Seizure News and Research

Latest Seizure News and Research

Overdiagnosis of congenital long QT syndrome (LQTS)

Congenital long QT syndrome (LQTS) can be lethal if not diagnosed -- yet recent increased awareness of the disorder may lead to diagnosing patients when they don't have the syndrome and then prescribing treatments that restrict patients' lifestyles, a new Mayo Clinic study shows.

1 Jun 2007

Advances in epilepsy treatment

Epilepsy and seizures affect 2.5 million Americans, 181,000 new cases of epilepsy are diagnosed every year, and the disorder incurs an estimated $12.5 billion in annual direct and indirect costs.

1 Jun 2007

Common antipsychotic drug for methamphetamine overdose may damage brain cells

A common antipsychotic drug used in emergency rooms to treat methamphetamine overdose damages nerve cells in an area of the brain known to regulate movement, a new study shows.

30 May 2007

Researchers explore the glycosylation process

By studying the addition of sugars to proteins — a process called glycosylation — in the nervous system of insects, Temple University researcher Karen Palter believes she may be able to better understand neurodegenerative diseases in humans.

28 May 2007

Check and balance for neuron activity provides insight into schizophrenia, seizures

Two genes important for human development and implicated in cancer and schizophrenia also help keep a healthy balance between excitation and inhibition of brain cells, researchers say.

24 May 2007

Large trial to identify the long-term health effects of West Nile virus infection

UT Southwestern Medical Center has joined a national clinical trial to identify the long-term health effects of West Nile virus infection and to learn more about the disease's progression, symptoms and mortality.

18 May 2007

Celecoxib offers promise for premature babies

Scientists have found evidence that the cox-2 inhibitor celecoxib, a common pain reliever used to treat arthritis, may offer a new way to reduce the risk of the most common cause of brain damage in babies born prematurely.

18 May 2007

Electroconvulsive therapy helps patients with severe depression who don't respond to other treatments

Electroconvulsive therapy has been shown to be a highly effective, safe, and even life-saving treatment for persistent and severe depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia.

8 May 2007

Popular epilepsy drug damages the unborn

A study by researchers in the United States has found that women who took an epilepsy drug during their pregnancy had a higher risk of giving birth to children with a lower IQ or with mental retardation.

7 May 2007

Reducing levels of the protein tau can prevent seizures and neurological deficits related to Alzheimer's disease

The findings, reported in the journal Science, demonstrate that when tau is removed from mice genetically engineered to simulate Alzheimer's disease, their memory function is retained and they live a normal lifespan. Reducing tau levels also made mice more resistant to epileptic seizures.

4 May 2007

Tight diabetes control does not impact cognitive ability in type 1 diabetes

A study led by researchers at Joslin Diabetes Center provides good news for patients with type 1 diabetes who want to maintain tight blood glucose control and thus significantly reduce their risk of developing the devastating complications of the disease, heart disease, kidney failure, eye disease and blindness and nerve damage.

4 May 2007

Adverse health outcomes after Hurricane Katrina among children and adolescents with chronic conditions

Children and teenagers in New Orleans with chronic medical conditions at the time of Hurricane Katrina were more likely than other children to have worsening of physical and psychological symptoms, develop new symptoms, miss doctor appointments and run out of medications in the wake of the disaster.

2 May 2007

Estrogen fluctuation affects epileptic seizures

In more than a third of women with epilepsy, seizures fluctuate across the menstrual cycle, due in part to continually fluctuating effects of estrogen on the neural circuitry in the hippocampus, a region of the brain involved in learning and memory - and in epileptic seizures.

1 May 2007

FDA approves INVEGA treatment for schizophrenia

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved INVEGA (paliperidone) Extended-Release Tablets, a new once-daily, atypical antipsychotic, for the long-term maintenance treatment of schizophrenia.

30 Apr 2007

Anti-dandruff compound may be a potential treatment for seizures

Researchers at Johns Hopkins have discovered that the same ingredient used in dandruff shampoos to fight the burning, itching and flaking on your head also can calm overexcited nerve cells inside your head, making it a potential treatment for seizures.

30 Apr 2007

Researchers have developed an animal model of infantile spasms

Researchers have developed an animal model of infantile spasms, improving the likelihood of finding new treatments for the thousands of young children who suffer from these catastrophic epilepsy seizures, according to research to be presented at the American Academy of Neurology's 59th Annual Meeting in Boston, April 28, May 5, 2007.

26 Apr 2007

Psychotherapeutic drug spending surges

Spending on prescription drugs to treat depression, anxiety, pain, schizophrenia and other conditions climbed from $7.9 billion in 1997 to $20 billion in 2004 - over a 150 percent increase, according to the latest News and Numbers from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

25 Apr 2007

Did drug reps encourage doctors to prescribe gabapentin for nonapproved uses?

A new study published in PLoS Medicine suggests that so-called "detail" visits to doctors made by drug company representatives can involve promotion of drugs for non-approved, "off-label" uses.

25 Apr 2007

Discovery of new genes associated with fever-related seizures that occur in infancy and childhood

Researchers have localized two new genes that are associated with fever-related seizures that occur in infancy and childhood, according to a study published in the April 24, 2007, issue of Neurology, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

24 Apr 2007

Scientists find genes involved in memory and learning

Researchers have long recognized that for learning and memory to take place, certain genes must be activated to alter neuron activity inside the brain.

19 Apr 2007