The predictive model, once fully developed, would spare these patients the uncertainty of not knowing when their lives would be returned to normal by taking anti-seizure medications, and possibly the harmful side-effects associated with some drugs.
This is a promising outcome suggesting that ultra-long-term low-channel EEG recordings may provide sufficient information for objective seizure diaries. Intra-individual optimization using high numbers of ictal events may further improve separation, provided that supervised learning with external validation is feasible.
Using a double electrode voltage clamp on isolated NMDA currents, we identified the most prominent antagonists of the GluN2C subunit with no effect on GluN2A as means of preventing side effects. The best compound passing through the blood-brain barrier was selected. Applied in vivo in 6 Tsc1+/- mice at P14-P17, this compound reduced or completely stopped spontaneous seizures in 4 of them, and decreased the background activity disorganization.
“The research project will use newly developed nanomaterials to keep samples of brain healthy and active for far longer than current technology allows, whilst recording the activity of the tissue. This allows more understanding of what generates epileptic seizures and opens up new avenues for drug development, meaning fewer surgeries may be needed in the future. Eventually, the technology may lead to new and better ways of recording from patients’ brains before surgery.”
"This excess mortality risk can potentially be assuaged by appropriate referrals for comprehensive evaluation, adequate diagnostic testing, and optimal medication management. Adequate resources should be allocated to care for this vulnerable patient group," lead investigator Zulfi Haneef, MD, MBBS, associate professor, Baylor College of Medicine, and colleagues wrote.
Pregnant women with epilepsy have more symptoms of depression and anxiety during pregnancy and postpartum than pregnant women who do not have epilepsy or women with epilepsy who are not pregnant, according to a study published in the August 17, 2022, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
Genetics
The genetic basis of many epilepsies is increasingly understood, giving rise to the possibility of precision treatments tailored to specific genetic etiologies. Despite this, current medical therapy for most epilepsies remains imprecise, aimed primarily at empirical seizure reduction rather than targeting specific disease processes.
We report on an 8-year-old girl with severe developmental and epileptic encephalopathy due to the compound heterozygous null variants p.(Gln661*) and p.(Leu830Profs*2) in GRIN2A resulting in a knockout of the human GluN2A subunit of the N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor. Both parents had less severe GRIN2A-related phenotypes and were heterozygous carriers of the respective null variant.
The researchers further discovered that participants who had been infected with the Delta variant had an increased risk for ischaemic stroke, cognitive deficit, insomnia, anxiety disorders, and epilepsy or seizures when compared to participants who had been infected with the Alpha variant.
