Compounds from apples may boost brain function

 

Will your doctors and stroke hospital DO ONE DAMN THING to get this tested in  live humans AND CREATE STROKE PROTOCOLS on this? With no protocols there is no idea how much to consume or whether these compounds can survive the gut and even get into the brain. Don't do anything with this on your own.

Your competent? doctor created protocols on phytonutrients immediately upon reading this, correct? Oh, no, YOU DON'T HAVE A FUNCTIONING STROKE DOCTOR, DO YOU?

Science Says You Can Reverse the Aging Process by Three Years in Just Eight Weeks May 2021

Compounds from apples may boost brain function

MedicalXpress Breaking News-and-Events|February 11, 2021

Natural compounds found in apples and other fruits may help stimulate the production of new brain cells, which may have implications for learning and memory, according to a new study in mice published in Stem Cell Reports.

Chemical substances found in plants, so-called phytonutrients, such as resveratrol in red grapes or epigallo-catechin-3-gallate (EGCG) in green tea, can have positive effects on different parts of the body including the brain. Researchers Tara Louise Walker, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia and Gerd Kempermann, German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases, Dresden, Germany, and colleagues found that high concentrations of phytonutrients from apples stimulate the generation of new neurons, a process called neurogenesis.

The study showed that laboratory-grown stem cells from adult mouse brains generated more neurons and were protected from cell death when quercetin or dihydroxybezoic acid (DHBA), phytonutrients commonly found in apples, were added to the cultures(lab testing, not live animals). Subsequent tests in mice showed that in distinct structures of the adult brain associated with learning and memory, stem cells multiplied and generated more neurons when the mice were given high doses of quercetin or DHBA. The effects on neurogenesis were comparable to effects seen after physical exercise, a known stimulus for neurogenesis.

ADVERTISEMENT -SCROLL TO KEEP READINGThis study suggests that natural compounds in fruits, such as quercetin, DHBA and potentially others, may act in synergy to promote neurogenesis and brain function when given in high concentrations.

Future studies will be required to determine if these and other phytonutrients can enhance learning and cognitive function in animal models and in humans.

Provided by International Society for Stem Cell Research

—International Society for Stem Cell Research

To read more, click here

 

Some people without CVD may benefit from aspirin regimen

I have no idea what to say here so go ask your doctor for that personalized benefit-harm analysis, which if she was any good at all would suggest it to you before you tell her about it. 

Some people without CVD may benefit from aspirin regimen

Kostis JB. Ann Intern Med. 2019;doi:10.7326/M19-2045.
Selak V, et al. Ann Intern Med. 2019;doi:10.7326/M19-1132.

September 16, 2019

If one CVD event was considered to be equivalent to one major bleed, 2.5% of women and 12.1% of men without CVD were likely to have a 5-year net benefit from an aspirin regimen, researchers reported in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
If one CVD event was considered to be equivalent to two major bleeds, the percentage of people without CVD with a net benefit from a 5-year aspirin regimen rose to 21.4% of women and 40.7% of men.

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Those who would benefit from aspirin “could be identified by using a personalized benefit-harm analysis, and sharing the findings of such an analysis with patients might support more informed decision-making,” Vanessa Selak, MBChB, PhD, senior lecturer in epidemiology, biostatistics and public health at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, and colleagues wrote.
Selak and colleagues analyzed 245,028 people (44% women) who were part of the PREDICT electronic decision-support program used in certain primary care practices in New Zealand. All participants were aged 30 to 79 years, did not have CVD at baseline and received a CVD risk assessment between 2012 and 2016.
Personalized predictions
The researchers calculated the proportional effect of aspirin on CVD and bleeding risk using data from a meta-analysis of 13 randomized controlled trials of aspirin for primary prevention. From there, the researchers developed a personalized prediction model, calculating the net effect by subtracting the predicted reduction in CVD events from the predicted increase in major bleeds during 5-year aspirin use.
The model assumed one CVD event was equivalent to one major bleed, but a sensitivity analysis was conducted assuming one CVD event was equivalent to two major bleeds.
Participants were stratified by those who had net benefit (net effect score of less than –1), equipoise (net effect score of –1 to 1) or net harm (net effect score of 2 or more). In some analyses, patients were further stratified into substantial net benefit (net effect score of –5 or less) or substantial net harm (net effect score of 5 or greater).

 

If one CVD event was considered to be equivalent to one major bleed, 2.5% of women and 12.1% of men without CVD were likely to have a 5-year net benefit from an aspirin regimen.

Source: Adobe Stock

Compared with those who had net harm from aspirin use, those who had net benefit were older had greater baseline risk for CVD and bleeding, had higher systolic BP and had a higher ratio of total cholesterol to HDL, Selak and colleagues wrote.
The net benefit group compared with the net harm group also were more likely to be current smokers, to have diabetes and to be taking BP or lipid-lowering medication, according to the researchers.
In contrast, they wrote, the net harm group was more likely than the net benefit group to have a history of cancer, major bleeding, peptic ulcer disease or alcohol-related conditions and to be taking drugs for peptic ulcer disease or other drugs known to increase bleeding risk.
“For some persons without CVD, aspirin is likely to result in net benefit,” Selak and colleagues wrote.
Balancing risks, benefits
In a related editorial, John B. Kostis, MD, director of the Cardiovascular Institute of New Jersey, associate dean for cardiovascular research, John G. Detwiler Professor of Cardiology and professor of medicine and pharmacology at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical Center, wrote: “Establishing firm, evidence-based recommendations for aspirin use in primary prevention is difficult. It seems reasonable to recommend aspirin for the primary prevention of CVD in select patients, including those who are at high risk for CVD, provided that the bleeding risk is low, as evidenced by a history of bleeding and comorbid conditions.” – by Erik Swain
Disclosures: The authors report no relevant financial disclosures.

Relationship between body mass index and rehabilitation outcomes in subacute stroke with dysphagia

I have no idea what this is trying to say. This research is pretty useless with the Barthel scales also being subjective. 

Relationship between body mass index and rehabilitation outcomes in subacute stroke with dysphagia

Morone, Giovanni MD, PhD; Iosa, Marco PhD; Paolucci, Teresa MD, PhD; Muzzioli, Luca MS; Paolucci, Stefano MD

American Journal of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation: July 2019 - Volume 98 - Issue 7 - p 608–612

doi: 10.1097/PHM.0000000000001159

Original Research Articles

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• Abstract
• Author Information
• Article Metrics

Objective The aim of the study was to investigate the association between body mass index and rehabilitation outcome in hemiparetic patients with stroke in subacute phase.
Design This was a prospective study testing the correlation between body mass index and the effectiveness of rehabilitation, measured using Barthel Index scores. We enrolled patients with subacute stroke (n = 664; age, 68 ± 14 yrs; length of hospital stay, 84 ± 34 days). We assessed the body mass index and Barthel Index both at admission and discharge. The effectiveness of rehabilitation was computed as the percentage increment in Barthel Index score with respect to the maximum achievable improvement.
Results Effectiveness of rehabilitation was significantly correlated with the body mass index at discharge (R = 0.111, P = 0.004) and percentage change in body mass index (R = 0.253, P < 0.001), but not with body mass index at admission (R = 0.006, P = 0.869).
Conclusions In addition to body mass index value, our findings suggest that rehabilitation outcomes can be influenced by the change in body mass index during rehabilitation.

Copyright © 2019 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.

The Parkinson's Community Can Power New Treatments

But stroke survivors are never talked to, 10 million yearly stroke survivors.  Stroke associations are not there to help survivors, there is no outreach to survivors, they only want money from us. I have no fucking idea why stroke is in their name.  

So when you get Parkinsons as a result of your stroke you will have better care than with your stroke. Makes you feel good, doesn't it?

Parkinson’s Disease May Have Link to Stroke March 2017

 

The Parkinson's Community Can Power New Treatments

When it comes to developing new Parkinson's treatments, it's crucial to understand the experiences of people living with the disease every day.

That's why The Michael J. Fox Foundation launched Fox Insight, an online clinical study built to learn more about life with Parkinson's directly from people living with PD. Now, this information -- all fully de-identified to protect privacy -- is accessible to qualified researchers through the Fox Insight Data Exploration Network (Fox DEN), allowing the patient experience to accelerate Parkinson's research.

Researchers can use the data contributed by Fox Insight volunteers to prioritize treatments for unmet needs. When you join Fox Insight, you may also be eligible to receive access to the 23andMe Health + Ancestry Service at no cost, and add your genetic data to the study.

Join us now to help advance Parkinson's breakthroughs.

 

This email was sent by:
The Michael J. Fox Foundation
Grand Central Station, P.O. Box 4777
New York, NY 10163-4777
1-800-708-7644

 

tPA Before Stroke Intervention: Perfusion 'Almost Never Complete'

No idea what we should be talking to our stroke doctors about on this news. tPA has been known to be a failure at complete recovery since it was approved in 1996, tPA at 12% full effectiveness.
https://www.medpagetoday.com/cardiology/pci/73970? 

Angiographic success often still followed by endovascular tx

• by Nicole Lou, Reporter, MedPage Today/CRTonline.org July 11, 2018

Thrombolytics given before endovascular therapy rarely open up the occlusion enough to obviate the procedure, according to a study of stroke patients at a comprehensive stroke center in Switzerland.

Reperfusion with tissue-type plasminogen activator (tPA) alone was complete -- Thrombolysis in Cerebral Infarction (TICI) grade 3 perfusion -- in only one such case out of 627, Urs Fischer, MD, MSc, of Switzerland's University of Bern, Inselspital, and colleagues, reported online in Stroke

.

Overall, 10.7% of patients who got angiography with an intention to perform endovascular therapy had a change of occlusion site. These changes reached:

• TICI 0/1 perfusion in 2.7%
• TICI ≥2a in 6.2%
• TICI ≥2b in 2.9%

However, 51.3% of those who reached TICI 2a or better with tPA alone still got subsequent endovascular therapy in the form of stent retriever-based thrombectomy, intra-arterial thrombolysis, or both.

Those who reached TICI 2a reperfusion with lytic bridging before endovascular treatment trended, albeit nonsignificantly, towards more favorable outcomes (modified Rankin Scale score 2 and below, adjusted OR 2.65, 95% CI 0.98-7.17). However, final reperfusion success was less often a complete TICI 3 in patients with pre-interventional changes at the occlusion site than in peers without (17.9% versus 41.8%, P<0.001).

Significant predictors of perfusion reaching TICI 2a or better were:

• IV tPA: adjusted OR 11.98
• Cardiogenic thrombus origin: adjusted OR 2.3
• Thrombus length: adjusted OR 0.926 per 1 mm increase

In the 2.2% of cases where the occlusion was located in the internal carotid artery and proximal M1 segments, perfusion actually worsened with tPA (adjusted OR 4.33, 95% CI 1.12-16.80), perhaps by promoting clot fragmentation, Fischer's group suggested. Overall, perfusion grade worsened in 1.8% of patients with pre-interventional lytics.

"Obviously, intravenous tPA in a drip-and-ship scenario should not be withheld or delayed, because reperfusion, if achieved, may occur decisively earlier than with subsequent ET [endovascular therapy]," they wrote. "In contrast, in patients admitted directly to a comprehensive stroke center with access to ET, the value of pre-interventional IV tPA to facilitate reperfusion is less clear considering the substantially shorter time intervals."

"Because reperfusion of large vessel occlusion after IV tPA was shown to be time-dependent, reperfusion may not occur early enough, that is, before the start of thrombectomy, and therefore in patients with direct access to endovascular treatment, the prevalence, and extent of pre-interventional reperfusion associated with intravenous tPA deserves further evaluation," they said.

The study of stroke patients with immediate access to endovascular treatment was based on Bernese Stroke registry enrollees who were admitted directly to a comprehensive stroke center (n=627).

Fischer and colleagues pointed out that the non-randomized nature of their study left an inherent possibility of bias for giving tPA to select patients and noted that the decision to pursue endovascular therapy after tPA was left up to individual operators.

The study was supported by the Swiss Stroke Society, the Bangerter Foundation, and the Swiss Academy of Medical Sciences through the "Young Talents in Clinical Research" program.

Fischer disclosed serving as a global PI for Medtronic's SWIFT DIRECT study.

• Primary Source

  Stroke

  Source Reference: Kaesmacher J, et al "Rates and quality of preinterventional reperfusion in patients with direct access to endovascular treatment" Stroke 2018; DOI: 10.1161/STROKEAHA.118.021579.

Effect of Exercises Using a Robotic Knee Orthosis (RKO) on Hemiplegic Stroke Patients

No idea what a RKO is or looks like or what disability requirements would suggest its use. So ask your doctor.  Once again pointing out the complete failure of having NO diagnosis stroke protocols that point to rehabilitation intervention stroke protocols.  You are fucking screwed since your doctor and therapists are 'winging it' for everything related to stroke and your recovery.

http://search.naric.com/research/rehab/redesign_record.cfm?search=2&type=all&criteria=I243358&phrase=no&rec=243358&article_source=CIRRIE&international=1&international_language=&international_location=
Rigakuryoho Kagaku , Volume 31(5) , Pgs. 711-714.

NARIC Accession Number: I243358.  What's this?
Author(s): SHUHEI IIDA; TATSUYA WATANABE; DAI KAWAKITA; TAKUYA FUJITA; KIKUKO IKEDA; CHIKARA AOKI.
Publication Year: 2016.
Abstract: The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of a Robotic Knee Orthosis (RKO) exercise on stroke patients with hemiplegia, using an ABA-type single case study. Participants were 5 hemiplegic stroke patients in a recovery rehabilitation unit. The ABA design consisted of Phase A (normal exercise) and phase B (RKO exercise). This study was performed for 30 days with 10 days of each phase. The evaluation items were transfer and gait abilities, degree of hemiplegia, sensory dysfunction, the Berg Balance Scale, stride length, step length, and the time of one-leg support. The items were evaluated 4 times: before A1, after A1, after B, and after A2. The 10-meter gait time was evaluated 5 times in each phase, for a total of 15 times. The results were compared using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). The Berg Balance Scale, stride length, step length, one-leg support time, and the 10-meter gait time improved in phase B. These results suggest the RKO exercise is effective for stroke patients.
Descriptor Terms: Hemiplegia, Knee, Orthotics, Robotics.
Language: Japanese
Geographic Location(s): Japan, East & Southeast Asia.

Can this document be ordered through NARIC's document delivery service*?: Request Information.
Get this Document: https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/rika/31/5/31_711/_pdf.

Citation: SHUHEI IIDA, TATSUYA WATANABE, DAI KAWAKITA, TAKUYA FUJITA, KIKUKO IKEDA, CHIKARA AOKI. (2016). Effect of Exercises Using a Robotic Knee Orthosis (RKO) on Hemiplegic Stroke Patients.  脳血管障害片麻痺患者に対する Robotics Knee Orthosisを使用した練習の効果.  Rigakuryoho Kagaku , 31(5), Pgs. 711-714. Retrieved 8/10/2017, from REHABDATA database.

Enhanced Thalamic Functional Connectivity with No fMRI Responses to Affected Forelimb Stimulation in Stroke-Recovered Rats

No idea how anything here could be used to help your recovery.
http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fncir.2016.00113/full?

Woo H. Shim^1,2,3,4†, Ji-Yeon Suh^1,4†, Jeong K. Kim¹, Jaeseung Jeong^3* and Young R. Kim^4*

• ¹Department of Radiology, ASAN Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Ulsan, South Korea
• ²ASAN Institute for Life Sciences, ASAN Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Ulsan, South Korea
• ³Department of Bio and Brain Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon, South Korea
• ⁴Department of Radiology, Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA

Neurological recovery after stroke has been extensively investigated to provide better understanding of neurobiological mechanism, therapy, and patient management. Recent advances in neuroimaging techniques, particularly functional MRI (fMRI), have widely contributed to unravel the relationship between the altered neural function and stroke-affected brain areas. As results of previous investigations, the plastic reorganization and/or gradual restoration of the hemodynamic fMRI responses to neural stimuli have been suggested as relevant mechanisms underlying the stroke recovery process. However, divergent study results and modality-dependent outcomes have clouded the proper interpretation of variable fMRI signals. Here, we performed both evoked and resting state fMRI (rs-fMRI) to clarify the link between the fMRI phenotypes and post-stroke functional recovery. The experiments were designed to examine the altered neural activity within the contra-lesional hemisphere and other undamaged brain regions using rat models with large unilateral stroke, which despite the severe injury, exhibited nearly full recovery at ∼6 months after stroke. Surprisingly, both blood oxygenation level-dependent and blood volume-weighted (CBVw) fMRI activities elicited by electrical stimulation of the stroke-affected forelimb were completely absent, failing to reveal the neural origin of the behavioral recovery. In contrast, the functional connectivity maps showed highly robust rs-fMRI activity concentrated in the contra-lesional ventromedial nucleus of thalamus (VM). The negative finding in the stimuli-induced fMRI study using the popular rat middle cerebral artery model denotes weak association between the fMRI hemodynamic responses and neurological improvement. The results strongly caution the indiscreet interpretation of stroke-affected fMRI signals and demonstrate rs-fMRI as a complementary tool for efficiently characterizing stroke recovery.

Introduction

Ischemic stroke impairs neurovascular and metabolic functions in the brain and causes neurologic disabilities. Although severely damaged neurons fail to regenerate at the cortical level, interestingly, lost or compromised sensorimotor functions often recover at later stages of stroke. One of the restorative mechanisms underlying such recovery has been linked with the brain plasticity, the brain’s ability to reconstruct neural pathways and synapses in response to the loss of function (Kalénine et al., 2010; Heiss and Kidwell, 2014; Furlan et al., 2015). Despite the high interest and recent efforts, it is as yet unclear whether (or how) the stroke-affected brain areas functionally reposition in unaffected regions and/or reform connections with other brain areas to compensate for the impaired functions.

For identifying brain regions associated with restorative processes, task/stimulus-induced functional MRI (fMRI) has been frequently used to visualize brain activities associated with the neurologic recovery (for review see references Macey et al., 2015; Tang et al., 2015). More recently, resting state fMRI (rs-fMRI) has also provided a platform to explore spatiotemporal changes in neural connection across a wide range of brain regions. In general, by exploiting the temporal correlation of blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) fMRI signals, the rs-fMRI has become an important method to assess the in vivo neuro-network (Carter et al., 2012; Grefkes and Fink, 2014; Thiel and Vahdat, 2015). Previous rs-fMRI investigations have reported that post-stroke loss and recovery of functions were associated with deterioration and subsequent retrieval of functional connectivity in the neural system, especially the interhemispheric connectivity changes (van Meer et al., 2010, 2012; Park et al., 2011). Based on these findings, alterations in the functional fields identified by either evoked fMRI or neural connectivity have been linked with the post-stroke functional recovery.

Past fMRI observations have suggested that remaining brain tissue, particularly the augmented neural activity in the contra-laterally homologous regions likely accounts for the restored sensorimotor function after stroke (Carey et al., 2002; Calautti and Baron, 2003). Typically, the assumption of intact neurovascular coupling underpins the interpretation of altered fMRI signals (Dijkhuizen et al., 2001; Kim et al., 2005). However, this link was challenged by us using multi-faceted fMRI measurements, in which the BOLD/CBV response ratio was significantly smaller in the stroke rats compared to the normal controls (Kim et al., 2005, 2006). Moreover, unclear relationship between fMRI and neurological recovery (i.e., complete absence of fMRI responses corresponding to the behavioral recovery) and questionable baseline physiology (e.g., choice of anesthesia) confounded the clear understanding of previous study results. (Weber et al., 2008; van Meer et al., 2010, 2012) The current study was designed to compare the functional fields and signal amplitudes acquired from both evoked fMRI and rs-fMRI in the stroke rat models exhibiting nearly full neurological recovery. Only using rats with large unilateral lesion encompassing most of the sensory and parts of the motor areas, the study focused on the role of sensorimotor activities in the contra-lesional hemisphere.

We hypothesized that in the chronic phase of stroke recovery, reinforced neural connections among the remaining intact brain regions are utilized more than the simple functional replacement and/or expansion of evoked activation toward the contra-lesional hemisphere. A well-established fMRI protocol with electrical stimulation of the rat forelimb was used to define the active sensorimotor brain regions (Dijkhuizen et al., 2003; Kim et al., 2005) while the BOLD rs-fMRI was used to investigate the functional connectivity networks. Noting that the proper brain function requires not only localized activation but also the integration of neural activities across multiple brain regions, the current study may elucidate the relationship between the different fMRI approaches to improve our understanding of the post-stroke recovery process and offer clues to the underlying neurobiological mechanisms.

More at link.