
A transient ischemic attack, also known as a mini-stroke, is typically defined as a temporary blockage of blood flow to the brain that causes symptoms that go away within a day, but a new study finds that people who have this type of stroke may also have prolonged fatigue lasting up to one year.
The study, published online in Neurology, does not prove that mini-strokes cause lasting fatigue; it only shows an association.
“People with a transient ischemic attack can have symptoms such as face drooping, arm weakness or slurred speech and these resolve within a day,” said study author Boris Modrau, MD, Ph.D., of Aalborg University Hospital in Denmark.
“However, some have reported continued challenges including reduced quality of life, thinking problems, depression, anxiety and fatigue. Our study found that for some people, fatigue was a common symptom that lasted up to one year after the transient ischemic attack.”
The study involved 354 people with an average age of 70 who had a mini-stroke. They were followed for a year.
Participants completed questionnaires about their level of fatigue within the first two weeks of the mini-stroke and again at three, six, and 12 months later.
One questionnaire looked at five different types of fatigue, including overall tiredness, physical tiredness, reduced activity, reduced motivation and mental fatigue. Scores ranged from four to 20 with higher scores indicating more fatigue. Participants had an average score of 12.3 at the start of the study. At three months, the average score decreased slightly to 11.9, at six months to 11.4 and at twelve months to 11.1.
Researchers looked at how many participants experienced fatigue, as defined as a score of 12 or higher. Of the participants, 61% experienced fatigue two weeks after the mini-stroke and 54% experienced fatigue at each of the three other testing time periods at three, six and 12 months.
Participants also had brain scans. Researchers found that the presence of a blot clot on a scan was equal between people with long-term fatigue and those without it, so this did not explain the reason for the level of fatigue.
Researchers did find that previous anxiety or depression was twice as common in those participants who reported lasting fatigue.
“Long-term fatigue was common in our group of study participants, and we found if people experience fatigue within two weeks after leaving the hospital, it is likely they will continue to have fatigue for up to a year,” said Modrau.
“For future studies, people diagnosed with a transient ischemic attack should be followed in the weeks and months that follow to be assessed for lingering fatigue. This could help us better understand who might struggle with fatigue long-term and require further care.”
A limitation of the study was that while participants were asked to complete the questionnaires themselves, it is possible some responses may have been completed with assistance from relatives or caretakers and this may have influenced responses, including those around fatigue.
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Neurology (2025).
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What ‘Bridgerton’ star Luke Thompson says about Benedict’s sexuality
“Bridgerton” actor Luke Thompson talks to USA TODAY’s Ralphie Aversa about his character Benedict’s sexuality following season 3, part 2.
It’s been a whole year since the esteemed members of the ton graced our screens so it’s no surprise that their return is highly anticipated.
However, it appears that we might have to wait a little longer since it’s going to be a while until Season 4 of the wildly popular Regency-era drama “Bridgerton,” arrives on Netflix, this author learned on May 14.
To mark the announcement and make up for the “Bridgerton” drought, the streaming platform gave a sneak peek into the first meeting between Season 4’s lead couple, Benedict Bridgerton (Luke Thompson) and Sophie Baek’s (Yerin Ha). In the short clip, while the ladies of the ton swoon as an oblivious Mr. Bridgerton walks into the ball in a mask, the only person who catches his attention is a lady dressed in a silver enthralled by the chandelier.
“It seems as though someone has finally caught the attention of Mr. Benedict Bridgerton,” says Netflix in the teaser.
Fortunately for our dear readers, this author has been catching all the hints Lady Whistledown Netflix has been dropping, so here’s what we know so far about Season 4 of “Bridgerton,” including a potential release date and cast.
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Benedict Bridgerton (Luke Thompson), the marriage-evading and free-spirited second child of the Bridgerton family, will be headlining Season 4 of “Bridgerton,” Netflix had announced last July.
“That’s right, the man who once moped from the corner of the ballroom is about to be the focal point of the marriage mart as he searches for a mysterious woman called the Lady in Silver,” Netflix had said in its Season 4 announcement on Tudum.
In the book by Julia Quinn, “An Offer from a Gentleman,” Benedict meets his love interest, “a lady in silver” named Sophie Baek at the masquerade ball hosted by the Bridgerton matriarch Violet.
As the teaser suggests, Benedict is completely enamored by the lady, who as it turns out is “a resourceful maid with her own secrets and dreams,” according to Netflix.
Thompson told Netflix’s Tudum “the storyline is a bit of a twist on ‘Cinderella’” and that it’s really “exciting to have that weaved into the world that we know of Bridgerton.”
Benedict, at the end of Season 3, ended things with Lady Tilley Arnold, telling her that he was enjoying his freedom and wanted to explore more of the world. Tilley was hoping for a more substantial relationship with the Bridgerton brother, telling him that even “merriment can grow tiresome.” That conversation seemed to have resonated with Benedict and in his parting shot, he appears to be at a crossroads over his future.
Thompson, in an earlier interview with USA TODAY, had said that he felt like things came to a head for Benedict in Season 3.
“He’s always been obsessed with this idea of freedom and wanting to sort of escape something, whether it’s what’s going on with his family or whether it’s society, and so that carries on,” Thompson had said. “At the end of the season, when he comes across Lady Tilley’s character, she tells him something that he hasn’t really heard before, and that’s what makes him think about things in sort of different ways.”
“Benedict for the last three seasons has been a very free character, but also slightly lost sometimes. There’s a sense of not being quite sure where he sits,” Thompson said.
“You have to accept that there comes a point where you have to make a choice and commit,” the actor added.
While Thompson had not confirmed if he would be leading Season 4 at the time, he had said he was excited to “deep dive” into Benedict’s character.
Season 4 of “Bridgerton” will arrive on Netflix in 2026. However, an exact date has not been specified.
Netflix hasn’t exactly been consistent as far as “Bridgerton” release dates are concerned.
The first season released in December 2020 and the second season landed a little more than a year after in March 2022. However, Season 3 took its time, coming just over two years later and in separate parts. Part 1 of Season 3 dropped May 16, while Part 2 released on June 13.
In between Seasons 2 and 3, Netflix released “Queen Charlotte,” a spinoff from the “Bridgerton” series with none of the main Bridgerton siblings.
Showrunner Jess Brownell, speaking to The Hollywood Reporter at the U.K. premiere for Part 2 last year in June, had warned fans to expect a wait of up to two years.
“We are working to try and put the seasons out more quickly, but they do take eight months to film and then they have to be edited and then they have to be dubbed into every language,” Brownell told THR. “And the writing takes a very long time as well, so we’re kind of on a two-year pace, we’re trying to speed up, but somewhere in that range.”
It is not yet clear if filming for the series, which was underway in the London area, has wrapped up.
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The new season will have a mix of new and familiar faces, though some of the old cast members may have limited screentime, based on previous trends.
Here’s who is in the cast of Season 4 so far:
“Bridgerton” is slated for eight seasons, given that there are eight books in the “Bridgerton” series. The Regency-era romance is based on Julia Quinn’s novels, with each spotlighting a different family sibling. Season 3 focused on the love story between Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton) and Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan).
Netflix also announced that it has greenlit Season 5 and 6 of the series.
“Mayfair’s esteemed Bridgerton family will return for two more seasons: Seasons 5 and 6,” Netflix said. “A rousing celebration is certainly in order.”
Executive producer Shonda Rhimes also previously said they plan to adapt all eight Bridgerton books into eight seasons for Netflix.
Saman Shafiq is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at sshafiq@gannett.com and follow her on X @saman_shafiq7.
Google’s transition from Google Assistant to Gemini on all surfaces has already begun. Google confirmed that the former will be phased out by the end of the year, with clues pointing to Gemini’s arrival already appearing on some surfaces.
The AI assistant is coming to the one place where it makes the most sense — your car. Hints surrounding Gemini’s arrival on Android Auto first surfaced all the way back in January, long before Google announced that it would begin phasing out the Google Assistant. Subsequently, early UI leaks gave us a sneak peek at what the AI assistant’s implementation would look like, spotlighting a look similar to what Google ultimately showed off at its Android Show.
Related
Gemini is coming to Android Auto later this year, with shorter responses in tow
Keeping safety front of mind
Now, early leaks point at other aspects of Android Auto changing, and if the past is any indication, this new change could be out over the coming weeks and months.
The upcoming change essentially rearranges the media card’s UI on Android Auto’s home screen, making the Play/Pause control easier to access in left-hand drive markets, first highlighted by Android Authority.
Source: Android Authority
As seen in the screenshots above, instead of the regular Previous, Pause/Play, and Next order, the updated UI puts the Pause/Play button towards the very left (closest to the driver), followed by the Previous and Next controls. The screenshots highlight Spotify, but this isn’t an app-specific change. The same UI also surfaces when music is played through YouTube Music.
Apart from the positioning change, the pause button itself now appears within a larger pill, highlighting the most dominant hue found in the song/album cover art. This change, too, should make it easier for the vehicle driver to Play/Pause music or other content. Regardless of the advantages, though, it’s clear that the redesign will mess with users’ muscle memory, potentially leading to initial frustration and outweighing the apparent benefits when the change first rolls out.
Related
15 essential Android Auto apps every driver and passenger needs
Going for a drive? Take these apps with you
Donatella Versace is denouncing the new Florida hotel and restaurant that is named after her.
The fashion designer, 70, clarified on Saturday, May 10, that she is not affiliated with the new Donatella Boutique Hotel & Restaurant in Miami.
“Let me be clear,” Versace began in an Instagram post. “The hotel and restaurant named Donatella, located near our former family home in Miami, will never have anything to do with me or my family. To try to capitalize on our tragedy and my name for profit is disgraceful.”
The new hotel, which is a Nakash and Vida & Estilo Hospitality group property, is opening up the Miami Beach property on Wednesday, May 21.
PEOPLE reached out to Nakash and Vida & Estilo Hospitality groups for comment.
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Nakash and Vida & Estilo Hospitality groups also converted the Versace mansion, where Donatella’s brother, Gianni, was tragically killed, into a hotel, the Villa Casa Casuarina. The hotel also has a restaurant called Gianni’s.
The hospitality group is advertising the new property as a “sister property” to Villa Casa Casuarina, per Ocean Drive magazine.
The property has six exclusive rooms, and each will include dedicated concierge and butler service. Guests can also use the hotel’s amenities, including exclusive beach access with daybeds and premium services such as jet ski rentals. Guests will access a partner facility’s signature massages, revitalizing facials, spa treatments, fitness center and private pool, per the press release.
Meanwhile, the restaurant at Donatella will serve Neapolitan cuisine, which will feature traditional dishes, including pólipo al insalata, carpaccio gambero rosso, rigatoni nduja, black truffle cacio e pepe, veal milanese and skull island prawns. The space can seat up to 170 guests and houses a private dining room for 15 diners.
“The Donatella Boutique Hotel is the ideal sister property, with its Neo-Mediterranean elegance and storied heritage. We are excited to make Donatella Restaurant the heart of this new project, offering world-class Italian cuisine within this stunning space,” chairman Joe Nakash said in the press release.
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Michele Eve Sandberg/Corbis via Getty
The Nakash family, behind the aforementioned hospitality group, reportedly purchased the Versace mansion in 2013 for $41.5 million, per Women’s Wear Daily.
Gianni bought the property in 1992, and was fatally shot on its steps in 1997. Three years later, the Versace family sold the property for $19 million to Peter Loftin, who then operated the space as a private club and a boutique hotel.
NASA’s Cassini spacecraft stared at Saturn for nearly 44 hours on April 25 to 27, 2016, to obtain this movie showing just over four Saturn days. (Courtesy: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute)
Partly cloudy with a chance of methane? Astronomers with the Space Telescope Science Institute say they have spotted evidence of active weather patterns on Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, helping to shape theories of the natural satellite.
Using data from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope and the ground-based Keck II telescope in Hawaii, researchers said they were able to discern cloud formations over bodies of methane and ethane gases across the moon’s northern hemisphere.
The discovery is notable because previous observations only suggested that meteorological processes occurred over its southern hemisphere.
Images captured by the technology observed clouds above the mid- to high-northern latitudes, where the summer season was underway.
“Titan is the only other place in our solar system that has weather like Earth, in the sense that it has clouds and rainfall onto a surface,” Conor Nixon of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, said in a statement.
Photo of Titan – One of Saturn’s moons
(NASA)
SEE THE OBJECTS HUMANS LEFT BEHIND ON THE MOON
According to NASA, Titan possesses a dense nitrogen-based atmosphere and apparently has an active weather cycle similar to Earth — only instead of raining water, it’s raining methane.
Due to its unique atmosphere, temperatures are thought to hover around -290 degrees Fahrenheit, but despite the frigid environment, evaporation, cloud formation and rainfall all occur.
The northern hemisphere is home to most of Titan’s lakes and is similar in structure to North America’s Great Lakes, with the lakes instead being fed by liquid methane rainfall.
Unlike Earth, Titan’s troposphere extends much higher, reaching about 27 miles above the surface, compared to Earth’s 7-mile-tall troposphere, according to researchers at the Space Telescope Science Institute.
Saturn is thought to have around 274 moons – more than any other planet in the solar system – but it is unknown if any of the natural satellites exhibit characteristics similar to Titan.
Using data from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope and the ground-based Keck II telescope in Hawaii researchers said they were able to discern cloud formations over bodies of methane and ethane gasses.
(Space Telescope Science Institute / FOX Weather)
TELESCOPE CAPTURES SIGHT OF BRIGHT AURORAS, BUT THESE AREN’T ON EARTH
Over time, methane in Titan’s atmosphere is being depleted, and without a replenishing source, the moon could lose its atmosphere – similar to the fate of Mars.
“On Titan, methane is a consumable. It’s possible that it is being constantly resupplied and fizzing out of the crust and interior over billions of years. If not, eventually it will all be gone and Titan will become a mostly airless world of dust and dunes,” Nixon stated.
NASA plans to launch a rotorcraft to conduct surveillance of Titan, but a launch is not anticipated before 2028, with an arrival around 2034.
“With contributions from partners around the globe, Dragonfly’s scientific payload will characterize the habitability of Titan’s environment, investigate the progression of prebiotic chemistry on Titan, where carbon-rich material and liquid water may have mixed for an extended period, and search for chemical indications of whether water-based or hydrocarbon-based life once existed on Saturn’s moon,” NASA recently stated about the planned mission.
NASA plans to launch a rotorcraft to conduct surveillance of Titan, but a launch is not anticipated before 2028, with an arrival around 2034.
(NASA)
WASHINGTON — Harvard University is putting up $250 million of its own money to continue research efforts amid a federal funding freeze imposed by the Trump administration, but the school’s president warns of “difficult decisions and sacrifices” to come.
The university joins a growing number of colleges moving to self-fund research as a way to compensate for at least some of the money lost to federal funding cuts.
Johns Hopkins University has started offering grants of up to $150,000 a year to faculty facing “unexpected federal research funding disruptions.” Northwestern University said it’s covering the cost of research projects that received stop-work orders from the federal government in April.
In a campus message Wednesday, Harvard President Alan Garber laid out a plan to maintain some research operations affected by the university’s loss of more than $2.6 billion in grants. Harvard has been fighting the government in court over the cuts.
Harvard’s plan will redirect $250 million as an initial stopgap for the coming year while officials explore other options, Garber wrote. He called it a transition period for critical research programs, noting the Ivy League school “cannot absorb the entire cost of the suspended or canceled federal funds.”
The oldest and wealthiest university in the nation, Harvard has been hit hardest by the Trump administration’s use of federal funding cuts for political leverage. Harvard is the first school to openly defy the White House’s demands to overhaul campus policies around protests, admissions, hiring and more.
The Trump administration frames it as an effort to root out antisemitism on campus. In a series of escalating sanctions, the government has said Harvard is no longer eligible to receive new research grants until it negotiates an end to the impasse. Trump has said he wants to strip the university of its tax-exempt status.
Garber’s message did not indicate where it will pull the $250 million from.
Harvard has a $53 billion endowment and draws about 5% of its annual investment earnings to help cover campus operations. The school could increase that drawdown, but much of the endowment is made up of restricted funding that can only be used for purposes designated by donors. Last month, the school separately made plans to borrow $750 million.
In his message, Garber said the sanctions have stopped lifesaving research and in some cases lost years of work. He said the university is committed to supporting its researchers.
“While there will undoubtedly be difficult decisions and sacrifices ahead, we know that, together, we will chart a path forward to sustain and advance Harvard’s vital research mission,” Garber wrote in his message.
The Trump administration’s pressure campaign is forcing budget cuts on some campuses. Columbia University said it will be laying off nearly 180 employees as a result of the federal government’s $400 million in cuts at the school.
Earlier Wednesday, dozens of higher education organizations issued a joint statement against the Trump administration’s attacks on prestigious universities, calling on the government to “reforge” its ties with academia.
The statement from more than 50 groups said the nation suffers when research grants are “held hostage for political reasons and without due process.” It said all Americans benefit from the technology and medical advances produced through the government’s partnership with colleges.
The groups implore the government to respect colleges’ autonomy over their campuses. The signers include the American Council on Education, which represents hundreds of university presidents.
___ Collin Binkley has covered Harvard for nearly a decade — most of the time living half a mile from its campus.
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The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
An official report into last year’s yacht tragedy, which killed seven, found that the boat could easily capsize in high winds. Its towering mast made it more vulnerable.
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NEW YORK — Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who represented Donald Trump during his 2024 criminal trial, has been appointed acting librarian of Congress, the Justice Department said Monday. Blanche replaces Carla Hayden, the longtime librarian whom the White House fired last week amid criticism from some conservatives that she was advancing a “woke” agenda.
Brian Nieves, a deputy chief of staff and senior counsel in Blanche’s office, was named acting assistant librarian, according to four people familiar with Blanche’s appointment. Paul Perkins, an associate deputy attorney general and veteran Justice Department attorney, is now the acting register of copyrights and director of the Copyright Office, the four people said. He replaces Shira Perlmutter, whom the Trump administration pushed out last weekend.
The four people were not authorized to speak publicly about the acting appointments and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
Since returning to office in January, Trump has purged officials he regards as opposed to him and to his agenda. Hayden, nominated by President Barack Obama in 2015 and confirmed on a 74-18 Senate vote the following year, named Perlmutter as head of the Copyright Office in 2020.
The Copyright Office is overseen by the Library of Congress, which holds a vast archive of books and historical documents. Perlmutter’s office recently released a report examining whether artificial intelligence companies can use copyrighted materials to “train” their AI systems and then compete in the same market as the human-made works they were trained on.
The AP obtained an internal memo sent by Robert Randolph Newlen, who had been serving as acting librarian, saying that Congress was “engaged” with the White House about Blanche’s appointment and that the Library had not yet “received direction from Congress about how to move forward.”
Blanche was named the No. 2 Justice Department official after serving as Trump’s criminal defense attorney in two cases brought by the DOJ during the Biden administration. He is a former federal prosecutor who was a key figure on Trump’s defense team in his New York hush money trial, which ended in a conviction on 34 felony counts.
Hayden’s dismissal was widely condemned by Democrats and by many who worked with Hayden, the first Black person and the first woman to be named librarian of Congress. Ada Limon, who served three years as U.S. poet laureate after Hayden chose her in 2022, said last week that “Dr. Carla Hayden is the kindest, brightest, most generous Librarian of Congress we could have hoped for as a nation.”
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Associated Press writers Seung Min Kim, Alanna Durkin Richer and Eric Tucker in Washington contributed to this report.