Please select the eligibility criteria that correspond to the clinical trial below.
Title: The Comparative Acceptability, Safety, Effects and Expense of Specialized, Integrated, and Interdisciplinary Community Rehabilitation for Stroke Survivors and Their Caregivers
Brief Summary: As the population ages and the number of stroke survivors increases, information is needed to determine the best way of providing home care services for rehabilitation to stroke survivors and their caregivers while containing health care costs. This project will address this area by developing and testing the effects and costs of a collaborative and specialized team approach to stroke rehabilitation by health professionals, in a home care setting, compared to usual home care services. The overall goal of this way of providing home care services is to improve the quality of life and function of stroke survivors and their caregivers and prevent future strokes, which will reduce the overall cost to the health care system.


Options:
A: Inclusion Criteria:

1. Ischemic cerebral infarction or TIA within 30 days.
2. Aged above 18 years old.
3. Hospitalized.
4. Cranial CT or MRI scan exclude intracranial hemorrhagic diseases
5. Stable clinical and neurological conditions.
6. A Modified Rankin score less than 4 at enrollment
7. Informed consent is obtained.

Exclusion Criteria:

Patients will be excluded from entry if any of the criteria listed below are met

1. Documented stroke caused by conditions other than atherosclerosis, ie, surgical or vascular intervention procedure.
2. Severe co-morbid or unstable medical condition, ie, heart failure, respiratory failure and renal failure, severe liver dysfunction, malignancy with likelihood of death within the next 2 years
3. Significant memory or behavioural disorder, ie, Alzheimer disease, etc, daily care needed.
4. A Modified Rankin score is more than 4
5. Concurrent participation in another clinical trial
6. Pregnant
7. Unable to give informed consent.
B: Inclusion Criteria:

* diagnosis of stroke or TIA has been confirmed.
* newly referred to and eligible for home care services (physiotherapy, speech language therapy, occupational therapy, nursing) through the Toronto Central CCAC.
* living at home in the community (outside of an institutional setting) up to 18-months post-stroke.
* English speaking

Exclusion Criteria:

* refuse to give informed consent.
* more than 18 months post-stroke at time of recruitment.
* unable to read/write English and an appropriate translator is not available.
C: Inclusion Criteria

1. Ages 40 years or greater at the time of randomization.
2. Ischemic stroke or TIA no less than 14 days and no more than 6 months before randomization
3. Documentation of insulin resistance as defined by a value over 3.0 on the Homeostasis Model Assessment of insulin sensitivity (HOMA).
4. Both ability and willingness to provide informed consent.
5. Presence of none of the exclusion criteria.

Exclusion Criteria

Permanent Exclusions

1. Severely disabling stroke as indicated by an inability to participate in scheduled follow-up activities.
2. Persons whose ischemic stroke or TIA was related to structural cardiac lesion, significant head trauma, proximal arterial dissection or medical instrumentation.
3. Diabetes mellitus as defined by recent use of medication for diabetes as an out-patient (\*see note below) or two fasting plasma blood sugars \> 126 mg/dL.
4. HgbA1c \> 7.0%.
5. Irreversible medical conditions likely to affect short-term survival or ability to participate in the study protocol. These include:

   * Cancer or other chronic disease with poor prognosis (predicted survival of less than four years).
   * Severe neurologic or psychiatric disease that would complicate the evaluation of study outcomes (e.g., dementia or schizophrenia).
6. History of intolerance to any thiazolidinedione.
7. Pregnancy or desire to become pregnant.
8. Oral contraceptive use.
9. Ongoing use of oral corticosteroids.
10. History of heart failure
11. Active liver disease as defined by known liver disease accompanied by cirrhosis, significant cholestasis, portal hypertension, hepatic encephalopathy, hepatic synthetic dysfunction, or expected significant loss of liver function over the course of the study.
12. History of bladder cancer.
13. Current participation in a conflicting clinical trial. A conflicting clinical trial is defined as a trial with any of following:

    * Intervention that is known to affect the incidence of stroke or myocardial infarction.
    * Intervention that is an experimental drug.
    * Outcome that includes stroke or myocardial infarction.
    * Exclusion for participation in another trial.

Temporary Exclusions Persons with temporary exclusions may be enrolled as soon as the exclusion has resolved.

1. Alanine aminotransferase (ALT) \>2.5 times the upper limit of normal.
2. Hemoglobin \<8.5 g/dl.
3. Moderate or severe pitting edema of the feet or legs (IRIS grade 3 or 4).
4. Carotid surgery or carotid stenting procedure scheduled (delay randomization until 2 weeks following procedure).
D: INCLUSION:

Small subcortical ischemic stroke or subcortical TIA.

Inclusion criteria are based on TOAST criteria supplemented by required MRI data. All of the following criteria must be met:

* One of the lacunar stroke clinical syndromes (adapted from Fisher) lasting \> 24 hrs within the past 6 months
* Absence of signs or symptoms of cortical dysfunction such as aphasia, apraxia, agnosia, agraphia, homonymous visual field defect, etc.
* No ipsilateral cervical carotid stenosis (≥50%) by a reliable imaging modality done in an approved laboratory since the qualifying small subcortical stroke (S3), if hemispheric.
* No major-risk cardioembolic sources requiring anticoagulation or other specific therapy. Minor-risk cardioembolic sources will be permitted if anticoagulation is not prescribed by the patient's primary care physician.
* Subcortical TIA with corresponding lesion on DWI.
* MRI evidence of S3: a. Presence of an S3 (1.5 and 2 cm in diameter corresponding to the qualifying event on DWI; when TIA, ADC image must confirm lesion or T2/FLAIR (hyperintense lesions) (required for all brainstem events) OR multiple S3s on FLAIR/TI(\<1.5 cm in diameter) (hypointense lesions) b. Absence of cortical stroke and large subcortical stroke (recent or remote).

EXCLUSION:

To be eligible for entry into the study, the patient must not meet any of the criteria listed below:

* Disabling stroke (Modified Rankin Scale less than or equal to 4)
* Previous intracranial hemorrhage (excluding traumatic) or hemorrhagic stroke
* Age under 30 years
* High risk of bleeding (e.g. recurrent GI or GU bleeding, active peptic ulcer disease, etc)
* Anticipated requirement for long-term use of anticoagulants (e.g. recurrent DVT) or other antiplatelets
* Prior cortical stroke (diagnosed either clinically or by neuroimaging), or prior cortical or retinal TIA
* Prior ipsilateral carotid endarterectomy
* Impaired renal function: GFR \<40
* Intolerance or contraindications to aspirin or clopidogrel (including thrombocytopenia, prolonged INR)
* A score \< 24 (adjusted for age and education) on the Folstein Mini Mental Status Examination
* Medical contraindication to MRI
* Pregnancy or women of child-bearing potential who are not following an effective method of contraception
* Geographic or social factors making study participation impractical
* Unable or unwilling to provide informed consent
* Unlikely to be compliant with therapy/unwilling to return for frequent clinic visits
* Patients concurrently participating in another study with an investigational drug or device
* Other likely specific cause of stroke (e.g. dissection, vasculitis, prothrombotic diathesis, drug abuse)

Answer: B