TROKE IS A MAJOR HEALTH issue for women. 1,2 Cerebrovascular diseases are the third leading cause of death in the United States 3 and are the leading cause of adult disability. The Women's Health Initiative (WHI), beginning in the early 1990s was designed to examine a number of factors affecting the health of postmenopausal women. 4 Recently 1 arm of the WHI, the clinical trial of estrogen plus progestin, was terminated 3 years before its planned completion date because its harmful effects outweighed its benefits.

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Left insular stroke is associated with an increased risk of adverse cardiac outcome and decreased cardiac wall motion compared to stroke in other locations and TIA. This was particularly marked in patients without symptomatic coronary artery disease (SCAD). In patients with SCAD, the cardioprotective effect of medications, especially beta-blockers alone or combined with ischemic preconditioning, may explain the lack of association in this subgroup.

Use of the NDDI-E significantly improved the ability to detect depression in epilepsy patients in a busy clinical practice.

Beta-blocker use is associated with less severe stroke on presentation and may be cerebroprotective due to a sympatholytic effect associated with decreased thrombin, inflammation, and hemoglobin A(1)C.