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GLP-1 Stroke Review Finds Prevention Signal, No Acute Neuroprotection Proof

MHD featured image for GLP-1 receptor agonists and stroke neuroprotection.

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 …

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Small-Vessel Disease MRI Score Predicted 90-Day Cognition After Stroke

MHD featured image for composite small-vessel disease MRI and post-stroke cognitive recovery.

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 …

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tDCS Plus Cognitive Training Improved Cognition Short-Term by SMD 0.36

MHD featured image for tDCS plus cognitive training in cognitive impairment.

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 …

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Social Cognition After Stroke/TBI: Insula-Cingulate Hub

Editorial card showing a stylized brain with the insula, cingulate, middle frontal gyrus, and corpus callosum highlighted, representing the convergent neural substrates of social cognition after acquired brain injury.

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 …

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Post-Stroke Depression Tracks Serotonin-Acetylcholine Damage

Photoreal illustration of stroke lesion with overlapping neurotransmitter network damage, conveying mechanism of post-stroke depression.

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 …

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Migrant Stroke Patients Had 1.90x Higher Late-Arrival Odds

Photoreal illustration of a stroke patient in an emergency room with overlay of treatment-eligibility imagery, conveying disparities in acute-stroke care.

A 2026 Dutch stroke-center cohort found the opposite of the damaged draft’s claim: patients with a migration background were more likely to reach the hospital outside the therapeutic window for acute reperfusion therapy, and they had sharply lower odds of receiving endovascular thrombectomy.1 Research Highlights Late arrival was the clearest disparity: 53.2% of migrant-background patients …

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Risperidone Stroke Risk in Dementia: HR 1.28 Across CVD Subgroups

Conceptual illustration of cerebral blood vessels and a pill, representing risperidone-associated stroke risk in dementia patients.

The risperidone-stroke link in dementia is one of the longest-running safety signals in geriatric psychiatry, anchoring the FDA’s 2005 black-box warning on atypical antipsychotic mortality. Popular framing reduces it to “antipsychotics cause stroke in dementia” — a true sentence that flattens a multi-axis decision. Choma’s 2025 analysis of UK primary care records is the largest …

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