A mutated gene has been discovered as the key behind epilepsy and mental retardation specific to women, thanks to new research at Adelaide's Women's & Children's Hospital and the University of Adelaide, Australia.The world-first discovery, published in Nature Genetics, shows that although men carry the 'bad' gene, only women are affected.
A randomised controlled trial has confirmed the efficacy of the ketogenic diet in helping control and prevent epileptic seizures in children with drug-resistant epilepsy. These are the conclusions of authors of an Article published early Online and in the June edition of The Lancet Neurology. The ketogenic diet has been used widely and successfully to treat children with drug-resistant epilepsy since the 1920s.
Young women who took the commonly used epilepsy drug phenytoin for one year showed significant bone loss compared to women taking other epilepsy drugs, according to a study published in the April 29, 2008, issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.Researchers tested the bone health of 93 women with epilepsy who were between the ages of 18 and 40 and were taking the epilepsy drugs phenytoin, carbamazepine, lamotrigine or valproate.
Data presented at a platform session of the 60th Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) in Chicago support the potential for adjunctive use of intravenous lacosamide 200-600 mg/day using infusion durations as fast as 10 minutes for short term replacement of oral lacosamide in adult patients with partial onset seizures. Regulatory filings for lacosamide oral tablet, oral syrup and intravenous formulation are currently under review by the U.
An article published in the May 2008 issue of Epilepsia calls attention to the lack of knowledge regarding cognitive aging in chronic epilepsy patients. For persons with chronic epilepsy, little is known about the impact of aging on the course of cognitive and brain health, the prevalence of clinical disorders of aging (mild cognitive impairment, dementia), or the disease burdens and risk factors associated with abnormal cognitive and brain aging.