Objective To investigate the correlation of the middle cerebral artery stenosis (MCAS) and the mild cognitive function impairment (MCI),and the clinical efficacy of statins in patients with MCI. Methods Six hundred and thirty-six patientse,who received transcranial color doppler ultrasound (TCD)assay, were enrolled in our hospital hospitalization or outpatients. The simple mental state examination (MMSE) and clinical dementia rating scale (CDR) were used as cognitive function assessment indexes. Forty-four cases of MCI with MCAS and 58 cases of MCI with NMCAS were used as the treatment group , who received the atorvastatin 20 mg every day , 56 cases of MCI with NMCAS were used as the control group , who only received the routine and basic diseases treatment. One yearlater,we determined the changes of MMSE and CDRagain. Results We detected 124 patients with MCAS, 512 patients with NMCAS, and 44 cases of MCAS patients with MCI, the prevalence was 35.5%,114 cases of NMCAS in patients with MCI, with the prevalence of 22.3%, the prevalence between the two groups was statistically different. One year later, the patients in the treatment group, MMSE score was improved, the score of MCI of the MCAS group improved more significantly. Conclusion The middle cerebral artery stenosis correlated with the occurrence of MCI. Atorvastatin could improve cognitive function in patients with MCI, especially for MCI which was caused by middle cerebral artery stenosis.

Autophagy is a conserved pathway for the bulk degradation of cytoplasmic components in all eukaryotes. This process plays a critical role in the adaptation of plants to drastic changing environmental stresses such as starvation, oxidative stress, drought, salt, and pathogen invasion. This paper summarizes the current knowledge about the mechanism and roles of plant autophagy in various plant stress responses.
Adaptation, Physiological ; Arabidopsis ; genetics ; physiology ; Arabidopsis Proteins ; genetics ; metabolism ; Autophagy ; genetics ; Disease Resistance ; Plant Diseases ; immunology ; Saccharomyces cerevisiae ; genetics ; Sequence Homology ; Stress, Physiological