 At completion of the 24h active treatment period, all patients will continue to receive standard stroke care and rehabilitation, and treating physicians will manage BP in the manner they feel is appropriate. Physicians will be encouraged to start oral antihypertensive therapy, administered via nasogastric feeding tube if necessary, on day 2. BP, HR and antihypertensive medication doses will continue to be monitored and recorded every 4 h for the first 48 h and then twice daily until discharge. Long-term goals for both patient groups after the active treatment period are a systolic BP of 140 mmHg, or 130 mmHg in those with diabetes, as per current stroke prevention and hypertension guidelines. 