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Background: Stroke is the second cause of mortality and the first cause of morbidity in Chile and worldwide. Nowadays there is a major interest in introducing new therapies applying evidence based medicine for these patients., Aim: To describe the clinical profile of patients attended after a stroke, to determine stroke subtypes and their risk factors., Material and Methods: Retrospective review of clinical records of 459 patients (mean age 65+/-48 years, 238 female) that were admitted to our unit during a period of 37 months., Results: Sixty three percent of patients had an ischemic stroke, 14% had an hemorrhagic stroke, 15% had a transient ischemic attack, 2% had a cerebral venous thrombosis and 6% a subarachnoidal hemorrhage. The global mortality was 1%. Seventy percent of patients had a history of high blood pressure., Conclusions: The most common type of stroke is ischemic and high blood pressure is the main risk factor.

Sleep characteristics are studied in 7 patients with sequelae of manganese intoxication and in 8 controls. A reduction in the length of the REM stage was observed, which could be prolonged by L Dopa administration, but without achieving values comparable to the controls. No changes were noted in the non-REM stage of sleep. These results are similar to the ones obtained in Parkinson's disease, suggesting clinical and probably biochemical similarities between the 2 conditions. The blood concentrations of growth hormone during sleep in the manganic patients was lower than in the control group, and no significant variations were noted after L Dopa administration.