High triglyceride levels found to predict stroke in older women

In a surprising finding with significant implications for older women, researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University and NYU School of Medicine have found that high levels of triglycerides (blood fats) are the strongest risk factor for the most common type of stroke in older women – more of a risk factor than elevated levels of total cholesterol or of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol (known as “bad” cholesterol). The study appears online today in Stroke.

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Experimental drug reduces ’second stroke’ after aneurysm rupture

An experimental drug, clazosentan, reduced the risk of blood vessel spasm in patients with a brain aneurysm, according to research presented at the American Stroke Association’s International Stroke Conference 2012.

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Toward a therapy to healing stroke

With 100 billion nerve cells, the brain is the most complex organ in the human body. “We want to understand the development program behind,” says Dr. Steffen Scholpp from the ITG. “We want to find out how individual parts of the brain develop, this means, what makes precursor cells build a specialized area such as the thalamus.” Scholpp’s group at ITG studies the development of the thalamus. “It is the central interface between the brain and the outer world: Everything that is perceived via eyes, ears or the tactile sense has to pass the thalamus before it is routed to the cerebral cortex for further processing.”

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Regeneration after a stroke requires intact communication channels between brain hemispheres

The structure of the corpus callosum, a thick band of nerve fibres that connects the two halves of the brain with each other and in this way enables the rapid exchange of information between the left and right hemispheres, plays an important role in the regaining of motor skills following a stroke. A study currently published in the journal Human Brain Mapping has shown that in stroke patients with particularly severely impaired hand movement, this communication channel between the two brain hemispheres in particular was badly damaged.

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Mayo Clinic finds estrogen may prevent younger menopausal women from strokes

Estrogen may prevent strokes in premature or early menopausal women, Mayo Clinic researchers say. Their findings challenge the conventional wisdom that estrogen is a risk factor for stroke at all ages. The study was published in the journal Menopause.

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Study shows soy protein reduced progression of clogged arteries in women within 5 years of menopause

A new study published in the November 2011 issue of Stroke reveals some promising data on the positive effects of soy protein reducing the progression of clogged arteries in women who were within five years of menopause. This study was the largest and longest randomized controlled human study conducted to-date that directly investigated the efficacy of isolated soy protein consumption on the progression of atherosclerosis (lipid deposition in the artery walls).

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Stroke prevention trial finds intensive medical treatment has better results than brain stenting

Patients at a high risk for a second stroke who received intensive medical treatment had fewer strokes and deaths than patients who received a brain stent in addition to the medical treatment, a large nationwide clinical trial has shown. The results were published in the online first edition of the New England Journal of Medicine. University Hospitals (UH) Case Medical Center was one of the clinical research sites for the study.

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UTHealth reports bone marrow stem cell therapy safe for acute stroke

Using a patient’s own bone marrow stem cells to treat acute stroke is feasible and safe, according to the results of a ground-breaking Phase I trial at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth).

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Apixaban superior to warfarin for preventing stroke, reducing bleeding and saving lives

DURHAM, N.C.—A large-scale trial finds that apixaban, a new anticoagulant drug, is superior to the standard drug warfarin for preventing stroke and systemic embolism in patients with atrial fibrillation. Moreover, apixaban results in substantially less bleeding and also results in lower mortality.

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Omega-3s reduce stroke severity

Quebec City, August 25, 2011—A diet rich in omega-3s reduces the severity of brain damage after a stroke, according to a study conducted by Université Laval researchers. The team, co-directed by professors Jasna Kriz and Frédéric Calon, showed that the extent of brain damage following a stroke was reduced by 25% in mice that consumed DHA type omega-3s daily. Details of the study can be found on the website of the journal Stroke.

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