- The Food and Drug Administration has approved drug-free rehabilitation technology that treats moderate to severe upper extremity motor deficits in certain stroke patients. The MicroTransponder Vivistim Paired VNS System (Vivistim System), is a prescription system that is designed to be used along with rehabilitation exercises in patients recovering from long-lasting symptoms of chronic ischemic stroke, the agency recently announced.
- Using a salt substitute for salt consumption slashes the rate of stroke, cardiovascular disease and death among people at high risk, a nearly five-year study of older adults has found. High levels of sodium intake and low levels of potassium intake are widespread and contribute to a high risk of these diseases and conditions, the researchers said. Partly replacing the culprit — sodium chloride — with potassium chloride can address the problem, they contended.
- Exercise may delay the progress of Alzheimer’s by changing the way the brain stores iron, scientists have found. In a new study, they compared mice genetically predisposed to develop Alzheimer’s with others that are not. They discovered that running altered iron metabolism and transport in the brain and increased the iron content of muscle. Exercise also decreased the amount of beta-amyloid in the brains of the mice that were predisposed to develop Alzheimer’s. The study, which researchers at the University of Eastern Finland in Kuopio led, appears in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences.
- Many U.S. patients who survive COVID-19 still face new symptoms and disability one month after hospital discharge, according to a study published online in the Journal of Hospital Medicine. “This isn’t patients saying, ‘I can’t run quite as far as I used to.’ This is them saying ‘I can’t walk, I can’t cook, I can’t shower.’ The effects are devastating,” a coauthor said in a statement. “Unfortunately, we saw this even among patients with quite short hospital stays.”
