Stroke News and Research

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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.

Framingham Heart Study receives $1M grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute

Boston University School of Medicine's (BUSM) Framingham Heart Study (FHS) has received a two-year $1M challenge grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.

6 Oct 2009

Summa Health System to implement ProVation MD software

Wolters Kluwer Health, a leading global provider of information for healthcare professionals and students, announced today that Summa Health System has selected ProVation® MD software for Cardiology procedure documentation and coding.

6 Oct 2009

Sit-and-reach test to gauge age-related arterial stiffness

How far you can reach beyond your toes from a sitting position - normally used to define the flexibility of a person's body - may be an indicator of how stiff your arteries are.

6 Oct 2009

Drivers with Parkinson's disease at greater risk of crashes on foggy days

Drivers with mild to moderate Parkinson's disease may be at higher risk of crashes on foggy days and other times of low visibility. The research, involving a driving simulation test, is published in the October 6, 2009, print issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

6 Oct 2009

ResMed announces acquisition of Laboratoires Narval

ResMed Inc. (NYSE: RMD), a leading developer, manufacturer and distributor of sleep and respiratory medical equipment, announced today that it has acquired Laboratoires Narval. Based in France, Laboratoires Narval manufactures and distributes the Narval O.R.M.(TM), an innovative mandibular repositioning device (MRD) that offers a solution to patients for snoring and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), especially for those with mild OSA.

From ResMed Corp 6 Oct 2009

Antibiotic minocycline may be used for treatment of strokes: Study

The antibiotic minocycline may revolutionize the treatment of strokes. A new study, published in the open access journal BMC Neuroscience, describes the safety and therapeutic efficacy of the drug in animal models.

6 Oct 2009

ALS patients' bone marrow cells capable of differentiating into nerve-supporting cells

BrainStorm Cell Therapeutics Inc., a leading developer of adult stem cell technologies and therapeutics, announced today that bone marrow cells taken from ALS patients were capable of differentiating into nerve-supporting cells.

5 Oct 2009

ZYNEX obtains accreditation as a Medicare DMEPOS supplier

Zynex, Inc. a provider of pain management systems and electrotherapy products for medical patients with functional disability, announces it has obtained accreditation as a Medicare DMEPOS (Durable Medical Equipment, Prosthetics, Orthotics, and Supplies) supplier, as required to maintain its status as provider to Medicare and several private health insurance companies.

5 Oct 2009

Myocardial and neurological effects of Tβ4 presented

REGENERX BIOPHARMACEUTICALS, INC. today reported on the results of several important research programs with Thymosin beta 4 (Tβ4) presented at the Second International Symposium on Thymosins in Health and Disease, in Catania, Italy.

5 Oct 2009

Tools to educate employees about disability threats

The Council for Disability Awareness (CDA) is alerting all employers that disabling illnesses have become one of the fastest growing threats to employees' income. In fact, they now account for 55 percent of workplace absences.

5 Oct 2009

Researchers engineer antidotes for blood-thinner aptamers

Imagine a surgical patient on a blood-thinning drug who starts bleeding more than expected, and an antidote that works immediately - because the blood thinner and antidote were designed to work together. Researchers at Duke University Medical Center have engineered a way to do this for an entire, versatile class of drugs called aptamers and published their findings in Nature Medicine.

4 Oct 2009

HCRI commences patient enrollment in dual antiplatelet therapy study

The Harvard Clinical Research Institute (HCRI) announced today that the first patients have been enrolled in the DAPT Study, marking the official initiation of the four-year clinical trial to investigate the duration of dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT, the combination of aspirin and a thienopyridine/antiplatelet medication to reduce the risk of blood clots) following drug-eluting stent implantations.

3 Oct 2009

Study finds that visual impairment in T1D patients may be decreasing

People diagnosed with type 1 diabetes (T1D) in recent years are less likely to develop diabetes-related vision loss than those diagnosed in earlier years, says a new study funded by the National Eye Institute, a division of the National Institutes of Health. Forecasts of visual impairment prevalence in T1D patients may need to be amended, the researchers suggest, since current predictions assume that the earlier incidence rates will continue.

3 Oct 2009

Electronic medical records: A valuable asset to healthcare industry

Hundreds of billions of gigabytes of health information are now being collected in electronic medical records, and three-quarters (76%) of more than 700 healthcare executives recently surveyed by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP agree that the secondary use of this information will be their organization's greatest asset over the next five years.

3 Oct 2009

Study finds an independent link between self-perceived psychological stress and stroke

Many patients urgently admitted to hospital with cerebral infarction state that they were under great stress over a prolonged period prior to suffering their stroke, is shown in a unique patient study conducted in cooperation between the Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg and Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Sweden.

3 Oct 2009

Researchers discover that Merkel cells originate in the skin

Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine assistant professor of pediatrics, neurosciences and otolaryngology, Stephen M. Maricich, M.D., Ph.D., and his team found that Merkel cells originate in the skin, not the neural crest lineage, as previously speculated.

3 Oct 2009

USPTO grants Micardia's patent concerning reshaping the anatomy of the heart

MiCardia® today announced that The United States Patent Office granted patent number US7,594,887 B2, "Shape Memory Devices and Methods for Reshaping Heart Anatomy," on September 29th, 2009.

3 Oct 2009

Teens with chronic disease often have expensive, uncertain coverage

ABC News profiles teens living with chronic diseases, and examines their insurance coverage and the cost of such care. The article notes: "Chronic diseases affect 1 in 10 Americans and are the leading cause of disability, accounting for 70 percent of all deaths, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They are also expensive."

3 Oct 2009

Increase in omega-3 fatty acid levels can prevent strokes, according to research

Research led by Hernan A. Bazan, MD, Assistant Professor of Surgery, Section of Vascular Surgery, at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans School of Medicine, has found that unstable carotid artery plaques - those in danger of rupturing and leading to a stroke - contain more inflammation and significantly less omega-3 fatty acids than asymptomatic plaques.

3 Oct 2009

ALL initiative three-year clinical observational study results published

A program that bundled two generic, low-cost drugs - a cholesterol-lowering statin and a blood pressure-lowering drug - and gave daily doses to 68,560 people with diabetes or heart disease for two years is estimated to have prevented 1,271 heart attacks and strokes in the first year following the study period, according to a Kaiser Permanente study published online in the American Journal of Managed Care.

3 Oct 2009