Study finds bidirectional relationship between schizophrenia and epilepsy

Researchers from Taiwan have confirmed a bidirectional relation between schizophrenia and epilepsy. The study published today in Epilepsia, a journal of the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE), reports that patients with epilepsy were nearly 8 times more likely to develop schizophrenia and those with schizophrenia were close to 6 times more likely to develop epilepsy.

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Stanford researchers identify possible trigger point of epileptic seizures

STANFORD, Calif. — Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have identified a brain-circuit defect that triggers absence seizures, the most common form of childhood epilepsy.

In a study to be published online Aug. 21 in Nature Neuroscience, the investigators showed for the first time how defective signaling between two key brain areas — the cerebral cortex and the thalamus — can produce, in experimental mice, both the intermittent, brief loss of consciousness and the roughly three-times-per-second brain oscillations that characterize absence seizures in children. Young patients may spontaneously experience these seizures up to hundreds of times per day, under quite ordinary circumstances.

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New drug may reduce seizures in epilepsy

HONOLULU – A new drug called perampanel appears to significantly reduce seizures in people with hard-to-control epilepsy, according to results of the first clinical trial to test the higher 12 mg dose of the drug. The late-breaking research will be presented at the 63rd Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Neurology, April 9-16, 2011, in Honolulu.

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New clue found for Fragile X syndrome-epilepsy link

Individuals with fragile X syndrome, the most common inherited form of intellectual disability, often develop epilepsy, but so far the underlying causes are unknown. Researchers have now discovered a potential mechanism that may contribute to the link between epilepsy and fragile X syndrome.

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New direction for epilepsy treatment

Study in mice highlights alternative anti-inflammatory approach to epilepsy management

If common anticonvulsant drugs fail to manage epileptic seizures, then perhaps the anti-inflammatory* route is the way to go. That’s according to Mattia Maroso and colleagues from the Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research in Milan, Italy, who found that giving mice repeated doses of a specific enzyme inhibitor significantly reduced both chronic epileptic activity and acute seizures. Their findings, published online in the Springer journal Neurotherapeutics, open up the possibility of a new target system for anticonvulsant drug intervention, to control epileptic activity that does not respond to certain anticonvulsant treatments.

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Advanced technology reveals activity of single neurons during seizures

Findings conflict with traditional view of how seizures begin

The first study to examine the activity of hundreds of individual human brain cells during seizures has found that seizures begin with extremely diverse neuronal activity, contrary to the classic view that they are characterized by massively synchronized activity. The investigation by Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and Brown University researchers also observed pre-seizure changes in neuronal activity both in the cells where seizures originate and in nearby cells. The report will appear in Nature Neuroscience and is receiving advance online publication.

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Answers to a rare and tragic form of epilepsy

A new study offers critical insight into the biochemistry of a rare and fatal form of epilepsy known as Lafora disease, a genetic condition that typically strikes children in their teens

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Link between signaling molecules could point way to therapies for epilepsy, stroke, other diseases

SAN ANTONIO (Jan. 7, 2010) — In the Old West, camps sent smoke signals across distances to share key developments or strategy. Likewise, two important signaling molecules communicate across nerve cells to regulate electrical and chemical activity, neuroscientists from the UT Health Science Center San Antonio reported today.

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Attempting to predict epileptic seizure

Washington, D.C. (December 14, 2010) — While the causes of epileptic seizures continue to confound brain researchers, scientists have been exploring how changes in the coordinated activity of brain networks, as monitored through electrodes, might help predict impending seizures. A report in the American Institute of Physics’ journal CHAOS offers new insight into this possibility.

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University of Utah and Harvard researchers take major step toward first biological test for autism

BELMONT, MA—Researchers at Harvard-affiliated McLean Hospital and the University of Utah have developed the best biologically based test for autism to date. The test was able to detect the disorder in individuals with high-functioning autism with 94 percent accuracy. The study will be published online the week of November 29th in Autism Research.

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