Accreditation of stroke programs at the MENA + region; between aspiration and reality.

Introduction: Despite global progress in stroke care, challenges persist, especially in Low- and Middle-Income countries (LMIC). The Middle East and North Africa Stroke and Interventional Neurotherapies Organization (MENA-SINO) Stroke Program Accreditation Initiative aims to improve stroke care regionally.

Material & Method: A 2022 survey assessed stroke unit readiness in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) + region, revealing significant regional disparities in stroke care between high-income and low-income countries.

Do stroke services still show sex differences? A multicenter study.

Background: The issue of sex differences in stroke has gained concern in the past few years. However, multicenter studies are still required in this field. This study explores sex variation in a large number of patients and compares stroke characteristics among women in different age groups and across different countries.

Stroke services in MENA: What is there and what is needed.

Objectives: Stroke represents a health care challenge to most parts of the world including the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. The MENA represents 6% of the world population with an age-standardized stroke rate of 87.7 (78.

Stroke services in the Middle East and adjacent region: A survey of 34 hospital-based stroke services.

Background: Acute stroke care is complex and requires multidisciplinary networking. There are insufficient data on stroke care in the Middle East and adjacent regions in Asia and Africa.

Objective: Evaluate the state of readiness of stroke programs in the Middle East North Africa and surrounding regions (MENA+) to treat acute stroke.

Global Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Stroke Volumes and Cerebrovascular Events: A 1-Year Follow-up.

Background And Objectives: Declines in stroke admission, IV thrombolysis (IVT), and mechanical thrombectomy volumes were reported during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. There is a paucity of data on the longer-term effect of the pandemic on stroke volumes over the course of a year and through the second wave of the pandemic. We sought to measure the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the volumes of stroke admissions, intracranial hemorrhage (ICH), IVT, and mechanical thrombectomy over a 1-year period at the onset of the pandemic (March 1, 2020, to February 28, 2021) compared with the immediately preceding year (March 1, 2019, to February 29, 2020).

Risk Factors for Ischaemic Stroke in an Omani Community: A case-control study.

Objectives: Stroke is recognised as the third most common cause of mortality and it has an increasing incidence in developing countries. Recognition and control of risk factors are of prime importance in the prevention of stroke. This study aimed to examine the characteristics of ischaemic stroke (IS) patients in Oman and quantify its various risk factors using a case-control model.

Lessons learned in stroke care during COVID-19 pandemic and preparing for future pandemics in the MENA+ region: A consensus statement from the MENA+-SINO.

Background: COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted stroke care services at multiple levels. There was a decline in acute stroke admissions. Fewer interventions have been performed.

Decline in subarachnoid haemorrhage volumes associated with the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Background: During the COVID-19 pandemic, decreased volumes of stroke admissions and mechanical thrombectomy were reported. The study's objective was to examine whether subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH) hospitalisations and ruptured aneurysm coiling interventions demonstrated similar declines.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional, retrospective, observational study across 6 continents, 37 countries and 140 comprehensive stroke centres.

Global Impact of COVID-19 on Stroke Care and IV Thrombolysis.

Objective: To measure the global impact of COVID-19 pandemic on volumes of IV thrombolysis (IVT), IVT transfers, and stroke hospitalizations over 4 months at the height of the pandemic (March 1 to June 30, 2020) compared with 2 control 4-month periods.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional, observational, retrospective study across 6 continents, 70 countries, and 457 stroke centers. Diagnoses were identified by their ICD-10 codes or classifications in stroke databases.

Global impact of COVID-19 on stroke care.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic led to profound changes in the organization of health care systems worldwide.

Aims: We sought to measure the global impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the volumes for mechanical thrombectomy, stroke, and intracranial hemorrhage hospitalizations over a three-month period at the height of the pandemic (1 March-31 May 2020) compared with two control three-month periods (immediately preceding and one year prior).

Methods: Retrospective, observational, international study, across 6 continents, 40 countries, and 187 comprehensive stroke centers.

Current Recommendations for the Management of Stroke Patients in the Middle East in the Era of COVID-19 Pandemic; Statement from the MENA SINO.

COVID-19 pandemic has led to a change in the way we manage acute medical illnesses. This pandemic had a negative impact on stroke care worldwide. The World Stroke Organization (WSO) has raised concerns due to the lack of available care and compromised acute stroke services globally.

MENA-SINO Consensus Statement on Implementing Care Pathways for Acute Neurovascular Emergencies During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

In the unprecedented current era of the COVID-19 pandemic, challenges have arisen in the management and interventional care of patients with acute stroke and large vessel occlusion, aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage, and ruptured vascular malformations. There are several challenges facing endovascular therapy for stroke, including shortages of medical staff who may be deployed for COVID-19 coverage or who may have contracted the infection and are thus quarantined, patients avoiding early medical care, a lack of personal protective equipment, delays in door-to-puncture time, anesthesia challenges, and a lack of high-intensity intensive care unit and stroke ward beds. As a leading regional neurovascular organization, the Middle East North Africa Stroke and Interventional Neurotherapies Organization (MENA-SINO) has established a task force composed of medical staff and physicians from different disciplines to establish guiding recommendations for the implementation of acute care pathways for various neurovascular emergencies during the current COVID-19 pandemic.

Isolated Infarction of the Medullary Pyramid - A Rare Pure Motor Stroke.

Acute pure motor hemiparesis can occur due to a vascular insult along the cortico spinal pathway. Rarely such a stroke can occur as a result of involvement of the pyramids located on the ventral aspect of the medulla. Neurological localization can be difficult in such strokes and moreover they can also pose imaging challenges since they are missed on the CT scans.

Human vision with a lesion of the parvocellular pathway: an optic neuritis model for selective contrast sensitivity deficits with severe loss of midget ganglion cell function.

Achromatic visual function in primates is distributed between two pathways from retina to cortex, the parvocellular and the magnocellular. The relative contribution of these to human achromatic vision is controversial and largely unknown. Here, we use an optic neuritis (ON) model to investigate the effects of a severe loss of parvocellular function on human contrast sensitivity.