Epilepsy News

Association of Race and Ethnicity With Computed Tomography Head Utilization in Children Presenting to the Emergency Department With an Unprovoked Seizure - CONCLUSIONS: In this nationally representative sample, CT head was performed in 23.6% of ED visits for unprovoked seizures. Age was associated with differences in CT utilization. No racial or ethnic disparities in CT utilization were observed. However, as multivariable estimates for race and ethnicity did not meet National Center for Health Statistics statistical reliability standards, these fi...

Eating Epilepsy: Clinico-Electro-Imaging Profiles and Treatment Outcomes in Patients from Northeast India - Eating epilepsy (EE) is a rare type of reflex epilepsy that predominantly affects South Asian populations. Its pathophysiology involves activation of the insular-opercular and perisylvian networks during eating, although the clinical spectrum and treatment outcomes remain underrecognized in certain regions. This study aimed to describe the clinico-electro-imaging profile and treatment outcomes ...

Targeting oxidative stress pathways in epilepsy: mechanistic insights into the role of ascorbic acid - Epilepsy, a neurological disease, is linked to oxidative stress generated due to the synchronous firing of neurons during seizures and use of antiseizure medications (ASMs). Among commonly prescribed ASMs, carbamazepine, valproate, and levetiracetam have been implicated in modulating oxidative stress-related signaling pathways, including Nrf2, NF-κB, and MAPK. Ascorbic acid, a potent antioxidan...

The Ketogenic Diet Fails to Mitigate Seizures and Neuroinflammatory Responses in a Mouse Model of Virus-Induced Epilepsy - OBJECTIVE: The ketogenic diet (KD) is a high-fat, low-carbohydrate intervention widely used to treat drug-resistant epilepsy, thought to reduce seizures through a combination of metabolic, neuronal, and microbiota-dependent mechanisms. Additionally, recent studies suggest that the anticonvulsant effects of KD require the gut microbiota, with taxa such as Akkermansia and Parabacteroides contribu...

Chronic Stress Alters Dorsal Bed Nucleus of Stria Terminalis Synaptic Neurotransmission in a Dravet Syndrome Mouse Model - Stress is a commonly reported seizure precipitant and may contribute to the development of psychiatric comorbidities in epilepsy, yet how chronic stress interacts with epileptic circuits remains poorly understood. We investigated the impact of chronic restraint stress on physiological, behavioral, and synaptic outcomes in a mouse model of Dravet syndrome, specifically corticotropin-releasing fa...

Excitatory Dysfunction and Phenotypic Rescue in a Human Neuronal Model of SCN2A -Related Disorders - SCN2A -related disorders result from pathogenic variants in the gene encoding for the voltage-gated sodium channel Nav1.2. Collectively, these disorders result in variable age of onset epilepsy, autism spectrum disorder, and epileptic encephalopathies. While the mechanisms of haploinsufficiency resulting in autism spectrum disorder have been explored in detail, few studies report the impact of ...

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.