Blocking Enzyme can Reduce Brain Damage Shortly After a Stroke

Inhibiting Cdk5 enzyme could help minimize brain damage if administered shortly after a stroke, reveals a new research.

Dr. James Bibb, Associate Professor of Neurology and Neurotherapeutics at UT Southwestern said that if people inhibit Cdk5, then the vast majority of brain tissue stays alive without oxygen for up to one hour, which tells them that Cdk5 is a central player in nerve cell death.

Stroke – Early Warning Signs - Risk Factor - Rehab - Treatment
Stroke can cause permanent disability and it is important to recognize its early warning signs to stop its progress. Early warning signs of stroke include sudden weakness of facial muscles.

He further explained that they are not yet at a point where this new treatment can be given for stroke but this research brings them a step closer to developing the right kinds of drugs.

While several pharmaceutical companies worked to develop Cdk5 inhibitors years ago, these efforts were largely abandoned since research indicated blocking Cdk5 long-term could have detrimental effects.

However the latest study indicated that Cdk5 has both good and bad effects like when working normally, it added phosphates to other proteins that are important to healthy brain function but researchers also found that aberrant Cdk5 activity contributeed to nerve cell death following brain injury and could lead to cancer.

New Helmet That can Detect Hemorrhagic Stroke Developed
A group of Swedish researchers has developed a helmet that can quickly detect whether a patient is suffering from a hemorrhagic stroke.

Currently, there is only one FDA-approved drug for acute treatment of stroke, the clot-busting drug tPA and other treatment options include neurosurgical procedures to help minimize brain damage.

The researchers established that no Cdk5 blocker exists that works in a pill form, so the next step would be to develop a systemic drug that could be used to confirm the study's results.

High CD4 Cell Counts Linked to a Reduced Risk of Ischemic Stroke for Those With HIV
HIV positive individuals have a 40% higher risk of ischemic stroke, however, these stroke rates are almost the same for HIV positive patients with high CD4 cell counts as for HIV negative patients

The research is published in the Journal of Neuroscience.

Source-ANI

Microwave Helmet Strokefinder Differentiates Bleeding Strokes from Clot-Induced Strokes
For rapid and accurate diagnosis of stroke patients, the results from the initial clinical studies involving the microwave helmet Strokefinder confirm the usefulness of microwaves.