Bioinformatics Analysis of a Functional ANGPT1 Variant That Interferes with miR-607 and Its Association with Susceptibility and Outcome of Ischemic Stroke in a Han Population.

PURPOSE: Ischemic stroke (IS) is a major cause of disability and death. We used bioinformatics approaches to investigate a functional ANGPT1 variant that interferes with miR-607 and explored its association with IS. MATERIALS AND METHODS: An IS expression microarray (GSE16561) was downloaded from the GEO and used to identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and functional enrichment pathways. Analyses showed that ANGPT1 participated in six key pathways and was susceptible to a key functional polymorphism rs2507799. We genotyped 567 IS patients and 500 controls for ANGPT1 rs2507799. Luciferase assays were also conducted to investigate the binding between miR-607 and ANGPT1 rs2507799. RESULTS: In total, we identified 458 DEGs between IS patients and healthy controls in the GSE16561 dataset. GO functional enrichment analysis showed that these DEGs were mainly enriched in cell-substrate junctions, the regulation of peptide secretion, and the regulation of cytokine secretion involved in immune response. ANGPT1 rs2507799 T-carriers had a significantly higher risk of IS (Dominant model: OR = 1.48, 95% CI = 1.01-2.17, P = 0.044). IS patients harboring the TC/TT genotype experienced significantly more severe injuries in terms of neurological function (Dominant model: OR = 2.06, 95% CI = 1.28-3.31, P = 0.003). Analysis also showed that IS patients harboring the TC/TT genotype had a significantly worse outcome (Dominant model: OR = 2.22, 95% CI = 1.35-3.67, P = 0.002). Luciferase assays indicated that miR-607 could affect luciferase activity by binding to the ANGPT1 mutant type. CONCLUSION: In this study, we used bioinformatical methods to investigate a key IS-related gene ANGPT1 and its functional polymorphism rs2507799. rs2507799 was found to be associated with a significantly increased risk for IS, a significantly more severe initial stroke severity, and a worse outcome. These results may help to improve the future management of ischemic stroke.

Electrocardiogram Characteristics of Different Motor Types of Parkinson's Disease.

AIM: This study aims to investigate the electrocardiogram characteristics of the different motor types of Parkinson's disease. METHODS: The data on 118 patients with Parkinson's disease (PD), who were initially diagnosed in the Outpatient and Inpatient Department, was collected. Among these 118 PD patients, 74 patients were assigned to the PIGD group, while 44 patients were assigned to the TD group, and their clinical features were analyzed, which included age, course, disease classification, and electrocardiogram parameters (PR, QRS, QT interval, and QTC). RESULTS: The QT interval in PD patients was positively correlated with the course of the disease and Hoehn-Yahr stage, and the QT interval in the PIGD group was longer than that in the TD group. CONCLUSION: A prolonged QT interval may indicate a longer disease period and a more severe disease condition.

Level of uric acid and uric acid/creatinine ratios in correlation with stage of Parkinson disease.

This study aims to investigate relationship between the level of uric acid (UA) and UA/creatinine ratios (UA/Cr) to the stage of Parkinson disease (PD).A total of 120 cases of PD patients who were admitted in our hospital between 2013 and 2015 were enrolled into this study; these 120 cases of PD patients were divided into 3 groups, according to Hoehn-Yahr (H-Y) classification: early stage (1-2 classification), medium stage (2.5-3 classification), and advanced stage (4-5 classification); UA and UA/Cr level in each group was compared. Then, factors including age, gender, dopamine dosage, UA, and UA/Cr levels were analyzed to find the independent predictive factors of PD by logistic regression.UA and UA/Cr levels in the early and medium stage PD patients were significantly higher than in the advanced stage ones. UA and UA/Cr levels in patients with good prognosis were significantly higher than in the poor ones.UA and UA/Cr levels are negatively correlated with the stages of PD and are independent negatively predicting biological indexes of PD incidence and progression.

Effects of low oxygen dead space ventilation and breath-holding test in evaluating cerebrovascular reactivity: A comparative observation.

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to explore the application prospect of low oxygen dead space ventilation (LODSV) in evaluating vasomotor reactivity (VMR) by comparison between LODSV and breath-holding test (BHT). METHODS: Outpatient or inpatient patients who underwent transcranial Doppler sonography (TCD) were enrolled into this study. These patients successively underwent BHT and LODSV. The cooperation degree, tolerance conditions and adverse reactions in patients were recorded, and VMR was calculated, compared and analyzed. RESULTS: Patients had poor cooperation during BHT. Except for compensatory tachypnea after BHT, patients basically had no adverse reaction. The main manifestations of patients undergoing LODSV were deepened breathing and accelerated frequency in the end of the ventilation, and increased heart rate and a slight decline in pulse oxygen that rapidly recovered after ventilation. The increase rate of blood flow velocity in patients undergoing LODSV was significantly higher than in BHT (P<0.001), and its calculated VMR value was approximately 15% higher than BHT (P<0.001). BHT revealed a monophasic curve that slightly descends and rapidly increases, and LODSV revealed a curve that descends for a short time and slowly increases with a platform. CONCLUSION: LODSV can effectively eliminate the affect of poor cooperation in patients, and avoid intolerance caused by hypoxia. Hence, VMR value is more accurate than that determined by BHT; and this can reflect the maximum reaction ability of the blood vessels. Therefore, this method has higher clinical application value.