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Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic myelin destructive disease which affects central nerves system. CD4+ T cells are a group of adaptive immune system cells that have Pivotal role in immune response against the foreign agents. Th17 (T helper 17) cells are one of the subsets of CD4+ T cells which increased in multiple sclerosis patients. MicroRNAs are single stranded non-coding RNAs that regulate protein expression by targeting their mRNA. The aim of this work was to determine miRNAs which probably have effect on theTh17 differentiation pathway by means of bioinformatics methods to suppress this pathway and decrease MS symptoms. by using miRWalk and miRTarBase databases, the probable and validated interactions between some miRNAs and Th17 differentiation pathway proteins were investigated .Disregulated expression of this miRNAs clinically have been shown previously in MS patients. Results showed that miR-9 probably could induce Th17 differentiation from naïve T cells by suppressing negative regulator of Th17 differentiation pathway. In contrast, miR-17and miR-106a/b probably could inhibit Th17 differentiation pathway by suppressing positive regulator of this pathway. Thus, this miRNAs can be considered as potential therapeutic targets for suppression or symptom reduction and also diagnostic markers in MS patients.

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Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune inflammatory disease of the central nervous system. Toxoplasma gondii infection is one of the risk factors of MS. Knowing the correlation between T. gondii infection and MS could lead to a better understanding of the disease incidence. This study aimed to assess the correlation between T. gondii infection and the disease incidence in infected individuals.
Materials & Methods: Serum samples of 38 MS patients referring to the neurology clinic of Ghaem hospital in Mashhad in 2019 were analyzed by Pishtazteb commercial kit for anti-T. gondii IgG and IgM antibodies using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The obtained data were analyzed with SPSS software Version 20.
Findings: Among the 79 tested individuals, 22 were positive, and 57 were negative for anti-T. gondii IgG antibodies. Among the negative cases, 29 (50.9%) had MS, and 28 (49.1%) were controls. Among the positive cases, nine (40.9%) patients had MS, and the remaining 13 (59.1%) were controls. The frequency of IgG antibody in the case and control groups was not significantly different (p= .427). Anti-T. gondii IgM antibody was negative in all samples. There was no significant difference between the types of MS regarding the frequency of anti-T. gondii antibodies (p= .402).
Conclusion:  No significant difference was found in the frequency of anti-T. gondii IgG antibodies between the two groups. However, further studies with larger sample sizes are recommended to gain a better understanding of the relationship between anti-T. gondii IgG antibody positivity and MS incidence

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Introduction: Since the gastrointestinal system plays an important role in the function of the immune system, its role in the control or treatment of autoimmune diseases cannot be ignored. Therefore, the intestinal strengthening, which much of gastrointestinal function depends on it, can be effective in this direction. Also, because the intestine plays an important role in the immune system in addition to digestion, it can help maintain the immune system's function by keeping its bacteria balanced. In this regard, probiotics and prebiotics can be useful, which this issue was investigated in the present study.
Conclusion: Probiotics have an important role in the prevention and control of multiple sclerosis.
 

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Aims: How people react to stressful and painful situations, such as suffering from a chronic disease like multiple sclerosis, is influenced by various factors, one of which is self-compassion. Self-compassion has a psychological nature and significant efficiency in the care and treatment of chronic patients. Existing tools have not paid attention to the characteristics of people suffering from chronic diseases such as MS in using self-compassion for managing the disease. Therefore, the present study aimed to design a questionnaire to measure self-compassion in patients with MS.
Instrument & Methods: The present study is methodological research that was conducted in qualitative and quantitative parts. The items were designed based on the qualitative part of the study and review of texts. The validation characteristics of the questionnaire were performed using face validity, content, and structure. The reliability was assessed by internal consistency and stability methods.
Findings: In the qualitative phase, 78 initial items were extracted. After calculating the item impact score index with values higher than 1.5, content validity ratio higher than 0.51, and content validity index higher than 0.79, 73 items were selected. Confirmatory and then exploratory factor analysis was performed. The internal consistency of the questionnaire was 0.813, and the stability of the questionnaire was 0.778.
Conclusion: Self-compassion scale in patients with MS is a valid and reliable tool in Iranian society. Since Neff theory was used as a guiding framework in this study, the tool can also be used for non-Iranian patients to understand their perception and experiences.
 

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Aims: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a prevalent central nervous system (CNS) disorder characterized by inflammation and demyelination of nerves. The incidence of this disease has markedly risen in diverse regions, including the Middle East. Any factor that alters the quality and quantity of immune system components or influences the migration of immune cells toward the CNS may contribute to MS development. Evidence suggests that paragenetic, genetic, and environmental factors may be involved in increasing MS risk. This study aimed to investigate the effect of various infections on MS incidence.
 
Materials & Methods: This study included 475 MS patients and 260 healthy individuals from the Azeri population of East Azerbaijan province. Both groups filled out a questionnaire about their history of exposure to specific pathogens and infections before the age of 15.The relationship between a history of various infections and MS risk was examined.Findings: Mycoplasma pneumonia infection was significantly more prevalent in MS patients than in healthy individuals (p< .05). MS patients were more likely to suffer from common colds (p< .05), but no significant difference was observed regarding other infectious diseases (p> .05). Additionally, the prevalence of chronic infections was higher among MS patients (p< .05).
Conclusion: M.pneumoniae infection, common colds, and chronic infections were significantly more common in MS patients than in healthy controls. However, no significant association was found between other infectious diseases and MS risk. These findings emphasize the possible role of specific pathogens in MS development, warranting further investigation into underlying mechanisms and contributing factors.

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Aims: This study aimed to investigate the psychometric properties of the Multiple Sclerosis International Quality of Life (MusiQoL) questionnaire for Croatian-speaking MS patients.
Methods: Eighty-two patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) participated in the study (51 female and 31 male, average age 42.6±11.9 years). The instrument used in this study was MusiQoL questionnaire which was translated into Croatian language using forward-backward translation method. The data was descriptively analysed. Cronbach’s α internal consistency coefficient and test-retest analyses were conducted for reliability. Pearson’s correlation coefficient (r) was used to analyse the relationship between the MusiQoL index and dimensions. Exploratory factor analysis was conducted to test construct validity.
Findings: The mean value (±standard deviation) for MusiQoL index measured 64.18±17.13, while the dimension scores ranged from 54.73±28.12 to 84.05±18.85. High internal consistency was found for the MusiQoL index (Cronbach’s α: 0,93). All dimensions of the MusiQoL showed high internal consistency (Cronbach’s α: 0.75-0.95). The intra-class correlation coefficient of the MusiQoL dimensions and MusiQoL index were 0.949-0.971 and 0.911, respectively. There was a moderately to strong relationship between MusiQoL index with dimensions (r: 0.43-0.86). Bartlett's significance test of the correlation matrix is ​​high and significant (χ²=2028.41, p<0.001). The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin coefficient was calculated as 0.801. The extracted factors explained 66.10% of the variance and the range of factor loading was 0.52-0.90. 
Conclusion: The Croatian version of the MusiQoL questionnaire is valid and reliable in measuring quality of life among Croatian-speaking MS patients. It is especially useful for measuring health-related quality of life in terms of clinical practice.

 

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Aim: Multiple sclerosis is important in Iran because of its high prevalence and low age of onset. It exerts a large burden on affected people and the health care system. Studies have shown that the genetic content of humans has a critical role in MS. The histocompatibility loci which their products present the foreign antigenic peptides for detection by lymphocytes are of MS associated genetic elements. In this study, the association of HLA-DQB1*03 with MS was studied in Tehran, using a PCR-based system.
Methods: In this case-control study, a total of 367 blood samples were collected from 172 patients and 195 healthy people. Both groups were similar in age and gender. Blood DNA was extracted, and PCR technique was used to identify the presence of the allele.
Results: In this study, the HLA-DQB1*03 allele in men was significantly higher than that of women (p = 0.002). Also, the allele was less frequent in patients than in healthy subjects (53% versus 67%), and this difference is significant (p = 0.02).
Conclusions: The DQB1*03 allele is significantly lower in patients with MS than in healthy people, and this relationship is more pronounced in male subjects. Therefore, it seems that this allele plays a protective role against MS disease.

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Introduction: Multiple sclerosis (MS) stands out as the predominant demyelinating illness impacting various regions of the central nervous system (CNS). As MS advanced, the subventricular zone (SVZ), one of the main neural stem cell niches that produce neurons and glial cells throughout life, progressively becomes empty. To effectively use endogenous repair potential-based treatment techniques, it would be essential to have an understanding of the neuropathological features of SVZ. The current study aimed to explore the SVZ in terms of histopathological and molecular changes in the cuprizone animal model of MS. 
Materials and methods: Adult male C57BL/6 mice were divided into two categories including control and cuprizone groups. Control animals received a regular diet and the cuprizone group received a diet containing 0.2% cuprizone for 12 weeks. At the end of the study, the histopathology of the SVZ and the relative gene expression of oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPCs) in this area were evaluated.
Results: Histopathological assessment demonstrated an obvious prominent existence of cell population in the SVZ following 12 weeks of cuprizone intoxication. Furthermore, the relative gene expression data revealed a statistically significant increase in the expression of the Pdgf and Cspg4 genes in the SVZ in the cuprizone group compared to the control group (p˂0.001).
Conclusions: The prominent presence of cells as well as the increase of relative gene expression in the SVZ following the cuprizone diet might be attributed to the production of new progenitor cells for oligodendrocytes, which could potentially refill the SVZ area.