Background Gut microbiota has been suggested to play a role in stroke patients. Nevertheless, little is known about gut microbiota and the clinical indexes in stroke patients. Methods Total of 30 cerebral ischemic stroke (CI) patients and 30 healthy control were enrolled in this study and the fecal gut microbiota was profiled via Illumina sequencing of the 16S rRNA V1-V2. The National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) were used to quantify stroke severity and modified Rankin scale (mRS) to assess outcome for CI patients. The correlations between the clinical indexes and microbiota were evaluated. Results Though the microbial α-diversity and structure is similar between CI patients and healthy controls, the gut microbiota of CI patients had more short chain fatty acids producer including Odoribacter , Akkermansia, Ruminococcaceae_ UCG_005 and Victivallis . We also found that the special microbes were correlation with serum index, such as norank_O _ _Mollicutes_RF9 , Enterobacter , Ruminococcaceae _UCG-002 were negative correlation with LDL (r = − 0.401, P < 0.01), HDL (r = − 0.425, P < 0.01) and blood glucose (r = − 0.439, P < 0.001), while the HDL was significantly positive correlation with the genus Ruminococcus _1 (r = 0.443, P < 0.001). The Christensenellaceae _R-7_group and norank_f_ Ruminococcaceae was significantly positive correlation with NIHSS1M (r = 0.514, P < 0.05; r = 0.449, P < 0.05) and mRS (r = 0.471, P < 0.05, r = 0.503, P < 0.01), respectively. On the other hand, the genus Enterobacter was significantly negative correlation with NIHSS1M (r = 0.449, P < 0.05) and mRS (r = 0.503, P < 0.01). Conclusions This study suggests that CI patients showed significant dysbiosis of the gut microbiota with enriched short chain fatty acids producer, including Odoribacter , Akkermansia . This dysbiosis was correlation with the outcomes and deserves further study. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12866-019-1552-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Background: Vasculature changes have been observed in Alzheimer's disease (AD). AD-related vascular pathology might impair cerebral autoregulation (CA). Objective: This study was designed to evaluate CA of AD patients by using transcranial doppler (TCD). Methods: A total of 61 participants were included in the study, including 31 AD patients and 30 controls. The trend curves of cerebral blood flow velocities (CBFV), pulsatility index, and resistance index were obtained using TCD during supine-to-standing posture changes. CA was measured by the changes of CBFV curves during supine-to-standing test. Results: There were two spikes named X spike and W spike that appeared in the CBFV curve when the subjects stood abruptly. The slope of the X spike descending branch, the slope of the W spike ascending branch, and the angle between X and W spikes (␣ angle), showed significant differences between the experimental and control groups (2.34 ± 0.99 versus 3.15 ± 1.61 cm/s 2 , p = 0.021; 2.31 ± 0.81 versus 3.38 ± 1.18 cm/s 2 , p < 0.001; and 52.71 ± 20.26 versus 41.4 ± 12.87 degrees, p = 0.012, respectively). ROC analysis showed that AUC αangle is 0.664 (p = 0.028) and that AUC SAB and AUC adjustedSAB are 0.775 and 0.738, respectively (both p < 0.001). Conclusions: Our study demonstrated that supine-to-standing TCD test is a valuable tool for the evaluation of CA in AD patients. Impaired CA in AD patients manifested as decreased efficiency of changes in the CBFV curve. Neurovascular units were involved in the pathogenesis of AD.

Objective: We aimed to characterize the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of sporadic Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (sCJD) in eastern China in this retrospective study.Methods: This study enrolled 67 patients with sCJD hospitalized in a grade-A tertiary hospital in eastern China from January 2010 to January 2020. Demographic data, clinical symptoms, brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), electroencephalogram (EEG), cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) 14-3-3 protein test, polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and DNA sequence determination of genes were collected and analyzed.Results: There were 62 patients with probable sCJD and 5 patients with possible sCJD. Male (28 cases) to female (39 cases) ratio was 1:1.39. Mean age at disease onset was 64.42 ± 9.00 years (range: 29–88 years), and mean survival time was 9.39 ± 12.58 months (range: 1–60 months for patients who received the follow-ups). The most common onset symptoms were dementia (49.25%), movement disorder (44.78%), and visual disturbance (22.39%), while the most frequent clinical manifestations were language disorders (74.63%), ataxia (70.15%), and myoclonus (70.15%). The positive rates of brain MRI abnormalities, 14-3-3 protein in CSF, and periodic sharp wave complexes (PSWCs) on EEG were 84.90, 68.00, and 46.03%, respectively. The 14-3-3 protein positive (p = 0.033) and PSWCs on EEG (p = 0.020) acted as the favorable and unfavorable factor for over 1 year of survival time, respectively.Conclusions: There were some differences in epidemiological and clinical characteristics among patients in China and those of other countries. The prognosis and its influencing factors were relatively unexplored in China. The mean survival time of Chinese patients was longer than that of Caucasian patients but shorter than that of Japanese patients. The 14-3-3 protein in CSF and PSWCs on EEG were both closely related to the survival time. It is necessary to promote autopsy or biopsy to better understand sCJD in China.

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