Stroke

More young people and adults in their 30s and 40s are being hospitalized for stroke, even as stroke rates are dropping in older people, new data show. The findings, reported this week at the American Stroke Association conference in Dallas, may be a sign that that rising rates of obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure among teenagers and young adults are taking a toll. Or it may simply be that physicians have improved their diagnosis and reporting of stroke in young people during the past decade.

Whether or not you're fond of Indian, Southeast Asian and Middle Eastern food, stroke researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center think you may become a fan of one of their key spices. The scientists created a new molecule from curcumin, a chemical component of the golden-colored spice turmeric, and found in laboratory experiments that it affects mechanisms that protect and help regenerate brain cells after stroke.

A study by researchers in Denmark revealed that increasing levels of non-fasting triglycerides are associated with an increased risk of ischemic stroke in men and women. Higher cholesterol levels were associated with greater stroke risk in men only. Details of this novel, 33-year study are now available online in Annals of Neurology, a journal published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the American Neurological Association.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have shown in a new study on mice, that cell therapy can be used to reverse the effect of 'bad' LDL cholesterol and reduce the inflammation that leads to atherosclerosis. The new cell therapy, which is presented in the scientific journal Circulation, can open the way for new therapies for stroke and myocardial infarction if the results prove translatable to humans.

As many as 100 million Americans may currently be misclassified as having abnormal blood pressure, according to Dr. Brent Taylor from the Veterans Affairs Health Care System in Minneapolis and the University of Minnesota and his colleagues. Their findings show that these people are not actually more likely to die prematurely than those with 'normal' blood pressure, i.e. below 120/80.

In a new study performed in humans, researchers from Sweden's Karolinska Institutet have determined the age of atherosclerotic plaques by taking advantage of Carbon-14 (14C) residues in the atmosphere, prevailing after the extensive atomic bomb tests in the 1950s and 60s.

A new study suggests that consuming olive oil may help prevent a stroke in older people. The research is published in the June 15, 2011, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

Milk and soy protein supplements were associated with lower systolic blood pressure compared to refined carbohydrate dietary supplements, in a study reported in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

For many patients, cholesterol-lowering statin drugs can reduce the risk of strokes as well as heart attacks. But in a review article, Loyola University Health System neurologists caution that statins may not be appropriate for cetain categories of patients who are at risk for stroke.

Having a transient ischemic attack (TIA), or "mini stroke," can reduce your life expectancy by 20 percent, according to a new study in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association. "People experiencing a TIA won't die from it, but they will have a high risk of early stroke and also an increased risk of future problems that may reduce life expectancy," said Melina Gattellari, Ph.D., senior lecturer

New research links 'silent strokes,' or small spots of dead brain cells, found in about one out of four older adults to memory loss in the elderly. The study is published in the January 3, 2012, print issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

Severe, rapid memory loss may be linked to -- and could predict -- a future deadly stroke, according to research presented at the American Stroke Association's International Stroke Conference 2012. Researchers found that people who died after stroke had more severe memory loss in the years before stroke compared to people who survived stroke or people who didn't have a stroke.