Neuroreport
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Traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) is a devastating injury causing significant morbidity and mortality. Experimental studies have demonstrated that SCI induced cellular damage and disruption of the blood-spinal cord barrier can initiate an autoimmune response. This response is thought to be pathogenic and contribute to poor outcome. ⋯ Amino acid sequence analysis of these spots identified peptides that mapped to glial fibrillary acidic protein. Our results suggest that ∼ 22% of SCI patients generated autoantibodies to glial fibrillary acidic protein. Future studies will be required to determine whether these autoantibodies contribute to the pathogenic sequelae of SCI.
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Lipoprotein (a) [Lp(a)] plays a crucial role in the pathogenesis of deep vein thrombosis (DVT). The purpose of this study was to investigate whether Lp(a) serum levels at admission could be a risk factor for DVT in Chinese patients with acute ischemic stroke (AIS). A total of 232 patients with AIS were included in the study. ⋯ Visible by the receiver operating characteristic, the optimal cutoff value of serum Lp(a) levels for predicting DVT was projected to be 420 mg/l, yielding a sensitivity of 88.5% and a specificity of 75.4%. With an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.89 (95% CI, 0.84-0.94), Lp(a) exhibited greater discrimination in predicting DVT compared with Hs-CRP (AUC, 0.77; 95% CI, 0.69-0.85; P<0.01), HCY (AUC, 0.76; 95% CI, 0.68-0.84; P<0.01), and NIHSS score (AUC, 0.74; 95% CI, 0.66-0.82; P<0.001). Elevated serum Lp(a) levels were independent predictors of DVT in AIS patients in China, revealing the critical role played by Lp(a) in the pathogenesis of DVT.