Journal of neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry
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J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatr. · May 2020
Predictors of outcome in 1-month survivors of large middle cerebral artery infarcts treated by decompressive hemicraniectomy.
Decompressive hemicraniectomy (DH) increases survival without severe dependency in patients with large middle cerebral artery (LMCA) infarcts. The objective was to identify predictors of 1-year outcome after DH for LMCA infarct. ⋯ In patients with LMCA infarcts treated by DH, stroke characteristics (infarct volume before DH, midline shift after DH and early DH) predict 30-day mortality, while patients' characteristics (age and excessive alcohol intake) predict 1-year outcome survivors.
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To examine the association between serum total homocysteine levels (tHcy) and dementia risk. ⋯ High serum tHcy levels are associated with an elevated risk of dementia, AD and VaD in a non-linear manner, such that an exposure-response association is present only within a relatively high range of tHcy levels. Non-genetic factors affecting serum tHcy concentrations may play important roles in tHcy-dementia associations irrespective of the genetic susceptibility for raised tHcy.
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J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatr. · May 2020
Myasthenia gravis AChR antibodies inhibit function of rapsyn-clustered AChRs.
Direct inhibition of acetylcholine receptor (AChR) function by autoantibodies (Abs) is considered a rare pathogenic mechanism in myasthenia gravis (MG), but is usually studied on AChRs expressed in cell lines, rather than tightly clustered by the intracellular scaffolding protein, rapsyn, as at the intact neuromuscular junction. We hypothesised that clustered AChRs would provide a better target for investigating the functional effects of AChR-Abs. ⋯ These results show that antibodies can inhibit AChR function rapidly and demonstrate the importance of clustering in exploring pathogenic disease mechanisms of MG Abs.