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.

Evidence strongly supports diuretics as initial metabolic syndrome therapy, especially in black patients

New research shows that in people with high blood pressure as part of metabolic syndrome, a cluster of conditions that increases the risk for heart disease, diuretics offer greater protection against cardiovascular disease, including heart failure, and are at least as effective for lowering blood pressure as newer, more expensive medications.

28 Jan 2008

Stanford study finds transplant patient thrives 2 years after stopping immunosuppressive drugs

Luck smiled on Larry Kowalski when his brother agreed to donate a kidney Kowalski needed to live.

24 Jan 2008

Heart and stroke death rates steadily decline; risks still too high

In an appropriate prelude to American Heart Month, which is just ahead in February, new mortality data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that, since 1999, coronary heart disease and stroke age-adjusted death rates are down by 25.8 percent and 24.4 percent, respectively.

23 Jan 2008

Gene variations associated with effectiveness of blood pressure medications

Patients with hypertension and certain gene variations experienced varying results with some blood pressure medications, suggesting matching a patient's genotype with certain hypertension medications could result in more favorable outcomes, according to a study in the January 23 issue of JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association.

23 Jan 2008

Simplified scoring system may predict overall CVD risk

Physicians currently evaluate a patient's risk for heart disease, stroke and other cardiovascular diseases (CVD) individually, but a new assessment tool could gauge risk of overall 'or global' CVD and a range of cardiovascular diseases at one time, according to a study published in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

23 Jan 2008

New understanding of the link between heart disease and belly fat

By now, everyone knows that overweight people have a higher risk of heart attacks, strokes and other problems that arise from clogged, hardened arteries. And people who carry their extra weight around their waist - giving them a "beer belly" or an "apple" shape - have the highest risk of all.

22 Jan 2008

Annual diabetes cost estimates for 2007

The American Diabetes Association (ADA), members of the Congressional Diabetes Caucus and diabetes experts, will host a congressional briefing, Wednesday, January 23 at 1 p.m. in 2218 Rayburn House Office Building to discuss the annual diabetes cost estimates for 2007, which were compiled in a study by the Lewin Group on behalf of the ADA.

22 Jan 2008

Military radar could help stroke patients

University of Leicester researchers are pioneering use of military radar signal processing methods to help victims of stroke - the third most common cause of death in the UK.

21 Jan 2008

Aspirin resistance and heart attack - stroke risk

Being resistant to aspirin makes patients four times more likely to suffer a heart attack, stroke or even die from a pre-existing heart condition, according to a study published on bmj.com.

21 Jan 2008

Smallest particles from vehicle emissions may promote hardening of the arteries

Patients prone to heart disease may one day be told by physicians to avoid not only fatty foods and smoking but air pollution too.

18 Jan 2008

International congress on gait and mental function

There is a widespread misunderstanding that stance and gait are automatic processes, i.e. not controlled by the human brain. However, the fact that many patients with brain disorders are no longer able to walk and engage in simple conversation at the same time makes it abundantly clear that our consciousness and our thinking do indeed control such apparently simple actions.

17 Jan 2008

Statins may not prevent Alzheimer's disease

Contrary to some reports, taking statins, which are cholesterol-lowering drugs, offers no protection against Alzheimer's disease, according to research published in the January 16, 2008, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

17 Jan 2008

Type 1 diabetes triggered by lazy T-cells

A research team led by Dr. Ciriaco A. Piccirillo of McGill University's Department of Microbiology and Immunology has discovered that in some individuals, the specialized immunoregulatory T-cells that regulate the body's autoimmune reactions may lose their effectiveness and become "lazy" over time, leading to the onset of type 1 diabetes.

16 Jan 2008

New European medical implants

Patients suffering from conditions such as stroke, blindness, deafness, incontinence, glaucoma or hydrocephalus will be the first to benefit from a range of new technologies and implantable medical devices developed by a pioneering European consortium of researchers, surgeons and technology companies.

16 Jan 2008

Undernourished stroke patients may have more complications, worse outcomes

Patients who are undernourished when they enter the hospital with an acute ischemic stroke the most common type of stroke, in which blood flow to the brain is blocked are likely to remain undernourished in the hospital and may have worse clinical outcomes, according to a report in the January issue of Archives of Neurology.

16 Jan 2008

Trust between doctors and patients is culprit in efforts to cross racial divide in medical research

More than three decades after the shutdown of the notorious Tuskegee study, a team of Johns Hopkins physicians has found that Tuskegee's legacy of blacks' mistrust of physicians and deep-seated fear of harm from medical research persists and is largely to blame for keeping much-needed African Americans from taking part in clinical trials.

16 Jan 2008