My husband and I are both considering early retirement. We’d discussed it for the past five years but hadn’t made any firm decisions. Last month, we decided that we needed to get serious about planning for it. We met with a financial adviser for retirement planning advice at our investment…

Do you think about death? I do — a lot. I mean, like almost every day. Don’t get…

Simoa, a technology that detects relevant molecules in samples with up to 1,000 times greater sensitivity than conventional methods, has helped to advance research into a blood biomarker expected to predict future disease activity in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients. Specifically, Quanterix‘s ultra-sensitive technology allowed an international team…

Levels of a protein called neurofilament light chain (NfL) in the blood can be used to predict the risk of future disease activity in people with multiple sclerosis (MS), according to a new study. The results also suggest that changes in NfL levels could be used to deduce the extent…

Abnormalities detected on MRI scans at the onset and within the first two years of disease may predict disability worsening in children with multiple sclerosis (MS), a nine-year study reports. Specifically, damage in the spinal cord, brain, and optic nerve plays a major role in predicting outcomes in these…

High levels of neurofilament light chain (NfL) protein circulating in the blood of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) at an early stage of the disease are linked to higher disability and faster disease progression, a study has found. According to researchers, these findings suggest that NfL — a…

The volume of atrophied (shrunken) regions in the brain, as visible through magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans, can predict disease progression in people with multiple sclerosis (MS), new research reveals. The finding was published in the journal Radiology in an article titled, “Atrophied Brain T2 Lesion Volume…

Routine screening through magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of people with multiple sclerosis (MS) can predict long-term disease progression — leading to more certainty and informing better treatment choices, a 15-year study reported. The study, titled “Early imaging predictors of long-term…

High vitamin D levels predict better cognitive function, while smoking is associated with worse long-term cognitive disability in patients with clinically isolated syndrome (CIS), a study suggests. Data from the study was presented by Marianna Cortese, MD, PhD, from the Department of Nutrition, Harvard T.H. Chan…

A potential biomarker — the ratio of antibody proteins in cerebrospinal fluid at the time of diagnosis — was seen to predict which  multiple sclerosis patients will progress into full-blow disability some five years after being diagnosed in a new study. If confirmed in larger clinical studies, this biomarker could to…

The types of brain and spinal cord inflammation patches that occur in a precursor condition to multiple sclerosis help determine whether a person develops MS in the next 15 years, a British neurologist reported today. Wallace J. Brownlee of the University College London Institute of Neurology made the observation in…

A newly discovered potential biomarker of multiple sclerosis (MS) may help to distinguish between people who will go on to have less severe disease and those in whom the disease will progress, researchers at Linköping University in Sweden report. The biomarker’s discovery came through an investigation into the immune system of MS…

A large study of multiple sclerosis patients (MS) came to the conclusion that clinical and brain imaging assessments drawn from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans are poor measures of long-term prognosis for patients. The study, “Long-term evolution of multiple sclerosis disability in the treatment era,” published in the journal…