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CD4 + CD25 + regulatory T (Treg) cells and Th17 cells play important roles in peripheral immunity. Immune responses are main elements in the pathogenesis of ischemic stroke (IS). The contribution of Th17 cells in IS patients has not been proved, and whether the balance of Treg/Th17 cells is changed in IS patients remains unidentified. In the present study, we studied Th17 and Treg cell frequency, cytokine secretion, expression of transcription factors, and microRNAs related to Th17 and Treg cells differentiation, which is compared between IS patients and control group. Thirty patients with IS and 30 individuals as control group were enrolled in this study. The frequency of Th17 and Treg lymphocytes, the expression of transcription factors and microRNAs related to these cells, and the serum levels of associated cytokines were assessed by flow cytometry, real-time PCR, and ELISA, respectively. A significant reduction in proportion of peripheral Treg cell frequency and the levels of TGF-β and FOXP3 expression were observed in patients with IS compared with controls, while the proportions of Th17 were increased dramatically, and these effects were along with increases in the levels of IL-17A and RORγt expression in IS patients. The levels of mir-326 and mir-106b-25 expression were increased in patients with IS. These studies suggest that the increase in proportion of Th17 cells and decrease in Treg cells might contribute to the pathogenesis of IS. Manipulating the balance between Tregs and Th17 cells might be helpful for the treatment of IS.

Toxoplasma gondii is an obligate intracellular parasite that infects all nucleate cells of vertebrates. Human infected by vertical transmission and also using raw or undercooked meat or food and water that contaminated with mature oocysts. Parkinson's disease as neurodegenerative disease affects people above 60 years. Due to high prevalence of toxoplasmosis in Iran and evidence about effects of T. gondii on neurodegenerative diseases, this study has been conducted to investigate possible correlation between Toxoplasma and Parkinson's disease in Iran. Seventy five Parkinson's patients and equal healthy volunteers were enrolled. After obtaining informed consent and sociodemographic features, 5 ml blood sample were collected and then anti-Toxoplasma IgG and IgM levels were examined by ELISA method. Data was analyzed with Chi-squre and Fisher's test by usig stata 11 software. Binary logistic regression was used for multivariate analysis in assessing the correlation between toxoplasmosis and Parkinson. Eighty five percent of Parkinson's group and 90.3 % of control group were positive for anti-Toxoplasma IgG antibody. In this investigation no statically differences were observed between groups and age, gender, residency and using raw or undercooked meat. There is no significant association between IgG positive titer and Parkinson's disease. However, statistically significant association was found between Parkinson and keeping cat (P = 0.03) as well as the using of undercooked egg (P = 0.004). Although there is high level of anti-Toxoplasma IgG antibody in Parkinson's patients which reflects chronic Toxoplasma infection; we couldn't detect any statistical association between T. gondii infection and Parkinson's disease.

Alzheimer is a progressive neurological disease that results in irreversible loss of neurons and includes about two thirds of all cases of dementia. Toxoplasma gondii may be an important infectious agent involved in neurodegenerative diseases. The aim of this study was to investigate the correlation between Toxoplasma as an etiologic agent in the progress of Alzheimer's disease. This case control study was conducted on 75 Alzheimer's patients and 75 healthy volunteers. Blood samples were obtained and anti-Toxoplasma IgG and IgM tests were done by using ELISA technique. DNA was extracted from buffy coat and then GRA6 gene and SAG2 loci were amplified by PCR and nested PCR, respectively. Chi-square, Fisher's test, and binary logistic regression were used for data analysis. A percentage of 61.3 % of Alzheimer's patients and 62.6 % of healthy volunteers were positive for anti-Toxoplasma IgG but all participants were negative for anti-Toxoplasma IgM. There were no significant differences between Alzheimer's patients with their controls in terms of anti-Toxoplasma IgG antibody (P = 0.5). Due to lack of positive IgM sample, results of the molecular methods were negative by GRA6 and SAG2 fragments amplification. This result shows that, infection with T. gondii cannot be considered as a risk factor for etiology and developing Alzheimer's disease.

Background: Cerebral vascular thrombosis (CVT) is the thrombosis of intracranial and sinuses. The aim of this is to estimate of risk of low folic acid, low vitamin B12, and hyperhomocysteinemia (hyper-Hcys) for CVT., Materials and Methods: A total of 24 patients with CVT and 36 healthy controls participated in a cross-sectional case-control study. The deficient levels of folic acid and vitamin B12 defined as <10 th percentile of folic acid and vitamin B12 level and hyper-Hcys was defined as >90 th percentile of homocysteine of control group., Results: Patients had higher levels of total homocysteine (tHcys) than controls (14.7 ± 6.5 vs. 6.4 ± 2.7 μmol/L, P = 0.001). Also, vitamin B12 level in case group was lower compared to control subjects (185.4 ± 58 vs. 299 ± 75 ng/mL, P = 0.001). Hyper-Hcys and low vitamin B12 were significantly more prevalent in CVT patients than controls. Although, significant independent association with risk of CVT was found for hyper-Hcys [adjusted odds ratio (OR) 14.3, 95% confidence interval (CI): 2.6-77.1, P = 0.002] and low vitamin B12 (adjusted OR 24.6, 95% CI: 2.3-262.9, P = 0.008). Association between low folic acid and risk of CVT was not significant. A significant negative correlation was found between the levels of tHcys and vitamin B12 ( r = -0.32, P = 0.01)., Conclusion: Hyper-Hcys and low vitamin B12 were related with the high risk for CVT.

Objectives: To assess the clinical relevance (functional outcome) of a 3-month allopurinol regimen in patients with high serum uric acid (SUA) levels and acute ischemic stroke without considering the changes in SUA levels., Materials and Methods: In a randomized, double-blind, controlled study, 70 patients (45 females, 25 males) with acute ischemic stroke who had elevated levels of SUA were included. They were divided in two 35-patient groups to investigate the effect of 3 months of an allopurinol (200 mg/day) regimen versus placebo on their functional outcome, which was evaluated using a modified Rankin scale., Results: The overall mean age was 68.9 ± 11.33 years (range 27-89). The final favorable functional status (mRS = 0-2) was 23 (65.7%) and 14 (40.0%) in the treated and placebo groups, respectively, which was strongly associated with allopurinol consumption (OR = 4.646, p = 0.014) and age ≤70 years (OR = 0.139, p = 0.005) in patients with ischemic stroke after adjusting for confounders. There was no significant difference in death between allopurinol-treated cases (3; 8.6%) and placebo-treated ones (6; 17.2%; p = 0.278)., Conclusion: Allopurinol treatment was well tolerated and improved the 3-month functional status of patients with acute ischemic stroke who had high levels of SUA without considering the decreasing effect of allopurinol on SUA., (© 2013 S. Karger AG, Basel.)

Objectives: Intravenous thrombolytic therapy has established acceptable results in treating ischemic stroke. However, there is little information on treatment outcome especially in different subtypes. The aim of current study was to evaluate early and intermediate prognosis in intravenous thrombolytic therapy for acute ischemic stroke subtypes., Methodology: Forty eligible patients (57.5% male with mean age of 63.18±13.49 years) with definite ischemic stroke who were admitted to emergency department of Imam Reza University Hospital, in the first 180 minutes after occurrence received recombinant tissue plasminogen activator. All investigation findings were recorded and stroke subtypes were determined according to the Causative Classification of Stroke System. Stroke severity forms including modified Rankin Scale (mRS) and National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) scores were recorded for all patients in first, seven and 90 days after stroke and disease outcome was evaluated., Results: The etiology of stroke was large artery atherosclerosis in 20%, cardio-aortic embolism in 45%, small artery occlusion in 17.5% and undetermined causes in 17.5%. NIHSS and mRS scores were significantly improved during time (P < 0.001 in both cases). Three months mortality rate was 25%. Among the etiologies, patients with small artery occlusion and then cardio-aortic embolism had lower NIHSS score at arrival (P = 0.04). Caplan-meier analysis showed that age, sex and symptom to needle time could predict disease outcome., Conclusion: Intravenous thrombolytic therapy is accompanied by good early and intermediate outcome in most patients with ischemic stroke. Small artery occlusion subtype had less disease severity and higher improvement.

Background. Intracranial artery dissections are rare and many controversies exist about treatment options. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of the endovascular approach in patients with an intracranial dissection presenting with different symptoms. Methods. We prospectively evaluated the clinical features and treatment outcomes of 30 patients who had angiographically confirmed nontraumatic intracranial dissections over 4 years. Patients were followed up for 17 months, and their final outcomes were assessed by the modified Rankin Score (mRS) and angiography. Results. Sixteen (53.3%) patients had a dissection of the anterior circulation, whereas 14 (46.7%) had a posterior circulation dissection. Overall, 83.3% of the patients suffered a subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH). Grade IV Hunt and Hess score was seen in 32% of the SAH presenting cases. Parent artery occlusion (PAO) with coil embolization was used in 70% of the cases. The prevalence of overall procedural complications was 23.3%, and all were completely resolved at the end of follow-up. No evidence of in-stent occlusion/stenosis or rebleeding was observed in our cases during follow-up. Angiography results improved more frequently in the PAO with coil embolization group (100%) than in the stent-only-treated group (88.9%) (P = 0.310) and the unruptured dissection group (5/5, 100%) in comparison with the group that presented with SAH (95.8%) (P = 0.833). Conclusion. Favorable outcomes were achieved following an endovascular approach for symptomatic ruptured or unruptured dissecting aneurysms. However, the long-term efficacy and durability of these procedures remain to be determined in a larger series.

Inflammation is thought to play a significant role in the underlying pathophysiology of migraine headaches which could be controlled by corticosteroids. The present study was conducted to determine and compare the pain relieving effect of dexamethasone versus morphine on patients with acute migraine headache. During this double blinded clinical trial study, 190 patients who met the International Headache Society definition of acute migraine headache were evaluated at emergency department of Tabriz Imam Reza Hospital. After giving informed consent, patients were randomly enrolled into two groups: Receiving either 8 mg dexamethasone (group A) or 0.1 mg kg(-1) morphine (group B) intravenously. Severity of the headache was determined using Visual Analog Scale (VAS) scoring method at baseline (VAS-A), 10 min (VAS-B), 60 min (VAS-C) and 24 h (VAS-D) after intervention. The mean age of patients was 44.17 +/- 16.20 years, 61.57% male and 38.43% female. The mean of VAS-A and VAS-B scores was not statistically different between two groups (p = 0.236 and p = 0.481), but the mean of VAS-C and VAS-D scores in the group A were significantly lower than the group B (p = 0.017, p = 0.010). In long-term (1 h and 24 h after administration), dexamethasone reduces the severity of acute migrant headache more than morphine.