Inconsistent classification of pusher behaviour in stroke patients: a direct comparison of the Scale for Contraversive Pushing and the Burke Lateropulsion Scale.

Objective: To compare the classification of two clinical scales for assessing pusher behaviour in a cohort of stroke patients.

Design: Observational case-control study.

Setting: Inpatient stroke rehabilitation unit.

Immediate effectiveness of single-session therapeutic interventions in pusher behaviour.

Some stroke patients with hemiparesis exhibit a so-called pusher behaviour, i.e., they actively push away from the unaffected side and lean towards the hemiparetic side.

The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-1 protease inhibitor saquinavir inhibits proteasome function and causes apoptosis and radiosensitization in non-HIV-associated human cancer cells.

Cancer cells frequently show high constitutive activity of the antiapoptotic transcription factor nuclear factor kappaB (NF-kappaB), which results in their enhanced survival. Activation of NF-kappaB classically depends on degradation of its inhibitor IkappaBalpha by the 26s proteasome. Specific proteasome inhibitors induce apoptosis in cancer cells and, at nonlethal concentrations, sensitize cells to the cytotoxic effects of ionizing radiation and chemotherapeutic drugs.

N-acetyl-L-cysteine inhibits 26S proteasome function: implications for effects on NF-kappaB activation.

Ionizing radiation shares with cytokines, such as TNF-alpha, an ability to generate free radicals in cells and activate downstream proinflammatory responses through NF-kappaB-dependent signal transduction pathways. Support for the role of free radicals in triggering such responses comes from the use of free radical scavengers like N-acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC). The nature of the link between free radical generation and NF-kappaB activation is, however, unclear.