Exploring stroke risk and prevention in China: insights from an outlier.

In contrast to the declining trend in most regions worldwide, the incidence of stroke is increasing in China and is leading to an alarming burden for the national healthcare system. In this review, we have generated new insights from this outlier, and we aim to provide new information that will help decrease the global stroke burden, especially in China and other regions sharing similar problems with China. First of all, several unsolved aspects fundamentally accounting for this discrepancy were promising, including the serious situation of hypertension management, underdiagnosis of atrial fibrillation and underuse of anticoagulants, and unhealthy lifestyles (e.

Klippel-Trenaunay and Sturge-Weber Overlap Syndrome with KRAS and GNAQ mutations.

Patients with combined phenotypes of Sturge-Weber syndrome and Klippel-Trenaunay syndrome have been reported, though the underlying genetic spectrum in these individuals remains to be elucidated. We reported the patient presenting with Klippel-Trenaunay and Sturge-Weber overlap syndrome in mainland China. Histopathologic study confirmed the hemangioma of vein and capillary.

Analysis of postpartum reversible cerebral vasoconstriction syndrome in China: A case report and literature review.

Reversible cerebral vasoconstriction syndrome (RCVS) is a rare clinical syndrome accompanying with severe headache as its main symptom. Postpartum reversible cerebral vasoconstriction syndrome (PPRCVS) refers to RCVS occurring in the puerperium, in which it has a low incidence, and that is easily missed diagnosed and misdiagnosed in clinical practice.By searching in CNKI and Wanfang databases, 9 published articles reported PPRCVS were found, totally including 12 cases with PPRCVS.

Association of Cerebral Arterial Stiffness with Initial Severity in Acute Ischemic Stroke.

Aim: To evaluate the association between cerebral arterial stiffness, measured using carotid-cerebral pulse wave velocity (ccPWV), and the initial severity estimated by the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) after acute ischemic stroke (AIS).

Methods: We prospectively studied 402 consecutive patients with first-ever acute cerebral infarction who underwent brain multimodal magnetic resonance, ccPWV, echocardiography, and carotid ultrasonography during the admission period. Their stroke subtypes were classified using the Trial of Org 10172 in Acute Stroke Treatment classification.

Cerebral Arterial Stiffness as A New Marker of Early Stage Atherosclerosis of The Cerebral Large Artery in Acute Stroke.

Aim: Carotid-cerebral pulse wave velocity (ccPWV) reflects the segment (C-M segment) stiffness between the common carotid artery and ipsilateral middle cerebral artery. C-M segment atherosclerosis (CMSA) is regarded the most frequent cause of anterior circulation ischemic stroke. We aimed to evaluate the association of ccPWV with early stage CMSA in this study.

Vagus Nerve Stimulation Attenuates Cerebral Microinfarct and Colitis-induced Cerebral Microinfarct Aggravation in Mice.

Cerebral cortical microinfarct (CMI) is common in patients with dementia and cognitive decline. Emerging studies reported that intestinal dysfunction influenced the outcome of ischemic stroke and that vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) protected against ischemic stroke. However, the effects of intestinal dysfunction and VNS on CMI are not clear.

Association between Cerebral Arterial Stiffness and Large Artery Atherosclerosis in Acute Ischemic Stroke.

Background And Purpose: Carotid-cerebral pulse wave velocity (ccPWV) reflects the segment (C-M segment) stiffness between common carotid artery and ipsilateral middle cerebral artery. The C-M segment atherosclerosis (CMSA) is regarded as a most frequent cause of anterior circulation ischemic stroke. We therefore, attempted to investigate the relationship between cerebral arterial stiffness and CMSA, and provide reliable data for the early diagnosis of CMSA.

Ischemic stroke damages the intestinal mucosa and induces alteration of the intestinal lymphocytes and CCL19 mRNA in rats.

The immunoreaction has a pivotal effect on ischemic stroke. It has been demonstrated that intestinal lymphocytes infiltrate into the brain and aggravate tissue injury after stroke. However, less attention has been paid to the influence on the intestinal immunology as well as morphology.

Intravenous PEP-1-GDNF is protective after focal cerebral ischemia in rats.

Glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) is a potential therapeutic protein on a variety of central nervous system diseases including ischemic stroke. However, GDNF is a large molecule that cannot cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB), which is still intact in the early hours after stroke when neural rescue is possible. PEP-1 protein transduction domain can deliver protein cargo across the cell membrane and the BBB.

[Effects of thymectomy on bone age and height development in juvenile myasthenia gravis].

Objective: To explore the effects of clinical indicators, particularly thymectomy on the development of juvenile myasthenia gravis (JMG) through the developmental status of bone age (BA) and height.

Methods: A cross-sectional study of 80 JMG patients was recruited to examine whether JMG patients had the abnormalities of height and bone development according to the distribution of height standard deviation score (Ht SDS) and BA.

Results: The mean BA was delayed by (0.

Spontaneous white matter lesion in brain of stroke-prone renovascular hypertensive rats: a study from MRI, pathology and behavior.

Hypertension is considered one of the most important controllable risk factors for white matter lesion (WML). Our previous work found that stroke-prone renovascular hypertensive rats (RHRSP) displayed a high rate of WML. This study aimed to investigate the WML in RHRSP from MRI, pathology and behavior.

Beclin 1 knockdown retards re-endothelialization and exacerbates neointimal formation via a crosstalk between autophagy and apoptosis.

Objective: Endothelial regeneration is an essential process for the prevention of excessive neointimal formation following endothelial denudation. Beclin 1, a mammalian autophagy gene, is a link between autophagy and apoptosis. We hypothesized that the interference of Beclin 1 can influence re-endothelialization and ultimately affect neointimal formation by regulating autophagy and apoptosis.

Exogenous fractalkine enhances proliferation of endothelial cells, promotes migration of endothelial progenitor cells and improves neurological deficits in a rat model of ischemic stroke.

Fractalkine/CX3CL1, also called neurotactin, has been described as an angiogenic agent, and its expression is up-regulated in the penumbra after ischemia. This study was conducted to investigate the neovascular potential of fractalkine on rat models of transient middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO). Rats receiving intracerebroventricular injections of fractalkine were found to have improved neurological deficits, reduced cerebral infarct size and increased neuron survival for both doses (100ng and 1μg).

Scutellarin attenuates hypertension-induced expression of brain Toll-like receptor 4/nuclear factor kappa B.

Hypertension is associated with low-grade inflammation, and Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) has been shown to be linked to the development and maintenance of hypertension. This study aimed to investigate the effects of scutellarin (administered by oral gavage daily for 2 weeks) on brain TLR4/nuclear factor kappa B-(NF- κ B-) mediated inflammation and blood pressure in renovascular hypertensive (using the 2-kidney, 2-clip method) rats. Immunofluorescence and western immunoblot analyses revealed that hypertension contributed to the activation of TLR4 and NF- κ B, accompanied by significantly enhanced expression of proinflammatory mediators, such as tumor necrosis factor- α (TNF- α ), interleukin-1 β (IL-1 β ), and interleukin-18 (IL-18).

Stroke-prone renovascular hypertensive rat as an animal model for stroke studies: from artery to brain.

High blood pressure is a main risk factor for both initial and recurrent stroke. Compared to the post stroke situation in normotension, the brain lesion is larger in hypertension, and the treatments may not be as effective. Thus, the results from healthy individuals may not be directly applied to the hypertensive.

Physical exercise improves functional recovery through mitigation of autophagy, attenuation of apoptosis and enhancement of neurogenesis after MCAO in rats.

Background: Physical exercise improves functional recovery after stroke through a complex mechanism that is not fully understood. Transient focal cerebral ischemia induces autophagy, apoptosis and neurogenesis in the peri-infarct region. This study is aimed to examine the effects of physical exercise on autophagy, apoptosis and neurogenesis in the peri-infarct region in a rat model of transient middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO).

[Response to thymectomy and analysis of influencing factors in the treatment of children with myasthenia gravis].

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of thymectomy and relevant influencing factors in the treatment of children with myasthenia gravis through a long-term follow-up.

Methods: The clinical records of 59 patients undergoing expanded thymectomy for the treatment of myasthenia gravis (MG) between January 2003 and August 2009 were reviewed retrospectively. Their postoperative outcomes were categorized into complete stable remission (CSR), pharmacological remission (PR), improvement, no change and deterioration (including mortality).

Marine cyclotripeptide X-13 promotes angiogenesis in zebrafish and human endothelial cells via PI3K/Akt/eNOS signaling pathways.

Cyclotripeptide X-13 is a core of novel marine compound xyloallenoide A isolated from mangrove fungus Xylaria sp. (no. 2508).

Hypoxia inducible factor-1alpha mediates protection of DL-3-n-butylphthalide in brain microvascular endothelial cells against oxygen glucose deprivation-induced injury.

Studies have demonstrated that DL-3-n-butylphthalide can significantly alleviate oxygen glucose deprivation-induced injury of human umbilical vein endothelial cells at least partly associated with its enhancement on oxygen glucose deprivation -induced hypoxia inducible factor-1α expression. In this study, we hypothesized that DL-3-n-butylphthalide can protect against oxygen glucose deprivation-induced injury of newborn rat brain microvascular endothelial cells by means of upregulating hypoxia inducible factor-1α expression. MTT assay and Hoechst staining results showed that DL-3-n-butylphthalide protected brain microvascular endothelial cells against oxygen glucose deprivation-induced injury in a dose-dependent manner.

Peroxisome proliferator activated receptor (PPAR)-γ co-activator 1-α and hypoxia induced factor-1α mediate neuro- and vascular protection by hypoxic preconditioning in vitro.

Preconditioning-induced cellular adaptation is a new therapeutic strategy for ischemic stroke. This research aims to examine the role of peroxisome proliferator activated receptor (PPAR)-γ co-activator 1-α (PGC-1α) and hypoxia induced factor-1α (HIF-1α) in hypoxic preconditioning-induced protection. In this study, rat artery endothelial cells and neuronal PC12 cells were preconditioned with hypoxia before oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD) insult.

[Roles of Bacillus Calmette-Guérin with immunological memory in the pathogenesis of myasthenia gravis].

Objective: To explore the roles of immunological memory in the pathogenesis of myasthenia gravis (MG) by Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG).

Methods: For this randomized comparative clinical trial, 58 newly diagnosed MG patients and 32 age-and-gender-matched healthy controls were analyzed by purified protein derivative (PPD) test. The results were observed after 72 hours.

[Therapeutic efficacy and safety of tacrolimus for intractable myasthenia gravis: a report of 36 patients].

Objective: To examine the efficacies and adverse events of low-dose tacrolimus in intractable myasthenia gravis (MG) patients during a long-term follow-up.

Methods: Tacrolimus was administered at 0.1 mg×kg(-1)×d(-1) to 36 generalized or ocular MG patients at our department from November 2008 to December 2010.

dl-3n-Butylphthalide promotes angiogenesis via the extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 and phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/Akt-endothelial nitric oxide synthase signaling pathways.

We have previously demonstrated that dl-3n-butylphthalide (NBP) has a potential angiogenic activity. In this study, we investigated the angiogenic effect of NBP and the molecular mechanisms underlying NBP-mediated angiogenesis. Zebrafish embryos and human umbilical vein endothelial cells were treated with various doses of NBP and several signaling pathway inhibitors.