Objective To investigate the correlation between serum C-reactive protein (CRP) level and carotid atherosclerotic plaque calcification in patients with ischemic stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA).Methods The patients with non-cardiogenic ischemic stroke or TIA in anterior circulation performed head and neck vascular CTA at 1-6 months from the time of onset were enrolled prospectively.The demographic and clinical data were collected and serum CRP levels were detected.Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to determine the correlation between the serum CRP level and the carotid atherosclerotic plaque calcification.Results A total of 165 patients were enrolled.Their age was 62.4± 10.6years,male patients accotnted for 66.7％;113 patients (68.5％)had carotid atherosclerotic plaque calcification (calcification group),52 (31.5％) did not have carotid atherosclerotic plaque calcification (non-calcification group).The age of the calcification group (median,interquartlle;66 [58-73] years vs.58 [51-66] years;Z=-3.738,P＜0.001) and CRP levels (1.9 [0.5-3.8] mg/L vs.0.0 [0.0-2.2] mg/L;Z =-4.126,P ＜ 0.001) were significantly higher than those of the non-calcification group.There were no significant differences in other baseline clinical data between the two groups.Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that age (odds ratio 1.063,95％ confidence interval 1.024-1.104;P =0.001) and CRP levels (odds ratio 1.209,95％ confidence interval 1.030-1.419;P=0.020) were still significantly correlated with the plaque calcification after adjusting for other confounding factors.Conclucions Carotid plaque calcification was correlated with older age and increased serum CRP level in patients with ischemic stroke or TIA.

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is a technology combined with function, anatomy and images to evaluate the brain function in real-time, dynamic, non-invasive ways. fMRI has been applied in the rehabilitation after stroke for the assessment and prog-nosis of motor, speech, cognition and sense function, etc.

Objective To explore the therapeutic effects of electroacupuncture on regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in patients with post-stroke depression. Methods 21 patients with post-stroke depression were randomly divided into electroacupuncture group (n=11) and drug group (n=10). The electroacupuncture group received electroacupuncture on double Hegu (LI4) and Taichong (LR3) once a day for 8 weeks, while the drug group took fluoxetine hydrochloride dispersible tablets 20 mg a day for 8 weeks. They were evaluated with Hamilton Self-rating Scale for Depression (HAMD) before, and 2 weeks, 4 weeks and 8 weeks after treatment respectively. The rCBF were measured with single positron emission computerized tomography (SPECT) before and 8 weeks after treatment. Results The score of HAMD decreased more in the electroacupuncture group than in the drug group 2 weeks after treatment (P<0.05), and there was no significant difference between the two groups 4 and 8 weeks after treatment (P>0.05). The rCBF was significantly greater in the electroacupuncture group than in the drug group. Conclusion That electroacupuncture is effective on post-stroke depression, which may be related with the increase of the rCBF levels.

Objective To investigate the therapeutic effects of acupuncture on pelvic floor muscles and urinary function in patients with spinal cord injury. Methods From March, 2012 to March, 2015, 23 patients with spinal cord injury were divided into control group (n=8), early intervention group (n=8) and later intervention group (n=7). The control group received routine rehabilitation, the intervention groups received acupuncture at Baliao (BL-31, BL-32, BL-33 BL-34), Yanglingquan (GB-34), Sanyinjiao (SP-6) and Taichong (LR-3) acupoints in addition. The early intervention group was acupunctured one week before removal of catheter, and the later intervention group adopted inter-mittent catheterization after removal of catheter, and then received acupuncture. The pelvic floor muscles strength, the urine function and quality of life were recorded before and six weeks after intervention. Results There was no significant difference in all the indices before in-tervention (P>0.05). After intervention, the pelvic floor muscles strength improved in the intervention groups compared with the control group (P<0.05). There was significant difference in the mean frequency of urinary voiding, bladder capacity, time of establishing reflect uri-nation and residual volume of urine after intervention among all the groups (P<0.05), except the mean frequency of urinary voiding and blad-der capacity between the control group and the later intervention group (P>0.05). The quality of life improved in all the groups after inter-vention (F>0.864, P<0.05), however, no significant difference was found among three groups (F=1.558, P<0.05). Conclusion Acupuncture, especially early acupuncture, could improve the pelvic floor muscle strength and bladder function in spinal cord injury patients.

Objective Neuroinflammation following traumatic brain injury (TBI) may give rise to neurodisorder.This study aimed to investigate the effect of intranasal delivery of nerve growth factor ( NGF) on neuroinflammation following TBI and its action mechanism in rats. Methods Thirty-six male adult Sprague-Dawley rats were equally divided into a sham , a TBI, and a TBI+NGF group.The rats in the TBI +NGF group were treated with NGF intranasally at 12 and 24 hours after TBI.The levels of IL-1βand TNF-αin the injured cerebral cortex were detected by ELISA , the DNA-binding activity of NF-κB evaluated by EMSA , and the expres-sion of amyloid-β( Aβ42 ) determined by Western blot . Results NGF attenuated the inflammation following TBI .Compared with the TBI group, the level of IL-1βwas obviously decreased in the TBI +NGF group at 12 hours (70.65 ±3.10 vs 37.51 ±1.92) and 24 hours (68.85 ±8.10 vs 36.23 ±2.99, P<0.05), and so was that of TNF-α(47.12 ±7.38 vs 27.63 ±5.77 and 56.15 ±11.20 vs 29.94 ±8.62, P<0.05).The DNA-binding activity of NF-κB was reduced to 111.62 ±0.49 and 131.52 ±0.88, and the expression of Aβ42 to 0.23 ±0.008 and 0.52 ±0.004 at 12 and 24 hours respectively after treatment with NGF , both with statistically significant differences from the TBI group (P<0.05). Conclusion Intranasal administration of NGF attenuates TBI-induced neuroinflamma-tion in rats, which may be associated with its regulatory effect on the Aβ42/NF-κB signaling pathway .

Objective To investigate the protective role of human serum albumin in treatment of monocyte-inducible C-type lectin (Mincle)-associated neuroinflammation in subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) rats and its underlying mechanisms.Methods Vascular perforation model was used to induce SAH.Ninety-two male SD rats were randomly assigned to sham (n =23),vehicle (n =23),low-dose albumin (0.63 g/kg,n =23) and high-dose albumin (1.25 g/kg,n =23) groups.Saline and albumin were intravenously injected into rats two hours after surgery.Modified Garcia scale was employed to assess neurological functions.Iba-1 and myeloperoxidase (MPO) staining was used to examine the activation of microglial cells and infiltration of neutrophils.Real-time PCR was applied to determine the changes of IL-1β,inducible nitric oxide synthase,CD11b,monocyte chemoattractant protein-1,cytokine-induced neutrophil chemoattractant-1 and CXC motif chemokine ligand-2 mRNA levels.Co-immunoprecipitation was conducted to assess the binding ability of albumin with Mincle.Immunoblotting was carried out to evaluate protein levels of Minlce,Syk and p-Syk.SAH severity measurement was performed before conductions of all the experiments.Results SAH severity scores were 11.4 ± 1.6,12.8 ±2.5 and 11.2 ±3.2 in the vehicle,low-dose albumin and high-dose albumin groups,respectively,without statistically significant difference among groups (F =0.694,P =0.516).Neurological score was 7.5 ± 2.9 in the vehicle group,while the low-dose albumin (14.6 ± 2.2) and high-dose albumin groups (13.6 ± 2.7) exhibited better neurological perfomance (P ＜ 0.01).Immunostaining showed that albumin significantly inhibited the activation of microglia,and reduced the percentage of MPO positive cells from 20.7％ ± 1.9％ in the vehicle group to 12.1％ ±2.1％ in the low-dose albumin group and 9.8％ ±0.9％ in the high-dose albunin group (F =32.216,P =0.001).mRNA levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemotactic factors were also suppressed by albumin (P ＜ 0.05).The results of co-immunoprecipitation displayed that albumin could directly bind Mincle and disrupt the association between Mincle and SAP130.Immunoblotting demonstrated that albumin depressed the protein levels of Mincle,Syk and p-Syk.Conclusion Human serum albumin can inhibit Mincle/Syk-induced neuroinflammation via directly binding Mincle receptor in SAH rats.

Objective The expression and neuroprotective effect of meteorin in neurons and astrocytes after cerebral infarc-tion have yet to be clarified.This study was to investigate the expression and location of meteorin in the rat model of middle cerebral ar -tery occlusion (MCAO) and its neuroprotective effect against oxygen -glucose deprivation (OGD)-induced injury in cultured neurons or astrocytes. Methods Forty-two healthy adult male SD rats were randomly divided into 6 groups of equal number:sham operation and 6 h, 12 h, 24 h, 3 d, and 7 d MCAO.The cortical tissue was harvested for determination of the expression and location of meteorin by Western blot and immunohistochemistry as well as the meteorin expression in the neurons and astrocytes subjected to OGD. The neuroprotective effect of meteorin on the neurons and astrocytes was e-valuated by CCK8 and PI/Hoechst33342 staining. Results Com-pared with the sham operation group, the expression of meteorin was decreased after MCAO and reached the lowest level at 3 days ( P<0.01) , mainly in the neurons and astrocytes.Exogenous meteorin helped the survival of the astrocytes subjected to OGD, with the A value decreased in the groups of OGD ( 0.63 ) , OGD +meteorin
(0.78), and OGD+PBS (0.60) as compared with the sham control ( 1.51) (P<0.01), with no statistically significant differences among the former three groups (P>0.05).Concerning the effect of meteorin intervention on the OGD-induced injury of the astrocytes, the A value was significantly reduced in OGD (1.24 ±0.17), OGD+meteorin (1.51 ±0.30), and OGD+PBS (1.23 ±0.16) in comparison with the sham control (2.43 ±0.12) (P<0.01), lower in the OGD and OGD+PBS groups than in the OGD+meteorin group ( P<0.05) . Conclusion Meteorin is mainly expressed in the neurons and astrocytes after MCAO and it promotes the survival of the astrocytes with OGD-induced injury.

Objective:To validate the predictive function of Field Assessment Stroke Triage for Emergency Destination (FAST-ED) score on large vessel occlusion (LVO) in Chinese population.Methods:The information about the patients who had the disease onset within 24 hours, were treated in the Emergency Department of Jinling Hospital, and diagnosed as ‘acute ischemic stroke’ was collected. Via the emergent brain computed tomography angiography or digital subtraction angiography, the patients were divided into LVO group and non-LVO group. The scores of FAST-ED were calculated according to the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) scores and compared with Rapid Arterial oCclusion Evaluation (RACE), 3-item Stroke Scale (3I-SS), Cincinnati Stroke Triage Assessment Tool (C-STAT), and Prehospital Acute Stroke Scale (PASS) scores. Moreover, the patients were further divided into anterior and posterior circulation lesion groups to explore whether the FAST-ED scale can differ the anterior or posterior circulation effectively.Results:Three hundred and eighty-one patients were eventually included, among whom 284 were diagnosed as LVO, and 97 were diagnosed as non-LVO. Receiver operating characteristic curves showed that cut-off value of 4 optimized the scale (sensitivity: 0.76, specificity: 0.69, area under the curve: 0.78). The area under the curve of FAST-ED score(0.78) showed no statistically significant difference with NIHSS (0.79), RACE (0.77), 3I-SS (0.78) and C-STAT scores (0.75), and exhibited statistically significant difference with PASS score (0.74; 95% CI 0.69-0.78, P=0.01). FAST-ED score showed no statistically significant difference in predicting anterior and posterior circulation lesions. Conclusions:FAST-ED score can predict LVO in a rather accurate manner. It can predict anterior and posterior circulation lesions with similar effectiveness. So FAST-ED is able to be a prehospital screening tool and make assistance to the prehospital treatment.

Early treatment of acute ischemic stroke has been proven clinically effective.However,these early reperfusion strategies are highly time-dependent.It is important to reduce the onset-reperfusion time,especially the prehospital delay.Currently prehospital stroke scales have been widely used to screen stroke patients on field.It is urgent to introduce the Chinese versions of these scales to educate emergency personnel and the public.More qualified stroke centers and regional stroke networks are needed to facilitate the triage and transfer of stroke patients.

Chinese guidelines for the endovascular treatment of acute ischemic stroke 2018 are based on the current available evidence and the realities of clinical practice in China.These guidelines supersede the 2015 guidelines.The writing members of the guidelines were appointed by the Chinese Stroke Society and Neurovascular Intervention Group of Chinese Society of Neurology.This revision has updated the indications and contraindications,also updated the time window of treatment and the multimode intravascular technology,and clarified the basic principles of the use of blood pressure management and antithrombotic drugs.It is hoped that it can provide quality control norms for the treatment of stroke in China,promote the establishment of quality monitoring system and improve the quality of medical treatment.