Currently,statins are one of the most important medications for the prevention and treatment of cardio-cerebrovascular diseases.In recent years,a large number of clinical studies and metaanalyses have confirmed that statins can effectively reduce the risks of the occurrence and recurrence of ischemic stroke.This article reviews the applications of statins in the primary prevention,acute treatment,and the secondary prevention of ischemic stroke.

Objective Carotid artery stenosis is closely related not only with the cognitive function impairment, but also can cause patients to physical fatigue and a series of consequences.The aim of this study was to investigate the correlation between carotid artery stenting for carotid artery stenosis in patients with cognitive function improvement effect and fatigue and cognitive function in this paper. Methods One hundred cases of clinical data of patients with carotid artery stenosis of carotid artery stentingwere analyze pro-spectively.The cognitive scales of mini mental state examination (mini mental scale state examination, MMSE), Montreal cognitive as-sessment(Montreal cognitive, assessment, MoCA), activities of daily living scale (activities of dailyliving, ADL), fast vocabulary test ( verbal fluency) , Webster's count test, digit span test( working memory) , Digit Symbol Substitution Test ( speed) and the the fatigue scales of fatigue assessment scale-14 ( Fatigue Scale-14, FS-14) , fatigue severity scale ( FatigueSeverity Scale, FSS-9) were observed before and 3, 6 months after surgery.The correlation between fatigue and cognitive impairment was also analyzed Results Operation was successful in all patients, and no serious complications occurred after surgery.Patients'clinical symptoms were significantly im-proved compared with those on admission.MMSE, MoCA, ADL, verbal fluency test, Wechsler arithmetic, digit span and digit symbol substitution test results showed that, the scores were significantly improved compared with those on admission( P<0.05) , and with the time prolonging, cognitive function improved more obviously( P<0.001) .Compared with before operation,FS-14 score [ ( 7.11±1.37) vs (4.38±0.97)] and FSS-9 scores were significantly decreased6 months after operation, [(52.45±6.77) vs (43.29±7.21)](P<0.05). The correlation coefficient of FS-14 and MMSE, FFS 9 and MMSE were -0.357, -0.311 6 months after surgery, and the correlation coefficientof FSS-14 and MoCA, FSS-9 and MoCA were -0.547,-0.351, which showed a significant negative correlation (P<0.05). Conclusion Carotid artery stenting therapy can improve cognitive function and fatigue in patients with carotid artery stenosis, and the effect was more significant with the time prolonging, and there was a certain correlation between fatigue and cognitive impairment.

Objective To determine prevalence of dementia in diabetics and non-diabetics, and in different age and gender groups. Methods A case-control study was conducted among participants aged 50 and over in Jing' an temple community in Shanghai. Subjects in diabetics group were matched to non-diabetics groups for age and sex with 1:1 matching. Personal information and case history were collected through questionnaire. The subjects were screened for dementia using the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE). Subjects that screened positively (indicated by an MMSE score below 19, 21 and 24 among those with illiteracy, elementary school and above junior middle school education, respectively) were subsequently examined by a series of neuropsychological tests. Based on all available information, a diagnosis of dementia was defined according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders ( DSM )-Ⅳ criteria Results Prevalence of dementia of 4. 75% (23/484, 95% CI: 3. 03%-7.04%) in diabetics was higher than that of 2. 24% (11/490,95% CI: 1.13% -3.98%) in non-diabetics (X~2 = 4.54, P=0.03).Prevalence of dementia among diabetics in age groups of 60-69, 70-79 and 80 and above was 1.94% (2/103), 4. 43 % (9/203) and 14.12% (12/85, trend X~2 =18.04, P <0.01), and in non-diabetics was 1.43% (2/140), 2. 86% (6/210) and 5.00% (3/60, trend X~2 = 4.58, P=0.03), respectively.Prevalence of dementia among female and male in diabetics was 6.55% (19/299) and 2.06% (4/194) (X~2 = 5.18, P = 0.02), respectively, and in non-diabetics was 3.01% (9/299) and 1.05% (2/191).Conclusions Prevalence of dementia is significantly higher in diabetics than in non-diabetics, higher in women than men, and increases as age rises.

Objective Inflammation response is involved in the whole pathological process of acute cerebral infarction ( ACI) , but few reports are seen on its clinical implication in ACI patients .The purpose of this study was to investigate the predictive value of the differential count of leukocytes for stroke severity and early clinical outcomes in the acute phase of cerebral infarction . Methods We collected the clinical and laboratory data of 635 patients diagnosed with ACI within 72 hours of symptom onset and eval-uated the association between the differential count of peripheral blood leukocytes and stroke severity at admission and within 3 days af-ter admission as well as the clinical outcomes at discharge .The neural function impairment scores of the patients were obtained with The NIH Stroke Score ( NIHSS) at admission and on the third day after admission , and the therapeutic results evaluated with the modi-fied Rankin Scale ( mRS) , mRS >2 as poor prognosis .Analyses were performed on the correlation of the differential count of leuko-cytes with NIHSS and mRS scores and its influence on the ACI patients . Results At discharge , the mRS related influencing factors included the total count of leukocytes (OR=1.147, 95% CI:1.038-1.268), count of neutrophil cells (OR=1.227, 95% CI:1.00-1.369 ), count of lymphocytes ( OR =0.508, 95% CI:0.342-0.753), and neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) (OR=1.150, 95%CI:1.008-1.314).the NIHSSs were correlated with the counts of leucocytes (r=0.078, P=0.024), neutrophil cells (r=0.083, P=0.019), and lymphocytes (r=0.010, P=0.004) at admission, and with the counts of leucocytes ( r =0.238, P <0.001), neutrophil cells (r=0.335, P<0.001), lymphocytes (r=-0.269, P<0.001), and NLR (r=0.423, P<0.001) on the third day after admission. Conclusion In the acute phase of cer-ebral infarction , the differential count of leukocytes and NLR are valuable for predicting the severity of neurologic impairment and early poor functional outcome .

Objective To investigate the effect of multidisciplinary diagnosis and treatment including ex-utero intrapartum treatment (EXIT) procedure to improve the prenatal survival rate of fetus with neck mass.Methods Multidisciplinary diagnosis and treatment model were carried out in four pregnancy women with fetal neck mass from September 2007 to February 2010.The model included prenatal assessment and monitoring,EXIT procedure during cesarean section,neonatal reassessment and surgical treatment by the cooperation of obstetricians,neonatologists,children surgeons,sonographers and anesthetists.Results All patients underwent cesarean section after 37gestational weeks.Mean delivery time was 37+4 weeks (37-38+3 weeks); mean birth weight was 2972 g (2600-3250 g); mean operation time was 4 min (2-7 min).The gestational age of primary diagnosis of fetal neck mass was 24-34 gestational weeks.After delivery,the size of neck mass was from 3.0 cm × 2.0 cm × 1.0 cm to 6.2 cm× 5.8 cm × 6.8 cm.The tracheal compression and displacement were found by color doppler ultrasound scan and magnetic resonance imaging in all cases.Two of them were completed with polyhydramnios and the others with normal volume of amniotic fluid.EXIT procedure was successfully carried out during cesarean section.Neonatal reassessment showed the trachea of three infants were obviously compressed and lapsed by enhanced CT; the infants relied on mechanical ventilation after birth and underwent operation on day 6 to 8.Tracheal impression was not presented in one infant and trachea cannula was removed on the second day,operation was not performed.All of those infants had good outcomes.Conclusions The multidisciplinary diagnosis and treatment model,including EXIT procedure,is a safe,efficient and feasible strategy,which is necessary for fetus with neck mass.

Objective:To analyze the commonalities and differences of " Internet plus healthcare" related policies in the eastern, central and western regions of China before and after the COVID-19 pandemic and to provide references for further improving China′s " Internet plus healthcare" policy.Methods:Collecting the policies of " Internet plus healthcare" promulgated by 31 provinces(autonomous regions, municipalities)in China from April 2018 to December 2020 on the websites of various government departments, extracting keywords based on content analysis methods, and calculating degree centralities using UCINET 6 software. A comparison of the policies of the eastern, central and western regions between the pre epidemic stage(April 2018 to December 2019)and the COVID-19 pandemic stage(January 2020 to December 2020)was carried out.Results:In the pre epidemic stage, Internet diagnosis and treatment, " Internet plus medical service price" and quality supervision were the focus of attention in all regions. But the eastern region paid more attention to the policy planning of Internet hospital operation and Internet medical application, the central region focused on the transformation and efficiency improvement of medical service process by Internet technology, and the western region paid more attention to encourage the application of telemedicine to solve the difficulty of seeing a doctor. In the pandemic stage, the " Internet plus service price" was the policy focus in all regions, mostly in medical insurance payment, and the policy difference was not obvious among the eastern, central and western regions.Conclusions:Before and after the COVID-19 pandemic, the policy of " Internet plus healthcare " promulgated by the local governments in eastern, central and western regions had different emphasis and different characteristics. Our suggestion was to improve the policy system, standardize industry supervision, strengthen information security, orderly interconnect medical insurance, and actively promote the exchange of policy experiences among the provinces.

Objective To investigate the clinical effect of angioplasty for symptomatic intracranial atherosclerotic stenosis. Methods Eighty-two patients with symptomatic intracranial atherosclerotic stenosis whom underwent angioplasty after the failure of standard medical therapy were enrolled from Nan-jing Stroke Registry Program from September 2010 to June 2013.Nine of them underwent routine balloon angioplasty alone and 73 underwent intracranial stenting.The median time from onset to surgery was 24.5 days.The occurrence of endpoint events (any stroke ≤30 d after procedure,death and ischemic stroke >30 d in guilty vessels or original stenosis had restenosis and needed to be treated again)was assessed. The incidence of restenosis was followed up with imaging (CTA or DSA). Results (1)In the 82 patients, the success rate of operation was 92.7%(n=72 ),and 78 (95.1%)received follow-up,4 were lost to follow-up.The median follow-up time was 22.5 months (range 9 to 29 months ).Ten patients had an endpoint event,7 of them were ischemic stroke,1 was cerebral hemorrhage,and two were severe asymptomatic restenosis who underwent stenting again.The endpoint events of 3 patients occurred at day 30 after procedure (at ≤24 h after procedure).Kaplan-Meier curves showed that the incidences of cumulative endpoint events at 1,6,12,and 24 months were 3.7%,8.6%,11%,and 13%,respectively.(2)60 patients (73.2%)received imaging examination (11 CTA and 49 DSA ).Restenosis occurred in 17 patients (28.3%),among them the incidence of symptomatic restenosis was 5%(n =3 ),and asymptomatic restenosis was 23.3%(n=14). Conclusion After a comprehensive assessment and a rigorous screening, the safety is high and the mid- and long-term efficacy are satisfactory in patients with symptomatic intracranial arterial stenosis who are treated with angioplasty when their medical treatment is invalid.

Objective:To explore the occurrence time and risk factors of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) in patients with acute cerebral infarction, so as to guide clinical prevention and treatment.Methods:1 129 patients with acute cerebral infarction treated in Beijing Tiantan Hospital from May 2014 to May 2016 were selected as the research objects. According to whether DVT occurred, the patients were divided into DVT group ( n=22) and non DVT group ( n=1 107); The information was analyzed retrospectively and the occurrence time of DVT was counted. The independent risk factors of acute cerebral infarction complicated with DVT were analyzed by univariate and multivariate logistic regression. Results:The time of DVT in patients with acute cerebral infarction was 10.5 (4-14) days. Univariate analysis showed that there were significant differences in age, gender, atrial fibrillation, smoking, drinking, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, peripheral artery disease, renal failure, anticoagulants, BMI, white blood cell, blood glucose at admission and length of stay between the DVT group and the non DVT group ( P<0.05). Multiple factors further confirmed that renal failure [odds ratio ( OR)=57.421; 95% confidence interval ( CI), 5.792-569.314)] and length of hospital stay ( OR=1.148; 95% CI: 1.071-1.232) were independent risk factors for DVT. Conclusions:The median time of DVT in patients with acute cerebral infarction was 10.5 days. Renal failure and hospital stay were independent influencing factors of DVT in patients with acute cerebral infarction. This is helpful to determine the best prevention and treatment duration of DVT in patients with acute cerebral infarction, make rational use of medical resources and formulate personalized prevention and treatment strategies.

Objective To compare the outcomes of endovascular treatment between intracranial large artery atherosclerosis stroke (LAA) and cardioembolic stroke (CE) in Chinese patients with acute anterior circulation ischemic stroke.Methods Patients with acute anterior circulation ischemic stroke treated with the Solitaire stent retriever were enrolled.The patients were divided into either a LAA group or a CE group according to etiological subtype.The outcomes were compared between 2 groups.Multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to determine the independent risk factors for poor outcome (defined as the modified Rankin Scale score ＞2 at 90 d after onset).Results A total of 126 patients were enrolled in the study,including 62 (49.2％) in the LAA group and 64 (50.8％) in the CE group.The proportions of poor outcome at 90 d (59.0％ vs.41.0％;x2 =5.482,P =0.019) and symptomatic intracerebral hemorrhage at 72 h (12.5％ vs.1.6％;Fisher exact test P =0.033) in the CE group were significantly higher than those in the LAA group.Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that high baseline National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale scores was independently associated with poor outcome (odds ratio [OR] 1.119,95％ confidence interval [CI] 1.026-1.221;P =0.011),good collateral circulation was was independently associated with good outcome (OR 0.227,95％ CI 0.097-0.788;P =0.016),and etiological subtype was not independently associated with outcome (OR 1.280,95％ CI O.454-3.633;P =0.630).Conclusion Etiological subtype is not associated with outcome in patients with acute anterior circulation ischemic stroke treated with the Sofitaire stent retriever.

Barrett’s esophagus (BE) is the recognized precancerous lesion and risk factor for esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC), and has a high miss diagnosis rate and low survival rate when malignantly transformed into EAC, moreover, there are only limited monitoring method and treatment. Therefore, the screening of biomarkers is highly expected, especially the risk stratification biomarkers related to the progression of malignant transformation of BE. Such biomarkers can help to determine early, quickly and accurately the disease process, and guide the stratified management and precise treatment of BE, reduce the malignancy rate and mortality. This article focused on the dynamic evolutionary process of intra‑tumor heterogeneity, and reviewed the current status and challenges of research on BE biomarkers in risk stratification from the genetics, epigenetics and serology perspectives.