National Stroke Association is embarking on a research project to understand the varied impact of stroke. We are specifically looking at the impact of atrial fibrillation on stroke survivors. Atrial fibrillation (Afib) is a type of irregular heartbeat caused when the two upper chambers of the heart (atria) beat rapidly and unpredictably. Living with Afib raises a person’s stroke risk by five times.

National Stroke Association needs your help. They are looking for 250 stroke survivors with atrial fibrillation and 200 caregivers of stroke survivors with atrial fibrillation, who would be willing to participate in a 10-15 minute phone survey in late February 2014. Qualified applicants will receive a $10 compensation for this interview time.

To see if you qualify for this research project, please take this short, 5-minute pre-screening survey by clicking on Research .

PBA (pseudobulbar affect) is a medical condition that causes sudden, frequent, and involuntary bouts of crying and/or laughing in people living with certain neurologic conditions or brain injuries, such as stroke.

Nearly 2 million Americans are estimated to suffer from it.

Clinical investigators across the U.S. are now taking part in a clinical trial called PRISM II to evaluate the use of a medication to treat PBA.

To be considered eligible for this study, you must:

be 18 years of age or older;
been diagnosed with a stroke 3 months ago or more

Learn More and participate.

Medical Management Best to Prevent Second Stroke, an article in “Research Matters”.

Final results of a clinical trial in patients at high risk for a second stroke confirm earlier findings that stenting adds no benefits over aggressive medical treatment alone. Further study will be needed to identify specific situations in which stenting might help.

Stroke is the fourth leading cause of death in the United States. A stroke is any sudden event affecting the brain’s blood supply. The most common type, accounting for almost 80% of all strokes, is ischemic stroke. This occurs when the blood supply to the brain is cut off or severely reduced because of a blocked artery. Intracranial stenosis—a blockage or narrowing of the brain’s blood vessels, often due to cholesterol buildup—raises the risk for this type of stroke.

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Testosterone medication may boost risk of heart attack, stroke, death, an Article posted in Science Now By Melissa Healy
on November 5, 2013.

Treating low testosterone may be all the rage these days among men of a certain age. But men bothered by a midlife dip in energy and sex drive may want to think twice about bumping up their “low T” with a testosterone supplement, a new study says.

The new research found that among 8,709 older men who were assessed for the possibility of blocked arteries, those taking testosterone were 30% more likely to suffer an adverse event — a stroke, a heart attack or death.

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This “Blog” was posted to Huffington Post by Jon Barrick.

Almost 17million people across the world have a stroke each year – up 68% since 1990. That’s a staggering one stroke every two seconds. The new findings from the largest-ever study on global stroke incidence and mortality published last week in the Lancet.

More people, on average, are having a stroke three to five years younger than they did 20 years ago. The number of working age people having a stroke (aged 20-64) is up by a quarter. And, perhaps most worryingly of all, the global burden of stroke (disability, illness and premature death) is expected to more than double by 2030.

The study shows that global deprivation is one of the biggest factors for stroke and reveals a shocking disparity between rich and poor, where death rates from stroke are up to ten times higher in lower income countries. It also suggests the dramatic rise in the number of people having stroke in the poorer regions of the world is linked to smoking and unhealthy diets. A lack of investment in stroke prevention, and the absence of organisations like the Stroke Association in deprived countries, is fuelling this shocking disparity between rich and poor.

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Stroke Symptoms Similar in Kids and Adults, an article published: Nov 4, 2013 By Sarah Wickline , Contributing Writer, for MedPage Today

AUSTIN, Texas — Symptoms of acute ischemic stroke in children appeared to be similar to those in adults, but the features of the symptoms did vary based on the age of the child and other health issues, researchers reported here.

Arterial ischemic stroke presented with focal features such as facial or arm weakness or slurred speech in 85% of children, and diffuse features like headache and decreased level of consciousness presented in 61%, who were more likely to be older (odds ratio [OR] 1.14, 95% CI 1.03-1.26, P=0.015), according to Andrew Mallick, PhD, of the University of Bristol in England, and colleagues. Seizures were found in 29% of children, who were more likely to be younger (OR 0.83, 95% CI 0.72-0.96, P=0.012).

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Chicken Pox May Lead To An Increased Risk Of Stroke In Kids, an article posted in the Huffington Post October 30, 2013, By: Rachael Rettner, Senior Writer

Children who get chickenpox may be at increased risk for stroke soon after the infection, a new study from the United Kingdom suggests.

The study analyzed information from 49 children who were followed for about 6.5 years, and who experienced both chickenpox and stroke at some point during the study period.

Children were four times as likely to have a stroke during the six months following infection with chickenpox, compared with their risk at other time points during the study.

However, stroke in children is rare — about 6 out of 100,000 children under 15 have a stroke each year, according to the National Stroke Association. That means that the risk that any given child will experience a stroke after chickenpox is quite small.

Still, the findings add to a growing body of research linking chickenpox with stroke. A 2001 study found that about 31 percent of children who had a stroke had chickenpox in the previous year, compared with 9 percent of all children had the infection in the last year. [7 Devastating Infectious Diseases]

Among children who do experience stroke, complications such as neurological problems are common, said the researchers from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. More studies should be conducted to determine how chickenpox and other infections might increase the risk of stroke in children in order to identify strategies to prevent the condition, the researchers said.

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WHAT IS THE STROKE GENE

An article posted to www.howtoandtips.com on 26 September, 2013 by Anne Richardson

This latest discovery pinpoints one type of gene called COL4a2 which is affected by a number of mutant protein cells. This in turn can cause bleeding in the brain which is the main factor in a haemorrhagic stroke. These diseased cells can be treated however by an already approved drug known as 4-phenyl butyric acid.

Yet this is not the only stroke gene that scientists have discovered. Back in 2012 another genetic mutation was discovered in just one of the 23,000 human genes and yet this single mutation is thought to double the risk of a stroke.

The stroke gene is known as HDAC9 and a link was found between people who had suffered from a blocked blood vessel leading to the brain and the gene which is thought to be a genetic variation inherited from parents. If someone inherits two copies of the gene from their parents then they double their risk of a stroke.

How Can the Stroke Gene be Identified?
In order to identify any genetic variants, scientists have to research the DNA sequence of patients and this simply is not possible on a large scale. Scientists usually compare healthy patients with those who have suffered a stroke to discover any gene mutations or variants. This information is used to help medical science better understand the nature of strokes and also to be able to tailor medication for stroke victims.

There are certain lifestyle risks that can also increase your chance of suffering a stroke whether or not you have the variant stroke gene. The only conclusion that science has been able to offer is that these genes increase the risk of someone suffering a stroke, but if certain lifestyle changes were implemented then that risk could be lowered considerably. In fact research carried out by scientists in Spain discovered that eating a health Mediterranean diet can even counteract a person’s genetic risk of having a stroke.

How Can Identifying Stroke Genes Help in the Treatment of Strokes?
By identifying different gene variations which may be responsible for certain types of strokes, scientists can individualise treatment for patients, aggressively targeting the mutant gene in order to prevent any further strokes. Early intervention is key as currently around 152,000 people in the UK suffer from a stroke each year which can often lead to disabilities affecting their daily lives and independence.

Anne Richardson is a health writer who lives in the UK with a keen interest in blogging and social media. Outside of writing Anne is a enthusiatic gardener and is a dab hand at homemade cooking.

Read complete article and share it by clicking on Gene .

Review of previous studies finds link between inflammatory bowel disease and cardiovascular trouble. This article was posted on Health Day News. MONDAY, Oct. 14

People with inflammatory bowel disease may be at increased risk for heart attack and stroke, a new study suggests.

Researchers analyzed data from more than 150,000 inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients who took part in nine studies. They found that these patients had a 10 percent to 25 percent increased risk of stroke and heart attack, and that this increased risk was more prevalent among women.

Doctors need to be aware of this link and should focus on controlling other stroke and heart attack risk factors, such as smoking, high blood pressure and diabetes, study author Siddharth Singh, of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., said in a news release from the clinic.

The study was scheduled for presentation Monday at the annual meeting of the American College of Gastroenterology, in San Diego. Research presented at medical meetings should be viewed as preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.

Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis — the most common forms of IBD — affect 1.5 million Americans. In these patients, inflammation of the intestine leads to rectal bleeding, diarrhea, abdominal cramps and pain, fever, and weight loss.

Patients with IBD need to work with a doctor to manage their condition, control their stress, eat a healthy diet and get moderate exercise. Smoking is a major risk factor for IBD patients, and those who smoke should try to quit, the researchers said.

Although the study found an association between IBD and an increased risk for heart attack and stroke, it did not prove a cause-and-effect relationship.

Read, share and find out more by clicking Stroke .

Having a Stroke May Shave Nearly Three Out of Five Quality Years Off Your Life, An article submitted by American Academy of Neurology

MINNEAPOLIS – Stroke treatments and prevention to improve quality of life for people who experience a stroke is poorer than researchers hoped, with stroke still taking nearly three out of five quality years off a person’s life, according to a new study published in the October 9, 2013, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Researchers say the findings leave considerable room for improvement in stroke treatment. Stroke is the leading cause of adult disability and the fourth-leading cause of death in the United States. “These results highlight the severe toll that stroke takes on millions of people every year,” said study author Peter M. Rothwell, FMedSci, a professor with the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, United Kingdom. “This is the first study since the 1990s to look at long-term quality of life after stroke and transient ischemic attack (TIA).

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