Mediation effect of stroke recurrence in the association between post-stroke interleukin-6 and functional disability.

Aim: Post-stroke inflammation increases the risk of functional disability through enlarged cerebral infarct size directly and follow-up stroke event indirectly. We aimed to use post-stroke proinflammatory cytokine interleukin-6 (IL-6) as a marker of inflammatory burden and quantify post-stroke inflammation's direct and indirect effect on functional disability.

Methods: We analyzed patients with acute ischemic stroke admitted to 169 hospitals in the Third China National Stroke Registry.

Association between high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, functional disability, and stroke recurrence in patients with acute ischaemic stroke: A mediation analysis.

Background: Post-stroke inflammation biomarker high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) increases cerebral infarct size and results in functional disability directly, it also contributes to the formation and maturation of atherosclerotic plaques, which increase the risk of stroke recurrence and results in functional disability indirectly. However, no study has quantified how much functional disability was mediated by stroke recurrence.

Methods: Patients with acute ischaemic stroke within 7 days and admitted to 169 hospitals in the Third China National Stroke Registry were analyzed.

Serum Phosphate and 1-Year Outcome in Patients With Acute Ischemic Stroke and Transient Ischemic Attack.

To determine the association between serum phosphate level and 1-year clinical outcomes in patients with acute ischemic stroke and transient ischemic attack. We included 7,353 patients with acute ischemic stroke and transient ischemic attack from the China National Stroke Registry III for analysis. Participants were divided into 4 groups according to serum phosphate quartiles.

Serum calcium and long-term outcome after ischemic stroke: Results from the China National stroke registry III.

Background And Aims: Serum calcium abnormality is associated with adverse cardiovascular outcomes, but the effects of serum calcium level on stroke outcomes remain unknown. We aimed to assess the relationship between serum calcium level and 1-year outcomes in patients with acute ischemic stroke and transient ischemic attack.

Methods: We included 9375 stroke patients from the China National Stroke Registry III for analysis.

Phosphodiesterase 4D polymorphisms associate with the short-term outcome in ischemic stroke.

It has been demonstrated that phosphodiesterase 4D (PDE4D) genetic polymorphism is associated with ischemic stroke. However, the association between PDE4D gene and prognosis after ischemic stroke remains unknown. We consecutively enrolled ischemic stroke patients admitted to Beijing Tiantan Hospital from October 2009 to December 2013.

Circulating MicroRNAs as potential risk biomarkers for hematoma enlargement after intracerebral hemorrhage.

Background And Purpose: MicroRNAs have recently been shown to regulate the downstream bioprocesses of intracerebral hemorrhage. The aim of this study was to investigate whether miRNAs can be used as biomarkers to predict secondary hematoma enlargement (HE) in patients with ICH.

Methods: Consecutively, 79 ICH patients admitted within 6 h of symptom onset and 30 healthy individuals were enrolled in this study.

[Acute dopaminergic responsiveness test in diagnosis of Parkinson's disease and Parkinsonian disorders].

Objective: To investigate the features of acute dopaminergic responsiveness test in patients with Parkinsonian disorders, and to find a convenient approach of differential diagnosis of Parkinsonian disorders.

Methods: Sixty inpatients with Parkinson disease (PD) or Parkinson's syndrome, including vascular Parkinsonism (VP), multiple system atrophy (MSA), etc, were given the Levodopa and Benserazide tablets, containing levodopa of the doses of 62.5, 125 187.

Small artery dementia in Japan: radiological differences between CADASIL, leukoaraiosis and Binswanger's disease.

CADASIL (cerebral autosomal dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy) is a hereditary small artery disease which is phenotypically similar to Binswanger's disease (BD), a nonhereditary form of small artery disease. Recent studies have indicated that lesions in the temporopolar, medial frontopolar areas and external capsule are frequently seen in Caucasian patients with CADASIL. However, it remains unclear whether magnetic resonance (MR) imaging findings are helpful in diagnosing small artery disease outside countries with Caucasian populations, since CADASIL is rare despite the high prevalence of small artery disease in Japan.

[Distribution of ischemic leukoaraiosis in MRI: a difference from white matter lesions in CADASIL].

Previously, the distribution of white matter lesions in CADASIL has been reported to be distinct from those in patients with ischemic leukoaraiosis and Binswanger's disease. In earlier European studies, diagnostic significance of white matter lesions in the temporopolar region (Tp), medial frontopolar region (Fp) and external capsule (EC) was stressed in diagnosing CADASIL. More recently, however, high sensitivity and specificity of Tp lesions have been demonstrated.

Different mechanisms of corpus callosum atrophy in Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia.

Previous neuroimaging studies have indicated that corpus callosum atrophy in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and large vessel occlusive disease (LVOD) is caused by interhemispheric disconnection, namely Wallerian degeneration of interhemispheric commissural nerve fibers originating from pyramidal neurons in the cerebral cortex. However, this hypothesis has not been tested from a neuropathological viewpoint. In the present study, 22 brains with AD (presenile onset, 9; senile onset, 13), 6 brains with Binswanger's disease (BD), a form of vascular dementia and 3 brains with LVOD were compared with 6 non-neurological control brains.

Ibudilast, a phosphodiesterase inhibitor, protects against white matter damage under chronic cerebral hypoperfusion in the rat.

Cerebrovascular white matter (WM) lesions, which are frequently observed in vascular cognitive impairment and vascular dementia, can be produced in rats by clipping the common carotid arteries bilaterally. Since TNF-alpha is known to cause the degeneration of myelin, we examined whether these lesions can be ameliorated by ibudilast, a cyclic AMP phosphodiesterase (PDE) inhibitor that suppresses tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha production. After the ligation of both common carotid arteries in 29 rats, 21 rats received a daily oral administration of 10, 30 or 60 mg/kg ibudilast and 8 rats received vehicle for 14 days.

Axonal damage and demyelination in the white matter after chronic cerebral hypoperfusion in the rat.

Cerebral white matter (WM) lesions are observed frequently in human ischemic cerebrovascular disease and have been thought to contribute to cognitive impairment. This type of lesion can be experimentally induced in rat brains under chronic cerebral hypoperfusion by the permanent occlusion of both common carotid arteries. However, it remains uncertain whether chronic ischemia can damage both the gray and white matter, and whether it can induce demyelination with or without axonal damage.