Dravet Syndrome News and Research

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UK doctors to test cannabis-based medicine for children with severe epilepsy

Children with severe epilepsy could be helped by a new treatment derived from the cannabis plant.

18 Dec 2014

Scientists receive NIH grants to explore sudden unexpected death in epilepsy

Nine groups of scientists will receive funding totaling $5.9 million in 2014 to work together on increasing the understanding of sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP), the leading cause of death from epilepsy. The consortium becomes the second Center Without Walls, an initiative to speed the pace of research on difficult problems in epilepsy by promoting collaborative research.

9 Dec 2014

Case Western Reserve selected to lead $27.3 million international effort to identify causes of SUDEP

Case Western Reserve is one of two universities in the country selected to lead a $27.3 million international effort to identify the causes of a mysterious and deadly phenomenon that strikes people with epilepsy without warning.

9 Dec 2014

Study shows link between cardiac abnormalities, sudden unexpected death in epilepsy

Groundbreaking findings describing the link between cardiac abnormalities and sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP) will be presented at the American Epilepsy Society's Annual Meeting in December.

7 Dec 2014

New Colombia creates joint venture to produce cannabis and hemp based medicinal products

New Colombia Resources, Inc., a U.S. company with coal and other resource assets in Colombia, is pleased to announce they have formed a joint venture to produce cannabis and hemp based medicinal products in Colombia in association with an indigenous community in Colombia.

9 Oct 2014

Reducing brain levels of tau protein effectively blocks development of childhood epilepsy

Researchers at the Gladstone Institutes have shown that reducing brain levels of the protein tau effectively blocks the development of disease in a mouse model of Dravet syndrome, a severe intractable form of childhood epilepsy.

14 Aug 2014

Study examines potential use of medical marijuana, CBD in treating epilepsy

The therapeutic potential of medical marijuana and pure cannabidiol (CBD), an active substance in the cannabis plant, for neurologic conditions is highly debated.

23 May 2014

Can cannabis help curb convulsions?

Experts say that vigorous investigations are needed to determine whether or not the medical use of marijuana would be of benefit to patients with epilepsy.

22 May 2014

AES released list of new fellowship awardees for organization's early-career awards

Today, the American Epilepsy Society (AES) released its list of new fellowship awardees, naming 15 recipients for the organization's early-career awards.

15 Apr 2014

UCSF-led study gathers data on safety, tolerability of purified cannabinoid for children with epilepsy

A new international multi-center study led by researchers from UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital is the first to evaluate whether purified cannabinoid is effective in treating severe forms of childhood epilepsy that do not respond to standard antiepileptic drugs.

5 Feb 2014

Researchers discover new gene involved in severe childhood epilepsy

A European consortium of epilepsy researchers has reported the discovery of a new gene involved in severe childhood epilepsy. Using a novel combination of technologies, including trio exome sequencing of patient/parental DNA and genetic studies in the tiny larvae of zebrafish, the EuroEPINOMICS RES consortium found that mutations in the gene CHD2 are responsible for a subset of epilepsy patients with symptoms similar to Dravet syndrome - a severe form of childhood epilepsy that is in many patients resistant to currently available anti-epileptic drugs.

23 Jan 2014

Research findings suggest possible novel strategies to prevent SUDEP

Patients with epilepsy and, in particular, those with severe syndromic forms of the disorder, harbor a risk of sudden unexplained death in epilepsy, or SUDEP. Cardiac arrhythmias are a proposed cause. In a test of this theory, researchers have demonstrated that mice harboring a human SCN1A gene mutation that results in Dravet Syndrome, a severe and intractable genetic epilepsy, have electrical disturbances in the heart that culminate in ventricular fibrillation and sudden cardiac death.

9 Dec 2013

NIH-funded study finds zebrafish model may help identify treatments for childhood epilepsy

According to new research on epilepsy, zebrafish have certainly earned their stripes. Results of a study in Nature Communications suggest that zebrafish carrying a specific mutation may help researchers discover treatments for Dravet syndrome (DS), a severe form of pediatric epilepsy that results in drug-resistant seizures and developmental delays.

4 Sep 2013

Stem cell-based epilepsy approach may help in search for better medicines to treat seizure disorders

A new stem cell-based approach to studying epilepsy has yielded a surprising discovery about what causes one form of the disease, and may help in the search for better medicines to treat all kinds of seizure disorders.

25 Jul 2013

Scientists discover new candidate gene for Dravet syndrome

Dravet syndrome is a severe genetic epilepsy that appears early in life. About 75 percent of cases can be attributed to mutations in the SCN1A gene encoding the sodium channel NaV1.1. The remaining patients with this syndrome are without a definitive molecular genetic diagnosis. Research presented today at the American Epilepsy Society's 65th Annual Meeting has found a non-SCN1A candidate gene and suggests that Dravet syndrome may be caused by any one of a number of yet unidentified genes.

5 Dec 2011

U-M scientists generate Dravet-derived neurons

Scientists investigating the fundamental cause of Dravet syndrome, a severe childhood epilepsy, have reprogrammed fibroblasts, a type of skin cell, from Dravet patients and generated patient-specific neurons.

5 Dec 2011

Bromide shows promise against SCN1A-associated Dravet syndrome with intractable seizures

In the mid-nineteenth century Charles Locock, physician to Queen Victoria, introduced bromide as the first effective treatment for epilepsy. The drug was little used in treating the disorder until 1868, however, when its efficacy against seizures was first demonstrated in a clinical trial. Bromide was the sole anticonvulsant available until 1912 and the introduction of phenobarbital.

5 Dec 2011

Autism link to vaccines dispelled by a large review of studies

According to a report issued by the US Institute of Medicine (IOM), vaccines are largely safe, and do not cause autism or diabetes. This conclusion followed a review of more than 1,000 published research studies.

26 Aug 2011

Dravet Syndrome Foundation awards OPKO Health grant to develop potential therapeutic agents

OPKO Health, Inc. announced today that it has been awarded a grant from the Dravet Syndrome Foundation to support the Company's efforts to develop potential therapeutic agents to treat a rare genetic disorder, Dravet Syndrome, also called severe myoclonic epilepsy of infancy, a severe form of epilepsy that usually appears during the first year of life.

9 May 2011

Dravet Syndrome News and Research

UK doctors to test cannabis-based medicine for children with severe epilepsy

Scientists receive NIH grants to explore sudden unexpected death in epilepsy

Case Western Reserve selected to lead $27.3 million international effort to identify causes of SUDEP

Study shows link between cardiac abnormalities, sudden unexpected death in epilepsy

New Colombia creates joint venture to produce cannabis and hemp based medicinal products

Reducing brain levels of tau protein effectively blocks development of childhood epilepsy

Study examines potential use of medical marijuana, CBD in treating epilepsy

Can cannabis help curb convulsions?

AES released list of new fellowship awardees for organization's early-career awards

UCSF-led study gathers data on safety, tolerability of purified cannabinoid for children with epilepsy

Researchers discover new gene involved in severe childhood epilepsy

Research findings suggest possible novel strategies to prevent SUDEP

NIH-funded study finds zebrafish model may help identify treatments for childhood epilepsy

Stem cell-based epilepsy approach may help in search for better medicines to treat seizure disorders

Scientists discover new candidate gene for Dravet syndrome

U-M scientists generate Dravet-derived neurons

Bromide shows promise against SCN1A-associated Dravet syndrome with intractable seizures

Autism link to vaccines dispelled by a large review of studies

Dravet Syndrome Foundation awards OPKO Health grant to develop potential therapeutic agents

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