Stroke | featured news

Deep-fried foods may be causing trouble in the Deep South. A study finds that people who consume a lot of fried foods and drinks like sweet tea and soda were 41 percent more likely to suffer a stroke than people who ate that way about once a month.

A stroke-preventing pill from Pfizer and Bristol-Myers Squibb won approval from U.S. health regulators, setting the stage for a fierce fight among drug makers to replace the widely used bloodthinner warfarin.

Frankie Muniz is recovering from a health scare. The "Malcolm in the Middle" actor, 26, tweeted the surprising news Tuesday that he recently suffered a "mini stroke." "I was in the hospital last Friday," Muniz tweeted. "I suffered a 'mini stroke' which was not fun at all. "Have to start taking care of my body!" he added. "Getting old!"

Dashing the hopes of those who hope to pop a pill to prevent heart disease, doctors announced Monday that daily multivitamins don't stave off cardiovascular problems, such as heart attacks, stroke or death.

Fidel Castro has suffered a serious, "embolic" stroke, according to a Venezuelan physician cited by The Miami Herald. Jose Marquina, who spoke with El Nuevo Herald and claims "firsthand sources and information" about Castro's health, described the former leader's condition as "very close to a neurovegetative state." Castro is reportedly incapacitated, and "has trouble feeding, speaking and recognizing faces," Marquina said.

Michaels Stores said John Menzer has resigned as CEO in order to focus on his recovery from a stroke he suffered in April.

Egypt's state news agency said Tuesday that Hosni Mubarak has suffered a stroke, and prison officials said he is likely to be moved out of his prison hospital to a military facility nearby....

The findings are the first to link insufficient sleep to stroke; they're also the first to apply even to adults who keep off extra pounds and have no other risk factors for stroke, says Megan Ruiter, lead author of the report. It will be presented Monday at the 26th annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies in Boston.

Maurice Sendak, the children's book author and illustrator who saw the sometimes-dark side of childhood in books like "Where the Wild Things Are" and "In the Night Kitchen," died early Tuesday. He was 83. Longtime friend and caretaker Lynn Caponera said she was with him when Sendak died at a hospital in Danbury, Conn. She said he had a stroke on Friday.

A device that doctors had hoped would be a major advance for many stroke patients appears to be doing more harm than good, according to a federally funded study released Wednesday. The “Gateway-Wingspan” system,” which was approved in 2005 in the hopes of protecting thousands of stroke survivors from another, more devastating attack, turned out to cause more strokes and deaths than simply aggressively treating patients with drugs and advice, the study found.