Epilepsy News

cGAS-mediated type I IFN signaling contributes to disease progression in drug-refractory epilepsy - Epilepsy is a prevalent neurological disease, with one-third of individuals becoming nonresponsive to antiepileptic drugs and developing drug-refractory epilepsy (DRE). Here we identify activation of cyclic GMP-AMP synthase (cGAS), a double-stranded DNA sensor that induces type I interferon (IFN) signaling, in human DRE brain tissue. Microglia from individuals with DRE exhibit a robust type I I...

Retrospective evaluation of caregiver-administered buccal midazolam for pediatric status epilepticus in a regional core hospital in Japan - CONCLUSIONS: Buc MDL was effective in this small retrospective cohort, but oxygen-requiring respiratory suppression occurred in 10.5% of episodes and appeared to be more frequent when seizures were not controlled; however, this exploratory association is based on a small sample, causality remains uncertain, and its safety profile warrants cautious interpretation, particularly in light of altern...

Depression and quality of life after anterior hippocampectomy in temporal lobe epilepsy: A prospective study - CONCLUSIONS: Anterior hippocampectomy in patients with drug-resistant TLE was associated with significant early improvements in BDI-II and WHOQOL scores. These findings should be regarded as preliminary given the small sample size, short follow-up, and absence of postoperative seizure outcome data. Given that a subset of patients may develop new or worsened depressive symptoms postoperatively, ...

Epilepsy with fever-sensitivity in patients with ATP6V0C pathogenic variants - OBJECTIVE: Fever can trigger seizures in several early-onset epilepsies. SCN1A-related epilepsies, including Dravet Syndrome, are the best characterised conditions in this spectrum, but a growing number of genes implicated in fever-sensitive epilepsies have emerged. We assessed the genetic heterogeneity of individuals who underwent testing because of seizures or epilepsy with fever sensitivity....

Driving Restrictions in Photosensitive Epilepsy: Evidence, Assumptions, and Unanswered Questions - CONCLUSION: Current evidence regarding driving risk in PSE is remarkably sparse and largely indirect. Although VPS are biologically plausible under experimental conditions, it remains unclear whether ordinary traffic environments provoke seizures or contribute meaningfully to traffic accidents in real-world settings. Both conventional and AI-assisted literature searches failed to identify suffi...

Astrocyte redox imbalance underlies prelimbic neuronal hypoactivity and maladaptive affective behaviors in epilepsy - A fundamental but unanswered question in neuropsychiatry is whether the psychiatric symptoms of epilepsy are caused by the same or a separate pathophysiology as seizures. To address this question, we investigated a monogenic form of epilepsy (pyridoxine-dependent epilepsy) caused by aldehyde dehydrogenase 7 family member A1 (ALDH7A1) mutations. ALDH7A1 global knockout mice exhibited both seizur...

Brain signal irregularity may provide clues to understanding epileptic process - Researchers propose a new method to differentiate signals from the epileptic focus from those recorded in other parts of the brain without the presence of an epileptic seizure. This technique may help detect epilepsy-induced features from these signals much quicker than conventional analysis techniques.

Breakthrough tech enables seizure localization in minutes - New research introduces a novel network analysis technology that uses minimally invasive resting state electrophysiological recordings to localize seizure onset brain regions and predict seizure outcomes in just 10 minutes.

Antidepressant use during pregnancy not linked to epilepsy in children - A new study suggests that antidepressant use by mothers during the first trimester of pregnancy does not increase the chances of epilepsy and seizures in babies.