New gene therapy for epilepsy provides on-demand release of endogenous substance

Universitätsmedizin Berlin and the Medical University of Innsbruck have developed a new therapeutic concept for the treatment of temporal lobe epilepsy. It represents a gene therapy capable of suppressing seizures at their site of origin on demand. Having been shown to be effective in an animal model, the new method will now be optimized for clinical use. Results from this […]

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Brain-heart activity predicts post-malaria epilepsy in mice

Animals that develop epilepsy after an infection can be identified as early as three months prior to their first seizure by measuring interactions between the brain and the heart, according to new research using a mouse model of post-cerebral malaria epilepsy. Published in JNeurosci, this finding could inform efforts to diagnose and treat acquired epilepsy. Cerebral malaria afflicts more than […]

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New technique fine-tunes treatment for severe epilepsy cases

One of three epilepsy patients experience no relief from drugs and are candidates for surgery. An advance by researchers at Yale and the Cleveland Clinic will enable surgeons to more precisely target areas of the brain causing debilitating symptoms in a subset of these patients. The technology called magnetoencephalography or MEG measures small amounts of magnetic-electrical activity on the surface […]

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New light shed on mechanisms of paediatric epilepsy

Research by Cardiff University has uncovered the brain activity that underlies absence epilepsy, offering new hope for the development of innovative therapies for this disabling disease. Absence epilepsy—the most common form of epilepsy in children and teenagers—causes episodes of lack of awareness which are often mistaken for daydreaming. The brain activity that causes this form of epilepsy has remained poorly […]

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