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Los Angeles reporter Serene Branson has given her first interview since the Grammy night live report that catapulted the KCBS-TV journalist into YouTube fame. “My head was definitely pounding and I was very uncomfortable and I knew something wasn’t right,” Branson told KCBS anchor Pat Harvey Thursday night. “I was terrified and confused. Confused. What had just happened? At that point they sat me down, then my right cheek went numb. My right hand went numb and I lost some sensation in my arm.” The live report, where Branson become visibly confused and had trouble speaking clearly, led many to...

One of the most memorable performances from Sunday night's Grammy broadcast was also one of the most terrifying: Serene Branson, an Emmy-nominated CBS entertainment reporter began speaking gibberish during the network's post-Grammy newscast. However, after initial fears that Branson may have suffered a stroke on-air, she is reportedly doing OK. "She was examined by paramedics on scene immediately after her broadcast. Her vital signs were normal. She was not hospitalized," the CBS affiliate that employs Branson said in a statement posted late Monday on its website. "As a precautionary measure, a colleague gave her a ride home. And while Serene...

CBS Los Angeles reporter Serene Branson has reportedly been taken to hospital for tests after stumbling incomprehensibly over her words during a Grammy's broadcast. After being introduced from the studio, Branson began "Well a very, very...", before mispronouncing "heavily". Trying again, she was still unable to get the word out and continued with a train of unintelligible sounds. It is feared that she may have suffered a stroke on air.

A neurologist says that if he can get to a stroke victim within 3 hours he can totally reverse the effects of a stroke…totally. RECOGNIZING A STROKE in ‘3’ (+1 new) steps, STR . . .a bystander can recognize a stroke by asking three simple questions: S *Ask the individual to SMILE. T *Ask the person to TALK and SPEAK A SIMPLE SENTENCE (Coherently) (i.e. It is sunny out today.) R*Ask him or her to RAISE BOTH ARMS. If he or she has trouble with ANY ONE of these tasks, call emergency numberimmediatelyand describe the symptoms to the dispatcher. NOTE:...

At first glance, the video is funny, just another in the long line of on-air bloopers from news reporters. However, it now appears that KCBS in Los Angeles’ Serene Branson may have suffered something far more serious than a live TV mistake. Shortly after the bizarre moment in the night’s broadcast where she seemed to be unable to speak coherently, Branson was hospitalized with some speculating that she may have had a stroke. In the video, Branson is attempting to cover the Grammys when her words just turn to gibberish and she tries and fails to correct herself. After the...

A drug derived from the curry spice turmeric may be able to help the body repair some of the damage caused in the immediate aftermath of a stroke. Researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles are preparing to embark on human trials after promising results in rabbits. Their drug reached brain cells and reduced muscle and movement problems. The Stroke Association said it was the "first significant research" suggesting that the compound could aid stroke patients. "This is the first significant research to show that turmeric could be beneficial to stroke patients by encouraging new cells to grow and...

American Stroke Association meeting reportA new anti-clotting agent is vastly superior to aspirin at reducing stroke risk (1.6 percent per year versus 3.6 percent per year) in atrial fibrillation (AF) patients unable to take stronger drugs, according to final data reported today at the American Stroke Association's International Stroke Conference 2011. Researchers found the drug also works better in people with a history of stroke or a warning stroke. Atrial fibrillation is a heartbeat abnormality that can cause blood clots which raise the risk of stroke, particularly in the elderly. The AVERROES: Apixaban Versus Acetylsalicylic Acid (ASA) to Prevent Strokes...

Strokes are rising dramatically among young and middle-aged Americans while dropping in older people, a sign that the obesity epidemic may be starting to shift the age burden of the disease. The numbers, reported Wednesday at an American Stroke Association conference, come from the first large nationwide study of stroke hospitalizations by age. Government researchers compared hospitalizations in 1994 and 1995 with ones in 2006 and 2007. The sharpest increase — 51 percent — was among men 15 through 34. Strokes rose among women in this age group, too, but not as fast — 17 percent. "It's definitely alarming," said...

Researchers in Korea and the US have shown that modified carbon nanotubes can protect brain tissue from the damage caused by ischaemic stroke, where the blood supply to the brain is interrupted. The work could lead to new treatments to help the brain repair itself after this type of stroke.Sung Su Kim, of Chung Ang University in Seoul, and colleagues treated commercially available carboxylated nanotubes with a nitrogen and hydrogen plasma, resulting in positively-charged amine groups on the surface of the nanotubes. These amine-modified nanotubes were then injected in the brains of rats. A week later ischaemic stroke was artificially induced in the rats by surgery....

Some of you may know him as Packerboy. He is my brother Jack. He had a major stroke on the morning of Christmas Eve. He was unconscious for several days, but he has since reawakened, and is able to talk, but is very slow and sleepy. The stroke affected his thalamus, so he is having trouble with wakefulness. But he can move all his extremities, can answer questions (subtle ones even), still has his sense of humor, and is starting to speak as I write this. I am updating this group on Facebook with his status regularly: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/home.php?sk=group_179708002048803&ap=1

N.Korea Releases Footage of Kim Jong-il Using Left Hand North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has been spotted using his left hand fairly adeptly, suggesting that he is recovering from paralysis following a massive stroke in 2008. Some observers believe North Korean media deliberately showed footage of Kim using the hand to quash rumors that his days are numbered. In a documentary broadcast Wednesday by the North's state-run Korean Central Television, Kim repeatedly uses both hands to open and close a closet door in a newly-built apartment for artists on the banks of the Daedong River in Pyongyang. The footage was...

Graham Miles, 66, said that through sheer willpower he regained the use of his body after he was left completely paralysed except for his eyes by a stroke in the stem of the brain which connects it to the body. His recovery is such that he can now walk, talk and even races cars. But while it has amazed doctors and his family and friends, it has also reopened the debate about assisted suicides and the assumption that completely paralysed patients can never recover. Mr Miles, a father-of-two, believes he overcame the devastating condition by tapping into the "extra capacity"...

S. T. R. STROKE IDENTIFICATION: During a BBQ, a woman stumbled and took a little fall - she assured everyone that she was fine (they offered to call paramedics) ..she said she had just tripped over a brick because of her new shoes. They got her cleaned up and got her a new plate of food. While she appeared a bit shaken up, Jane went about enjoying herself the rest of the evening Jane's husband called later telling everyone that his wife had been taken to the hospital - (at 6:00 PM Jane passed away.) She had suffered a stroke...

When Alain Reyes’s hair suddenly fell out in a freakish band circling his head, he was not the only one worried about his health. His co-workers at a shipping company avoided him, and his boss sent him home, fearing he had a contagious disease. Only later would Mr. Reyes learn what had caused him so much physical and emotional grief: he had received a radiation overdose during a test for a stroke at a hospital in Glendale, Calif. Other patients getting the procedure, called a CT brain perfusion scan, were being overdosed, too — 37 of them just up the...

Talk about surviving by a whisker. The most common type of stroke can be completely prevented in rats by stimulating a single whisker, according to a new study by UC Irvine researchers. Strokes are the No. 3 cause of death in the U.S., after heart disease and cancer. About 795,000 Americans suffer them annually, according to the American Heart Association, and more than 137,000 die as a result. So should we be tickling our own whiskers? And what about women, who are less likely to have facial hair? While it’s too soon to tell if the findings will translate to...

/begin my excerpts Kim Jong-il Losing his Marbles Lee Yong-soo 2010.07.07 Watching the same performance again in less than two weeks Ordering the rebuilding of a theater still in good shape N. Korea leader Kim Jong-il continues to show signs which put his judgment in doubt, for example, ordering the rebuilding of a theater still in good shape Quoting a source in China, Radio Free Asia (RFA) based on U.S. reported, "National Theater located in Joong-gu District of Pyongyang was torn down in last May and now being rebuilt. Citizens of Pyongyang have trouble understanding why the building which underwent...

Kim Jong-il Lights Up Again North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has apparently taken up smoking again after kicking the habit following a massive stroke in August 2008, South Korean government sources say. An ashtray sits at Kim's right hand in a Korean Central News Agency photograph showing the dictator at a football stadium in North Pyongan Province on Saturday. "If a stroke patient smokes again, the chances of a relapse increase," said one neurologist. And for diabetics like Kim "smoking can cause heart disease by damaging blood vessels," he added. Kim apparently underwent heart surgery around May 2007. In this...

A patient, believed to be having a stroke, says an officer with the Chattanooga Police Department blocked her husband from taking her to the emergency room at Erlanger Wednesday night. Aline Wright is a cancer survivor, amputee and a newlywed. Wednesday night she began to show signs she was having a stroke. "I started feeling some left arm numbness and a facial droop," said Aline. "It appeared to me that I was probably having a stroke." That's when her husband of four days, Jesse Wright, put her in the car and rushed her to the Erlanger Medical Center. Wright knows...

Johns Hopkins researchers discover pathway in mice for epicatechin's apparent protective effectResearchers at Johns Hopkins have discovered that a compound in dark chocolate may protect the brain after a stroke by increasing cellular signals already known to shield nerve cells from damage. Ninety minutes after feeding mice a single modest dose of epicatechin, a compound found naturally in dark chocolate, the scientists induced an ischemic stroke by essentially cutting off blood supply to the animals' brains. They found that the animals that had preventively ingested the epicatechin suffered significantly less brain damage than the ones that had not been given...

A Bakersfield police officer who handcuffed and detained a local neonatal surgeon moments after the doctor suffered a massive stroke has left the police department after she was investigated for making a false crime report in a separate case. The revelation could have implications for a multimillion dollar lawsuit against several taxpayer-funded agencies filed after the 2007 incident -- during which hospital care for Dr. Mohamad Harb was apparently delayed for more than an hour. Former BPD Officer Claudia Payne no longer works for the police department, Sgt. Mary DeGeare confirmed Friday. "Officer Payne resigned on March 1, 2010," DeGeare...