Interleukin-6, C-Reactive Protein, and Recurrence After Stroke: A Time-Course Analysis of Individual-Participant Data.

Background: Inflammation promotes atherogenesis. Randomized controlled trials of anti-inflammatory therapies for prevention after stroke have not yet demonstrated clear benefit. IL-6 (interleukin-6) and hsCRP (high-sensitivity C-reactive protein) are independently associated with major adverse cardiovascular events poststroke and may guide patient selection in future randomized controlled trials.

Plasma fibrinogen and risk of vascular recurrence after ischaemic stroke: An individual participant and summary-level data meta-analysis of 11 prospective studies.

Introduction: Inflammation is an emerging target for secondary prevention after stroke and randomised trials of anti-inflammatory therapies are ongoing. Fibrinogen, a putative pro-inflammatory marker, is associated with first stroke, but its association with major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) after stroke is unclear.

Materials And Methods: We did a systematic review investigating the association between fibrinogen and post-stroke vascular recurrence.

C-Reactive Protein, Interleukin-6, and Vascular Recurrence According to Stroke Subtype: An Individual Participant Data Meta-Analysis.

Background And Objectives: Anti-inflammatory therapies reduce major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) in coronary artery disease but remain unproven after stroke. Establishing the subtype-specific association between inflammatory markers and recurrence risk is essential for optimal selection of patients in randomized trials (RCTs) of anti-inflammatory therapies for secondary stroke prevention.

Methods: Using individual participant data (IPD) identified from a systematic review, we analyzed the association between high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, interleukin-6 (IL-6), and vascular recurrence after ischemic stroke or transient ischemic attack.

C-Reactive Protein, Interleukin-6, and Vascular Recurrence After Stroke: An Individual Participant Data Meta-Analysis.

Background: Anti-inflammatory therapies reduce recurrent vascular events in coronary disease. Existing studies have reported highly conflicting findings for the association of blood inflammatory markers with vascular recurrence after stroke leading to uncertainty about the potential of anti-inflammatory therapies after stroke and no consensus about the utility of measurement of inflammatory markers in current guidelines.

Methods: We investigated the association between hsCRP (high-sensitivity C-reactive protein), IL-6 (interluekin-6), and recurrent major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE), and stroke from individual participant data from 8420 patients with ischemic stroke/transient ischemic attack from 10 prospective studies.

Risk of New-Diagnosed Atrial Fibrillation After Transient Ischemic Attack.

Background: Transient ischemic attack (TIA) provides a unique opportunity to optimize secondary preventive treatments to avoid subsequent ischemic stroke (SIS). Although atrial fibrillation (AF) is the leading cause of cardioembolism in IS and anticoagulation prevents stroke recurrence (SR), limited data exists about the risk of new-diagnosed AF (NDAF) after TIA and the consequences of the diagnostic delay. The aim of our study was to determine this risk in a cohort of TIA patients with long-term follow-up.

Prevalence and Predictors of Cerebral Microangiopathy Determined by Pulsatility Index in an Asymptomatic Population From the ILERVAS Project.

Little is known about the prevalence of cerebral microangiopathy (CM), which is related to cognitive impairment, in an asymptomatic population. Pulsatility index (PI) is an easily measurable parameter of cerebral vascular resistance in transcranial duplex of the middle cerebral artery (MCA) study. We aimed to determine the prevalence of CM measured by PI of MCA in low to moderate vascular risk subjects.

Basal IL-6 and S100b levels are associated with infarct volume.

Objectives: The study of biomarkers related to the infarct volume of acute ischaemic stroke (AIS) is a valuable clinical strategy. We conducted a prospective study to evaluate the relationship between a wide panel of biomarkers involved in different biochemical pathways and lesion volume.

Materials & Methods: We studied 332 patients with AIS.

Giant Cell Arteritis: When an Inspection Is Essential.

Introduction: The diagnosis of giant cell arteritis is based on clinical and analytical data. The definitive diagnosis is based on histopathologic study.

Case Report: We present a patient with a typical headache, a prominent temporal artery in the examination, anemia, and elevation in erythrocyte sedimentation rate and C-reactive protein in blood analysis, and a halo sign in the sonography study, all compatible with giant cell arteritis.

A Less Frequent Etiology of Limb Shaking Syndrome: A Severe Middle Cerebral Artery Stenosis.

Background: Limb Shaking Syndrome (LSS) is usually associated with internal carotid occlusion. There are few reported-cases in context of middle cerebral artery stenosis.

Methods: We presented LSS in a patient with middle cerebral artery stenosis disease.

Sex-Related Differences in Clinical Features, Neuroimaging, and Long-Term Prognosis After Transient Ischemic Attack.

Background And Purpose: Differences in sex in the incidence, presentation, and outcome of events after ischemic stroke have been studied in depth. In contrast, only limited data are available after transient ischemic attack (TIA). We aim to assess sex-related differences in the presentation, cause, neuroimaging features, and predictors of long-term prognosis in patients with TIA.

REMOTE Ischemic Perconditioning Among Acute Ischemic Stroke Patients in Catalonia: REMOTE-CAT PROJECT.

Remote ischemic perconditioning during cerebral ischemia (RIPerC) refers to the application of brief episodes of transient limb ischemia commonly to a limb, it represents a new safe, simple and low-cost paradigm in neuroprotection. To evaluate the effects of RIPerC on acute ischemic stroke (AIS) patients, applied in the ambulance, to improve functional outcomes compared with standard of care. A sample size of 286 patients in each arm achieves 80% power to detect treatment differences of 14% in the outcome, using a two-sided binomial test at significance level of 0.

Induced neuroprotection by remote ischemic perconditioning as a new paradigm in ischemic stroke at the acute phase, a systematic review.

Background: Remote ischemic conditioning during cerebral ischemia (remote ischemic perconditioning, RIPerC) refers to the application of several cycles of brief ischemia and reperfusion (I/R) commonly to a limb, and it represents a new paradigm in neuroprotection with multiple mechanisms of action in ischemic stroke (IS) patients during acute phase. Some clinical trials just finished, and a few others are still ongoing; gather the current knowledge and pull it down to influence the present and future studies was the goal of this paper.

Methods: A systematic review of published research papers and/or registered clinical trials since 2000 was performed.

Spanish validation of the telephone assessed Expanded Disability Status Scale and Patient Determined Disease Steps in people with multiple sclerosis.

Background: The Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) and Patient Determined Disease Steps (PDDS) are two of the most widely disability scales used in multiple sclerosis (MS). When physical visits are unavailable, remote evaluation through telephone interview may be helpful. We aimed to translate both scales into Spanish, and to 1) validate the telephone EDSS and PDDS, and 2) explore the association pattern between both telephone questionnaires.

Variably protease-sensitive prionopathy presenting within ALS/FTD spectrum.

We report clinico-pathological features of a 65-year-old woman and a 56-year-old man with a 5-year clinical history who had clinical and neuropathological characteristics of upper and lower motor neuron disease consistent with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and a frontotemporal atrophy pattern in case 2 without TDP-43 pathology. Instead, spongiform change and pathological prion protein deposits were observed in several brain regions. No prion protein gene mutations were found.

Clinical Neuropathology image 1-2017: incidental schwannoma of the posterior root.

No Abstract available.

Improved Chondrogenic Capacity of Collagen Hydrogel-Expanded Chondrocytes: In Vitro and in Vivo Analyses.

Background: The use of autologous chondrocytes in cartilage repair is limited because of loss of the cartilage phenotype during expansion. The mechanosensing capacity of chondrocytes suggests evaluating the use of soft substrates for in vitro expansion. Our aim was to test the expansion of chondrocytes on collagen hydrogels to improve their capacity for chondrogenesis after a number of passages.

Response of sheep chondrocytes to changes in substrate stiffness from 2 to 20 Pa: effect of cell passaging.

Aim: The influence of culture substrate stiffness (in the kPa range) on chondrocyte behavior has been described. Here we describe the response to variations in substrate stiffness in a soft range (2-20 Pa), as it may play a role in understanding cartilage physiopathology.

Methods: We developed a system for cell culture in substrates with different elastic moduli using collagen hydrogels and evaluated chondrocytes after 2, 4, and 7 days in monolayer and three-dimensional (3D) cultures.