Rationale and design of a longitudinal study of cerebral small vessel diseases, clinical and imaging outcomes in patients presenting with mild ischaemic stroke: Mild Stroke Study 3.

Background: Cerebral small vessel disease is a major cause of dementia and stroke, visible on brain magnetic resonance imaging. Recent data suggest that small vessel disease lesions may be dynamic, damage extends into normal-appearing brain and microvascular dysfunctions include abnormal blood-brain barrier leakage, vasoreactivity and pulsatility, but much remains unknown regarding underlying pathophysiology, symptoms, clinical features and risk factors of small vessel disease. The Mild Stroke Study 3 is a prospective observational cohort study to identify risk factors for and clinical implications of small vessel disease progression and regression among up to 300 adults with non-disabling stroke.

The Eye as a Non-Invasive Window to the Microcirculation in Liver Cirrhosis: A Prospective Pilot Study.

Microcirculatory dysfunction is associated with organ failure, poor response to vasoactive drugs and increased mortality in cirrhosis, but monitoring techniques are not established. We hypothesized that the chorioretinal structures of the eye could be visualized as a non-invasive proxy of the systemic microvasculature in cirrhosis and would correlate with renal dysfunction. Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) was performed to image the retina in = 55 cirrhosis patients being assessed for liver transplantation.

Relationship Between Venules and Perivascular Spaces in Sporadic Small Vessel Diseases.

Background and Purpose- Perivascular spaces (PVS) around venules may help drain interstitial fluid from the brain. We examined relationships between suspected venules and PVS visible on brain magnetic resonance imaging. Methods- We developed a visual venular quantification method to examine the spatial relationship between venules and PVS.

Pfam: the protein families database.

Pfam, available via servers in the UK (http://pfam.sanger.ac.