stroke tagged posts

Myocardial Infarction Produces Sustained Proinflammatory Endothelial Activation in Remote Arteries

Cells and platelets stick inside arteries, increase risk after initial attack. Doctors have long known that in the months after a heart attack or stroke, patients are more likely to have another attack or stroke. Now, a paper in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology explains what happens inside blood vessels to increase risk – and suggests a new way to treat it.

Heart attacks in mice caused inflammatory cells and platelets to more easily stick to the inner lining of arteries throughout the body – and particularly where there was already plaque, according to the paper...

Urinary sodium excretion, blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, and mortality: a community-level prospective epidemiological cohort study. The Lancet, 2018; 392 (10146): 496 DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(18)31376-X

Public health strategies should be based on best evidence. New research shows that for the vast majority of individuals, sodium consumption does not increase health risks except for those who eat > five grams a day, the equivalent of 2.5 teaspoons of salt. Fewer than 5% of individuals in developed countries exceed that level.

The large, international study also shows that even for those individuals there is good news...

As marijuana legalization spreads, better understanding of side effects is needed. Using marijuana raises stroke and heart failure risk even after accounting for demographic factors, other health conditions and lifestyle risk factors such as smoking and alcohol use, according to research scheduled for presentation at the American College of Cardiology’s 66th Annual Scientific Session. While previous marijuana research has focused mostly on pulmonary and psychiatric complications, the new study is one of only a handful to investigate cardiovascular outcomes.

The study drew data from the Nationwide Inpatient Sample, which includes the health records of patients admitted at more than 1,000 hospitals comprising about 20% of U.S. medical centers...

A blood clot forming in the carotid artery. Credit: copyright American Heart Association

P7C3 compound protects mature and newborn neurons in rats, and also improves physical and cognitive outcomes, following stroke. Researchers from the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine and University of Miami Miller School of Medicine have shown a neuroprotective compound tested in rats provides two-pronged protection for brain cells during stroke and improves physical and cognitive outcomes in the treated animals.

Every year, nearly 800,000 Americans have a stroke and almost 130,000 die. When a stroke interrupts the brain’s blood supply, neurons die. In addition, reestablishing blood flow, ie reperfusion, also leads to processes that cause cell death...