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In recent years, huge advances have been made in the treatment of the most common type of stroke in which a clot blocks the flow of blood to part of the brain.

If a patient gets to a hospital within three hours of the onset of symptoms, doctors can administer a clot-busting drug that quickly restores blood flow and reduces the chances of long-term disability.

But there is a catch: A lot of patients don't make it to an emergency room in time to receive this brain-preserving therapy.

A new study suggests there may be another option for the latecomers. People treated with the antibiotic minocycline within six to 24 hours of the stroke suffered far fewer long-term disabilities than patients who didn't get the medication.

The study involved 152 men and women who had suffered a stroke, but arrived at a Tel Aviv hospital too late for the anti-clotting drug. Half of them were treated with minocycline for five days, while the others were given a placebo.

"The improvement was already apparent within a week of the stroke," said the study's lead author Yair Lampl of Tel Aviv University in Israel.

At the end of three months, those who received the real drug did four times better on tests measuring vision, movement and speaking ability than those given the placebo.

But why would an antibiotic, normally used to combat bacterial infections, aid stroke patients? Apparently, this antibiotic blocks the activity of an enzyme that can trigger inflammation and cell death.

In other words, minocycline reduces inflammation that normally accompanies a stroke. This inflammation is partly responsible for damaging vulnerable brain cells.

Although the initial tests are promising, Dr. Lampl noted that a larger study is needed to confirm the findings published in the journal Neurology.

LEADEN LIPS

Health Canada will be conducting tests on a wide range of lipsticks, after a consumer advocacy group said it found trace amounts of lead in lipstick products sold in the United States.

"If any products are found to contain high levels of lead as a result of the ... testing, the department will take action to remove the products from the market," Health Canada spokeswoman Joey Rathwell said in an e-mail.

According to the study conducted for the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, one-third of the lipsticks tested contain enough lead to exceed the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's 0.1 per cent parts per million limit for candy.

Health Canada officials estimate that up to 10 per cent of the lead in lipstick may be ingested. That means even the contaminated U.S. products were still "within the acceptable lead limits for candy," Ms. Rathwell said.

PRICKING AWAY PAIN

When surgery patients get acupuncture before and during their operation, they have far less of a need for painkilling medications during recovery.

Tong Joo Gan with Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C., reviewed 15 acupuncture trials.

The overall results revealed that people who received acupuncture were able to cope with less pain medication than other patients. He speculated that the Chinese therapy stimulated the body to produce endorphins and enkephalins - natural pain soothers.

And because these patients required less opioid-based drugs, they also suffered fewer medication side effects, which often include nausea, dizziness and urinary retention.

"These side effects can negatively impact a patient's recovery from surgery and lengthen the time spent in hospital," Dr. Gan told a meeting of the American Society of Anesthesiologists in San Francisco.

ptaylor@globeandmail.com