Feature Channels: Epilepsy

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May is Mental Health Awareness Month. Get your mental health news here.

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A new study finds intriguing brain wave patterns in comatose patients who died following cardiac arrest.

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Stigma affects all aspects of epilepsy care. It affects the lives of people with epilepsy when they are not given equal access to education, employment, and social opportunities. In a US study, one-third of respondents identified stigma—not seizures—as the most difficult part of living with epilepsy.

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Can bringing epilepsy care to people’s homes improve outcomes? ILAE spoke with two researchers who conducted a randomized trial of home-based care versus clinic-based care in northern India. Those receiving the home-based care, delivered by community health workers, had better outcomes.

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An estimated 50 million people worldwide have epilepsy, making them 16 times more likely to die suddenly compared to the general population. SMU biology researcher Edward Glasscock has received a 5-year, $3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health for a study that he hopes will lead to the identification of biomarkers to help identify people at risk for sudden unexpected death in epilepsy, known as SUDEP.

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Researcher will discuss the study which involved a sleeping aid known as suvorexant that is already approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for insomnia, hints at the potential of sleep medications to slow or stop the progression of Alzheimer’s disease.

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An extra copy of a gene that controls synapse formation in the cortex causes excessive inhibitory signaling and may contribute to Down syndrome, according to a new study publishing April 20th in the open access journal PLOS Biology by Bing Ye of the University of Michigan, US, and colleagues.

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People with epilepsy living in disadvantaged neighborhoods—areas with higher poverty levels and fewer educational and employment opportunities— may be more likely to have memory, thinking, and mental health problems compared to people with epilepsy living in neighborhoods with fewer disadvantages, according to new research published in the April 19, 2023, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The study does not prove that living in disadvantaged neighborhoods causes memory and mental health problems. It only shows an association.

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Le rôle des soins de santé primaires dans l’identification, le diagnostic et le traitement des personnes atteintes d’épilepsie est de plus en plus important. Cependant, les attitudes sociétales et la stigmatisation entourant l’épilepsie peuvent constituer des obstacles majeurs à l’amélioration des soins.

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A pesar de las directrices, el tratamiento de primera línea para el estado epiléptico a menudo es inadecuado. Los estudios sugieren que hasta dos tercios de los pacientes reciben dosis subclínicas de benzodiazepinas, ya sea antes de llegar a un hospital o durante el tratamiento hospitalario de emergencia. ¿Hay soluciones?

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A new study has found that people with epilepsy have an increased risk of early death and the increased risk varies depending on where they live, the number of medications they take and what other diseases they may have. The study is published in the March 22, 2023, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

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When the full-scale war in Ukraine began, anti-seizure medication supplies disappeared and some families left the country for safety. How has the past year affected people with epilepsy in Ukraine and their families, as well as the physicians who care for them?

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Jon Kleen, MD, PhD, UC San Francisco neurologist, epileptologist and neuroscientist, has been chosen by the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) to receive its 2023 Dreifuss-Penry Epilepsy Award. He is being honored for his outstanding contributions in clinical research and leadership in the treatment of epilepsy.

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“JFK University Medical Center is proud to add renowned neurosurgeon, Dr. Milano and neurologist, Dr. Peeraully to our Neuroscience Institute,” said Amie Thornton, president, chief hospital executive.

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It's sleep awareness week, according to the National Sleep Foundation. It’s important to understand how sleep deprivation can impact your health. Most people recognize that if they don’t get enough sleep, their mood and memory will suffer the next day.

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In some countries, more than 90% of people with epilepsy are not receiving treatment. Over the past two decades, epilepsy diagnosis and treatment have evolved in China as the country has focused on multiple aspects of care, including stigma and access to specialists.

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A new study by Tufts University researchers found a molecule that could be a target for treatment in patients who have become resistant to traditional anti-seizure drugs

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Stigma leads to discrimination and can affect all aspects of a person’s life. Dr. Bruna Nucera talked with Mary Secco from the International Bureau for Epilepsy (IBE) about addressing stigma through listening to people with epilepsy and their lived experiences.

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Before his deep brain stimulation procedure in March, 10-year-old Rylan Moll was experiencing multiple seizures a day, causing disruptions in school, playtime and having a regular childhood.

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Jessie Nyirenda's seizures began in her early teens. She was dismissed as attention-seeking and told she might be cursed. Years later, Jessie discovered information about her condition through library research and was formally diagnosed. She now works as a financial educator and is a mother of three children.

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Bidirectional links between epilepsy and sleep have been known for thousands of years. Despite nearly a century of research using EEG investigations, the relationships are still not well understood.

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Cedars-Sinai and its affiliate Huntington Health are collaborating on a new Epilepsy Monitoring Unit to bring treatment and care closer to epilepsy patients in the San Gabriel Valley

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Over the past fifty years, there have been remarkable claims about the effects of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's music. Reports about alleged symptom-alleviating effects of listening to Mozart’s Sonata KV448 in epilepsy attracted a lot of public attention. However, the empirical validity of the underlying scientific evidence has remained unclear. Now, University of Vienna psychologists Sandra Oberleiter and Jakob Pietschnig show in a new study published in the prestigious journal Nature Scientific Reports that there is no evidence for a positive effect of Mozart's melody on epilepsy.

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Seizures can be predicted more than 30 minutes before onset in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy, opening the door to a therapy using electrodes that could be activated to prevent seizures from happening, according to new research from UTHealth Houston.

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El ejercicio ayudó al estudiante universitario Vinay Jani de Delhi, India, a ganar fuerza y perder peso. Pero en 2005, comenzó a tener crisis epilépticas. El control de las crisis epilépticas era difícil de alcanzar, y Jani entró en una depresión. Dejó de hacer ejercicio y recuperó más de la mitad del peso que había perdido.

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Three grants totaling $15 million, which aim to enhance knowledge of the brain processes that play a key role in speech, epilepsy, and reading, have been awarded to researchers at UTHealth Houston by the National Institutes of Health Brain Research Through Advancing Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative.

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The Henry Ford Medical Group today announced Brien J. Smith, M.D., MBA, a national expert in neurology and epilepsy, as its new Chair of the Department of Neurology.

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New research from Tufts University School of Medicine and the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences suggests that the timing of the death of certain inhibitory neurons in the brain shortly after birth may be at least partly to blame for infantile spasms syndrome (ISS), a rare but devastating form of epilepsy that develops most frequently between four and eight months of age but can emerge within weeks of birth until ages 4 or 5.

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People living in disadvantaged neighborhoods—areas with higher poverty levels and fewer educational and employment opportunities—had an increased risk of dying within a month of being hospitalized for stroke, epilepsy and other neurologic diseases compared to people living in neighborhoods with fewer disadvantages, according to new research published in the February 15, 2023, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

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The International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) and the International Bureau for Epilepsy (IBE) are calling for greater understanding and intersectoral action to tackle the stigma and discrimination faced by people with epilepsy worldwide.

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La epilepsia es un trastorno neurológico en el que la actividad del cerebro es anormal, lo que provoca convulsiones o períodos de comportamiento inusuales, sensaciones y, en algunos casos, pérdida de la consciencia. Cualquier persona puede padecer epilepsia, y esta afecta a hombres y mujeres de todas las razas, orígenes étnicos y edades. En esta alerta para los expertos, el Dr. Jamie Van Gompel, neurocirujano de Mayo Clinic, describe las opciones de tratamiento más recientes.

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A epilepsia é um distúrbio neurológico no qual as atividades cerebrais se tornam anormais, causando convulsões ou períodos de comportamento e sensações incomuns e, ocasionalmente, perda de consciência. Qualquer pessoa pode desenvolver epilepsia e a doença afeta homens e mulheres de todas as raças, etnias e idades. Neste alerta do especialista, o Dr. Jamie Van Gompel, neurocirurgião da Mayo Clinic, descreve as opções mais recentes de tratamento.

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Epilepsy is a neurological disorder in which brain activity becomes abnormal, causing seizures or periods of unusual behavior, sensations, and sometimes loss of awareness. Anyone can develop epilepsy and epilepsy affects males and females of all races, ethnic backgrounds and ages. In this expert alert, Jamie Van Gompel, M.D., a neurosurgeon at Mayo Clinic, describes the latest treatment options.

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A $25 million gift from an anonymous donor to Penn Medicine and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) created a center to study epilepsy and neurodevelopmental disorders.

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Many think of epilepsy, a neurological disorder affecting 3.4 million Americans, as a chronic condition marked by occasional seizures. But the disease can be deadly, so it is essential for patients to get their seizures under control with proper treatment, said Lisa Bateman, MD, director of the Cedars-Sinai Health System Surgical Epilepsy Program.

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He is one of the best known researchers in the behavioral aspects of epilepsy, and has authored more than 250 papers and book chapters. Dr. Kanner sat down with ILAE to talk about his original goal of becoming an artist, his path to epileptology, and what has shaped him into an excellent clinician.

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Malgré les recommandations, le traitement de première intention de l'état de mal épileptique est souvent inapproprié. Des études suggèrent que jusqu'à deux tiers des patients reçoivent des doses subcliniques de benzodiazépines, soit avant d'arriver à l'hôpital, soit pendant un traitement hospitalier d'urgence. Existe-t-il des solutions ?

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Mahsa Shoaran of the Integrated Neurotechnologies Laboratory in the School of Engineering collaborated with Stéphanie Lacour in the Laboratory for Soft Bioelectronic Interfaces to develop NeuralTree: a closed-loop neuromodulation system-on-chip that can detect and alleviate disease symptoms.

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Researchers at the University of Kentucky and Hebrew University in Jerusalem are partnering to study the complexity of the human brain. Specifically, researchers will test whether new, so-far unknown proteins exist in the brain.Labs from the two institutions have obtained a joint grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the United States-Israel Binational Science Foundation (BSF) to study new aspects of RNA biology.

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Other than in rare cases, physical activity does not increase the risk for seizures in people with epilepsy. But people with epilepsy are less active than the general population and have poorer objective physical fitness than the general population. How can we change that?

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Scientists detected simple movement like pushing a button sends ripples of activity throughout networks of neurons spanning across the brain.

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A new study reveals adults who suffered any head injury during a 30-year study period had two times the rate of mortality than those who did not have any head injury, and mortality rates among those with moderate or severe head injuries were nearly three times higher.

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This year’s theme for International Epilepsy Day, “Step Up Against Stigma”, provides a platform to dispel myths with facts.

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Un equipo de investigadores visito dos centros de atencion primaria de salud en Bhimaravam para evaluar la atencion proporcionada a las personas con epilepsia a traves del sistema de atencion primaria de salud.

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Human cells are often a mixture of both abnormal and normal DNA – a mosaic, so to speak, and like the art form, this complex montage is difficult to understand. Neuroscience researchers are training computers to unveil new methods for DNA mosaic recognition.