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Bat saliva shows promise for saving stroke victims By The Associated Press November 29, 2003 NASHVILLE - Last March, Margie McGregor pulled a pan of muffins out of the oven, and her right arm went limp. Her left leg gave out and she stumbled. She had suffered a massive stroke. Today, the 78-year-old woman is gardening and taking 2-mile walks without a hint of a limp. She says bat saliva saved her. McGregor was part of a study at St. Thomas Hospital and 17 other medical centers nationwide of a drug called Desmoteplase, a synthetic version of a substance found...

Roberts Diagnosed With Extremely Rare 'Foreign-Accent Syndrome' ORLANDO, Fla. -- A University of Central Florida speech expert has diagnosed an extremely rare disorder in a Sarasota, Fla., woman that caused her to speak with a British accent after she suffered a stroke. The case of foreign-accent syndrome is one of fewer than 20 reported worldwide since 1919, according to Jack Ryalls, professor of communicative disorders at UCF. Judi Roberts was doing a crossword puzzle four years ago when her right hand went numb. She suffered a stroke, which left her paralyzed on her right side and unable to talk. But...

DALLAS, Oct. 10 – High pollution levels may make people more susceptible to stroke, according to a report in today’s rapid access issue of Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association.Researchers collected data on 23,179 hospital stroke admissions from 1997 to 2000 in Kaohsiung, Taiwan – the island’s second largest city and heavy industrial area.  They compared air pollution levels on the dates of admissions with air pollution levels one week before and one week after admissions, said Chun-Yuh Yang, Ph.D., M.P.H., professor, director and dean at the Institute of Public Health, College of Health Sciences at the Kaohsiung Medical...

(AP) One minute Gary Formanek was hitting balls at an Oregon driving range. The next, he was lying on the ground, his left side paralyzed from a stroke. The only drug that treats strokes didn't help. So doctors snaked a tiny corkscrew into Formanek's brain and pulled out the stroke-causing clot. The device that saved Formanek from disability, if not death, is generating excitement among brain experts who say the novel technology might finally offer hope for the most devastating strokes. Called the MERCI Retriever, it's still experimental. But in early testing, it seems to restore blood flow in almost...

My father Ron (my biodad - not my stepfather, who's been my daddy since I was little) had a "mild" stroke yesterday morning. My 22-year-old half-brother Grayson is home from college and dealing with it, and since this is the first time this has happened in our family, I'm not sure what to do. I'm going to visit my father this afternoon if I can get time off, and I'm picking up a ham and a turkey breast and some side dishes from Eatzi's or Yapa or similar for Grayson (and maybe some dog food, since my father has two...

Barry White's Family Confirms Stroke Soul singer Barry White, battling kidney failure since last fall, suffered a new health setback on May 1 with a speech-impairing stroke, his daughter, Shaheara White, has revealed.

Experimental 'Coffee Cocktail' Tested As Way To Limit Stroke Damage DALLAS, April 11 ? An experimental drug delivering the potency of two cups of strong coffee and a mixed drink has been shown to limit stroke-induced brain damage in animals. Now, this agent has been demonstrated to be safe in a small pilot study of ischemic stroke patients reported in today?s rapid access issue of Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association. This safety study is a crucial prelude to testing the effectiveness of the combination in patients. In previous studies in rats, the size of brain damage was reduced...

Physicians assume stroke with dictator of Iraq Is Saddam mortally ill? Munich - Does a stroke solve the world's problem? Dictator Saddam Hussein of Iraq (65) has recently suffered evidently a brain blow. The famous Munich internist and Iraq expert Dr. Martha Hausperger reports this in "Ärztezeitung". In interviews he does not move the left arm, his face is rigid and mask-like -- typically for a stroke patient! Already in 2001 the cocaine-dependent dictator had a difficult stroke. Besides, since 1998 he suffers from large intestine cancer. Yesterday Hussein in a letter attacked US president Bush again: Tyrann thinks,...

...One-fifth of the men who didn't shave daily were less likely to be married, had sex less often, and were more likely to smoke, have heart problems, and work in manual, blue-collar occupations than other men...

The frequency of shaving among men is an indicator of mortality risk, new UK research suggests. Neglecting to shave associated with disease Researchers found that men who do not shave on a daily basis are more likely to suffer from heart disease and have a 70 per cent higher risk of stroke. In addition, there is a greater chance that men who shave less regularly will smoke, be single and experience a lower frequency of orgasm than daily shavers. In a joint study between the University of Bristol and Belfast’s Queens University, experts tracked a group of more than 2,400...

<p>DALLAS (AP) - A substance in the saliva of vampire bats could prove to be a potent new treatment for strokes, an Australian scientist says.</p> <p>That same substance -- Desmodus rotundus salivary plasminogen activator, or DSPA -- might someday be given to stroke victims to dissolve clots and thereby limit brain damage, he said.</p>

Sudden stroke cure shocks doctors October 25 2002 at 11:07AM When partly paralysed stroke patient Cecil September plugged in the electrical cable and held tight to the bare wires, he prayed as he waited to die. Instead, within hours, he had fully recovered. The astonishing phenomenon has baffled doctors who have treated the Lentegeur man. It sounds like a bizarre tale from a "believe it or not" television show - but September's firm handshake and the spring in his step are proof that cannot be ignored. September suffered two severe strokes, one in December 2000 and a second in March...

Date: Posted 10/2/2002 Folic Acid Can Help Prevent Heart Disease, Strokes, University Of Ulster Researcher Reports Folic acid is not only a safeguard against spina bifida and other birth defects in babies – it may also prevent heart disease and strokes, two of Northern Ireland's biggest killers. Research at the University of Ulster has shown that folic acid and three other related B-vitamins can prevent the accumulation of a high blood level of homocysteine, a new risk factor for heart disease and strokes. The risk of high homocysteine is similar to the risk of high cholesterol - but the good...

Date: Posted 8/13/2002 Will A Banana A Day Keep A Stroke Away? Low Potassium Intake May Increase Stroke Risk St. Paul, MN – People with a low amount of potassium in their diet may have an increased risk of stroke, according to a study published in the August 13 issue of Neurology, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The observational study involved 5,600 men and women over age 65 who were free of stroke when they started the study. The participants were followed for four to eight years to record the number and type of strokes that...