Related topics: brain , brain cells , seizures
Epilepsy
hideEpilepsy (from the Greek επιληψία /epili΄psia/ ) is a common chronic neurological disorder characterized by recurrent unprovoked seizures. These seizures are transient signs and/or symptoms of abnormal, excessive or synchronous neuronal activity in the brain. About 50 million people worldwide have epilepsy, with almost 90% of these people being in developing countries. Epilepsy is more likely to occur in young children, or people over the age of 65 years, however it can occur at any time. Epilepsy is usually controlled, but not cured, with medication, although surgery may be considered in difficult cases. However, over 30% of people with epilepsy do not have seizure control even with the best available medications. Not all epilepsy syndromes are lifelong – some forms are confined to particular stages of childhood. Epilepsy should not be understood as a single disorder, but rather as a group of syndromes with vastly divergent symptoms but all involving episodic abnormal electrical activity in the brain.
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News tagged with epilepsy
Epilepsy Patients Are Given New Hope With Brain Implant
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Dec 09, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A startup company, Neuropace in Mountain View Ca., has developed a device that offers new hope for epilepsy patients. The device is designed to neutralize the abnormal electrical activity ...
Research sheds new light on epilepsy
Nov 30, 2009 |
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Pioneering research using human brain tissue removed from people suffering from epilepsy has opened the door to new treatments for the disease.
Star-shaped cells in the brain aid with learning
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Sep 07, 2009 |
4.9 / 5 (8) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Every movement and every thought requires the passing of specific information between networks of nerve cells. To improve a skill or to learn something new entails more efficient or a greater ...
You can control your Marilyn Monroe neuron
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Oct 22, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- In a scientific first, researchers have been able to demonstrate the ability of humans to control the activity of individual brain cells.
Epilepsy halted in mice
Aug 03, 2009 |
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Scientists at Leeds have prevented epilepsy caused by a gene defect from being passed on to mice offspring - an achievement which may herald new therapies for people suffering from the condition.
Theory about long and short-term memory questioned
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Nov 09, 2009 |
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The long-held theory that our brains use different mechanisms for forming long-term and short-term memories has been challenged by new research from UCL, published today in PNAS.
Fragile period of childhood brain development could underlie epilepsy
Aug 23, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A form of partial epilepsy associated with auditory and other sensory hallucinations has been linked to the disruption of brain development during early childhood, according to a study led ...
New links between epilepsy and brain lipids
Sep 17, 2009 |
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In mice that are missing a protein found only in the brain, neural signals "go crazy," leaving the animals with epileptic seizures from a young age, researchers have found. The report in the September 18th Cell, a Cell P ...
Researchers identify cause for severe pediatric epilepsy disorder
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Mar 16, 2009 |
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Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have discovered that convulsive seizures in a form of severe epilepsy are generated, not on the brain's surface as expected, but from ...
Unique nerve-stimulation device proves effective against epilepsy
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Mar 18, 2009 |
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Epilepsy is a common medical condition characterized by convulsions and short periods of confusion. It affects more than 50 million people worldwide. But intractable epilepsy, which affects more than 1 million Americans and ...
First Gene Discovered for Most Common Form of Epilepsy
Jan 28, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- An international team of researchers, led by investigators at Columbia University Medical Center, has uncovered the first gene linked to the most common type of epilepsy, called Rolandic epilepsy. ...
Severe Epilepsy Linked to Gene Mutation
Sep 14, 2009 |
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University of Utah medical researchers have identified a gene with mutations that cause febrile seizures and contribute to a severe form of epilepsy known as Dravet syndrome in some of the most vulnerable patients - infants ...
International team discovers gene associated with epilepsy
Nov 18, 2008 |
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A University of Iowa-led international research team has found a new gene associated with the brain disorder epilepsy. While the PRICKLE1 gene mutation was specific to a rare form of epilepsy, the study results could help ...
Study May Explain How A Well-Known Epilepsy and Pain Drug Works
Oct 12, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A Duke University Medical Center researcher who spent years looking for the signals that prompt the brain to form new connections between neurons has found one that may explain precisely how a well-known ...
Scientists find 'molecular trigger' for sudden death in epilepsy
Oct 14, 2009 |
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The most common gene for a syndrome associated with abnormal heart rhythms and sudden death triggers epileptic seizures and could explain sudden unexplained death in epilepsy, said researchers from Baylor College of Medicine ...
