Stroke
Stroke was the second most common cause of death worldwide in 2004, resulting in 5.7 million deaths (~10% of the total). Approximately 9 million people had a stroke in 2008 and 30 million people have previously had a stroke and are still alive. It is ranked after heart disease and before cancer. Geographic disparities in stroke incidence have been observed, including the existence of a "stroke belt" in the southeastern United States, but causes of these disparities have not been explained.
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Famous quotes containing the word stroke:
“Now what sort of man or woman or monster would stroke a centipede I have ever seen? “And here is my good big centipede!” If such a man exists, I say kill him without more ado. He is a traitor to the human race.”
—William Burroughs (b. 1914)
“Manners are the happy way of doing things; each once a stroke of genius or of love—now repeated and hardened into usage. They form at last a rich varnish, with which the routine of life is washed, and its details adorned. If they are superficial, so are the dewdrops which give such depth to the morning meadows.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“We are double-edged blades, and every time we whet our virtue the return stroke straps our vice. Where is the skillful swordsman who can give clean wounds, and not rip up his work with the other edge?”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)