Copyright 2009 Medical News Today Latest Stroke News From Medical News Today. http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/sections/stroke/ admin@medicalnewstoday.com (MNT Admin) editors@medicalnewstoday.com (MNT Editors) en-us Fri, 06 Nov 2009 03:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/170088.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/170088.php One category of medical mysteries that stumps expert doctors and policymakers alike falls under the heading: What works? News reports on two new studies - and one that was never completed - offer insight into that issue. It turns out that "one of the first things you do at a doctor's visit" may not do much to improve your health, the Chicago Tribune reports. Cardiovascular / Cardiology Thu, 05 Nov 2009 05:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169964.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169964.php For estrogen replacement to provide stroke protection, it likely must be given soon after levels drop because of menopause or surgical removal of the ovaries, scientists report in the Journal of Neuroscience. Stroke Wed, 04 Nov 2009 03:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169750.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169750.php Eighteen years ago this month the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced that it would sponsor a landmark study to examine women and cardiovascular disease. Known as the Women's Health Initiative (WHI), the study enrolled more than 161,000 women. By 2004 however, the government had ended two arms of the study involving estrogen after researchers found it posed a small but detrimental risk for stroke to postmenopausal women taking the hormone. Stroke Wed, 04 Nov 2009 03:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169758.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169758.php Dr Assumpta Ryan and Hilary Thompson recently published findings from a study involving 16 married stroke survivors nine males and seven females aged between 33 and 78. The study found that sexual relationships were significantly affected after a stroke, gender roles became blurred and feelings like anger and frustration were confounded by a lack of independence and ongoing fatigue. Stroke Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169695.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169695.php Learning to talk also changes the way speech sounds are heard, according to a new study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by scientists at Haskins Laboratories, a Yale-affiliated research laboratory. The findings could have a major impact on improving speech disorders. "We've found that learning is a two-way street; motor function affects sensory processing and vice-versa," said David J. Neurology / Neuroscience Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169546.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169546.php The latest issue of the Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin (DTB) reports that the use of low-dose aspirin to protect against heart attacks and strokes in individuals yet to develop obvious cardiovascular disease, should be abandoned. Low-dose aspirin is widely used to prevent further episodes of cardiovascular disease in people who have already had problems such as a heart attack or stroke. This approach is known as secondary prevention. Cardiovascular / Cardiology Mon, 02 Nov 2009 02:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169460.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169460.php Rural and small, suburban hospitals in North Carolina and Virginia can now provide a higher level of emergency stroke and critical neurology care, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, as part of a new teleneurology medicine program announced Oct. 26, 2009, by Forsyth Medical Center (FMC). Stroke Mon, 02 Nov 2009 00:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169447.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169447.php Heart disease and stroke are the leading causes of death for women worldwide, killing more than 8.6 million, more than the total number who die from cancer, tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS and malaria combined. However, the risk for women is largely under-estimated, by both the general population and often by the medical profession itself. Heart Disease Fri, 30 Oct 2009 01:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169220.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169220.php More than 5720 health professionals across Australia have taken the opportunity to participate in National Prescribing Service (NPS) professional development activities focusing on stroke prevention. Stroke - What can I do? is the theme of World Stroke Day 2009 (29 October) and aims to improve global awareness of stroke prevention and encourage optimal management of stroke patients. Stroke Thu, 29 Oct 2009 02:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169086.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169086.php NeuroVasx, Inc., a medical device company that develops technologies for the treatment of hemorrhagic and ischemic stroke, announced that the first procedure in Spain utilizing its cPAX Aneurysm Treatment System was performed in Madrid. cPAX received CE Mark earlier this year. Dr. Stroke Thu, 29 Oct 2009 02:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169093.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169093.php For a few scary minutes, one side of Kevin Breslin's face went numb, and he couldn't see out of one eye. Ten minutes later, he was back to normal. Breslin had just experienced a transient ischemic attack (TIA), also known as a mini stroke or warning stroke. An estimated 200,000 Americans experience TIAs each year, and more than one-third will later have full strokes. But TIAs, like strokes, are treatable and preventable. Breslin was evaluated by Dr. Stroke Thu, 29 Oct 2009 01:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169071.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169071.php St. Jude Children's Research Hospital investigators were recently awarded a $23 million federal grant to launch a national study of the drug hydroxyurea to prevent first strokes in children and adolescents with sickle cell anemia (SCA). The effort will be the fifth at St. Jude involving hydroxyurea to treat children with SCA. Stroke Thu, 29 Oct 2009 01:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169075.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169075.php The Comprehensive Stroke Center at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center launched a tele-stroke network to help patients in rural communities receive state-of-the-art stroke therapies. Wake Forest Baptist's stroke network provides access to physicians that are nationally recognized for stroke care. Through the network, patients in rural areas will now have rapid access to stroke experts and to the latest state-of-the-art stroke therapies and interventions. Stroke Thu, 29 Oct 2009 00:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169040.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169040.php A move from a traditional diet to the sodium-laden Western diet is fuelling a spike in the blood pressure of the Inuit in Canada's North, Dr. Marie-Ludivine Chateau-Degat told the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress 2009, co-hosted by the Heart and Stroke Foundation and the Canadian Cardiovascular Society. Hypertension Thu, 29 Oct 2009 00:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169056.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169056.php A migraine with aura occurs when temporary visual or sensory disturbances are experienced before or during a migraine headache. A study just published on bmj.com reports that migraine with aura is associated with a twofold increased risk of stroke. Further risk factors for stroke among patients with migraine are being a woman, being young, being a smoker, and using contraceptives containing estrogen. Headache / Migraine Wed, 28 Oct 2009 01:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/168901.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/168901.php Migraine with aura (temporary visual or sensory disturbances before or during a migraine headache) is associated with a twofold increased risk of stroke, finds a study published on bmj.com today. Further risk factors for stroke among patients with migraine are being a woman, being young, being a smoker, and using oestrogen containing contraceptives. Headache / Migraine Wed, 28 Oct 2009 01:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/168906.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/168906.php On the publication of research in the British Medical Journal looking at the links between migraine and an increased risk of stroke, Ellen Mason, Cardiac Nurse at the British Heart Foundation said: 'This review clarifies that it is only migraine with aura - a migraine with temporary visual and sensory disturbances that is linked to increased risk of having a stroke. Headache / Migraine Tue, 27 Oct 2009 11:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/168914.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/168914.php A new study from Canada suggests that even light smoking in otherwise healthy young people damages the arteries, reducing their bodies' ability to deal with physical stress such as exercise, running to catch a bus or climbing stairs. Smoking / Quit Smoking Tue, 27 Oct 2009 04:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/168825.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/168825.php Edmonton researchers recommend that people over age 40 be screened for peripheral artery disease (PAD), which puts people at high risk for serious medical complications including heart disease, stroke, and possible lower limb amputation. It contributes to thousands of deaths every year yet nobody knows for sure how many Canadians have PAD. "PAD is under diagnosed and under treated," Heart and Stroke Foundation researcher Dr. Vascular Tue, 27 Oct 2009 02:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/168776.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/168776.php She was only 30 years old, but she was experiencing the classic symptoms of a stroke. Her speech suddenly became slurred, and her left hand became clumsy while eating. What triggered her stroke, at such a young age, may have been the birth control pills she was taking. Oral contraceptives nearly double the risk of stroke, according to a review article in MedLink Neurology by three Loyola University Health System neurologists. Stroke Mon, 26 Oct 2009 03:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/168658.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/168658.php The theme of this year's World Stroke Day on 29th October is "What can I do?". As the World Stroke Organization says, everyone can do something: learn to recognise symptoms and take action, learn to recognise the risk factors and take action. With this theme in mind, the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) emphasises that most of the risks for stroke are also the major risks for coronary heart disease - and thus the object of the ESC's far-reaching prevention programme. Stroke Mon, 26 Oct 2009 03:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/168677.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/168677.php Researchers at Children's Hospital Boston report that an enzyme known as Mst3b, previously identified in their lab, is essential for regenerating damaged axons (nerve fibers) in a live animal model, in both the peripheral and central nervous systems. Their findings, published online by Nature Neuroscience on October 25, suggest Mst3b - or agents that stimulate it - as a possible means of treating stroke, spinal cord damage and traumatic brain injury. Neurology / Neuroscience Mon, 26 Oct 2009 01:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/168641.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/168641.php Award-winning neurologist Dr. Shelagh Coutts is on the fast track of developing new brain scanning techniques for rapid and effective diagnosis of mini-strokes. To support this leading and innovative research in Alberta, the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada has awarded Dr. Stroke Fri, 23 Oct 2009 19:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/168533.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/168533.php Invatec, a comprehensive innovator of interventional products, announced that it has received 510(k) clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to market its Mo.Ma® Ultra Proximal Cerebral Protection Device for use during carotid artery stenting (CAS). The device effectively reduces and captures debris released during the stenting procedure to prevent it from traveling to the brain, where it has the potential to cause a stroke. Neurology / Neuroscience Thu, 22 Oct 2009 06:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/168331.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/168331.php New research suggests a tailored approach to physical therapy after a neurological injury such as a stroke, traumatic brain injury or spinal cord injury could help restore a wider variety of functions. Clinical physical therapy is a widely used treatment approach to help restore the motor function of patients following neurological injuries. Rehabilitation / Physical Therapy