Curcumin Protects Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells against H2O2-Induced Cell Injury.

Migraine is a prevalent neurological disorder which causes a huge economic burden on society. It is thought to be a neurovascular disease with oxidative stress might be involved. Curcumin, one of the major ingredients of turmeric, has potent antioxidative and anti-inflammatory properties, but whether it could be used as a potential treatment for migraine remains to be explored. In the present study, human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) were pretreated with various concentrations of curcumin (0 µM, 10 µM, 20 µM, 30 µM, 40 µM, and 50 µM) for 12 h, thereby exposed to H2O2 (100 µM) for another 12 h. The viability of HUVECs was tested by the CCK-8 assay, and the activities of antioxidant enzymes including superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione (GSH) were also examined. Intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) and malondialdehyde (MDA) were assayed to determine H2O2-induced oxidative stress. In addition, several cell death-related genes (p53, p21, Bax, and Bcl-2) were detected by PCR, and an apoptosis-related protein (caspase3) was evaluated by western blotting. Our results showed that curcumin improved the H2O2-induced decrease of cell viability and antioxidative enzyme activities and decreased the level of oxidative stress. As a conclusion, curcumin could mitigate H2O2-induced oxidative stress and cell death in HUVECs and may be a potential therapeutic drug for migraine.

Predictors of Poor Outcome in Patients with Minor Ischemic Stroke by Using Magnetic Resonance Imaging.

Although the symptoms of minor ischemic stroke are mild, poor prognosis may occur if left untreated. Therefore, it is particularly important to identify the predictors that associated with poor outcome in patients presenting minor ischemic stroke. The aim of this study was to elucidate the predictors of progression by using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). A total of 516 patients diagnosed with minor ischemic stroke were enrolled in this study. They were divided into two groups, the progressive group and non-progressive group, according to the modified Rankin Scale (mRS) with the cutoff value of 2 points on day 90 after the stroke onset. We compared the results of MRI scan between the two groups to investigate the potential independent determinants of progression using multivariate logistic regression analysis. Ninety of 516 patients (17.44%) underwent progression. There were 9 factors that were independently associated with poor outcome, including age (OR = 1.045, 95% CI 1.017-1.074), heart disease (OR = 2.021, 95% CI 1.063-3.841), baseline NIHSS score (OR = 1.662, 95% CI 1.177-2.347), limb motor disturbance (OR = 2.430, 95% CI 1.010-5.850), ataxia (OR = 2.929, 95% CI 1.188-7.221), early neurological deterioration (OR = 50.994, 95% CI 17.659-147.258), diameter of infarction (OR = 1.279, 95% CI 1.075-1.521), non-responsible vessel size (OR = 2.518, 95% CI 1.145-5.536), and large-artery atherosclerosis (OR = 2.010, 95% CI 1.009-4.003). This study indicated that age, heart disease, motor disturbance of limb, ataxia, early neurological deterioration, diameter of infarction, size of non-responsible vessels, and large-artery atherosclerosis can be used to assess the prognosis of patients with minor ischemic stroke.