Caspases are a group of enzymes mainly for the execution of apoptosis.In recent years,studies have shown that caspases participate in the occurrence and development of many diseases,especially tumors and nervous system diseases.Of those,caspase-9 is one of the most important initiating molecules.This article reviews the structural characteristics,activation and regulation of caspase-9,its regulation mechanism of apoptosis,and briefly describes its relation with ischemic cerebrovascular disease.

al recovery. Therefore, EPC may have broad application prospects in the field of ischemic cerebrovascular disease.

Dyslipidemia is a recognized risk factor for ischemic stroke. As an important component of lipids, lipoprotein(a) (Lp [a] ) was first found within the atherosclerotic plaques which is similar to the lipid body of the low-density lipoprotein cholesterol? Studies have showed that Lp (a) is involved in the formation of atherosclerosis and thrombosis through a variety of mechanisms, and then triggers cardio-cerebrovascular diseases. Identifying its relation with ischemic stroke and other risk factors may provide references for early prevention and treatment of ischemic stroke.

Objective To explore the incidence,mechanism and type of attack,relationship between hemorrhage postitions and manifestation,and its prognosis of eplieptic seizure following intracerebral hemorrhage(ICH) in the elderly.Methods Clinical materials are analyzed in 47 elder patients with epileptic seizures following ICH.Results The incidence of epileptic seizures following ICH in the elder patients is 9 6% .Early seizures are related to brain edema;most of them were partial seizures.But late seizures were related to the pathologic stimulation of stroke cyst,neuron degeneration,colloid hyperplasia and conglutination.Generalized tonic-chronic seizure plays an important role in it.Most seizures are between 2 weeks and 6 months after hemorrhage.The incidence of epileptic seizure following lobar hemorrhage was higher than others.Late seizures recurs easily if stopping antiepileptic drugs(AED).The disease's prognosis is well if treated regularly and systematically.Conclusiion Epileptic seizures following ICH are not rare in elder patients .Lobar hemorrhgae easy to lead to epileptic seizures.Regular and systimatic treatment is needed in the patients with late manifestation.

Objective To explore the value of diffusion weighted imagine(DWI) and magnetic resonance angiography(MRA) for the clinical significance in acute cerebral infarction in the early stage.Method The results of DWI and MRA and traditional CT and routine MRI in 30 patients with acute cerebral infarction were analyzed.Result Ultra-acute and acute cerebral infarction could be shown on DWI,which may not be shown on CT and T 2.WI.The focus that were shown on T 2.WI were more clearly shown on DWI.Focus and degree of intracranial vascular lesion could be detected rapidly.Conclusion DWI and MRA are sensitive for diagnosis in the early stage of acute cerebral infarction.Cerebral constitution and cerebral vessels can be shown by DWI and MRA,thus offering reliable imaging data for thrombolytic therapy.

Aphasia is the loss or impairment of language caused by brain damage. Stroke is the most common cause of aphasia. The language function in most patients with aphasia will get recovery with different degrees no matter whether they have performed language training or not. In recent years, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) technology has been widely used in neuro-linguistic research, This article reviews the advances in research on investigating the recovery mechanisms of poststroke aphasia with fMRI.

Objective To study the apoptosis of peripheral blood lymphocyte cells in patients with HAM/TSP and the roles of Fas, TNF-? and Bcl-2 in occurrence and progression of HAM/TSP.Methods The single cell gel electrophoresis (comet assay) was used to detect the apoptosis of lymphocyte cells in 8 patients with HAM/TSP, 8 cases with other inflammatory neurologic diseases (OIND) and 8 healthy blood donors. The Fas, TNF-? and Bcl-2 protein expressions were quantitatively determined by flow cytometry from 8 cases of HAM/TSP.Results The apoptotic ratio of lymphocyte cells in patients with HAM/TSP significantly increased compared with the controls (P

Objective To investigate the imbalance of T helper 17 (Th17) / CD4 + CD25 + regulatory cell (Treg) in HAM/TSP patients.Methods Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was performed to measure the levels of interleukin (IL-17) and IL-10 in CSF,and flow cytometry to determine the percentage of Th17 and Treg cells in peripheral blood of patients with HAM/TSP.Results There was a significant increase in the level of IL-17 [(4.58 ± 0.70)pg/ml vs (0.76 ± 0.17)pg/ml,P ＜ 0.01] in CSF and the percentage of Th17 cells [(2.00 ± 0.64) ％ vs (0.41 ± 0.24) ％,P ＜ 0.01],but a decrease in the level of IL-10 in CSF and the percentage of Treg cells in peripheral blood of patients with HAM/TSP compared with the control group.The ratio of Th17/Treg cell (0.55 ±0.10 vs 0.06 ±0.03) in the peripheral blood of patients with HAM/TSP increased significantly compared with control group (t =12.11,P ＜0.01).Conclusions The imbalance between Thl7 and Treg cells may play an important role in the pathogenesis of the disease.

Objective To investigate the relationship between the interleukin-17 (IL-17),interleukin23 (IL-23) and carotid artery sclerosis in patients with cerebral infarction.Methods One hundred and twentyfive cerebral infarction patients in the first affiliated hospital of Shantou University medical college from June 2010 to June 2012 were recruited.All the subjects were examined with carotid ultrasonography.According to the results of carotid ultrasonography,all patients were divided into carotid atherosclerosis group(86 cases) and non carotid atherosclerosis group(39 cases).Patients with carotid atherosclerosis were divided into soft plaque group (35 cases),hard plaque group (21 cases),mixed plaque group (30 cases) based on plaque feature.Carotid atherosclerosis patients with cerebral infarction plaque determined by semi-quantitative method were grouped into Ⅰ grade(29 cases),Ⅱ grade (43 cases),Ⅲ grade (14 cases) according to the severity atherosclerosis.Serum levels of IL-17 and IL-23 were measured.Results The levels of IL-17 and IL-23 in patients with carotid atherosclerosis group were (31.42 ± 8.73) μg/L and(21.79 ± 9.34) μg/L,higher than that of non-carotid atherosclerosis group((22.81 ±6.52) μg/L,t =5.15,P ＜0.01 ; (14.33 ±6.21) μg/L,t =4.99,P ＜0.01).The IL-17 and IL-23 levels in patients with soft plaque,hard plaque and mixed plaque group were significant different (F =10.181,3.835,P ＜0.05).Serum IL-17 in soft plaque and mixed plaque expression group was higher than that of hard plaque group (P =0.001,P=0.007).IL-23 level in soft plaque group was higher than mixed plaque and hard plaque groups(P =0.017;P =0.045).The IL-17 and IL-23 levels in Ⅰ,Ⅱ,Ⅲ level group were markedly different (F =41.046,3.739 ; P ＜ 0.05),and there was significant difference between Ⅱ,Ⅲ and Ⅰ group(P ＜0.01,P ＜0.05).The correlation between IL-17 and IL-23 levels in Ⅰ,Ⅱ,Ⅲ level group were 0.892 and 0.420 (P =0.000 ; P =0.041).Conclusion IL-17 and IL-23 play important roles in the pathologic progress of artery sclerosis and are helpful for early diagnosis of the disease.

Objective To investigate the correlation between serum lipoprotein (a) (Lp(a)) level andischemic stroke and its etiological subtypes. Methods The consecutive inpatients with acute ischemic stroke (case group) and age-and sex-matched healthy subjects (control group) over the same period were enrolled retrospectively. The demographic and baseline clinical data, as well as fasting blood glucose, fibrinogen,homocysteine, total cholesterol, triacylglycerol, high-densitylipoprotein cholesterol, low -density lipoprotein cholesterol, and Lp(a) concentration of the case group and the control group were collected. According to TOAST classification criteria, the patients in the case group were divided into large artery atherosclerosis (LAA), small artery occlusion (SAO) and cardioembolism (CE), and the patients with other determined etiology and undetermined etiology were excluded. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to make clear the correlation between serum Lp(a) and acute ischemic stroke and its etiological subtypes. Results A total of 214 patients with ischemic stroke were enrolled. Ninety-seven had LAA (45.33%), 64 (29.91%) had SAO, and 53 (24.77%) had CE. There were 118 subjects in the control group. There were significant differences in the proportions of hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, atrial fibrillation and alcohol consumption, as well as systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, fasting blood glucose, total cholesterol, low -density lipoprotein cholesterol, Lp(a), fibrinogen, and homocysteine between the case group and the control group (all P <0.001). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that after adjustment for age and sex, Lp(a) is an independent risk factor for ischemic stroke (odds ratio [OR] 2.014, 95% confidence interval [CI ] 1.273-3.092, P = 0.036). The independent risk factors for LAA included hypertension (OR 3.353, 95% CI 1.714-6.558, P = 0.001), systolic blood pressure ( OR 2.786, 95% CI 1.136-5.538, P =0.016), homocysteine ( OR 1.108, 95% CI 1.031-2.191, P = 0.005), total cholesterol (OR 2.169, 95% CI 1.599-4.943, P = 0.001), low -density lipoprotein cholesterol ( OR2.782, 95% CI 1.093-5.238, P =0.024), and Lp(a) (OR 3.072, 95% CI 1.907-8.064, P =0.001). Theindependent risk factors for SAO included hypertension ( OR 7.042, 95% CI 3.189-25.55, P =0.001), diabetes mellitus (OR 5.162, 95% CI 2.372-11.23, P =0.001), fibrinogen (OR 1.667, 95% CI 1.434-2.025, P = 0.045), and homocysteine (OR 1.967, 95% CI 1.859-1.995, P =0.036). The independent risk factors for CE included atrial fibrillation (OR 13.340, 95% CI 4.637-39.20, P = 0.001), fibrinogen (OR 2.365, 95% CI 1.147- 4.904, P =0.029), and Lp(a) (OR 1.656, 95% CI 1.996-3.001, P = 0.035). Conclusions Lp(a) is an independent risk factor for ischemic stroke, and can be used as a serum biomarker for predicting the risk of the onset of ischemic stroke. There are differences in independent risk factors between the different stroke etiological subtypes. Lp(a) is independently associated with LAA and CE; however, it has no independent correlation with SAO.