Implementing the Proclamation of Stroke and Potentially Preventable Dementias

Brain health plays a central role in wellbeing and in the management of chronic diseases. Stroke and dementia pose the two greatest threats to brain health, but recent developments suggest the possibility that preventing stroke may also prevent some dementias: 1. A large population study showed a 32% decrease in the incidence of stroke and a concomitant 7% reduction in the incidence of dementia; 2. Treatment of atrial fibrillation resulted not only in stroke reduction, but a 48% decrease in dementia; 3. A hypothesis free analyses has shown that the first phase of Alzheimer disease involves vascular dysregulation, opening the door to new therapeutic approaches; 4. Cognitive impairment, often treatable and reversible, accompanies heart and kidney failure. These developments, combined with the knowledge that stroke, dementia and heart disease share the same major treatable risk factors, particularly hypertension, offers an opportunity for their joint prevention. This aspiration is expressed by a Proclamation of the World Stroke Organization on Stroke and Potentially Preventable Dementias and endorsed by the World Heart Federation, the World Hypertension League, Alzheimer Disease International and 18 other international, regional and national organizations as a call for action

A prize for global health in the name of Rudolf Virchow

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Studies on the existence of an independent brain renin-angiotensin system: a model for extrarenal tissue renin.

An enzyme, capable of catalyzing the reaction with renin substrate to form angiotensin is described in the brain of dogs, rats, sheep and man. This brain tissue iso-renin differs in important characteristics from renal renin. The enzyme persists at control-levels 12 days after nephrectomy. Renin substrate has been found equally in brain tissue of dogs. Angiotensin was extracted from brain of dogs which had been nephrectomized and in which plasma angiotensin was undetectable. This shows that angiotensin can be formed locally in the brain. An iso-renin of similar characteristics as brain iso-renin is described and partially characterized in aortic tissue and in adrenal glands. The independence of tissue iso-renin from kidney renin is supported by the fact that the two enzymes react differently to the same physio-pathological stimuli

Künstliche Sinne für Roboter

Ritter H. Künstliche Sinne für Roboter. In: Ganten D, Emrich HM, eds. Gene, Neurone, Qubits & Co. : unsere Welten der Information, 19.-22. September 1998, Berlin. Verhandlungen der Gesellschaft Deutscher Naturforscher und Ärzte e.V : .. Versammlung Gesellschaft Deutscher Naturforscher und Ärzte. Stuttgart: Hirzel; 1999: 303-310

Chromosomal mapping of quantitative trait loci contributing to stroke in a rat model of complex human disease

Stroke is a complex disorder with a poorly understood multifactorial and polygenic aetiology. We used the stroke-prone spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHRSP) as a model organism, mated it with the stroke-resistant spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHR) and performed a genome-wide screen in the resultant F2 cohort where latency until stroke, but not hypertension (a major confounder) segregated. We identified three major quantitative trait loci, STR1-3, with lod scores of 7.4, 4.7 and 3.0, respectively, that account for 28% of the overall phenotypic variance. STR2 colocalizes with the genes encoding atrial and brain natriuretic factor, peptides with important vasoactive properties. Our results demonstrate the existence of primary, blood pressure-independent genetic factors predisposing to a complex form of stroke