Changing stroke rehab and research worldwide now.Time is Brain! trillions and trillions of neurons that DIE each day because there are NO effective 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.

Showing posts with label Social environment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Social environment. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 19, 2019

Need a reason to celebrate National Wine Day? Here are 5

Don't do this, your doctor will never recommend wine regardless of what research says.   Your doctor will instead maybe point to this:

Ask Well: Health Benefits of Red Wine vs. Grape Juice

Which doesn't address the social connections at all.  And just to me the social connections are everything that makes life better and lack of recovery bearable.   Only split 3 bottles of red wine with a friend tonight. In preparation for the upcoming Italian trip. Practice is needed.

 

Need a reason to celebrate National Wine Day? Here are 5


Liz Meszaros, MDLinx | February 18, 2019
For thousands of years, wine has been a part of the human experience. The earliest evidence of wine production dates back to 4,100 BC in Armenia. Since then, this beverage, made from fermented grapes, has held a place in social, religious, and medicinal practices throughout the world.    
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The Greeks worshipped Dionysus (Bacchus), the god of the grape harvest, winemaking, and wine. Maybe they already knew what we are just beginning to prove: wine may be good for the body.
Only recently have researchers begun to find evidence of the possible therapeutic benefits wine may have. Although wine’s benefits for the cardiovascular system are well known, it’s not the only body system that may benefit.
To celebrate National Drink Wine Day 2019, here’s a list of some of the positive health effects wine may have.
Heart health. Although researchers have not directly assessed the specific effects of wine on the risk of developing heart disease or stroke, there is evidence that the incidence of heart disease in people who drink moderate amounts of alcohol is lower than in those who do not drink.
In some observational studies, drinking red wine—and other alcoholic beverages—was associated with an increase in high-density lipoproteins, decreased blood clot formation, and decreased vascular damage caused by low-density lipoproteins. This may be due, in part, to resveratrol, which is a polyphenol found in red wine.

“Drinking a glass of wine is good for the heart in the sense that the main mechanism by which alcohol protects the heart is increasing good cholesterol. The grape skin provides flavonoids and other antioxidant substances that protect the heart and vessels from the damaging effects of free oxygen radicals produced by our body,” Prakash Deedwania, MD, chief, Cardiology Division, and professor of medicine, University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine, San Francisco, CA, told the American Heart Association (AHA).
Although the AHA does not currently recommend drinking wine or any other alcoholic beverage to lower cardiovascular risk, it does strongly advise moderation should you choose to do so. This translates to an average of one to two drinks per day for men, and one drink per day for women.
Glycemic health. The cardiovascular protections red wine may afford could be especially valuable in patients with diabetes.
Alcoholic beverages, including wine, can lower blood sugar levels. Further, both the American Diabetes Association and the AHA recommend the Mediterranean diet—which includes moderate wine consumption—for those with type 2 diabetes who wish to improve their glycemic control and lower cardiovascular risk factors. A higher adherence to this diet is associated with a 20%-23% reduction in the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, with a 28% to 30% reduced risk of cardiovascular events.
“This is particularly true for diabetics because they have been shown to have a high production of free oxygen radicals.  But we don’t have any evidence specifically related to diabetes patients,” said Dr.  Deedwania.
Gastrointestinal health. Researchers recently reported on the health benefits of fermented foods, which included wine. The fermentation process may actually enhance the nutritive and health-regulating properties of foods, they noted. Fermented foods can also be an important source of live microorganisms, and many of the species found in these foods are phylogenetically related to probiotics.
“Fermented foods and beverages were among the first processed food products consumed by humans…Although only a limited number of clinical studies on fermented foods have been performed, there is evidence that these foods provide health benefits well-beyond the starting food materials,” researchers concluded.
Respiratory health. Another polyphenol found in red wine, ellagic acid, may inhibit the proliferation of lung cancer cells via induction of autophagy. Ellagic acid also demonstrates anti-lung cancer effects in vitro and in vivo, according to a recent study in the Journal of Cellular and Molecular Medicine. In previous studies, researchers have shown that ellagic acid is a potent antioxidant and may have preventive effects in several types of cancer.

Brain health. Low levels of alcohol consumption may reduce inflammation and help the brain clear toxins, including ones associated with Alzheimer’s disease, according to a recent study published in Scientific Reports.
“Prolonged intake of excessive amounts of ethanol is known to have adverse effects on the central nervous system,” said lead author Maiken Nedergaard, MD, DMSc, co-director, Center for Translational Neuromedicine, Department of Neurosurgery, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY.  “However, in this study we have shown for the first time that low doses of alcohol are potentially beneficial to brain health, namely it improves the brain’s ability to remove waste.”
Dr. Nedergaard and colleagues found that mice exposed to low levels of alcohol consumption (about 2.5 drinks/day) had less inflammation in the brain and were more efficient at removing waste from their brains compared with controls.
“Studies have shown that low-to-moderate alcohol intake is associated with a lesser risk of dementia, while heavy drinking for many years confers an increased risk of cognitive decline. This study may help explain why this occurs. Specifically, low doses of alcohol appear to benefit overall brain health,” noted Dr. Nedergaard.
Perhaps it was no accident that Louis Pasteur, considered by some to be the father of immunology, held wine in the highest esteem, and went as far as to say: “Wine is the most healthful and most hygienic of beverages.”
Or perhaps Ernest Hemingway said it best: “Wine is one of the most civilized things in the world and one of the most natural things of the world that has been brought to the greatest perfection, and it offers a greater range for enjoyment and appreciation than, possibly, any other purely sensory thing.”
The Greeks worshipped Dionysus (Bacchus), the god of wine. Maybe they already knew what we are just beginning to prove: wine may be good for the body and mind.
If you plan on celebrating National Drink Wine Day today, remember to always drink in moderation.

Monday, November 19, 2018

Mortality Following Trajectories of Mobility Limitations: The Modifying Impact of Social Factors

The abstract told me nothing so your doctor will need to determine what social factors prevent this mortality and create a stroke protocol for you to follow. That will never occur so your doctor will be complicit in your death.  To prevent these mobility limitations your doctor needs to have stroke protocols that get you 100% recovered. Not guidelines, PROTOCOLS!

Mortality Following Trajectories of Mobility Limitations: The Modifying Impact of Social Factors 


First Published November 15, 2018 Research Article
Objective: How are trajectories of mobility limitations (MLs) among older adults associated with mortality? Do social factors modify these associations?  
Method: Group-based trajectory modeling was used to identify four trajectories of MLs over a period of 4.5 years among 3,055 older Danes. Mortality analyses were conducted using additive hazard regression models.  
Results: Compared to older adults without MLs, older adults with high level of MLs who experienced further increase in MLs were associated with the most additional deaths followed by older adults with no MLs at baseline who later experienced limitations and older adults with a medium ML level at baseline who later experienced further increase in limitations. Men and 80-year olds experienced more additional deaths following adverse ML trajectories than women and 75-year olds.
Discussion: Trajectories that led to higher ML levels were associated with most additional deaths especially among men and in the oldest age group.

Thursday, September 7, 2017

Stroke can result in substantial changes to people's social networks, says new study

It should result in no change to your social networks except when your doctors fail at getting you 100% recovered. This secondary problem wouldn't exist if we had stroke protocols to get everyone 100% recovered.  I don't care how fucking big that BHAG(Big Hairy Audacious Goal) is. If that is not your doctors', therapists' and hospitals' goal then you need to fire them and publicly point out how incompetent they are.  Yeah, I'm a real bastard about this subject, but so what? No mention of

Aristotle believes that there are three different kinds of friendship; that of utility, friendship of pleasure, and virtuous friendship. 
and that you will likely lose all of the first two because yof your doctors' failure!




Researchers from City have developed a new framework to explore why people's social networks change following a stroke.
The study, which is published in The Gerontologist, found that following a stroke around one third of participants changed their social type. The most common change was participants moving from a more diverse network with plentiful contact with both family and friends to a family-based network. Such changes were often due to either disability, or due to feelings of depression/hesitancy about leaving home.
As a result, the authors recommend that stroke services should consider the social impact of stroke, and how best to support those in restricted network types in order to reduce the social isolation and loneliness which can follow.
Stroke is a serious, life-threatening condition. Every year around 110,000 people have a stroke in England and it is the third largest cause of death after heart disease and cancer. It is also the leading cause of adult disability in the UK.
Following a stroke, a person is at risk of losing contact with friends and their wider social network. The social relationships a person has can profoundly impact on mood, life satisfaction, and physical health.
To investigate the change in social networks, the City researchers recruited participants from two acute stroke units and they were followed up after two weeks and six months post stroke. In-depth interviews were also conducted 8 to 15 months following the stroke.
Of the recruited participants, 71 were followed up at six months, and 29 completed in-depth interviews. These 29 participants were then classified into one of the following network types both pre-stroke and post stroke: diverse; friends-based; family-based; restricted-supported (participants had limited social ties, but felt well supported by one or two family members, e.g. a grown up child); restricted-unsupported (these participants had limited social ties with no close family).
In particular, the main shift that took place post-stroke was participants moving out of a diverse network into a family-based one. Yet despite the general trend for friendship loss, the friends-based network type appeared relatively stable: these had well-developed friendship circles prior to the stroke, and fewer family resources to turn to. Another trend was that the restricted-unsupported network type, where people had limited social contact, became more populated post stroke, rising from 3 percent pre-stroke to 17% six months post-stroke.
The research found that physical disability, particularly where a person becomes housebound, is an obstacle to maintaining a diverse network. However, other factors also appeared to be important, such as the availability of locally based friends and local supportive groups, as well as the of illness and whether a person felt vulnerable and withdrawn.
Dr Sarah Northcott, lead author of the paper and a Research Fellow based at the Division of Language and Communication Science at City, University of London, said:
"Following a stroke a person's social network is vulnerable to change. This can happen due to the physical and psychological impact of having a stroke, as well as the tendency to lose contact with friends rather than family.
"Our research found that it is not only physical disability that causes a person to shift network type, but also the psychological impact of stroke, such as depression, causing a withdrawal from social interaction. It also highlights the important role that friends and family can play in enabling a person to 'live successfully' following stroke.
"By using our social network framework we hope it will enable people to understand how relationships change following stroke, and provide appropriate support to enable people post- to re-engage socially in a way that's right for them, as well as receive the therapy and emotional support they need."
More information: Sarah Northcott et al. A Typology to Explain Changing Social Networks Post Stroke, The Gerontologist (2017). DOI: 10.1093/geront/gnx011

Journal reference: The Gerontologist search and more info website

Monday, February 29, 2016

Dorsal Raphe Dopamine Neurons Represent the Experience of Social Isolation

Ask your doctor if damage to this area is causing your social isolation. S/he should know at least that much. What is their stroke protocol to fix that problem?
http://www.cell.com/cell/abstract/S0092-8674%2815%2901704-3
Open Access
Open access funded by Medical Research Council

Highlights

  • Dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN) dopamine neurons are sensitive to acute social isolation
  • DRN dopamine neurons release dopamine and glutamate in downstream structures
  • Optical activation induces, whereas inhibition suppresses, a “loneliness-like” state
  • Social rank predicts the behavioral effect induced by optical manipulations

Summary

The motivation to seek social contact may arise from either positive or negative emotional states, as social interaction can be rewarding and social isolation can be aversive. While ventral tegmental area (VTA) dopamine (DA) neurons may mediate social reward, a cellular substrate for the negative affective state of loneliness has remained elusive. Here, we identify a functional role for DA neurons in the dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN), in which we observe synaptic changes following acute social isolation. DRN DA neurons show increased activity upon social contact following isolation, revealed by in vivo calcium imaging. Optogenetic activation of DRN DA neurons increases social preference but causes place avoidance. Furthermore, these neurons are necessary for promoting rebound sociability following an acute period of isolation. Finally, the degree to which these neurons modulate behavior is predicted by social rank, together supporting a role for DRN dopamine neurons in mediating a loneliness-like state.
This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Thursday, October 8, 2015

This Way of Socialising Cuts Depression Risk In Half - Face to face

This probably needs more research to see if this would have the same effect when socializing with other survivors. I know I really didn't feel like talking with other  stroke patients because I didn't know what to discuss. That was when I was still an introvert.
http://www.spring.org.uk/2015/10/this-way-of-socialising-cuts-depression-risk-in-half.php?

Friday, October 2, 2015

Duration of urination does not change with body size

Winner of the Ig Nobel prize in Physics. We need our stroke associations to test if this still holds true in stroke survivors. But I'm not sure how this could be applied to our stroke rehabilitation. I'm sure your doctor won't either.  I'm using it for a conversation starter in my social groups.
http://www.pnas.org/content/111/33/11932.short
  1. David L. Hua,b,1
  1. Edited by David A. Weitz, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, and approved May 14, 2014 (received for review February 6, 2014)

Significance

Animals eject fluids for waste elimination, communication, and defense from predators. These diverse systems all rely on the fundamental principles of fluid mechanics, which we use to predict urination duration across a wide range of mammals. In this study, we report a mathematical model that clarifies misconceptions in urology and unifies the results from 41 independent urological and anatomical studies. The theoretical framework presented may be extended to study fluid ejection from animals, a universal phenomenon that has received little attention.

Abstract

Many urological studies rely on models of animals, such as rats and pigs, but their relation to the human urinary system is poorly understood. Here, we elucidate the hydrodynamics of urination across five orders of magnitude in body mass. Using high-speed videography and flow-rate measurement obtained at Zoo Atlanta, we discover that all mammals above 3 kg in weight empty their bladders over nearly constant duration of 21 ± 13 s. This feat is possible, because larger animals have longer urethras and thus, higher gravitational force and higher flow speed. Smaller mammals are challenged during urination by high viscous and capillary forces that limit their urine to single drops. Our findings reveal that the urethra is a flow-enhancing device, enabling the urinary system to be scaled up by a factor of 3,600 in volume without compromising its function. This study may help to diagnose urinary problems in animals as well as inspire the design of scalable hydrodynamic systems based on those in nature.

Sunday, August 16, 2015

AHA: Social factors could reverse trend of declining US deaths from heart disease, stroke

This shows the complete lack of leadership of our medical professionals, they aren't even acknowledging that there are many medical factors that could reduce deaths from these. This is completely why medical professionals shouldn't even be involved in reports like these. They are way too biased and can't see the forest for the trees.
My comment to this article;
Where is the acknowledgement that solving the neuronal cascade of death in stroke could save many additional lives? Or delivering tPA in the ambulance once we have an objective diagnosis that doesn't require a scan or a neurologist? Maybe the Qualcomm xPrize for the tricorder?
We'll see if they publish it. They didn't publish it.
http://www.healio.com/cardiology/chd-prevention/news/online/%7B699c6353-1d16-4468-bb39-ad6b531c70cc%7D/aha-social-factors-could-reverse-trend-of-declining-us-deaths-from-heart-disease-stroke?utm_source=maestro&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=cardiology%20news
Social determinants such as education, environment, income and race/ethnicity have the potential to reverse the trend of declining mortality from MI, stroke and other heart diseases in the United States, according to a new scientific statement from the American Heart Association.

“The steady decline of death from [CVD] that began in the 1970s might be coming to an end,” Edward P. Havranek, MD, FAHA, cardiologist at Denver Health Medical Center, professor of cardiology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, Denver, and chair of the statement writing group, said in a press release. “Overall population health cannot improve if parts of the population do not benefit from improvements and treatment. Failure to address the social dynamic of [CVD] will compromise the [AHA’s] 2020 Impact Goal to improve [CV] health of all Americans by 20% while reducing deaths from [CVD] and stroke by 20%.”
Advances not shared by all
The prevalence of CVD in the U.S. is predicted to increase by 10% from 2010 to 2030, and the statement authors attributed that in part to “a dramatic rise over the past 25 years in obesity and the hypertension, diabetes and physical inactivity that accompany weight gain.” This, they wrote, may have been caused by “changes in societal and environmental conditions that have led to changes in diet and physical activity. At the same time, there is increasing awareness that the benefits of advances in prevention and treatment have not been shared equally across economic, racial and ethnic groups in the United States.”
Havranek and colleagues summarized the current knowledge on how social factors may influence CVD outcomes and suggested future directions for research.
Lower levels of education are associated with a greater chance of more CVD risk factors, higher risk for CV events and increased rates of CVD mortality. Lower education levels also appear to be associated with lower health literacy, which is itself linked with lower likelihood of receiving interventions to improve self-care behavior, risk factor control and CV outcomes, according to the statement.
Lower levels of income also appear to be associated with worse CVD outcomes, although not in as linear a fashion as that for lower levels of education, the authors wrote.
Nothing written here makes any suggestion that the medical profession has to correct their failures in stroke(12% tPA efficacy and 10% full recovery are complete failures of our medical teams.)
Numerous studies have documented racial discrepancies in U.S. CVD outcomes, Havranek and colleagues wrote. There is evidence of a link between reported racism and high BP or hypertension diagnosis, but “of great concern to society is that healthcare provider bias contributes to the problem,” they wrote. Research on that topic indicates that health care providers are unlikely to exhibit explicit bias but may exhibit implicit bias, including being more likely to incorporate stereotypical assumptions into their decisions and cultivating worse clinical interactions with black patients.
“The concepts of implicit bias and stereotype threat are real phenomena that affect health and disease and may be root causes of disparate care,” Havranek and colleagues wrote. “Effective interventions to improve patient-provider communication and patient satisfaction/trust across racial lines are clearly needed.”
There is a lot of evidence that the socioeconomic level of the neighborhood where a person lives contributes to his or her risk for heart disease, because of “diminished socioeconomic resources, access to healthy foods and resources for physical activity,” Havranek and colleagues wrote. “Proactive efforts to change the built environment may reduce the burden of CVD risk.”
Other social barriers to optimal CVD prevention and treatment include linguistic and cultural differences between patients and providers, and access to CVD and stroke care, according to the statement.
More research needed
The authors called for more research to examine the intergenerational transmission of social disadvantage and its link to CV health; epigenetic and other pathways that link socioeconomic factors with CV outcomes; linguistically and culturally appropriate care; complex interactions between CV health and social factors; and social determinants of health that can be broken down into modifiable risk factors

Tuesday, August 4, 2015

Rehabilitation Interventions for Improving Social Participation After Stroke

I really do hate these meta analysis  researches rather than actually doing field research. But since we don't have a great stroke association sponsoring research we have to take even stuff like this. 

Rehabilitation Interventions for Improving Social Participation After Stroke



A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

  1. Adebimpe O. Obembe, PhD1
  2. Janice J. Eng, PhD1
  1. 1University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
  1. Janice Eng, PhD, Department of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia, T325-2211 Westbrook Mall, Vancouver, BC, V6T 2B5, Canada. Email: janice.eng@ubc.ca

Abstract

Background. Despite the fact that social participation is considered a pivotal outcome of a successful recovery after stroke, there has been little attention on the impact of activities and services on this important domain.
Objective. To present a systematic review and meta-analysis from randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on the effects of rehabilitation interventions on social participation after stroke.
Methods. A total of 8 electronic databases were searched for relevant RCTs that evaluated the effects of an intervention on the outcome of social participation after stroke. Reference lists of selected articles were hand searched to identify further relevant studies. The methodological quality of the studies was assessed using the Physiotherapy Evidence Database Scale. Standardized mean differences (SMDs) and confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated using fixed- and random-effect models.
Results. In all, 24 RCTs involving 2042 stroke survivors were identified and reviewed, and 21 were included in the meta-analysis. There was a small beneficial effect of interventions that utilized exercise on social participation (10 studies; SMD = 0.43; 95% CI = 0.09, 0.78; P = .01) immediately after the program ended. Exercise in combination with other interventions (13 studies; SMD = 0.34; 95% CI = 0.10, 0.58; P = .006) also resulted in beneficial effects. No significant effect was observed for interventions that involved support services over 9 studies (SMD = 0.09 [95% CI = −0.04, 0.21]; I2 = 0%; P = .16).
Conclusions. The included studies provide evidence that rehabilitation interventions may be effective in improving social participation after stroke, especially if exercise is one of the components.

Wednesday, March 11, 2015

The Number of Alcoholic Drinks That Makes You Look More Attractive

Maybe my problem is that I blow past that 250ml point too fast. So by the time I'm 6 hours into the party I'm probably at at least 1000ml. Although hot tubbing it slows down the consumption dramatically since it takes tremendous intellectual ability to keep the glass above the water and level.
http://www.spring.org.uk/2015/03/the-number-of-alcoholic-drinks-that-makes-you-look-more-attractive.php?

Sunday, January 5, 2014

Cribbage

This would be an easy way to get patients to socialize and work on cognition. I think it was Peter Levine who mentioned that the amount of actual therapy each day while in the hospital was appallingly low. Counting, adding, multiplying, recognition of different suits and cards.  Cheap too. All because I've joined a meetup group that plays cribbage every couple of weeks. An added bonus is that its held at a microbrewery. Beer, beer and more beer, I'm working on preventing that dementia.
Card holders available here;
Playing Card Holder Curved Wood Set of 2 

Manual shuffler available here;
Manual Card Shuffler 

Why hasn't your hospital thought of this? Do they even think at all?

Friday, November 15, 2013

Woman's Touch Zaps Man's Opioid System

You'll have to ask your doctor if this is good or bad for your social life. I don't have to worry about this.

Woman's Touch Zaps Man's Opioid System

A couple of paragraphs to tease you.
Endogenous opioid release was diminished in men when they were softly stroked by their female partners, providing a clue to brain mechanisms involved in social relations, a researcher said here.

"[Social] touching deactivates the opioid system," he told attendees at the Society for Neuroscience's annual meeting. Although it may seem paradoxical, it actually confirms earlier studies that had found an inverse relationship between endogenous opioid activity and social success, Tuominen said.
For example, one recent study found deactivation of the opioid system was associated with social acceptance, while others showed increases in opioid activity in the context of social rejection.

The current study, Tuominen said, "may help to understand the complex relationship between psychiatric disorder and problems in social life."

Monday, November 4, 2013

Social environment and neurogenesis in the adult brain

Your doctor needs to find out exactly what social environment is needed for the best neurogenesis. It shouldn't take longer than two weeks to get this implemented in all stroke hospitals.
http://www.frontiersin.org/Journal/abstract/16486
  • 1Department of Psychology & Program in Neuroscience, Florida State University, USA
Adult neurogenesis—the formation of new neurons in adulthood—has been shown to be modulated by a variety of endogenous (e.g. trophic factors, neurotransmitters, and hormones) as well as exogenous (e.g. physical activity and environmental complexity) factors. Research on exogenous modulators of adult neurogenesis has focused primarily on the non-social environment. Most recently, however, a role of the social environment on modulating adult neurogenesis has also been suggested. The present review details the effects of adult-adult (e.g. mating, conspecific exposure, and pheromonal cues) and adult-offspring (e.g. gestation, parenthood, and exposure to offspring) interactions on adult neurogenesis. In addition, the effects of a stressful social environment (e.g. lack of social support and dominant-subordinate interactions) on adult neurogenesis are reviewed. The underlying mechanisms and potential functional significance of adult-generated neurons in mediating social behaviors are also discussed.