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These researchers studied autonomic cardiovascular modulation in patients with previous lacunar stroke that did not involve the insula. They monitored heart rate (R-R interval), blood pressure, and respiration in 15 patients with right-sided strokes and 13 patients with left-sided strokes 18 to 43 months after the acute event. The researchers similarly examined 21 healthy controls matched to the patients. The authors assessed subjects’ autonomic cardiovascular modulation by using power spectral analysis of the spontaneous fluctuations of the R-R interval and of blood pressure. (High-frequency fluctuations of heart rate at respiratory frequency reflect parasympathetic [vagal] modulation, whereas low-frequency fluctuations reflect both sympat…