NEWS
From Scorpion Toxins to Drug Discovery
When a scorpion stings someone, its toxins attack specific regions in the human body, interrupting electric signals to the brain. Depending on the type of toxin, the victim either suffers paralysis or seizures. What makes scorpions dangerous in the wild, though,...
CBD EXPLAINED: Study shows how cannabidiol works within cells
A team of Stony Brook University researchers have identified fatty acid binding proteins (FABPs) as intracellular transporters for two ingredients in marijuana, THC and CBD (cannabidiol). The finding, published early online in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, is...
Ancient Therapy Meets Modern-Day Research
The history of medical marijuana and its use for epilepsy is a curious one. The marijuana plant, cannabis sativa, has been a part of folk medicine since antiquity and it has been used in Western medicine since the 19th century. One of its early uses was to control...
MS: Stem cell transplants more effective than mitoxantrone drug
Stem cell transplants may be more effective than the drug mitoxantrone for people with severe cases of multiple sclerosis (MS), according to a new study published in the February 11, 2015, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of...
10 Year Study Shows Effectiveness of Ketogenic Diet
A new Australian study has offered the latest evidence of the long-term benefits that ketogenic diets can provide to patients with epilepsy. Led by the University of Wollongong, the research project aimed to evaluate efficacy, tolerability and compliance rates...
Coral Snake and Epilepsy? Coral snake venom reveals a unique route to lethality
Venom's toxins will be a powerful tool for studying epilepsy, schizophrenia and chronic pain Fast Facts: The reason for the lethality of venom from the rare, reclusive Costa Rican coral snake has been a mystery. An international 12-year project revealed that the two...
Presidents With Neurological Conditions
UB neurologist examines neurological disorders of U.S. presidents Neurology and history may sound like two fields that don't often overlap, but they have, sometimes with extraordinary consequences, according to a University at Buffalo neurologist. On Feb. 12, the...
Nerve cells interact like friends on Facebook
Neurons in the brain are wired like a social network, report researchers from Biozentrum, University of Basel. Each nerve cell has links with many others, but the strongest bonds form between the few cells most similar to each other. The results are published in the...
Monitoring epilepsy in the brain with a wireless system
A new system of wireless microelectrodes aims to detect the location of epilepsy in the brain with high precision. This technique, under development at EPFL, is much less invasive than the current method. It will allow patients to go about their daily life while their...
Whole exome sequencing helps Mayo Clinic neurologist solve a medical mystery
Max Kade Foundation, National Institutes of Health/National Institutes of Neurological Disorders and Stroke Precision medicine is getting a jump-start from a new national initiative announced in President Obama's State of the Union message. One Georgia family has...
Who was St. Valentine?
On February 14, fancy restaurants will be booked solid, florists will do their best business of the year, and children's backpacks will be stuffed full of heart-shaped cards from classmates. And it's all thanks to St. Valentine. Wait, epilepsy? Epilepsy was once known...
Prone position linked to epilepsy sudden death risk
Around three-quarters of patients who have a sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP) are found lying in the prone position, show meta-analysis findings. The meta-analysis confirms results from previous case series and suggests that SUDEP may have similar...
Finding a Switch for Epilepsy
Computer Model Creates Dragnet for Epilepsy Genes, Filters Genese for "Switch" An international team of scientists together with the University of Bonn Hospital have taken a new path in the research into causes of epilepsy: The researchers determined the networks of...
Noninvasive VNS Device Proves Itself Safe and Effective
Non-invasive vagus nerve stimulation (nVNS) ‘improves the safety and tolerability of VNS making it more accessible and facilitating further investigations across a wide range of uses when compared with surgically implanted VNS’ according to a review in the European...
BREAKTHROUGH: New Discovery Stops Temporal Lobe Epilepsy Development
PRESS RELEASE: LSU Health New Orleans research finds novel compound switches off epilepsy development LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES CENTER New Orleans, LA - Researchers at the LSU Health New Orleans Neuroscience Center of Excellence have found that a...
BREAKTHROUGH: New Treatment Restores Normal Behavior in Mice with Autism
Among the problems people with Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) struggle with are difficulties with social behavior and communication. That can translate to an inability to make friends, engage in routine conversations, or pick up on the social cues that are second...
Study uses ‘systems genetics’ approach to identify potential target for epilepsy
A single gene that coordinates a network of about 400 genes involved in epilepsy could be a target for new treatments, according to research. Epilepsy is a common and serious disease that affects around 50 million people worldwide. The mortality rate among people with...
SUDEP: Sleeping Position Linked to Risk of SUDEP
Sleeping on your stomach may heighten your risk of sudden death if you have epilepsy, new research suggests. Sudden, unexpected death in epilepsy occurs when an otherwise healthy person dies and "the autopsy shows no clear structural or toxicological cause of death,"...
Researchers Discover New Fragile X Insight
Scientists have gained new insight into fragile X syndrome -- the most common cause of inherited intellectual disability -- by studying the case of a person without the disorder, but with two of its classic symptoms. In patients with fragile X, a key gene is...
A New, Rare Epilepsy Syndrome was Discovered
Study leads to discovery of rare genetic disorder Recently, a grassroots effort initiated by families and clinicians led to the discovery of a human genetic disorder with severe consequences that is linked to a mutation in the human NGLY1 gene. In a big step towards...
