Diagnostic value of DSA in collateral circulation in elderly patients with serious stenosis or occlusion of the internal carotid artery / 中华神经医学杂志

Objective To investigate the diagnostic value of aortocranial DSA in collateral circulation in elderly patients with serious stenosis or occlusion of the internal carotid artery. Methods Twenty-three elderly patients with serious stenosis or occlusion of the internal carotid artery, admitted to our hospital from August 2008 to July 2010, were chosen; their DSA findings and prognoses were retrospectively analyzed. Results Of these 23 patients, the collateral circulation was seen in 18(78.3%), including compensations from anterior communicating artery (n=16), posterior communicating artery (n=6), anterior together with posterior communicating artery (n=3), anterior choroidal artery (n=5),meningina artery between anterior cerebral artery and posterior cerebral artery (n=5), meningina artery between posterior cerebral artery and middle cerebral artery (n=4), ophthalmic artery (n=15), blood vessel between posterior cerebral artery and superior cerebellar artery (n=3), and blood vessel among superior cerebellar artery, anterior inferior cerebellar artery and posterior inferior cerebellar artery (n=2); after conservative treatment and long time follow-up (1 to 22 months with a mean of 11.2 moths),disappearance of clinical symptoms and no recurrence were found in these 18 patients. Five patients were noted without compensatory collateral circulation: the 2 paralysis patients could not take care of themselves even with the improvement of myodynamia from grade 0 to grade Ⅲ; the 2 patients with disturbance of consciousness showed no recovery and died from lung infection; the left 1 patient was having aphasia. Conclusion DSA can accurately define ways and compensative ability of collateral circulation in elderly patients with serious stenosis or occlusion of the internal carotidartery, which can put forward reliable evidences for their treatments and prognoses.

Expression of water channel aquaporin-4 following status epilepticus in rats / 中华神经医学杂志

Objective To investigate the expression of water channel aquapoin-4 (AQP4) and its relationship to brain edema formation after status epilepticus (SE) in rats. Methods Fifty-four Sprague-Dawley rats (weighing 250～300 g) were randomly divided into 9 groups (n=6 in each group): the control group and the post-SE 6, 12, 24, 48, 72, 96, 120, 168 h groups. SE models were established with Lithium-pilocarpine. Immunohistochemistry and semi-quantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) were used to assess AQP4 protein and mRNA expression following SE. Results AQP4 expression significantly increased at 24 h, reached to a peak level at 48 h, lasted for 3 d and then began to decline, but still existed at day 7 (P＜0.05 vs control group). The time-dependent change displayed an obvious positive correlation with the process of brain edema after SE (r=0.73, P＜0.05).Conclusion The time-related change of AQP4 expression after SE has a positive correlation with brain edema, indicating that AQP4 may play an important role in the formation of brain edema following SE.

Quality of life of epilepsy patients in Zhuang populations in Guangxi Guixi area / 中国医学科学院学报

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the quality of life (QOL) and its influence factors in epilepsy patients in Zhuang population in Guangxi Guixi area.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Totally 78 epilepsy patients in Zhuang populations and 60 healthy controls were enrolled, and their QOL was assessed with Quality of Life in Epilepsy Inventory-31 (QOLIE-31). The QOLIE-31 scores of patients between different sexes, anti-epileptic drugs (AEDs) usage, duration of seizure, and seizure types were compared.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>QOL score was significantly lower in epileptic group (53.9 +/- 8.0) compared with control group (77.0 +/- 7.1) (P < 0.01). No difference was found in QOLIE-31 scores of patients between men and women (P > 0.05). Patients with single AED, shorter duration of seizure, and tonic-clonic seizure had higher QOLIE-31 scores than those with multiple AEDs, longer duration of seizure, and other seizure types (P < 0.01, P < 0.05, P < 0.01, respectively).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>QOL is lower in epilepsy patients than normal people in Zhuang populations in Guangxi Guixi area. Medication and seizure type affects the QOL in patients with epilepsy.</p>

Effection of observation Xinnaoxin capsules in treatment of chronic cerebral circulatory insufficiency / 中国中药杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To observe the therapeutic effect of Xinnaoxin capsules in patients with chronic cerebral circulatory insufficiency.</p><p><b>METHOD</b>Patients with chronic cerebral circulatory insufficiency were divided randomly into two groups: a Xinnaoxin capsules group (n = 60, treated by Xinnaoxin capsules for four 4 weeks), a control group (n = 58, treated by Nimodiping for four weeks). The transcranial doppler (TCD) was used to determined mean velocity (Vm) and auto-viscometer measured hemorheological indices before and after being treated.</p><p><b>RESULT</b>After 4 weeks treatment, the hemorheological indices and mean velocity were obviously improve in Xinnaoxin capsules group (P <0.05), there is significant difference between the effective rate of two groups (88.3%, 70.7%).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Our study suggest that Xinnaoxin capsules have therapeutic function on chronic cerebral circulatory insufficiency.</p>

Effect of Panax notoginseng saponins on serum neuronal specific enolase and rehabilitation in patients with cerebral hemorrhage / 中国中西医结合杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To observe the effect of Panax notoginseng saponins (PNS) on serum content of neuronal specific enolase (NSE) and function recovery in patients with cerebral hemorrhage (CH) for exploring the therapeutic action of PNS in treating CH.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Fifty CH patients with their course of disease not more than 5 days were randomly assigned to two groups, 27 in the PNS group and 23 in the control group, all were treated with conventional treatment, while PNS was given additionally to the PNS group. The serum levels of NSE before and after treatment were determined by electrochemiluminescence, and the recovery of patients, including their neuro-function deficit and daily living activity, was assessed according to scoring by the National Institute of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) and Barthel Index (BI) respectively.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Before treatment, the difference between the two groups in serum NSE content and scores of NIHSS and BI was insignificant (P > 0.05). However, after 3 weeks of treatment, the level of NSE and score of NIHSS were significantly lower, while score of BI was significantly higher in the PNS group than those in the control group respectively (all P < 0.01). In the PNS group, the level of NSE showed a positive correlation with the score of NIHSS (r = 0.757, P < 0.05), and a negative correlation with the score of BI (r = - 0.803, P < 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>PNS can effectively protect the neuron and promote functional rehabilitation in patients after CH.</p>

Intercellular adhesion molecule-1 gene K469E polymorphism and genetic susceptibility of ischemic stroke in Chinese Zhuang populations / 中华医学遗传学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To examine the relationship between intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) gene polymorphism and ischemic stroke (IS) in Chinese Zhuang populations.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The K469E polymorphism in the exon 6 of ICAM-1 gene was detected by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis and DNA sequencing in 205 patients with IS of Zhuang nationality and in 210 healthy controls, and the serum level of ICAM-1 was determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The IS group showed significantly higher serum levels of ICAM-1 than did the control group (P < 0.01). There was significant difference in frequencies of allele and genotype in K469E polymorphism between IS and control groups, respectively (P < 0.05). The K allele carriers had 1.424 times the risk of suffering from IS as compared with the E allele carriers (OR = 1.424, 95% CI: 1.071 - 1.894); the serum ICAM-1 level of E allele carriers was significantly higher than that of K allele carriers (501.24 +/- 139.56 ng/ml vs 475.17 +/- 118.35 ng/ml, P < 0.01).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>There is an association between ICAM-1 gene K469E polymorphism and IS, and E allele may be a genetic risk factor of IS among Guangxi Zhuangs, in which the ICAM-1 E allele carriers may have up-regulated expression of ICAM-1 and hence are at a higher risk of ischemic stroke.</p>