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.

New Canadian Cardiovascular Society guidelines support clinicians in practicing evidence-based medicine

Summaries of a number of new Canadian Cardiovascular Society guidelines and position statements offering the most up to date information to support clinicians in practicing evidence-based medicine were released at the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress 2010 this week.

25 Oct 2010

Neptune launches Onemia medical food

Neptune Technologies & Bioressources Inc. enters the pharmaceutical market with the launch of Onemia™, the first medical food of Neptune's subsidiary Acasti Pharma Inc.. Only two years since its foundation, Acasti has completed the development and launch of "Onemia™" on October 21, 2010 at the Cardiometabolic Health Congress meeting in Boston.

25 Oct 2010

Gene therapy may reverse pulmonary hypertension

A Heart and Stroke Foundation researcher has discovered what could be the first truly effective breakthrough in the diagnosis and treatment of pulmonary hypertension, a devastating, life-threatening condition which results in an enlargement of the heart.

25 Oct 2010

Anxiety sensitivity levels may help in choosing medical treatment for AF patients

Levels of anxiety sensitivity may be important in choosing medical treatment for patients with heart failure and atrial fibrillation (AF), Montreal Heart Institute researchers today told the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress 2010, co-hosted by the Heart and Stroke Foundation and the Canadian Cardiovascular Society.

25 Oct 2010

UCI scientists receive CIRM grants to improve stem cell treatments

UC Irvine scientists will receive grants totaling $9.35 million to help create stem cell treatments for retinitis pigmentosa, Huntington's disease and traumatic brain injury.

25 Oct 2010

Kryptonite adhesive can improve quality of heart patients recovering from open-chest surgery

New research shows that a surgical procedure using a cutting-edge super glue pioneered a year ago by Calgary researchers can improve the recovery of heart patients recovering from open-chest surgery, Dr. Paul Fedak today told the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress 2010, co-hosted by the Heart and Stroke Foundation and the Canadian Cardiovascular Society.

25 Oct 2010

Aortic stiffness seen in obese children

The blood vessels of obese children have stiffness normally seen in much older adults with cardiovascular disease, Dr. Kevin Harris today told the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress 2010, co-hosted by the Canadian Cardiovascular Society and the Heart and Stroke Foundation. The clock is ticking and the shape of the 13 year-old-heart is changing - for the worse.

25 Oct 2010

Two researchers receive European Research Council Starting Grants

Two European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grants worth almost one and a half million euros each over the next five years have been awarded to two researchers from the Max Delbr-ck Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch and the Charit Universit-tsmedizin, Berlin in Germany.

25 Oct 2010

Diabetes on the rise in Scotland

New reports show that one person is diagnosed with diabetes every 40 minutes in Scotland. This marks the rapid rise in the condition - a trend that is faster that experts had imagined. In the last 1 year another 14,000 Scots were added to those registered with GPs as diabetic.

24 Oct 2010

New review outlines Bionovo's platform of estrogen receptor modulators for menopausal conditions

Bionovo, Inc. today announced the publication of a review of results from studies discussing new classes of estrogen receptor modulating drugs with distinct mechanism for pharmacological effect. The review is published in the most recent edition of Current Opinion in Pharmacology.

22 Oct 2010

New guidelines feature various key updates for stroke or TIA survivors

Treating metabolic syndrome and undergoing carotid angioplasty may prevent recurrent stroke or transient ischemic attack, according to revised American Heart Association/American Stroke Association guidelines.

22 Oct 2010

PolyMedix plans PMX-60056 Phase 2 clinical trial in interventional cardiology

PolyMedix, Inc., a biotechnology company focused on developing new therapeutic drugs to treat infectious diseases and acute cardiovascular disorders, has announced plans for a Phase 2 clinical trial of PMX-60056 in interventional cardiology, and the establishment of a focused Heptagonist Clinical Advisory Board (CAB). PMX-60056 is a synthetic small-molecule designed to reverse the anticoagulant activity of heparin and low molecular weight heparins (LMWH).

21 Oct 2010

Alexion 2010 third quarter revenue increases from $102.6 to $141.6 million

Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced financial results for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2010.

21 Oct 2010

Highlights of Frontiers in Optics 2010/Laser Science XXVI Meeting

Scientists and engineers from around the world will gather on the shores of Lake Ontario in Rochester, N.Y. next week to discuss some of the latest breakthroughs in lasers and optics and their applications to cutting-edge science, the development of new materials, and medicine.

21 Oct 2010

FDA asks manufacturers to add new warnings to labeling of prostate cancer drugs

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today asked manufacturers to add new warnings to labeling of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonists, a class of drugs primarily used to treat men with prostate cancer.

21 Oct 2010

Researcher identifies two risk markers for Alzheimer's disease

Risk markers could play an important role in this. These are substances linked to Alzheimer's that are found in unusually high or unusually low quantities in patients who go on to develop the disease.

21 Oct 2010

Hormone therapy associated with increased risk of death from breast cancer

Results of a new Women's Health Initiative (WHI) report show that hormone therapy is associated with an increased the risk of death from breast cancer, as well as an increased risk of developing invasive breast cancer in postmenopausal women.

21 Oct 2010

Scientists find potential Achilles Heel in JC polyomavirus

The JC polyomavirus doesn't strike very often, but it's a mean bug that preys on people with weakened immune systems, including people with AIDS, and almost always kills them. Now an international team of scientists at Brown University, the University of T-bingen in Germany, and Imperial College in London has found a potential Achilles Heel and painted a target on it: The virus must bind to a very specific sugar molecule dangling from the side of the brain cells it attacks.

21 Oct 2010

Alexion announces results of eculizumab two open-label Phase 2 studies for aHUS treatment

Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced that its two open-label Phase 2 studies investigating eculizumab (Soliris) as a treatment for patients with atypical Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome (aHUS) have met the primary and key secondary endpoints with high clinical and statistical significance, in interim analyses.

21 Oct 2010

New brush optrode improves optical scanning of brain activity

One of the main techniques for measuring and monitoring mental activity, called functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), can often be impaired because a person's hair gets in the way. But now, thanks to a team of researchers at the University of Texas at Dallas and the University of Texas at Arlington, a novel device called a "brush optrode" is providing increased sensitivity with fiber tips designed to thread through hair to enhance scalp contact.

20 Oct 2010