Role of Serum Calcium, Serum Albumin, and Serum Uric Acid as Markers of Initial Neurological Severity and Short-term Outcome Indicators in Acute Ischemic Stroke.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Stroke is the rapid onset of neurological symptoms that persist for >24 hours or death due to vascular causes. Biochemical alterations indicate stroke severity and outlook. Serum calcium has an important role in signal transduction pathways and may influence the severity of stroke in the acute stages. Serum uric acid acts as an indicator of tissue infarction. However, serum calcium, albumin and uric acid are rarely tested in acute ischemic stroke for severity and short-term prognosis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This is a 1-year, observational cross-sectional study of 65 individuals who experienced an acute ischemic stroke within 24 hours of onset. Patients with hemorrhagic stroke, chronic liver, and renal disease were excluded. At admission, serum calcium, albumin, and uric acid were measured along with the National Institute of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) severity. The Modified Rankin scale (MRS) grading done at the end of 1st week determined the short-term prognosis. RESULTS: In our 65-person study, stroke was common among 50-80-year-old patients. Participants included 45 (69.23%) males and 20 (30.77%) females. Male preponderance of the ratio 2.25:1 was observed. A total of 17 (26.15%) individuals had hypertension, 19 (29.23%) had overlapping comorbidities, six (9.23%) had diabetes, and five (7.69%) had coronary artery disease (CAD). Hypertension and diabetes did not show a significant correlation. Only low serum calcium was found to be positively correlated to NIHSS rating. Serum albumin and uric acid did not affect NIHSS severity. All three signals were unrelated to MRS. INTERPRETATION AND CONCLUSION: Low serum calcium exacerbates NIHSS. NIHSS was unrelated to albumin, uric acid, or demography. MRS grades were unaffected by three lab factors. In order to decrease bias and relate these three lab measures to acute ischemic stroke, large-scale prospective research is required.

Evolving parsec-scale radio structure in the most distant blazar known.

Blazars are a sub-class of quasars with Doppler boosted jets oriented close to the line of sight, and thus efficient probes of supermassive black hole growth and their environment, especially at high redshifts. Here we report on Very Long Baseline Interferometry observations of a blazar J0906 + 6930 at z = 5.47, which enabled the detection of polarised emission and measurement of jet proper motion at parsec scales. The observations suggest a less powerful jet compared with the general blazar population, including lower proper motion and bulk Lorentz factor. This coupled with a previously inferred high accretion rate indicate a transition from an accretion radiative power to a jet mechanical power based transfer of energy and momentum to the surrounding gas. While alternative scenarios could not be fully ruled out, our results indicate a possibly nascent jet embedded in and interacting with a dense medium resulting in a jet bending.