New treatment results in less brain damage following stroke

Stroke patients will be welcoming the news of a discovery by a University of Alberta scientist that may have significant future implications for treatment of the disease. Dr. Fred Colbourne, from the Faculty of Science, has shown that a novel rehabilitation regimen has proven remarkably effective in promoting recovery in hemorrhagic stroke–or ruptured blood vessels–in rats.

Smoking stokes risk for bleeding strokes

Men who smoke increase their risk for hemorrhagic stroke every time they light up, and smoking more than a pack of cigarettes a day doubles their risk compared to nonsmokers or men who’ve kicked the habit, according to a long-term prospective study reported in today’s rapid access issue of Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association.