Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination for young females has been promoted as an important public health initiative to reduce the risk of cervical cancer in later life. However, some have questioned whether HPV vaccination promotes autoimmunity. This issue is especially relevant for patients with pre-existing autoimmune disorders, who may be at increased risk of persistent HPV infection and cervical dysplasia (Feldman & Kim. Expert Rev Vaccines 2014; Jun 17:1-4). Read More
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From Framingham to Facebook: the contagion of controversy
April 1, 2015Facebook has recently come under fire for conducting an experiment described as “massive-scale” emotional contagion in the social network. While the idea that Facebook views friends as guinea pigs may be unnerving to some, the controversy has centred on the fact that neither Facebook nor researchers from Cornell University obtained informed consent from the study subjects.
The study results were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences despite a lack of institutional review board (IRB) approval (Kramer et al. PNAS USA 2014;111:8788-8790; free full text at www.pnas.org/content/111/24/8788.full.pdf). Read More
Optimizing patient assessment in MS: NEDA and beyond
March 12, 2015
Treatment optimization and combining metrics
NEDA – new approach
NeuroSens Survey: How do you assess treatment response in practice?
The proliferation of disease-modifying therapies (DMT) in multiple sclerosis has focused attention on the need for improved measures for evaluating treatment efficacy and response. In part, this is driven by the increasing difficulty of detecting a treatment effect in clinical trials of early MS patients with minimal disease activity, as well as the need to differentiate DMTs with respect to their varying effects on clinical and radiological endpoints. In clinical practice, identifying suboptimal responders is a matter of some urgency since therapies are more likely to provide benefit in the first 2-5 years after diagnosis of CIS/MS. An early treatment effect may be the only effect, so it is important to optimize the drug regimen before the window of opportunity for effective intervention is shuttered. Read More
NEUROSOUND: CHARCOT 2014 HIGHLIGHTS
February 11, 2015Dr. Daniel Selchen, Head of the Division of Neurology at the University of Toronto, hosts a discussion of highlights from the ECF meeting that was held last November 19-22, 2014 in Baveno, Italy. Read More