Milestones of Parkinson's Disease Research:200 Years of History and Beyond

Parkinson＇s disease （PD） neurodegenerative disease is the second most common worldwide. Since its first description as a neurological disorder by James Parkinson （1755-1824） in 1817, many important discoveries have been made during this 200 years of PD research history. These milestones have revealed many aspects of PD, including clinical and pathological characteristics, anatomy and neurochemistry, environmental and genetic factors,

National Institutes of Health Funding for disease categories related to Neural Regeneration Research

The National Institutes of Health （NIH）, a part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is the nation＇s medical research agency-making important discoveries that improve health and save lives.Thanks in large part to NIH-funded medical research, Americans today are living longer and healthier. Life expectancy in the United States has jumped from 47 years in 1900 to 78 years as reported in 2009, and disability in people over age 65 has dropped dramatically in the past 3 decades. In recent years, nationwide rates of new diagnoses and deaths from all cancers combined have fallen significantly.

NIH Funding for Disease Categories related to Neural Regeneration Research

The National Institutes of Health （NIH）,a part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,is the nation＇s medical research agency-making important discoveries that improve health and save lives.Thanks in large part to NIH-funded medical research,Americans today are living longer and healthier. Life expectancy in the United States has jumped from 47 years in 1900 to 78 years as reported in 2009,and disability in people over age 65 has dropped dramatically in the past 3 decades. In recent years,nationwide rates of new diagnoses and deaths from all cancers combined have fallen significantly.

Evaluation of the immunochromatographic strip test for the rapid diagnosis of antenatal syphilis in women in Eldoret,Kenya

Objective： This study compared the performance of the immunochromatographic strip （ICS） to the Venereal Disease Research Laboratory （VDRL） test and Treponema pallidum haemagglutination assay （TPHA） at a primary health care setting. Methods： The study group was comprised of 150 females randomly drawn from a population of pregnant women attending their first antenatal visit or follow-up visits at West Maternity Hospital in Eldoret Kenya, but without a previous syphilis test during that pregnancy. On-site VDRL, ICS and TPHA tests were performed and immediate treatment provided where appropriate. The performance of the three tests was compared, Results： The sero-prevalence of syphilis as determined by the VDRL test was 3%. There was no significant difference between the ICS and the VDRL test （P 〉 0.05）. The sensitivity and specificity of the ICS test were 80% and 98.6% respectively, while the negative predictive value （NPV） and positive predictive value （PPV） were both 100%. On the other hand, the sensitivity and specificity of the VDRL test were 66.7% and 99.3%, while the NPV and PPV were 80% and 98.6% respectively. The Treponema pallidum haemagglutination assay was used as a reference test and had sensitivity, specificity, NPV and PPV of 100%. Conclusion： The diagnostic accuracy of the ICS compared favorably with theVDRL gold standard. The use of the ICS in Kenya can improve the diagnosis of syphilis in health facilities both with and without laboratories and allow community health care workers to make a rapid diagnosis of the disease, and consequently make immediate therapeutic decisions.

Development of Research on Huntington Disease in China

Huntington disease（HD） is a progressive autosomal dominantly inherited neurodegenerative disorder, characterized with the typical manifestations of involuntary movements, cognitive dysfunction, and psychiatric or behavioral disturbance. It results from an expansion in the number of CAG repeats in the first exon of the huntingtin（HTT） gene. In China, since the first case report in 1959, the knowledge of this disorder has been involving a lot, especially in the latest decade. In this review, we meta-analysis and summarize the research reports that were published by Chinese researchers since 1959, so that researchers whose native language were not Chinese can get a general idea of the research development of HD in China. Briefly, the research of HD in China can be broadly divided into three stages. Firstly,before 1993, there were scattered case reports of HD that were solely based on Clinical features and family history. Then,with the discovery of the HD gene in 1993, it became possible for the genetic confirmation of the reported cases that made the diagnosis more accurate and informative. In the last few years,Chinese researchers who were active in the HD research started to build their own database to study the clinical and genetic feature of this disorder and also collaborated a lot in this field. The progress outlined in this review indicates the beginning of an exciting new era in HD research in China.

Relevant research of autophagy and carotid plaque of ischemic cerebrovascular disease

Objective To analyze the correlation of autophagylevel and carotid plaque of ischemic cerebrovascular disease,so as to provide data evidence to its pathomechanism.Methods 127 patients with ischemic cerebrovascular disease were divided into 3 groups according to carotid plague scores.The count and degree of cranial artery stenosis were observed with digital subtraction angiogra-