growth retardation, neurological abnormalities, cognitive impairment, and birth defects, fetal alcohol spectrum disorder is underdiagnosed. Global prevalence of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder is 0·77%, with a higher prevalence of 2-5% in Europe and North America, highlighting the need for increased diagnosis and treatment. However, diagnosis remains challenging because of the poor reliability of self-reported maternal drinking histories, an absence of sensitive biomarkers, and the infrequency of diagnostic dysmorphic facial features among individuals with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. ⋯ Neuroimaging shows abnormalities in brain structure, cortical development, white matter microstructure, and functional connectivity in individuals with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. These abnormalities modify developmental trajectories and are associated with deficits in cognition, executive function, memory, vision, hearing, motor skills, behaviour, and social adaptation. Promising trials of nutritional interventions and cognitive rehabilitation therapies are underway, with the aim of treating cognitive deficits in fetal alcohol spectrum disorders.