TUESDAY, April 15 (HealthDay News) -- Prolonged fasting may increase the risk of a rare type of stroke almost three-fold, according to a new study.

The research focused on five years of data from three hospitals in Iran, a Muslim country where fasting is a religious practice followed during the month of Ramadan. During the month, the average number of people admitted for cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST), was 5.5, compared with 2.0 during the rest of the year.

CVST is a rare type of stroke that most often affects young adults and children and is more common in women. However, the study results showed that the average age and percentage of men versus women was the same in the two groups of patients.

The study was to be presented Tuesday at the American Academy of Neurology annual meeting, in Chicago.

"These results need to be confirmed by other studies, but they should be looked at carefully," study author Dr. Mohammad Saadatnia, of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, said in a prepared statement. "Coexistence of usual risk factors, such as oral contraceptive and coagulopathic disorders, along with dehydration in patients while prolonged fasting can be the reason for increased susceptibility to CVST. People and their physicians need to be aware of possible complications of prolonged fasting."

Previous studies have shown that fasting during Ramadan does not affect the rate of arterial stroke. More than one billion Muslims fast worldwide during Ramadan.

More information

The National Stroke Association has more about strokes  .

MONDAY, April 14 (HealthDay News) -- Not all heart cells are created by the same universal signal, a discovery that could lead to future treatments for congenital heart disease and heart attacks, U.S researchers say.

Experiments conducted on frogs challenge long-held beliefs that the stem cells that eventually develop into the heart's muscle tissue do so in reaction to the same cue.

"Not only does it tell us about how stem cells differentiate to create the heart, but it provides us with knowledge that may very well help us to repair heart muscle after a heart attack," researcher Dr. Cam Patterson, director of the Carolina Cardiovascular Biology Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said in a prepared statement.

The study was published online in the April 14 issue of the journal Developmental Cell and in the April 15 print edition.

The researchers manipulated genetic material in frog embryos so their cells would not produce a gene known as CASTOR, which had been linked to stem cell differentiation in the fruit fly.

Without CASTOR present, a small subset of cells at the base of an embryo's heart remained in a state of infancy while others developed. These infant cells, or progenitors, were later found to have developed into the outer walls of the heart's ventricles if they were allowed to progress normally.

This finding affects theories about the possibility of transplanting progenitor cells into the damaged area of the organ, such as heart-attack scarred muscle, in hope of creating healthy tissue. The theory supposes that all progenitors are the same.

"What we have found is that this belief simply isn't true," study senior author Frank Conlon, assistant professor of genetics in the UNC School of Medicine, said in a prepared statement. "Instead, there appear to be at least two types of progenitors, and we think there may be many more."

Conlon is now attempting to manipulate other genes in addition to CASTOR to determine how many types of heart cell progenitors exist. He hopes to verify his findings other animal models before searching for genetic counterparts in humans.

More information

The American Heart Association has more about common cardiovascular diseases  .

THURSDAY, April 10 (HealthDay News) -- A specialized treadmill can help stroke patients learn to walk correctly again, says a Baylor Health Care System study.

More than 700,000 Americans suffer a stroke each year, and many never regain the ability to walk like they did before their stroke. They often develop an abnormal gait pattern, which can be difficult and sometimes impossible to correct.

"Gait impairment is common after stroke with many survivors living with a walking-related disability, despite extensive rehabilitation," Karen McCain, lead investigator of the study at the Baylor Institute for Rehabilitation, said in a prepared statement. "Walking incorrectly not only creates a stigma for these patients, but it also makes them more susceptible to injury and directly affects their quality of life."

This study included seven stroke patients who did what's called locomotor treadmill training with partial body-weight support, which uses a treadmill outfitted with a harness. The patient is secured to the harness to support a portion of their body weight while they walk on the treadmill.

This approach helps patients re-learn how to walk in a safe and controlled way. As the patient gets stronger, more body weight is added, until they can walk on their own without any assistance. After undergoing this specialized treadmill training, all seven patients in the study were able to walk with a basically normal gait, without the use of cane.

"The key to the success of our method is early intervention. All of the patients started on the treadmill as soon as possible during the acute period of recovery after their stroke. We wanted to keep these abnormal gait patterns from developing in the first place," McCain said.

The study was published in the April issue of the Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.

Currently, there's no consensus about the best method of developing a normal gait pattern in stroke patients. In most cases, rehabilitation involves the use of walkers and other assistive devices.

"Our ultimate goal for this study is to one day change the clinical practice in physical therapy," McCain said.

More information

The U.S. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke has more about post-stroke rehabilitation.

MONDAY, March 31 (HealthDay News) -- A large trial shows that combining an ACE inhibitor with a calcium channel blocker in individuals with high blood pressure who are at high risk for cardiovascular complications resulted in a 20 percent reduction in the risks of death, heart attack, stroke and other cardiovascular troubles.

The ACE inhibitor and calcium channel blocker were combined in a single pill. Patients receiving this treatment were compared to patients who received an ACE inhibitor combined with a diuretic.

The authors of the study, which was halted early because the results were so strong, presented the interim results during a news conference Monday at the American College of Cardiology annual meeting, in Chicago. Their hope is that the findings will change current practice guidelines.

"This strategy challenges our current guidelines in two important ways. First, the idea that monotherapy [starting out on a single pill] should be the rule of stay is now challenged and, second, guidelines have recommended that we use a diuretic, and we show that an ACE inhibitor and calcium channel blocker are superior," said study author Dr. Kenneth Jamerson, a professor of internal medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School.

The trial randomized more than 10,000 individuals, two-thirds of whom came into the study with inadequately controlled blood pressure. The use of the combination tablet as the first line of treatment more than doubled the number of patients who managed to get their hypertension under control, the study authors said in a statement. Novartis, which is one of the companies offering the two-drug combination tablet, funded the study.

A second study presented at the news conference refines the safety profile for Celebrex, the only cox-2 painkiller still sold in the United States and the most widely prescribed in its class around the world. The drug carries a black-box warning about an increase in cardiovascular risks for users.

The authors reviewed existing data from several trials and combined them in one comprehensive analysis, finding a clear relationship between dose and cardiovascular risk.

Individuals taking 400 milligrams of Celebrex twice a day had a threefold increase in cardiovascular risk. Those taking 200 milligrams twice a day had double the risk.

In addition, patients who had a low risk when they started taking the painkiller continued to show a low risk of having a Celebrex-induced cardiovascular problem later, while those starting out at high risk were more likely to suffer cardiovascular consequences while taking Celebrex, especially at the higher doses. The analysis was published simultaneously Monday in the online edition of Circulation.

"Perhaps this will give us a little bit of comfort when we prescribe Celebrex to patients who are at very, very low cardiovascular risk, but it will perhaps make us considerably more cautious when prescribing to those at high risk," said study author Dr. Scott Solomon, director of noninvasive cardiology at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. "The doses we were able to test were considerably higher than typical arthritis patients are taking."

A third study from the news conference brought more good news for Crestor (rosuvastatin). In a study funded by drug maker AstraZeneca, treatment with this statin for two years lowered average LDL ("bad") cholesterol levels and increased HDL ("good") cholesterol levels, resulting in regression of coronary atherosclerosis. Earlier Monday, AstraZeneca announced that it had halted another trial of Crestor because of "unequivocal" evidence that it was better than a placebo.

"Ninety-seven percent of participants were either stable or had regression," said Dr. Christie M. Ballantyne, of the section of atherosclerosis and vascular medicine in the department of medicine at Baylor College of Medicine and the Methodist DeBakey Heart & Vascular Center. Ballantyne added that the trial lends credence to the strategy of lowering LDL levels.

More information

Visit the American Heart Association   for more on high blood pressure.