. 2010 Mar 2;7(3):e1000224. doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1000224

Table 2. Five key papers in the field of stroke.

Advance	Paper and Title	Importance	Ref.
Understanding risk factors leads to drug development.	Connolly et al., 2009: Dabigatran versus warfarin in patients with atrial fibrillation.	Prevention of stroke in AF with new classes of drugs such as the thrombin inhibitors is important because of the high age-specific attributable risk of AF.	[14] ^H
	Brouns et al., 2009: Carboxypeptidase U (TAFIa) decreases the efficacy of thrombolytic therapy in ischemic stroke patients.	Evidence is emerging that genotype and activity of TAFI both is associated with stroke risk and interferes with the efficacy of tPA. TAFI inhibitors have the potential to significantly reduce clot lysis time.	[28] ^H
Robust neuroprotection is possible and needs to be trialled.	van der Worp et al., 2007: Hypothermia in animal models of acute ischaemic stroke: a systematic review and meta-analysis.	The data supporting the use of hypothermia for neuroprotection in animal models of stroke are robust; hypothermia is now routinely used to prevent the neurological consequences of cardiac surgery. With the possibility of effective pharmacological control of shivering, a large-scale trial of hypothermia in stroke is overdue.	[37] ^A
Damage and repair go hand in hand.	Lo, 2008: A new penumbra: transitioning from injury into repair after stroke.	This seminal paper takes a holistic view of stroke pathophysiology and argues that many of the highly conserved “deleterious” mediators of acute injury are also essential for later plasticity and recovery. Our therapeutic approach to preserving the ischemic penumbra needs to take this complexity into account.	[53] ^A+H
Population genetics will identify new risk factors and therapeutic targets.	Gschwendtner et al., 2009: Sequence variants on Chromosome 9p21.3 confer risk for atherosclerotic stroke.	This large multinational GWAS revealed that Chromosome 9p21.3 represents a major risk locus for atherosclerotic stroke. This region contains a number of candidate genes.	[57] ^H

animal study.

human study.