Epilepsy News and Research

Latest Epilepsy News and Research

Technology to make implantable devices safe for MRI

While magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is already well established as a premiere non-invasive imaging technology, patients with implantable pacemakers, implantable cardiac devices, neurostimulators and other medical devices are often denied the evaluation their medical situation urgently requires.

5 Apr 2007

Scientists invent way to reversibly silence brain cells using pulses of yellow light

Scientists at the MIT Media Lab have invented a way to reversibly silence brain cells using pulses of yellow light, offering the prospect of controlling the haywire neuron activity that occurs in diseases such as epilepsy and Parkinson's disease.

2 Apr 2007

Sunny days pose risk of 'flicker illness' for a few airlifted patients

"This shouldn't preclude transporting a patient from point A to point B in an aircraft, but this concern does need to register as a legitimate risk for a small number of patients. Personnel ought to know how to guard against it."

8 Mar 2007

Scientists answer brain mystery

The taste of champagne, the sound of a train, the flash of a pop fly into left field - indeed all of human perception ' begins in the brain's center. That's where sensory information passes from the thalamus to the neocortex for processing.

5 Mar 2007

Rare cell prevents rampant brain activity

One of the mysteries of the brain is how it avoids ending up in a state of chaos, something which happens only on exceptional occasions, when it can lead to epileptic fits.

4 Mar 2007

One billion battling with neurological disorders

According to a new report by the World Health Organization (WHO), neurological disorders ranging from migraines to epilepsy and dementia, affect up to 1 billion people worldwide and that number is destined to rise as populations age.

1 Mar 2007

Neurological disorders a global problem

A new report from the World Health Organization (WHO) shows that neurological disorders, ranging from epilepsy to Alzheimer disease, from stroke to headache, affect up to one billion people worldwide. Neurological disorders also include brain injuries, neuroinfections, multiple sclerosis and Parkinson disease.

27 Feb 2007

Old drug pentylenetetrazole may improve learning and memory in Down syndrome victims

Researchers in the United States have discovered that an old drug once used to study epilepsy substantially improved learning and memory in mice with Down syndrome symptoms.

26 Feb 2007

Alternative, diet-based method of treating brain cancer

The biologists found that KetoCal, a commercially available high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet designed to treat epilepsy in children, can significantly decrease the growth of brain tumors in laboratory mice.

22 Feb 2007

Levetiracetam shows promise for epilepsy

People with newly diagnosed epilepsy experienced few, if any, seizures while taking the drug levetiracetam as a single therapy, giving hope to epilepsy patients who don't respond to or can't tolerate existing treatments, according to a study published in the February 6, 2007 issue of Neurology, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

5 Feb 2007

Levodopa improves tremors, involuntary movements in Parkinson patients

A drug used to treat epilepsy has been found to significantly improve tremors, motor fluctuations, and other involuntary movements, or dyskinesias, in patients with Parkinson disease, according to a study published in Neurology, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

2 Jan 2007

Research offers hope for alcoholics

Scientists at Melbourne's Howard Florey Institute have discovered a system in the brain that stops an alcoholic's craving for alcohol, as well as prevent relapse once they have recovered from alcohol addiction.

12 Dec 2006

Researchers use gene therapy to reduce the development of epileptic seizures

For the first time, researchers have inhibited the development of epilepsy after a brain insult in animals. By using gene therapy to modify signaling pathways in the brain, neurology researchers found that they could significantly reduce the development of epileptic seizures in rats.

8 Nov 2006

Scientists spot mechanism behind promising new sleep drug

An experimental drug called gaboxadol may soon help millions of bleary-eyed insomniacs get to sleep, and a multi-center team of U.S. scientists believes they've pinpointed just how the drug works.

1 Nov 2006

Effective test for screening Huntington's disease drugs

A test using cultured cells provides an effective way to screen drugs against Huntington's disease and shows that two compounds - memantine and riluzole - are most effective at keeping cells alive under conditions that mimic the disorder, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers report.

30 Oct 2006

New Purdue biochip may speed drug development

Purdue University researchers have developed a biochip that measures the electrical activities of cells and is capable of obtaining 60 times more data in just one reading than is possible with current technology.

20 Oct 2006

MIT device to detect and prevent epileptic seizures

Epilepsy affects about 50 million people worldwide, and while anticonvulsant medications can reduce the frequency of seizures, the drugs are ineffective for as many as one in three patients.

12 Sep 2006

Licensing arrangement reached for antiepileptic drug developed at Hebrew University

A worldwide licensing arrangement for development, production and marketing of an antiepileptic drug created at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem has been signed by Shire Pharmaceuticals with Yissum, the Hebrew University's technology transfer company.

5 Sep 2006

$1M Myers Fellowship brings US research techniques to Melbourne

The Howard Florey Institute's inaugural Allan and Maria Myers Travel Fellowship has been awarded to world renowned neuroscientist, Prof Gerard Shaw, from the McKnight Brain Institute, University of Florida College of Medicine.

20 Aug 2006

The endocannabinoid system controls key epileptogenic circuits in the hippocampus

The same brain machinery that responds to the active substance in marijuana provides a central "on-demand" protection against seizures, researchers have found. They said their discoveries suggest that the "endocannabinoid" system might constitute a prime target for drugs against seizures of epilepsy and other neurodegenerative diseases.

16 Aug 2006