Reuters UK, Aug. 4, 2008 UTMB's Dr. Tracy U. Nguyen-Oghalai is quoted in this article that says that people with rheumatoid arthritis who suffer a stroke are likely to have lower functional ability than stroke patients without arthritis. Nguyen-Oghalai and colleagues designed their study to see whether the swelling and pain that accompanies rheumatoid arthritis or lupus interferes with stroke rehabilitation. The investigators' next step "is to determine whether outpatient therapy after discharge from inpatient rehabilitation can facilitate more functional recovery and reduce long-term functional disability among patients with rheumatoid arthritis," Nguyen-Oghalai told Reuters Health.   The article also was published by other Websites, including Medline Plus, a service of the National Library of Medicine/National Institutes of Health. http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_67709.html