<International Circulation>: In the ISC welcome address， it was stated that ‘this conference highlights our multi-year goal to reduce death and disability from stroke by 25% by the year 2010.’ Have we achieved this goal? What do you think are the roles of ISC in reducing stroke burden?

Prof. Greenberg: I don’t know the exact numbers. There has been an overall drop in stroke and it is very clear that the factors that put the largest number of people at risk for a stroke are very common conditions like hypertension， diabetes， poor diet， obesity， and smoking. Therefore， much of the effort is primary prevention and primary care of the population as a whole. One of the campaigns of the American Stroke Association is the “Take 2 to Save 2” campaign that is trying to encourage everyone to contact two individuals close to them who have risk factors for stroke and heart disease and make these straightforward recommendations to them of the importance of treating these risk factors. One of the directly stroke-related efforts is to encourage people to be aware of even minor symptoms that can be warnings of major strokes. There is an education effort to make people aware that sudden loss of strength， sudden loss of speech， sudden loss of vision， and sudden headache， even if they are minor and go away， can be warnings of major strokes. This is an opportunity for them to come and be treated with some of these targeted therapies for high-risk groups such as the carotid artery procedures we spoke about and atrial fibrillation treatments.