Epilepsy News and Research

Latest Epilepsy News and Research

NIH awards $3.5M grant to study link between traumatic brain injury and Alzheimer's

A traumatic brain injury, or TBI, is caused by a contusion to the head that may result in injury to the brain.

8 Aug 2024

Study suggests lower dementia risk for people with Parkinson's

There's some good news for people with Parkinson's disease: The risk of developing dementia may be lower than previously thought, or dementia may occur later in the course of the disease than previously reported, according to a study published in the August 7, 2024, online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

7 Aug 2024

Study advances understanding of complex neurological disorder

To effectively treat a disease or disorder, doctors must first know the root cause. Such is the case for developmental and epileptic encephalopathies (DEEs), whose root causes can be hugely complex and heterogeneous. Scientists at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital demonstrated the value of DNA methylation patterns for identifying the root cause of DEEs, showing specific gene methylation and genome-wide methylation "episignatures" can help identify the genes that cause DEE. The findings were published today in Nature Communications.

7 Aug 2024

Epilepsy and pregnancy: Evaluating increased risks and outcomes in a large Nordic dataset

But exactly how big the risks have been less clear. Randomized clinical trials are ruled out for ethical reasons and observational studies need a very large population base to quantify the relatively rare events.

6 Aug 2024

Understanding brain coupling in conversations through linguistic context

When two people interact, their brain activity becomes synchronized, but it was unclear until now to what extent this "brain-to-brain coupling" is due to linguistic information or other factors, such as body language or tone of voice.

2 Aug 2024

How states pioneered the medical marijuana movement in America

From the war on drugs to the current wave of legalization efforts, public opinion in the United States has shifted on few issues like it has with marijuana.

1 Aug 2024

High diastolic blood pressure linked to increased migraine risk in women

Having high blood pressure, specifically high diastolic blood pressure, was linked to a slightly higher odds of ever having migraine in female participants, according to a new study published in the July 31, 2024, online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

31 Jul 2024

Advanced technology and AI used to diagnose rare diseases and birth abnormalities

Researchers at London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) and Lawson Health Research Institute are using advanced technology and artificial intelligence (AI) to diagnose rare diseases and prenatal exposure-related birth abnormalities in two studies published today in American Journal of Human Genetics and Genetics in Medicine.

31 Jul 2024

Commonly used anesthetic drug can restore the function of ion channel linked to epilepsy

Mutated variants of a particular ion channel cause difficult-to-treat epilepsy. A study published in the journal Nature now shows that a commonly used anesthetic drug, propofol, can restore the function of this ion channel.

31 Jul 2024

AI-enhanced EEG analysis paves way for early dementia detection

Mayo Clinic scientists are using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to analyze electroencephalogram (EEG) tests more quickly and precisely, enabling neurologists to find early signs of dementia among data that typically go unexamined.

31 Jul 2024

Propofol shows potential for treating epilepsy and neurological disorders

The general anesthetic propofol may hold the keys to developing new treatment strategies for epilepsy and other neurological disorders, according to a study led by researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine and Linköping University in Sweden.

31 Jul 2024

High belly and arm fat linked to Alzheimer's and Parkinson's risk

People with high levels of body fat stored in their belly or arms may be more likely to develop diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's than people with low levels of fat in these areas, according to a study published in the July 24, 2024, online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

24 Jul 2024

Study reveals higher prevalence of epilepsy among sexual and gender minorities

Sexual and gender minorities (SGM) - individuals who identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, queer, transgender, non-binary, or gender-diverse - are twice as likely to report active epilepsy compared to non-SGM individuals, based on a National Institutes of Health (NIH) analysis of data from the population-based National Health Information Survey.

22 Jul 2024

Brain activity patterns can foreshadow 24-hour seizure risk

UCSF team discovers brain activity patterns that foreshadow seizures up to 24 hours before they occur.

18 Jul 2024

How your diet shapes your gut microbiome and impacts your health

Review published in Nature Reviews Microbiology highlights how different diets impact gut microbiome health, emphasizing the need for precision nutrition to optimize health outcomes.

16 Jul 2024

Study reveals altered neural signature in patients with depression

As parents, teachers and pet owners can attest, rewards play a huge role in shaping behaviors in humans and animals.

15 Jul 2024

Precise brain imaging method reveals origins of creativity

Have you ever had the solution for a tough problem suddenly hit you when you're thinking about something entirely different? Creative thought is a hallmark of humanity, but it's an ephemeral, almost paradoxical ability, striking unexpectedly when it's not sought out.

15 Jul 2024