No abstract

The extension and volume of hematomas, indicating direct cerebral damage, are useful indicators of mortality from thalamic hemorrhage, motor functional outcome, and level of activities of daily living after 6 months. The disturbance of consciousness and ventricular extension of the hematoma, suggesting diffuse brain damage, could be predictors of cognitive function.

Glycaemic control and diastolic blood pressure deteriorated in type 2 diabetic patients after quitting smoking. Type 2 diabetic patients who want to stop smoking need a caution to prevent deterioration of glycaemic control and blood pressure after quitting smoking.

The present study demonstrated the dissociated regulation of skin oxygenation and blood flow in response to leg dependency. Impaired postural vasoconstriction was associated with altered regulation of skin oxygenation probably due to sympathetic vascular dysfunction in diabetic patients.

In this multiinstitute cooperative study, 143 patients were treated with either urokinase (UK) or combination of urokinase and dextran sulfate (UK-DS) within one to seven days following acute onset of cerebral thrombotic infarction. Of these, 81 randomized cases received a single dose of UK (2.83 X 10(5) units) by six-hour intravenous drip infusion and the remaining 62 received a combined dose of UK (2.84 X 10(5) units) and DS (3000 mg) for only one day. Moderate to marked clinical improvements assessed during the seven-day study period were observed in 30.9% of the patients treated with UK and in 61.3% of those with UK-DS, the latter being significantly higher. Hemorrhagic phenomena appeared in 3.2% of the cases treated with UK-DS and in none of those with UK alone, but mortality was 1.6% in the former and 2.5% in the latter. UK-DS produced a prompt and sustained increase in plasma fibrinolytic activity with transient and relatively minor disturbance of the blood coagulation system. The results indicate that combined therapy with UK and DS is more effective than UK alone for acute cerebral thrombotic infarction.