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.

Atrial fibrillation screening can identify irregular heartbeat that leads to stroke

A simple screening can identify atrial fibrillation, such as that discovered yesterday in Vice-President Dick Cheney, and can do so even if the person is unaware of the presence of this irregular heart rhythm.

27 Nov 2007

Red blood cell transfusions under scrutiny - research reveals potential harm

Bristol scientists have found that red blood cell transfusions given to people having heart surgery could increase the risk of heart attack or stroke.

27 Nov 2007

Low levels of "good" cholesterol make it difficult to recover from stroke

People are at an increased risk of memory problems and greater disability after stroke if they have low levels of “good” cholesterol and high levels of homocysteine, an amino acid acquired mostly from eating meat.

27 Nov 2007

Communication key to tackling cardiovascular disease

Despite the increasing evidence that managing high cholesterol reduces cardiovascular events, many people do not achieve recommended lipid levels.

27 Nov 2007

Exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons prior to pregnancy could limit offspring's fertility

A study by a research team at the Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute of Mount Sinai Hospital suggests that mothers who are exposed to certain toxic environmental compounds prior to pregnancy could limit their offspring's fertility.

27 Nov 2007

It's a bald fact...smoking makes your hair fall out!

According to new research apart from the plethora of illnesses associated with smoking the habit can make men prematurely bald.

26 Nov 2007

Higher ozone levels linked to greater heart risk associated with high temperatures

Ozone may prove the key to the link between high temperature and the increased risk of death from heart disease or stroke, suggests research published ahead of print in Occupational and Environmental Medicine .

22 Nov 2007

Hundreds of strokes avoidable, says study

Hundreds of strokes could be prevented each year if patients suffering 'mini strokes', known as transient ischaemic attacks or TIAs, were assessed sooner by specialist clinicians.

From The University of Manchester 22 Nov 2007

Measures that are needed to curb humanity's most fatal diseases

Several of the world's most eminent health scientists and organizations today publish a landmark global consensus on the 20 foremost measures needed to curb humanity's most fatal diseases, their study featured in Nature magazine.

21 Nov 2007

Threat women face from vascular disease not widely understood

Though arterial vascular disease is widespread and often deadly among older American women, doctors too often fail to spot and treat it, according to a new report by a team of vascular surgeons from the Columbia University Medical Center and Weill Cornell Medical College campuses of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital.

21 Nov 2007

Binge drinking by adolescents increases long-term risk for heart disease

New research into lifelong alcohol consumption reveals that heavy binge drinking by adolescents and young adults is associated with increased long-term risk for heart disease, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, and other metabolic disorders.

21 Nov 2007

New guideline for how to treat a person's first unprovoked seizure

A guideline developed by the American Academy of Neurology recommends a routine electroencephalogram (EEG) and brain scans be considered when diagnosing and treating adults who experience their first unprovoked seizure.

19 Nov 2007

New device for screening potential new drug compounds

A new device invented by researchers at the University of Virginia could save pharmaceutical companies significant time and money in screening potential new drug compounds.

19 Nov 2007

University of Sydney leads the way in hospital technology

But a new electronic system developed by the University's School of Information Technologies and introduced at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital (RPAH) is designed to lead to better patient care, fewer hospital errors and allow researchers to search thousands of medical records.

19 Nov 2007

Scientist who created Dolly says stem cells from skin fragments now the way to go

The scientist who created Dolly the sheep says he is abandoning the cloning of human embryos in stem cell research.

19 Nov 2007

New computational theory of brain function

Carnegie Mellon University neuroscientist Marcel Just and Stanford postdoctoral fellow Sashank Varma have put forward a new computational theory of brain function that provides answers to one of the central questions of modern science:

16 Nov 2007

Scientists zero in on the cellular machinery that enables neurons to fire

Toy robots with removable body parts - you probably had fun swapping their heads, imagining how it would affect their behavior. Scientists supported by the National Institutes of Health have been performing similar experiments on ion channels - pores in our nerve cells - to sort out the channels' key functional parts.

15 Nov 2007

GlaxoSmithKline implements changes to the US product label for Avandia

GlaxoSmithKline announced today that it is implementing changes to the US product label for Avandia(R) (rosiglitazone maleate), based on an extensive and thorough review by the FDA of myocardial ischemia data on Avandia, the most widely studied oral anti-diabetic medicine available.

15 Nov 2007

Higher-risk kidneys may help solve organ shortage facing older adults

New research from Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center suggests that age alone shouldn't be a barrier to receiving a kidney transplant – and that using donated kidneys that would once have been discarded may help alleviate the burgeoning organ shortage among older adults.

14 Nov 2007

Most seniors with diabetes have at least one other major chronic medical condition

As if diabetes weren't enough to handle, a new study shows that 92 percent of older people with the disease have at least one other major chronic medical condition - and that nearly half have three or more major diseases besides their diabetes.

14 Nov 2007