Massimo Filippi

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..To compare the efficacy, tolerability, and safety of IV methylprednisolone (IV MP) vs oral methylprednisolone (oMP) at equivalent high doses in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) experiencing a recent relapse...

..This multiparametric magnetic resonance study of a patient with an early diagnosis of subacute combined degeneration suggests that demyelination alone does not necessarily induce adaptive functional changes of the cerebral cortex...

..Combining regional measures derived from different MR modalities may be a valuable tool to improve our understanding of PPMS pathophysiology...

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..MRI assessment of topographical distribution of tissue damage may represent a rewarding strategy for understanding the subtle clinical deficits of patients with BMS...

..The less prominent involvement of the frontal lobe WM and of the NAWM in general in BMS might be associated to their favorable clinical status...

..This study shows that, in patients with MS, following injury of the motor pathways, there is an increased recruitment of a widespread sensorimotor network, which is likely to contribute to limit the appearance of overt clinical deficits...

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..Then bilateral activation of these regions is seen, and late in the disease course, areas that healthy people recruit to do novel or complex tasks are activated...

..001). This study shows that MT MRI-detectable damage to NAWM and NAGM may not be an important feature of all patients at presentation with a CIS highly suggestive of MS and that such a damage may develop with subsequent disease evolution...

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..An abnormal recruitment of the fronto-thalamic circuitry is associated with IFNbeta-1a-induced fatigue in MS patients...

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..To define the extent of overall brain damage in patients with clinically isolated syndromes (CIS) suggestive of multiple sclerosis (MS) and to identify non-conventional magnetic resonance (MR) metrics predictive of evolution to definite MS...

..This suggests that the increased functional recruitment of the cortex in these patients might have an adaptive role in limiting the clinical impact of irreversible tissue damage...

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..Such changes do not reflect a concomitant development of brain atrophy and confirm the importance of GM pathology in MS...

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..We evaluated clinical and conventional MRI features of a large population of patients with non-disabling MS to identify potential markers of a benign disease course...

..To investigate whether cognitive impairment in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients is associated to different patterns of gray matter (GM) atrophy and T2-visible lesion distribution according to the clinical phenotype...

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..Evidence is accumulating that indicates that a selected assessment of gray matter (GM) damage is able to provide strong paraclinical correlates of multiple sclerosis (MS) severity...

..These data confirm the need to develop clinical and MRI measures more sensitive towards the more disabling aspects of the disease...

..56. This study shows that more severe CST DT MRI abnormalities predict a poorer long-term clinical outcome in ALS patients. DT MRI of the brain has the potential to offer in vivo markers of disease severity...

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..22, p=0.04) as independent correlates of age (r2=0.76). Cervical cord is vulnerable to aging. The decrease of FA, in the absence of atrophy and MD changes, suggests gliosis as the most likely pathological feature of the aging cord...

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..Such changes are correlated with the structural damage to the white matter fiber bundles connecting these regions...

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..It also suggests that, in these patients, functional abilities are sustained by increased recruitment of highly specialized cortical areas...

..These observations suggest that progressive NAGM damage might yet be an additional factor leading to the accumulation of disability in progressive MS...

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..In this review we will report on the conclusions of this international consensus, which should represent a first step beyond the concept of "no better explanation", and inform future diagnostic criteria for multiple sclerosis...

..The effectiveness of the method was then tested on data from five patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) and two patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)...

..They further suggest that multicentre fMRI studies of FC changes are possible, and provide a potential imaging biomarker for use in experimental therapeutic studies directed at enhancing adaptive plasticity in the disease...

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..42; p = 0.02). In CIS patients, deep GM is not spared, suggesting that iron-related changes and neurodegeneration occurs early. The magnitude of such damage is only minor and not associated with an increased risk of evolution to CDMS...

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..Cognitive deficits affect <or=30% of patients with PPMS. We investigated the functional correlates of cognitive network dysfunction in patients with PPMS and their correlation with the extent of structural MR imaging damage...

..Although histopathology was not available, axonal and neuronal damage and consequent reactive glial proliferation are the most likely substrates of the changes observed...

..To generate and validate a composite (clinical and MRI-based) score able to identify individual patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) with a high risk of experiencing relapses in the short term...

..To assess the effect on diffusion tensor (DT) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of acquiring data with different scanners...

..The scheme applied during the learning phase influences the pattern of such structural changes...

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..80, P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that functional cortical changes occur in patients with migraine and brain MRI abnormalities and that they might be secondary to the extent of subcortical structural damage...

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..Local synaptic reorganization, recruitment of parallel existing pathways, and reorganization of distant sites are all likely to contribute to the observed functional changes. Hum. Brain Mapping 21:106-115, 2004...

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..This holds significant promise for a better planning and conduct of studies of people with diseased spinal cords...

..In addition to the relative difficulty of the movement, the different cognitive and sensorial loads needed to control and perform the motor act might be responsible for these findings...

..This study also suggests that GM damage is one of the key factors associated with disability accumulation in this 'white matter' condition...

..Sequence-related variability of measurements makes the standardization of MT MRI acquisition essential for the design of multicentre studies...

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..To evaluate the safety, tolerability, and efficacy of glatiramer acetate (GA) 40 mg compared to a 20mg dose...

..In MS patients, the over-recruitment of the ipsilateral posterior cervical cord associated to a reduced functional lateralization suggests an abnormal function of the spinal relay interneurons...

..These preliminary results suggest that structural GM pathology is not a major contributing factor to the development of fatigue in patients with MS...

..The steady correlation observed between conventional and MT MRI measures over time supports the hypothesis of axonal degeneration of fibres passing through focal lesions as one of the factors contributing to the overall MS burden...

..These data may be relevant to select patients for future exploratory phase II trials...

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..We used functional MRI (fMRI) to investigate the properties of the MNS in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS)...

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..These findings suggest the absence of intrinsic structural damage of the cervical cord soon after the onset of CIS suggestive of MS, even in those patients with an early evolution to MS...

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..MS cord pathology also seems to be independent of concomitant brain changes, to develop at different rates according to disease phenotype, and to be associated to medium-term disability accrual...

..An earlier initiation of GA treatment in patients with active RRMS might, at least partially, have a favourable impact on long-term disease evolution...

..It also suggests that in these patients GM is spared by the disease process and that NAWM changes are likely to be secondary to Wallerian degeneration of fibers passing through macroscopic lesions...

..As shown by the analysis of data from a clinical trial of glatiramer acetate, the use of SIENA increases the study power to detect a treatment effect on brain volume changes in MS patients...

..Such cord diffusivity changes in patients with PPMS are likely to reflect irreversible axonal injury and reactive gliosis and seem to be independent of brain damage...

..008) and average fractional anisotropy (p = 0.04). There was a correlation between the Expanded Standard Disability Status Scale score and cord average mean diffusivity (r = 0.52, p = 0.02)...

..We evaluated the presence and frequency of CLs in pediatric patients with relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS) in comparison to adult patients with MS with the same clinical phenotype...

..In addition, the results of correlative MRI/neuropsychology studies underpin the need for a new definition of BMS, which should consider the maintenance of a normal cognitive profile as an additional criterion...

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..Future improvements, including the development of new sequences and post-processing methods as well as the use of high-field MRI, despite being a major technical challenge, hold new and exciting promise...

..These results suggest that empathy toward non conspecifics has different neural representation among individuals with different feeding habits, perhaps reflecting different motivational factors and beliefs...

..This research endeavor holds a great promise in clarifying the mechanisms of cognitive decline in complex chronic neurodegenerative disorders...

..It also suggests that GA efficacy is not significantly influenced by the patients' clinical characteristics at the time of treatment initiation...

..The utility of these modern MR techniques in clinical trial monitoring and in the assessment of the individual patient's response to treatment still need to be evaluated...

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..It also suggests that increased recruitment of this cortical network contributes to the limitation of the functional impact of white matter multiple sclerosis injury...

..This review summarizes novel MRI approaches for the investigation of lesion burden and understanding of the pathophysiology of multiple sclerosis (MS)...

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..More recently, it has been suggested that the different forms of headache/migraine might have specific functional and structural MRI correlates, which, in the future, is likely to result in new therapeutic scenarios...

..To verify the existence of a symptomatic form of restless legs syndrome (RLS) secondary to multiple sclerosis (MS) and to identify possible associated risk factors...

..MT-MRI also has the potential to contribute to the diagnostic evaluation of several neurological conditions and to improve our ability to monitor treatment efficacy in experimental trials...

..This is central for identifying novel and effective treatment strategies...

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..Magnetization transfer magnetic resonance imaging (MT MRI) can provide in vivo markers reflecting the severity of multiple sclerosis-related brain damage occurring within and outside T2-visible lesions...

..We aimed to assess whether this drug can also reduce the rate of brain volume decrease in such patients enrolled in the ETOMS (early treatment of multiple sclerosis) trial...

..Both of these steps are central to the design of future treatment strategies aimed at limiting the functional consequences of the most disabling aspects of this disease...