COVID-19 vaccination uptake in people with epilepsy: Comment

2023-04-26
Dear Editor, we would like to share ideas on the publication “COVID-19 vaccination uptake in people with epilepsy in wales [1].” Welsh electronic health records that were linked and anonymously stored in the Secure Anonymized Information Linkage (SAIL) Databank were used in a retrospective population cohort research carried out by Strafford et al. [1]. According to Strafford et al., vaccination rates were greater for both cohorts among older demographics, women, and residents of less impoverished areas [1].

Fonte: European Journal of Epilepsy, Amnuay Kleebayoon, Viroj Wiwanitkit

Non-epileptic paroxysmal events at pediatric video-electroencephalography monitoring unit over a 15-year period

2023-04-21
Non-epileptic paroxysmal events (NEPEs) are common in pediatric patients and may be misdiagnosed as epileptic seizures. We aimed to study the distribution of NEPEs across age groups and with different comorbidities, and to correlate the patients' presenting symptoms with their final diagnosis after video-EEG.

Fonte: European Journal of Epilepsy, Pinar Yavuz, Ceren Gunbey, Sevilay Karahan, Meral Topcu, Guzide Turanli, Dilek Yalnizoglu

Gaps in Care Following First Time Seizure in an Underserved Region: A Retrospective Analysis

2023-04-19
Epilepsy, one of the most common neurological diseases globally, affects around 50 million persons worldwide. [1] Approximately 80% of persons with epilepsy (PWE) live in low- or middle-income countries. [2] Current practice guidelines from the United Kingdom (UK) state that adult patients presenting with a single seizure should be seen by an epileptologist within four weeks of a first time seizure (FTS), which may be logistically challenging to implement in the United States. [3] The period following the initial seizure is time-sensitive, given that the length of seizure freedom following a FTS is inversely proportional to recurrence risk.

Fonte: European Journal of Epilepsy, Christopher Jenkins, Andrew Cabrera, Daniel M. Goldenholz, Travis Losey, Nancy A. Baker, Molly Estes, Charles M. Casassa

Influence of resective extent of epileptogenic tuber on seizure outcome in patients with tuberous sclerosis complex-related epilepsy: A systematic review and meta-analysis

2023-04-03
Tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) is an autosomal dominant, multi-expressed and multisystem disease with an estimated prevalence of 1:6,760-13,520 in livebirths, caused by mutations in TSC1 or TSC2 [1]. In nervous system, main abnormalities include neuronal migration, differentiation, and proliferation, contributing to typical brain tubers [1]. The typical neurological presentations include epilepsy (83.5%), intellectual disability (56.5%) and TSC-related neuropsychiatric disorders (83.2%) [2]. The most common neurologic manifestation is often drug-resistant epilepsy (DRE), causing severe morbidity and increased mortality [3].

Fonte: European Journal of Epilepsy, Zhirong Wei, Aria Fallah, Yangshuo Wang, Suhui Kuang, Alexader G Weil, Jiaqi Wang, Shuli Liang

Poo Matters! A scoping review of impact of constipation on epilepsy

2023-03-28
Epilepsy is a chronic neurological disorder, caused by excessive or abnormal neuronal discharges in the brain [1] that predisposes to recurrent seizures [2]. It is a common neurological condition, affecting approximately 600,000 people in the United Kingdom (UK) [3]. Epilepsy has a multifactorial aetiology, ranging from single gene mutations to a complex interplay between genetic and environmental factors [4], and overall heritability estimates of 32% have been reported in the literature [5]. The consequences of an epilepsy diagnosis reach far beyond physical health implications alone, and can result in loss of education, employment, and independence [6], thus contributing to poorer socioeconomic outcomes [7].

Fonte: European Journal of Epilepsy, Alexandra Gabrielsson, Samuel Tromans, Lance Watkins, Lisa Burrows, Richard Laugharne, Rohit Shankar

A response to the letter about the article ‘Clinical features of epileptic seizures in patients with mitochondrial encephalomyopathy, lactic acidosis, and stroke-like episodes’

2023-03-23
Dear Editor

Fonte: European Journal of Epilepsy, Xiaxin Yang, Xiuhe Zhao

Seizure disorders and climate change: Everyone's problem

2023-03-16
“Suppose that each of us has made the outcome as good as he can, given what the others did. Each has then acted rightly. But we together may have acted wrongly. This will be so if we together could have made the outcome better” – Derek Parfit,’Five mistakes in moral mathematics’ [1]

Fonte: European Journal of Epilepsy, Alistair Wardrope, Markus Reuber

Neurodevelopmental disorders after prenatal exposure to topiramate: A lost decade idly watching from the sidelines

2023-03-15
Knight and colleagues must be commended for their cross-sectional study from the UK Epilepsy and Pregnancy Register evidencing that children exposed to topiramate in utero had poorer levels of adaptive behaviour with a dose response effect [1].

Fonte: European Journal of Epilepsy, Alain Braillon

Biallelic variants of KCNQ2 in early infantile developmental and epileptic encephalopathy

2023-03-12
The KCNQ2 gene encodes voltage-gated potassium channel subunits that underlie the M-current, a repolarizing current that limits repetitive firing during long-lasting depolarizing inputs [1]. Mutations in this gene can result in disorders ranging from benign familial neonatal convulsions (BFNC) to early infantile developmental and epileptic encephalopathy (EIDEE) [2].

Fonte: European Journal of Epilepsy, Yun-Jian Zhang, Tian-Shuang Wang, Xiao-Mei Zhu, Li-Fei Yu, Lin-Mei Zhang, Yuan-Feng Zhou, Yi Wang, Shui-Zhen Zhou

Association of FAT1 with focal epilepsy and correlation between seizure relapse and gene expression stage

2023-03-11
The FAT1 gene (OMIM *600796) encodes FAT atypical cadherin 1, a cell adhesion molecule that is important for cell migration, polarity, and cell-cell adhesion [1]. The FAT1 protein is broadly expressed and is predominant in the embryonic brain and other epithelial tissues [1,2]. Homozygous Fat1-knockout (KO) mice exhibit holoprosencephaly, anophthalmia, and perinatal lethality [3], suggesting an essential role of FAT1 in foetal growth. In humans, FAT1 variants have been reported in patients with disorders of the multisystem, including the central nervous system [4].

Fonte: European Journal of Epilepsy, Dong-Fang Zou, Xiao-Yan Li, Xin-Guo Lu, Huai-Li Wang, Wang Song, Meng-Wen Zhang, Xiao-Rong Liu, Bing-Mei Li, Jian-Xiang Liao, Jian-Min Zhong, Heng Meng, Bin Li