Asymptomatic cerebral small vessel disease in adults with low cardiovascular risk.

Introduction: Cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD) frequently occurs in individuals with vascular risk factors. This condition might go unrecognised or result in only mild functional deficits.

Objective: To evaluate the relationship between cardiovascular (CV) risk calculated with the HEARTS app and CSVD burden in a population without cardio-cerebrovascular diseases, and to estimate the prevalence of CSVD in low risk (LR) individuals.

CSF oligoclonal band frequency in a Cuban cohort of patients with multiple sclerosis. comparison with Latin American countries and association with latitude.

Background: The diagnostic sensitivity of CSF specific oligoclonal bands (OCBs) in multiple sclerosis (MS), using state of the art methods, has been clearly established to be over 95% in patients with a predominantly Caucasian background. This is not the case for other geographical regions, where reports of OCB prevalence can be much lower, and a relationship between OCB frequency and latitude has been suggested.

Objective: The aim of the present study was to assess the frequency of OCBs in a cohort of MS patients evaluated at the Institute of Neurology and Neurosurgery (Havana, Cuba), and to review the scientific literature in order to investigate the possible relationship between OCB status and latitude in the region of Latin America.

Cerebral Small Vessel Disease Associated with Subclinical Vascular Damage Indicators in Asymptomatic Hypertensive Patients.

: Cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD) is frequent in patients with cardiovascular risk factors including arterial hypertension, and it is associated with vascular damage in other organs and the risk of stroke, cognitive impairment, and dementia. Early diagnosis of CSVD could prevent deleterious consequences. : To characterize CSVD associated with indicators of subclinical vascular damage in asymptomatic hypertensive patients.

Circulating autoantibodies against the NR2 peptide of the NMDA receptor are associated with subclinical brain damage in hypertensive patients with other pre-existing conditions for vascular risk.

Unlabelled: Arterial hypertension (HT) and other vascular pre-existing conditions (PEC) generate asymptomatic brain damage which increases the occurrence of stroke and cognitive decline. The aim of this work was to explore if serum antibodies against the NR2 subunit of the NMDA receptor (NR2Ab) could predict subclinical brain damage (SBD) in hypertensive patients with PEC. Forty seven neurologically asymptomatic hypertensive subjects were classified according to the number of PEC (retinopathy, overweight/obesity, diabetes mellitus and dyslipidemia).

Serum neuron specific enolase could predict subclinical brain damage and the subsequent occurrence of brain related vascular events during follow up in essential hypertension.

The object of this work was to explore if blood based biomarkers of brain damage could predict subclinical brain lesions and clinical outcome during follow-up in asymptomatic hypertensive patients. This was a cross-sectional study including 101 patients with essential hypertension and no clinical evidence of neurological disease and 53 healthy controls, followed by a longitudinal study of 62 hypertensive patients for an average of 33 months. Serum concentrations of two brain specific proteins (S100B and neuron specific enolase - NSE) were determined at inclusion.