WASHINGTON: Patients treated with a short course of antidepressants after a stroke have significantly greater improvement in physical recovery than patients treated with a placebo, a University of Iowa study has found.It is the first to demonstrate that this physical recovery continues to improve for at least nine months after the antidepressant medication is stopped."The idea that antidepressants might benefit early recovery from stroke has been around for a couple of years," said Robert Robinson, UI professor and senior study author."But one major question left unanswered by previous studies was 'does the effect last after the medication stops?'"What our study demonstrates is that not only does the beneficial effect last, but the improvement in physical recovery continues to increase even after the patients stop taking the medication," added Robinson.The study found that both depressed and non-depressed stroke patients who received antidepressant medication had greater physical recovery after stroke than patients who received placebo.In addition, the effect compared to placebo was observed even after controlling for patients' age, total hours of rehabilitation therapy and initial severity of stroke.In the study, 83 patients who had recently had a stroke were randomly assigned to receive antidepressants (54 patients) or placebo (29 patients) for three months.The patients' physical, cognitive and psychiatric symptoms were assessed every three months for one year. Thirty-six of the patients who received antidepressants and 25 of the patients on placebo completed the one-year study.Using a global measure of overall physical and motor disability, the researchers showed that antidepressants significantly reduced physical disability over the one-year period compared to placebo.The study is detailed in the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry Feb. 24. more read....
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Hinds player's death causes cancellation of MGCCC baseball doubleheader
PERKINSTON, Mississippi -- Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College's baseball home doubleheader against Hinds scheduled for Saturday was canceled due to the recent death of Hinds player Chase Wroten. The games will not be made up unless they affect the MACJC South Division race.
Wroten, 19, suffered a stroke and collapsed on the mound during the seventh inning of a game against East Central Community College on Wednesday. He underwent emergency brain surgery that night at University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, but died Friday afternoon.
Gulf Coast (16-16, 9-5) is back in action in a 2 p.m. Tuesday doubleheader at Copiah-Lincoln. The Bulldogs are 2 ½ games behind first-place Jones County in the South Division, with eight games remaining in the regular season. more read...
Wroten, 19, suffered a stroke and collapsed on the mound during the seventh inning of a game against East Central Community College on Wednesday. He underwent emergency brain surgery that night at University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, but died Friday afternoon.
Gulf Coast (16-16, 9-5) is back in action in a 2 p.m. Tuesday doubleheader at Copiah-Lincoln. The Bulldogs are 2 ½ games behind first-place Jones County in the South Division, with eight games remaining in the regular season. more read...
Fashion, fragrance designer Bijan dies at 67
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Celebrity fashion designer Bijan Pakzad is shown in this photo from his website. Pakzad died Saturday, April 16, 2011 after he suffered a stroke on Thursday. (www.bijan.com)
LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Fashion, fragrance and jewelry designer Bijan Pakzad has died after suffering a stroke. He was 67.
He passed away at Cedars Sinai Medical Center Saturday. The Iranian native, who went simply by the name, Bijan, designed clothes for movie stars, presidents and kings.
He once described his boutique on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills as the "most expensive store in the world."
more read...
Walking dogs for heart and stroke
Sunday's inaugural Dog Walk for Heart raised money for the Heart and Stroke Foundation.
Play Video Walking dogs for heart and stroke
By Denis Langlois
Updated 7 days ago
Steady rain and a cool breeze couldn't stop about 20 people and their canine companions from strolling around the Owen Sound Harbour Sunday morning to raise money for the Heart and Stroke Foundation.
The inaugural Dog Walk for Heart, sponsored by Reigning Cats & Dogs, raised several hundred dollars. A final tally was not available at press time."All the money goes to research for humans for heart and stroke and to raise awareness of heart issues in pets as well," said event organizer Victoria Will, owner of Reigning Cats & Dogs on 2nd Ave. E.
Will's dog Chester suffers from a heart condition and she said her goal is to educate dog owners on the health issue.
The walk began at the west-side boat launch and ended at the new dog park on the city's east side. more read...
Video Games Speed Up Stroke Patient Recovery
Medical experts and researchers are now looking into video games as an effective way to counter the effects of stroke.The claim is made by researchers from St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, Canada. The research while related video game play to recovery of stroke patients focused on 12 different video games. They have found out among other things that video games can aid in regaining upper arm strength of stroke patients, thereby improving general mobility.
Video games help improve cognitive and motor skills in stroke victims thereby increase the speed of their recovery according to the research. The challenges, quests and tasks that these video games bring forth require the players (the stroke victims) in this case to undertake simple tasks that exercises their cognition.
The whole research can be read in Journal of the American Heart Association.
more read....
Video games could help stroke patients recover
Video games could help stroke patients recover
- Share21
- (1)
 Video games aren't for the couch bound anymore. As they change, so could their uses. (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times) |
That seems to be the consensus from an analysis by Canadian researchers of 12 studies involving 195 stroke patients who tried their hands at virtual-reality games as part of rehabilitation. And the games might even offer an edge. In the five studies that compared video gaming to more traditional therapies, the video-gaming patients were more likely to improve their arm strength than were those who relied on traditional therapies.
A variety of virtual-reality gaming systems now exist, used by children and adults to practice their skills at virtual bowling, boxing and the like. The studies in the latest analysis used both household consoles and gaming consoles customized for rehabilitation, tracking players' movements while they wore gloves or held a remote.
The results, released Thursday, are published in the May issue of Stroke.
Strokes happen when a blood vessel to the brain is blocked or bursts.
If blood is stopped for more than a few seconds, brain cells are starved of oxygen and die. When brain cells die in a part of the brain that controls movement, the stroke victim may have trouble with everyday tasks such as drinking a glass of water or opening a doorknob.
The key to getting mobility back is to strengthen neural connections in the brain -- something that can be done by learning a new skill and practicing it.
Video games -- in which players use a remote to simulate playing a sport or to accomplish some goal -- could be part of that rehabilitation, researchers have speculated.
Small studies have suggested that video games have some advantage over traditional treatment tools, such as learning to play cards, bingo or Jenga, a block-balancing game. A small pilot study by some of the same researchers last year found that stroke patients who played Wii Sports (using a handheld remote to “bowl” or swing a golf club) for a few weeks could perform tasks such as folding a towel about 7 seconds faster than patients who played leisure activities such as cards.
But before you pick up the Wiimote, keep in mind that it’s a little early to prescribe a daily dose of Nintendo to stroke survivors. More research is needed -- with more participants -- before patients or rehab-program directors routinely buy shiny new game consoles for the sake of rehabilitation.
The researchers did conclude that it’s at least safe for stroke patients to play on video games, including those that use virtual reality programs requiring movement. The only side effect, they found in one patient, was nausea. So if the console is already in the house -- no harm, and possible gain. more ready...
Vegetarians may be at lower risk of heart disease, diabetes and stroke
Vegetarians experience a 36 percent lower prevalence of metabolic syndrome than non-vegetarians, suggests new research from Loma Linda University published in the journal Diabetes Care. Because metabolic syndrome can be a precursor to heart disease, diabetes, and stroke, the findings indicate vegetarians may be at lower risk of developing these conditions.
Metabolic syndrome is defined as exhibiting at least three out of five total risk factors: high blood pressure, low HDL cholesterol, high glucose levels, elevated triglycerides, and an unhealthy waist circumference. The Loma Linda University study found that while 25 percent of vegetarians had metabolic syndrome, the number significantly rises to 37 percent for semi-vegetarians and 39 percent for non-vegetarians. The results hold up when adjusted for factors such as age, gender, race, physical activity, calories consumed, smoking, and alcohol intake.
"In view of the high rate of metabolic syndrome in the United States and its deleterious health effects, we wanted to examine lifestyle patterns that could be effective in the prevention and possible treatment of this disorder," says lead researcher Nico S. Rizzo, PhD.
"I was not sure if there would be a significant difference between vegetarians and non-vegetarians, and I was surprised by just how much the numbers contrast," he continues. "It indicates that lifestyle factors such as diet can be important in the prevention of metabolic syndrome."
The study examined more than 700 adults randomly sampled from Loma Linda University's Adventist Health Study 2, a long-term study of the lifestyle and health of almost 100,000 Seventh-day Adventist Christians across the United States and Canada.
Thirty-five percent of the subjects in this smaller sub-study were vegetarian. On average, the vegetarians and semi-vegetarians were three years older than non-vegetarians. Despite their slightly older age, vegetarians had lower triglycerides, glucose levels, blood pressure, waist circumference, and body mass index (BMI). Semi-vegetarians also had a significantly lower BMI and waist circumference compared to those who ate meat more regularly.
"This work again shows that diet improves many of the main cardiovascular risk factors that are part of metabolic syndrome," says Gary Fraser, MD, PhD, principal investigator of Adventist Health Study 2. "Trending toward a plant-based diet is a sensible choice." more ready....
Metabolic syndrome is defined as exhibiting at least three out of five total risk factors: high blood pressure, low HDL cholesterol, high glucose levels, elevated triglycerides, and an unhealthy waist circumference. The Loma Linda University study found that while 25 percent of vegetarians had metabolic syndrome, the number significantly rises to 37 percent for semi-vegetarians and 39 percent for non-vegetarians. The results hold up when adjusted for factors such as age, gender, race, physical activity, calories consumed, smoking, and alcohol intake.
"In view of the high rate of metabolic syndrome in the United States and its deleterious health effects, we wanted to examine lifestyle patterns that could be effective in the prevention and possible treatment of this disorder," says lead researcher Nico S. Rizzo, PhD.
"I was not sure if there would be a significant difference between vegetarians and non-vegetarians, and I was surprised by just how much the numbers contrast," he continues. "It indicates that lifestyle factors such as diet can be important in the prevention of metabolic syndrome."
The study examined more than 700 adults randomly sampled from Loma Linda University's Adventist Health Study 2, a long-term study of the lifestyle and health of almost 100,000 Seventh-day Adventist Christians across the United States and Canada.
Thirty-five percent of the subjects in this smaller sub-study were vegetarian. On average, the vegetarians and semi-vegetarians were three years older than non-vegetarians. Despite their slightly older age, vegetarians had lower triglycerides, glucose levels, blood pressure, waist circumference, and body mass index (BMI). Semi-vegetarians also had a significantly lower BMI and waist circumference compared to those who ate meat more regularly.
"This work again shows that diet improves many of the main cardiovascular risk factors that are part of metabolic syndrome," says Gary Fraser, MD, PhD, principal investigator of Adventist Health Study 2. "Trending toward a plant-based diet is a sensible choice." more ready....
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