Seizure in Biological News

Bull's-eye electrode helps interpret thoughts, deliver stimulus to aid paralyzed, epileptic patients

... of performing this non-invasively is that as the seizure focus moves, we can change which electrodes the ... brain," he added. According to Besio, if a seizure lasts for an extended period of time it can cause brain damage, so a method of turning off the seizure via electrical stimulation should prevent brain ...

Drug prevents seizure progression in model of epilepsy

... whose increased activity is associated with seizure disorders, a potassium channel known as the BK ... Understanding how these channels work in seizure disorders, and being able to target them with a ... to recurring seizures. A person who has a first seizure is statistically much more likely to have a ...

Researchers discover that gene switches on during development of epilepsy

... in some forms of epilepsy, once someone has a seizure they tend to have more. Our findings from this ... expected in the thalamus, but after an initial seizure more copies of a channel that isn't normally ... of this calcium channel is solely responsible for seizure activity, future studies could look into the ...

Study identifies brain pathway that shuts down seizures

... in pH (increased acid) in a way that shuts down seizure activity. The link between low pH in the brain and seizure termination was first hinted at nearly 80 years ... that ASIC1a does not seem to play a role in how a seizure starts, but as ...

Scientists track impact of DNA damage in the developing brain

... replaced by scar tissue in a process known as gliosis. Overall changes in the hippocampus mimicked those found in the brains of adults with the seizure disorder known as temporal lobe epilepsy. In this study, the loss of Xrcc1 also resulted in seizures in mice. ...

Elephant-size loopholes sustain Thai ivory trade

... the ongoing detriment of both African and Asian Elephant populations," said Milliken. "Since 2004, the Thai government has only reported two ivory seizure cases totaling 1.2 tonnes of raw ivory." Thailand's capital, Bangkok, a major tourist destination, has emerged as the main hub for illegal ivory ...

Drops in blood oxygen levels may be key to sudden death in some epilepsy patients

... supplemental oxygen, turning the patient on his side or suctioning the patient's airway, to help the patient breathe. Patients hospitalized for seizure monitoring in the UC Davis Comprehensive Epilepsy Program must have a relative or friend with them around the clock who can recognize their seizures ...

Deprived of a sense of smell, worms live longer

... want to find out how the effect on the neurons is translated into an effect on the worms' bodies to delay aging." Ethosuximide is used to treat seizure disorders in people. Interestingly, a common side effect of the drug is the loss of the sense of taste. Does that mean the ability to taste or smell ...

Brain study may lead to improved epilepsy treatments

... was abolished in COX-2 knockout mice or by COX-2 inhibitors. It has yet to be shown in animals or patients that targeting COX-2 will reduce seizure frequency or increase the effectiveness of anti-epileptic drugs. "These findings provide insight into one mechanism that underlies drug ...

Environmental exodus

... of conflict. For instance, migrants clash over jobs, resources and way of life, and violent interactions such as theft, beating, armed scuffles, seizure of resources and property, murders and insurgencies are likely. In order to minimize the impact of environmental migrations, which can cause ...

How brain pacemakers erase diseased messages

... "You don't have to know how it's really working. "In a condition like epilepsy, however, it's extremely unlikely that a person would have a seizure in the doctor's office," he said. "Therefore, it might take months of trial and error to find the optimal setting." Grill's new model promises to ...

Angelman syndrome deficits rescued in mice

... showed normal learning and memory and motor coordination. And while the Angelman mice were also prone to seizures, the double mutants showed very low seizure susceptibility. Weeber was surprised by the robust results. "We thought we might rescue some of the deficits that we saw in the mouse model," he ...

Anti-dandruff compound may help fight epilepsy

... your head, making it a potential treatment for seizures. Results of the study can be found online in Nature Chemical Biology. Epilepsy and other seizure disorders result when nerves excessively or inappropriately “fire?in the brain. The brain’s “off?switches fail in part due to protein defects that ...

MIT: Pulsing light silences overactive neurons

... individual neurons. Learning more about the neural circuits involved in epilepsy could help scientists develop devices that can predict when a seizure is about to occur, allowing treatment (either shock or light) to be administered only when necessary, Boyden said. The technique also offers a ...

Gene therapy inhibits epilepsy in animals

... subunits. Therefore, the researchers used gene delivery to alter the expression of the alpha1 subunit to see if this would have an effect on later seizure development. To carry the gene that alters the expression of the protein, they used an adeno-associated virus vector, injected into the rats' ...

Slow brain waves play key role in coordinating complex activity

... patient's skull and placed a grid of 64 electrodes on the surface of the brain's frontal and temporal lobes to precisely localize the source of the seizure so it could be removed in a subsequent surgical procedure. Knight, Canolty and their UC Berkeley colleagues then recorded activity in response to ...

Septum keeps neurons in synch, can reduce epileptic seizures by 90 percent

... Colom et al. showed what happens among the septum's neurons during epilepsy, knowledge that is important to understanding the mechanism underlying seizure generation. This line of inquiry could one day lead to the development of anti-epileptic drugs, said Colom. Theta disrupted in epileptic rats ...

UCSD research reveals mechanism involved with type of fatal epilepsy

... the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Lafora disease is characterized by normal development for the first decade of life, followed by an initial seizure in the second decade, progressively worsening seizures, early dementia, and death within 10 years of onset. Medications can ease the severity of ...