Publications by authors named "Stringer M"

Objective: After a recent small subcortical infarct (RSSI), some patients develop perilesional or remote hyperintensities ('caps/tracks') to the index infarct on T2/FLAIR MRI. However, their clinical relevance remains unclear. We investigated the clinicoradiological correlates of 'caps/tracks', and their impact on long-term outcomes following RSSI.

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Background: White matter hyperintensities (WMHs) are established structural imaging markers of cerebral small vessel disease. The pathophysiologic condition of brain tissue varies over the core, the vicinity, and the subtypes of WMH and cannot be interpreted from conventional magnetic resonance imaging. We aim to improve our pathophysiologic understanding of WMHs and the adjacently injured normal-appearing white matter in terms of microstructural and microvascular alterations using quantitative magnetic resonance imaging in patients with sporadic and genetic cerebral small vessel disease.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study aimed to evaluate relationships between three key cerebrovascular functions (blood-brain barrier permeability, vascular pulsatility, and cerebrovascular reactivity) in patients with cerebral small vessel diseases (SVD), including both sporadic cases and a genetic condition known as CADASIL.
  • Researchers used advanced brain imaging techniques to analyze these functions in a group of 77 patients, assessing how they relate to SVD severity, subtype, and specific brain changes.
  • Findings revealed that worse white matter hyperintensity (WMH) was linked to lower cerebrovascular reactivity and blood plasma volume fraction, with the type of SVD having little impact on these vascular functions after accounting for WMH severity.
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Background And Objectives: In patients with cerebral small vessel disease (SVD), impaired cerebrovascular reactivity (CVR) is related to worse concurrent SVD burden, but less is known about cerebrovascular reactivity and long-term SVD lesion progression and clinical outcomes. We investigated associations between cerebrovascular reactivity and 1-year progression of SVD features and clinical outcomes.

Methods: Between 2018 and 2021, we recruited patients from the Edinburgh/Lothian stroke services presenting with minor ischemic stroke and SVD features as part of the Mild Stroke Study 3, a prospective observational cohort study (ISRCTN 12113543).

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Optical coherence tomography angiography (OCT-A) retinal imaging enables visualization of the retinal microvasculature that is developmentally related to the brain and can offer insight on cerebrovascular health. We investigated retinal phenotypes and neuroimaging markers of small vessel disease (SVD) in individuals with obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA). We enrolled 44 participants (mean age 50.

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Article Synopsis
  • A significant portion of ischemic strokes are classified as lacunar subtypes, often characterized by recent small subcortical infarcts (RSSIs), but the long-term effects of these conditions are not well understood.
  • In a study involving 108 participants, hemosiderin deposits (HDs) were found in over half of them within 3 months, and in about 77% within 12 months, with a notable "rim" pattern suggesting they could resemble primary hemorrhage.
  • The study highlighted that the volume of the infarct and a higher total small vessel disease (SVD) score are predictive of the presence of HDs, emphasizing the importance of not misinterpreting these deposits as signs of bleeding in chronic
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Background: White matter hyperintensity (WMH) progression is well documented; WMH regression is more contentious, which might reflect differences in defining WMH change. We compared four existing WMH change definitions in one population to determine the effect of definition on WMH regression.

Methods: We recruited patients with minor non-disabling ischaemic stroke who underwent MRI 1-3 months after stroke and 1 year later.

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Article Synopsis
  • - The study aimed to investigate how often new brain infarcts occur within a year after a minor stroke and their connections to existing cerebral small vessel disease (SVD), vascular risk factors, and cognitive decline.
  • - Researchers followed 229 stroke patients over a year, using MRI scans to find 117 new infarcts in 24.8% of participants, primarily in small subcortical areas rather than cortical areas.
  • - The baseline SVD score was found to be the strongest predictor of new infarcts, while cognitive tests at one year showed lower scores correlated with previous cognitive performance and intelligence, indicating a potential decline in cognitive function related to these infarcts.
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Cytopathology, crucial in disease diagnosis, commonly uses microscopic slides to scrutinize cellular abnormalities. However, processing high volumes of samples often results in numerous negative diagnoses, consuming significant time and resources in healthcare. To address this challenge, a surface acoustic wave-enhanced multi-view acoustofluidic rotation cytometry (MARC) technique is developed for pre-cytopathological screening.

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White matter hyperintensities (WMH), a common feature of cerebral small vessel disease, are related to worse clinical outcomes after stroke. We assessed the impact of white matter hyperintensity changes over 1 year after minor stroke on change in mobility and dexterity, including differences between the dominant and non-dominant hands and objective in-person assessment versus patient-reported experience. We recruited participants with lacunar or minor cortical ischaemic stroke, performed medical and cognitive assessments and brain MRI at presentation and at 1 year.

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Wheat bran is an abundant and low valued agricultural feedstock rich in valuable biomolecules as arabinoxylans (AX) and ferulic acid with important functional and biological properties. An integrated bioprocess combining subcritical water extraction (SWE) and enzymatic treatments has been developed for maximised recovery of feruloylated arabinoxylans and oligosaccharides from wheat bran. A minimal enzymatic cocktail was developed combining one xylanase from different glycosyl hydrolase families and a feruloyl esterase.

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Background: White matter hyperintensities (WMHs) might regress and progress contemporaneously, but we know little about underlying mechanisms. We examined WMH change and underlying quantitative magnetic resonance imaging tissue measures over 1 year in patients with minor ischemic stroke with sporadic cerebral small vessel disease.

Methods And Results: We defined areas of stable normal-appearing white matter, stable WMHs, progressing and regressing WMHs based on baseline and 1-year brain magnetic resonance imaging.

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  • There’s growing interest in using perivascular spaces (PVS) as a biomarker for brain dysfunction due to their link to cerebrovascular diseases, prompting the development of new neuroimaging techniques.
  • A study evaluates improvements to a common PVS segmentation method using vesselness filters on MRI scans from patients with small vessel disease, emphasizing the need for tailored threshold selections based on different brain regions.
  • Findings suggest T2-weighted MRI images are preferable for assessing PVS, as the Frangi filter outperforms others in accurately segmenting PVS, particularly against noise and threshold variability.
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Attention is a crucial cognitive function that enables us to selectively focus on relevant information from the surrounding world to achieve our goals. Impairments in sustained attention pose challenges, particularly in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by impulsive and inattentive behavior. While psychostimulant medications are the most effective ADHD treatment, they often yield unwanted side effects, making it crucial to explore non-pharmacological treatments.

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Aberrant neurodevelopment in Down syndrome (DS)-caused by triplication of human chromosome 21-is commonly attributed to gene dosage imbalance, linking overexpression of trisomic genes with disrupted developmental processes, with DYRK1A particularly implicated. We hypothesized that regional brain DYRK1A protein overexpression in trisomic mice varies over development in sex-specific patterns that may be distinct from Dyrk1a transcription, and reduction of Dyrk1a copy number from 3 to 2 in otherwise trisomic mice reduces DYRK1A, independent of other trisomic genes. DYRK1A overexpression varied with age, sex, and brain region, with peak overexpression on postnatal day (P) 6 in both sexes.

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Although dementia research has been dominated by Alzheimer's disease (AD), most dementia in older people is now recognised to be due to mixed pathologies, usually combining vascular and AD brain pathology. Vascular cognitive impairment (VCI), which encompasses vascular dementia (VaD) is the second most common type of dementia. Models of VCI have been delayed by limited understanding of the underlying aetiology and pathogenesis.

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Background: Hypertension is the leading risk factor for cerebral small vessel disease. We aimed to determine whether antihypertensive drug classes differentially affect microvascular function in people with small vessel disease.

Methods: We did a multicentre, open-label, randomised crossover trial with blinded endpoint assessment at five specialist centres in Europe.

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Background: Cerebrovascular reactivity (CVR) is inversely related to white matter hyperintensity severity, a marker of cerebral small vessel disease (SVD). Less is known about the relationship between CVR and other SVD imaging features or cognition. We aimed to investigate these cross-sectional relationships.

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Background: Hyperthermia is a known risk for sudden unexpected infant death. The practice of hat placement at birth to prevent transient hypothermia may not be necessary and sets an early standard for clothing infants that may lead to hyperthermia postnatally.

Objective: To examine the elimination of hats on thermoregulation (eg, hypothermia, <97.

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Cereal arabinoxylans (AXs) are complex polysaccharides in terms of their pattern of arabinose and ferulic acid substitutions, which influence their properties in structural and nutritional applications. We have evaluated the influence of the molecular structure of three AXs from wheat and rye with distinct substitutions on the activity of β-xylanases from different glycosyl hydrolase families (GH 5_34, 8, 10 and 11). The arabinose and ferulic acid substitutions influence the accessibility of the xylanases, resulting in specific profiles of arabinoxylan-oligosaccharides (AXOS).

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Background: The paranasal sinus mucosal thickening, visible in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), maybe a source of inflammation in microvessels, but its relationship with small vessel disease (SVD) is unclear. We reviewed the literature and analysed a sample of patients with sporadic SVD to identify any association between paranasal sinus opacification severity and SVD neuroimaging markers.

Methods: We systematically reviewed MEDLINE and EMBASE databases up to April 2020 for studies on paranasal sinus mucosal changes in patients with SVD, cerebrovascular disease (CVD), and age-related neurodegenerative diseases.

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The cellular milieu is a solution crowded with a significant concentration of different components (proteins, nucleic acids, metabolites, ). Such a crowded environment affects protein conformations, dynamics, and interactions. Intrinsically disordered proteins and regions are particularly sensitive to these effects.

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Spinal cord stimulators (SCS) and peripheral nerve stimulators (PNS) are increasingly used in the treatment of chronic pain, allowing more patients to resume working and return to activities. Military service members face environmental and occupational hazards that expose them to mechanical and electromagnetic forces, both clinical and industrial, that could potentially alter their function. While there are reports of individual hazards, the risk appears to be nominal based on the large number of devices in use and the limited reported complications with these devices.

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Introduction: While 2D phase-contrast MRI is often used to examine intracranial vessels in neurovascular disease contexts, the ability of 4D flow to assess many vessels at once makes it an attractive alternative. We aimed to assess the repeatability, reliability, and conformity of 2D and 4D flow across intracranial vessels.

Methods: Using correlation analyses and paired -tests, test-retest repeatability, intra-rater reliability, and inter-method conformity for measurements of pulsatility index (PI) and mean flow were assessed in the arteries and veins of 11 healthy volunteers.

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Article Synopsis
  • - The study reviews existing controversies about brain fluid dynamics and tests if conventional MRI can visualize brain fluid outflow pathways and their connection to small vessel disease (SVD).
  • - Researchers conducted a pilot study on 19 subjects and found significant increases in signal intensity along various fluid outflow routes after administering Gadolinium contrast, indicating that interstitial fluid drainage can be assessed using MRI.
  • - The results showed a link between fluid drainage and increased perivascular spaces in the brain, suggesting further research is needed to explore this relationship in humans.
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