MS research update - 14 August 2009
- Smoking increases brain lesions and loss of brain volume in people with MS
- Impaired ability to recognise unpleasant facial expressions amongst people with MS
- Relationships with peers shape adolescent's experiences of MS
Smoking increases brain lesions and loss of brain volume in people with MS
Previous studies have suggested that smoking increases the risk of developing progressive MS. The present study compared the MRI characteristics of 240 never smokers with MS against 128 ever-smokers with MS (currently active and former smokers). Comparisons of MRI investigations revealed a greater number of lesions and loss of brain volume in the smokers compared with the non-smokers. The smokers also exhibited greater levels of physical disability as assessed by EDSS (a disability rating scale that is used to measure impairment in people with MS) than the non-smokers. The study provides further evidence of a link between smoking and the development and worsening of MS.
Zivadinov R, Weinstock-Guttman B, Hashmi K, et al.
Smoking is associated with increased lesion volumes and brain atrophy in multiple sclerosis.
Neurology 2009; 73:504-510.
Medline abstract
Impaired ability to recognise unpleasant facial expressions amongst people with MS
The present study used an advanced form of MRI imaging called functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate a potential link between damage in the specific part of the brain associated with recognizing and processing emotions, and the ability to match different facial expressions with the correct emotional tags. In the preliminary stages of the study, 61 people with MS underwent a facial expression matching test to distinguish those people who had impaired emotional recognition ability. 22 of these participants formed two groups of 11; one group of impaired recognition MS patients and one group of unimpaired recognition MS patients. A group of 11 healthy controls formed the third group. These three groups then underwent fMRI scanning while they performed a facial expression matching exercise. The impaired MS patients had a significantly lower success rate in correctly identifying unpleasant facial expressions compared with the unimpaired group and the group of healthy controls. Interestingly, positive emotional expressions showed no differences between the groups. The scanning data revealed that, in contrast with the other groups, in the impaired recognition group, only those parts of the brain involved in the early processing of emotional faces showed significant activation.
Krause M, Wendt J, Dressel A, et al.
Prefrontal function association with impaired emotion recognition in patients with multiple sclerosis.
Behavioural Brain Research 2009 [Epub ahead of print].
Medline abstract
Relationships with peers shape adolescent's experiences of MS
This article examines the experiences of adolescents with MS and how relationships with peers can shape their adaptation to and experience of MS. The article proposes that adolescents who present with MS undergo a process of grieving for the loss of health that they perceive a diagnosis of MS to entail. The article describes social, emotional and cognitive expressions of grief amongst adolescents with MS and proposes that further research into, and the development of multidisciplinary resources for, this unique patient group is needed.
Thannhauser JE.
Grief-peer dynamics: understanding experiences with pediatric multiple sclerosis.
Qualitative Health Research 2009; 19(6):766-777.
Medline abstract