Association between Carotid Artery Stenosis and Cognitive Impairment in Stroke Patients: A Cross-Sectional Study.

To investigate potential associations between carotid artery stenosis and cognitive impairment among patients with acute ischemic stroke and to provide important clinical implications. We measured the degree of carotid artery stenosis and recorded the Mini-Mental State Examination score (MMSE) at admission in 3116 acute ischemic stroke patients. The association between carotid stenosis and cognitive impairment assessed by MMSE was tested using multivariate regression analysis.

The --174 G to C polymorphism of interleukin-6 gene is very rare in koreans.

The proinflammatory cytokine, interleukin-6 (IL-6), seems to be involved in the pathogenesis and progression of IgA nephropathy. Moreover, the transcriptional activity of the IL-6 gene and the plasma levels of IL-6 protein are associated with a single G/C base exchange polymorphism at position -174 of the IL-6 gene promoter. Using PCR-RFLP and PCR product sequencing, we examined the -174 polymorphism in 104 IgA nephropathy patients and in 53 of the normal Korean population.