Early and late mortality of spontaneous hemorrhagic transformation of ischemic stroke.

Background: Hemorrhagic transformation (HT), a complication of ischemic stroke (IS), might influence patient's prognosis. Our aim is to evaluate, in a hospital-based series of patients not treated with thrombolysis, the relationship between HT and mortality.

Methods: We compared mortality of individuals with spontaneous HT with that of individuals without.

Progressive necrotic encephalopathy following tacrolimus therapy for liver transplantation.

Previously described neurologic damage induced by immunosuppressive treatments includes transient or reversible central nervous system involvement. We describe a 57-year-old man who underwent liver transplantation and was started on immunosuppressive therapy with tacrolimus (FK506). Six months later, he started complaining of a progressive motor and sensory impairment of the left side, together with cognitive impairment.

Frequency and determinants for hemorrhagic transformation of cerebral infarction.

Background: Frequency and associated risk factors for hemorrhagic transformation (HT), a worrying complication of ischemic stroke (IS), are not clearly defined. Our aim was to estimate the overall frequency and risk factors for HT in a hospital-based population.

Methods: A retrospective review of medical records of patients discharged from our department during the period 2004-2006 with a diagnosis of anterior IS.

Diabetes preceding Parkinson's disease onset. A case-control study.

Objective: To assess the association between diabetes preceding Parkinson's disease (PD) and PD.

Methods: PD individuals were matched to PD free individuals randomly selected from people in the same municipality as the cases. Occurrence of diabetes preceding PD onset among cases and controls was assessed through a structured questionnaire.

Predictors of caregiver burden in partners of patients with Parkinson's disease.

Aim of this study was to determine the predictors of caregiver burden among spouse caregivers of patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). Forty consecutive PD patients and their spouse caregivers were included. Patients were assessed using the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS), the Hoehn and Yahr scale (HY), the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), the Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI), and the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS).

Search for genetic factors associated with susceptibility to multiple sclerosis.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a cell-mediated autoimmune disease characterized by type-1 cytokine production. Environmental and individual genetic background might influence this response particularly in cytokine gene polymorphisms. We evaluated whether polymorphisms of interleukin (IL)-10, IL-12, and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha genes, which might play a role in MS pathogenesis, are associated with MS susceptibility.