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Aims and objectives.  To identify the effects of applying Progressive Muscle Relaxation Technique on Quality of Life of patients with multiple Sclerosis. Background.  In view of the growing caring options in Multiple Sclerosis, improvement of quality of life has become increasingly relevant as a caring intervention. Complementary therapies are widely used by multiple sclerosis patients and Progressive Muscle Relaxation Technique is a form of complementary therapies. Design.  Quasi‐experimental study. Method.  Multiple Sclerosis patients (n = 66) were selected with no probability sampling then assigned to experimental and control groups (33 patients in each group). Means of data collection included: Individual Information Questionnaire, SF‐8 Health Survey, Self‐reported checklist. PMRT performed for 63 sessions by experimental group during two months but no intervention was done for control group. Statistical analysis was done by SPSS software. Results.  Student t‐test showed that there was no significant difference between two groups in mean scores of health‐related quality of life before the study but this test showed a significant difference between two groups, one and two months after intervention (p < 0·05). anova test with repeated measurements showed that there is a significant difference in mean score of whole and dimensions of health‐related quality of life between two groups in three times (p < 0·05). Conclusions.  Although this study provides modest support for the effectiveness of Progressive Muscle Relaxation Technique on quality of life of multiple sclerosis patients, further research is required to determine better methods to promote quality of life of patients suffer multiple sclerosis and other chronic disease. Relevance to clinical practice.  Progressive Muscle Relaxation Technique is practically feasible and is associated with increase of life quality of multiple sclerosis patients; so that health professionals need to update their knowledge about complementary therapies.

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ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00668343. This interventional study provides Class I evidence stating that adding simvastatin 40 mg/day to IFNb 1a 30 microg a week in patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis may reduce the relapse rate (moderate effect size r = 0.29) (p = 0.01) compared with treatment with IFNb 1a alone.

Studies have shown an increase in the incidence of MS in Iran. The aim of our study was to evaluate the relationship between environmental exposure and MS in Iran. This case-control study was conducted on 660 MS patients and 421 controls. Many environmental factors are compared between the two groups. Our findings demonstrated that prematurity ([OR = 4.99 (95% CI 1.34-18.68), P = 0.017]), history of measles and mumps ([OR = 1.60 (95% CI 1.05-2.45), P = 0.029; OR = 1.85 (95% CI 1.22-2.78), P = 0.003, respectively]), breast feeding [OR = 2.90 (95% CI 1.49-5.65), P = 0.002], head trauma in childhood ([OR = 8.21 (95% CI 1.56-43.06), P = 0.013]), vaccination in adulthood ([OR = 4.57 (95% CI 1.14-18.41), P = 0.032, respectively]), migraine ([OR = 3.50 (95% CI 1.61-7.59), P = 0.002]), family history of MS, IBD, migraine, and collagen vascular diseases ([OR = 2.73 (95% CI 1.56-4.78), P < 0.001], [OR = 3.14 (95% CI 1.460-6.78), P = 0.004; OR = 3.18 (95% CI 1.83-5.53), P < 0.001; OR = 1.81 (95% CI 1.03-3.20), P = 0.040, respectively]), stressful events ([OR = 32.57 (95% CI 17.21-61.64), P < 0.001]), and microwave exposure ([OR = 3.55 (95% CI 2.24-5.63), P ≤0.001]) were more in the MS group. Sun exposure ([OR = 0.09 (95% CI 0.02-0.38), P = 0.001]), dairy and calcium consumption ([OR = 0.44 (95% CI 0.27-0.71), P = 0.001]), diabetes mellitus ([OR = 0.11 (95% CI 0.01-00.99), P = 0.049], and complete vaccination during childhood appeared to decreased MS risk. Our results investigated many risk factors and protective factors in Iran.

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Background Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an inflammatory disease of the central nervous system with a degenerative component, leading to irreversible disability. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) have been shown to prevent inflammation and neurodegeneration in animal models of MS, but no large phase II clinical trials have yet assessed the exploratory efficacy of MSC for MS. Methods/design This is an academic, investigator-initiated, randomized, double-blind, placebo-compared phase I/II clinical trial with autologous, bone-marrow derived MSC in MS. Enrolled subjects will receive autologous MSC at either baseline or at week 24, through a cross-over design. Primary co-objectives are to test safety and efficacy of MSC treatment compared to placebo at 6 months. Secondary objectives will evaluate the efficacy of MSC at clinical and MRI levels. In order to overcome funding constraints, the MEsenchymal StEm cells for Multiple Sclerosis (MESEMS) study has been designed to merge partially independent clinical trials, following harmonized protocols and sharing some key centralized procedures, including data collection and analyses. Discussion Results will provide patients and the scientific community with data on the safety and efficacy of MSC for MS. The innovative approach utilized to obtain funds to support the MESEMS trial could represent a new model to circumvent limitation of funds encountered by academic trials. Trial registration Andalusia: NCT01745783 , registered on Dec 10, 2012. Badalona: NCT02035514 EudraCT, 2010–024081–21. Registered on 2012. Canada: ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02239393 . Registered on September 12, 2014. Copenhagen: EudraCT, 2012–000518-13 . Registered on June 21, 2012. Italy: EudraCT, 2011–001295-19, and ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT01854957 . Retrospectively registered on May 16, 2013. London: Eudra CT 2012–002357-35, and ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT01606215 . Registered on May 25, 2012. Salzburg: EudraCT, 2015–000137-78 . Registered on September 15, 2015. Stockholm: ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT01730547 . Registered on November 21, 2012. Toulouse: ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02403947 . Registered on March 31, 2015. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s13063-019-3346-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.