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Total 33 results found since Jan 2013.
Special MRI scan could identify stroke risk in people with atrial fibrillation
Atrial fibrillation is a heart rhythm disorder that affects millions of people. It can make you feel lousy. Even worse, it can cause potentially disabling or deadly strokes. A special MRI scan may — I stress the “may” — help identify people with atrial fibrillation who are at high risk of having a stroke. This could help many people with this condition to avoid taking warfarin or other clot-preventing medications for life.
A normal heartbeat starts in a cluster of cells called the pacemaker. It sits in the heart’s upper right chamber (the right atrium). These cells generate a pulse of electricity that...
Source: New Harvard Health Information - April 28, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Howard LeWine, M.D. Tags: Heart Health atrial fibrillation MRI prevention special MRI scan Stroke Stroke Risk Source Type: news
Stroke treatment, outcomes improve at hospitals participating in UCLA-led initiative
Administering a clot-dissolving drug to stroke victims quickly — ideally within the first 60 minutes after they arrive at a hospital emergency room — is crucial to saving their lives, preserving their brain function and reducing disability.
Given intravenously, tPA (tissue plasminogen activator) is currently the only Food and Drug Administration–approved therapy shown to improve outcomes for patients suffering acute ischemic stroke, which affects some 800,000 Americans annually.
Now, a UCLA-led study demonstrates that hospitals participating in the "Target: Stroke" national quality-improvement program have markedly...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - April 23, 2014 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news
Twin surgeries bring this family a stroke of luck
Ryan Earle is outgoing and upbeat, goofing around in his neurosurgeon’s office. He’s had two strokes, but he’s recovering steadily, a testament to the resilience of children’s brains. His twin brother Tyler, with him at the visit, has avoided a likely stroke altogether.
Both Ryan and Tyler, 8, have a rare brain disorder called moyamoya disease, in which the internal carotid arteries become narrowed, slowing the flow of blood to their brains. Without surgery, moyamoya poses a five-year stroke risk of 60 to 90 percent.
The boys’ moyamoya symptoms were subtle: “They would have a mild headache, then they’d throw ...
Source: Thrive, Children's Hospital Boston - December 29, 2014 Category: Pediatrics Authors: Lisa Fratt Source Type: news
Reversing the effects of the new anti-clotting drugs
The oral anticoagulant warfarin (Coumadin) became available for prescription in 1954. This anti-clotting drug commanded national attention when President Dwight Eisenhower received the drug as part of his treatment following a heart attack. No other oral anticoagulant was successfully developed and marketed in the United States until 2010.
Warfarin is a dangerous drug. Along with insulin, it is responsible for the most emergency hospitalizations due to adverse drug reactions. Whereas insulin causes low blood sugar, warfarin is notorious for the complication of major bleeding. Warfarin is plagued by hundreds of drug-drug an...
Source: New Harvard Health Information - December 9, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Samuel Z. Goldhaber, MD Tags: Drugs and Supplements Health Heart Health Hypertension and Stroke anti-clotting coumadin deep-vein-thrombosis DVT Source Type: news
How John Fetterman Came Out of the Darkness
When he looks back on the past year—a year in which he nearly died, became a U.S. Senator, and nearly died again—it is the debate that John Fetterman identifies as the breaking point.
“The debate lit the mitch,” he says, then shakes his head in frustration and tries again. The right word is there in his brain, but he struggles to get it out. “Excuse me, that should be lit the mitch—” He stops and tries again. “Lit the match,” he says finally.
Oct. 25, 2022: the date is lodged in his mind. “I knew I had to do it,” he tells me. “I knew that the vote...
Source: TIME: Health - July 20, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Molly Ball Tags: Uncategorized Congress Cover Story Exclusive feature uspoliticspolicy Source Type: news
Decreased CSF Levels of ß-Amyloid in Patients With Cortical Superficial Siderosis
Conclusions: Our results demonstrate that the presence and extent of cSS are associated with reduced CSF ß-amyloid 42 levels. Further studies are needed to investigate the underlying mechanisms of this association.
Introduction
Cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA)—characterized by the deposition of ß-amyloid in the walls of leptomeningeal vessels—is a common cerebral small vessel disease and a major cause of intracerebral hemorrhage in the elderly (1–3). Furthermore, it has become evident that CAA is associated with cognitive impairment (4). Specifically, it has been shown that ...
Source: Frontiers in Neurology - April 25, 2019 Category: Neurology Source Type: research
9 Healthy Reasons To Indulge Your Coffee Cravings
There's no need to feel guilty about your morning cup o’ joe. On the contrary: People who drink four or more cups of coffee a day have up to a 20 percent lower risk of melanoma than those who sip the dark stuff less often, according to a 2015 study in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. But this study is hardly the first one touting good news for java junkies. "Coffee is incredibly rich in antioxidants, which are responsible for many of its health benefits," says Joy Bauer, RD, nutrition and health expert for Everyday Health and The Today Show. And studies show that its caffeine content may also play a prot...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - September 20, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news
How To Avoid China ’ s Medicine Monopoly
I want to share a shocking statistic with you…
Around 80% of all the pharmaceuticals sold in America — both prescription and over-the-counter — are manufactured in China.
I’m talking about drugs for Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, blood pressure and blood thinners, diuretics, aspirin, antibiotics, and a big chunk of the world’s insulin and diabetes drugs — just to name a few.1
We don’t even make penicillin anymore. The last penicillin plant in the U.S. closed its doors in 2004.
Americans who rely on medicine are now almost entirely at the mercy of a country whose relations with the U.S. have become more ...
Source: Al Sears, MD Natural Remedies - September 19, 2023 Category: Complementary Medicine Authors: Jacob Tags: Health Source Type: news
10 Good Reasons To Get A Flu Shot
By Melaina Juntti for Men's Journal
How many times have you heard you should get a flu shot? There's good reason for the hype: Over the past few years, the influenza vaccine has prevented millions of flu cases and tens of thousands of related hospitalizations, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Although an increasing number of people are getting vaccinated every year, more than half of American men still aren't doing it, for a variety of reasons, most of which aren't backed by science. "Men have this macho sense that if they do get the flu, they can tough it out," says William Schaffner, M.D., chair...
Source: Science - The Huffington Post - November 29, 2014 Category: Science Source Type: news
How Menopause Affects Cholesterol —And How to Manage It
Kelly Officer, 49, eats a vegan diet and shuns most processed foods. So, after a recent routine blood test revealed that she had high cholesterol, “I was shocked and upset,” she says, “since it never has been [high] in the past.”
Officer is not alone. As women enter menopause, cholestrol levels jump—by an average of 10-15%, or about 10 to 20 milligrams per deciliter. (A healthy adult cholesterol range is 125-200 milligrams per deciliter, according to the National Library of Medicine.)
This change often goes unnoticed amidst physical symptoms and the general busyness of those years. But, says D...
Source: TIME: Health - September 21, 2022 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Katherine Harmon Courage Tags: Uncategorized freelance healthscienceclimate heart health Source Type: news
Having "the talk" when heart disease runs in the family
When heart disease or stroke runs in a family, it's important to talk about it with children and other close family members. The conversation may be hard, but the payoff—better health for all—can be huge, according to the September 2013 Harvard Heart Letter.
"Knowing your family history is one of most powerful tools we have to guide how we take care of ourselves from a health perspective," says Dr. Paula A. Johnson, professor of cardiology at Harvard Medical School and chief of the Division of Women's Health at Brigham and Women's Hospital. "This is a chance for your children to make changes that will have both...
Source: New Harvard Health Information - August 23, 2013 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news
Cannabis linked to brain differences in the young
Conclusion
This study found differences between young recreational cannabis users and non-users in the volume and structure of the nucleus accumbens and amygdala, which have a role in the brain’s reward system, pleasure response, emotion and decision making.
However, as this was only a cross sectional study taking one-off brain scans of cannabis users and non-users, it cannot prove that cannabis use was the cause of any of the differences seen. It is not known whether cannabis use could have caused these changes in regular users.
Or conversely whether the cannabis users in this study had this brain structure to sta...
Source: NHS News Feed - April 16, 2014 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Mental health Neurology Source Type: news
Long-term smoking 'may cause' brain shrinkage
Conclusion
This study has shown an association between smoking and a thinner cortex, though it cannot prove that smoking caused the cortex to thin. The study was cross sectional, so cannot say which came first – the smoking or the cortex differences. Also, confounding factors other than smoking may be contributing.
Strengths of the study include:
Having access to measurements of cognitive ability when the participants were 11 years old, before most of them would have started smoking, as a potential indicator of cortex thickness.
The radiologists were blinded to which MRIs came from each group, reducing the risk of ...
Source: NHS News Feed - February 12, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Lifestyle/exercise Neurology Source Type: news
