Exercise is crucial to recovering from a stroke, helping victims regain lost physical and mental function. And stroke survivors are more likely to remain physically active — or even exercise more than before — if they have access to a neighborhood rec center or gym, a new study finds. The odds of a patient being…  read on >  read on >

Patients who are bleeding out have a better chance of surviving if they’re given whole blood transfusions, a new study shows. Traditionally, patients with significant bleeding are given transfusions of specific blood components — red blood cells, plasma and platelets that have been separated out from whole blood. But researchers found that early whole blood…  read on >  read on >

For stroke survivors, the relative affluence of their neighborhood could be a factor in how well and how soon they recover, new research shows. Compared to Americans living in better-off locales, those living in areas plagued by high unemployment, lower levels of education, poor housing and low income had higher risks for a poor post-stroke…  read on >  read on >

Advanced brain recording techniques have revealed how neurons in the human brain work together to produce speech. The recordings provide a detailed map of how people think about what words they want to say and then speak them aloud, researchers report in the Jan. 31 issue of the journal Nature. Specifically, the map shows how…  read on >  read on >

Certain copycat eyedrops may be contaminated and could give users an antibiotic-resistant eye infection, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration warned Wednesday. The packaging for South Moon, Rebright and FivFivGo eyedrops mirrors the packaging for Bausch & Lomb’s Lumify eyedrops, an over-the-counter product approved for red eye relief. However, samples of the knockoff South Moon…  read on >  read on >

Americans are terribly lonely, a new poll reveals. Among U.S. adults, about one in three said they feel lonely at least once a week. Worse, one in 10 Americans say they feel lonely every day, results show. Younger people are more likely to experience loneliness, which is defined as a lack of meaningful or close…  read on >  read on >

A person’s odds for a dementia diagnosis nearly triple in the first year after a stroke, new research shows. This post-stroke spike in dementia risk does subside with time, but it never returns to pre-stroke levels, the same report found. “Our findings reinforce the importance of monitoring people with stroke for cognitive decline,” said lead…  read on >  read on >

Women with a common ovarian disorder might be more likely to have memory and thinking problems in middle age, a new study suggests. Females diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) scored lower on cognitive tests than women without the condition, according to a report published Jan. 31 in the journal Neurology. The condition specifically appeared…  read on >  read on >