My reason for preventing stroke? I want to be there for my children and my family

Foday Johnson, lives in Liberia and the UK. Here he tells us how his brother's stroke has spurred him on to do whatever he can to prevent stroke.

Before your brother’s stroke did you have any idea that he was at any risk? 

Not at all, in hindsight the signs were there though – he smoked, did not do exercise and had a poor diet. 

When and how did you realise he had a stroke? 

I was in London at the time, but his family around him suspected he was having a stroke. After his initial treatment he went to Monrovia for rehabilitation and was making some progress and returned home. After his return home he had a second stroke. 

Building Clinical Stroke Research Capacity in China

The World Stroke Organization Stroke Research Methodology Training Workshop, Chengdu, China

This WSO Training Workshop took place on 26th May 2017 the day before the Tianfu Stroke Conference and was organised by Professors Ming Liu and Shihong Zhang and their team from the West China Hospital Chengdu. The workshop was attended by 56 clinicians, all in the early stage of their research careers and with an interest in clinical stroke research.

Happy Teachers Will Change the World

Learning about Healthy Lifestyles, Stroke Prevention and Brain Impairment at the WSO Summer School

The Dubrovnik Summer School has become a regular feature on the World Stroke Organization educational calendar. The school, which takes place from June 5-9,  is a demonstration of the shared commitment of School Directors and WSO to the education of young stroke professionals thorugh the dissemination of knowledge and its application in their communities. 

The World Stroke Organization strongly endorses the efforts of the World Health Organisation to reduce tobacco-related illness and death

Stephen Davis and Valery Feigin, on behalf of the World Stroke Organization 

Stroke is a leading cause of death and disability, particularly in low and middle-income regions. Smoking is a major modifiable risk factor for stroke, with similar risk in women and men. Smoking (both active and passive) has been known as one of the most important risk factors for stroke for many years. In the most recent Global Burden of Disease 2015 Study, smoking was ranked the 5th most important risk factor for stroke accounting globally for almost 26 million disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) (23%) due to stroke, with the bulk of the burden (almost 22 million DALYs or 85% of stroke-related DALYs due to smoking) born in low- to middle-income countries. Smoking accelerates atherosclerosis in the cerebral arteries, an important cause of stroke.

Stroke Recovery and Rehabilitation Roundtable - development, monitoring and reporting - Marion Walker

Stroke Recovery and Rehabilitation Roundtable - development, monitoring and reporting - Marion Walker

Improving the development, monitoring and reporting of stroke rehabilitation research: consensus-based core recommendations from the Stroke Recovery and Rehabilitation Roundtable (SRRR) 

Ron Smith - 'stroke is to be avoided'.

Ron Smith returns with a second blog about his recent speaking tour in Canada and the steps he now takes to prevent a stroke.

What has inspired you to give talks in hospitals and libraries?

Initially I decided to go on tour to promote my book, The Defiant Mind: Living Inside a Stroke, which I wrote because I felt that most people did not understand what a stroke was or what it entailed. Not only does the general public have a limited understanding of a ‘brain attack’, so does the medical profession. I felt I received excellent ‘physical’ therapy but little or no ‘brain’ therapy. And it was my brain that had been damaged. My feeling is that knowledge of stroke stories would go a long way to solving many of the weaknesses in treatment and stroke recovery. The more anecdotal information we have the better. Stroke survivors are reluctant to talk about their strokes for fear of being thought ‘crazy’ and yet stroke stories may be the basis for some very important information about how the brain functions. What is often happening in the brain of someone who has suffered a stroke is ‘different’, not abnormal or aberrant.

Celebrating the 20th Iberoamerican Stroke Organisation in La Paz

The World Stroke Organization were pleased to contribute to the Iberoamerican Stroke Organization's 20th Annual Congress in La Paz, Bolivia between June 7^th and 9^th.

On June the 7^th we delivered our traditional Stroke Teaching Course, dedicated to general doctors and non-neurologists, with more that 300 participants and lecturers from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Panama, Peru and the special participation of WSO representative Prof David Spence, from Canada. Simultaneously, there were workshops on Neurosonology, Vascular Cognitive Impairment and a NIHSS training session.

We all have good reasons for preventing stroke

The World Stroke Organisation has officially launched the World Stroke Day Campaign for 2017. The focus of World Stroke Day on 29th October is stroke prevention.

Agreed definitions and a shared vision for new standards in stroke recovery research: The Stroke Recovery and Rehabilitation Roundtable taskforce.

Stroke Recovery and Rehabilitation Roundtable - definitions - Karen Borschmann and Kate Hayward

Common language and definitions were required to develop an agreed framework spanning the four working groups for the The Stroke Recovery and Rehabilitation Roundtable taskforce. 

: translation of basic science, biomarkers of stroke recovery, measurement in clinical trials and intervention development and reporting. 

The Stroke Recovery and Rehabilitation Roundtable (SRRR) was convened with the aim to move rehabilitation research forward. Working collectively across four initial priority areas the #SRRR team reviewed, discussed, and attempted to achieve consensus on key recommendations in each of the areas of translation of basic science, biomarkers of stroke recovery, measurement in clinical trials and intervention development and reporting. 

Stroke Rehabilitation and Recovery Roundtable - Looking at translational/preclincal research in recovery with Dr Dale Corbett PODCAST

SRRR - Translational/Preclincal with Dr Dale Corbett

Stroke recovery research involves distinct biological and clinical targets compared to the study of acute stroke. We know that moving preclinical treatments into the clinical realm has been fraught with notorious difficulties, one very well known area has been of course the incredible disappointments with neuroprotection. In comparison Stroke recovery involves distinct biological principles and a very different time window, in fact is unlike acute stroke at all! 

We spoke to Dr Dale Corbett, from the Faculty of Medicine who was the lead author on the Stroke Rehabilitation and Recovery Roundtable paper on 'Enhancing the alignment of the preclinical and clinical stroke recovery research pipeline'.

Stroke Rehabilitation and Recovery Roundtable - Looking at biomarkers with Dr Lara Boyd PODCAST

SRRR - Biomarkers with Dr Lara Boyd

A biomarker is a naturally occurring molecule, gene, or characteristic that is objectively measured and evaluated as an indicator of normal biological processes, pathogenic processes, or pharmacologic responses to a therapeutic intervention.

Carmen Lahiff-Jenkins. Managing Editor of the International Journal of Stroke spoke to Dr Lara Boyd, physical therapist from the University of British Columbia and the biomarkers group from the Stroke Rehabilitation and Neurorecovery Roundtable.  

To listen to the podcast please click on the title link.