Among obese individuals, having bariatric surgery was associated with a reduced long-term incidence of cardiovascular deaths and events such as heart attack and stroke, according to a study in the January 4 issue of JAMA. The study was conducted by Lars Sjostrom, M.D., Ph.D., of the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, and colleagues. ...

Imagine waking up and being unable to see or recognize anything on the left side of your body. This condition, called hemispatial neglect, is common after a stroke that occurs on the right side of the brain. The current treatment of attention and concentration training using computer and pencil-and-paper tasks is inadequate. ...

Although there have been cardiovascular safety concerns about attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) medications because of their ability to increase heart rate and blood pressure levels, an analysis that included more than 150,000 ADHD users found no evidence of an increased risk of heart attack, stroke, or sudden cardiac death associated with current use compared with non-use or rare-use among yo ...

One-third of patients who have survived a life-threatening subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) have disabling symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), reports a study in the August issue of Neurosurgery, official journal of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health. ...

An analysis of nearly 30 studies including more than 300,000 patients finds that depression is associated with a significantly increased risk of developing stroke and dying from stroke, according to an article in the September 21 issue of JAMA. The study was carried out by An Pan, Ph.D., of the Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, and colleagues. ...

Among patients who have had an ischemic stroke, use of cholesterol-lowering statin medications is not associated with subsequent intracerebral hemorrhage (bleeding in the brain), according to a report published Online First by Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. ...

New research indicates cholesterol lowering drugs known as statins may help prevent future strokes among young people who have already had a stroke. The study is published in the August 2, 2011, print issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. ...

"Brain cap" technology being developed at the University of Maryland allows users to turn their thoughts into motion. Associate Professor of Kinesiology José 'Pepe' L. Contreras-Vidal and his team have created a non-invasive, sensor-lined cap with neural interface software that soon could be used to control computers, robotic prosthetic limbs, motorized wheelchairs and even digital avatars. Included in this ...

A yet unidentified component of coffee interacts with the beverage’s caffeine, which could be a surprising reason why daily coffee intake protects against Alzheimer’s disease. A new Alzheimer’s disease mouse study by researchers at the University of South Florida found that this interaction boosts blood levels of a critical growth factor that seems to fight off the Alzheimer’s disease process. ...

Scientists have developed a way to turn memories on and off — literally with the flip of a switch. Using an electronic system that duplicates the neural signals associated with memory, they managed to replicate the brain function in rats associated with long-term learned behavior, even when the rats had been drugged to forget. "Flip the switch on, and the rats remember. Flip it off, and the rats forget," sa ...