Background: Transient ischemic attacks (TIA) indicate an increased risk of stroke, one of the leading causes of death and disability worldwide. In order to prevent stroke, our knowledge of diagnosis, demographics, risk factors, investigations, and treatment of patients with TIA needs to be improved.Aims: The aims of this thesis were to validate data and diagnoses in the Riksstroke TIA module (Riks

BACKGROUND: Current guidelines for accessing graphs non-visually are based on giving access to underlying tabular data and reading the values one by one. When data sets are large, it becomes impossible to get an overview.OBJECTIVE: This work presents a proof-of-concept of automated audio description of data sets up to 100 data points that can be used by persons with visual impairment or persons wh

Obesity is a major health problem, and although caloric restriction and exercise are successful strategies to lose adipose tissue in obese individuals, a simultaneous decrease in skeletal muscle mass, negatively effects metabolism and muscle function. To deeper understand molecular events occurring in muscle during weight-loss, we measured the expressional change in human skeletal muscle following

1. Studies modelling heat transfer of bird plumage design suggest that insulative properties can be attributed to the density and structure of the downy layer, whereas waterproofing is the result of the outer layer, comprised of contour feathers. In this study, we test how habitat and thermal condition affect feather mass and density of body feathers (contour, semiplume and downy feathers) measure1.Studies modelling heat transfer of bird plumage design suggest that insulative properties can be attributed to the density and structure of the downy layer, whereas waterproofing is the result of the outer layer, comprised of contour feathers. In this study, we test how habitat and thermal condition affect feather mass and density of body feathers (contour, semiplume and downy feathers) measured

Background: The challenges of today's society call for more knowledge about how to maintain all aspects of cognitive health, such as speed/attention, memory/learning, visuospatial ability, language, executive capacity and social cognition during the life course. Main text: Medical advances have improved treatments of numerous diseases, but the cognitive implications have not been sufficiently addr

During the past decade, there has been accumulating evidence of the involvement of passive and active cell death mechanisms in both the clinical setting and in experimental models of traumatic brain injury (TBI). Traditionally, research for a treatment of TBI consists of strategies to prevent cell death using acute pharmacological therapy. However, to date, encouraging experimental work has not be

This article comprehensively reviews the lateral fluid percussion (LFP) model of traumatic brain injury (TBI) in small animal species with particular emphasis on its validity, clinical relevance and reliability. The LFP model, initially described in 1989, has become the most extensively utilized animal model of TBI (to date, 232 PubMed citations), producing both focal and diffuse (mixed) brain inj

PURPOSE: Lateral fluid percussion brain injury (FPI) increases cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) expression in the cortex and hippocampus. The objective was to investigate whether the selective COX-2 inhibitor rofecoxib (10 mg/kg twice daily) reduces neuronal cell death after FPI in rats, since rofecoxib has been shown to be neuroprotective in other models of CNS injury.METHODS: Rofecoxib (n = 23) or vehic

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a devastating disease, predominately affecting young people. Although the prognosis for TBI victims has improved in recent years, many survivors of TBI suffer from emotional, cognitive and motor disturbances and a decreased quality of life. In recent years, there has been a rapid increase in the number of pharmacological targets evaluated in clinically-relevant expe

Impaired cerebral energy metabolism may be a major contributor to the secondary injury cascade that occurs following traumatic brain injury (TBI). To estimate the cortical energy metabolic state following mild and severe controlled cortical contusion (CCC) TBI in rats, ipsi-and contralateral cortical tissues were frozen in situ at 15 and 40 min post-injury and adenylate (ATP, ADP, AMP) levels were

Astrocytic glutamate (Glt) uptake keeps brain interstitial Glt levels low. Within the astrocytes Glt is converted to glutamine (Gln), which is released and reconverted to Glt in neurons. The Glt-Gln cycle is energy demanding and impaired energy metabolism has been suggested to cause low interstitial Gln/Glt ratios. Using microdialysis (MD) measurements from visually noninjured cortex in 33 neuroin

INTRODUCTION: We describe the neurointensive care (NIC) management of a patient with severe cerebral swelling and raised intracranial pressure (ICP) after severe sodium valproic acid (VPA) intoxication. A previously healthy 25-year old male with mild tonic-clonic epilepsy was found unconscious with serum VPA levels >10,000 micromol/l. The patient deteriorated to Glasgow Motor Scale score (GMS) 2 a

PURPOSE: The ability of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) to attenuate secondary damage and influence behavioral outcome after experimental traumatic brain injury (TBI) remains controversial. Because TBI can result in decreased expression of the trkB receptor, thereby preventing BDNF from exerting potential neuroprotective effects, the contribution of both BDNF and its receptor trkB to hipp

OBJECT: Damage to axons contributes to postinjury disabilities and is commonly observed following traumatic brain injury (TBI). Traumatic brain injury is an important environmental risk factor for the development of Alzheimer disease (AD). In the present feasibility study, the aim was to use intracerebral microdialysis catheters with a high molecular cutoff membrane (100 kD) to harvest interstitia