The efficacy of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) treatments for Western medicine (WM) diseases relies heavily on the proper classification of patients into TCM syndrome types. The authors developed a data-driven method for solving the classification problem, where syndrome types were identified and quantified based on statistical patterns detected in unlabeled symptom survey data. The new method is a generalization of latent class analysis (LCA), which has been widely applied in WM research to solve a similar problem, i.e., to identify subtypes of a patient population in the absence of a gold standard. A well-known weakness of LCA is that it makes an unrealistically strong independence assumption. The authors relaxed the assumption by first detecting symptom co-occurrence patterns from survey data and used those statistical patterns instead of the symptoms as features for LCA. This new method consists of six steps: data collection, symptom co-occurrence pattern discovery, statistical pattern interpretation, syndrome identification, syndrome type identification and syndrome type classification. A software package called Lantern has been developed to support the application of the method. The method was illustrated using a data set on vascular mild cognitive impairment.

The MoCA executive tasks are more sensitive in detecting executive dysfunction compared with the MMSE executive tasks. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2017; 17: 2329-2335.

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Background Autophagy is characterized by the degradation of cellular components in autophagosomes. It plays a significant role in cerebral ischemic injury and has a complex functional connection with apoptosis. The neurovascular unit (NVU) is a structural and functional unit of the nervous system presented as a therapeutic target of stroke. This study aimed to investigate the effect of autophagy induced by ischemic damage on NVUs. Material/Methods SH-SY5Y cells, C6 cells, and rat brain microvascular endothelial cells were cultured with oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD) exposure for different time durations, and 3-methyladenine (3-MA) was added as an autophagy inhibitor. In all 3 cell lines, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release was measured. Furthermore, apoptosis was detected using Annexin V-fluorescein isothiocyanate/propidium iodide labeling and immunofluorescence staining. Autophagosomes were observed through AO/MDC (acridine orange/monodansycadaverine) double staining. LC3-II expression levels were evaluated by western blot analysis. Results In the OGD groups of 3 cell lines, LDH leakage, and apoptotic rates were obviously increased. Remarkable increase in LC3-II expression was found in the OGD groups of SH-SY5Y cells and C6 cells. However, 3-MA decreased the LC3-II expression to varying degrees. Conclusions OGD could induce the over-activation of autophagy and augment the apoptotic activity in neurons and glial cells of NVUs.

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Introduction:The aim of this study was to investigate for possible associations between an early increase in body temperature within 24 hours of endovascular therapy (EVT) for large vessel occlusion stroke and the presence of symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage (sICH) and other clinical outcomes. Methods: This was a retrospective study of consecutive patients with large vessel occlusion stroke who were treated with EVT from August 2018 to June 2021. Patients were divided into two groups based on the presence of fever, as defined by a Peak Body Temperature (PBT) of ≥37.3 °C. The presence of sICH and other clinical outcomes were compared between the two groups. Results: The median NIHSS admission score (IQR) was 16.0 (12.0, 21.0), with higher NIHSS scores in the PBT ≥37.3 °C group than in the PBT <37.3 °C group (18 vs 14, respectively; p = 0.002). There were no differences in clinical outcomes at 3 months between patients with PBT <37.3 °C and patients with PBT between 37.3 °C and 38 °C. However, patients with PBT ≥38 °C had an increased risk of sICH (adjusted odds ratio (OR) = 8.8, 95% confidence interval (95% CI): 1.7-46.0; p = 0.01), increased inpatient death or hospice discharge (OR = 10.5, 95% CI: 2.0-53.9; p = 0.005), poorer clinical outcome (OR = 25.6, 95% CI: 5.2-126.8; p < 0.001), and increased 3-month mortality (OR = 6.6, 95% CI: 1.8-24.6; p = 0.01). Conclusions: Elevated PBT (≥38 °C) within 24 hours of EVT was significantly associated with an increased incidence of symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage, discharge to hospice or inpatient death, poorer clinical outcome and 3-month mortality, and with less functional independence. Further large-scale, prospective and multicenter trials are needed to confirm these findings.