Outcome evaluation of pharmacist-physician collaborative protocol-based antimicrobial treatment for hospitalized stroke patients with aspiration pneumonia.

Objectives: To evaluate the efficacy and patient outcomes of pharmacist-physician collaborative protocol-based antimicrobial treatment regimens for antimicrobial stewardship.

Methods: Patients treated for aspiration pneumonia due to stroke within 48 h after admission to Kochi Medical School Hospital (January 2019 to December 2022) were included. Primary outcomes were the cumulative number of days of antimicrobial treatment and length of hospital stay.

Cerebrospinal Fluid Refill Test as a Novel Diagnostic Tool for Cerebrospinal Fluid Hypovolemia: Preliminary Result.

Objective: Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) hypovolemia presents with orthostatic headaches due to CSF leakage. However, a direct association between the lack of CSF and clinical symptoms has not been found. CSF hypovolemia can be improved by refilling CSF.

Impact of areal socioeconomic status on prehospital delay of acute ischaemic stroke: retrospective cohort study from a prefecture-wide survey in Japan.

Objectives: To examine whether the Areal Deprivation Index (ADI), an indicator of the socioeconomic status of the community the patient resides in, is associated with delayed arrival at the hospital and poor outcomes in patients with acute ischaemic stroke from a prefecture-wide stroke database in Japan.

Design: Retrospective study.

Setting: Twenty-nine acute stroke hospitals in Kochi prefecture, Japan.

The Cervical Spine as a Predominant Site of Cerebrospinal Fluid Leak: Preliminary Results Using the Overflow Leak Test.

Background: Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) hypovolemia is usually treated via an epidural blood patch (EBP). Accurate placement of the EBP at the site of CSF leakage is required for successful treatment of CSF hypovolemia. The thoracolumbar spine is evidently a common site of leakage, but because rates of detection of the leakage site via conventional imaging have historically not been high, there may be other common leakage sites.

[Preliminary Experience of a Biplane Flat Panel and Tailor-made Operating Table-equipped Hybrid Operating Room].

A hybrid operating room(Hybrid OR), where operative equipment and flat panel angiography are both available, is becoming common for complex cerebrovascular surgery. However, the current Hybrid OR remains suboptimal as it is not cost-effective and contains uncomfortable operating beds, and a single-plane flat panel. Therefore, we introduced a novel Hybrid OR system, which has a biplane flat panel detector and three mutually exchangeable tailor-made operating beds.

Impact of temperature decline from the previous day as a trigger of spontaneous subarachnoid hemorrhage: case-crossover study of prefectural stroke database.

Objective: Several environmental factors have been reported to correlate with incidence of spontaneous subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH). However, because of different patient selection and study designs among these studies, meteorological factors that trigger the incidence of SAH in a short hazard period remain unknown. Among meteorological factors, daily temperature changes may disrupt and violate homeostasis and predispose to cerebrovascular circulatory disturbances and strokes.

Secondary central nervous system lymphoma surrounding a region injured by subarachnoid hemorrhage and subsequent aneurysmal clipping.

The present case study describes a rare case of secondary central nervous system (CNS) lymphoma that infiltrated the dura and leptomeninges around the area injured by subarachnoid hemorrhage and subsequent aneurysmal clipping. Invasion of the CNS was observed by computed tomography as slurred fissures of the right parietal lobe adjacent to the surgery area. Subdural and subarachnoid enhancement overlapping the area injured by past surgical procedures was observed by contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging.

The neuroprotective and neurorescue effects of carbamylated erythropoietin Fc fusion protein (CEPO-Fc) in a rat model of Parkinson's disease.

Parkinson's disease is characterized by progressive degeneration of dopaminergic neurons. Thus the development of therapeutic neuroprotection and neurorescue strategies to mitigate disease progression is important. In this study we evaluated the neuroprotective/rescue effects of erythropoietin Fc fusion protein (EPO-Fc) and carbamylated erythropoietin Fc fusion protein (CEPO-Fc) in a rat model of Parkinson's disease.

Striatal stimulation nurtures endogenous neurogenesis and angiogenesis in chronic-phase ischemic stroke rats.

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is used to treat a variety of neurological disorders including Parkinson's disease. In this study, we explored the effects of striatal stimulation (SS) in a rat model of chronic-phase ischemic stroke. The stimulation electrode was implanted into the ischemic penumbra at 1 month after middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) and thereafter continuously delivered SS over a period of 1 week.

Urinary 8-OHdG elevations in a partial lesion rat model of Parkinson's disease correlate with behavioral symptoms and nigrostriatal dopaminergic depletion.

Increased oxidative stress contributes to pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease (PD). 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) is the oxidation product most frequently measured as an indicator of oxidative DNA damage. Several studies have shown increased 8-OHdG in PD patients.

Intravenous administration of mesenchymal stem cells exerts therapeutic effects on parkinsonian model of rats: focusing on neuroprotective effects of stromal cell-derived factor-1alpha.

Background: Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are pluripotent stem cells derived from bone marrow with secretory functions of various neurotrophic factors. Stromal cell-derived factor-1alpha (SDF-1alpha) is also reported as one of chemokines released from MSCs. In this research, the therapeutic effects of MSCs through SDF-1alpha were explored.

Exercise exerts neuroprotective effects on Parkinson's disease model of rats.

Recent studies demonstrate that rehabilitation ameliorates physical and cognitive impairments of patients with stroke, spinal cord injury, and other neurological diseases and that rehabilitation also has potencies to modulate brain plasticity. Here we examined the effects of compulsive exercise on Parkinson's disease model of rats. Before 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA, 20 microg) lesion into the right striatum of female SD rats, bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) was injected to label the proliferating cells.

Continuous intraventricular infusion of erythropoietin exerts neuroprotective/rescue effects upon Parkinson's disease model of rats with enhanced neurogenesis.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is characterized by degeneration of nigrostriatal dopaminergic neuronal systems. Several therapeutic tools for PD include medication using L-DOPA and surgeries such as deep brain stimulation are established. However, the therapies are considered as symptomatic therapy, but not basic remedy for PD and a new regenerative therapy would be desired to explore.

[High b-value diffusion-weighted imaging of acute brain infarction].

High b-value diffusion-weighted (DW) imaging obtained with a b-value of 2,000 s/mm2 offers theoretical advantages over DW imaging obtained with a b-value of 1,000 s/mm2 for detection of acute brain infarction. The purpose of this study was to determine whether high b-value DW images (b=2,000) are better than b=1,000 images for detection of diffusion change in patients with acute brain infarction. We compared diffusion-weighted (DW) images obtained with a b-value of 1,000 s/mm2 with those obtained with a b-value of 2,000 s/mm2 in 84 patients with small lesions (brain stem infarction, lacuna infarction) examined within 24 hours of clinical onset.