A Pilot Study to Evaluate the Effects of Cerebroprotein Hydrolysate on Neurological Outcomes and Hospital Stay in Patients Admitted for Ischemic and Hemorrhagic Stroke

Introduction: Neurological stroke is the most common cause of disability and leaves nearly 65% of survivors with sensory, motor and coordinative disabilities. At present, there are no therapies to prevent long-term neurological deficits after stroke. Many neuroprotective drugs are being tested with the aim to ensure these effects. Preclinical studies have shown a modulatory effect of cerebroprotein hydrolysate on synaptic remodeling and facilitated synaptic transmission. Material and methods: This was a hospital-based, open-label pilot study conducted in a tertiary care hospital of North India. All patients admitted with a diagnosis of stroke both ischemic and hemorrhagic, were included in the study. Patients were randomized into two groups. The test group was given cerebroprotein hydrolysate, along with standard treatment for stroke, whereas the other group was kept on standard treatment for stroke as per the latest guidelines, without cerebroprotein. Results: A total of 50 patients of stroke, admitted in a tertiary care center were included in the study. The mean age of the patients was 65.7 ± 11.86 years. Twenty-six (52%) were males and 24 (48%) were females. Out of the total 50 patients, 23 (46%) had ischemic stroke and 27 (54%) had hemorrhagic stroke. Twenty (40%) had diabetes, 37 (74%) had hypertension, 8 (16%) were known cases of coronary artery disease, 28 (56%) had dyslipidemia, 22 (44%) were smokers, 7 (14%) had a history of ethanol consumption and 13 (26%) were obese. Mean Barthel score at admission was 21.2 ± 11.3 and mean Rankin score at admission was 3.6 ± 1.37. Mean Barthel score at end of treatment was 53.9 ± 28.72 and mean Rankin score at end of treatment was 2.6 ± 1.65. The mean duration of admission was 6.8 ± 3.57 days. Conclusion: The current study highlights the role of cerebroprotein hydrolysate in improving the neurological scores and reducing hospital stay among patients hospitalized with stroke

Mental health stigma

Comparing self-reports to administrative records, we find that survey respondents are significantly more likely to under-report mental illnesses compared to other health conditions. This behavior is consistent with the existence of stigma of mental illnesses. We show that stigma can play a role in determining health-seeking behavior

The CMBR ISW and HI 21-cm Cross-correlation Angular Power Spectrum

The late-time growth of large scale structures (LSS) is imprinted in the CMBR anisotropy through the Integrated Sachs Wolfe (ISW) effect. This is perceived to be a very important observational probe of dark energy. Future observations of redshifted 21-cm radiation from the cosmological neutral hydrogen (HI) distribution hold the potential of probing the LSS over a large redshift range. We have investigated the possibility of detecting the ISW through cross-correlations between the CMBR anisotropies and redshifted 21-cm observations. Assuming that the HI traces the dark matter, we find that the ISW-HI cross-correlation angular power spectrum at an angular multipole l is proportional to the dark matter power spectrum evaluated at the comoving wave number l/r, where r is the comoving distance to the redshift from which the HI signal originated. The amplitude of the cross-correlation signal depends on parameters related to the HI distribution and the growth of cosmological perturbations. However the cross-correlation is extremely weak as compared to the CMBR anisotropies and the predicted HI signal. As a consequence the cross-correlation signal is smaller than the cosmic variance, and a statistically significant detection is not very likely.Comment: 13 pages, 4 eps figures, submitte

Initial destination of the disaccommodation step response

AbstractPeak velocity and peak acceleration of disaccommodation step responses remain invariant of response magnitude for a constant starting position and they increase linearly with proximity of starting position. This suggests that disaccommodation response is initiated towards an initial (default) destination and is switched mid-flight to attain the desired final destination. The dioptric location of initial destination was estimated from the x-intercept of regression of peak velocity on response starting position. The x-intercept correlated well with subject’s cycloplegic refractive state and poorly with their dark focus of accommodation. Altering the dark focus by inducing fatigue in the accommodative system did not alter the x-intercept. These observations suggest that cycloplegic refractive state is a good behavioral correlate of initial destination of disaccommodation step responses