Stroke constitutes the primary source of adult functional disability, exhibiting a paramount socioeconomic burden. Thus, it is of great importance that the prediction of stroke outcome be both prompt and accurate. Although modern neuroimaging and neurophysiological techniques are accessible, easily available blood biomarkers reflecting underlying stroke-related pathophysiological processes, including glial and/or neuronal death, neuroendocrine responses, inflammation, increased oxidative stress, blood–brain barrier disruption, endothelial dysfunction, and hemostasis, are required in order to facilitate stroke prognosis. A literature search of two databases (MEDLINE and Science Direct) was conducted in order to trace all relevant studies published between 1 January 2010 and 31 December 2021 that focused on the clinical utility of brain natriuretic peptide, glial fibrillary acidic protein, the red cell distribution width, the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio, matrix metalloproteinase-9, and aquaporin-4 as prognostic tools in stroke survivors. Only full-text articles published in English were included. Twenty-eight articles were identified and are included in this review. All studied blood-derived biomarkers proved to be valuable prognostic tools poststroke, the clinical implementation of which may accurately predict the survivors’ functional outcomes, thus significantly enhancing the rehabilitation efficiency of stroke patients. Along with already utilized clinical, neurophysiological, and neuroimaging biomarkers, a blood-derived multi-biomarker panel is proposed as a reasonable approach to enhance the predictive power of stroke prognostic models.

Introduction: Cancer patients are usually subjected to numerous surgeries during their course of treatment. Recent studies suggest that anesthetic drugs such as propofol, benzodiazepines, and opioids are linked to cognitive impairment. Aim: The aim of the study was to show and compare the cognitive function of oncology patients who have undergone surgery and have been sedated with propofol, fentanyl and benzodiazepines. Materials and methods: In order to determine whether the cognition of oncological patients is being impaired, a mini-mental state examination (MMSE) test was obtained 6 to 24 hours pre- and postoperatively for the duration of one month from 8 eligible oncological patients and 7 non-oncological ones. Afterwards, the data were statistically processed with SPSS version 25.0 (Chicago, Ill. the USA). Results: The analysis shows that there is statistically significant difference in the preoperative MMSE scores between oncological and non-oncological patients.  Conclusions: Oncological patients compound a sensitive group for cognitive dysfunction, and indeed, MMSE test could be useful for cognitive evaluation. The present sample, however, is small, and the results could not be generalized. Therefore a more extensive study is needed.

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The present research focused on investigating the attitudes of parents of children with disabilities regarding their children’s educational inclusion in general education. Also, the effect of certain demographic characteristics of the participants on their attitudes was investigated. 125 parents of children with disabilities attending primary education participated in this research, residing in Western Greece. The collection of research data was carried out using the questionnaire "Attitude Toward Inclusion/Mainstreaming Scale" (Leyser &amp; Kirk, 2004-translated by Kokaridas et al., 2008). The statistical analysis of the data was done using the statistical package SPSS, version 26.0. A statistically significant relationship emerged between the variables parents’ attitudes, gender and parents' educational level. From the results of the research, emerged that the participants showed above-average positive attitudes regarding inclusion and that the mothers of children with disabilities had more positive attitudes towards inclusion, compared to the fathers. It also emerged that participants with a higher educational level were more positive towards the inclusion of their children with disabilities. The findings of this research are expected to contribute to the effective implementation and achievement of the concept of inclusive education.<p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/soc/0028/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>