Stroke

That time you're spending on Facebook may not be wasted productivity, after all. At least, that's what yet another Facebook-based study has found. You may remember Stuart Smiley, the fey self-affirmation addict portrayed on "Saturday Night Live" by now-Sen. Al Franken. He stares into the mirror and declares, "I'm good enough, I'm smart enough and, dog gone it, people like me. " That's what Facebook does, according to a study published in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.

PHOENIX - I'm told when you have one of these mini-strokes, your fingers might hit the wrong keys, so my meaning well in a column might come off as something else. I can't explain the previous 39 years. I should have known this trip to spring training was headed to the hospital. They tell me the first clue should have been when I fell getting out of bed. Again and again. By the way, I do not recommend sitting on a toilet and falling off toward the tub. Fortunately, my training as an athlete - having played as much golf as I have - saved me. I'm told I should have dialed 911. That's funny.

The par-three, 185-yard 17th is known as the signature hole at Newport Beach Country Club. It also became David Frost's as he sank a sensational 50-foot putt on his way to victory Sunday. The birdie was the highlight of his wire-to-wire win at the 19th Toshiba Classic. Frost shot a 65 to tie the tournament record at 19-under-par 194 and hold off Fred Couples, who trailed by one shot entering the final round but finished five shots behind. Peter Senior and Jay Haas, who shot 194 in 2007, finished tied for third place, eight shots behind Frost.

DORAL, Fla. — It's bad news for his opponents when Tiger Woods can scrape the ball around the Blue Monster at Trump Doral and still cruise to a two-shot victory. Despite some wayward drives and approach shots, Woods never wavered in the final round of the Cadillac Championship on Sunday, shooting a one-under-par 71 to finish at 19-under 269 for the tournament. It was the fourth time Woods has won at Doral, his 17th World Golf Championships title and his second PGA Tour victory of the year.

America's oldest motorcycle company unveiled its newest engine Saturday night at the Daytona Bike Week celebration in Florida, and it's big. Really big. In celebration of the company's 112-year-old legacy, it's an 111-cubic-inch engine. With 115 foot-pounds of torque. The massive V-twin power plant will become the "heartbeat of upcoming, all new 2014 Indian motorcycles. " So far, the company isn't saying what that motorcycle is. For now, the only machine being driven by the giant Thunder Stroke is the Spirit of Munro, a brand new speed racer named after legendary Burt Munro, who in 1967 set the all-time land speed record for a motorcycle under 1000cc.

Rafael Nadal wore a bright aqua shirt and a scowl as he came onto Stadium 1 Court at the BNP Paribas Open on Saturday night to play his first hard-court tennis match in 346 days. Nadal has avoided hard surfaces as he has tried to rest his left knee that has been afflicted with tendinitis. After a tentative comeback at two clay court tournaments where the ground is more forgiving, Nadal made his debut at Indian Wells a winning one. Nadal nervously fell behind 20-year-old American Ryan Harrison in the first set, then the fifth-seeded Spaniard came back to win 7-6 (3)

Researchers believe that someday, doctors may be able to use specially-equipped laptops and smartphones to figure out if sudden-onset dizziness in patients is the result of a stroke, or of a (more likely) benign disturbance in the inner ear. If scientists can prove that the technology works dependably, said Johns Hopkins neurologist and ear, nose and throat specialist Dr. David Newman-Toker, the devices could potentially prevent 100,000 misdiagnosed strokes every year by augmenting the methods emergency rooms currently use to figure out what's going on. The machines could also save money, by reducing the number of expensive CT scans given to patients.

Thai teenager Ariya Jutanugarn shot a two-under 70 to lead by three strokes after the third round of the LPGA Thailand at Chonburi despite finishing with two bogeys. Last year's top-ranked amateur, Ariya, 17 years old, had seven birdies - including five straight from No. 10 - for an 11-under 205 total at the Siam Country Club Pattaya Old Course. Stacy Lewis (76), Se Ri Pak (71) and Beatriz Recari (72) followed, and Inbee Park (71) was another stroke behind. Lewis, the third-ranked American, finished with three bogeys to lose her three-stroke lead after the second round.

Traditional Southern diets may be linked to a higher risk of stroke, a researcher said at a conference on Thursday. The lead researcher, Suzanne Judd, a nutritional epidemiologist at the University of Alabama, said her study is the first large-scale effort to look at stroke and a diet of such foods as fried chicken and fish, bacon, ham and sweet teas.  “Fatty foods are high in cholesterol, sugary drinks are linked to diabetes and salty foods lead to high blood pressure,” Judd said in a statement.

New research is raising doubts about a popular form of stroke therapy that aims to snatch a blood clot from a patient's brain and restore vital blood flow before serious damage is done. In clinical trials presented this week at the American Heart Assn.'s International Stroke Conference, researchers found that use of these devices did not improve health outcomes for stroke patients who made it to the hospital in time to use a clot-busting medication called tissue plasminogen activator, or tPA. The devices, first approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2005, have taken the stroke community by storm and are widely used in stroke centers across the country to clear clots that have cut off blood to the brain.