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The human body produces and destroys 15 million blood cells every second.
On average, someone in the United States has a stroke about every 40 seconds. This is about 795,000 people per year.
When blood is exposed to air, it clots. Heparin allows the blood to come in direct contact with air without clotting.
Most strokes are caused when blood clots move to a blood vessel in the brain and block blood flow to that area. Thrombolytic therapy can be used to dissolve the clot quickly. If given within 3 hours of the first stroke symptoms, this therapy can help limit stroke damage and disability.
Warfarin was developed as a consequence of the study of a strange bleeding disorder that suddenly occurred in cattle on the northern prairies of the United States in the early 1900s.