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.

Excess fat around the heart may be worse than high BMI for heart attacks

When it comes to risk for a heart attack, having excess fat around the heart may be worse than having a high body mass index or a thick waist, according to researchers from Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center and colleagues reporting in the August issue of the journal Obesity.

31 Jul 2008

Shocking deaths of six people with learning disabilities details unnecessary suffering at the hands of the NHS

An inquiry into the deaths of six patients with learning disabilities while being treated by the National Health Service (NHS) has revealed shocking details.

30 Jul 2008

Estrogen treatments may sharpen mental performance in some women

Estrogen treatments may sharpen mental performance in women with certain medical conditions, but University of Florida researchers suggest that recharging a naturally occurring estrogen receptor in the brain may also clear cognitive cobwebs.

29 Jul 2008

Statins reduce the risk of dementia by half

People at high risk for dementia who took cholesterol-lowering statins are half as likely to develop dementia as those who do not take statins, a new study shows.

28 Jul 2008

Most adults in U.S. will be overweight or obese by 2030

Most adults in the U.S. will be overweight or obese by 2030, with related health care spending projected to be as much as $956.9 billion, according to researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Their results are published in the July 2008 online issue of Obesity.

28 Jul 2008

Viagra and Levitra ED drugs shown to allow more chemo to reach brain tumors

In a study using laboratory animals, researchers found that medications commonly prescribed for erectile dysfunction opened a mechanism called the blood-brain tumor barrier and increased delivery of cancer-fighting drugs to malignant brain tumors.

28 Jul 2008

Exercise shown to slow down Alzheimer's progress

According to a new study, patients with the early signs of Alzheimer's disease had less deterioration in the areas of the brain which control memory, if they exercised regularly.

28 Jul 2008

Amgen announces positive results for Denosumab postmenopausal osteoporosis trial

Amgen has announced findings from the pivotal fracture trial evaluating its RANK Ligand inhibitor, denosumab, in the treatment of postmenopausal osteoporosis.

27 Jul 2008

Researchers find key mechanism of cell damage in aging and disease

Researchers have taken a first snapshot of how a class of highly reactive molecules inflicts cellular damage as part of aging, heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes, kidney disease and Alzheimer's disease to name a few. According to a study published today in the journal Cell, researchers have discovered a tool that can monitor related damage and determine the degree to which antioxidant drugs effectively combat disease.

24 Jul 2008

New study finds working age adults with major chronic conditions grew 25 percent over 10 years

As the number of working-age adults who have major chronic conditions grew between 1997 and 2006, those without health coverage in this group experienced substantial erosion in access to health care, according to a new study by Kaiser Family Foundation researchers published today as a Health Affairs Web Exclusive.

22 Jul 2008

Too much sleep increases the risk of stroke in older women

Researchers in the United States have found that for older women too much or too little sleep increases their risk of a stroke.

21 Jul 2008

Sleep patterns and ischemic risk in postmenopausal women

Postmenopausal women who regularly sleep more than nine hours a night may have an increased risk of ischemic stroke, researchers reported in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association.

19 Jul 2008

New ultrasound imaging system spots early evidence of peripheral arterial disease

Researchers at Oregon Health & Science University have devised an ultrasound imaging technique that picks up subtle early evidence of peripheral arterial disease (PAD) that current conventional tests miss.

17 Jul 2008

25.6 percent of U.S. adults obese in 2007

The proportion of U.S. adults who self report they are obese increased nearly 2 percent between 2005 and 2007, according to a report in today's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR). An estimated 25.6 percent of U.S. adults reported being obese in 2007 compared to 23.9 percent in 2005, an increase of 1.7 percent.

17 Jul 2008

Physical activity programs for persons with dementia

Physical activity is a good thing for nearly everybody and clearly boosts alertness and a sense of well-being. So can we use it as a treatment for elderly patients with dementia? That's a good question, but existing research doesn't provide an answer, according to a new Cochrane Library review.

17 Jul 2008

New ways of exploiting medicinal uses of cannabis

Research exploring new ways of exploiting the full medicinal uses of cannabis while avoiding unwanted side-effects will be presented to pharmacologists Tuesday, 15 July by leading scientists attending the Federation of European Pharmacological Societies Congress, EPHAR 2008.

From The University of Manchester 15 Jul 2008

Quick formula could forecast which cancers chemo could kill

Researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center have coined a simple formula that predicts how well a certain chemotherapy will work for targeting brain and other nervous system cancers. The formula, which publishes mid-July in Cancer Chemotherapy and Pharmacology, is pegged to two important proteins that compose such hard-to-kill tumors - one of which, ironically, makes them so drug-resistant in the first place.

15 Jul 2008

AHA recognizes quality of URMC cardiac, heart failure, stroke programs

The American Heart Association/American Stroke Association has honored Strong Memorial Hospital of the University of Rochester Medical Center with a Triple Performance Achievement Award for meeting its high standards for coronary artery disease, heart failure and stroke care.

15 Jul 2008

Study examines heparin use following cardioembolic stroke

The common practice of administering heparin soon after cardioembolic stroke is associated with an increased risk for serious bleeding, according to an article posted online today that will appear in the September 2008 print issue of Archives of Neurology. However, it appears that anticoagulation with warfarin therapy may safely begin shortly after stroke.

14 Jul 2008

Optimism is good for heart health, at least among men, a new study shows

University of Rochester Medical Center researcher Robert Gramling, M.D., D.Sc., found that men who believed they were at lower-than-average risk for cardiovascular disease actually experienced a three times lower incidence of death from heart attacks and strokes.

14 Jul 2008