Oxfordshire Community Stroke Project classification but not NIHSS predicts symptomatic intracerebral hemorrhage following thrombolysis.

Background: The Oxfordshire Community Stroke Project (OCSP) classification is a simple tool to categorize clinical stroke syndromes. We compared the outcomes of stroke patients after intravenous thrombolysis stratified by the baseline National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score or by the OCSP classification.

Methods: We assessed the safety of thrombolysis in consecutive stroke patients who received intravenous thrombolysis within 3h after onset.

Complications observed in older new haemodialysis patients in Taiwan.

Aim: We aimed to evaluate the impacts of heomodialysis (HD) in older patients, and potential consequences of adverse events for health insurance costs.

Methods: Two hundred and fifty-five new patients (130 were younger than 65 years and 125 were older than 65 years) who had received conventional HD for at least 1 year were reviewed.

Results: Older patients had significantly more arteriovenous (AV) shunt failures (0.

Atrial fibrillation predicts good functional outcome following intravenous tissue plasminogen activator in patients with severe stroke.

Objective: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is associated with poor outcome after intravenous thrombolysis probably due to greater pretreatment stroke severity. We conducted this retrospective study to determine whether AF is an independent predictor for clinical outcome in patients stratified by initial stroke severity.

Methods: A total of 143 acute ischemic stroke patients who received intravenous thrombolysis within 3h after onset were enrolled.

Glutamatergic input to the lateral hypothalamus stimulates ethanol intake: role of orexin and melanin-concentrating hormone.

Background: Glutamate (GLUT) in the lateral hypothalamus (LH) has been suggested to mediate reward behaviors and may promote the ingestion of drugs of abuse. This study tested the hypothesis that GLUT in the LH stimulates consumption of ethanol ( EtOH ) and that this effect occurs, in part, via its interaction with local peptides, hypocretin/orexin (OX), and melanin-concentrating hormone (MCH).

Methods: In Experiments 1 and 2, male Sprague-Dawley rats, after being trained to drink 9% EtOH , were microinjected in the LH with N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) or its antagonist, D-AP5, or with alpha-amino-5-methyl-3-hydroxy-4-isoxazole propionic acid (AMPA) or its antagonist, CNQX-ds.

Quantum-dot-tagged reduced graphene oxide nanocomposites for bright fluorescence bioimaging and photothermal therapy monitored in situ.

Quantum-dot-tagged reduced graphene oxide (QD-rGO) nanocomposites (left) internalized into targeted tumor cells display bright fluorescence from the QDs (right); by absorbing NIR radiation incident on the rGO and converting it into heat, they also cause simultaneous cell death and fluorescence reduction (bottom). The nanocomposite is thus capable of tumor imaging, photothermal therapy and in situ monitoring of treatment in progress.

A Parallel Thrombolysis Protocol with Nurse Practitioners As Coordinators Minimized Door-to-Needle Time for Acute Ischemic Stroke.

Introduction. Quick thrombolysis after stroke improved clinical outcomes. The study objective was to shorten door-to-needle time for thrombolysis.

Difference between CKD-EPI and MDRD equations in calculating glomerular filtration rate in patients with cirrhosis.

Aim: To evaluate the difference between the performance of the (CKD-EPI) and Modification of Diet in Renal Disease (MDRD) equations in cirrhotic patients.

Methods: From Jan 2004 to Oct 2008, 4127 cirrhotic patients were reviewed. Patients with incomplete data with respect to renal function were excluded; thus, a total of 3791 patients were included in the study.

Absolute interdialytic weight gain is more important than percent weight gain for intradialytic hypotension in heavy patients.

Aim: Few published reports have mentioned the difference between absolute interdialytic weight gain (IDWG) and IDWG/DW (IDWG%), and subsequent effects on daily dialysis. The aim of present study was to evaluate the difference between absolute IDWG and IDWG% in new haemodialysis patients.

Method: We retrospectively reviewed the records of 255 patients who recently received conventional haemodialysis for at least 1 year at the same centre from 1997 to 2008.

Hepatic concentrations of inorganic contaminants and their relationships with nutrient reserves in autumn-migrant common loons at Lake Erie.

Common loons (Gavia immer) are piscivorous, high-trophic level feeders that bioaccumulate inorganic contaminants at concentrations that can negatively impact their health and reproduction. Concentrations of inorganic contaminants, especially mercury (Hg), in blood, organs, and muscle have been quantified in common loons on breeding grounds, but these data are limited for migrating loons. We investigated sex- and age-related hepatic concentrations of inorganic contaminants in common loons (n = 53) that died from botulism and were salvaged at a Great Lakes staging area (i.

Risk factors of in-hospital mortality of intracerebral hemorrhage and comparison of ICH scores in a Taiwanese population.

Background And Purpose: Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) is associated with substantial morbidity and mortality. This study aimed to explore the risk factors associated with mortality and unfavorable outcome of ICH in Taiwan and to compare the predictive power with the existing ICH scores.

Methods: Medical records of the ICH patients consecutively admitted to a regional hospital between January 2003 and December 2006 were reviewed retrospectively.

Interdialytic weight gain does not influence the nutrition of new hemodialysis patients.

Objective: The aim of the present study was to assess the relationship between interdialytic weight gain (IDWG) and nutrition markers in hemodialysis (HD) patients, by means of repeated measures analysis.

Methods: The records of 255 patients, who had recently received conventional HD for a minimum of 1 year, were retrospectively reviewed. Nutrition markers, including serum albumin, serum phosphate, blood urea nitrogen, and creatinine, were recorded at monthly intervals and subjected to repeated measures analysis.

The dissociation between the diabetes and both Child-Pugh score and in-hospital mortality in cirrhotic patients due to hepatitis B, hepatitis C, or alcoholic.

Background: Up to 30% of the cirrhotic patients may clinically be classified as having diabetes. The aims of this retrospective study were to evaluate the prevalence of diabetes, its association with the severity of cirrhosis, and subsequent implication on mortality in a broad population of cirrhotic patients in Taiwan.

Methods: From January 2004 to October 2008, 4,127 cirrhotic patients were reviewed.

Elemental contaminants in livers of mute swans on lakes Erie and St. Clair.

Contaminant inputs to the lower Great Lakes (LGL) have decreased since the 1960s and 1970s, but elemental contaminants continue to enter the LGL watershed at levels that are potentially deleterious to migratory waterfowl. Mute swans (Cygnus olor) using the LGL primarily eat plants, are essentially nonmigratory, forage exclusively in aquatic systems, and have increased substantially in number in the last few decades. Therefore, mute swans are an ideal sentinel species for monitoring elemental contaminants available to herbivorous and omnivorous waterfowl that use the LGL.

Evidences of non-reactive mercury-selenium compounds generated from cultures of Pseudomonas fluorescens.

This work was designed to determine chemically inert mercury-selenium (Hg-Se) compounds formed in a culture of Pseudomonas fluorescens exposed to Hg(2+) and Se(IV) (selenite). To isolate these compounds, different digestion methods were studied and sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) lysis was selected. The Hg(0) and non-reactive Hg were determined in two series of cultures containing 0.

Determination of differential cross sections and kinetic energy release of co-products from central sliced images in photo-initiated dynamic processes.

For photo-initiated inelastic and reactive collisions, dynamic information can be extracted from central sliced images of state-selected Newton spheres of product species. An analysis framework has been established to determine differential cross sections and the kinetic energy release of co-products from experimental images. When one of the reactants exhibits a high recoil speed in a photo-initiated dynamic process, the present theory can be employed to analyze central sliced images from ion imaging or three-dimensional sliced fluorescence imaging experiments.

Reversible signal changes in MR diffusion-weighted imaging in a patient with status epilepticus.

Background: Abnormality in diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging representing early changes of acute ischemic lesions in human and animal models of focal status epilepticus has been reported to correlate with clinical outcome.

Case Report: We reported a 35 year-old woman with initial status epilepticus, probably related to previous head injury with traumatic intracerebral hemorrhage. The presenting MRI showed reversible hyperintensity lesions on DWI, which is probably corresponding to the epileptogenic lesion.

Renal function in patients with liver cirrhosis.

Background: Despite the poor prognosis of patients with both cirrhosis and renal failure, most reports on renal function and outcomes of cirrhosis have come from liver transplant registries. The present study aimed to investigate the association between renal function and cirrhosis in a broader population.

Methods: 3,857 patients were enrolled after the exclusion of patients with incomplete data.

Selective oxygen-plasma-etching technique for the formation of ZnO-FTO heterostructure nanotubes and their rectified photocatalytic properties.

A novel ZnO-FTO heterostructure nanotube array was produced by combining a chemical solution process with oxygen-plasma etching. In this approach, presynthesized ZnO nanorod arrays act as templates, and FTO nanoparticles are deposited onto the ZnO nanorods by a simple spray pyrolysis method. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis demonstrated that the oxygen-plasma treatment decreased the O(2-)/OH(-) concentration ratio, resulting in dissociation of the Zn-O bonds and the outward diffusion of Zn cations to form an interior hollow, which is related to the formation of the hydroxyl functional group, Sn-OH, at the FTO surface.

Primary hyperparathyroidism in Taiwan: clinical features and prevalence in a single-center experience.

In Taiwan, urolithiasis remains a common manifestation of primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT). We designed this study to estimate the prevalence of PHPT in asymptomatic adults and to assess the complications already present when the disease was diagnosed. In the first phase of the study, we retrospectively reviewed 50 patients diagnosed with surgically or biochemically proven PHPT between April 1995 and April 2007.

Three-dimensional sliced fluorescence imaging in bulbs.

To study dynamic behaviors of molecular photodissociation processes and photoinitiated inelastic and reactive collisions in a bulb environment, a three-dimensional sliced fluorescence imaging method has been developed. This experimental method combines the sliced fluorescence imaging techniques and a double resonance spectroscopic detection scheme to acquire the central slice of state-selected Newton spheres of scattering products. To illustrate the essence and simplicity of the present method, experimental images of state-selected CN photofragments from the ICN photodissociation are presented.

Cerebral amyloid angiopathy in East and West.

Cerebral amyloid angiopathy, a vasculopathy characterised by the deposition of amyloid fibrils in the arteries and arterioles in the cerebral cortex and meninges, has been reported to be associated with intracerebral haemorrhage and cognitive impairment in the elderly. Advances in neuroimaging and validation of the clinical diagnostic criteria aid in making a correct clinical diagnosis. Associations with Alzheimer's disease, asymptomatic microbleeds and white matter changes on neuroimaging have an influence on the clinical treatment for patients with probable cerebral amyloid angiopathy.

Get With the Guidelines-Stroke performance indicators: surveillance of stroke care in the Taiwan Stroke Registry: Get With the Guidelines-Stroke in Taiwan.

Background: Stroke is a leading cause of death around the world. Improving the quality of stroke care is a global priority, despite the diverse healthcare economies across nations. The American Heart Association/American Stroke Association Get With the Guidelines-Stroke program (GWTG-Stroke) has improved the quality of stroke care in 790 US academic and community hospitals, with broad implications for the rest of the country.

Predictors of ethanol consumption in adult Sprague-Dawley rats: relation to hypothalamic peptides that stimulate ethanol intake.

To investigate mechanisms in outbred animals that increase the propensity to consume ethanol, it is important to identify and characterize these animals before or at early stages in their exposure to ethanol. In the present study, different measures were examined in adult Sprague-Dawley rats to determine whether they can predict long-term propensity to overconsume ethanol. Before consuming 9% ethanol with a two-bottle choice paradigm, rats were examined with the commonly used behavioral measures of novelty-induced locomotor activity and anxiety, as assessed during 15 min in an open-field activity chamber.