Stroke News and Research

RSS

A stroke is a medical emergency. Strokes happen when blood flow to your brain stops. Within minutes, brain cells begin to die. There are two kinds of stroke. The more common kind, called ischemic stroke, is caused by a blood clot that blocks or plugs a blood vessel in the brain. The other kind, called hemorrhagic stroke, is caused by a blood vessel that breaks and bleeds into the brain. "Mini-strokes" or transient ischemic attacks (TIAs), occur when the blood supply to the brain is briefly interrupted.

Children with negative TB skin test at high risk for mortality

Children with clinical signs of tuberculosis but with a negative tuberculin skin test result should not have treatment delayed, suggest study findings showing that false-negatives are common and associated with high mortality.

7 Aug 2012

Time to carotid stenosis treatment ‘can be shortened’

Researchers say it is possible to surgically treat carotid stenosis patients within 2 weeks of their index symptom.

7 Aug 2012

Post-discharge stroke coaching can help patients with their medications or recovery

When a stroke patient is discharged from the hospital, they often must cope with a new disability or lack of function, so changes in their medications or a new dosing prescription can be particularly confusing. This can lead the patient to overmedicate, take the wrong medication or skip medications entirely and can result in being readmitted to the hospital.

7 Aug 2012

Minorities more at risk of being impacted by ER crowding

Hospitals in areas with large minority populations are more likely to be overcrowded and to divert ambulances, delaying timely emergency care, according to a multi-institutional study focused on California.

7 Aug 2012

Underinsured CVD patients die sooner, irrespective of race

Insurance status is a better predictor of survival after a serious cardiac event than race, and may help explain racial disparities in health outcomes for cardiovascular disease. A new study by Derek Ng, from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in the US, and his team shows that race is not linked to an increased risk of death but being underinsured is a strong predictor of death among those admitted into hospital with a serious cardiac event.

7 Aug 2012

Link between cardiac catheterizations and risk of stroke

When a patient undergoes a cardiac catheterization procedure such as a balloon angioplasty, there's a slight risk of a stroke or other neurological complication.

7 Aug 2012

Fainting appears to have strong genetic predisposition

Fainting has a strong genetic predisposition, according to new research published in the August 7, 2012, print issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Fainting, also called vasovagal syncope, is a brief loss of consciousness when your body reacts to certain triggers, such as emotional distress or the sight of blood.

7 Aug 2012

Exercise hope for drug-resistant hypertension

Even patients who have hypertension despite taking multiple antihypertensive drugs can achieve blood pressure reductions with a program of aerobic exercise, research shows.

6 Aug 2012

Vorinostat drives HIV from hiding

The addition of vorinostat to current antiretroviral therapy regimens can potentially help to eradicate hidden pockets of dormant human immunodeficiency virus, according to study results published in Nature.

6 Aug 2012

Boric acid treatment equals best practice for otitis media

Study findings show that a single application of boric acid powder followed by external auditory canal irrigation is as effective as topical ciprofloxacin eardrops for treating active chronic otitis media.

6 Aug 2012

Early CT ‘definitive’ for subarachnoid hemorrhage diagnosis

Cerebrospinal fluid analysis is only necessary for patients with thunderclap headache and a negative computed tomography scan if they undergo imaging more than 6 hours after headache onset, research suggests.

6 Aug 2012

‘Chicken Wing’ clue to stroke risk in atrial fibrillation

Patients with atrial fibrillation who have a Chicken Wing left atrial appendage morphology are less likely to have a stroke than those with other morphologies, research suggests.

6 Aug 2012

Older adults with head trauma over a weekend more likely to die

A Johns Hopkins review of more than 38,000 patient records finds that older adults who sustain substantial head trauma over a weekend are significantly more likely to die from their injuries than those similarly hurt and hospitalized Monday through Friday, even if their injuries are less severe and they have fewer other illnesses than their weekday counterparts.

6 Aug 2012

Head trauma in older adults over a weekend more deadly than during the week

6 Aug 2012

'Fight' between bacteria in the intestines linked to chronic disease

Results from a study conducted at Georgia State University suggest that a "fight" between bacteria normally living in the intestines and the immune system, kicked off by another type of bacteria, may be linked to two types of chronic disease.

3 Aug 2012

TAT-ARC fusion protein helps treat acute liver failure

Acute liver failure is a life-threatening disease, characterized by a sudden, massive death of liver cells. Unfortunately, few treatment options exist, especially for advanced-stage liver failure. As a last resort a liver transplant may be the only remaining option.

3 Aug 2012

Generic drugs saved U.S. $1T over 10 years, industry study finds

Generic drug makers released a study Thursday that found generic pharmaceuticals have saved the U.S. -- through private prescriptions as well as Medicare and Medicaid -- more than $1 trillion over 10 years.

3 Aug 2012

Novel integrase inhibitor dolutegravir shows promise for HIV-1 treatment

The once-daily integrase inhibitor dolutegravir has shown promise in a phase III noninferiority study comparing it with twice-daily raltegravir for treatment of HIV-1, indicate study results presented at the 19th International AIDS Conference in Washington DC, USA.

3 Aug 2012

‘Bioactive’ coils disappoint for cerebral aneurysms

The angiographic outcomes of patients in the Cerecyte Coil Trial add to evidence that “bioactive” coils are no better than bare platinum coils in patients with cerebral aneurysms.

3 Aug 2012

Caffeine may ease movement symptoms of Parkinson's

While drinking caffeine each day does not appear to help improve sleepiness among people with Parkinson's disease, it may have a benefit in controlling movement, according to new research published in the August 1, 2012, online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

3 Aug 2012