Stroke Systems of Care During the COVID-19 Epidemic in Kobe City.

BACKGROUND: The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak raised concerns over healthcare systems' ability to provide suitable care to stroke patients. In the present study, we examined the provision of stroke care in Kobe City during the COVID-19 epidemic, where some major stroke centers ceased to provide emergency care. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study. The Kobe Stroke Network surveyed the number of stroke patients admitted to all primary stroke centers (PSCs) in the city between March 1 and May 23, 2020, and between March 3 and May 25, 2019. In addition, online meetings between all PSC directors were held regularly to share information. The survey items included emergency response system characteristics, number of patients with stroke hospitalized within 7 days of onset, administered treatment types (IV rt-PA, mechanical thrombectomy, surgery, and endovascular therapy), and stroke patients with confirmed COVID-19. RESULTS: During the period of interest in 2020, the number of stroke patients hospitalized across 13 PSCs was 813, which was 15.5% lower than that during the same period of 2019 (p = 0.285). The number of patients admitted with cerebral infarction, intracerebral hemorrhage, and subarachnoid hemorrhage decreased by 15.4% (p = 0.245), 16.1% (p = 0.659), and 14.0% (p = 0.715), respectively. However, the rates of mechanical thrombectomy and surgery for intracerebral hemorrhage were slightly increased by 12.1% (p = 0.754) and 5.0% (p = 0.538), respectively. PSCs that ceased to provide emergency care reported a decrease in the number of stroke cases of 65.7% compared with the same period in 2019, while other PSCs reported an increase of 0.8%. No case of a patient with stroke and confirmed COVID-19 was reported during the study period. CONCLUSION: Kobe City was able to maintain operation of its stroke care systems thanks to close cooperation among all city PSCs and a temporal decrease in the total number of stroke cases.

[A Case of Spinal Epidural Hematoma Presenting with Transient Hemiplegia].

We report a rare case of a patient with spinal epidural hematoma who presented with transient hemiplegia. A 90-year-old man awakened from sleep due to sudden neck pain. Fifteen minutes later, the man experienced progressively worsening weakness in his left hand, and was transported in an ambulance to our hospital. At the hospital, he presented with hemiplegia, and we suspected intracranial disease. Therefore, we performed magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), which revealed no intracranial lesions. Shortly after the MRI, the patient showed no signs of hemiplegia. However, since the severe neck pain persisted, we performed cervical MRI, which showed a high-intensity area at the C2-C5 level, predominantly on the left side. Despite recovery from hemiplegia, we performed a laminectomy of C3-C5 with evacuation of a hematoma at the C2-C6 level. After the surgery, the patient had no neck pain.

Enhanced Circularly Polarized Luminescence by a Homochiral Guest-Host Interaction in Gyroidal MOFs, [Ru(bpy)3] [M2(ox)3] (bpy = 2,2'-Bipyridyl, ox = Oxalate, M = Zn, Mn).

We report the circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) for [Ru(bpy)3]I2 (1) and [Ru(bpy)3][M2(ox)3] (M = Zn (2), Mn (3)). Whereas compound 1 is a simple salt of [Ru(bpy)3]2+, 2 and 3 are MOFs in which the chiral [Ru(bpy)3]2+ ions are encapsulated in a homochiral gyroidal skeleton of [M2(ox)3]2-. Whereas the solution of 1 exhibited weak CPL with a luminescence dissymmetry factor of |glum| ∼ 10-4, the CPL was significantly enhanced in solid-state 1-3 with |glum| = 2 × 10-2 for 1, 4 × 10-2 for 2, and 1 × 10-1 for 3. The enhanced CPL in 3 was attributable to an energy transfer between the homochiral guest and host in 3.

Platelet function and spontaneous thrombolytic activity of patients with cerebral infarction assessed by the global thrombosis test.

Measurements of platelet reactivity and assessment of the efficacy of antiplatelet drugs are widely recognized as pre-requisite for the diagnosis and treatment of stroke patients. A recently established shear-induced platelet reactivity test using non-anticoagulated blood (the Global Thrombosis Test) has facilitated measurements of physiologically relevant platelet function and thrombolytic activity. 195 healthy volunteers, not taking antiplatelet drugs or anticoagulants, and 185 patients with acute cerebrovascular diseases were enrolled. The effect of antiplatelet drugs on platelet function and thrombolytic activity was assessed using the Global Thrombosis Test after 14 days of medication. The occlusion time (OT), an index of platelet reactivity, in healthy controls was 284.9 ± 92.2 s. The lysis time (LT), an index of thrombolytic activity, in healthy controls was 2,231 ± 1,223 s. Both times had no significant difference between males and females. The OT of all stroke patients was 210.3 ± 140.8 s and was shorter than that of the healthy controls (284.9 ± 92.2, p < 0.0001). The LT of all stroke patients was 3,159 ± 1,549 s and was longer than that of the controls (2,231 ± 1,223, p < 0.0001). Medication significantly prolonged the OT from 184.5 ± 150.6 s (before) to 295.3 ± 208.1 s (after) in all patients, indicating a reversal of the hyper-platelet reactivity. In addition, medication shortened the LT from 3,924 ± 1,718 s (before) to 3,107 ± 1,794 s (after) in all patients. A prothrombotic state exists in stroke patients due to enhanced platelet function and suppressed thrombolytic activity. Medication improved these physiological parameters of haemostasis.

A rare case of malignant glioma suspected to have arisen from a cavernous sinus.

A 55-year-old woman presented with a right trigeminal dysfunction (dysesthesia) initially, followed by right oculomotor and abducens paresis lasting 1 month. Neuroimaging studies showed an enhanced mass in the right cavernous sinus extending to the trigeminal ganglion. The extraparenchymal tumor located around the right trigeminal ganglion was totally removed, except for an intracavernous lesion, by the orbitozygomatic approach. The solid tumor was completely separated from the brainstem and seemed to be a trigeminal schwannoma arising from the trigeminal ganglion or cavernous sinus at surgery. A histological examination, however, found a typical malignant glioma that consisted primarily of astrocytic tumor cells. Immunohistochemical staining showed the tumor cells stained intensely for GFAP, S-100 protein, and vimentin, but not for NFP, Schwann/2E, CD34, and CD68. The mean MIB-1 index was 12.4%. The tumor recurred after a short time, and then it rapidly disseminated into the subarachnoid space and left the cerebral hemisphere. The patient died 1 year after the initial symptoms in spite of aggressive surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy with temozolomide. There are no previous reports of a malignant glioma arising from either the cavernous sinus or the trigeminal ganglion. From the pathogenetic point of view, this malignant glioma is an extremely rare case that developed clinically and neuroradiologically from the cavernous sinus and was suspected be being derived from ectopic glial tissue.

Effects of dietary treatment alone or diet with voglibose or glyburide on abdominal adipose tissue and metabolic abnormalities in patients with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes.

UNLABELLED: OBJECTIVE; To examine the effects of diet and diet with voglibose or glyburide on abdominal adiposity and metabolic abnormalities in patients with type 2 diabetes. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: A total of 36 Japanese patients with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes (50.8 +/- 8.6 years of age, BMI 24.5 +/- 3.5 kg/m(2)) and 273 normal control subjects were studied. The patients were treated for 3 months with diet alone (30 kcal/kg per day) (n = 15), diet with voglibose (n = 12), or diet with glyburide (n = 9). They underwent 75-g oral glucose tolerance testing, assessment of insulin sensitivity (SI), and acute insulin response (AIR) with intravenous glucose tolerance testing based on the minimal model, and measurement of abdominal visceral adipose tissue area (VAT) and subcutaneous adipose tissue area (SAT) by computed tomography before and after treatment. RESULTS: The diabetic patients had comparable SAT but larger VAT than the control subjects. With a mean weight loss of 2-3 kg, VAT and SAT were decreased similarly in all treatment groups. The VAT-to-SAT ratio was decreased only in the voglibose group. Glycemic control and serum lipid profiles were improved in all groups. Changes in glycemic control after diet were closely correlated with changes in VAT but not with changes in SAT. SI and AIR were unchanged in the diet group but were improved in the voglibose and glyburide groups. CONCLUSIONS: In Japanese patients with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes who were relatively lean but had excess VAT, diet with or without voglibose or glyburide effectively reduced VAT. Decrease in VAT was closely associated with improvement of glycemic control with diet. Additional use of voglibose or low-dose glyburide had no detrimental effects on abdominal adiposity and had beneficial effects on SI and AIR.

Severe graves ophthalmopathy accompanied by HTLV-1-associated uveitis (HAU) and anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody-related vasculitis: a case report and a review of the literature of HAU with Graves disease.

A 50-year-old woman was admitted because of severe exophthalmos associated with Graves disease. She underwent methimazole (MMI) and methylprednisolone pulse therapy against exophthalmos. She noticed photophobia and blurred vision 3 weeks after the start of pulse therapy and she was diagnosed as having uveitis. Methylprednisolone pulse therapy was performed again for both exophthalmos and uveitis, followed by daily administration of 20 mg of prednisolone and instillation of betamethasone for 2 weeks and the uveitis was improved. Western blot analysis confirmed that human T lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) antibody was present in her serum. Propylthiouracil was substituted for MMI and HTLV-1-associated uveitis (HAU) has not recurred. Six months after the beginning of administration of PTU, anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody-related vasculitis developed in the patient. We review 43 cases of HAU with Graves disease, including the present case, in the literature. Only 2 of 27 cases (except unknown cases) (7.4%) had Graves ophthalmopathy. To the best of our knowledge, there has been no investigation of HAU and Graves ophthalmopathy.