Objective: Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) have been emerging as the novel inflammatory biomarkers for determining the prognosis of various diseases. This study aimed to investigate the individual and joint effects of NLR and PLR on functional outcomes of acute ischemic stroke (AIS).Methods: Our study involved 448 eligible patients with first-ever AIS. Clinical and laboratory data were collected on admission within 72 h from stroke onset. Unfavorable functional outcome was defined as a modified Rankin Scale score of 3–6 at 3 months after AIS. Cox proportional hazard model and spline regression models was used to estimate the effect of NLR and PLR on risk of adverse outcomes after the last patient who completed a 3-months follow-up was enrolled.Results: After adjusting confounders, NLR were significantly associated with the unfavorable functional outcomes (P-trend < 0.001). So were PLR (P-trend < 0.001). NLR was discovered to have higher predictive value than PLR (AUC = 0.776, 95%CI = 0.727–0.825, P < 0.001; AUC = 0.697, 95%CI = 0.641–0.753, P < 0.001). The optimal cutoff values for NLR and PLR was 3.51 and 141.52, respectively. Stratified analysis performed by cox proportional hazard model showed that high level of NLR and PLR (NLR ≥ 3.51, PLR ≥ 141.52) presented the highest risk of unfavorable functional outcomes (adjusted HR, 3.77; 95% CI: 2.38–5.95; P < 0.001). Followed by single high level of NLR (adjusted HR, 2.32; 95% CI: 1.10–4.87; P = 0.027). Single high level of PLR (NLR < 3.51, PLR ≥ 141.52) also showed higher risk than low level of the combination, but it did not reach statistical significance (adjusted HR, 1.42; 95% CI: 0.75–2.70; P = 0.285). No obvious additive [relative excess risk due to interaction (RERI) not significant] or multiplicative (adjusted HR, 0.71; 95%CI: 0.46–1.09; P = 0.114) interaction was found between the effects of NLR and PLR on the risk of unfavorable functional outcomes.Conclusion: This study demonstrated that both NLR and PLR were independent predictors of 3-months functional outcomes of AIS. They may help to identify high-risk patients more forcefully when combined together.

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Introduction Because of its high morbidity and mortality, sepsis remains the leading cause of death in the ICU. Microparticles (MP) have been largely studied as potential diagnostic or prognostic markers in various diseases including sepsis. Objective The biological and clinical relevance of neutrophil-derived microparticles (NDMPs) within the MP population remains unclear. The objective of this study was to elucidate the relationship between plasma NDMPs and the prognosis of patients with sepsis and/or septic shock. Methods The study was designed as an observational, noninterventional clinical study. The cohort for this study included 40 sepsis and 40 septic shock patients together with 10 healthy controls admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and the Health Surveillance Center in the Affiliated Hospital of Guangdong Medical University, Zhanjiang, Guangdong, China, from January to November 2018, respectively. The degree of critical disease for sepsis and septic shock was evaluated, with data analyses conducted from 2018 to 2019. Results On days 1, 3 and 5 post-admission a series of data including plasma NDMP levels, patient demographics, TNF-α levels, IL-6 levels, sTREM-1 levels, and the sepsis severity score measurements were collected. A survival curve was plotted against levels of plasma NDMPs. Levels of NDMPs were observed to be higher in the septic shock patients than in the sepsis patients on days 1, 3, and 5 post-ICU admission ( p < 0.05). NDMP levels were significantly increased in sepsis and septic shock patients with a parallel increase in pro-inflammatory mediators and sepsis severity score ( p < 0.05) as well as mortality. Conclusion Our data suggest that NDMPs may be a biomarker of sepsis severity and mortality although its implications on sepsis prognosis warrant further study.

Objective In recent years, increasing attention has been paid to cryptogenic stroke (CS) caused by the patent foramen ovale (PFO). This study aims to compare contrast transthoracic echocardiography (cTTE) and contrast transcranial Doppler (cTCD) to determine whether cTTE is more suitable and reliable than cTCD for clinical use. Methods From March 2017 to May 2018, patients who suffered from migraines, stroke, hypomnesis, or asymptomatic stroke found casually were included in our study. Patients with CS were semirandomly divided into two groups (cTTE and cTCD) according to the date of the outpatient visit. Patients with either of the examination above found positive were selected to finish transesophageal echocardiography (TEE). Results In our study, the sensitivities of group cTTE positive (group cTTE+) and group cTCD positive (group cTCD+) did not have any statistical difference (89% vs. 80%, p = 0.236). Focusing on group cTCD+, we discovered that the semiquantitative shunt grading was not correlated with whether a PFO was present or not ( p = 0.194). However, once the PFO has been diagnosed, the shunt grading was shown to be related to the width of the gaps ( p = 0.032, p deviation = 0.03). Conclusion Both cTTE and the cTCD can be used for preliminary PFO findings. The semiquantitative shunt grading of cTCD and cTTE can suggest the size of the PFO and the next course of treatment. The cTTE may be more significant to a safe PFO (a PFO does not have right‐to‐left shunts, RLSs). Combining cTTE and TEE could help diagnose PFO and assess CS risk.

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