Diseases

 Raghuveer wanted to see if early signs of damage could be documented. She and colleagues used painless ultrasound tests to measure the thickness of the wall of a major neck artery in 70 children, ages 10 to 16. Almost all had abnormal cholesterol and many were obese.

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Far too many Americans are dying of dangerous blood clots that can masquerade as simple leg pain, says a major new government effort to get both patients and their doctors to recognize the emergency in time.

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Sex- and orgasm-triggered strokes in relatively young women and men are rare, but not unheard of. They require a combination of factors and events not unusual in themselves, but which are highly unlikely to occur at the same time.

The 35-year-old woman's symptoms were typical of this unusual kind of "cryptogenic" stroke, says Jose Biller, MD, professor and chair of the neurology department at Loyola University, Chicago.

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A new study shows that five healthy lifestyle factors help cut the risk of the most common type of stroke by 80%.

The study, reported in the journal Circulation, tracked 43,685 men and 71,243 women. The average age at the start of the study was 54 for men and 50 for women.

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People with rheumatoid arthritis have double the risk of suffering heart attacks or strokes and should be considered for treatment with statins and blood pressure drugs, rheumatology experts said on Friday.

A report by a medical task force to the annual congress of the European League Against Rheumatism in Paris concluded the risk was comparable to that associated with type 2 diabetes, which is already an established cardiovascular risk factor.

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"The lesson is that if a problem with heat illness is suspected, asking someone if they are okay is not enough. In addition to high body temperature, the obvious signs of heat illness are red, hot and dry skin with little or no sweating, as well as a rapid strong pulse. A person with heat illness may start stumbling or appear less coordinated than usual. Ask the person if she or he has a headache, nausea or dizziness. Talk to them about a variety of topics to see if they exhibit symptoms of confusion.

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Doctors may want to give stroke victims antidepressants right away instead of waiting until they develop depression, a common complication, new research suggests.

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Those with erectile dysfunction were twice as likely as other men with diabetes to develop heart disease.

The root cause of both can be blood vessel damage caused by high blood sugar levels, the Chinese University of Hong Kong said.

Experts said men with erectile dysfunction should see their doctor.

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