T-cell receptor signaling modulated by the co-receptors: Potential targets for stroke treatment.

Stroke is a severe and life-threatening disease, necessitating more research on new treatment strategies. Infiltrated T lymphocytes, an essential adaptive immune cell with extensive effector function, are crucially involved in post-stroke inflammation. Immediately after the initiation of the innate immune response triggered by microglia/macrophages, the adaptive immune response associated with T lymphocytes also participates in the complex pathophysiology of stroke and partially informs the outcome of stroke.

Premorbid Use of Beta-Blockers or Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Inhibitors/Angiotensin Receptor Blockers in Patients with Acute Ischemic Stroke.

This study was designed to investigate the impact of the preexisting use of beta-blockers, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs), or angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) on the cellular immune response in peripheral blood and the clinical outcomes of patients with acute ischemic stroke. We retrospectively collected clinical data from a cohort of 69 patients with premorbid beta-blockers and 56 patients with premorbid ACEIs/ARBs. Additionally, we selected a cohort of 107 patients with acute ischemic stroke to be the control of the same age and sex.

Nanobrick wall multilayer thin films grown faster and stronger using electrophoretic deposition.

In an effort to speed up the layer-by-layer (LbL) deposition technique, electrophoretic deposition (EPD) is employed with weak polyelectrolytes and clay nanoplatelets. The introduction of an electric field results in nearly an order of magnitude increase in thickness relative to conventional LbL deposition for a given number of deposited layers. A higher clay concentration also results with the EPD-LbL process, which produces higher modulus and strength with fewer deposited layers.

Bee swarmings in children.

Unlabelled: Africanized honeybees (Apis mellifera scutellata) are now found in the southern and southwestern United States. Swarmings can result in hundreds to thousands of stings delivering a venom load capable of producing multisystem organ failure and death. The literature on mass envenomations is scarce, being limited to case reports and case series.

Acute propylene glycol ingestion.

Background: We describe a case of acute propylene glycol toxicity following ingestion of ethanol and propylene glycol-containing antifreeze in which blood lactate, serum propylene glycol, ethanol, and CO2 concentrations were serially measured.

Case Report: A 61-year-old man was hospitalized after acute ingestion of ethanol and automotive antifreeze. His clinical presentation and course were essentially unremarkable.

Postcollection rise in methemoglobin level in frozen blood specimens.

A patient with nonspecific complaints had four previous venous blood samples showing elevated methemoglobin fractions of 15.6-20.1%.