New evidence from a zebrafish model of epilepsy may help resolve a debate into how seizures originate, according to Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian investigators. The findings may also be useful in the discovery and development of future epilepsy drugs.
Evidence showing that the immature brain is vulnerable to seizure-induced damage has been accumulating for decades. Clinical data have always suggested that some early life seizures are associated with negative sequellae, but clinical observations are frequently obscured by multiple uncontrolled contributing factors and can rarely establish causality.
Patients with dementia have higher risk of epilepsy. However, it remains not comprehensively evaluated if late-onset epilepsy (LOE) is associated with higher risk of dementia.
It started in a high school physics class in Duluth, Georgia, when Ashley Galanti was given the assignment to create something to help people with diseases. Both her mother and brother have epilepsy, so she designed a wearable case holding a mouth guard used to protect people during seizures.
CBD
In this month's Epilepsy Research News we highlight inaccurately labeled CBD products, the first FDA-approved drug, Ztalmy®, to treat seizures for CDLK5 deficiency disorder (CDD), and more.
While the brain accounts for just 2% of human body mass, it expends almost 20% of the body's daily energy production. In order to maintain this high energy demand brain cells are nourished by an intricate network of capillaries that forms the so-called blood-brain barrier (BBB). Such is the extent of these capillaries, we estimate that every brain cell is essentially nourished by its own capillary.
Emerging evidence has shown that ambient air pollution affects brain health, but little is known about its effect on epileptic seizures. This work aimed to assess the association between daily exposure to ambient air pollution and the risk of epileptic seizures.
SUDEP
Recent discoveries have led researchers to believe that the actual cause of death is a sudden loss of respiratory function in these otherwise healthy epilepsy patients, and Crone is digging deeper to discover when these abnormalities occur.
Our findings suggest that when subjects living at sea level are exposed to high altitudes, they will be at a higher risk for new-onset seizure in the immediate few months of exposure, and that this risk increases with increasing altitude.
