The brief international cognitive assessment for multiple sclerosis (BICAMS): Normative values with gender, age and education corrections in the Italian population

Background: BICAMS (Brief International Cognitive Assessment for Multiple Sclerosis) has been recently developed as brief, practical and universal assessment tool for cognitive impairment in MS subjects. It includes the Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT), the California Verbal Learning Test-2 (CVLT2) and the Brief Visuospatial Memory Test-Revised (BVMT-R) . In this study we aimed at gathering regression based normative data for the BICAMS battery in the Italian population.Methods: Healthy subjects were consecutively recruited among patient friends and relatives. Corrections for demographics were calculated using multivariable linear regression models. Test-retest reliability was assessed using the Pearson correlation coefficient.Results: The BICAMS battery was administered to 273 healthy subjects (180 women, mean age 38.9 ± 13.0 years, mean education 14.9 ± 3.0 years). Test-retest reliability was good for all the tests.Conclusions: The study provided normative data of the BICAMS for the Italian population confirming good test-retest reliability which can facilitate the use of the battery in clinical practice, also for longitudinal patient assessments

Monitoraggio intensivo degli antipsicotici atipici nel trattamento off-label dei sintomi psicotici e comportamentali dei soggetti anziani affetti da demenza non istituzionalizzati presso i tre P.O. di Lanciano, Atessa e Casoli

Intensive monitoring health programme of the atypical antipsychotics in off•label treatment of the psychotic and behavioural dementia' symptoms of the elderly not institutionalized patient

Long-term efficacy and tolerability of natalizumab treatment in multiple sclerosis patients: a multicentre experience

none15nononeR. Totaro; A. Lugaresi; P. Bellantonio; M. Danni; G. Costantino; C. Gasperini; C. Florio; E. Pucci; M. Maddestra; D. Spitaleri; G. Lus; B. Ardito; D. Farina; M. Rossi; A. Carolei on behalf of the Tysabri Study GroupR. Totaro; A. Lugaresi; P. Bellantonio; M. Danni; G. Costantino; C. Gasperini; C. Florio; E. Pucci; M. Maddestra; D. Spitaleri; G. Lus; B. Ardito; D. Farina; M. Rossi; A. Carolei on behalf of the Tysabri Study Grou

Natalizumab Treatment in Multiple Sclerosis Patients: A Multicenter Experience in Clinical Practice in Italy

We evaluated efficacy of natalizumab in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis patients in a clinical practice setting. We report data on the first consecutive 343 patients receiving natalizumab in 12 multiple sclerosis (MS) Italian centers enrolled between April 2007 and November 2010. The main efficacy endpoints were the proportion of patients free from relapses, disease progression, combined clinical activity, defined as presence of relapse or disease progression, from MRI activity, and from any disease activity defined as the absence of any single or combined activity. At the end of follow-up, the cumulative proportion of patients free from relapses was 68%; the proportion of patients free from Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) progression was 93%; the proportion of patients free from combined clinical activity was 65%; the proportion of patients free from MRI activity was 77%; and the proportion of patients free from any disease activity was 53%. Natalizumab was effective in reducing clinical and neuroradiological disease activity. Its effectiveness in clinical practice is higher than that reported in pivotal trials and was maintained over time

A comparison of the brief international cognitive assessment for multiple sclerosis and the brief repeatable battery in multiple sclerosis patients

Recently, a Brief International Cognitive Assessment for Multiple Sclerosis (BICAMS) has been developed as an international and standardized brief cognitive test, which is easily performed in everyday clinical practice for neuropsychological assessment in multiple sclerosis (MS). However, we need to gather more information about this tool compared to other neuropsychological batteries. The aim of our study is to compare the performance of BICAMS and Brief Repeatable Battery (BRB) in MS subjects

Mid-term outcomes after percutaneous interventions in coronary bifurcations

The optimal treatment of patients undergoing percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI) for lesions located at coronary bifurcations is still debated