A 2026 meta-analysis of 7 small Chinese trials found that adding herbal patches on acupuncture points to usual stroke care improved self-rated sleep in 608 stroke survivors with sleep problems.1 The researchers rated that evidence as very low certainty, and safety was barely reported. Research Highlights Better sleep scores: across 6 trials (536 people), Pittsburgh …
Adults with type 2 diabetes who also had ADHD died at a higher rate than those without ADHD in a 2026 study of 1.9 million adults newly diagnosed with diabetes across 7 countries. They did not, however, have more heart attacks, strokes or cardiovascular deaths.1 Research Highlights Higher death rate with ADHD: after adjusting for …
A 2026 review concluded that GLP-1 receptor agonists have plausible stroke biology and modest prevention signals, but current human evidence does not support routine use as acute ischemic stroke neuroprotection.1 The useful clinical split is prevention in cardiometabolic patients vs. acute brain-rescue treatment after stroke onset. Research Highlights Acute neuroprotection is not established: the 2026 …
A 2026 medRxiv preprint involving 65 early subacute stroke survivors found that a composite cerebral small-vessel disease MRI score predicted 90-day cognitive recovery more reliably than any single input marker.1 Lower baseline burden predicted higher follow-up Montreal Cognitive Assessment scores (β = −0.19; p = 0.009) and remained associated after baseline cognition was included (β …
A 2026 medRxiv meta-analysis of 27 trials found that transcranial direct current stimulation added to cognitive training improved global cognition immediately after treatment by SMD 0.36 compared with cognitive training alone.1 The signal was small, short-term, and rated very low certainty, so it is not evidence that tDCS is a durable cognitive-rehabilitation shortcut. Research Highlights …
A 2026 PRISMA systematic review by Cavallo et al. in Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience aggregates 43 neuroimaging studies of social cognition in adults with stroke or traumatic brain injury and finds the same handful of regions implicated again and again: the insula, cingulate cortex, middle frontal gyrus, and corpus callosum.1 Research Highlights Stroke/TBI social-cognition …
A 2026 two-cohort connectome study found that post-stroke depressive symptoms tracked damage to networks weighted by the serotonin transporter and vesicular acetylcholine transporter: 5-HTT damage predicted depression in Leipzig (OR 2.4, 95% CI 1.15–5.02) and Oxford (OR 2.05, 95% CI 1.03–4.09), while VAChT damage also replicated across both cohorts.1 The dopamine part of the original …