These three tests constitute a Brief Battery that represents a first Brazilian MS cognitive screening instrument. However, further validation study is necessary to achieve better normative scores in a larger sample and to establish feasibility of this battery.

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Objective: To investigate cognitive deficits in patients with primary Sjögren's syndrome (PSS). Method: Eighteen patients with PSS, aged between 25 and 61 years, were subjected to a short neuropsychological battery and compared with 18 patients with multiple sclerosis and 18 healthy controls. Results: The analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed that the clinical groups had significantly worse performance than the control group on the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test 3; (F 2,53 =3.500, p=0.038) and 7 (F 2,53 =5.068, p=0.010). The clinical groups had elevated levels of depression on the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI); (p=0.003). The analysis of the data from the Trail Making Test B-A revealed a significant difference between the clinical and control groups (p=0.023). The analysis of covariance with BDI score as a covariate, did not change the outcome. Conclusion: Our study revealed cognitive deficits in patients with PSS detectable by a short neuropsychological battery.Keywords: neuropsychological evaluation; Sjögren's syndrome, cognitive impairment, neuropsychology. Primary Sjögren's syndrome (PSS) is an inflammatory autoimmune disease characterized by infiltration of exocrine glands. It occurs without an association with other connective tissue diseases and affects mainly salivary and lachrymal glands, causing xerostomy and keratoconjunctivitis sicca 1,2 . It often afflicts middle-age women, with an estimated prevalence of 2% in the adult population 3 . Moreover, PSS can be associated with impairments of the nervous system. In the central nervous system (CNS), the focal and nonfocal involvement of the brain and spinal cord has been described, resulting in a wide spectrum of neurological, psychiatric, and cognitive symptoms 4 .Cognitive impairments in patients with PSS were reported by Malinow 5 and later confirmed by other studies 6,7 . In Brazil, we have not found any case-series studies that have investigated cognitive impairments in PSS. We found one case report 8 .The results from other countries suggest that patients with PSS display cognitive impairments in attention, memory,

This article describes some prevalent personality dimensions of recently diagnosed multiple sclerosis patients. A sample of 33 female recently diagnosed with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) was assessed with the NEO-FFI personality scale. Beck depression (BDI) and anxiety (BAI) scales were also used. No significant levels of anxiety or depression were identified in this group. As for personality factors, conscientiousness was the most common factor found, whereas openness to experience was the least observed. Literature on the relationship between personality and MS is scarce and there are no Brazilian studies on this subject. Some personality traits might complicate or facilitate the experience of living with a chronic, disabling and uncertain neurological condition such as MS.Keywords: multiple sclerosis, personality, NEO-FFI. RESUMOEste artigo descreve alguns traços prevalentes de personalidade em pacientes com esclerose múltipla recém-diagnosticada. Uma amostra de 33 mulheres recentemente diagnosticadas com a forma clínica remitente-recorrente da esclerose múltipla (EMRR) foi avaliada com a escala de personalidade NEO-FFI. As escalas de Beck de depressão e de ansiedade também foram usadas. Não foram identificados níveis significativos de ansiedade ou depressão neste grupo. Em relação aos fatores de personalidade, a conscienciosidade se mostrou como o traço mais prevalente, enquanto a abertura à experiência foi o menos observado nesta amostra. A literatura acerca desta relação esclerose múltipla-personalidade é pouco expressiva e não há estudos brasileiros sobre este tema. Acredita-se que alguns traços de personalidade possam dificultar ou facilitar a experiência de estar vivendo com uma condição neurológica crônica, incapacitante e de curso incerto como a esclerose múltipla.Palavras-chave: esclerose múltipla, personalidade, NEO-FFI.

Cognitive impairment is a symptom of multiple sclerosis (MS). Different clinical forms of multiple sclerosis have different cognitive profiles, according to findings of previous studies which used extensive batteries of neuropsychological tests. Objective: To investigate cognitive profiles of Brazilian patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) and primary progressive multiple sclerosis (PPMS) by using a brief battery of neuropsychological tests. Method: Sixty-six patients, within 18-65 of age and 3-18 years of education, were paired with healthy control subjects, regarding gender, age, and education level.