appears to be driven by inflammation. They observed elevated levels of sCD14 only in samples that had higher levels of IL-1, suggesting that sCD14 may have a role in the IL-1 inflammatory pathway. Furthermore, preliminary analyses among these 40 cases found that higher values of sCD14 and LPS were associated with greater cognitive decline and higher risk of MCI and dementia. These results are pending publication. -
“The Florida Stroke Registry” led by Dr. Sacco - Funded by state appropriations through the FL Department of Health, the University of Miami, Department of Neurology, was awarded its fourth round of annual funds for 2019-2020 to manage and maintain the Florida Stroke Registry (the Registry). The Registry now consists of 76% of all stroke centers (~165) in Florida and maintains over 300 stakeholders statewide. Because of its wide reach, the Florida Stroke Registry is well positioned as a platform for communication between stakeholders. During this year centered around the COVID-19 Pandemic, the Registry’s communication platform was refocused and quickly mobilized as an informational resource to its 126 participating Florida stroke centers needing news on the virus and its relation to their stroke patients. Through the Registry’s various communication modes and access to its multidisciplinary health professional network, the Florida Stroke Registry compiled, documented and developed informational resources specifically related to COVID-19, tackling uncharted clinical territory. Among the multiple Registry media forums utilized during the past year (website, listserv, newsletter, twitter, and webinars), the “FSR at the Front Lines” is a featured initiative focused on COVID-19, local stroke health care practices, and informal, “boots on-the-ground” information. The initiative consists of short 10min Zoom recorded conversations between 2-3 Registry member clinicians/researchers informally discussing their COVID-19/stroke related experiences, practices, latest findings and ongoing questions. Various topics have been discussed such as (i.e., availability of PPE; protocol for stroke patients diagnosed with COVID-19; the marked drop in stroke admissions shortly after the Pandemic escalated; patients’ reluctance to utilize hospital services due to fears of risks of COVID-19 transmission; the use of stroke treatments on COVID-19 positive stroke patients, etc.) The videos are archived at the publicly available website. Though viewership and initiative impact have not yet been formally reviewed, an indication of the initiatives value may be derived from the ongoing requests from Registry members to participate in the recordings. Despite the Pandemic, the Registry continued to develop and establish new relationships among a multidisciplinary group of potential stakeholders. Throughout this past year, the Florida Stroke Registry has not only increased the number of participating stroke centers, but has also facilitated the engagement of non-hospital agencies (i.e., EMS, pharmacy, government, academia, etc.), many of which organized to create regional stroke coalitions. Uniting and attracting the various Florida Stroke Registry stakeholders is the Registry’s ongoing collection of data; to date having collected over 300,000 Florida stroke cases representing years 2010 to current.
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