Platelets induce chronic inflammation which is a key step in atherosclerosis and may be involved in the progression of neurodegenerative diseases (NDD). We aimed to measure the mean platelet volume (MPV) and platelet count (PLC) in NDD patients. The present study was designed to investigate the platelet function by measuring MPV and PLC in NDD. A total of 182 outpatients with Alzheimer's (AD) or Parkinson's diseases (PD) were included. The control group consisted of 104 healthy subjects. Platelet count was similar between groups. MPV values of PD patients were higher than those of AD patients and controls (P < 0.001). MPV correlated negatively with Heohn and Yahr scale (HYS) score (P < 0.001). Increased MPV in patients with PD may point to a platelet dysfunction. High-grade inflammation presents with low levels of MPV as seen in PD patients with high HYS scores.
Background: Carotid artery stenosis increases cerebral ischemic event risk through changing different cerebral hemodynamic parameters. Objective: To investigate how cerebral hemodynamics in the M1 segment of middle cerebral artery change in patients with carotid artery stenosis, after motor tasks using transcranial Doppler sonography (TCD). Methods: Thirty-two healthy subjects and 30 patients with unilateral symptomatic carotid artery stenosis were recruited. The patient population was divided into three groups according to the degree of stenosis (group 1: ≥50 to 69%, group 2: 70 to 89% and group 3: ≥90 to 99%). TCD was used to measure the pulsatility index (PI) and cerebral vasomotor reactivity (CVR). Results: In the patient group, significant differences for symptomatic side PI values (p=0.01) and mean CVR increases (p=0.05) were observed, compared with the healthy controls. However, the difference was not statistically significant for asymptomatic side PI values and mean CVR increases. The results from the intergroup comparison showed significantly higher percentages of symptomatic and asymptomatic side CVR increases in group 1, compared with groups 2 and 3 (p=0.001 and p=0.002, respectively). Conclusions: Our study showed that cerebral autoregulation and hemodynamic mechanisms are impaired in patients with carotid artery stenosis. Furthermore, the impairment of PI and CVR tends to get worse with increasing degrees of stenosis. In addition, this study demonstrated that assessment of these two hemodynamic parameters in clinical practice might be helpful for monitoring the progress of carotid artery stenosis.
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