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Full funding sources listed at the end of the paper (see Acknowledgments).

Population Health Research Institute, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario, Canadian Institutes of Health Research Strategy for Patient Oriented Research through the Ontario SPOR Support Unit, the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, pharmaceutical companies (with major contributions from AstraZeneca [Canada], Sanofi Aventis [France and Canada], Boehringer Ingelheim [Germany amd Canada], Servier, and GlaxoSmithKline), Novartis and King Pharma, and national or local organisations in participating countries.

Full funding sources listed at the end of the paper (see Acknowledgments).

Background and Purpose-It is still controversial whether elevated plasma homocysteine and the C677T polymorphism of methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) gene are risk factors for stroke. The aim of the present study was to investigate the association between the 2 factors and stroke in Chinese in a large case-control study. Methods-We recruited 1823 stroke patients (807 cerebral thrombosis, 513 lacunar infarction, 503 intracerebral hemorrhage) and 1832 controls. Total plasma homocysteine was determined by high-performance liquid chromatography. C677T polymorphism was genotyped by polymerase chain reaction and HinfI digestion. Results-Total plasma homocysteine levels were significantly higher in cases than controls (median, 14.7 versus 12.8 mol/L; PϽ0.001) and associated with an increased risk of 1.87-fold (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.58 to 2.22) for overall stroke, 1.72-fold (95% CI, 1.39 to 2.12) for cerebral thrombosis, 1.89-fold (95% CI, 1.50 to 2.40) for lacunar infarction, and 1.94-fold (95% CI, 1.48 to 2.55) for intracerebral hemorrhage. The C677T mutation of the MTHFR gene was positively correlated with plasma homocysteine levels in both controls (␤ϭ0.250, PϽ0.001) and cases (␤ϭ0.272, PϽ0.001) and more frequently in cases than in controls (47.0% versus 44.2%, Pϭ0.017). The TT genotype was associated with an increased risk for overall stroke (odds ratio, 1.27; 95% CI, 1.04 to 1.56) and thrombotic stroke (odds ratio, 1.37; 95% CI, 1.06 to 1.78). Conclusions-The C677T polymorphism of the MTHFR gene was associated with increased risk of cerebral thrombotic stroke in Chinese. Total plasma homocysteine was correlated with both ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke, suggesting potential initiation of homocysteine-lowering therapy in this population.

The chemical fixation of CO2 under mild reaction conditions is of significance from a sustainable chemistry viewpoint. Herein a CO2-reactive protic ionic liquid (PIL), [HDBU(+)][TFE(-)], was designed by neutralization of the superbase 1,8-diazabicyclo[5.4.0]undec-7-ene (DBU) with a weak proton donor trifluoroethanol (TFE). As a bifunctional catalyst for simultaneously activating CO2 and the substrate, this PIL displayed excellent performance in catalyzing the reactions of CO2 with 2-aminobenzonitriles at atmospheric pressure and room temperature, thus producing a series of quinazoline-2,4(1H,3H)-diones in excellent yields.