The latest medical research on Epilepsy
The research magnet gathers the latest research from around the web, based on your specialty area. Below you will find a sample of some of the most recent articles from reputable medical journals about epilepsy gathered by our medical AI research bot.
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Request AccessPatient Perspectives on Upper-Limb Daily Function in Parkinson's Disease.
"Movement Disorders Clinical PracticeDexterity impairments are common among people with Parkinson's disease (PWP), yet little is understood about the effect of upper-limb (UL) dysfunction on daily activity performance.
The aims were to (1) map the dexterity activities most affected and meaningful to PWP; (2) explore the associations between perceived dexterity function and disease severity, cognitive and motor UL impairments, dexterity ability, self-reported activities of daily living (ADL) function, and quality of life (QOL); (3) investigate variables explaining perceived dexterity function; and (4) examine the differences in perceived dexterity function based on dominance affectedness.
A total of 43 PWP (mean age = 70.00 years, standard deviation [SD] = 6.75) were assessed for perceived dexterity function (36-item Dexterity Questionnaire [DextQ-36]), dexterity ability (Coin Rotation Task), disease severity (modified Hoen and Yahr Scale), self-reported ADL function and motor UL impairments (Movement Disorder Society-Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale), cognition (Montreal Cognitive Assessment), and QOL (Parkinson's Disease Questionnaire-39).
The leading dexterity activities participants reported as difficult and meaningful included using a touchscreen, pulling on socks, and dialing a phone. Perceived dexterity significantly correlated with self-reported ADL function (r = 0.716), QOL (r = 0.691), disease severity (r = 0.470), and dominant-hand dexterity (r = 0.432). Dexterity ability and disease severity explained 30% of perceived dexterity variance. No differences in perceived dexterity function based on dominance affectedness were found.
PWP encounter challenges in complex dexterity tasks that impact their independence. Before interventions focused on UL function are initiated, assessments of PWP should include inquiries about the meaningfulness of challenging dexterity activities.
Association of Hemispheric Asymmetry of Dopamine-Transporter Binding with Risk of Parkinsonian Depression.
"Movement Disorders Clinical PracticeDepression is the most common psychiatric disorder diagnosed in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). A direct role in PD depression for loss of dopaminergic terminals and dopamine-transporter (DAT) expression in the striatum is revealed by many studies.
The objective was to discern the relationship between DAT neuroimaging and risk of depression in PD.
One hundred and ninety-eight PD patients (101 with depression, 97 without depression) were evaluated using an extensive protocol from 2015 to 2023. DAT availability at striatal terminals was assessed with single-photon emission computed tomography with 123I-Ioflupane. Specific binding ratio (SBR) of 123I-Ioflupane and the whole striatum asymmetry index (SASI) were calculated. Data were analyzed with univariate/multivariate models as well as receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves.
A logistic regression model adjusting for confounding risk factors of depression indicates that SASI and PD duration are associated with the odds of having parkinsonian depression. SASI is the strongest predictor of risk of parkinsonian depression. Following ROC analysis, SASI is found to be an accurate factor for detecting parkinsonian depression because a cutoff value of 3.4895 of SASI shows good accuracy (0.813), sensitivity (81.1%), and specificity (80%). Higher SASI is also linked to more disease-related limitations in activities of daily living.
The whole SASI is the strongest predictor of risk of parkinsonian depression. The findings could be valuable in evaluating depression in PD patients.
Contextualised Processing of Stimuli Modulates Auditory Mismatch Responses in the Rat.
Clinical EEG and NeuroscienceMismatch negativity (MMN), an auditory prediction error signal, is an enhanced response to unexpected (deviant) stimuli compared to expected (stand...
WONOEP appraisal: Targeted therapy development for early onset epilepsies.
EpilepsiaThe early onset epilepsies encompass a heterogeneous group of disorders, some of which result in drug-resistant seizures, developmental delay, psyc...
Automatic responsiveness testing in epilepsy with wearable technology: The ARTiE Watch.
EpilepsiaAn accurate evaluation of behavioral responsiveness during and after seizures in people with epilepsy is critical for diagnosis and management. Current methods for assessing behavioral responsiveness are characterized by substantial variation, subjectivity, and limited reliability and reproducibility in ambulatory and epilepsy monitoring unit settings. In this study, we aimed to develop and implement a novel mobile platform for deployment of automated responsiveness testing in epilepsy-the ARTiE Watch-to facilitate standardized, objective assessments of behavioral responsiveness during and after seizures.
We prospectively recruited patients admitted to the epilepsy monitoring units for diagnostic evaluation and long-term video-electroencephalographic monitoring at Mayo Clinic and Yale New Haven Hospital. Participants wore the ARTiE Watch, a smartwatch paired with custom smartphone software integrated with cloud infrastructure allowing for remote activation of standardized assessment on the participants' smartwatches. The assessment consisted of 18 command prompts that test behavioral responsiveness across motor, language, and memory domains. Upon visually identifying an electrographic seizure during EMU monitoring, the BrainRISE platform was used to deploy the ARTiE Watch behavioral testing sequence. Responsiveness scoring was conducted on smartwatch files.
Eighteen of 56 participants had a total of 39 electrographic seizures assessed with the ARTiE Watch. The 18 subjects with ARTiE Watch-tested seizures had a total of 67 baseline (interictal) ARTiE Watch tests collected for analysis. The analysis showed distinct ARTiE Watch behavioral responsiveness phenotypes: (1) decreased responsiveness across all ARTiE Watch commands during seizure (ictal-postictal) periods compared (to baseline (p < .0001), (2) decreased responsiveness in bilateral tonic-clonic seizures compared to baseline (p < .0001) and compared to focal seizures (p < .0001), and (3) decreased responsiveness during focal impaired awareness seizures compared to baseline (p < .0001) and compared to focal aware seizures (p < .001).
ARTiE Watch behavioral testing deployed utilizing a mobile cloud-based platform is feasible and can provide standardized, objective behavioral responsiveness assessments during seizures.
Preferences regarding Disclosure of Risk for Parkinson's Disease in a Population-based Study.
"Movement Disorders Clinical PracticePreferences for risk disclosure in population-based studies assessing Parkinson's disease (PD) risk have not been assessed so far.
To examine preferences for risk disclosure in a subset of the European Healthy Brain Aging (HeBA) multicenter study.
After a remote PD risk assessment, a structured pilot-questionnaire on risk disclosure was first presented to participants (≥50 years, without neurodegenerative diseases) during in-person visits at the Innsbruck study site.
From the included 81 participants (63% females, median age 65 years), 79% expressed an unconditional desire to be informed about their PD risk. Confronted with a hypothetical scenario of a positive, specific PD test, most would try to live a healthier lifestyle. Regarding future placebo-controlled disease-modification trials, 66% stated they would probably or definitely participate.
This pilot-study shows an open-minded view of participants towards disclosure of risk for future PD and a proactive attitude regarding dealing with one's risk.
Association of cognitive and structural correlates of brain aging and incident epilepsy. The Framingham Heart Study.
EpilepsiaLate-onset epilepsy has the highest incidence among all age groups affected by epilepsy and often occurs in the absence of known clinical risk factors such as stroke and dementia. There is increasing evidence that brain changes contributing to epileptogenesis likely start years before disease onset, and we aim to relate cognitive and imaging correlates of subclinical brain injury to incident late-onset epilepsy in a large, community-based cohort.
We studied Offspring Cohort of the Framingham Heart Study participants 45 years or older, who were free of prevalent stroke, dementia, or epilepsy, and had neuropsychological (NP) evaluation and brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Cognitive measures included Visual Reproduction Delayed Recall, Logical Memory Delayed Recall, Similarities, Trail Making Test B minus A (TrTB-TrTA; attention and executive function), and a global measure of cognition derived from principal component analysis. MRI measures included total cerebral brain volume, cortical gray matter volume (CGMV), white matter hyperintensity volume (WMHV), and hippocampal volume. Incident epilepsy was identified through a review of administrative data and medical records. Cox proportional hazards regression models were used for the analyses. All analyses were adjusted for age, sex, and educational level (cognition only).
Among participants who underwent NP testing (n = 2349, 45.81% male), 31 incident epilepsy cases were identified during follow-up. Better performance on the TrTB-TrTA was associated with a lower risk of developing epilepsy (hazard ratio [HR] .25, 95% confidence interval [CI] .08-.73; p = .011). In the subgroup of participants with MRI (n = 2056, 46.01% male), 27 developed epilepsy. Higher WMHV was associated with higher epilepsy risk (HR 1.5, 95%CI 1.01-2.20; p = .042), but higher CGMV (HR .73, 95% CI .57-.93; p = .001) was associated with lower incidence of epilepsy.
Better performance on the (TrTB-TrTA), a measure of executive function and attention, and higher cortical volumes are associated with lower risk of developing epilepsy. Conversely, higher WMHV, a measure of occult vascular injury, increases the risk. Our study shows that non-invasive tests performed in mid-life may help identify people at risk for developing epilepsy later in life.
Patients carrying pathogenic SCN8A variants with loss- and gain-of-function effects can be classified into five subgroups exhibiting varying developmental and epileptic components of encephalopathy.
EpilepsiaPhenotypic heterogeneity presents challenges in providing clinical care to patients with pathogenic SCN8A variants, which underly a wide disease spectrum ranging from neurodevelopmental delays without seizures to a continuum of mild to severe developmental and epileptic encephalopathies (DEEs). An important unanswered question is whether there are clinically important subgroups within this wide spectrum. Using both supervised and unsupervised machine learning (ML) approaches, we previously found statistical support for two and three subgroups associated with loss- and gain- of- function vari-ants, respectively. Here, we test the hypothesis that the unsupervised subgroups (U1-U3) are distinguished by differential contributions of developmental and epileptic components.
We predicted that patients in the U1 and U2 subgroups would differ in timing of developmental delay and seizure onset, with earlier and concurrent onset of both features for the U3 subgroup. Standard statistical procedures were used to test these predictions, as well as to investigate clinically relevant associations among all five subgroups.
Two-population proportion and Kruskal-Wallis tests supported the hypothesis of a reversed order of developmental delay and seizure onset for patients in U1 and U2, and nearly synchronous developmental delay/seizure onset for the U3 (termed DEE) subgroup. Association testing identified subgroup variation in treatment response, frequency of initial seizure type, and comorbidities, as well as different median ages of developmental delay onset for all five subgroups.
Unsupervised ML approaches discern differential developmental and epileptic components among patients with SCN8A-related epilepsy. Patients in U1 (termed developmental encephalopathy) typically gain seizure control yet rarely experience improvements in development, whereas those in U2 (termed epileptic encephalopathy) have fewer if any developmental impairments despite difficulty in achieving seizure control. This understanding improves prognosis and clinical management and provides a framework to discover mechanisms underlying variability in clinical outcome of patients with SCN8A-related disorders.
Combined Habit Reversal Therapy and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Treatment of Tics in Tourette Syndrome: A Pilot Study of Effectiveness and Response Duration.
"Movement Disorders Clinical PracticeFew studies have examined the effectiveness and duration of mindfulness-based therapies for tics in Tourette's syndrome. This study combined habit reversal therapy (HRT) with acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT).
To evaluate the efficacy and response duration of HRT + ACT in reducing tic severity in adults with Tourette's Syndrome.
Tic severity was assessed at baseline, post-intervention, and at 6- and 12-month follow-ups using the Yale Global Tic Severity Scale (YGTSS) and video assessments. The intervention included eight weekly 1-h sessions.
Mixed-effects regression showed significant reductions in tic severity post-treatment (b = -10.36, P = 0.002), maintained at 6 months (b = -8.19, P = 0.012) and 12 months (b = -8.82, P = 0.009). Video assessments confirmed these findings.
The HRT + ACT protocol effectively reduced tic severity, with benefits lasting 12 months. These results support further trials to compare HRT + ACT with HRT alone.
Retrospective characterization of seizure semiology and treatment using continuous video-EEG monitoring in neonatal encephalopathy in Uganda.
Epileptic DisordersNeonatal encephalopathy (NE) is a leading cause of childhood death and disability, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. Detection of NE-related seizures is challenging. We explored NE seizure semiology and management in Uganda.
Video-EEG was recorded (days 1-5), seizure semiology reviewed according to ILAE classification and administration of antiseizure medication (ASM) evaluated. Clinicians treated seizures based on the clinical presentation alone.
Among 50 participants, 52% (26) had EEG-confirmed seizures; 70% (18) combined electroclinical/electrographic; 4% (1) exclusively electroclinical; 22% (6) electrographic. Of those with electroclinical seizures (19), 42% displayed >1 semiology. Distribution of seizure semiology was; clonic 34% (11); autonomic 24% (8, of which 6 had prolonged ictal apnea); automatisms 18% (6); behavioral arrest 12% (4); and sequential 12% (4). ASM was administered to 64% (32/50). Of those with EEG-confirmed seizures, only 62% (16/26) received ASM. In the non-seizure group, 38% (9/24) received ASM during monitoring. ASM was administered 42 times, of which 45% (19) were considered appropriate.
In this Ugandan NE population, incidence of seizures was high and clinical manifestations frequent. Clonic, autonomic and automatisms were most common. Clinical management was challenging, with both under and overtreatment evident. Respiratory impairment due to autonomic seizures frequently went unrecognized and is a prominent concern, particularly in settings without neonatal intensive care.
Neonatal Seizures: New Evidence, Classification, and Guidelines.
Epilepsy CurrentsNeonates are susceptible to seizures due to their unique physiology and combination of risks associated with gestation, delivery, and the immediate...
Brain on Fire: How Brain Infection and Neuroinflammation Drive Worldwide Epilepsy Burden.
Epilepsy CurrentsRoughly 80% of the global burden of epilepsy resides in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs; WHO, 2022). Despite numerous new therapies for the...
