“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.
These findings may reflect the involvement of the cerebellum in the underlying neurobiology of interictal psychosis and could contribute to a better understanding of this disorder.
Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis have led an international team to take a close look at the mechanisms behind the function and dysfunction of these proteins, as well as their interactions with an antiepileptic drug, to develop a potential new strategy to treat epilepsy.
Managing epilepsy in the elderly remains complicated largely due to factors related to aging. In this population, management practices are increasingly shifting towards the use of newer-generation anti-seizure medications (ASMs) as they are generally associated with better tolerability and safety profiles than older ones.
