We administerd 13-item footedness and 13-item handedness tests to 150 healthy adults,among whom there were 36 minority subjects.The results suggest that the percentage of the right-handed is significantly higher than that of the right-footed.A further analysis shows that this difference is influenced by environmental and nonenvironmental factors.

Lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2(Lp-PLA2) is a novel biomarker for cardiovascular disease. Its expression in symptomatic carotid plaques is higher than that in asymptomatic ones, and its product lysophosphatidylcholine is associated with tissue oxidative stress and inflammation. In addition, Lp-PLA2 plays a more unique role in the unstable difference of carotid atherosclerotic plaques.

Anti-phospholipid antibody and lupus anticoagulant appear in the blood of patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)infection,which result in the increased levels of von Willebrand factor and D-dimer,and decreased the levels of protein S,protein C,antithrombin and heparin cofactor,and thus rgsult in hypercoagulation status.In addition,the HIV infection itself and secondary opportunistic infections may also cause endothelial injury.Both hypercoag ulation status and endothelial injury may promote the occurrence of thrombotic diseases.

Apathy is a common neuropsychiatric complication after stroke,the identification of apathy after stroke and its related factors and providing an effective intervention on it may contribute to the rehabilitation in patients with stroke.This article reviews the incidence of apathy after stroke,pathophysiological mechanisms,diagnostic evaluation and treatment.

Objective To investigate the correlation between fatigue and cognitive impairment and depression after lacunar stroke.Methods A total of 103 patients with lacunar infarction admitted from September 2009 to November 2010 were enrolled.Post-stroke fatigue was evaluated with the Fatigue Scale (FS-14) and the Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS-9); cognitive function was evaluated with the mini-mental state examination (MMSE) and the Montreal cognitive assessment (MoCA); and depression was evaluated with the self-rating depression scale (SDS) and the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD).Results There were 34 patients (33.01％) (FSS-9) and 45 patients (43.69％) (FS-14) had fatigue.Of the 34 fatigue patients determined with FSS-9 scores,20 had cognitive impairment,26 had depression,and 16 had both cognitive impairment and depression.The Pearson correlation analysis showed that the FS-14 scores were siguificantly negatively correlated with the scores of MMSE (r =-0.307,P =0.002) and MoCA (r =-0.457,P=0.000),and significantly positively correlated with the scores of SDS (r =0.368,P =0.000) and HAMD (r =0.526,P =0.000); the FSS-9 scores were significantly negatively correlated with the scores of MMSE (r =-0.292,P=0.003) and MoCA (r=-0.340,P=0.000),and significantly positively correlated with the scores of SDS (r =0.403,P =0.000) and HAMD (r =0.564,P =0.000).Conclusions The incidence of fatigue,cognitive impairment and depression was higher.There was a certain correlation between fatigue and cognitive impairment and depression.

Thunderclap headache is a sudden severe headache. It is an uncommon type of headache. Identifying it in time and accurate diagnosis are very important because this type of headache is often complicating serious cerebral diseases. This article reviews its causes and diagnostic assessments.

Basal ganglion lesions often result in language impairment. Its patterns of manifestation are complicated. Patients may either have oral language disorders or written language disorders, which almost includes all types of aphasia, The article reviews the anatomy, definition, feature and mechanisms of basal ganglia aphasia as well as the effect of lesion sites on language.

Stroke is a disease、with high mortality, and its main clinical manifestation is that the activities of daily living (ADL) of patients are impaired to different extents. This article reviews the related factors that influence ADL.

Objective To investigate the cognitive function and emotional disorder and their interrelationships in patients with essential tremor(ET).Methods The cognitive function was evaluated by using scales such as mini-mental state examination (MMSE), aphasia buttery of Chinese for oral-test and read-test, Rey-Osterreith complex figure (ROF), digit span (DS), similarties tests, symbols-digital test, Wisconsin card sorting test, trail making test A, verbal fluency test and clock drawing test in fourty cases and fourty healthy controls matched on age, education level and handedness.The Hamilton depression scale was applied to assess the emotional state of the patients with ET.Results Compared with healthy controls, patients had significantly lower scores in Rey-Osterreith complex figure (t=6.66,P<0.001),digit span (positive)(t=3.32,P<0.001),symbols-digital test (t=4.18,P<0.001),Wisconsin card sorting test (P<0.05),trail making test A (t=3.59,P<0.001),verbal fluency test (t=-3.98,P<0.001) and clock drawing test (t=-4.18,P<0.001), but similar scores in aphasia buttery of Chinese for oral-test and read-test and similarties tests(P>0.05).The cognitive function scores were not significantly associated with the intensity and duration of tremor in patients with ET(P>0.05).Depression, mostly mild depression, was observed in 52.5 percent of patients with ET.Depression was significantly associated with the age (X~2=27.03, P<0.001) and was observed more frequently in the patients under the age of 50.There was no significant association between the cognitive impairment and depression in patients with ET (P>0.05).Conclusions The patients with ET have a multiple-domain cognitive deficit, in which executive function, attention and memory are impaired more severely.The patients with ET have a high incidence of depressive symptoms.

Ischemic stroke is a catastrophic event in young adults. It may cause death,disability, incapacity and decline in the quality of life. When the neurologists are facing the suspected ischemic stroke in young adults, the greatest challenge of diagnosis is to identify the causes. This article reviews the risk factors, etiological diagnosis as well as its associated disorders and dysfunction in young adults.