Epilepsy News

Drosophila Prickle Mutants Display Comorbid Neurological Phenotypes and Provide A Genetic Link Between Epilepsy and Autism Spectrum Disorder - Epilepsy affects approximately 30% of individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Consistent with these observations, while PRICKLE mutations are primarily linked with epilepsy, there is an enrichment of pathogenic DNA sequence variants in PRICKLE genes carried by individuals with ASD. Nonetheless, a connection between PRICKLE function and ASD warrants further investigation. Here, we show ...

A Brain Circuit for Status Epilepticus - Status epilepticus (SE) is a life-threatening persistent epileptic seizure that can arise from various brain structures, leaving its brain circuit unknown. In this study, we utilize brain imaging changes during SE to reveal the brain architecture and circuit of persistent seizures. Multimodal lesion mapping identified that brain imaging changes during SE localize to a specific predisposed brain...

Molecular Deconstruction of the Medullary Raphe Magnus in the rat: Transcriptional Responses to Repeated Seizures - Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy (SUDEP) is a leading cause of death in patients with epilepsy and is thought to result from dysfunctional and/or failure of cardiorespiratory control systems. Post-mortem brainstem tissue analyses in human SUDEP cases point to reductions in markers of the brainstem serotonin (5-HT) system, which is known as a brainstem center that provides excitatory neuromod...

Intracranial EEG synchrony tracks antiseizure medication load in drug-resistant epilepsy - Epilepsy care is often guided by incomplete snapshots: patient-reported seizures, intermittent drug levels and medication histories that may not reflect current exposure. Between these snapshots, clinicians have little objective information about how the brain is responding to antiseizure medication. In this study, we tested whether intracranial EEG synchrony, a measure of coordinated neural ac...

Characteristics of electroencephalographic changes after hemispheric disconnection surgery in patients with drug-resistant epilepsy - CONCLUSIONS: Following hemispheric disconnection, dynamic alterations are observed in bilateral EEG recordings. A postoperative burst-suppression-like pattern is commonly observed on the ipsilateral side. In this small-sample study, no significant association was found between postoperative EEG characteristics and prognosis.

Chitosan-based hydrogel for intranasal drug delivery; current advances in the brain diseases treatment - Neurodegenerative diseases represent a growing health concern that is projected to become more prevalent and affect more people in the upcoming decades. One of the most complicated components of recent neurodegenerative disease therapies is the penetration and delivery of therapeutics to the central nervous system (CNS), which are hindered via the blood-brain barrier (BBB). In response, innovat...

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.