Neuronutrition and Its Impact on Post-Stroke Neurorehabilitation: Modulating Plasticity Through Diet.

The recovery of neurological deficits after ischemic stroke largely depends on the brain's ability to reorganize its undamaged neuronal circuits and neuronal plasticity phenomena. The consolidated evidence highlights the involvement of the patient's impaired nutritional conditions in post-stroke recovery and unsatisfying rehabilitative outcomes. Standardized nutritional protocols usually applied in hospitalized patients in a rehabilitation setting aim mainly to improve the general health conditions of patients, do not consider the high inter-individual variability in neurorehabilitation outcomes, and are not sufficiently modifiable to provide neuroprotective and restorative dietary patterns that could promote neuronal plasticity and functional recovery during neurorehabilitation.

Influence of Oxidative Stress and Inflammation on Nutritional Status and Neural Plasticity: New Perspectives on Post-Stroke Neurorehabilitative Outcome.

Beyond brain deficits caused by strokes, the effectiveness of neurorehabilitation is strongly influenced by the baseline clinical features of stroke patients, including a patient's current nutritional status. Malnutrition, either as a pre-stroke existing condition or occurring because of ischemic injury, predisposes patients to poor rehabilitation outcomes. On the other hand, a proper nutritional status compliant with the specific needs required by the process of brain recovery plays a key role in post-stroke rehabilitative outcome favoring neuroplasticity mechanisms.

Identification of Determinants of Biofeedback Treatment's Efficacy in Treating Migraine and Oxidative Stress by ARIANNA (ARtificial Intelligent Assistant for Neural Network Analysis).

Migraines are a public health problem that impose severe socioeconomic burdens and causes related disabilities. Among the non-pharmacological therapeutic approaches, behavioral treatments such as biofeedback have proven effective for both adults and children. Oxidative stress is undoubtedly involved in the pathophysiology of migraines.

Rehabilitation outcomes in Huntington disease patients with low body mass index.

Objectives: A catabolic state and a progressive body weight loss are a well-documented hallmark of Huntington Disease (HD). No study is still available on the effectiveness of intensive in-hospital rehabilitation in HD patients with low body mass index (BMI).

Methods: Twenty HD patients with low BMI value were enrolled in this study.

Adipokines as Potential Biomarkers in the Neurorehabilitation of Obese Stroke Patients.

Background: Limited studies concern the influence of obesity-induced dysregulation of adipokines in functional recovery after stroke neurorehabilitation.

Objective: To investigate the relationship between serum leptin, resistin, and adiponectin and functional recovery before and after neurorehabilitation of obese stroke patients. The adipokine potential significance as prognostic markers of rehabilitation outcomes was also verified.

Influence of neurorehabilitation on stroke-induced modifications of the quadriceps muscle in elderly subacute stroke patients with paresis.

The influence of intensive multifunctional neurorehabilitation on post-stroke changes at the level of the paretic leg quadriceps muscle was examined in elderly subacute stroke patients. We assessed paretic leg muscle mass thickness and muscle fatty infiltration thickness, as well as clinical outcome measures (National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale, modified Ranking Scale, and Barthel Index) both before and after neurorehabilitation. Improved outcome measures (p ≤ 0.

Mean Platelet Volume During Ischemic Stroke is a Potential Pro-inflammatory Biomarker in the Acute Phase and During Neurorehabilitation Not Directly Linked to Clinical Outcome.

The prognostic role of increased mean platelet volume (MPV), as an indicator of platelet activation and large, more reactive platelets, in clinical and functional outcome of ischemic stroke is still conflicting. Studies are not currently available on the association between MPV and stroke recovery after neurorehabilitation. The relationship between MPV and clinical and functional outcome measures was assessed in twenty-four patients in the acute phase of first-ever ischemic stroke, and before and after 8-week intensive multifunctional neurorehabilitation.

Influence of intensive multifunctional neurorehabilitation on neuronal oxidative damage in patients with Huntington's disease.

The influence of intensive multifunctional neurorehabilitation on serum levels of Cu/Zn-superoxide dismutase (Cu/Zn-SOD), neuron-specific enolase (NSE), and 8-hydroxy-2-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG), as markers of oxidative damage, was evaluated in symptomatic patients with Huntington's disease (HD). Improved clinical outcome measures were observed after neurorehabilitation. Baseline levels of Cu/Zn-SOD, NSE and 8-OHdG were higher than those observed in controls.

Uric acid and Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase: potential strategies and biomarkers in functional recovery of post-acute ischemic stroke patients after intensive neurorehabilitation.

No evidence is currently provided on the involvement of uric acid (UA) and Cu/Zn Superoxide Dismutase (Cu/Zn SOD) in functional recovery of stroke patients after neurorehabilitation. For this purpose, the relationship between UA and Cu/Zn SOD plasma levels and clinical and functional outcome measures were analysed in twenty-five post-acute stroke patients undergoing intensive neurorehabilitation. UA and Cu/Zn SOD plasma levels were evaluated in fifteen healthy subjects as control values.

Peripheral biomarkers of oxidative stress and their limited potential in evaluation of clinical features of Huntington's patients.

Context: Peripheral oxidative biomarkers could be useful for monitoring clinical features of Huntington's disease (HD).

Materials And Methods: Cu/Zn-superoxide dismutase (Cu/Zn-SOD), neuron-specific enolase (NSE) and 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine (8-oxoGua) serum levels were analysed in 18 HD patients and 10 controls. Clinical measures were recorded from each HD patients.

Oxidative stress in post-acute ischemic stroke patients after intensive neurorehabilitation.

We investigated in post-acute ischemic stroke patients the influence of intensive neurorehabilitation on oxidative stress balance during recovery of neurological deficits. For this purpose, fourteen patients were included in the study within 30 days of stroke onset. Outcome measures were the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS), the modified Rankin Scale (mRS), the Barthel Index, and the Katz Index.

Evidence of redox unbalance in post-acute ischemic stroke patients.

Measurements of the redox balance after the ischemic stroke occurrence might be useful to monitor the outcome of patients who suffered an ischemic stroke in terms of stroke recurrence and other vascular events. For this purpose, fifteen patients (mean age 71.40±2.

Moderate consumption of red wine and human platelet responsiveness.

Available studies showed an inverse association between red wine consumption and prevalence of vascular risk factors in coronary hearth disease and stroke. Effects were mainly associated to wine antioxidant and antiaggregant properties. Actually, in vitro studies indicate a favourable effect of wine and/or of its non-alcoholic components in decreasing platelet sensitivity and aggregability.

Oxidative stress in benign prostatic hyperplasia and prostate cancer.

Objective: The aim was to verify whether oxidative stress could represent a common key factor of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and prostate cancer (PCa).

Subjects And Methods: 15 patients affected by BPH, 15 with PCa and 15 controls were enrolled. Blood samples were withdrawn systemically and locally during radical retropubic prostatectomy in patients with PCa and during transvesical retropubic adenomectomy in patients diagnosed with BPH.

Evaluation of oxidative status in coronary heart disease at baseline and during exercise test.

Oxidative stress has probably a role in coronary heart disease (CHD), but studies focused on the behaviour of oxidative status in patients with stable CHD have obtained controversial results. On the other hand, an increased release of leukocyte elastase is considered a marker of CHD. Exercise can induce oxidative stress and leukocyte activation, so the aim of this study was to evaluate oxidative status and plasma elastase level in a group of subjects with stable coronary heart disease (CHD), at baseline and during an exercise test.

Detrimental effects of anabolic steroids on human endothelial cells.

The aim of this study is to investigate the effects in vitro induced by androgenic anabolic steroids (AAS) (testosterone, nandrolone, androstenedione, norandrostenedione, and norandrostenediol) used illicitly in sport competitions, on the proliferation ability, apoptosis and the intracellular calcium concentration ([Ca2+]i) in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs), selected as a prototype of a biological target system whose structure and function can be affected by steroids. For this purpose, we evaluated the proliferation inhibition by cytotoxic assay expressed as the concentration of drug inducing a 50% decrease in growth (IC50). The IC50 was reached for testosterone at 100 microM, androstenedione at 375 microM, nandrolone at 9 microM, norandrostenedione at 500 microM.

Persistence of the altered polymorphonuclear leukocyte rheological and metabolic variables after 12 months in juvenile myocardial infarction.

Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is associated with an elevated polymorphonuclear leukocyte (PMN) count and a PMN rheological impairment. In this study we evaluated two major rheological aspects (membrane fluidity and cytosolic Ca2+ concentration) in a group of young adults with AMI. We enrolled 41 AMI patients (39 men and 2 women; mean age 41.

Polymorphonuclear leukocyte membrane fluidity and cytosolic Ca2+ concentration in subjects with vascular atherosclerotic disease subdivided according to its extent.

An abnormal activation state of polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMN) plays a key role in organ injury induced by vascular atherosclerotic disease (VAD) and diabetes mellitus (DM). PMN membrane fluidity and cytosolic Ca2+ content can be considered markers of PMN activation. In this research we evaluated the PMN membrane fluidity and cytosolic Ca2+ content in VAD subjects with and without type 2 DM and examined the association between these parameters and the mono- or polyvascular localization.