Biomarkers to improve functional outcome prediction after ischemic stroke: Results from the SICFAIL, STRAWINSKI, and PREDICT studies.

Background And Aims: Acute ischemic stroke (AIS) outcome prognostication remains challenging despite available prognostic models. We investigated whether a biomarker panel improves the predictive performance of established prognostic scores.

Methods: We investigated the improvement in discrimination, calibration, and overall performance by adding five biomarkers (procalcitonin, copeptin, cortisol, mid-regional pro-atrial natriuretic peptide (MR-proANP), and N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP)) to the Acute Stroke Registry and Analysis of Lausanne (ASTRAL) and age/NIHSS scores using data from two prospective cohort studies (SICFAIL, PREDICT) and one clinical trial (STRAWINSKI).

Exploratory study of blood biomarkers in patients with post-stroke epilepsy.

Introduction: In addition to clinical factors, blood-based biomarkers can provide useful information on the risk of developing post-stroke epilepsy (PSE). Our aim was to identify serum biomarkers at stroke onset that could contribute to predicting patients at higher risk of PSE.

Patients And Methods: From a previous study in which 895 acute stroke patients were followed-up, 51 patients developed PSE.

Functional Recovery and Serum Angiogenin Changes According to Intensity of Rehabilitation Therapy After Stroke.

Rehabilitation is still the only treatment available to improve functional status after the acute phase of stroke. Most clinical guidelines highlight the need to design rehabilitation treatments considering starting time, intensity, and frequency, according to the tolerance of the patient. However, there are no homogeneous protocols and the biological effects are under investigation.

Blood Biomarkers to Differentiate Ischemic and Hemorrhagic Strokes.

Objective: To validate a panel of blood biomarkers to differentiate between ischemic stroke (IS) and intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) in patients with suspected stroke.

Methods: Patients with suspected stroke admitted within 4.5 hours after onset were enrolled.

Cognitive Impact of Cerebral Small Vessel Disease Changes in Patients With Hypertension.

Hypertension is one of the principal risk factors for cerebral small vessel disease progression and cognitive impairment. We aimed to investigate how changes in cerebral small vessel disease lesions relate to cognitive decline and incident mild cognitive impairment in hypertensive patients. Data were obtained from the ISSYS cohort (Investigating Silent Strokes in Hypertensives: a Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study)-a longitudinal population-based study on hypertensive patients aged 50 to 70 years without dementia and stroke at baseline.

Usefulness of ADAMTS13 to predict response to recanalization therapies in acute ischemic stroke.

Objective: We aimed to analyze ADAMTS13 (a disintegrin and metalloproteinase with a thrombospondin type 1 motif, member 13) in relation to arterial recanalization in patients treated with IV tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) and in relation to futile recanalization in patients treated with mechanical thrombectomy.

Methods: Acute ischemic stroke patients (n = 108) with documented arterial occlusions treated with IV-tPA were selected. ADAMTS13 activity was measured by ELISA in samples collected before treatment.

Blood Biomarkers for the Early Diagnosis of Stroke: The Stroke-Chip Study.

Background And Purpose: Stroke diagnosis could be challenging in the acute phase. We aimed to develop a blood-based diagnostic tool to differentiate between real strokes and stroke mimics and between ischemic and hemorrhagic strokes in the hyperacute phase.

Methods: The Stroke-Chip was a prospective, observational, multicenter study, conducted at 6 Stroke Centers in Catalonia.

N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide and subclinical brain small vessel disease.

Objective: To study the association of N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) with several brain MRI markers of brain vascular disease in a sample of participants free of stroke and dementia.

Methods: NT-proBNP plasma level was determined by means of a sandwich immunoassay method in a cohort study comprising 278 hypertensive patients. The presence of silent brain infarcts, brain microbleeds, enlarged perivascular spaces, and white matter hyperintensity volumes was assessed by brain MRI.

N-glycome Profile Levels Relate to Silent Brain Infarcts in a Cohort of Hypertensives.

Background: Silent brain infarcts (SBIs) are highly prevalent in the aged population and relate to the occurrence of further stroke and dementia. Serum N-glycome levels have been previously associated with aging and they might be related as well to the presence of SBIs and age-related white matter hyperintensities.

Methods And Results: We determined the serum N-glycome profile in a cohort study comprising 972 subjects and evaluated the relationship between N-glycome levels and the presence and number of SBIs and with age-related white matter hyperintensities grades, assessed by brain magnetic resonance imaging.

Resolving taxonomic uncertainty and historical biogeographic patterns in Muscicapa flycatchers and their allies.

Muscicapa flycatchers and their allies (Bradornis, Dioptornis, Empidornis, Fraseria, Myioparus, Namibornis, and Sigelus) are widely distributed in Africa, Europe and Asia. This broad distribution and the wide variety of habitats occupied by the group, ranging from arid to tropical forests, presents an interesting opportunity to explore the evolution of biogeographic patterns and habitat associations. Sequence data (up to 3310 base pairs from two mitochondrial and two nuclear genes) were generated for 36 of 42 species which comprise the assemblage.

Diversification in an Afro-Asian songbird clade (Erythropygia-Copsychus) reveals founder-event speciation via trans-oceanic dispersals and a southern to northern colonization pattern in Africa.

Erythropygia scrub-robins and their allies are distributed throughout Africa, Europe, Southeast Asia, India, Madagascar and the Seychelles. This broad distribution, as well as the distribution of Erythropygia taxa across Africa, presents an interesting opportunity to explore the mechanisms by which this biogeographic distribution was achieved. Multilocus sequence data (3310 base pairs from two mitochondrial and two nuclear genes) were generated for all species of Erythropygia and Cercotrichas scrub-robins, as well as from genera previously shown to render Erythropygia paraphyletic.

Fluorescent molecular peroxidation products: a prognostic biomarker of early neurologic deterioration after thrombolysis.

Background And Purpose: Fluorescent molecular peroxidation products (FMPPs) are considered potential markers of molecular oxidative damage and may provoke increased permeability and disruption of the blood-brain barrier. This study aimed to determine the value of FMPPs as a biomarker to predict neurological worsening related to early hemorrhagic transformation.

Methods: Baseline FMPP levels were measured in 186 consecutive acute ischemic stroke patients before tissue plasminogen activator treatment was administered.