Changes in plasma levels of complement in patients with acute ischemic stroke.

Inflammatory processes are involved in cerebral ischemia. Patients with ischemic stroke may be predisposed to marked activation of the inflammatory system. The objective was to analyze the association between the level of complement at different stages after stroke and outcome.

Detection of neopterin as parameter of potential monocyte activation in patients with acute ischemic stroke.

The mechanisms by which inflammation may induce endothelial dysfunction are not fully understood. It was analyzed if neopterin (a by-product of activated macrophage metabolism) is elevated in patients with systemic inflammatory insult at the time of ischemic stroke. There were investigated 86 consecutive patients with mean age 67 +/- 7.

Evaluation of antiphospholipid antibodies in young women with ischemic stroke.

There is an association between antiphospholipid antibodies (aPL) and ischemic stroke. The detection of aPL in young women is to characterize a subset of patients with venous or/and arterial thrombotic complications, to describe whether aPL are a cause, a consequence, or an accompanying event. Cerebral ischemia is the most common arterial thrombotic manifestation associated with the presence of aPL.

Detection of autoantibodies to ribosome P in lupus patients with neurological involvement.

Autoantibodies to ribosome P react with the cytoplasmic ribosomes and are specific for the diagnostic of lupus with neurological involvement. The objective of this study was to assess prevalence of serum autoantibodies to ribosome P as a biomarker for lupus with neurological involvement. We measured serum autoantibodies in 47 lupus patients with neurological involvement (range 31-52 years, mean age 38.

Some clinico-immunological aspects in patients with ocular myasthenia gravis associated with inflammatory bowel disease.

The link between inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and ocular myasthenia gravis (OMG) is thought to be related to the production of autoantibodies. The aim of this study was to determine the incidence of some antibodies in OMG patients with IBD. Sixty-four patients with IBD and neurological symptoms were examined neurologically and immunologically (41 men and 23 women, mean age 43-5.