Background: Dementia is one of the major causes of dependency after stroke. The prevalence of poststroke dementia (PSD)defined as any dementia occurring after stroke is likely to increase in the future.Objectives: This study have two purposes: 1) Clinical study of MCI and dementia after the first stroke of patients with age of 60 years and older; 2) Overview on clinical characteristics of memory disorders. Subjects and method: 30 patients with were diagnosed with the first ischemic stroke in Huu nghi hospital together with the same number in the control group were involved in this study. The subjects in the two groups were all satisfied with included/excluded criteria diagnosis. Clinical diagnosis of new - onset dementia or other mental disorders was determined using neuropsychological tests. Results: Many functions of the brain were impaired including: logical memory, visiospatial skills, executive function were statistically reduced in the research group compared to the control. However, language function was also impacted but not as much as others. The frequency of the poststrocke dementia in this study was 12.3% while the poststrocke mild cognitive impairment rate was 47%. Conclusions: Global cognitive functioning together with memory state was significantly declined in the ischemic stroke compared to the control group.
Stroke/ pathology ; complications ; Dementia/ pathology ; complications

Background: In Vascular Dementia (VaD) patients, the causes of blood vessels were common, and preventable and treatable, so that it is very important to detect and diagnose in the early stages of the disease. Diagnosis of dementia is based on clinical symptoms, and neuropsychological tests are useful tools. Objectives: (1) To evaluate the severity of VaD and Vascular Cognitive Impairment (VCI) after the 1st ischemic stroke in patients over 60 years old. (2) To make observations on the clinical features of post stroke dementia in these patient groups using neuropsychological battery. Subjects: 94 patients with 1st acute ischemic stroke, who were over 60 years old, conscious and literate, and cooperated well with physicians. A standard evaluation protocol was conducted at one month after an ischemic stroke for all the patients. Method: Prospective study. Data was analyzed by using SPSS software version 13.0. Results and conclusions: The rates of VCI and VaD after the first ischemic stroke were 21.3% and 25.5%, respectively. Clinical determinants of dementia were: visuoconstruction (65% patients), visual motor speed (50%), memory disorders (more than 40%, in which visual memory 45.8% and verbal memory 41.6%), executive function (37.5%), and language skill (37.5%). The attention and language functions were less affected (only 25% of the patients). Mini mental state examination score can be used to evaluate and classify clearly 3 groups: VaD, VCI patients and normal people.
Ischemic stroke ; Dementia ; Neuropsychological test

Matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) secreted from macrophages plays an important role in tissue destruction and inflammation through degradation of matrix proteins and proteolytic activation of cytokines/chemokines. Whereas the MEK-ERK and PI3K-Akt pathways up-regulate MMP-9 expression, regulation of MMP-9 by JNK remains controversial. Presently, we aimed to determine the role of JNK in MMP-9 regulation in Raw 264.7 cells. Inhibition of JNK by the JNK inhibitor SP600125 induced MMP-9 in the absence of serum and suppressed the expression of TNF-alpha, IL-6 and cyclooxygenase-2 in LPS-treated Raw 264.7 cells. In a knockdown experiment with small interfering RNA, suppression of JNK1 induced MMP-9 expression. Interestingly, mouse serum suppressed SP600125-mediated MMP-9 induction, similar to IFN-gamma. However, the inhibitory activity of mouse serum was not affected by pyridone 6, which inhibits Janus kinase downstream to IFN-gamma. In addition to mouse serum, conditioned media of Raw 264.7 cells contained the inhibitory factor(s) larger than 10 kDa, which suppressed SP600125- or LPS-induced MMP-9 expression. Taken together, these data suggest that JNK1 suppresses MMP-9 expression in the absence of serum. In addition, the inhibitory factor(s) present in serum or secreted from macrophages may negatively control MMP-9 expression.
Animals ; Anthracenes/metabolism ; Cell Line ; Culture Media, Conditioned/*chemistry ; Enzyme Activation ; Enzyme Induction ; Enzyme Inhibitors/metabolism ; Extracellular Signal-Regulated MAP Kinases/genetics/metabolism ; *Gene Expression Regulation, Enzymologic ; MAP Kinase Signaling System/physiology ; Macrophages/cytology/*metabolism ; Matrix Metalloproteinase 9/genetics/*metabolism ; Mice ; Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase 8/genetics/*metabolism ; NF-kappa B/genetics/metabolism ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt/genetics/metabolism ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha/metabolism ; p38 Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases/genetics/metabolism

Objective To isolate α-mangostin (AMG) from the peels of mangosteen (Garcinia mangostana L.), grown in Vietnam, and to investigate antibiofilm activity of this compound against three Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) strains, one of which was methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) and the other two strains were methicillin-sensitive S. aureus (MSSA). Methods AMG in n-hexane fraction was isolated on a silica gel column and chemically analyzed by HPLC and NMR. The antibiofilm activity of this compound was investigated by using a 96-well plate model for the formation of biofilms. Biofilm biomass was quantified using crystal violet. The viability of cells was observed under confocal microscopy using LIVE/DEAD BacLight stains. Biofilm composition was determined using specific chemical and enzyme tests for polysaccharide, protein and DNA. Membrane-damaging activity was assayed by measuring the hemolysis of human red blood cells in presence of AMG. Results The results indicated that the isolated AMG, with a purity that exceeded 98%, had minimal inhibitory concentrations in the range of 4.6–9.2 μmol/L for the three strains tested. Interestingly, the MSSA strains were more sensitive to AMG than the MRSA strain. Minimal bactericidal concentrations were 2-fold higher than the minimal inhibitory concentration values for the three strains, indicating that AMG was a bactericidal compound. AMG also prevented biofilm formation effectively, albeit that again the MRSA strain was the most resistant. Interestingly, biofilms of the MRSA strain contained protein as a main component of the extracellular matrix, whereas this was polysaccharide in the MSSA strains. This might relate to the resistance of the MRSA 252 strain to AMG. Assays using human red blood cells indicated that AMG caused significant membrane damage with 50% of cell lysis occurred at concentration of about 36 μmol/L. Conclusions Our results provide evidence that the isolated AMG has inhibitory activity against biofilm formation by S. aureus, including MRSA. Thus, isolated AMG proposes a high potential to develop a novel phytopharmaceutical for the treatment of MRSA.