Ischemic cerebral disease

BACKGROUND: High neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR) is associated with poor prognosis in ischemic stroke. However, the role of NLR in cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD) is controversial. Herein, we evaluated the value of NLR in identifying CSVD and its relationship with the common imaging markers of CSVD. METHODS: A total of 667 patients were enrolled in this study, including 368 in the CSVD group and 299 in the non-CSVD group. Clinical, laboratory, and imaging data were collected...

Citrobacter koseri (formerly classified as Citrobacter diversus ) is a gram-negative bacillus (GNB) that occurs as an opportunistic pathogen in neonates and immunocompromised patients. Citrobacter species have been implicated in nosocomial settings leading to infections involving the urinary tract, respiratory tract, liver, biliary tract, meninges, and even in rarer conditions-blood stream infection and infective endocarditis (IE). Gram-negative bacilli are responsible for 3% to 4% of all IE cases and have been traditionally associated with intravenous drug users...

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to evaluate the factors associated with decreasing diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) positive areas in patients with large early ischemic changes after mechanical thrombectomy (MT). MATERIALS AND METHODS: This retrospective single-center clinical study was conducted between January 2013 and December 2022. We included consecutive patients who underwent MT for acute large-vessel occlusion of the anterior circulation with low pretreatment DWI-Alberta Stroke Program Early Computed Tomography Scores (ASPECTS) (0-5), effective recanalization [thrombolysis in cerebral infarction (TICI) 2b or TICI3], and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) acquired before and after MT...

BACKGROUND: In traditional Asian medicine, dried rhizomes of Ligusticum chuanxiong Hort. (Chuanxiong Rhizoma [CR]) have long been used to treat pain disorders that affect the head and face such as headaches. Furthermore, they have been used primarily for blood circulation improvement or as an analgesic and anti-inflammatory medicine. This study aimed to investigate the neuroprotective effects of a methanol extract of CR (CRex) on ischemic stroke in mice caused by middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO)...

Subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) is a common and fatal cerebrovascular disease with high morbidity, mortality and very poor prognosis worldwide. SAH can induce a complex series of pathophysiological processes, and the main factors affecting its prognosis are early brain injury (EBI) and delayed cerebral ischemia (DCI). The pathophysiological features of EBI mainly include intense neuroinflammation, oxidative stress, neuronal cell death, mitochondrial dysfunction and brain edema, while DCI is characterized by delayed onset ischemic neurological deficits and cerebral vasospasm (CVS)...

BACKGROUND: Observational studies suggest that hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) is associated with the risk and prognosis of ischemic stroke, but the causality of these associations remains unclear. Therefore, we conducted Mendelian randomization (MR) analyses to explore the associations of genetically determined plasma HGF levels with the risk and prognosis of ischemic stroke. METHODS: A total of 13 single-nucleotide polymorphisms associated with plasma HGF were selected as genetic instruments based on the data from a genome-wide association study with 21 758 European participants...

BACKGROUND: The current management of patients with stroke with intravenous thrombolysis and endovascular thrombectomy is effective only when it is timely performed on an appropriately selected but minor fraction of patients. The development of novel adjunctive therapy is highly desired to reduce morbidity and mortality with stroke. Since endothelial dysfunction is implicated in the pathogenesis of stroke and is featured with suppressed endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) with concomitant nitric oxide deficiency, restoring endothelial nitric oxide represents a promising approach to treating stroke injury...

BACKGROUND: The effects of lipid-lowering drug targets on different ischemic stroke subtypes are not fully understood. We aimed to explore the mechanisms by which lipid-lowering drug targets differentially affect the risk of ischemic stroke subtypes and their underlying pathophysiology. METHODS: Using a 2-sample Mendelian randomization approach, we assessed the effects of genetically proxied low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-c) and 3 clinically approved LDL-lowering drugs (HMGCR [3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA reductase], PCSK9 [proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9], and NPC1L1 [Niemann-Pick C1-Like 1]) on stroke subtypes and brain imaging biomarkers associated with small vessel stroke (SVS), including white matter hyperintensity volume and perivascular spaces...

BACKGROUND: Post-stroke cognitive impairment (PSCI) is common. However, the underlying pathophysiology remains largely unknown. Understanding the role of microvascular changes and finding markers that can predict PSCI, could be a first step towards better screening and management of PSCI. Capillary dysfunction is a pathological feature of cerebral small vessel disease and may play a role in the mechanisms underlying PSCI. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are secreted from cells and may act as disease biomarkers...

BACKGROUND: Poststroke depression (PSD) is a treatable and common complication of stroke that is underdiagnosed and undertreated in minority populations. We compared outcomes of Black and White patients with PSD in the United States to assess whether race is independently associated with the risk of recurrent stroke and mortality. METHODS: We used deidentified Medicare data from inpatient, outpatient, and subacute nursing facilities for Black and White US patients from January 1, 2016, to December 31, 2019, to perform this retrospective cohort analysis...

BACKGROUND: Moyamoya disease (MMD) is a progressive, occlusive disease of the internal carotid arteries and their proximal branches, with the subsequent development of an abnormal vascular network that is rupture-prone. Steno-occlusive changes in the posterior cerebral arteries (PCAs) may contribute to worsened outcomes in patients with MMD; however, there is little information on the incidence and natural history of posterior circulation MMD (PCMMD). We describe clinical PCMMD characteristics in a large cohort of patients with MMD...

Introduction: Patients with ischemic stroke (IS) and atrial fibrillation (AF) face a higher risk of recurrent vascular events. This study evaluates the impact of atherosclerotic vascular disease burden across different vascular territories on the risk of vascular events in patients with recent ischemic stroke and AF within 90 days. Patients and Methods: We included patients with IS and AF from the International RAF network in a prospective 90-day follow-up. Atherosclerotic vascular disease was identified by at least one of the following: Symptomatic ischemic heart disease, symptomatic peripheral artery disease, internal carotid stenosis ≥50%, or the presence of plaques in the aorta...

BACKGROUND: Enterprise stent was approved for the treatment of wide-necked intracranial aneurysms. However, it has been widely used in the endovascular treatment of intracranial artery stenosis, which is still controversial. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the safety and efficiency of the Enterprise stent in the endovascular treatment of intracranial artery stenosis disease. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective case series of 107 patients with intracranial artery stenosis who received Enterprise stent implantation at Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital from January 2020 to December 2022...

PURPOSE: Description of the behavioural therapy of a patient after a subarachnoid haemorrhage from a ruptured aneurysm of the anterior communicating artery with an intracerebral haemorrhage, after aneurysm embolisation and left craniotomy, and after an ischemic cerebral stroke. CASE DESCRIPTION: The author presents behavioural therapy techniques used in patient rehabilitation in all areas requiring improvement in the daily functioning of a disabled person. The course of selected therapeutic interventions is analysed and the effects of the interventions are assessed...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Thresholds for abnormal transcranial Doppler cerebrovascular reactivity (CVR) studies are poorly understood, especially for patients with cerebrovascular disease. Using a real-world cohort with cerebral arterial stenosis, we sought to describe a clinically significant threshold for carbon dioxide reactivity (CO2R) and vasomotor range (VMR). METHODS: CVR studies were performed during conditions of breathing room air normally, breathing 8% carbon dioxide air mixture, and hyperventilation...

Lactate has received attention as a potential therapeutic intervention for brain diseases, particularly those including energy deficit, exacerbated inflammation, and disrupted redox status, such as cerebral ischemia. However, lactate roles in metabolic or signaling pathways in neural cells remain elusive in the hypoxic and ischemic contexts. Here, we tested the effects of lactate on the survival of a microglial (BV-2) and a neuronal (SH-SY5Y) cell lines during oxygen and glucose deprivation (OGD) or OGD followed by reoxygenation (OGD/R)...

Ischemic stroke is a major disease causing death and disability in the elderly and is one of the major diseases that seriously threaten human health and cause a great economic burden. In the early stage of ischemic stroke, neuronal structure is destroyed, resulting in death or damage, and the release of a variety of damage-associated pattern molecules induces an increase in neuroglial activation, peripheral immune response, and secretion of inflammatory mediators, which further exacerbates the damage to the blood-brain barrier, exacerbates cerebral edema, and microcirculatory impairment, triggering secondary brain injuries...

Transfer RNA (tRNA) modification is essential for proper protein translation, as these modifications play important roles in several biological functions and disease pathophysiologies. AlkB homolog 8 (ALKBH8) is one of the nine mammalian ALKBH family molecules known to regulate selenoprotein translation through the modification of the wobble uridine (U34) in tRNA; however, its specific biological roles remain unclear. In this study, we investigated the role of ALKBH8 using Alkbh8 -knockout ( Albkh8 -/- ) mice, which were observed to have reduced 5-methoxycarbonylmethyluridine (mcm5U) and (S)-5-methoxycarbonylhydroxymethyluridine levels; notably, the mcm5U level was partially compensated only in the brain...

Introduction: The objective of this study is to systematically evaluate the effect of ligustrazine on animal models of ischemic stroke and investigate its mechanism of action. Materials and Methods: The intervention of ligustrazine in ischemic diseases research on stroke model animals was searched in the Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wanfang Database (Wanfang), VIP Database (VIP), Chinese Biomedical Literature Database (CBM), Cochrane Library, PubMed, Web of Science, and Embase databases...

Changes in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) dynamics can have adverse effects on neuronal function. We hypothesized that patients with hypoxic-ischemic brain injury (HIBI) showing poor neurological outcomes after cardiac arrest (CA) would exhibit changes in CSF dynamics, leading to abnormalities in gas diffusion within the CSF. Therefore, we investigated the prognostic value of the CSF partial pressure of carbon dioxide (PcsfCO2 ) in CA survivors who underwent targeted temperature management (TTM). We retrospectively analyzed the 6-month neurological outcomes, CSF, and arterial blood gas parameters of 67 CA survivors...