Seizure News and Research

Latest Seizure News and Research

More access to video-EEG may reduce treatment gap for epilepsy and PNES

ProStrakan acquires US commercial rights to Fareston for treatment of metastatic breast cancer

ProStrakan Group plc announces today that it has acquired exclusive US commercial rights to Fareston (toremifene citrate) for the treatment of metastatic breast cancer in postmenopausal women.

1 Oct 2012

Longer looks: A 'renegade' Bill Frist?; The pharmacist's expanding role

Meet former Sen. Bill Frist, a renegade "Obamacare"-loving Republican who is in the mood for some real bipartisanship. Yes, the same Frist who as Senate majority leader led an army into the culture wars over Terri Schiavo and whose efforts in 2004 to unseat his then-rival, Minority Leader Tom Daschle, led to a nasty -; and personal -; Washington battle royal. Now, Frist is pushing for a national conversation on end-of-life care and dismissing "caricatured" talk of death panels.

21 Sep 2012

Study: 46% of living kidney transplant donor recipients are minorities

The largest U.S. multicenter study of living kidney transplant donor chains showed that 46 percent of recipients are minorities, a finding that allays previous fears that these groups would be disadvantaged by expansion of the donor pool through this type of exchange process.

20 Sep 2012

Trigeminal Nerve Stimulation: an interview with Dr Leon Ekchian, President and CEO of NeuroSigma

Trigeminal Nerve Stimulation (TNS) is a novel medical treatment in which mild electrical signals stimulate branches of the trigeminal nerve in order to change the activity of targeted brain regions. The trigeminal nerve is the largest cranial nerve, and provides sensation to the face and head. Because it is a large sensory nerve, the trigeminal offers a high-bandwidth pathway for electrical signals to enter the brain. The brain areas targeted by TNS are known to play key roles in seizures, mood, and attention.

14 Sep 2012

Posterior medial cortex more specifically engaged in recall or imagination

You already know it's hard to balance your checkbook while simultaneously reflecting on your past. Now, investigators at the Stanford University School of Medicine - having done the equivalent of wire-tapping a hard-to-reach region of the brain - can tell us how this impasse arises.

4 Sep 2012

Astellas Pharma receives FDA approval for Xtandi to treat metastatic CRPC

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Xtandi (enzalutamide) to treat men with late-stage (metastatic) castration-resistant prostate cancer that has spread or recurred, even with medical or surgical therapy to minimize testosterone.

1 Sep 2012

Wellness Center USA closes PSI acquisition

Wellness Center USA, Inc., a Schaumburg IL based healthcare and nutraceutical company, reported the closing of its Psoria-Shield Inc. (PSI) acquisition. PSI is a Tampa, FL based developer and manufacturer of UltraViolet (UV) phototherapy devices for the treatment of skin diseases.

29 Aug 2012

New non-invasive brain scan can benefit patients with epileptic seizures

A team of University of Minnesota biomedical engineers and researchers from Mayo Clinic published a groundbreaking study today that outlines how a new type of non-invasive brain scan taken immediately after a seizure gives additional insight into possible causes and treatments for epilepsy patients.

27 Aug 2012

U.S. Marshals seize products at San Francisco Herb & Natural Food Company’s warehouse

U.S. Marshals have seized food products stored in a Fremont, Calif., company's warehouse after inspectors from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration found widespread and active rodent infestation.

23 Aug 2012

Signs of epilepsy in childhood

When parents hear the word "epilepsy," it typically triggers images of severe seizures – the ones that are easy to identify, involving a child falling, getting stiff and shaking all over. But the truth is, there are over 300,000 children and teens in the U.S. with epilepsy, and not all of them display such obvious signs of their medical condition.

23 Aug 2012

Febrile seizures increase hippocampal injury risk

Children with febrile status epilepticus are at risk for hippocampal injury and show abnormalities in the development of this brain area, show findings from a prospective multicenter study.

16 Aug 2012

Positive results from Acorda post-marketing commitment study of dalfampridine-ER for MS

Acorda Therapeutics, Inc. today announced top line results from a post-marketing commitment study evaluating a 5mg dose of dalfampridine-ER to improve walking in people with multiple sclerosis. The study failed to confirm efficacy of the 5mg dose.

13 Aug 2012

Astrocytes help reduce damaging effects of epilepsy

Epileptic fits are like thunderstorms raging in the brain: Nerve cells excite each other in an uncontrolled way so that strong, rhythmic electrical discharges sweep over whole brain regions. In the wake of such a seizure, the nerve cells are severely affected, and permanent damage is possible. The glia, a class of cells that surround the neurons in the brain, was long suspected to contribute to the damaging effects of epilepsy.

7 Aug 2012

ATP1A3 gene mutations responsible for alternating hemiplegia of childhood

Alternating hemiplegia of childhood (AHC) is a rare disorder that usually begins in infancy, with intermittent episodes of paralysis and stiffness, first affecting one side of the body, then the other. Symptoms mysteriously appear and disappear, again and again, and affected children often experience dozens of episodes per week. As they get older, children fall progressively behind their peers in both intellectual abilities and motor skills, and more than half develop epilepsy.

31 Jul 2012

Scientists analyze raw sewage samples to determine illicit drug use

Surveys of drug use form an important basis for the development of effective drug policies, and also for measuring the effectiveness of existing policies. For the first time in history, scientists have now made direct comparisons of illicit drug use in 19 European cities by a cooperative analysis of raw sewage samples.

27 Jul 2012

Delaware district court upholds Pfizer's patents for LYRICA to treat pain and seizures

Pfizer Inc. announced today that the United States District Court for the District of Delaware upheld its composition of matter patent and pain and seizure use patents covering LYRICA (pregabalin) capsules CV. With this decision, Pfizer will exclusively provide pregabalin as LYRICA to patients through December 30, 2018 in the U.S., pending generic company appeal and further litigation.

20 Jul 2012

Robotic surgery shows promise for local control of OSCC

In individuals with low-risk oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma, treatment with transoral robotic surgery alone can result in an excellent rate of local disease control for up to 3 years, report researchers.

19 Jul 2012

Seizure risk should not influence AVM treatment decisions

Choosing to treat patients with arteriovenous malformations surgically rather than conservatively has no bearing on their risk for seizures, suggest findings from the Scottish Audit of Intracranial Vascular Malformations.

10 Jul 2012

FDA action affects companies that manufacture and distribute unapproved oxycodone drugs

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today issued a Federal Register notice instructing companies to stop manufacturing and distributing certain unapproved drugs that contain oxycodone. The notice is part of the FDA's Unapproved Drugs Initiative to remove unapproved new drugs from the market.

6 Jul 2012