Use the labels in the right column to find what you want. Or you can go thru them one by one, there are only 29,000 posts. Searching is done in the search box in upper left corner. I blog on anything to do with stroke.DO NOT DO ANYTHING SUGGESTED HERE AS I AM NOT MEDICALLY TRAINED, YOUR DOCTOR IS, LISTEN TO THEM. BUT I BET THEY DON'T KNOW HOW TO GET YOU 100% RECOVERED. I DON'T EITHER, BUT HAVE PLENTY OF QUESTIONS FOR YOUR DOCTOR TO ANSWER.
Changing stroke rehab and research worldwide now.Time is Brain!trillions and trillions of neuronsthatDIEeach day because there areNOeffective hyperacute therapies besides tPA(only 12% effective). I have 523 posts on hyperacute therapy, enough for researchers to spend decades proving them out. These are my personal ideas and blog on stroke rehabilitation and stroke research. Do not attempt any of these without checking with your medical provider. Unless you join me in agitating, when you need these therapies they won't be there.
What this blog is for:
My blog is not to help survivors recover, it is to have the 10 million yearly stroke survivors light fires underneath their doctors, stroke hospitals and stroke researchers to get stroke solved. 100% recovery. The stroke medical world is completely failing at that goal, they don't even have it as a goal. Shortly after getting out of the hospital and getting NO information on the process or protocols of stroke rehabilitation and recovery I started searching on the internet and found that no other survivor received useful information. This is an attempt to cover all stroke rehabilitation information that should be readily available to survivors so they can talk with informed knowledge to their medical staff. It lays out what needs to be done to get stroke survivors closer to 100% recovery. It's quite disgusting that this information is not available from every stroke association and doctors group.
Neurological
impairments such as stroke cause muscular weakness in several joints in
the human body. As a result, the development of activities of daily
living (ADL) is affected. Particularly, upper limb movements executed
with external loads are restricted for post-stroke patients who present
extreme sensitivity to mechanical loading. In rehabilitation, upper limb
gravity support and assistive torques improve post-stroke users' skills
and support the elbow joint's flexors muscle during the therapy. In
this sense, this work presents the design and a preliminary assessment
for a portable upper limb exosuit to assist flexor muscles in the elbow
joint. The robotic device comprises a wearable structure employing a
cable-driven system that does not generate limitations in the elbow
joint. An impedance controller was implemented based on the right elbow
joint movements to generate estimated torques applied in the left elbow
joint. The experimental findings with three healthy participants
showcase the short-term effects of a notable reduction in muscle
activity, ranging from 60% to 72%, when the exosuit was tested in
lifting a 2.5 Kg load.
I think my readers should nominate me and put in the reason; 'Dean Reinke is
raising awareness of all the problems in stroke needing solutions on how
to get 100% recovered. He's written 28,987 blog posts on how to accomplish this(Deans' Stroke Musings)'
This 'awareness' crapola is just pure laziness.
Until the ASA actually deserves Stroke in their name they need to be
completely shamed on doing nothing for stroke survivors.
Every 40 seconds, someone in the U.S.
suffers a stroke … which means these catastrophic health events impact
millions of individuals and families across the country. The American
Stroke Association launched the Stroke Hero Awards in 1998 to honor
stroke survivors, caregivers, advocates and experts who make a
significant difference in the lives and futures of those who have
experienced a stroke.
Nominations are open now for next year’s awards at Stroke.org/HeroAwards, and will close on Dec. 3. Winners will be announced on May 1, 2025.
The 2025 Stroke Hero Awards categories are:
• Survivor Hero – Honors an
individual who has survived a stroke and used their experience to
educate, inspire and bring awareness about stroke.
•
Pediatric Hero – Honors an individual younger than 18 who has survived a
stroke and overcome significant hurdles and whose family has used its
experience to educate, inspire and bring awareness to stroke.
•
Caregiver Hero – Honors an individual who has cared for a stroke
survivor and used their experience to educate, inspire and bring
awareness about stroke on a local or national level.
•
Equity Hero – Honors an individual working to ensure equitable health
outcomes for those at risk for stroke, stroke survivors and stroke
caregivers.
• Group Heroes – Honors a group committed to educating, inspiring and raising awareness about stroke.
•
F.A.S.T. Hero – This new award for 2025 honors an individual who
recognized the warning signs of a stroke and acted fast to get help for
the person having a stroke.
• Voters’ Choice Hero – To
be chosen by public vote next March, this award honors an individual or
group making an outstanding effort to educate, inspire and bring
awareness about stroke.
You wouldn't have to do all this crapola if your stroke medical 'professionals' just did their fucking jobs and delivered EXACT 100% RECOVERY PROTOCOLS! This is working on the secondary problem of depression, rather than the correct course of action, which is to solve the primary problem; 100% RECOVERY! Full recovery equals NO depression; it's that simple!
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (WGEM) -
Stroke — 800,000 people in the U.S. will suffer from one this year. It’s
the leading cause of long-term disability. It can impact a person’s
speech, movement and memory. When treating patients who have had their
life changed by a stroke, there are limits to what medicine can do.(Why? You've given up on solving stroke? Stroke survivors can never give up.) That’s why new interventions are being used that help promote resilience
after a stroke.
“I felt like a pulsing all the way in the back of my head,” described Quincy Taylor.
That was the moment Taylor’s life changed forever.
“It was the worst pain that I’ve experienced so far in my life,” he said.
Taylor
suffered a stroke and like many survivors, he faced months of rehab
working on his balance and coordination. That’s not all survivors
struggle with.
“Half of all stroke
survivors will experience post-stroke depression at some point in time
after their stroke,” explained Alexandra Terrill, PhD, Clinical
Psychology at University of Utah Health.
Post-stroke
depression can impact a patient’s motivation for rehab and can lead to
social isolation. Studies show rates of hospitalization increase and
relationships can suffer. Dr. Terrill led a study using positive
psychology to help stroke survivors and their caregivers.
“Positive
psychology is really something that’s focused on the strengths or
resources that an individual has and that can be built upon,” she
stated.
The
eight-week program helps couples practice goal setting, communication
strategies, gratitude, finding meaning and fostering connections with
each other and those in their social circles.
“We saw a dramatic increase in resilience for the person who had the stroke,” said Dr. Terrill.
Resilience
is a person’s ability to adapt and cope when faced with the challenges
both mentally and physically after a stroke – and building resilience is
just as important for the caregiver.
“Right now, I’m feeling like I’m doing a little bit better than what I was before,” Taylor said.
The
NIH reports that people who suffer post-stroke depression are more
likely to be dependent for life on caregivers and have a higher risk of
having another stroke. Dr. Terrill believes positive psychology can be a
simple, cost-effective and life-saving solution to post-stroke
depression. A larger NIH funded study is being conducted now across the
United States.
Of course, your competent? doctor has already evaluated and picked the best of these gait rehab possibilities. Oh, your doctor hasn't done one damn thing about gait rehab? No point in learning anything past medical school, that would be too hard, just like trying to recover from a stroke with NOTHING USEFUL from your stroke medical 'professionals'!
Fig. 1
Pictures showing the NewGait device along with other comparable devices such as TheraTogs, Therasuit, ReWalk ReStore, and Tripleflex (Top panel). Table showing a comparative chart of all of the above devices (Bottom panel)
Your competent? doctor better make sure this ongoing research figures out how to get this waste clearance system working again post stroke. Because that disrupted clearance is probably why you have such a high chance of dementia post stroke.
A study in five volunteers undergoing surgery confirmed the existence of channels that may help drain waste from the brain.
The results highlight the importance of ongoing research to boost
the functioning of this waste-clearance system, called the glymphatic
system.
Images showing visualization of
perivascular spaces in a human brain. The left image is derived from
enhancing the T2/FLAIR image on the right. Piantino lab, Oregon Health & Science University, PNAS
Though less well-known than the body’s blood vessels, the
lymphatic system is also vital to health. The network of lymphatic
vessels threaded throughout the body removes dead cells and other waste
from the bloodstream. It also helps transport the immune cells that
fight infections.
It was once thought that the lymphatic system didn’t reach into the
brain. But over the last dozen years, researchers have found a system of
vessels containing cerebrospinal fluid in brain tissue in mice. These
vessels appear to connect to the lymphatic system and to help clear
toxins from the brain.
Studies suggest that age-related or physical damage to this brain
waste-clearing system, called the glymphatic system, may contribute to
the development of Alzheimer’s disease and other cognitive disorders.
Researchers have observed the real-time workings of the glymphatic
system in mice. Studies using human brain samples taken after death
found hints of such vessels. But to date, the existence of a functioning
glymphatic system hadn’t been confirmed in living people.
In a new study, funded in part by NIH, researchers led by Dr. Juan
Piantino from Oregon Health & Science University recruited five
volunteers who needed surgery to remove a brain tumor. During this
surgery, the volunteers received an injection of a dye called gadolinium
into their cerebrospinal fluid. They then underwent MRI scans to track
the passage of dye into the brain. Results from the study were published
on October 7, 2024, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
One volunteer underwent MRI using a technology called T2/FLAIR at 12
and 24 hours after surgery, and the other 4 underwent T2/FLAIR imaging
at 24 and 48 hours after surgery.
The scans showed cerebrospinal fluid flowing into the brain through
distinct channels—along the perivascular spaces, the fluid-filled spaces
that run alongside blood vessels in the brain. These findings match
earlier imaging results seen in mice. Dye could also be seen moving from
these spaces into the functional tissue of the brain.
“This shows that cerebrospinal fluid doesn’t just get into the brain
randomly, as if you put a sponge in a bucket of water,” Piantino says.
“It goes through these channels.”
Other studies have suggested that the glymphatic system may be most
active during sleep. These new results support the importance of efforts
to boost or repair the glymphatic system, such as improving sleep
quality for people at risk for Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias.
Post stroke after your competent? doctor gets you 100% recovered, you should pass all these tests with flying colors. Oh, your doctor wasn't competent enough to get you fully recovered? Too bad, your doctor won't take responsibility for that fucking failure and won't do the analysis of why they failed so future stroke survivors can learn from the previous mistakes of your doctor! Your doctor has probably been a failure at stroke recovery from the beginning and doesn't have enough brains to know how to get proper stroke research initiated to solve that problem! In my estimation, every single stroke doctor is a complete failure because in all the time they have been practicing their craft they have never even tried to figure out how to get survivors 100% recovered.
Send
me hate mail on this: oc1dean@gmail.com. I'll print your complete
statement with your name and my response in my blog. Or are you afraid
to engage with my stroke-addled mind? I would like to know what your definition of competence in stroke is.
I've failed the one leg standing test of the Berg Balance Scale from the beginning. My therapists DID NOTHING to get my one leg balance fixed! My left hand grip is appalling and my occupational therapist had nothing to fix that. No clue on knee strength, so you'll have to ask your competent? doctor to test you on that.
Researchers found that grip strength, knee strength, and
balance—especially the ability to stand on just one leg—decline
significantly in the decades after age 50.
Measuring these factors could help clinicians assess the health of aging patients.
Working on balance and strength can help you stay healthier as you age. Yakobchuk Viacheslav / Shutterstock
Medical advances and improved resources have been helping
people around the world live longer than ever. But longevity is linked
to a gradual decline in physical abilities. Muscle mass and strength
tend to wane over time. So do balance and other factors related to
walking. These are all important to independent living and well-being.
But it has not been clear which of these characteristics decline more
quickly with age, and at what rates.
To learn more, a research team led by Drs. Asghar Rezaei and Kenton
Kaufman of the Mayo Clinic set out to assess gait, balance, and strength
in healthy people over age 50. Their study enrolled 40 participants.
Half were between ages 50 and 64. The rest were ages 65 or older. In
each group, half of the participants were female, and half were male.
Each participant underwent a series of tests in a motion analysis
lab. Reflective markers were attached to specific locations on each
participant’s feet, thighs, pelvis, head, and more. To assess gait, a
14-camera motion capture system recorded marker movements as people
walked back and forth on an eight-meter-long walkway. Force plates on
the floor measured ground reaction forces to detect changes in
the center of pressure. Balance tests similarly used force plates to
record movements and center of pressure data. The balance tests assessed
the body’s sway as people stood on one leg with eyes open and on both
legs with eyes open and closed. Grip strength and knee strength were
measured by using specialized devices. Results were reported on October
23, 2024, in PLOS ONE.
The researchers found that gait characteristics—including walking
speed and stride length—were not significantly affected by age. In
contrast, several measures of balance and strength showed significant
age-related reductions.
No sex differences were observed for any parameters, except for
strength. Grip strength was 30% higher in men than in women, and knee
strength was 27% higher in men. But in both sexes, strength declined at
similar rates over time. Regardless of sex, grip strength in the
dominant hand dropped by 3.7% per decade of age, and knee strength by
1.4%.
Balance showed the greatest reduction with age, especially the
ability to stand on one leg for at least 30 seconds. Single-leg standing
time on the non-dominant leg dropped by 21% per decade of age, and on
the dominant leg by 17% per decade.
The researchers also found that when standing on both feet,
participants who were older tended to move or sway more (their center of
pressure changed more). When standing with eyes closed, standing
movements increased at a rate of 10.4% per decade of age. When standing
with eyes open, the rate of movement rose by 6.3% per decade.
The findings suggest that how long a person can stand on only a
non-dominant leg may be a reliable and easy-to-assess measurement of
health in aging populations. The measures in this study may also help
guide evidence-based training programs that improve balance and strength
to help aging people delay or avoid disability.
“Changes in balance are noteworthy. If you have poor balance, you’re
at risk of falling, whether or not you’re moving. Falls are a severe
health risk with serious consequences,” Kaufman says. But he notes that
people can take steps to train their balance. “If you don’t use it, you
lose it. If you use it, you maintain it.”
Samar M. Hatem 1, 2, 3 *, Geoffroy Saussez 2 , Margaux della Faille 2 , Vincent Prist 4 , Xue Zhang 5 , Delphine Dispa 2, 6 and Yannick Bleyenheuft 2 1 Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine, Brugmann University Hospital, Brussels, Belgium, 2 Systems and Cognitive Neuroscience, Institute of Neuroscience, Université Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium, 3 Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy, Faculty of Physical Education and Physiotherapy, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium, 4 Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine, Centre Hospitalier de l’Ardenne, Libramont, Belgium, 5 Movement Control and Neuroplasticity Research Group, Motor Control Laboratory, Department of Kinesiology, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium, 6 Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Cliniques Universitaires Saint-Luc, Université Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium
Stroke is one of the leading causes for disability worldwide. Motor function deficits due to stroke affect the patients’ mobility, their limitation in daily life activities, their participation in society and their odds of returning to professional activities. All of these factors contribute to a low overall quality of life. Rehabilitation training is the most effective way to reduce motor impairments in stroke patients. This multiple systematic review focuses both on standard treatment methods and on innovating rehabilitation techniques used to promote upper extremity motor function in stroke patients. A total number of 5712 publications on stroke rehabilitation was systematically reviewed for relevance and quality with regards to upper extremity motor outcome. This procedure yielded 270 publications corresponding to the inclusion criteria of the systematic review. Recent technology-based interventions in stroke rehabilitation including non-invasive brain stimulation, robot-assisted training, and virtual reality immersion are addressed. Finally, a decisional tree based on evidence from the literature and characteristics of stroke patients is proposed. At present, the stroke rehabilitation field faces the challenge to tailor evidence-based treatment strategies to the needs of the individual stroke patient. Interventions can be combined in order to achieve the maximal motor function recovery for each patient. Though the efficacy of some interventions may be under debate, motor skill learning, and some new technological approaches give promising outcome prognosis in stroke motor rehabilitation.(I see NO PROGRESS in stroke rehab, so I have no clue what the fuck you're looking at!)
My doctor did nothing to get me 100%
recovered so I could stay active. Also didn't inform me that after age
50 my metabolism slows down and I should cut back on calories, gained 40
extra pounds, still have ways to go to get to a good weight.
Slightly overweight stroke survivors have a lower
risk of sustaining disabilities. New research adds another aspect to the
obesity paradox but also highlights the importance of considering the
population's normal when recommending best practices.
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FULL STORY
Slightly overweight stroke survivors
have a lower risk of sustaining disabilities. The Kobe University
finding adds another aspect to the obesity paradox but also highlights
the importance of considering the population's normal when recommending
best practices.
The obesity paradox is the well documented observation that amongst
people who suffered a stroke, those who are moderately overweight have
lower rates of mortality, recurrence and readmission compared to
patients of "normal" weight. Recently, survival rates have improved and
attention has shifted to the subsequent lives of the patients. The Kobe
University health scientist IZAWA Kazuhiro says: "In my clinical
practice I have experienced that patients with a thin physique often
have difficulties in recovering function whereas relatively overweight
people usually fare better. This motivated me to study whether there is a
demonstrable relationship between body size and functional disability
after a stroke."
Using a Japanese national database containing anonymized data on
diagnosis-procedure combinations for all vascular and cardiac disease
cases in hospitals across Japan, Izawa, postdoctoral researcher KANEJIMA
Yuji and their team evaluated the size of different factors on over
half a million patients' disability at the time of discharge from
hospital. The factors they looked at were the body mass index (BMI),
which is a person's weight relative to their height, the patients' age,
gender, their disability score at the time of hospitalization, and
others.
In the journal Topics in Stroke Rehabilitation, the Kobe
University team now published their results. They found that, indeed,
the risk of being discharged from hospital with a poor disability score
was observed to be relatively low in people with a BMI between 22.1 and
27.5 kg/m2, and was lowest at a BMI of 24.7 kg/m2. Given that the WHO classifies Asians with a BMI between 23 and 25 kg/m2
as overweight and above that as obese, a slightly higher-than-normal
BMI seems to be beneficial to the odds of recovering from a stroke with
less disability. First author Kanejima offers an explanation: "The
median age in this study was 77 and people in this age group and beyond
lose weight more easily. However, people having certain reserves may be
better able to withstand the nutritional challenge a stroke and the
following hospitalization pose, which effectively protects their nervous
system."
A similar study conducted in the United States a few years ago found the same basic effect, but with an optimal BMI of 30.0 kg/m2
for that population. "Asians tent to have a slimmer physique compared
to Americans and this is also reflected in the lower optimal BMI for a
lower probability of disability at discharge," says Kanejima. This
underscores that caution is needed when adapting BMI-based
recommendations for different populations around the world.
There is concrete advice gleaned for current health care practice
from the results of the present study. Izawa says: "For the public, this
serves as a reminder that losing weight at a high age is a
disadvantage. For health care providers, the study suggests that they
need to closely monitor weight loss during hospitalization to prevent
functional impairment." To understand more about the mechanism at work,
the Kobe University researchers next aim to study how the change in body
weight during hospitalization is related to functional disability.
This research was funded by the Japanese Circulation Society and the
Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (grants JP22K11392 and
JP22K19708). It was conducted in collaboration with researchers from the
National Cerebral and Cardiovascular Center.
Yuji Kanejima, Masato Ogawa, Kodai Ishihara, Naofumi Yoshida,
Michikazu Nakai, Koshiro Kanaoka, Yoko Sumita, Takuo Emoto, Yoshitada
Sakai, Yoshitaka Iwanaga, Yoshihiro Miyamoto, Tomoya Yamashita, Kenichi
Hirata, Kazuhiro P. Izawa. Body mass index is associated with
disability at discharge as indicated by the modified Rankin Scale in
patients with ischemic stroke: a JROAD-DPC study. Topics in Stroke Rehabilitation, 2024; 1 DOI: 10.1080/10749357.2024.2417644
Objectives To investigate associations of the ‘weekend warrior’ physical activity pattern with mild dementia.
Methods
Participants in the Mexico City Prospective Study were surveyed from
1998 to 2004 and re-surveyed from 2015 to 2019. Participants were asked
about leisure time physical activity at baseline. Those who exercised up
to once or twice per week were termed ‘weekend warriors’ and those who
exercised more often were termed ‘regularly active’. A Mini Mental State
Examination (MMSE) was used to assess mild dementia at re-survey. Cox
models were adjusted for age, sex, education, income, blood pressure,
smoking, body mass index, civil status, sleep, diet and alcohol at
baseline. The attributable fraction was defined as the proportion of
cases that would not exist if all adults were to exercise once or twice
per week or more often.
Results
The analysis included 10 033 adults of mean (SD) age 51 (10) years
followed for 16 (2) years. There were 2400 cases when mild dementia was
defined as a score of ≤22 on the MMSE. Compared with the group that
reported no sport or exercise, the hazard ratio was 0.75 (95% CI 0.61 to
0.91) in the weekend warrior group, 0.89 (95% CI 0.78 to 1.02) in the
regularly active group and 0.84 (95% CI 0.75 to 0.95) in the combined
group. The attributable fraction was 13% (95% CI 5% to 21%). Similar
results were observed when mild dementia was defined as a score of ≤23
on the MMSE.
Conclusions
This longitudinal analysis suggests that the weekend warrior physical
activity pattern is associated with a reduced risk of mild dementia.
Data availability statement
Data
are available upon reasonable request. Mexico City Prospective Study
data are available for open-access data requests. The data access policy
is described online: http://www.ctsu.ox.ac.uk/research/mcps.
Since there is no specific factual basis for what exactly a Mediterranean diet is, maybe you want your doctor to give you a transfusion of young blood or bone marrow or brain fluid!
Summary: The Green Mediterranean diet may help slow
brain aging by controlling blood sugar levels, benefiting cognitive
health in older adults. The study found that lower blood sugar levels
were linked to a younger brain age, particularly in regions critical for
memory and sensory processing.
Using advanced MRI scans,
researchers observed that participants on the Green-Med diet exhibited a
slower rate of brain atrophy over 18 months. Components of this diet,
rich in polyphenols from plants like Mankai and green tea, may support
brain structure and function.
This dietary approach provides a
potential pathway to reducing age-related cognitive decline. The
findings offer promising insights into dietary and lifestyle changes as
practical strategies to protect brain health.
Key Facts:
Lower blood sugar levels were associated with a younger brain age, delaying brain atrophy.
Green-Med diet, rich in polyphenols from plants, slowed brain aging in study participants.
The DIRECT PLUS trial used MRI scans to show reduced brain tissue loss in those with improved glycemic control.
Source: Ben-Gurion University
Age-related
brain atrophy, the gradual loss of neurons and shrinkage of brain
tissue, is a natural part of aging, which can lead to cognitive decline
and other neurological issues.
While so far aging cannot
be prevented, recent research from an 18-month dietary intervention
offers hope that lifestyle and dietary changes can slow brain aging.
A
new international study, led by Ben-Gurion University of the Negev as
part of the DIRECT PLUS Brain MRI trial, has brought to light how blood
sugar control can significantly impact brain health.
This
study is one of the first large-scale trials to directly link dietary
changes, particularly those associated with the Green-Med diet, to
improved glycemic control and slower brain aging. Credit: Neuroscience
News
Brain age, as evaluated by MRI measurements of the hippocampus and
lateral ventricles, reflects the biological aging of the brain, which
can differ from a person’s chronological age. Chronological age is the
number of years lived, while brain age indicates the brain’s actual
health.
Typically, as we age, the hippocampus shrinks and the
lateral ventricles expand, serving as markers of brain aging. Some
individuals have a brain age younger or older than their chronological
age.
A younger brain age suggests better cognitive health, while
an older brain age may indicate accelerated aging and increased risk of
cognitive decline.
The study, which was published recently in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 2024,
was conducted by an international team of brain and nutrition experts,
including researchers from Ben-Gurion University, Harvard University,
Leipzig University, and more.
The research was primarily carried
out by Ph.D. student Dafna Pachter and overseen by Prof. Iris Shai,
along with several international collaborators.
A
previous study published two years ago, reported that Mediterranean
(MED) and green-MED diets significantly attenuated age-related brain
atrophy by ∼50% within 18 months.
In the current study, the researchers aimed to understand the mechanism by which the slowing of brain atrophy occurs.
The
study found that a decline in HbA1c, and key markers of long-term blood
sugar levels, are associated with significant positive changes in
specific brain regions commonly affected by age-related atrophy.
Brain
MRI results showed that lower HbA1c levels corresponded to greater
deviations in the thalamus, caudate nucleus, and cerebellum – areas
crucial for cognitive function, motor control, and sensory processing.
The
study suggests that improved blood sugar control could be one of the
most important factors in slowing down age-related brain changes.
The Green Mediterranean Diet Shows Promise
Earlier
research has highlighted the benefits of the Green Mediterranean
(Green-Med) diet, including better blood sugar control. The Green-Med
diet is rich in polyphenols from plant-based sources like Mankai (a
high-protein aquatic plant) and green tea, while being low in red and
processed meats.
The current study further strengthens this
connection by suggesting that the Green-Med diet may not only support
metabolic health but also exert protective effects on brain structure
and function.
DIRECT PLUS Trial – One of the Largest Brain MRI intervention Studies in the World
The DIRECT PLUS trial, one of the longest and largest brain MRI
studies conducted to date, involved approximately 300 participants who
were divided into three dietary groups. Whole-brain MRI measurements
were taken before and after the 18-month trial to track changes in brain
health.
The researchers used Hippocampal Occupancy (HOC), as a
proxy for brain age which predicts future risk of dementia. HOC
typically decreases with age. Interestingly, some participants exhibited
a brain age either younger or older than their chronological age.
Using
NeuroQuant, an FDA-authorized fully automated tool, the research team
quantified and segmented the brain MRI-derived data. The study aimed to
examine whether improved glycemic control and specific dietary
components could slow down brain aging.
The results indicated that
participants who managed to improve their blood sugar levels and
achieve normal glucose status experienced a more pronounced attenuation
of brain aging.
Notably, those who consumed higher amounts of
green tea and Mankai duckweed shakes demonstrated the most significant
improvements in both blood sugar levels and brain health.
Glycemic Control and Polyphenols: The Key to a Younger Brain Age?
The
study’s lead researcher, Prof. Iris Shai, from Ben-Gurion University,
an adjunct professor at Harvard University, and an Honorary Professor at
Leipzig University, explains, “Maintaining low blood sugar levels, even
within the normal range, shows promise for preserving a younger brain,
especially when combined with a healthy diet and regular physical
activity.
“Specifically, polyphenols found in plant-based foods may cross the
blood-brain barrier and help reduce brain inflammation, which is crucial
for memory”.
Dafna Pachter, a Ph.D. student and the first author
of the paper, adds, “This trial offers a safe approach to potentially
slow down our brain aging—by adopting the components of a
green-Mediterranean diet.”
A Pathway to Reducing Age-Related Cognitive Decline
This
study is one of the first large-scale trials to directly link dietary
changes, particularly those associated with the Green-Med diet, to
improved glycemic control and slower brain aging.
While further
research is needed to fully understand the mechanisms at play, these
results suggest a potential avenue for reducing the risk of age-related
cognitive decline through relatively simple dietary adjustments.
Funding: The
DIRECT PLUS trial was funded by grants from the German Research
Foundation (DFG), Israel Ministry of Health, Israel Ministry of Science
and Technology, and the California Walnuts Commission.
None of the funding providers were involved in any stage of the
design, conduct, or analysis of the study, nor did they have access to
the study results before publication.
The researchers:
Dafna Pachter, Alon Kaplan, Gal Tsaban, Hila Zelicha, Anat
Yaskolka Meir, Ehud Rinott, Gidon Levakov, Moti Salti, Yoram Yovell, Sebastian Huhn, Frauke Beyer, Veronica Witte, Peter Kovacs, Martin von
Bergen, Uta Ceglarek, Matthias Blüher, Michael Stumvoll, Frank
B. Hu, Meir J. Stampfer, Alon Friedman, Ilan Shelef, Galia Avidan, and
Iris Shai.
About this brain aging and diet research news
Author: Ehud Zion Waldoks Source: Ben-Gurion University Contact: Ehud Zion Waldoks – Ben-Gurion University Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News
You'll be interested that there is NO discussion of 100% recovery which means they are NEVER going to do anything towards that! The takeaway is don't have a stroke because your stroke medical 'professionals' aren't really professional in my opinion!
Send
me hate mail on this: oc1dean@gmail.com. I'll print your complete
statement with your name and my response in my blog. Or are you afraid
to engage with my stroke-addled mind? I would like to know what your definition of professionalism in stroke is.
Dr Ray O’Connor takes a look at the
latest clinical papers on the treatment of stroke, and how high-quality
rehabilitation can minimize(NOT RECOVER!) the impact of the condition
Globally, stroke is the second leading cause
of death, and the third leading cause of death and disability combined.
Around 100,000 people have strokes each year, and around 1.3 million
people in the UK have survived a stroke. High-quality rehabilitation can
minimise the physical, emotional, cognitive, and social impacts for
people who have had a stroke, and their carers. It can also yield
substantial cost savings to society.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance
on stroke rehabilitation in adults was updated in October 2023.1 The guideline summary published in the BMJ earlier this year2
covers selected new and updated recommendations and focuses on those
most relevant to primary care and community rehabilitation settings.
Dr Ray O’Connor
The main recommendations are as follows. Stroke
rehabilitation total therapy time should be based on the person’s needs,
with the amount increasing to at least three hours a day, on at least
five days a week. Fatigue is common; use a validated scale for early
assessment. Offer vision and hearing assessment. Consider referral to
community participation programmes suited to the person’s rehabilitation goals.
Interestingly the American Heart Association and the American Stroke
Association also jointly published stroke prevention guidelines this
year3 It is an extensive document covering over 80 pages with 735 references.
The ‘Top Ten Take-home Messages’ for busy clinicians are listed. A brief summary is as follows.
Everyone should have access to and regular visits with a primary care
health professional to identify and achieve opportunities to promote
brain health.Screening for and addressing adverse
social determinants of health is important in the approach to prevention
of incident stroke.
The Mediterranean diet is a dietary pattern that has been shown to
reduce the risk of stroke. Physical activity is essential for
cardiovascular health and stroke risk reduction. Glucagon-like protein-1
receptor agonists have been shown to be effective not only for
improving management of type 2 diabetes but also for weight loss and
lowering the risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke.
Blood
pressure management is critical for stroke prevention. Antiplatelet
therapy is recommended for patients with antiphospholipid syndrome or
systemic lupus erythematosus without a history of stroke or unprovoked
venous thromboembolism to prevent stroke. Prevention of pregnancy-related stroke can be achieved primarily through management of hypertension.
Treatment of verified systolic blood pressure ≥160 mm Hg or diastolic
blood pressure ≥110 mm Hg during pregnancy and within six weeks
postpartum is recommended. Endometriosis, premature ovarian failure (before 40 years of age),and early-onset menopause (before 45 years of age) are all associated with an increased risk for stroke.
Therefore, screening for all three of these conditions is a
reasonable step in the evaluation and management of vascular risk
factors in these individuals to reduce stroke risk. Finally, the authors
recommend that understanding transgender health is essential to truly
inclusive clinical practice.
Treatment of acute stroke, before a distinction can be made between
ischemic and haemorrhagic types, is challenging. This randomised
controlled trial4
studied whether very early blood-pressure control in the ambulance
improves outcomes among patients with undifferentiated acute stroke.
The subjects were 2404 Chinese patients with mean age of 70 years
with stroke that caused a motor deficit and with elevated systolic blood
pressure (≥150 mm Hg). The authors randomly assigned patients who were
assessed in the ambulance within two hours after the onset of symptoms,
to receive immediate treatment to lower the systolic blood pressure
(target range, 130 to 140 mm Hg) (intervention group) or usual
blood-pressure management (usual-care group).
The results were that prehospital BP reduction did not
improve functional outcomes. Interestingly, 46.5 per cent subsequently
received a diagnosis of haemorrhagic stroke.
Inflammation has been associated with incidence and recurrence of
stroke, and risk of stroke was reduced in patients who have coronary
artery disease and who were treated with colchicine. This multicentre,
double blind, randomised, placebo controlled trial from China5
looked to assess the efficacy and safety of colchicine versus placebo
on reducing the risk of subsequent stroke after high risk
non-cardioembolic ischaemic stroke or transient ischaemic attack within
the first three months of symptom onset.
The participants were 8,343 patients aged 40 years of age or older.
Patients were randomly assigned 1:1 within 24h of symptom onset to
receive colchicine (0.5 mg twice daily on days 1-3, followed by 0.5 mg
daily thereafter) or placebo for 90 days. Unfortunately, no differences were noted in treatment effects on subsequent stroke between the low dose colchicine and the placebo groups.
Increasingly, the effects of global warming are resulting in extremes of heat. This ecological study6 considered
what is the burden of stroke worldwide associated with extremes in
temperature. The authors collected data from the Global Burden of
Diseases Study 2019, the Climate Research Unit Gridded Time Series, and
the World Bank database to estimate stroke burden attributable to
nonoptimal temperature and its distributional characteristics at the
global, regional, and national levels. The conclusion was that
the burden of stroke attributable to nonoptimal temperature conditions
continued to increase, and aging was a key factor in this increase.
In 2019, 521,031 deaths and 9,423,649 disability adjusted life years
(DALYs) were attributable to stroke due to nonoptimal temperature
globally.
Anecdotally I know two persons with Ph.Ds; one which got full blown Alzheimers and the other now having MCI. I don't even have a masters, so this is concerning to me.
Summary: A recent study explored whether additional
years of education lead to long-term changes in brain structure,
especially in protecting against brain aging. Analyzing data from a
unique natural experiment involving nearly 30,000 individuals,
researchers found no detectable impact on brain structure from an
additional year of education.
Although education is linked to
better cognitive skills and health, it does not appear to alter the
brain’s physical structure in the long run. Researchers suggest that any
initial structural impact may be temporary or too small to detect with
MRI technology. These findings highlight the need for caution when
linking education directly to brain structure based on correlations
alone.
Key Facts:
Education correlates with cognitive and health benefits but shows no lasting effect on brain structure.
The study used a natural experiment, comparing brain scans from individuals with and without an additional year of school.
The impact of education on brain structure may be temporary or microscopic, evading MRI detection.
Source: Radboud University
It is
well-known that education has many positive effects. People who spend
more time in school are generally healthier, smarter, and have better
jobs and higher incomes than those with less education.
However,
whether prolonged education actually causes changes in brain structure
over the long term and protects against brain aging, was still unknown.
The
researchers examined the MRI scans for the structure of various brain
regions, but they found no differences between those who attended school
longer and those who did not. Credit: Neuroscience News
It
is challenging to study this, because alongside education, many other
factors influence brain structure, such as the conditions under which
someone grows up, DNA traits, and environmental pollution.
Nonetheless, researchers Rogier Kievit (PI of the Lifespan Cognitive
Dynamics lab) and Nicholas Judd from Radboudumc and the Donders
Institute found a unique opportunity to very precisely examine the
effects of an extra year of education.
Aging
In
1972, a change in the law in the United Kingdom raised the number of
mandatory school years from fifteen to sixteen, while all other
circumstances remained constant. This created an interesting ‘natural
experiment’, an event not under the control of researchers which divides
people into an exposed and unexposed group.
Data from
approximately 30,000 people who attended school around that time,
including MRI scans taken much later (46 years after), is available.
This dataset is the world’s largest collection of brain imaging data.
The
researchers examined the MRI scans for the structure of various brain
regions, but they found no differences between those who attended school
longer and those who did not.
‘This surprised us’, says Judd.
‘We
know that education is beneficial, and we had expected education to
provide protection against brain aging. Aging shows up in all of our MRI
measures, for instance we see a decline in total volume, surface area,
cortical thickness, and worse water diffusion in the brain. However, the
extra year of education appears to have no effect here.’
Brain structure
It’s possible that the brain looked different immediately after the extra year of education, but that wasn’t measured.
‘Maybe
education temporarily increases brain size, but it returns to normal
later. After all, it has to fit in your head’, explains Kievit.
‘It
could be like sports: if you train hard for a year at sixteen, you’ll
see a positive effect on your muscles, but fifty years later, that
effect is gone.’
It’s also possible that extra education only produces microscopic changes in the brain, which are not visible with MRI.
Both
in this study and in other, smaller studies, links have been found
between more education and brain benefits. For example, people who
receive more education have stronger cognitive abilities, better health,
and a higher likelihood of employment. However, this is not visible in
brain structure via MRI.
Kievit notes: ‘Our study shows that one
should be cautious about assigning causation when only a correlation is
observed. Although we also see correlations between education and the
brain, we see no evidence of this in brain structure.’
About this brain aging and cognition research news
Author: Pauline Dekhuijzen Source: Radboud University Contact: Pauline Dekhuijzen – Radboud University Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News
With your elevated chances of dementia
post stroke, your competent? doctor and hospital are responsible for preventing that!
Have they taken on that responsibility to check if this would help diagnose dementia post stroke? Or are they DOING NOTHING?
With your chances of getting dementia post stroke, you need prevention solutions. YOUR DOCTOR IS RESPONSIBLE FOR PREVENTING THIS!
A consortium of 46 international Alzheimer’s disease experts issued revised guidelines for disease diagnosis.Image: Adobe Stock
“These recommendations are the collaborative effort of 46
international experts who emphasize that diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease
should primarily rely on clinical evaluation supported by biomarkers,” Bruno Dubois, MD, MSc,
of the Institute of Memory and Alzheimer’s disease in the department of
neurology at Salpetriere Hospital in Paris, said in a release related
to the guidelines, which were published in JAMA Neurology.
Key takeaways:
The guidance outlines core biomarkers for Alzheimer’s, including cerebrospinal fluid, evidence of tau protein and amyloid-beta.
It also includes three new terms for stages of disease progression.
The International Working Group has updated diagnostic guidelines for
Alzheimer’s disease to include individuals with normal cognition who
test positive for core biomarkers indicative of disease pathology.
The recommendations, which revise the organization’s 2021 guidelines,
were presented at the 2024 Clinical Trials on Alzheimer’s Disease
(CTAD) conference in Madrid. They permit that biological evidence may
not be the sole manner in which AD can be defined,
with core biomarkers being cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), amyloid-beta and
tau, as well as plasma phosphorylated tau 217 (pTau-217) found via
positron emission tomography.
The revisions were also intended to separate patients into two
groups: individuals who display typical AD-related symptoms along with
evidence of disease-specific biomarkers who are diagnosed with AD vs.
those who have evidence of disease-specific biomarkers but no symptoms which predict eventual disease progression, Dubois added.
The guidelines additionally encourage clinicians to embrace three specific terms relating to disease pathology and progression.
Those deemed asymptomatic but at risk for AD:(We stroke survivors are at risk)
are cognitively normal but are at elevated risk for becoming cognitively impaired due to unknown risk from a biomarker profile;
are at increased risk for progression to cognitive impairment compared to those without biomarker presence; and
should not be defined as having the condition.
Individuals found to have presymptomatic AD:
are cognitively normal individuals who show a pattern of
biomarkers consistent with a very high risk for progression to cognitive
impairment;
possess dominant genetic variations associated with a 100% risk for development to clinical AD such as APP, PSEN1 and PSEN2; and
demonstrate biomarker changes, coupled with genetic risk
factors, associated with elevated risk for clinical AD development such
as those confirmed by PET.
Those with AD:
are cognitively impaired individuals with specific clinical
phenotypes including aphasia, cortical atrophy along with behavioral or
executive dysfunction;
test positive for AD-related pathology through analysis of plasma biomarkers, CSF or PET; and
show signs of the above in the prodromal and dementia stages of disease.
“Further developing brain health services for the prevention of
dementia could lead to better evaluation of risk, communication of risk
and risk reduction strategies targeting modifiable risk factors,” Giovanni B. Frisoni, MD, professor in the department of psychiatry at Geneva University Hospital in Switzerland, said in the release.
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