Retraction Statement. Paper ‘Low-Dose Vitamin D Prevents Muscular Atrophy and Reduces Falls and Hip Fractures in Women after Stroke: A Randomized Controlled Trial' by Sato et al.

I posted about this original research back in May, 2012

Low-Dose Vitamin D Prevents Muscular Atrophy and Reduces Falls and Hip Fractures in Women after Stroke

The latest here:

Retraction Statement. Paper ‘Low-Dose Vitamin D Prevents Muscular Atrophy and Reduces Falls and Hip Fractures in Women after Stroke: A Randomized Controlled Trial' by Sato et al

A new analysis of more than 30 clinical trials co-authored by a bone researcher based in Japan is casting doubt on the legitimacy of the findings.
Yoshihiro Sato, based at Mitate Hospital, has already retracted 12 papers, for reasons ranging from data problems, to including co-authors without their consent, to self-plagiarism. Most of these retracted papers are included in the analysis in the journal Neurology, which concluded that Sato’s 33 randomized clinical trials exhibited patterns that suggest systematic problems with the results.
Other researchers have used similar approaches to analyze a researcher’s body of work — notably, when John Carlisle applied statistical tools to uncover problems in the research of notorious fraudster Yoshitaka Fujii, and Uri Simonsohn, who sniffed out problems with the work of social psychologist  Dirk Smeesters.
Author Mark Bolland of the University of Auckland told us he was surprised by his findings:

…we were very surprised by the strength and consistency of the different statistical analyses, which showed that the baseline data for the randomised treatment groups presented in the papers were strikingly similar, and not consistent with the treatment groups being formed by chance (ie that randomisation took place). The productivity of the small research group (33 trials over 15 years), and their recruitment and retention rates of frail elderly patients with high rates of comorbidities seemed fairly incredible. Also, the consistently large reductions in hip fracture rates from many different agents in their trials seemed implausible and was inconsistent with results from trials for the same agents conducted by other groups.

We contacted Sato, who responded to many of the paper’s allegations. Regarding his ability to recruit so many patients in such a short time, Sato told Retraction Watch:

We recruited a large number of neurologic patients during 15 years. The lead author (Y. Sato) took charge of patient follow-up with support by 2 additional physicians of Mitate Hospital. Mitate Hospital has 410 beds and is located in the same Chikuho Province…only five professional neurologists practiced in two hospitals―Mitate Hospital and another one―and physicians who could diagnose and treat elderly neurologic  patients were very few in view of the population in Chikuho Province. For example, our hospital admits mild stroke patients without any impaired consciousness and patients with unconsciousness were transferred to other hospitals as we described elsewhere (Neurology 2005; 65:1513-4). Thus, many stroke patients in our hospital met the inclusion criteria of the studies.
In some studies on stroke and Alzheimer’s disease (AD), we included patients from two collaborating hospitals and a nursing home in addition to the patients treated in Mitate Hospital. The nursing home is affiliated with Mitate Hospital and most of the institutionalized patients were treated as out-patients of the hospital.

Sato debated the statistics underlying the conclusions about randomization, and argued that the patient population he examined may be predisposed to responding better to treatment than others:

The remarkable outcome of the effects of interventions ―administration of vitamin D and bone resorption inhibitors (A22) ― on fracture or bone density may be attributed to the fact that our study subjects were neurological patients, who may have higher risk of fracture without any intervention. Generally patients with Parkinson disease have higher levels of impaired movement as compared to postmenopausal women. This fact may explain the occurrence, in these patients, of immobilization-induced hypercalcemia due to enhanced bone resorption, which, in turn, may inhibit PTH secretion resulting in the suppression of vitamin D activation. These characteristics of bone and calcium metabolism in patients with Parkinson disease may have predisposed them to high effectiveness of the interventions.

You can read Sato’s entire response to the Neurology paper here.
Bolland cautioned that he and his co-authors applied statistical analyses to the group of studies, so the results can’t specify whether one paper is more reliable than the other. Nevertheless, in 2013, they began notifying individual journals of their findings, Bolland told Retraction Watch:

To our knowledge, all but one of the retractions to date have occurred either directly or indirectly as a consequence of our analyses, since they followed the receipt by the journals concerned of our manuscript.

The project that culminated in the paper “Systematic review and statistical analysis of the integrity of 33 randomized controlled trials” began in 2012, after a conversation with a colleague flagged Sato’s work, Bolland added.

[The colleague] mentioned that she had come across three trials with identical results while doing various systematic reviews. She asked what we knew about the research group of Dr Sato, who published trials frequently in the field of osteoporosis, which our research group is active in…Even a superficial viewing of several of the trials in 2012 raised a number of questions, so we decided to investigate further by systematically reviewing all the published trials of this group.

Bolland and his colleagues’ approach to analyzing a researcher’s body of work reminds us of that taken by John Carlisle, an anesthesiologist in the United Kingdom, who used statistical tools to determine whether Yoshitaka Fujii’s work was legitimate — and triggered the retraction of a record-breaking number of papers (183). Carlisle told us he believes the Neurology paper is a “great piece of work:”
The weight of evidence makes it likely that all of Sato’s papers should (?will) be retracted

Caffeine may not relieve Parkinson's symptoms

Well, well, more bad research. You used caffeine capsules you blithering idiots, coffee contains hundreds/thousands of  ingredients besides caffeine.

Caffeine may not relieve Parkinson's symptoms

American Academy of Neurology News

Contrary to previous research, caffeine may not relieve movement symptoms for people with Parkinson’s disease, according to a study published in the September 27, 2017, online issue of the journal Neurology.

A previous study, published in the same journal in 2012, suggested that caffeine may help reduce movement symptoms for people with Parkinson’s disease. Because the study was small and only six weeks long, the researchers decided to investigate further.

“Caffeine, which is so safe and inexpensive, has been linked to a reduced risk of developing Parkinson’s,”(Wrong, the studies used coffee, not caffeine since they were food based studies) said study author Ronald B. Postuma, MD, MSc, McGill University in Montreal and member of the American Academy of Neurology. “So it was exciting to think that it could possibly help people who already have the disease.”

The study involved 121 people with an average age of 62 who had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease for an average of four years. Of those, half were given a 200-milligram capsule of caffeine twice daily, once in the morning and once after lunch, the equivalent of three cups of coffee per day, while the other half were given placebo capsules. To help them adjust to the caffeine, the dose was increased slowly, starting with placebo and reaching 200 milligrams at week nine. The study participants were followed for six to 18 months.

Researchers found there was no improvement in movement symptoms for people who had taken the caffeine capsules compared to those who took the placebo capsules. There was also no difference in quality of life. Because of these data showing no benefit to taking caffeine, the study was stopped.

“While our previous study showed possible improvement in symptoms, that study was shorter, so it’s possible that caffeine may have a short-term benefit that quickly dissipates,” said Postuma. “Regardless, our core finding is that caffeine cannot be recommended as therapy for movement symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.”

“It is important that promising leads be studied,” said Charles B. Hall, PhD, of Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, N.Y., who commented on the study for Neurology. “It is also important that the disappointing findings like these be shared so new research can focus on other possible treatments instead.”

One limitation of this study was that researchers did not measure caffeine in the blood of people during the study and it’s possible some may not have adhered to study requirements, affecting results. Also, the caffeine dose chosen was based upon previous studies and it’s possible a higher dose may have different effects.

Effect of Routine Low-Dose Oxygen Supplementation on Death and Disability in Adults With Acute Stroke

Well, well you fucking idiots you used the Rankin scale which has no objectivity and discriminatory power at all. If you truly wanted to know if it helped you would do PET scans to see if the extent of penumbra damage was less. It really chaps my ass on reading bad research trials that stroke leadership doesn't prevent.
I bet they had no clue how much extra oxygen got to the brain because they didn't do this:

Brain Tissue Oxygen Monitoring and the Intersection of Brain and Lung: A Comprehensive Review

Hopefully this latest result doesn't stop further research since this 2005 pilot study showed promise:

 

A Pilot Study of Normobaric Oxygen Therapy in Acute Ischemic Stroke 2005

 

Or is it more important to increase the loading ability of red blood cells to carry more oxygen? 

Like this?

University of Glasgow Study Demonstrates the Ability of Oxycyte® to Supply Oxygen to Critical Penumbral Tissue in Acute Ischemic Stroke  August 2012

 

Or like this?

chronic cannabis users have higher cerebral blood flow and extract more oxygen from brain blood flow than nonusers.

 

Or maybe you want to starve your brain of oxygen, tested in mice;

This is a fascinating idea, treat your recently oxygen starved brain with more reduced oxygen supply.

 

 

The failed and bad research trial here.

Effect of Routine Low-Dose Oxygen Supplementation on Death and Disability in Adults With Acute Stroke 

Christine Roffe, MD^1,2; Tracy Nevatte, PhD^2,3; Julius Sim, PhD²; et al Jon Bishop, PhD⁴; Natalie Ives, MSc⁴; Phillip Ferdinand, MRCP¹; Richard Gray, MSc^4,5; for the Stroke Oxygen Study Investigators and the Stroke OxygenStudy Collaborative Group

Author Affiliations

JAMA. 2017;318(12):1125-1135. doi:10.1001/jama.2017.11463

Key Points

Question  Does routine prophylactic low-dose oxygen supplementation after acute stroke improve functional outcome?
Findings  In this randomized clinical trial, 8003 patients with acute stroke were randomized within 24 hours of admission to 3 days of continuous oxygen, nocturnal oxygen, or control. After 3 months, there was no significant difference in death and disability for the combined oxygen groups compared with control (odds ratio, 0.97) or for the continuous oxygen group compared with the nocturnal oxygen group (odds ratio, 1.03).
Meaning  Routine low-dose oxygen did not improve outcomes in nonhypoxic patients after acute stroke.

Abstract

Importance  Hypoxia is common in the first few days after acute stroke, is frequently intermittent, and is often undetected. Oxygen supplementation could prevent hypoxia and secondary neurological deterioration and thus has the potential to improve recovery.
Objective  To assess whether routine prophylactic low-dose oxygen therapy was more effective than control oxygen administration in reducing death and disability at 90 days, and if so, whether oxygen given at night only, when hypoxia is most frequent, and oxygen administration is least likely to interfere with rehabilitation, was more effective than continuous supplementation.
Design, Setting, and Participants  In this single-blind randomized clinical trial, 8003 adults with acute stroke were enrolled from 136 participating centers in the United Kingdom within 24 hours of hospital admission if they had no clear indications for or contraindications to oxygen treatment (first patient enrolled April 24, 2008; last follow-up January 27, 2015).
Interventions  Participants were randomized 1:1:1 to continuous oxygen for 72 hours (n = 2668), nocturnal oxygen (21:00 to 07:00 hours) for 3 nights (n = 2667), or control (oxygen only if clinically indicated; n = 2668). Oxygen was given via nasal tubes at 3 L/min if baseline oxygen saturation was 93% or less and at 2 L/min if oxygen saturation was greater than 93%.
Main Outcomes and Measures  The primary outcome was reported using the modified Rankin Scale score (disability range, 0 [no symptoms] to 6 [death]; minimum clinically important difference, 1 point), assessed at 90 days by postal questionnaire (participant aware, assessor blinded). The modified Rankin Scale score was analyzed by ordinal logistic regression, which yields a common odds ratio (OR) for a change from one disability level to the next better (lower) level; OR greater than 1.00 indicates improvement.
Results  A total of 8003 patients (4398 (55%) men; mean [SD] age, 72 [13] years; median National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score, 5; mean baseline oxygen saturation, 96.6%) were enrolled. The primary outcome was available for 7677 (96%) participants. The unadjusted OR for a better outcome (calculated via ordinal logistic regression) was 0.97 (95% CI, 0.89 to 1.05; P = .47) for oxygen vs control, and the OR was 1.03 (95% CI, 0.93 to 1.13; P = .61) for continuous vs nocturnal oxygen. No subgroup could be identified that benefited from oxygen. At least 1 serious adverse event occurred in 348 (13.0%) participants in the continuous oxygen group, 294 (11.0%) in the nocturnal group, and 322 (12.1%) in the control group. No significant harms were identified.
Conclusions and Relevance  Among nonhypoxic patients with acute stroke, the prophylactic use of low-dose oxygen supplementation did not reduce death or disability at 3 months. These findings do not support low-dose oxygen in this setting.(That is an incorrect statement you blithering idiots)
Trial Registration  ISRCTN Identifier: ISRCTN52416964

 

AHA: Meditation may reduce CV risk

I bet your doctor doesn't tell you about this.
https://www.healio.com/cardiology/chd-prevention/news/online/%7B7292958b-b2e6-42f1-a99e-2045ccec0279%7D/aha-meditation-may-reduce-cv-risk?

Levine GN, et al. J Am Heart Assoc. 2017;doi:10.1161/JAHA.117.002218.

September 28, 2017

Glenn N. Levine

Meditation may be a cost-effective and low-risk way to reduce CV risk, according to a scientific statement from the American Heart Association.
“Although studies of meditation suggest a possible benefit on cardiovascular risk, there hasn’t been enough research to conclude it has a definite role,” Glenn N. Levine, MD, FAHA, professor of medicine-cardiology at Baylor College of Medicine and chair of the writing group, said in a press release.

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Studies on meditation
The writing group reviewed studies that analyzed the effects of sitting meditation on CVD risk factors.
Meditation has been linked to improvements in anxiety, stress, quality of sleep, depression, overall well-being and quality of sleep.
“Many, though not all, studies have reports that meditation is associated with improved psychological and psychosocial indices,” Levine and colleagues wrote. “Further study is needed on how meditation influences physiological processes associated with stress.”
Some randomized studies have shown how meditation can lower BP. In the HARMONY trial, meditation did not benefit patients with stage 1 hypertension. Patients with hypertension in another study had a 22 mm Hg systolic-adjusted and 17 mm Hg diastolic-adjusted decrease when participating in a mindful meditation program or a control social support group.
“Reported reductions of systolic blood pressure with meditation vary widely,” Levine and colleagues wrote. “The ability to generalize the findings is limited by the lack of reproducibility of results.”
Meditation may also aid in smoking cessation. A study that randomly assigned patients an integrative body-mind technique of meditation had a 60% reduction in smoking. This finding was also consistent in another study, in which 25% of patients who had mindfulness training stopped smoking for more than 4 months. Transcendental meditation did not significantly reduce smoking in patients at 3 months.
“Potential mechanisms include management of cravings and decreasing negative effect, which has been shown to be a potent stimulus for drug-seeking behavior and smoking relapse,” Levine and colleagues wrote. “Meditation may also affect smoking behavior through changes in urge intensity and improved self-control.”
CVD prevention
Meditation may also assist secondary prevention of CVD, according to the statement. Patients with documented CAD who were assigned transcendental meditation had a reduced rate of nonfatal MI, all-cause mortality and nonfatal stroke at a mean of 5.4 years vs. those assigned health education (adjusted HR = 0.52). The study was completed in two phases with a 1-year gap in between and fewer patients in the second phase. More data are needed on the reduction of CV risk factors.
“Currently, the mainstay for primary and secondary prevention of CVD is American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association guideline-directed interventions,” Levine and colleagues wrote. “However, considering the generally low costs and risks associated with meditation, meditation may be considered as a reasonable adjunct to guideline-directed cardiovascular risk reduction by those so interested in this lifestyle modification, with the understanding that the benefits of such intervention remain to be better established.” – by Darlene Dobkowski
Disclosures: Levine reports no relevant financial disclosures. Please see the statement for all other authors’ relevant financial disclosures.

Positive outlook may mean better sleep

Ask your doctor HOW you are supposed to have a positive outlook on life when they have given you NO protocols that get you to 100% recovery. And you do need good sleep for your recovery.

Recovery From Brain Injury, Better Sleep Go Hand in Hand

Positive outlook may mean better sleep

Trouble sleeping? You may need to examine your outlook on life. A study published online July 10, 2017, by Sleep Science and Practice found that people who felt they had more meaning and purpose in their life had fewer sleep disturbances like sleep apnea and restless legs syndrome.
Researchers asked 823 older adults, average age 79, to fill out questionnaires about their sleep quality and their feelings about their lives, such as how strongly they agreed with statements like "I feel good when I think of what I've done in the past and what I hope to do in the future."
The results showed an association between a more positive outlook and better sleep. People who felt their lives had meaning were 63% less likely to have sleep apnea and 52% less likely to have restless legs syndrome at the two-year follow-up.
The connection could work two ways, according to the researchers. For instance, people who feel good about their life tend to be more proactive about maintaining good health, such as staying active and exercising regularly, both of which are linked to better sleep. Also, people who battle age-related issues that dampen one's outlook on life, like depression and heart disease, tend to have more sleep problems.

FDA Cracks Down on Stem Cell Treatments

Be careful out there. Is your stem cell clinic telling you about these stem cell failures?

Tumors caused by pluripotent stem cells can be tackled with radiation, say Stanford researchers

 

Donor-derived brain tumor following neural stem cell transplantation in an ataxia telangiectasia patient.

 

He went abroad for stem cell treatment. Now he’s a cautionary tale. Stroke patient Jim Gass

 

“Off-the-charts dangerous”: Sham stem cell trial at Florida clinic blinds three women

 

Stem cell propagation fuels cancer risk in different organs 

 

FDA Cracks Down on Stem Cell Treatments

Takes action against two clinics, promises more guidance and scrutiny for burgeoning industry

• by Kristina Fiore, Deputy Managing Editor, MedPage Today August 28, 2017

The FDA is cracking down on unapproved stem cell therapies, kicking off their initiative by seizing products at one California stem cell company and issuing a warning letter to a Florida clinic.
In a statement, FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, MD, said the agency is "stepping up our enforcement activity" regarding clinics selling unapproved stem cell therapies to patients.
On Friday, U.S. marshals seized five vials of live Vaccinia virus vaccine from San Diego-based StemImmune, which was being used in combination with fat-derived stem cells to treat cancer at the California Stem Cell Treatment Centers, the agency said.
FDA was particularly concerned about how the company acquired the vaccine; it's not commercially available and is usually reserved for those at high risk of smallpox, such as members of the military. The agency is currently investigating how the company obtained the product.
And in a warning letter to U.S. Stem Cell Clinic of Sunrise, Fla., the agency slammed the company for marketing stem cell products without FDA approval and for deviating from current good manufacturing practices that could put patients at risk.
That clinic was using fat-derived stem cells to treat a wide swath of conditions, including Parkinson's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, heart disease, and pulmonary fibrosis.
"Unfortunately, these are examples of a larger pool of actors who claim that their unproven and unsafe products will address a serious disease, but instead put patients at significant risk," Gottlieb said in the statement.
"These dishonest actors exploit the sincere reports of the significant clinical potential of properly developed products as a way of deceiving patients and preying on the optimism of patients facing bad illnesses. This puts the entire field at risk," Gottlieb continued. "Products that are reliably and carefully developed will be harder to advance if bad actors are able to make hollow claims and market unsafe science."
To curb the problem, Gottlieb said the agency will be issuing a regulatory framework for cell therapies and regenerative medicine. It will determine which procedures will be subject to approval, and which will not.
An agency spokesperson did not have an estimate as to how many of the stem cell clinics currently operating around the U.S. would be affected by that guidance.
Recent inspections at the California locations confirmed that the vaccine was used to create an unapproved stem cell product -- a combination of large doses of the vaccine plus fat-derived stem cells. It was then given to cancer patients -- either intravenously or directly into their tumors -- who potentially have compromised immune systems, posing the potential for harm such as myocarditis. The clinics are located in Rancho Mirage and Beverly Hills, Calif.
FDA said one of the five vials of Vaccinia virus vaccine was partially used; the other four remained intact. Each vial held 100 doses of the vaccine.
In an emailed statement, StemImmune said it is “fully cooperating with the FDA about the development of its stem cell-based investigational cancer therapy.”
A recent inspection of the Florida clinic found the clinic was creating adipose tissue-derived stem cells and giving the product back to patients either intravenously or injected into the spinal cord in order to treat several conditions, which would make it a drug and subject to FDA regulation.
The agency also found other "significant deviations" from current good manufacturing practice requirements, including a lack of established and written protocols to prevent microbial contamination, which could impact the sterility of the product and put patients at risk, FDA said.
The Florida clinic was also said to have impeded the FDA's investigation during the most recent inspection by refusing to allow entry except by appointment and denying FDA investigators access to employees.
In a video statement, U.S. Stem Cell Clinic chief science officer Kristin Comella said the company has offered the FDA unrestricted access to its clinic since 2014, and it will abide by all of FDA’s requirements.
Earlier this year, three elderly women treated at the Florida clinic went blind after having the adipose tissue-derived stem cells injected in an attempt to slow macular degeneration.
In his statement, Gottlieb emphasized that the FDA will draw "bright lines" between new treatments that are subject to FDA regulation, and the therapies that are "individualized by surgeons in such a way that they are not subject to FDA regulation."
Therapies that would require premarket review would include instances where cells undergo significant "manufacturing" or when cells aren't intended to perform their same basic functions before being returned to the body, Gottlieb said.
Therapies that wouldn't be subject to FDA review include cells or tissues taken from and given back to the patient; when they don't undergo significant "manufacturing;" or when they're intended to perform the same basic function and aren't combined with another drug or device.
A regulatory framework that will be "minimally burdensome and less costly" will be released this fall, Gottlieb said. It will build on a series of public meetings and work that FDA has already done, and will serve to implement provisions of the 21st Century Cures Act related to regenerative medicine.
Gottlieb also emphasized the agency's support of its Regenerative Medicine Advanced Therapy designation that industry is already familiar with, and said it is working on a new approach to aid small product developers. The framework will be accompanied by a compliance policy that will lay out a "reasonable" time frame for working with FDA to determine if a marketing authorization application is needed.
Finally, FDA formed a new working group to pursue "unscrupulous clinics through whatever legally enforceable means are necessary to protect the public health" and said it will seek to take additional actions in the coming months.
"Our aim is to provide an efficient route to market for promising technologies," Gottlieb said in the statement. "But at the same time, we will take a firm stance against those that prey on the medical promise of regenerative cell therapies to market treatments potentially unsafe or unproven so-called cures."

Poison ivy

Last weeks fall had the unpleasant result of getting poison ivy on my left hand. I'm not sure how I managed not getting it on my right hand since I was using that to push myself around to get into a position to stand up again.

Five Daily Habits For Future-Proofing Your Brain

I think I'm doing pretty good here, since I do plan on living to 94 when I will die in a wingsuit flying accident. 

Five Daily Habits For Future-Proofing Your Brain

Dr. Tara Swart is a neuroscientist, leadership coach, author, and medical doctor. Follow her on Twitter at @TaraSwart.

1. Switch Up Some Of Your Food Habits

This is where your doctor and hospital should create SPECIFIC diet protocols: for blood pressure reduction; for stroke recovery; for stroke prevention; for dementia prevention; for cognitive improvement; for cholesterol reduction; for plaque removal; for inflammation reduction. NOT the lazy prescription of the MIND or  Mediterranean diets.

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2. Add Just 20 Minutes Of Movement To Each Day

I'm good with this, usually 1.5-2 hours a day of walking to get in my 10,000 steps. Needed along with eating only 2 meals a day to maintain my weight. 

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3. Bust Out Of Your Comfort Zone More Regularly

I originally did this by moving someplace where I knew no one, had to join numerous Meetup groups

4. Prioritize Sleep

I'm failing at this. With my active social life and the amount of exercise I need to do sleep is where the time is stolen from. Caffeine is used to get me awake in the morning.

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5. Maintain An Active Social Life

There are times when I have activities 5 nights a week. As the book, 'The Tao of Dating; The Smart Woman's Guide to Being Absolutely Irresistible' states, you should be dating 3 people at a time. Dating one person at a time will limit your social life. I'm not dating anyone but have plenty of female friends to do things with. 

Details at link from the writer.

New class of molecules may protect brain from stroke, neurodegenerative diseases

Now we just need followup research to determine the timeframe and dosage
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2017-09-class-molecules-brain-neurodegenerative-diseases.html?
Research led by Nicolas Bazan, MD, PhD, Boyd Professor and Director of the Neuroscience Center of Excellence at LSU Health New Orleans, has discovered a new class of molecules in the brain that synchronize cell-to-cell communication and neuroinflammation/immune activity in response to injury or diseases. Elovanoids (ELVs) are bioactive chemical messengers made from omega-3 very long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (VLC-PUFAs,n-3). They are released on demand when cells are damaged or stressed.

"Although we knew about messengers from omega-3 fatty acids such as neuroprotectin D1 (22 carbons) before, the novelty of the present discovery is that elovanoids are made of 32 to 34 carbon atoms in length," notes Nicolas Bazan, MD, PhD, Boyd Professor and Director of the Neuroscience Center of Excellence at LSU Health New Orleans. "We expect that these structures will profoundly increase our understanding of cellular cross talk to sustain neuronal circuitry and particularly to restore cell equilibrium after pathological insults."
Working in neuronal cell cultures from the cerebral cortex and from the hippocampus and a model of ischemic stroke, the researchers found that elovanoids not only protected neuronal cells and promoted their survival, but helped maintain their integrity and stability. The work is published in Science Advances.
"Our findings represent a breakthrough in the understanding of how the complexity and resiliency of the brain are sustained when confronted with adversities such as stroke, Parkinson's or Alzheimer's and neuroprotection signaling needs to be activated," says Dr. Bazan. "A key factor is how neurons communicate among themselves. These novel molecules participate in communicating messages to overall synaptic organization to ensure an accurate flow of information through neuronal circuits. We know how neurons make synaptic connections with other neurons, however these connections have to be malleable to change strength appropriately. Elovanoids might play a central role as synaptic organizers, especially important in conditions resulting from synaptic dysfunction such as autism or amyotropic lateral sclerosis, for which we have no therapeutic answers."
Although the occurrence of very long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids has been well documented, what has not been known is their significance and potential to be converted into biochemical triggers to resolve injury, inflammation and other threats to neuronal communication and cell survival.

Dr. Nicolas G. Bazan. Credit: LSU Health New Orleans Neuroscience Center of Excellence

The researchers discovered the structure and characteristics of two elovanoids - ELV-N32 and ELV-N34 - in the brain. Starting with neuron cell cultures and then an experimental model of stroke, they found that elovanoids were activated when cells underwent either oxygen/glucose deprivation or excitotoxicity - early events associated with stroke, epilepsy, Parkinson's, traumatic brain injury and other neurodegenerative diseases. They determined the concentrations and therapeutic windows at which elovanoids conferred neuroprotection. The team found that elovanoids overcame the damaging effects and toxicity of these early events. In the stroke model, elovanoids reduced the size of the damaged brain area, initiated repair mechanisms and improved neurological/behavioral recovery.

Motor Imagery Training After Stroke: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

Fucking lazy assholes, not willing to write up protocols on this. I've got 25 posts on motor imagery and 25 posts on neurofeedback going back to Jan. 2012. What the fuck more does it take for some neurologist to do their fucking job and write up a stroke protocol on this?

Motor Imagery Training After Stroke: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

Guerra, Zaqueline Fernandes MSc; Lucchetti, Alessandra L. G. MD, MSc; Lucchetti, Giancarlo MD, PhD

Journal of Neurologic Physical Therapy: October 2017 - Volume 41 - Issue 4 - p 205–214

doi: 10.1097/NPT.0000000000000200

Systematic Reviews

• Abstract
• Author Information

Background and Purpose: A number of studies have suggested that imagery training (motor imagery [MI]) has value for improving motor function in persons with neurologic conditions. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to assess the available literature related to efficacy of MI in the recovery of individuals after stroke.

Methods: We searched the following databases: PubMed, Web of Knowledge, Scopus, Cochrane, and PEDro. Two reviewers independently selected clinical trials that investigated the effect of MI on outcomes commonly investigated in studies of stroke recovery. Quality and risk of bias of each study were assessed.

Results: Of the 1156 articles found, 32 articles were included. There was a high heterogeneity of protocols among studies. Most studies showed benefits of MI, albeit with a large proportion of low-quality studies. The meta-analysis of all studies, regardless of quality, revealed significant differences on overall analysis for outcomes related to balance, lower limb/gait, and upper limb. However, when only high-quality studies were included, no significant difference was found. On subgroup analyses, MI was associated with balance gains on the Functional Reach Test and improved performance on the Timed Up and Go, gait speed, Action Research Arm Test, and the Fugl-Meyer Upper Limb subscale.

Discussion and Conclusions: Our review reported a high heterogeneity in methodological quality of the studies and conflicting results. More high-quality studies and greater standardization of interventions are needed to determine the value of MI for persons with stroke.

Video Abstract available for more insights from the authors (see Video, Supplemental Digital Content 1, http://links.lww.com/JNPT/A188).

© 2017 Academy of Neurologic Physical Therapy, APTA

Functional Medicine Approach to Traumatic Brain Injury

So I guess functional medicine is the new term for complementary and alternative medicine. My term for this would be quackery. In Wikipedia opponents point out that it is a "collection of totally nonsensical gobbledygook".
Your choice on what to do with this. 
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5580364/ 

Alice C. Richer, RDN, MBA, LDN

Author information ► Copyright and License information ►

Go to:

Abstract

Background: The U.S. military has seen dramatic increases in traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) among military personnel due to the nature of modern-day conflicts. Conventional TBI treatment for secondary brain injuries has suboptimal success rates, and patients, families, and healthcare professionals are increasingly turning to alternative medicine treatments.

Objective: Effective treatments for the secondary injury cascades that occur after an initial brain trauma are unclear at this time. The goal of successful treatment options for secondary TBI injuries is to reduce oxidative stress, excitotoxicity, and inflammation while supporting mitochondrial functions and repair of membranes, synapses, and axons.

Intervention: A new paradigm of medical care, known as functional medicine, is increasing in popularity and acceptance. Functional medicine combines conventional treatment methods with complementary, genetic, holistic, and nutritional therapies. The approach is to assess the patient as a whole person, taking into account the interconnectedness of the body and its unique reaction to disease, injury, and illness while working to restore balance and optimal health. Functional medicine treatment recommendations often include the use of acupuncture, Ayurveda, chiropractic manipulation, detoxification programs, herbal and homeopathic supplements, specialized diets, massage, meditation and mindfulness practices, neurobiofeedback, nutritional supplements, t'ai chi, and yoga. At present, some of these alternative treatments appear to be beneficial, but more research is needed to validate reported outcomes.

Conclusions: Few clinical studies validate the effectiveness of alternative therapies for TBIs. However, further clinical trials and empirical studies warrant further investigation based on some reported positive results from research studies, case histories, anecdotal evidence, and widespread popularity of some approaches. To date, only nutritional therapies and hyperbaric oxygen therapy have shown the most promise and potential for improved outcomes for the treatment of secondary TBI injuries.

Who should be included in health care conferences?

Well obviously in stroke conferences there is no point in including survivors, they know nothing and just get in the way.  No one from any part of the stroke medical world has ever contacted me. I'm thinking they are afraid of me.
https://www.symplur.com/blog/who-should-be-included-in-healthcare-conferences/?utm_source=Connecting+the+dots+in+healthcare+social+media&utm_campaign=5c457de34e-Who+should+be+included+in+health+care+conferences%3F&utm_medium=email&

Julia JamesSeptember 27, 2017

• har

Patients, when represented as event stakeholders, generate richer conversation and wider dissemination of information on the social web, a new Medicine X study shows.
It was June 2016, and Audun Utengen and Larry Chu were in Washington where Medicine X was co-hosting a workshop as part of President Obama’s Precision Medicine Initiative. The focus was on patient-centered research, and the two kept hearing the same frustration aired by participants: Why are health care conferences generally accessible only to stakeholders from industry and academia? Given their purpose — to disseminate information, to facilitate networking, to get people talking — wouldn’t it make sense to involve patient communities as well?
Utengen, a co-founder of the social media analytics firm Symplur, took the question seriously. Would it make sense? Do conferences that include patients generate richer, wider conversation than their more restrictive counterparts?
With Medicine X researchers including senior author Larry Chu, MD and ePatient Nisha Pradhan, he designed a study to find out. The results, as measured by social activity and published in August in the Journal of Medical Internet Research, added up to a straightforward answer: Yes.
The team reviewed more than 7.5 million tweets from 1,672 conferences registered in the Symplur Healthcare Hashtag Project between 2014 and 2016. They then identified the 100 most influential participants taking part in the conversation around each event, sorted them into six stakeholder cohorts (engaged patient, physicians and researchers, non-physician health care professionals, journalists, other health care individuals, pharmaceutical organizations, etc.) and assessed performance of these cohorts against each other.
Patients, they found, outperformed their representation. While they made up only 1.4 percent of the stakeholders identified as conversation influencers, they did more than the doctor / researcher cohort, which made up 16.9 percent of influential stakeholders, to increase information flow and propagation, and — perhaps more importantly — to deepen engagement.

“Health care conferences that fail to engage patients in their proceedings as meaningful participants may risk limiting their engagement with the public, disseminating science output to a narrow community and slowing flow of information across social media channels, to the detriment of their academic missions,” the study concludes.

While the research team hasn’t addressed the follow-up question— Why? — they have several theories.

“We’re all humans, and we relate to stories,” Utengen says.

Patients, just by having a presence, can make conversations more real. They speak a language earned by experience, not by degree. And they force researchers to be more deliberate in their own choice of words, to communicate their research in a way that makes it accessible, and meaningful, to a wider audience.
More than 2,200 conferences registered hashtags with Symplur during 2016, and Utengen expects the number to be higher this year. He hopes the findings from this study will help patients make the case for their inclusion, even at highly specialized events with limited budgets.
Organizers, presenters, sponsors — they all have shared goals around reach and engagement, and promoting patient voices appears to be a relatively cheap and efficient way of achieving them.

“We can’t see how this is not a good thing for everyone,” he says.

Read the full research paper in JMIR.

Migraine with aura – but not without – increases risk of stroke

When I was getting migraines at least I didn't have auras.
https://www.mdlinx.com/family-medicine/top-medical-news/article/2017/09/28/7468256?

Karolinska Institutet

Only people with migraine with aura have a higher risk of stroke, shows a twin study with 12-year follow-up, from Karolinska Institutet published in the journal Brain. The study also found that the risk is lower than previously demonstrated and possibly related to familial factors.

Between 11 and 13 per cent of the population suffer migraines. The condition, which is up to three times more common in women, often debuts in adolescence or early adulthood. Sufferers have recurrent headaches combined with symptoms such as nausea, vomiting or hypersensitivity to light and sound. For one in three sufferers, the headaches start with an aura of neurological symptoms, leading to the migraine classification “with/without aura”. Repeated studies, conducted over the past 30 years or more, have shown that migraine – particularly with aura – increases the risk of stroke. Gender (being female), young age (under 45), smoking and contraceptive pills have also been linked to a higher risk of stroke in migraine patients.

Using the Swedish Twin Registry, the researchers looked at over 53,000 twins over a twelve-year period, 16.2 per cent of whom had any form of migraine, and 6.7 migraine with aura. During the follow-up time, 1,297 of the 53,000 twins had a stroke. On examining the link between this and migraines, they found that the data corroborated with earlier studies, although with a lower general risk. “Our results showed no increase in stroke risk for individuals with migraine without aura, and a somewhat higher risk in twins with migraine with aura, even though this risk was lower than previously demonstrated,” said Maria Lantz, postdoc at Karolinska Institutet’s Department of Clinical Neuroscience.

The results also remained largely unchanged when the researchers controlled for other risk factors, such as smoking and high blood pressure.

“Further analyses of twin pairs indicate that familial factors, such as heredity and childhood environment, can exacerbate the risk,” said Dr Lantz. The results of the study provide valuable clinical information both for sufferers of migraine without aura, where there is no observable increase in risk, and for sufferers of migraine with aura, where the risk of stroke is lower than previously demonstrated.

The study was financed by Stockholm County Council through the ALF scheme and the Swedish Migraine Society.

See-through brains reveal how stroke damages vital blood vessels - in mice

The only problem here is that you have to remove the brain from the mouse. Unlikely to get human clinical participants.
https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg23531454-700-seethrough-brains-reveal-how-stroke-damages-vital-blood-vessels/?

By Alice Klein

NOW we can see stroke damage in 3D. A technique that turns mouse brains transparent has given us the most detailed view yet of how stroke cuts off the blood supply in the brain.
Stroke damages the brain’s blood vessels, stopping oxygen and nutrients reaching cells. To understand this impact, researchers usually examine thin brain slices under the microscope.
Now Dirk Hermann and Matthias Gunzer at the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany and their team have developed a way to see all of a brain’s blood vessels clearly, without having to slice it up. They injected a fluorescent gel into the hearts of mice, waited for it to be pumped around the body, and then removed the brains and soaked them in chemicals. “You’re left with a brain that is clear like glass,” says Hermann.
The team looked at each brain under a microscope, lighting up the fluorescent gel using a laser (Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism, doi.org/cdg3).
The brains of mice that had experienced a stroke provided the first-ever 3D view of how stroke cuts off the blood supply to parts of the brain. “You could see which capillaries had died and how the surviving ones were reorganising themselves,” says Gunzer.
This article appeared in print under the headline “Transparent brains reveal stroke damage”

Video here:
https://youtu.be/mIrdzam-Xlg 

20 years of investing in vital stroke research - UK Stroke Association

66 pages showing they are at least trying to solve the problems in stroke. How much of this is in your stroke hospital?
https://www.stroke.org.uk/sites/default/files/research_report_web_june_20131.pdf

21 Proven Ways to Increase Brain Blood Flow

I'm sure your doctor intimately knows of all of these and has stroke protocols for you immediately after your stroke. Assuming that your doctor thinks that increased blood flow to the brain is useful in stroke recovery. Don't do these on your own, way too dangerous.

21 Proven Ways to Increase Brain Blood Flow

1. Exercise 

2. Cold Exposure

3. Sunlight

4. Ginkgo Biloba

5. Low-Level Laser Therapy (LLLT)

6. Vinpocetine

7. Meditation

8. Resveratrol

9. Dark Chocolate 

10. Omega-3 Fatty Acids 

11. Acupuncture

12. Chewing Gum

13. Acetyl-L-Carnitine (ALCAR) 

14. Nitrates

15. Drink Less Coffee (Or Take Theanine)

16. Piracetam 

17. Ketogenic Dieting

18. Citicoline 

19. Blueberry Juice

20. Pyrroloquinoline Quinone (PQQ) 

21. Intranasal Insulin 

Details at link, even research. 

Doctors Hospital at Renaissance Announces New Robotic- Assisted Rehabilitation Treatment

They lazily don't bother to tell you what the efficacy and results are from using this. HOPE is not a valid response you lazy bastards.
http://www.krgv.com/story/36456546/doctors-hospital-at-renaissance-announces-new-robotic-assisted-rehabilitation-treatment
Posted: Sep 26, 2017 1:46 PM EST Updated: Sep 26, 2017 1:46 PM EST

 

Doctors Hospital at Renaissance Health System (DHR) is proud to announce that the Rehabilitation Hospital at Renaissance now offers enhanced rehabilitation services for their patients through the use of Ekso Bionics’ patented technology. Ekso Bionics is a leading robotic exoskeleton company and Ekso GT™ is the first exoskeleton cleared by the FDA for use with stroke and spinal cord injury levels to C7. 

You can learn about this new technology with a presentation to take place at the Edinburg Conference Center at Renaissance on Wednesday, September 27. The community is invited to this event that starts at 10:00 a.m.

DHR is a cutting edge medical facility and an early adopter of advanced therapies. At the Rehabilitation Hospital at Renaissance, patients who were previously unable to walk due paralysis of the lower limbs due to stroke or spinal cord injury can now do so with the help of the EksoGT exoskeleton. 

Through the use of EksoGT exoskeleton for gait therapy, the Rehabilitation Hospital at Renaissance is offering new hope for greater independence and a better quality of life for a broad range of people with paralysis due to stroke or spinal cord injury. With intuitive technology, the customizable suit gauges how much power the user is able to contribute and adapts to continuously deliver the appropriate level of support to complete every step. Users are able to take more steps or walk more naturally.

Doctors Hospital at Renaissance Health System, the Rehabilitation Hospital at Renaissance, and Ekso Bionics as they premier this life-changing wearable rehabilitation treatment device.  Executives from Ekso Bionics, as well as patients and physicians, will be available for interview. To confirm your attendance, or for more information, call Kelli Quin, DHR Manager of Corporate Communications, at (956) 362-3100.

Treatment Expectancy Predicts Clients’ Engagement During Inpatient Rehabilitation After Stroke

They used this to determine your enthusiasm. Why would you have ANY enthusiasm when your doctor doesn't give you any protocols with efficacy ratings?. By your doctor not giving you efficacy s/he is just proving they know nothing about your stroke recovery.

pittsburgh rehabilitation participation scale

http://www.archives-pmr.org/article/S0003-9993(17)30951-6/fulltext

The Impact of Gender and Social Support on Goal Attainment After Stroke Rehabilitation

Once again trying to solve secondary problems because your doctor hasn't solved the primary problem of getting you 100% recovered. Ask your doctor why you haven't gotten 100% recovered. If 'All strokes are different, all stroke recoveries are different' comes out of her/his mouth, you have a doctor than blames you for not recovering rather than acknowledging that it is the doctors responsibility to get you recovered. Excuses are not allowed.
http://www.archives-pmr.org/article/S0003-9993(17)30932-2/fulltext

Proposal to centralise stroke rehabilitation beds to create 'centre of excellence' - Abingdon, England

YOU are going to have to scream at them for 'hoping' to improve recovery. Fuck it all, if they don't have a goal and results for 100% recovery they should all be fired. This tyranny of low expectations is not helping stroke patients recover completely. 
http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/15561115.Two_stroke_rehab_units_could_be_combined_to_create__centre_of_excellence_/

Georgina Campbell @OxMailGeorginaC Reporter covering West Oxford & Botley

Chief executive of Oxford Health Stuart Bell. Picture: David Fleming.

A HEALTH trust has proposed to centralise its stroke rehabilitation beds in a move to provide patients with a dedicated ward.
The decision by Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust will see the 10 rehabilitation beds in Witney Community Hospital move to Abingdon Community Hospital.
By combining both sets of 10 beds into one 20-bed ward, the trust hopes to improve patients’ recovery.
Speaking at its board meeting today, chief executive Stuart Bell of Oxford Health said by creating a ‘centre of excellence’, he would hope to appeal to the desperately needed work force.
He added: “By having a ward completely dedicated to stroke rehabilitation perhaps we could appeal to and retain more nurses.
“It is better than them being expected to work on part of a ward with lots of other things going on.”

Preliminary Efficacy of a Couples' Intervention to Promote Relationship Quality following Brain Injury

I pretty much got blamed for ruining my exs life by having a stroke. 
 http://www.archives-pmr.org/article/S0003-9993(17)30619-6/fulltext

• Amma Agyemang

• Jennifer Marwitz,
• Jeffrey Kreutzer

Hypothermia for traumatic brain injury

Proving once again the incompetence out there in stroke/TBI that a review needs to be done at all. There should be a publicly available database of brain research and protocols updated each time something new comes in. These reviews and meta-analysis are fucking wastes of time getting in the way of actually solving all the problems in stroke.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28933514

Lewis SR¹, Evans DJ, Butler AR, Schofield-Robinson OJ, Alderson P.

Author information

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

Hypothermia has been used in the treatment of brain injury for many years. Encouraging results from small trials and laboratory studies led to renewed interest in the area and some larger trials.

OBJECTIVES:

To determine the effect of mild hypothermia for traumatic brain injury (TBI) on mortality, long-term functional outcomes and complications.

SEARCH METHODS:

We ran and incorporated studies from database searches to 21 March 2016. We searched the Cochrane Injuries Group's Specialised Register, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL, The Cochrane Library), MEDLINE (OvidSP), Embase Classic+Embase (OvidSP), PubMed, ISI Web of science (SCI-EXPANDED, SSCI, CPCI-S & CPSI-SSH), clinical trials registers, and screened reference lists. We also re-ran these searches pre-publication in June 2017; the result from this search is presented in 'Studies awaiting classification'.

SELECTION CRITERIA:

We included randomised controlled trials of participants with closed TBI requiring hospitalisation who were treated with hypothermia to a maximum of 35 ºC for at least 12 consecutive hours. Treatment with hypothermia was compared to maintenance with normothermia (36.5 to 38 ºC).

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS:

Two review authors assessed data on mortality, unfavourable outcomes according to the Glasgow Outcome Scale, and pneumonia.

MAIN RESULTS:

We included 37 eligible trials with a total of 3110 randomised participants; nine of these were new studies since the last update (2009) and five studies had been previously excluded but were re-assessed and included during the 2017 update. We identified two ongoing studies from searches of clinical trials registers and database searches and two studies await classification.Studies included both adults and children with TBI. Most studies commenced treatment immediately on admission to hospital or after craniotomies and all treatment was maintained for at least 24 hours. Thirty-three studies reported data for mortality, 31 studies reported data for unfavourable outcomes (death, vegetative state or severe disability), and 14 studies reported pneumonia. Visual inspection of the results for these outcomes showed inconsistencies among studies, with differences in the direction of effect, and we did not pool these data for meta-analysis. We considered duration of hypothermia therapy and the length of follow-up in collected data for these subgroups; differences in study data remained such that we did not perform meta-analysis.Studies were generally poorly reported and we were unable to assess risk of bias adequately. Heterogeneity was evident both in the trial designs and participant inclusion. Inconsistencies in results may be explained by heterogeneity among study participants or bias introduced by individual study methodology but we did not explore this in detail in subgroup or sensitivity analyses. We used the GRADE approach to judge the quality of the evidence for each outcome and downgraded the evidence for mortality and unfavourable outcome to very low. We downgraded the evidence for the pneumonia outcome to low.

AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS:

Despite a large number studies, there remains no high-quality evidence that hypothermia is beneficial in the treatment of people with TBI. Further research, which is methodologically robust, is required in this field to establish the effect of hypothermia for people with TBI.

PMID:

28933514

DOI:

10.1002/14651858.CD001048.pub5

School-based education about strokes can improve victims’ survival chances without lasting damage

Lying, lying, lying by omission. And once again blaming the public for not recognizing stroke fast enough. Rather than blaming themselves for not having interventions that get all stroke patients 100% recovered.  Learn about cause and effect.
1. Maybe 5-10% of stroke patients actually receive tPA in time.
2. tPA only works 12% of the time to fully reverse the stroke.
3. Nothing is being done to stop the neuronal cascade of death by these 5 causes in the first week.

https://www.news-medical.net/news/20170920/School-based-education-about-strokes-can-improve-victimse28099-survival-chances-without-lasting-damage.aspx 

• Download PDF Copy

September 20, 2017

In the treatment of strokes, every minute gained can save lives or reduce the extent of lasting damage. At the World Congress for Neurology in Kyoto, Japanese doctors presented an effective educational program for school children and their parents. It does not only heighten awareness of this life-threatening disease, but also helps to shorten the time before emergency services are contacted.
School-based education about strokes not only improves people's understanding of this life-threatening disease but also ensures that stroke victims contact emergency services much earlier and arrive more quickly at the hospital for treatment. Japanese researchers came to this conclusion and shared the results of their study at the XXIII World Congress for Neurology. This major scientific event takes place in Kyoto from 16 to 21 September 2017.
Strokes are responsible world-wide for more than one in ten deaths and the most frequent cause of lasting and in many cases severe disabilities. The degree of severity and reversibility depends heavily on how much time passes between the occurrence of the first symptoms and the start of treatment. That is the reason why clinics and especially specialized stroke units throughout the world are constantly trying to reduce the "door-to-needle time", i.e. the time between arrival of the patient in the hospital and the start of treatment.
A scientific team of the National Cerebral and Cardiovascular Centers in Suita, Japan, wanted to find out how valuable minutes could be gained during the period prior to arrival at the emergency ward. Study author Dr Chiaki Yokota explains: "In stroke treatment, literally every minute gained improves the outcome. Unfortunately, many stroke victims or their families are not capable of recognizing the symptoms of a stroke. They therefore hesitate in many cases to call for medical help."

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In order to fill these knowledge gaps, emergency medical technicians from the emergency ward set off on a year-long lecture tour of eleven primary schools in Akashi, a city with a population of about 300,000. The nine and ten-year-old pupils received age-appropriate instruction on essential stroke facts as well as information material they discussed with their parents at home.
To check the effectiveness of the information campaign, children and parents had to fill out a stroke questionnaire beforehand and then repeat this test again three months after the instruction. In addition, the scientists analyzed transport reports from the local emergency services six months before and six months after the intervention. The results clearly showed that efforts had been worthwhile. Not only did the participants do much better on the knowledge test three months after the information campaign - the call-to-door time was also reduced significantly from 32 to 29 minutes. Dr Yokota finally sums up: "This type of information dissemination does a lot to raise awareness about strokes on the part of both children and their parents. As final result the stroke victims come to the hospital much earlier and thereby greatly improve their chances of surviving this event without serious and lasting damage."

Source:

http://www.bkkommunikation.com/en/

Leading researchers join forces to create a “standard model” of the brain

And once we have that “standard model” for the human brain your doctor can run comparisons with your damaged brain and prescribe protocols that will fix the damage and get it back to normality. At least in the world we live in that should be possible. But instead we live in a world where everything in stroke is a fucking failure and no one is even trying to fix all the problems in stroke.
https://www.news-medical.net/news/20170919/Leading-researchers-join-forces-to-create-a-e2809cstandard-modele2809d-of-the-brain.aspx

• Download PDF Copy

By Sally Robertson, BScSeptember 19, 2017

Leading neuroscientists are teaming up to study the brain in a way that is modelled on physics projects, where researchers look for new particles.

Credit: sdecoret/Shutterstock.com

The International Brain Lab (IBL) involves 21 leading neuroscience laboratories across Europe and the US that will collaborate to generate theories about how the brain works. The project will focus on one behaviour that all animals share, namely foraging.
The conventional way of conducting cellular neuroscience is for individual laboratories to study a limited amount of brain circuits during simple behaviors, but the IBL will look at how the entire mouse brain generates behaviors in changing environments that mirror the natural world.
Chips will be used that can simultaneously record the electrical pulses of thousands of neurons, as will technologies such as optogenetics, which uses light to control neurons.
Tobias Bonhoeffer from the Max Planck Institute for Neurobiology in Germany says the approach will likely yield significant new insights into how the brain behaves.
IBL will operate much like the two CERN collaborations, ATLAS and CMS, which involved experimentalists and theoreticians from hundreds of laboratories across the world who tested the standard model of particle physics. Near-daily web meetings will be held as part of a collaborative decision-making process and teams will make decisions by simple consent rather than only acting once a group consensus is reached.

No one will be able to stop a proposed experiment being carried out without a very convincing proposal of why it would be a disaster,”

Alexandre Pouget, IBL from the University of Geneva in Switzerland.

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The project will aim to develop and test theories about how the brain codes for and computes information and to create the equivalent of physicists’ standard model.
For the first two years, informatics tools will be built to allow the automatic sharing of data and to set up a reliable experimental protocol for a foraging task in mice. All members will need to register their experiments before starting them and the results will immediately be available to all members of the collaboration.
“It is a big challenge — and it’s not the way the field works at the moment,” says IBL member Anne Churchland from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York.
The second phase of the project will be spent testing theories on how the brain combines diverse information to make decisions, moment-to-moment.
Pouget also hopes that many more laboratories will join the project so that a wider suite of behaviors can be studied.

Source:

• http://www.nature.com/news/researchers-unite-in-quest-for-standard-model-of-the-brain-1.22647?sf114942229=1