The association between serum adiponectin and 3-month outcome after ischemic stroke.

BACKGROUND: Although adiponectin is a major adipocytokine that affects the pathogenesis of various cardiovascular diseases, its clinical significance in stroke remains controversial. The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of serum adiponectin levels on functional prognosis in patients with ischemic stroke. METHODS: This was a prospective, observational cohort study. Consecutive first-ever ischemic stroke patients without any pre-morbid handicap admitted to our hospital were identified from December 2017 to December 2018. Serum concentration of adiponectin was routinely measured within the first 24 h after admission by a commercially available sandwich ELISA. Associations between adiponectin and either clinical severity at admission, poor outcomes or mortality at 3-month after admission were analyzed using logistic regression to obtain odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI). RESULTS: The serum level of adiponectin was obtained in 227 patients with a median value of 7.0 µg/ml, which was significantly higher (P < 0.001) than in those heathy control. Adiponectin levels were associated with moderate-to-high stroke, and risk increased by 12% (OR = 1.12; 95% CI 1.03-1.25; P = 0.002). Patients with a poor outcome and nonsurvivors had significantly increased adiponectin levels on admission (P < 0.001, all). In multivariate logistic regression analysis, adiponectin was an independent predictor of functional outcome and mortality, and risk increased by 24% (OR = 1.24, 95% CI 1.13-1.37; P < 0.001) and 31% (1.31 [1.18-1.46], P < 0.001), respectively. Kaplan-Meier analysis suggested that the patients with high serum adiponectin levels had a higher risk of death than those patients with low levels (log-rank test P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Our results show that high adiponectin is associated with stroke severity and support the hypothesis that adiponectin can be serve as a biomarker of poor outcome after stroke, independent of baseline variables. Trial registration ChiCTR-OPC-17013501. Retrospectively Registered 21 September 2017.

MiR-28-5p promotes human glioblastoma cell growth through inactivation of FOXO1.

OBJECTIVE: Glioblastomais is one of the main universal, primary brain cancers, in adults, that has an extremely poor clinical prognosis and a median living period of 12-15 months, accounting for nearly 3-4% of all cancer-related deaths. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play key roles in cancer pathogenesis by binding the specific and complementary sequences of the 3'UTR of target mRNAs to regulate protein synthesis. Therefore, recognizing functional miRNAs and the fundamental molecular mechanisms will offer novel evidences for the progress of targeted malignancy interferences. Our current study intended to explore the function of miR-28-5p in the promotion of the glioblastoma. METHODS: Human glioblastoma tissues, paired nearby normal/non-tumor tissues were accumulated from our hospital. Human glioblastoma SNB19 cells were infected by miR-28-5p mimics or miR-28-5p siRNA by lentivirus. Tumor spheres formation was used to evaluate the growth ability. MTT examine was applied for measuring viability. BrdU cell proliferation assay was applied to uncover the proliferation ability of SNB19 glioblastoma cells. Real-time PCR was conducted to identify miRNA expression. Western blot analysis was employed to measure protein expression. Dual-luciferase FOXO1-3'UTR reporter was used to determine the ability of miR-28-5p to regulate FOXO1. RESULTS: Expression of miR-28-5p was explored to be increased in both human glioblastoma tissues and cell lines. Up-regulated miR-28-5p expression promotes tumor spheres formation, cell viability, and proliferation ability of glioblastoma cells. FOXO1 was found to be the target of miR-28-5p and the activity of FOXO1 was down-regulated by miR-28-5p in glioblastoma cells. CONCLUSIONS: MiR-28-5p is an oncogene and promotes the occurrence of glioblastoma by directly targeting the FOXO1.

Timing of endoscopic third ventriculostomy in pediatric patients with congenital obstructive hydrocephalus: assessment of neurodevelopmental outcome and short-term operative success rate.

The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of early (⩽6 months old), midterm (6-12 months old) and late (>12 months old) endoscopic third ventriculostomy (ETV) on the operative success rate and postoperative neurodevelopmental outcome of children with congenital obstructive hydrocephalus. We divided 63 children into three groups according to whether they underwent early, midterm or late ETV. Their preoperative developmental quotient (DQ) was assessed using the Gesell developmental diagnosis schedule (GDDS). Three and 6months after the initial procedure, GDDS was used to obtain postoperative DQ from two assessments (blinded and non-blinded). Meanwhile, two observers studied the operative success rate of initial ETV. There were no substantial differences between blinded and non-blinded assessments. The success rate of early ETV was only 20.8%. By contrast, this rate was 55% and 73.7% for midterm and late ETV, respectively. Before operation, we observed severe developmental abnormalities in all children (DQ score<40). However, children in midterm and late ETV groups achieved improvement after the operation, which was particularly remarkable in late ETV group. Six months after the first surgery, 16 (84.2%) children in the late ETV group, nine (45%) in the midterm ETV group and four (16.7%) in the early ETV group had moderate developmental disability. Nevertheless, overall prognosis for the three groups was not optimistic. There were no children with mild neurodevelopmental disability or normal function. Our data confirmed that age is a determinant for ETV effectiveness and overall prognosis.

Expression of matrix structural proteins in the vessel wall of rat models during the early aneurysm formation / 中国组织工程研究

BACKGROUND:Matrix protein is an essential component of the vascular wal , provides a necessary frame for the integrity of the vessel wal and physiological function of vascular wal cel s, and regulates cel s and smooth muscle. OBJECTIVE:To construct rat model of early aneurysm, and to evaluate differences in the expression of matrix structural proteins during cerebral aneurysm formation. METHODS:Twenty-eight healthy male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomized into control group (n=8) and model group (n=20). Aneurysm model was established by ligation of the left common carotid artery and right renal artery-induced hypertension in the model group. In the control group, only the left carotid artery bifurcation and bilateral carotid were exposed in rats. Rats in the model group were sacrificed at 15 and 30 days after model establishment. Right anterior cerebral artery in rats and olfactory artery bifurcation received immunohistochemical staining. The expressions of fibronectin,α-smooth muscle actin and col agen III were analyzed. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:Compared with the control group, no significant difference in fibronectin expression was detected in right anterior cerebral artery and olfactory artery bifurcation in rats of the model group at 30 days after model establishment (P>0.05). However,α-smooth muscle actin and col agen III expressions were significantly reduced (P<0.05). These data confirmed that expression of structural proteins had differences and dynamic changes during early aneurysm formation in rats. Degradation of matrix structural protein in cerebral artery may be one of the key mechanism of aneurysm formation.

Treatment of intracranial hydatid cysts / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>Echinococcosis is still endemic in many countries, including China, where it is especially prevalent in the northwest. The aim of this study was to enrich the international literature about the treatment of intracranial hydatid cysts.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>We retrospectively reviewed the clinical features, radiological manifestations, and surgical outcome of 97 patients with intracranial hydatid cysts, who received surgical treatment at the Neurosurgical Department of First Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University from 1985 to 2010 and followed up the patient via sending a questionnaire or telephone contact. Clinical outcome was evaluated using the Karnofsky Performance Scale Index.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Headache and vomiting were the most common initial symptoms in our patients. Neurological deficits caused by the mass effect of the cysts were seen in 82 cases. On the X-ray, significant bone erosion was seen in only two cases with epidural hydatid cysts. Round-shaped and thin-walled homogeneous low-density cystic lesions without surrounding edema and enhancement were the main findings on computerized tomography (CT) in 95 patients with intraparenchymal hydatid cysts, while two cases with epidural hydatid cysts presented as a heterodensity lesions. On magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), hydatid cyst presented as a round-shaped low signal lesion in T1-weighted images and high signal lesion in T2-weighted images, without enhancement after contrast media injection, while the two cases with epidural cysts presented as mixed signal masses. Surgical removal of cyst was performed in all cases. Total removal was achieved in 93 cases without rupturing the cyst wall. Only two cysts ruptured during the dissection, resulting in two surgery-related mortalities. There was no other additional neurological deficit caused directly by surgery. In 97.2% of the patients, the Karnofsky Performance Scale score was 80 to 90 at the last follow-up.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Intracranial hydatid cyst is still a main cause of increased intracranial pressure among the patients in endemic areas for echinococcosis. CT and MRI are the best diagnostic methods and surgery is the treatment of choice for intracranial hydatid cysts.</p>