AHA Issues Scientific Statement on Virtual Stroke Networks, AI, and Telehealth

 But nothing here acknowledges that they are completely fucking failing at 100% recovery research. 14 references to 'care' meaning THEY AREN'T EVEN TRYING TO SOLVE STROKE TO 100% RECOVERY!

That's how completely fucking useless the AHA/ASA is for stroke survivors!

Dr. Stacey Rosen is president of the American Heart Association for 2025-26; contact me and we can discuss how to improve your stroke association, because right now it is a complete fucking failure! You'll want much better than that when you become the 1 in 4 per WHO that has a stroke. And you have the ability to change the recovery trajectory now! ARE YOU A LEADER OR A MOUSE? 

AHA Issues Scientific Statement on Virtual Stroke Networks, AI, and Telehealth

The AHA scientific statement details how technologic advances in AI and telehealth can support acute stroke identification and triage while emphasizing that these tools should augment, rather than replace, clinical interpretation.

The American Heart Association (AHA) has released a scientific statement on virtual stroke networks and the role of artificial intelligence (AI), mobile imaging applications, and telehealth, as reported in Stroke.

The statement focuses on initial triage, transport, diagnosis, and treatment of stroke, and does not address in-hospital care, recovery, or rehabilitation.

Telestroke networks have increased patient access to care(NOT RECOVERY!) and the use of thrombolysis in underresourced areas, and mobile and broadband technology have expanded telestroke networks outside the hospital. Mobile access to neuroimaging has enabled optimization of transfer and triage decision-making for patients who need neuroendovascular care(NOT RECOVERY!) for acute ischemic stroke, and AI gives nonradiology professionals access to complex neuroimaging results remotely in real time. AI-related challenges include building robust stroke datasets, validating AI applications for acute stroke care(NOT RECOVERY!) safely, and assessing newly designed AI technologies before implementation, the AHA writing group noted.

AI software platforms are intended for triage and do not replace formal interpretations by a radiologist or clinician. “Most AI tools for stroke care(NOT RECOVERY!) in development are in the untested pilot phase and are not ready for widespread clinical use,” the authors cautioned.

 

Clinicians should lead in creating best practices to guide education and implementation of AI-enabled virtual stroke care(NOT RECOVERY!) in compliance with current practices.

Teleproctoring and telerobotics may be practical alternatives in a virtual stroke network, although barriers include lack of sufficient reliable broadband, manual procedural components, and complex postprocedure care(NOT RECOVERY!) needs.

Technologic advances in AI-based applications and mobile health could potentially support acute stroke identification, transfer, triage, and treatment outside the hospital, and in-hospital technology-supported care(NOT RECOVERY!) could improve diagnosis, treatment, prognosis, and monitoring of stroke-related performance, according to the writing group.

Use of AI-based tools in virtual acute stroke networks involves ethical concerns. “The risk of automation bias from passively accepting the outputs of AI algorithms risks dampening acute stroke diagnostic skills for professionals, enhancing disparities in care(NOT RECOVERY!) stemming from biased data sets, and clouding the interpretation and explainability of acute stroke treatment decisions,” the group wrote.

AI health care(NOT RECOVERY!) algorithms can be limited by the quality of the data used for training, as women, underrepresented racial and ethnic groups, and individuals from lower socioeconomic backgrounds frequently are underrepresented in digital health data sets. “AI models should be evaluated for their generalizability across diverse populations, and ongoing bias surveillance throughout the AI life cycle is essential to promote equitable health care(NOT RECOVERY!) outcomes and reduce disparities,” the authors wrote.

Access, outcomes, and cost should be considered during research into the use and implementation of these new technologies. Cost-efficiency analyses should be conducted on AI-applied health care(NOT RECOVERY!) delivery compared with standard health care(NOT RECOVERY!) delivery models.

“Clinicians should lead in creating best practices to guide education and implementation of AI-enabled virtual stroke care(NOT RECOVERY!) in compliance with current practices,” the AHA writing group wrote. “Implementation within a stroke system should be informed by evidence, regional resources, and stakeholder feedback.”

Disclosure: Some of the study authors declared affiliations with biotech, pharmaceutical, and/or device companies. Please see the original reference for a full list of authors’ disclosures.

Clinically Applicable Machine Learning Approach to Predict Intracerebral Hematoma Expansion

 You don't know predictions are TOTALLY FUCKING USELESS to getting survivors recovered? You're fired!

Clinically Applicable Machine Learning Approach to Predict Intracerebral Hematoma Expansion

Shogo Watanabe, PhD https://orcid.org/0009-0000-5053-8405, 

Nice Ren, MD, PhD https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4702-2760, 

Yukihiro Imaoka, MD, PhD https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7054-2708, 

Kento Morita, PhD https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7171-8197, 

Syoji Kobashi, PhD https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3659-4114, 

Nobutaka Mukae, MD, PhD https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1990-1485, 

Koichi Arimura, MD, PhD https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2455-9506, 

Kunihiro Nishimura, MD, PhD https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0639-0949, and 

Koji Iihara, MD, PhD https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7852-220X kiihara@ncvc.go.jp J‐ASPECT study collaboratorsAuthor Info & Affiliations

 Journal of the American Heart Association

 New online https://doi.org/10.1161/JAHA.125.042387 

Abstract

Background

Hematoma expansion (HE) is a significant risk factor for poor prognosis in patients with intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). Accurately predicting HE is crucial for determining optimal treatment strategies.

Methods

This study enrolled 452 patients with ICH from 10 hospitals. To predict HE, 28 clinical variables available on patient arrival (including medical history, ICH location, and ICH volume) and 1142 radiomics features extracted from noncontrast computed tomography images of the ICH regions were used. Clinical variables and radiomics features were selected using gradient boosting and the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator. Three HE prediction models were built on clinical variables alone, radiomics features alone, and a third combining both. The models were compared using 5‐fold cross‐validation, and the mean area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was calculated for each. Additionally, the important features of HE prediction in the combined model were explored.

Results

The combined model demonstrated the highest performance for predicting HE with a 5‐fold mean area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.77±0.05, compared with 0.70±0.06 for the clinical variables alone and 0.73±0.04 for the radiomics features alone. Permutation feature importance analysis suggested that anticoagulant treatment was the most predictive of HE.

Conclusions

A predictive model for HE was developed using the medical history, clinical features available on the patient’s arrival, imaging, and radiomics features extracted from computed tomography images. This prediction model will assist non–stroke care(NOT RECOVERY!) specialists in making treatment decisions for ICH in emergency settings.

Doctor's orders: Eat ice cream, and other tips for a long and healthy life

 I bet your incompetent? doctor will ignore this advice just like they ignored the dairy fat one!

dairy fat (40 posts to April 2016)

Doctor's orders: Eat ice cream, and other tips for a long and healthy life

It may not sound like a New Year's resolution, but Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel is serving up some unusual advice as you start out 2026: Eat your ice cream. "Ice cream will make you happy, and that's very important," he explained.

I asked, "Why would I live longer eating ice cream?"

"Ice cream is a good dairy product; it's got protein, its saturated fats are in a globule, so it doesn't affect you as much as saturated fats in meats and other things," he said. "Plus, you typically do it socially with someone else. And you know, being happy is a very important part of living a long time."

"I feel like your saying 'eat your ice cream' is like 'Don't stress out as much about life. Be more social,'" I said.

"We're here for only 75, 85, 90 years. You've got to make life enjoyable. You've got to make it fulfilling," he said.

The prominent oncologist and health policy expert is taking a different approach in his new wellness book, called, "Eat Your Ice Cream: Six Simple Rules For a Long and Healthy Life" (to be published Tuesday by W.W. Norton & Co.). He said, "I want people to stop obsessing. make it part of your life. You should like exercising, you should like eating well. Otherwise, you're not going to do it for years and years and decades, which is what's necessary for a long, healthy life."

The doctor's health handbook does include the basics of what to eat, how to exercise, and the all-important reminder that sleep is fundamental to wellness. But it goes beyond that, with behaviors that include "Don't be a schmuck."

"One of the things that is I think core to the book is, stop doing things that aren't good for your health," Emanuel said. "'Don't be a schmuck' is my father's reference to us when we were being stupid. And so, there are lots of things that we do as human beings that can be schmucky: smoking, vaping, doing drugs, not taking your vaccines. I don't agree with the current administration, and they're dead wrong on this."

Also on the so-called schmuck list: alcohol.(I completely disagree on this one. My social connections are vastly improved on jazz and trivia nights at local bars, and that is going to prevent dementia! But I'm not medically trained, so don't listen to me. I just read lots of research abstracts.)

I asked, "This is what everybody wants to know about: the right amount of alcohol, or no alcohol?"

Emanuel said, "There has been a lot of research on alcohol, so here's the way I distill it: The safest level is probably zero. There are some studies, and we should be clear, where it's half a cup a day, three cups a week."

"Nobody drinks a half a glass of wine," I said.

"So, you drink every other day," Emanuel said. "On the other hand, 60, 65% of the public drinks. You're not going from 65% to zero. So, you have to give people reasonable advice. And the reasonable advice is, first of all, no binge drinking, that's really bad for you. Don't drink alone. That's really bad for you. If you're using alcohol as a lubricant for social interaction, which many people do, that's probably good; you're getting some benefit from the social interaction."(THIS!)

Social interactions – a consistent theme for Emanuel – is something he learned at a young age, growing up with brother Ari, a super-agent in Hollywood, and his other brother Rahm, the former mayor of Chicago and ambassador, who may be running for president of the United States.

I asked, "What is it that your parents taught all of you that has led you, I mean, you're all incredibly successful?"

"Now you're gonna make me cry," Emanuel said, "because every time I talk about my parents and our growing up, I tend to cry. They taught us how to be social and interact with people. They also taught us how to be responsible. One of the things my mom did in raising us is, you know, get out of the house and go occupy yourself. Rahm and I went to school, I was six in first grade, and he was in nursery school. I had to take him from school, walk two blocks across a busy street, get on a bus, pay the car fare, get off at the right spot. I learned a huge amount of responsibility, taking care of my brothers.

"The other thing I think they did, which was super-important for us, is we all slept in the same bedroom. We were a unit. Yes, we fought endlessly. And you know, I like to joke with people, we didn't go to bed until there was blood, you know, because of all the fights. But we were also each other's best friends."

His takeaway: relationships matter.

Emanuel also lists lifestyle choices he considers "anti-wellness," like chronic stress(Especially the stress of your incompetent? doctor not knowing how to get you 100% recovered!), a fast-food diet, social media, and dining alone.

"I think people would agree with all of those, with the exception of dining alone," I said. "A lot of people go to a restaurant or get home from work, and dine alone."

Emanuel said that should be an occasional thing: "Don't make it every day. And you know, if you find yourself dining alone, what you should do is call up a friend. If you're sitting at a bar, right, and you're dining there, ask the person next to you, you know, 'Have you been to this restaurant before? What do you do? Why are you here?' Yeah, strike up a conversation. We underplay those casual conversations and how important they are for us."

His book also discusses retirement: "Retirement leads to more rapid cognitive decline for people. I say to people, don't retire. And if you're gonna retire, you have to plan retirement well, so that you stay engaged, you stay mentally sharp. And that doesn't mean, 'Well, you know, I'm gonna try to play the saxophone one day.'"

"But Dr. Emanuel, a lot of retired people like to buy books, and watch 'Sunday Morning,'" I said.

"Well, if they're buying books and staying mentally engaged that way, if they're going to volunteer, say, or they're talking to friends, or they're taking up a new hobby seriously, all of that is excellent, highly endorsed," he replied.

"Meaning don't retire the mind, or retire your social engagement?"

"Yes, and it's very important, you've got to be deliberate about it. You can't let nature take its course."

So, what is his biggest piece of advice for us in 2026? "Build your social relationships," he said. "It's definitely the most important thing for long-lasting health and happiness."

READ AN EXCERPT: "Eat Your Ice Cream" by Ezekiel J. Emanuel, M.D.

WEB EXCLUSIVE: Extended interview - Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel (Video)

   
For more info:

Ezekiel Emanuel, M.D."Eat Your Ice Cream: Six Simple Rules for a Long and Healthy Life" by Ezekiel J. Emanuel, M.D. (W.W. Norton & Co.), in Hardcover, eBook and Audio formats, available via Amazon, Barnes & 

Surviving a Stroke: A 1-in-100 Story

 You have a close to zero chance of recovering this well. Your incompetent? doctor and hospital COMPLETELY FUCKING FAILED TO create protocols from their previous successes of 100% recovery!

Surviving a Stroke: A 1-in-100 Story

A sudden stroke at 48. A race against time. A recovery so complete it defies the odds. This is Glenn Williams' incredible story.

JFK Johnson Rehabilitation Institute,Brand Partner

Posted Fri, Jan 2, 2026 at 3:52 pm ET

(JFK Johnson Rehabilitation Institute)

This is a paid post contributed by a Patch Community Partner. The views expressed in this post are the author's own, and the information presented has not been verified by Patch.

---

One moment, Glenn Williams was reaching for his phone. The next, the healthy 48-year-old was on the floor, paralyzed on one side of his body. His wife, Shellon, took one look at his face and knew this was a life-or-death emergency. She was right. Glenn was having a massive stroke, and with millions of brain cells dying every minute, the clock was ticking.

Rushed to Hackensack Meridian JFK University Medical Center, he was met by cerebrovascular neurosurgeon, Brian Jankowitz, M.D., and an expert team ready for a fight. They performed a complex, life-saving procedure to remove the clot from his brain, achieving a result so rare that only one in 100 patients experience it: a full recovery with zero lasting side effects.

Read more to learn about the split-second decisions and world-class care that saved Glenn's life and allowed him to beat the odds.

---

This post is an advertorial piece contributed by a Patch Community Partner, a local brand partner. To learn more, click here.

A Study to Estimate How Often Post-stroke Spasticity Occurs and to Provide a Standard Guideline on the Best Way to Monitor Its Development

 You're that blitheringly stupid you think survivors want spasticity monitored; NOT CURED? WOW!

After you are the 1 in 4 per WHO that has a stroke I really hope comeuppance hits you hard with spasticity. You deserve it.

You haven't followed spasticity research for almost a decade? WOW!

30% get spasticity (30 posts to March 2016)

A Study to Estimate How Often Post-stroke Spasticity Occurs and to Provide a Standard Guideline on the Best Way to Monitor Its Development

ClinicalTrials.gov IDNCT06055725

SponsorIpsen

Information Provided byIpsen Medical Director

Study Start (Actual)2023-11-01

Primary Completion (Estimated) 2027-11-30

Study Completion (Estimated)2027-11-30

Enrollment (Estimated)1051

Study TypeObservational

Last Update Posted2025-12-03

This study will monitor patients during the first year following their stroke. Stroke is a very serious condition where there is a sudden interruption of blood flow in the brain. The main aim of the study will be to find out how many of those who experience their first-ever stroke then go on to develop spasticity that would benefit from treatment with medication. Spasticity is a common post-stroke condition that causes stiff or ridged muscles. The results of this study will provide a standard guideline on the best way to monitor the development of post-stroke spasticity.

To learn more, visitClinicalTrials.gov

Contacts and Locations

Contact Information

Study Contact

NameIpsen Clinical Study Enquiries

PhoneSee e mail

Emailclinical.trials@ipsen.com

Study Contact Backup

NameNot available

PhoneNot available

EmailNot available

United States Locations

California

Anderson, California, United States 92354

Loma Linda

Los Angeles, California, United States 90095

University Of California, Los Angeles Medical Center

Mental imagery after stroke: an exploratory study to investigate the relationship with cognitive and motor performance during rehabilitation

 Why were you so incompetent in NOT CREATING A PROTOCOL ON THIS from all the previous research? Didn't know about previous research? You're fired, regardless!

mental imagery (31 posts to October 2010)

Mental imagery after stroke: an exploratory study to investigate the relationship with cognitive and motor performance during rehabilitation

• Marcella Ottonello, 
• E. N. Aiello, 
• A. Moreschi, 
• E. Torselli, 
• B. Poletti & 
• C. Pistarini 

• 75 Accesses

• Explore all metrics 

Abstract

Introduction

Mental imagery (MI) is a crucial cognitive process involved in planning, memory, and motor skill rehearsal. While MI training has shown promise in stroke rehabilitation, research on MI ability and its impairment in stroke patients, particularly concerning its relationship with cognitive and motor performance, remains limited. This exploratory study aimed to describe MI ability in stroke patients during early rehabilitation and investigate its relationship with cognitive functioning, and to explore if MI can predict motor and cognitive outcomes.

Methods

Thirty sub-acute stroke patients (within three months of onset) were recruited. Participants underwent neuropsychological assessment using the Mental Imagery Test (MIT), Mental Performance in Stroke (MEPS), Frontal Assessment Battery (FAB), Token Test (TT), and Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire (VVIQ). Clinical variables and functional outcomes (Barthel Index at admission and discharge) were also collected. Statistical analyses included univariable associations and multiple linear regression models to assess the impact of MI on MEPS, FAB, and Barthel Index-derived measures (ΔBI, Rehabilitation Efficiency (REy), and Rehabilitation Effectiveness (REs)), controlling for relevant covariates.

Results

The study found a significant positive correlation between MIT scores and overall cognitive performance as measured by MEPS (β = 0.48, t(21) = 2.64,p = .015) and FAB (β = 0.57,t(21) = 3.79,p = .001). This suggests that better MI ability is associated with better general cognitive functioning and executive efficiency in stroke patients. Further analysis revealed that the association with MEPS was primarily driven by visuo-spatial tasks. The presence of unilateral spatial neglect was found to detrimentally affect MIT performance. However, no significant relationship was found between MIT scores and any of the Barthel Index-derived measures of functional independence.

Discussion

These findings indicate a strong link between general mental imagery ability and cognitive functions, particularly visuo-spatial and executive functions, in early-stage stroke rehabilitation. The lack of association with functional motor outcomes suggests that general MI tests might not be sensitive enough to predict physical recovery, possibly due to the distinction between general mental imagery and more specific motor imagery. The study highlights the importance of assessing MI ability, especially considering visuo-spatial and executive functions, before implementing imagery-based rehabilitation protocols. Further research is needed to develop individualised interventions that account for cognitive impairments in stroke patients.

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How a simple salt swap could reduce Aussies’ stroke risk

 Will your incompetent? doctor and hospital know enough to get the dietician to update diet protocols on this?

Do you prefer your doctor, hospital and board of director's incompetence NOT KNOWING? OR NOT DOING?

Of course your competent? doctor told you about the salt controversary years ago, right?

You'll want your competent? doctor to explain all these and give you an EXACT PROTOCOL ON SALT! Noting how much salt your brain needs to function properly! If your doctor doesn't know that, how much else doesn't s/he know? And you're being treated for a brain injury by them?

But this:

 

Review finds no proven clinical benefit to strict salt restriction for patients with heart failure

And this:

In many high income countries, approximately 75% of salt in the diet comes from processed foods and meals prepared outside the home.  So, this China study may not have much relevance in your country.

Intake of potassium- and magnesium-enriched salt improves functional outcome after stroke: a randomized, multicenter, double-blind controlled trial January 2018

Low-Salt Diet Ineffective, Study Finds. Disagreement Abounds. June 2011 

The wrong white crystals: not salt but sugar as aetiological in hypertension and cardiometabolic disease December 2014

Why Everything We Know About Salt May Be Wrong May 2017 

Researchers reveal surprising findings on how salt affects blood flow in the brain

November 2021 

You'll want your competent? doctor to explain these and give you an EXACT PROTOCOL ON SALT!

 

 The latest here:

How a simple salt swap could reduce Aussies’ stroke risk

Aussies have been urged to shake things up in the kitchen and at the dinner table by making a simple swap that could reduce their risk of high blood pressure (hypertension); the leading cause of preventable death in Australia.

A new paper by Australia’s National Hypertension Taskforce recommends substituting regular salt, which is high in sodium, with potassium-enriched salt, saying the switch can significantly reduce high blood pressure and the risk of stroke and heart attacks, particularly for people already living with hypertension.

National Hypertension Taskforce member and Stroke Foundation Chief Executive Officer, Dr Lisa Murphy, says this small change can make a big difference.

“Your traditional Sunday roast or summer barbecue will still taste the same but will be better for your health. Research shows us that high sodium consumption is linked to hypertension so replacing sodium with potassium, an important mineral found in fruit and vegetables, is a simple but effective way to reduce your risk. And to make life easier, you can find potassium-enriched salt at your local supermarket.”

A recent global modelling study on the health effects of switching from regular salt to potassium-enriched salt by The George Institute of Global Health found replacing regular salt with potassium-enriched salt in Australia alone could prevent approximately 500 stroke deaths and 2,000 stroke events each year.

“This recommendation aligns with the latest international guidance from the World Health Organization, the European Society of Cardiology, and the American Heart Association, and has the potential to save thousands of Australian lives,” Dr Murphy said.

High blood pressure affects around one in three Australian adults and remains the leading cause of preventable death and disability nationwide. Excess sodium and insufficient potassium intake are key dietary drivers. Despite the strong evidence supporting the benefits of potassium-enriched salt, it is inconsistently recommended by clinicians and rarely used by patients.

“This is due mostly to clinicians and patients being unaware of the availability, effectiveness and acceptability of potassium-enriched salt and we want to change that,” Dr murphy said.

It is hoped the taskforce’s position, published in the National Journal of Hypertension, paves the way for the recommendations to be adopted more widely and marks an important step forward in the national effort to prevent and control hypertension.

The National Hypertension Taskforce was founded by the Australian Cardiovascular Alliance (ACvA) and Hypertension Australia, with significant support from Stroke Foundation and Heart Foundation as cofounding members. The Taskforce aims to increase the number of Australians with their blood pressure both treated and controlled effectively from 32% to 70% by 2030.

Stroke Weakens How the Brain Integrates Speech Sounds

 What is your doctors' EXACT PROTOCOL to fix this? Oh, nothing like usual? And you're paying them for incompetence? The board of directors incompetently can't tell what competence looks like in their stroke medical 'professionals'!

Stroke Weakens How the Brain Integrates Speech Sounds

Summary: A new study comparing stroke survivors with healthy adults reveals that post-stroke language disorders stem not from slower hearing but from weaker integration of speech sounds. While patients detected sounds as quickly as controls, their brains processed speech features with far less strength, especially when words were unclear.

Healthy listeners extended processing during uncertainty, but stroke survivors did not, suggesting they may abandon sound analysis too early to fully grasp difficult words. The findings highlight neural patterns essential for verbal comprehension and point to faster, story-based diagnostic tools for language impairments.

Key Facts

• Weakened Integration: Stroke survivors process speech sound features with much lower neural strength despite normal sound detection speed.
• Reduced Persistence: When words are unclear, they do not sustain processing long enough to resolve ambiguity.
• Diagnostic Potential: Simple story-listening tasks may replace lengthy behavioral tests for language disorders.

Source: SfN

Following stroke, some people experience a language disorder that hinders their ability to process speech sounds. How do their brains change from stroke? 

Researchers led by Laura Gwilliams, faculty scholar at the Wu Tsai Neuroscience Institute and Stanford Data Science and assistant professor at the Stanford School of Humanities and Sciences, and Maaike Vandermosten, associate professor at the Department of Neurosciences at KU Leuven, compared the brains of 39 patients following stroke and 24 healthy age-matched controls to unveil language processing brain mechanisms.  

Additionally, when there was uncertainty about what words were being said, healthy people processed speech sound features longer compared to those who had experienced a stroke. Credit: Neuroscience News

As reported in their Journal of Neuroscience paper, the researchers recorded brain activity while volunteers listened to a story.

 People with verbal speech processing issues from stroke were not slower to process speech sounds but had much weaker processing than healthy participants.

According to the researchers, this suggests that people with this language disorder can hear sounds of all kinds as well as healthy people but have issues integrating speech sounds to understand language. 

Additionally, when there was uncertainty about what words were being said, healthy people processed speech sound features longer compared to those who had experienced a stroke. 

This could mean that, following stroke, people do not process speech sounds long enough to successfully comprehend words that are difficult to detect. 

This work points to brain activity patterns that may be crucial for understanding verbal language, according to the authors. 

First author Jill Kries expresses excitement about continuing to explore how this simple approach—listening to a story—can be used to improve diagnostics for conditions characterized by language processing issues, which currently involve hours of behavioral tasks.

Key Questions Answered:

Q: Why do some stroke survivors struggle to understand spoken language?

A: Their brains detect sounds normally but integrate speech features with reduced strength, making comprehension harder even when hearing is intact.

Q: What happens when the spoken words are unclear?

A: Healthy listeners process sound features longer to resolve ambiguity, but stroke survivors stop too soon, leading to missed meaning.

Q: How could this research change diagnostics for language disorders?

A: Story-listening brain recordings may provide a quick, naturalistic alternative to hours of behavioral language testing.

Editorial Notes:

• This article was edited by a Neuroscience News editor.
• Journal paper reviewed in full.
• Additional context added by our staff.

About this stroke and speech processing research news

Author: SfN Media
Source: SfN
Contact: SfN Media – SfN
Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News

Original Research: Closed access.
“The Spatio-Temporal Dynamics of Phoneme Encoding in Aging and Aphasia” by Laura Gwilliams et al. Journal of Neuroscience

Do High-Fat Dairy Products Protect the Brain?

 

Your doctor has informed you of the benefits of dairy fat, right?

 Maybe ask about Grana Padano cheese and see how long your doctor has been incompetent!

Study: Aged Cheese Lowers Blood Pressure September 2019

Eating cheese may offset blood vessel damage from salt Article no longer available so have your doctor find it.

Dairy fat from milk, butter, and cheese could actually PREVENT a heart attack September 2021 

Oh no, your doctor is totally fucking incompetent? And you're paying them?

But a more nuanced analysis here:

A Study Linked Cheese to Lower Dementia Risk. Is That Too Good to Be True?

The latest here:

Do High-Fat Dairy Products Protect the Brain?

A higher intake of high-fat cheese and high-fat cream, but not low-fat dairy products, was associated with a lower risk for dementia, independent of lifestyle factors and overall diet quality, results of a large Swedish population-based study showed.

However, the investigators emphasized that the observational study design does not prove a causal link, and outside experts urged caution in interpreting the findings.

“For decades, the debate over high-fat vs low-fat diets has shaped health advice, sometimes even categorizing cheese as an unhealthy food to limit. Our study found that some high-fat dairy products may actually lower the risk for dementia, challenging some long-held assumptions about fat and brain health,” study investigator Emily Sonestedt, PhD, of Lund University in Lund, Sweden, said in a news release. 

The study was published online on December 17 in Neurology. 

Daytime Naps May Increase Risk for Stroke

 Correlation! Solve the causation problem; NAPS ARE NOT THE PROBLEM! What is causing the naps? 

Daytime Naps May Increase Risk for Stroke

Stroke risk was highest in individuals who took unplanned naps longer than 60 minutes and lowest in those who took planned short naps, indicating that both duration and intention modify vascular risk.

Longer daytime naps are associated with a progressively higher risk for stroke, according to findings published in Sleep Medicine Reviews.

Researchers conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to assess the relationship between daytime napping and stroke risk. The analysis included 13 quantitative studies, encompassing 15,855 individuals with stroke and 595,520 control individuals. An additional 7 studies were utilized for qualitative review.

Across studies, napping duration was associated with increasing stroke risk. Compared with no napping, naps lasting 1 to 30 minutes were associated with a modestly higher risk for stroke (odds ratio [OR], 1.27; 95% CI, 0.98-1.64), while naps longer than 90 minutes showed the strongest association (OR, 1.79; 95% CI, 1.37-2.35).

When grouped more broadly, naps lasting 60 minutes or less were associated with an OR of 1.27 (95% CI, 1.06-1.51), whereas naps exceeding 60 minutes were linked to a substantially higher risk (OR, 1.86; 95% CI, 1.53-2.27), indicating a progressively increasing association with longer nap duration.

 

The extensive amount of clinical material collected suggests that naps, especially those longer than 60 or 90 min, are risk factors for stroke.

Nap intention also appeared to modify risk. Planned naps lasting 60 minutes or less were associated with a lower risk for stroke (OR, 0.82; 95% CI, 0.70-0.96). In contrast, unplanned naps of similar duration were linked to increased risk (OR, 1.37; 95% CI, 1.10-1.70). Both planned and unplanned naps lasting longer than 60 minutes were associated with elevated risk, with the strongest association observed for unplanned long naps (OR, 2.88; 95% CI, 2.05-4.04), compared with planned long naps (OR, 1.78; 95% CI, 1.14-2.26).

Daytime napping was also associated with increased risk across stroke subtypes. The association was strongest for ischemic stroke (OR, 1.48; 95% CI, 1.05-2.09), followed by hemorrhagic stroke (OR, 1.45; 95% CI, 1.09-1.94), and subarachnoid hemorrhage (OR, 1.44; 95% CI, 1.08–1.92).

Studies that classified napping as present vs absent also showed higher odds of total stroke among individuals who napped (OR, 1.44; 95% CI, 1.27-1.67).

Although differences in study design prevented pooled meta-analysis of nap frequency, several large prospective studies suggested that napping more than twice per week was associated with increased stroke risk, with particularly strong associations among individuals who napped 6 to 7 times per week.

Study limitations included substantial heterogeneity across studies, reliance on self-reported nap characteristics, inconsistent adjustment for confounding variables, and limited availability of detailed sleep-quality measures.

“The extensive amount of clinical material collected suggests that naps, especially those longer than 60 or 90 min, are risk factors for stroke. However, the cause of napping warrants further research and currently appears to be related to night sleep disturbances,” the study authors concluded.