Pediatric Acute Ischemic Stroke by Age-Group: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Published Studies and Hospitalization Records.

Background: Although stroke is rare among the pediatric population, it is nevertheless associated with serious or life-threatening consequences. The etiologic factors of acute ischemic stroke (AIS) are likely to vary over the course of childhood development. The incidence rates of AIS, not previously systematically examined by pediatric age subgroup, could guide studies of its etiology.

Ketamine Reduces Inflammation Pathways in the Hypothalamus and Hippocampus Following Transient Hypoxia in the Late-Gestation Fetal Sheep.

The physiological response to hypoxia in the fetus has been extensively studied with regard to redistribution of fetal combined ventricular output and sparing of oxygen delivery to fetal brain and heart. Previously, we have shown that the fetal brain is capable of mounting changes in gene expression that are consistent with tissue inflammation. The present study was designed to use transcriptomics and systems biology modeling to test the hypothesis that ketamine reduces or prevents the upregulation of inflammation-related pathways in hypothalamus and hippocampus after transient hypoxic hypoxia.

Post-hypoxia Invasion of the fetal brain by multidrug resistant Staphylococcus.

Herein we describe an association between activation of inflammatory pathways following transient hypoxia and the appearance of the multidrug resistant bacteria Staphylococcus simulans in the fetal brain. Reduction of maternal arterial oxygen tension by 50% over 30 min resulted in a subseiuent significant over-expression of genes associated with immune responses 24 h later in the fetal brain. The activated genes were consistent with stimulation by bacterial lipopolysaccharide; an influx of macrophages and appearance of live bacteria were found in these fetal brains.

Ketamine decreases inflammatory and immune pathways after transient hypoxia in late gestation fetal cerebral cortex.

Transient hypoxia in pregnancy stimulates a physiological reflex response that redistributes blood flow and defends oxygen delivery to the fetal brain. We designed the present experiment to test the hypotheses that transient hypoxia produces damage of the cerebral cortex and that ketamine, an antagonist ofNMDAreceptors and a known anti-inflammatory agent, reduces the damage. Late gestation, chronically catheterized fetal sheep were subjected to a 30-min period of ventilatory hypoxia that decreased fetal PaO2from 17 ± 1 to 10 ± 1 mmHg, or normoxia (PaO217 ± 1 mmHg), with or without pretreatment (10 min before hypoxia/normoxia) with ketamine (3 mg/kg, i.