Effects of cognitive rehabilitation and exercise on brain structure in progressive multiple sclerosis: results from the CogEx trial
Bibliographic record
Abstract
BACKGROUND: We previously showed increased cortical grey matter (GM) volume in CogEx trial participants who performed cognitive rehabilitation (CR). Here, we explore combined CR and aerobic exercise (EX) effects on regional changes in brain volumes and white matter (WM) integrity. METHODS: Seventy-three patients were randomized into four groups receiving a combination of CR and EX or their sham versions: CR + EX, CR + EX-sham, EX + CR-sham, and CR-sham + EX-sham. A diagnosis of progressive multiple sclerosis (PMS) and impaired information processing speed were required for inclusion. Participants attended a 12-week intervention twice/week. Assessments were performed at baseline, week-12 (W12), and nine months post-baseline (M9). Structural MRI scans were acquired with a standardized protocol, and voxelwise variations of brain volumes and WM fractional anisotropy (FA) were analyzed. RESULTS: Baseline regional brain volumes and WM FA were comparable between groups. Voxelwise analyses at W12 and M9 revealed generalized volume reductions in all groups. We found different patterns of volumetric changes in the left inferior temporal gyrus between CR + EX and CR-sham + EX-sham, and in the right cerebellum crus II between EX + CR-sham and CR + EX-sham. WM FA values remained stable throughout the trial and no longitudinal between-group differences were found. CONCLUSIONS: Our analysis showed a decrease in brain volumes and limited effects of the combined CR + EX intervention, indicating that the previously found cortical GM increase was not superimposable at voxel level. Methodological and sampling differences between the studies could explain these discrepancies. In few cognitively relevant areas, the combined CR interventions might have affected patterns of volume changes, while EX modified cerebellar motor regions. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION: The main trial was registered on ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT03679468; registration date: 20 Sep 2018).
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.002 | 0.001 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.002 | 0.001 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Research integrity | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.002 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".