Immunological and Clinical Aspects of Multiple Sclerosis : The Proceedings of the XXV Anniversary Symposium of the Belgian Research Group for Multiple Sclerosis

Looking back is a luxury for which scientists normally have little time. This XXV Anniversary Symposium, however, gives the opportunity of reminding us that in Belgium, where the risk of developing multiple sclerosis is among the highest in the world, a great man to whom we all pay tribute, I mean Dr Ludo van Bogaert, in 1957, took the initiative in founding the Belgian Research Group for Multiple Sclerosis. It may sound immodest but since that time members of the Belgian Research Group happen to have an honourable record of important contributions to MS research, quite out of proportion to the financial support they received for it. Indeed, when compared to the situation in English speaking countries, funding of MS research has always been neglected in our country in spite of the fact that in 1958, acting on the advice of the Belgian Research Group, the Belgian National MS Society was founded with the specific object of collecting money for research as well as for social care. At that time, the difficulty in raising funds for research was partly due to the fact that solving the problem of MS appeared almost impossible. Scientists could apparently only too slowly improve their ability to prevent and cure the disease. Media were indifferent to MS which was considered to have no news value, and the public remained uninformed. Front Matter....Pages i-xxvi Front Matter....Pages 1-1 Auto-immunity....Pages 3-6 Occurrence of an internal image of measles haemagglutinin in an anti-idiotype immune response....Pages 7-9 Studies on the intrathecal humoral immunity in multiple sclerosis....Pages 10-14 Antibody to viral antigens in multiple sclerosis demonstrated by ELISA method....Pages 15-15 Cerebrospinal fluid antibodies detect brain antigens....Pages 16-19 Immune complexes and the complement factors C4 and C3 in cerebrospinal fluid and serum from patients with multiple sclerosis....Pages 20-22 Characterization of circulating immunocomplexes in multiple sclerosis....Pages 23-23 Immunoelectrophoretic characterization of immune complexes from CSF of multiple sclerosis patients....Pages 24-27 Neurosurgery in the rehabilitation of hyperspasmodic and painful paraplegia in multiple sclerosis. Functional results in selective posterior rhizotomy....Pages 28-28 Immunological aspects of multiple sclerosis....Pages 29-38 Myelin basic protein and its antibodies in the cerebrospinal fluid in experimental allergic encephalomyelitis, multiple sclerosis and other diseases....Pages 39-39 Identification of myelin basic protein (MBP) as an antigenic component of circulating immune complexes (CIC) in MS patients....Pages 40-46 Sensitization of cerebrospinal fluid and peripheral blood lymphocytes to brain glycolipids in multiple sclerosis....Pages 47-54 Interferon production and natural killer (NK) activity in multiple sclerosis....Pages 55-58 α -Albumin in cerebrospinal fluid of patients with multiple sclerosis and other neurological diseases — comparison with other brain specific proteins....Pages 59-62 The Transferrin-Tau ratio of the CSF....Pages 63-69 Auto-antibodies to brain specific proteins....Pages 70-71 The effect of monoclonal anti-T cell antibodies on the clinical course of experimental allergic encephalomyelitis in rats....Pages 72-74 Changes of polymorphonuclear neutral proteinase activity in multiple sclerosis patients before and after plasma exchanges....Pages 75-82 Acid phosphatase activity of cerebrospinal fluid cells in multiple sclerosis and related neurological disorders....Pages 83-87 Front Matter....Pages 1-1 Influence of human allergic encephalitogenic peptide on platelet aggregation in multiple sclerosis....Pages 88-90 The effect of dietary supplementation of enriched marine oil on serum levels of ω -3 and ω -6 polyunsaturated fatty acids in multiple sclerosis....Pages 91-98 Front Matter....Pages 99-99 Immunological treatments in multiple sclerosis....Pages 101-109 Multiple sclerosis incidence material data used in the design of clinical trials....Pages 110-118 Long term treatment with azathioprine in multiple sclerosis patients....Pages 119-124 Long-term immunotherapy in MS....Pages 125-125 Immunosuppression with cyclophosphamide in multiple sclerosis....Pages 126-134 Treatment of progressive multiple sclerosis by the combined application of antilymphocyte serum, azathioprine and prednisone....Pages 135-143 Clinical trials of a synthetic polypeptide (Copolymer I) for the treatment of multiple sclerosis....Pages 144-150 Lympho-plasmapheresis in multiple sclerosis: effect on clinical and immunological parameters....Pages 151-156 Plasmapheresis in multiple sclerosis: cerebrospinal fluid changes after treatment....Pages 157-160 Transfer factor treatment in MS: A 3 year prospective double-blind study (1982–1985)....Pages 161-165 Experiences with immunoglobulin-G infusions in the treatment of acute multiple sclerosis....Pages 166-175 Dietary supplementation with polyunsaturated fatty acids in acute remitting multiple sclerosis....Pages 176-183 Essential fatty acids in the serum and cerebrospinal fluid of multiple sclerosis patients....Pages 184-194 The effect of large dose prednisone therapy on intrathecal IgG production in multiple sclerosis....Pages 195-201 Changes in T-cell subsets according to the course of MS and immunosuppressive treatment....Pages 202-205 T lymphocyte subsets in the CSF in various stages of MS....Pages 206-209 Front Matter....Pages 211-211 Clinical and paraclinical assessment of spinal cord dysfunction....Pages 213-213 Functional testing of the spinal cord....Pages 214-214 Front Matter....Pages 211-211 Increased flexor or reflex and spastic contracture in flexion, mechanisms and management....Pages 215-218 Tizanidine, a new antispastic agent: 6 years clinical experience in 152 MS patients....Pages 219-225 Objective assessment of the myorelaxant properties of tizanidine....Pages 226-226 Is electrical stimulation of the spinal cord useful in MS patients?....Pages 227-233 Front Matter....Pages 235-235 A silica gel radioimmunoassay determination of cerebrospinal fluid myelin basic protein levels of various demyelinating disease syndromes associated with multiple sclerosis....Pages 237-239 T-lymphocyte subpopulations in patients with MS: a study of 84 cases....Pages 240-245 Multiple sclerosis cerebrospinal fluid lymphocytes secretion in vitro : effect on myelinated cultures....Pages 246-249 Isotopic cisternography in multiple sclerosis: possible correlations with disease course....Pages 250-252 Management of acute multiple sclerosis by a long acting intrathecally administered corticosteroid....Pages 253-256 Diagnostic value of α 2 -macroglobulin crossed immunoelectrophoresis in multiple sclerosis....Pages 257-261 The IgG index and the diagnosis of MS: a Bayesian approach....Pages 262-262 Neuro-urological problems in MS: diagnosis and treatment....Pages 263-269 Front Matter....Pages 271-271 Central nervous system involvement in clinically pure optic neuritis (a pilot study in 25 patients)....Pages 273-277 Prognostic value of CSF IgG in monosymptomatic optic neuritis....Pages 278-281 Cerebrospinal fluid findings in isolated optic neuritis compared to multiple sclerosis....Pages 282-291 Ophthalmological manifestations in multiple sclerosis. A statistical review of 1728 cases (1180 confirmed cases)....Pages 292-299 Flight of colours-test in MS and NRB patients....Pages 300-301 The early diagnostic yield of multimodality evoked potentials: a 4.8 year prospective study on 171 patients....Pages 302-308 Effect of heating on VER of multiple sclerosis patients apparently free of optic neuritis....Pages 309-315 Front Matter....Pages 317-317 Multiple sclerosis: a case-control study. A preliminary report....Pages 319-326 Front Matter....Pages 317-317 Numerical classification of multiple sclerosis....Pages 327-332 HLA-determination in twins with multiple sclerosis....Pages 333-336 Multiple sclerosis and myasthenia gravis....Pages 337-341 Intellectual impairment in multiple sclerosis....Pages 342-345 Multiple sclerosis: a conceptual reappraisal....Pages 346-361 A rarely reported multifocal demyelinating disease: pancreatic encephalopathy....Pages 362-362 Plaques, necrotic myelopathy and Rosenthal fibre reaction: glial pathology in MS....Pages 363-363 Comments on MS-compensation in West Germany....Pages 364-366 Multiple sclerosis and CT: a correlative study — preliminary results (43 cases)....Pages 367-367 Multiple sclerosis and CT: a correlative study — preliminary results (39 cases)....Pages 368-372 Multiple sclerosis: some preliminary findings of a neurological and medical-sociological prospective research project....Pages 373-378 Front Matter....Pages 379-379 Measles antibodies, anti-proteinase and plasminogen distribution in serum and plasma from patients affected with multiple sclerosis and patients affected with non-neurological diseases....Pages 381-383 The benign form of multiple sclerosis....Pages 384-386 Optic neuritis: laboratory tests for diagnosis and prognosis for the development of multiple sclerosis....Pages 387-391 Detection of S-100 protein in the cerebrospinal fluid of animals with acute experimental allergic encephalomyelitis....Pages 392-397 Estimation of levels of IgG to multiple sclerosis specific brain antigens in the cerebrospinal fluid of MS patients....Pages 398-398 Increased T-helper cell levels in cerebrospinal fluid....Pages 399-402 Laboratory test for hyperactivity (HA) in children: is childhood HA related to multiple sclerosis?....Pages 403-408 Isoelectric focusing of the CSF gammaglobulins in 2594 patients....Pages 409-409 Modulation of immunity in multiple sclerosis: a double-blind levamisole-placebo controlled study in 85 patients....Pages 410-410 Front Matter....Pages 379-379 Brain antigens detected by cerebrospinal fluid from multiple sclerosis patients....Pages 411-415 Cell-mediated immunity in progressive forms of multiple sclerosis treated by lympho-plasmapheresis....Pages 416-416 Myelin basic protein in cerebrospinal fluid, detected by an enzyme-immunoassay, and its diagnostic value....Pages 417-420 Onset-related values of serotonin, ceruloplasmin and 5-HIAA in patients with MS....Pages 421-421 Visual evoked potentials: a contribution in the assessment of multiple sclerosis....Pages 422-426 Shared antibrain specificities of cerebrospinal fluid and synovial fluid antibodies....Pages 427-431 Eye movement disorders in multiple sclerosis and optic neuritis....Pages 432-432 Do venous refluxes hurt the brain in MS? The fundamental problem....Pages 433-440 Blood-CSF barrier permselectivity and measurement of intrathecal IgG synthesis in multiple sclerosis....Pages 441-447 Azathioprine vs. transfer factor in multiple sclerosis patients: preliminary data....Pages 448-453 Epidemiology of multiple sclerosis in Italy. A further descriptive study in Barbagia, Sardinia....Pages 454-458 Antibrain antibody adsorption on microtitre plates....Pages 459-462 Search for viral nucleic acid sequences in the human central nervous system....Pages 463-469 Ultrastructural study of virus-like particles in an acute case of multiple sclerosis....Pages 470-477 Back Matter....Pages 479-492