The clinical, MRI, and MRS findings suggest that the mechanisms responsible for NKHCB may be a reversible ischaemia insult potentiated by hyperglycemia.

Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) chaperone heat shock 70 kDa protein 5 (HSPA5/GRP78) is known to be involved in the metabolism of amyloid precursor protein and neuronal death in Alzheimer's disease (AD) could arise from dysfunction of the ER. Through a case-control study and an expression assay, we investigated the association of HSPA5 -415 G/A (rs391957), -370 C/T (rs17840761) and -180 del/G (rs3216733) polymorphisms with Taiwanese AD. The overall genotype and allele frequency distribution at the completely linked -415 G/A and -180 del/G sites showed significant difference between AD cases and controls (P = 0.020 and 0.009, respectively). A decrease in risk of developing AD was demonstrated for -415 AA/-180 GG genotype [OR = 0.38, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.18-0.75, P = 0.007] and -415 A/-180 G allele (OR = 0.69, 95% CI = 0.51-0.91, P = 0.009). The HSPA5 transcriptional activity of the -415 A/-180 G allele was significantly lower than that of the -415 G/-180 del alleles, whereas induction of HSPA5 expression after ER stress was markedly increased in the cells with the -415 A/-180 G allele. Therefore, our preliminary results may suggest a protective role of the HSPA5 -415 A/-180 G allele in Taiwanese AD susceptibility.

We present a case of spontaneous spinal epidural haematoma (SSEH) with a rare clinical course of repeated spontaneous recovery and relapse. The patient suffered three episodes of upper-back pain of sudden onset followed by sensory and motor dysfunction after weight lifting. In the first two episodes, the neurological deficits recovered spontaneously and completely. In the last episode, paraplegia persisted even after emergency surgery. Serial studies with computed tomographic (CT) myelography and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) demonstrated the remitting and relapsing course of the SSEHs. The possible causes of the SSEHs and the mechanisms of spontaneous recovery are discussed.

Trinucleotide repeat (TNR) expansion in the gene for TATA binding protein (TBP) has recently been described as causal for spinocerebellar ataxia type 17. The normal number of repeats has been considered to be 42 or less. An intermediate range with reduced penetrance has been assumed to be 43-47 CAA/CAG repeats. We examined this gene in 30 patients with autosomal-dominant cerebellar ataxia (ADCA), 35 patients with sporadic ataxia, 11 patients with Huntington's disease (HD), 351 patients with idiopathic Parkinson's disease (PD), 105 patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD), and 291 controls with no history of neurodegenerative disease. Three patients (one with sporadic PD and two with AD) carrying more than 42 TNRs in the TBP gene were identified. This reveals that the phenotype associated with CAG/CAA expansion in the TBP gene may be heterogeneous.

Inflammatory events may contribute to the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease (PD) and interleukin 1 (IL-1) may exert both neurotoxic and neuroprotective effects. We conducted a case-control study in a cohort of 493 PD cases and 388 ethnically matched controls to investigate the association of IL-1alpha C-889T and IL-1beta C-511T polymorphisms with the risk of PD. No significant difference in the genotype distribution of the analyzed polymorphisms was found between PD and controls. However, after stratification by age, individuals over 70 years of age carrying IL-1alpha-889 C/T genotype demonstrated a significant decrease in risk of developing PD (OR = 0.44; 95% CI = 0.22-0.88, p = 0.021) and the decrease is strengthened by IL-1beta-511 T-carrying genotype (OR = 0.28; 95% CI = 0.11-0.71, p = 0.008). Our data suggest that IL-1alpha, acting synergistically with IL-1beta, plays role in PD susceptibility among Taiwanese people older than 70 years of age.

Increased alpha-synuclein expression may be involved in the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease (PD). We investigated the association of Rep1 microsatellite and RsaI T-to-C substitution in the alpha-synuclein promoter region with the risk of PD by a case-control study. The RsaI C/C genotype and C allele were found less frequently in PD patients than in controls. A reduced risk of the Rep1-RsaI 0-C haplotype (OR = 0.57, 95% CI = 0.36-0.90) with PD was evident. The quantitative real-time PCR study showed that the alpha-synuclein mRNA expression was increased (although not significantly) in PD patients with RsaI T/T genotype or Rep1-RsaI 0-T haplotype as compared to T/C genotype or 0-C haplotype. Reporter constructs containing the RsaI C allele drove significantly lower transcriptional activity compared with the RsaI T allele in both IMR32 and 293 cells. The findings suggest that the RsaI T-to-C substitution may have a functional relevance to the susceptibility to PD.

Lipoproteins and vascular factors may play roles in the development of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and/or vascular dementia (VaD). In this study, odd ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for apolipoprotein E (APOE), angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE), and kallikrein (KLK1) polymorphisms were computed to test their association with the disease by a case-control study. The risk of AD was significantly increased for individuals with APOE varepsilon4 allele (OR = 3.73, 95% CI = 2.38-5.98). The risk of AD was also significant for people with ACE DD genotype, D allele, or T-D haplotype [OR (95% CI) = 4.29 (1.96-10.23), 1.90 (1.35-2.70), or 2.91 (1.71-5.10), respectively]. The above association between ACE-VaD was also strong (p = 0.0012, 0.0050, 0.0007, respectively). Reporter constructs containing the -240 A or T allele displayed similar transcriptional activity in both HEK-293 and IMR-32 cells. Thus, another putative pathogenic marker that is linked with the Alu D allele might affect the risk of AD and VaD in Taiwan.

No abstract