ABSTRACT
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Stroke is a leading cause of death in industrialized nations. The only treatment that is currently
approved by the regulatory authorities is thrombolysis using recombinant tissue plasminogen
activator (rtPA) when administered within 3 h following cerebral infarction [1-3]. Because of this
time constraint, only a very small fraction of stroke patients of less than 5% are amenable to rtPA
treatment.
