Objective To explore the effect of estrogen on striatal neurons damage in rats induced by quinolinic acid (QA).Methods Ovariectomized rats were divided into two groups:non-replacement treatment group (recievied intrastriatal application of QA alone) and replacement treatment group (received both QA and 17-? estradiol). Striatal neurons injury was evaluated using NADPH-diaphorase histochemistry and the rotation number of rats induced by apomorphine was recorded. Activity of SOD and contents of MDA in striatum was measured by xanthine oxidase and thio-barbital method, respectively.Results Compared with non-replacement treatment group, there was a significant increase in the number of NADPH-diaphorase positive neurons ( P

Stroke is one of the diseases that seriously threats the health of the elderly, and atherosclerosis is the main cause of ischemic stroke. Became it is closely associated with stroke, carotid carotid atherosclerosis has been one of the research hot spots in neurology. In recent years, the development of MRI techniques has provided a new approach for the qualitative and quantitative analysis of atherosclerotic plaque, and has reflected its unique superiority, This article reviews the applications of MRI in the evaluation of carotid atherosclerotic plaques.

Granolocyte-macrophage clony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) is a heamato-poietic growth factors involved in the generation of granulocytes and macrophages. Recent studies have suggested that the expression of GM-CSF increases following cerebral ischemia in the nervous system, indicating that GM-CSF may play an important role in the neuroprotection after ischemia. M-CSF protects neurons mainly through anti-apoptosis, promoting collateral circulation, and inhibiting energy consumption.

As a marker of cerebral microangiopathy with a hemorrhagic tendency, the occurrence of cerebral microbleeds (CMBs) in various cerebrovascular diseases and its significance are increasingly receiving attention by the researchers and clinicians both from foreign and domestic, This article reviews the pathogenesy and imaging diagnosis, the correlations between CMBs and spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage, ischemic stroke and cerebral amyloid angiopathy, as well as the guiding significance in thrombolysis, anticoagulation and antiplatelet aggregation therapy in ischemic stroke.

Stroke has become the leading cause of death in Chinese residents. As the cornerstone of the primary and secondary prevention of ischemic stroke, aspirin can prevent the occurrence and recurrence of ischemic stroke in a certain extent. However, some patients stil have vascular events after taking aspirin regularly or higher platelet aggregation rate. This phenomenon is caled aspirin resistance or aspirin low reactivity. This article reviews the occurrence, detection methods, and treatment measures of aspirin resistance in patients with ischemic stroke.

Objective To evaluate the diagnostic value of galactomannan(GM) detection for invasive aspergillosis infections in pediatric patients, a Meta-analysis was performed.Methods According to selection criteria, studies indexed by PubMed,EMBASE,Medline,CNKI and Wanfang Data on GM testing in pediatric aspergillosis were included from January 2001 to November 2012. The methodological quality was assessed by QUADAS, sources of heterogeneity investigated, pooled effect quantities evaluated, and summary receiver operative curves(ROC) and subgroup analysis performed.Stata12.0 was used to analyze diagnostic parameters, such as, sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood ratio, negative likelihood ratio and area under the curve(AUC). Results Thirteen articles with 16 sets of data were included.The weighted sensitivity and specificity with 95% confidence interval were 0.71(0.60-0.79)and 0.94(0.89-0.96), respectively.Under different cut-off values, sensitivities of GM assay in diagnosis of pediatric aspergillosis were 0.71(0.54-0.84) for 0.5, 0.77(0.64-0.87) for 0.8, 0.72(0.58-0.84) for 1.0 and 0.59(0.39-0.76) for 1.5, and its responding specificities were 0.94(0.89-0.97), 0.89(0.82-0.93), 0.89(0.81-0.94) and 0.91(0.88-0.94).Conclusion Under the cut-off value of 0.8, the GM assay is a useful method in the detection of pediatric invasive aspergillosis.

Objective To investigate the relationship between single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of UGT1 A6 and aspirin response in a cohort of Chinese Han population.Methods A total of 323 ischemic stroke patients consecutively registered in Nanjing Stroke Registry Program from September 2011 to October 2014 were enrolled.Three SNPs (rs6759892,rs2070959 and rs1105879) of UGT1A6 were genotyped in these ischemic stroke patients.Association of genotypes and aspirin response was evaluated by generalized linear model.Indicated with the inhibition rate of platelets,aspirin response was assessed by thromboelastograph.Results The mutation allele (G) of rs2070959 was positively related to platelets inhibition (β =0.084,P =0.010,Pcorrected =0.029),especially in male (β =0.098,P =0.006,Pcorrected =O.019).The dominant models of rs6759892,rs1105879 were also modestly related to aspirin response (P=0.015,Pcorrected=0.046 in both SNPs) in male.Thus the polymorphisms of UGT1A6 showed a relationship with aspirin response,especially in males.Conclusions The results indicated that genetic polymorphism of UGT1A6 might have an effect on individuals' aspirin response,especially in males.These findings can help clinicians to optimize the antiplatelet therapy for ischemic stroke patients.

Objective To study the Sheng Mai San on the levels of cell factors induced by lipopolysaccharide in acute liver failure rats. Methods The models of chronic liver failure were constructed by injecting CCl4 in the abdomen of rats. The serum levels of lipopolysaccharide and cell factors were determined after treating with LPS and Sheng Mai San for 2 hours. Results The serum level of IL-6［(64.50±18.79)pg/ml vs (4.79±0.57)pg/ml］, ICAM-1［(25100.00±5258.85)pg/ml vs (4215.50±942.79)pg/ml］ and TNF-α［(17.55±2.39)pg/ml vs (10.92±5.02)pg/ml］ was increased by CCl4 (P＜0.05), but there is no effect on the serum level of LPS in rats ［(0.058±0.007)EU/ml vs (0.040±0.002)EU/ml,P＞0.05］. Sheng Mai San can significantly reduce the serum level of IL-6, ICAM-1 and TNF-α in rats with acute liver failure induced by CCl4 ［(17.20±3.12)pg/ml,(9490.00±2725.78)pg/ml,(3.00±1.00)pg/ml,P＜0.05］. After treating with LPS for 2 hours, the serum level of LPS, TNF-α, IL-6, ICAM-1 markedly increased ［(0.501±0.019)EU/ml,(19750.00±9655.17)pg/ml,(5615.00±490.50)pg/ml,(41000.00±589.88)pg/ml,P＜0.01］. Sheng Mai San could reduce the serum levels of LPS, TNF-α, IL-6, ICAM-1 and in rats with chronic liver failure (P＜0.01). Conclusions SD Rats in the state of chronic liver fail-ure, existing serious serum endotoxin, can induce the levels of cell factors by diversification inflammation reaction and. ShengMaiSan can regulating the levels of cell factors in rats with chronic liver failure.

Objective To investigate the possible formation mechanism and imaging features of the hyperintense vessel sign (HVS) on fluid attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) in patients with ischemic stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA).Methods The baseline data of the patients with middle cerebral artery (MCA) ischemic stroke or TIA with digital subtraction angiography (DSA) showing the lesions of MCA M1 segment in clinical practice were retrospectively retrieved from Nanjing Stroke Registry Program from January 2010 to July 2011.FLAIR was used to observe HVS,and DSA was used to evaluate the degree of vascular stenosis and cerebral collateral circulation.Results A total of 101 patients were enrolled,76 (75.2％) were males,and their mean age was 53.94 ± 13.47 years; 90 patients (89.1％) with ischemic stroke and 11 patients (10.9％) with TIA; 55 patients (54.5％) were HVS negative and 46 (45.5％) were HVS positive.Among the patients whose MCA stenosis ＜50％,50％-70％,70％-90％ and ≥90％,the positive rates were 0％ (0/8),25.0％ (3/12),17.6％ (3/17),and 62.5％ (40/64),respectively.There were significant differences (Z=-4.479,P＜ 0.001).The leptomeningeal collateral circulation of the HVS positive group was significantly more than that of the HVS negative group (Z =-6.196,P ＜ 0.001).Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that the degree of MCA stenosis was an independent risk factor for influencing the formation of HVS (odds ratio 3.943,95％ confidence interval 2.03-7.659; P ＜0.001).Conclusions The formed intracranial leptomeningeal colhteral circulation after severe intracranial vascular stenosis or occlusion is a major pathophysiological basis of HVS formation on FLAIR sequences in patients with ischemic stroke or TIA.

ObjectiveTo investigate the correlation between the methylation status of HLA class Ⅰ genes(HLA-A, -B and -C) in psoriatic epidermis and disease severity in patients with psoriasis vulgaris. MethodsDNA specimens were obtained from the lesional and nonlesional epidermis of 46 patients with psoriasis vulgaris and from the normal skin of 28 human controls. Methylation specific PCR (MSP) was conducted to detect the methylation status of CpG islands in the promoter region of HLA-A, -B and -C genes. The severity of psoriasis was evaluated by psoriasis area and severity index(PASI) scores. ResultsThe percentage of promoter methylation of HLA-B and HLA-C genes was 4.35％(2/46) and 21.74％(10/46), respectively in nonlesional epidermis, 4.35％ (2/46) and 4.35％ (2/46), respectively in lesional epidermis from these patients. No methylation was observed for the promoter of HLA-A, -B or -C gene in the normal control epidermis or for that of HLA-A gene in the nonlesional or lesional epidermis from the patients. The frequency of HLA-C gene promoter methylation in the nonlesional epidermis was significantly higher than that in the lesional epidermis and control epidermis, but was uncorrelated to the disease severity. No significant difference was observed for the methylation frequency of HLA-A or -B gene promoter among the three groups of specimens. Conclusion Abnormal methylation of HLA-C gene promoter is observed in patients with psoriasis vulgaris.