Seizure

Adolescence is a life phase in which future patterns of adult health are established [1]. The period of adolescence (i.e., 10-19 years) is associated with significant vulnerability for mental health problems [1]. Approximately 75% of individuals who experience poor mental health in adulthood first experience difficulties before age 182. The consequences of not addressing mental health problems in this developmental period can result in poorer educational and occupational outcomes, relationship difficulties, and recurring depression [2–4].

Epilepsy is a chronic disorder of the central nervous system. With over 65 million individuals affected globally [1]. Genetically related epilepsy is one of six major causes of epilepsy. To date, more than 1,000 genes related to epilepsy have been identified, with 84 causative genes that can cause epilepsy or induce epilepsy as a primary symptom [2]. Consequently, hereditary epilepsy exacerbates the disease burden on the entire family of the affected individuals.

Decline in cognitive performance, motor function and sensory perception characterizes the normal brain aging, even in absence of neurodegeneration [1]. The pathophysiological bases underlying normal aging and neurodegenerative disorders remain not yet fully understood. Brain’s functional and structural plasticity, along with synaptic and neural redundancy, helps to maintain optimal brain activity in healthy elderly individuals. Processes such as impairment in neurogenesis, nerve cell senescence, alterations in neuronal integrity, functional and structural plastic remodelling, aberrant neuronal network activity and connectivity are ...

The Electroencephalogram (EEG), is an important diagnostic and clinical tool for evaluating patients with epilepsy [1]. The analysis of EEG requires sound knowledge and astute observation to identify physiologic changes and differentiate epileptiform discharges from benign epileptiform variants (BEVs). These variants are diversely termed ‘epileptiform activity in the EEG of non-epileptic patients’[2], ‘non-epileptogenic epileptiform electroencephalographic activity’[3], and ‘benign epileptiform variants’[4,5].

Epilepsy is one of the most common neurological disorders, affecting approximately 50 million individuals worldwide [1]. With the continuous development and widespread adoption of next-generation sequencing technology and the decreasing costs associated with sequencing, an increasing body of research has indicated that genetic factors play a significant role in the pathogenesis of epilepsy [2,3]. An accumulating body of evidence supports the importance of genetic factors in the development of epilepsy [2,3].

Shakespearean sentiments notwithstanding, there is a lot in a name, especially in medicine! A prime example is “late-onset epilepsy”, where the compound words instantaneously suggest that there is something special and unique about this epilepsy that justifies a distinct nomenclature. However, there is no universally accepted definition for late-onset epilepsy (LOE). So far, we have taken a reductionist approach in defining LOE as seizure onset beyond a sharp age cut-off, which in the literature ranges from 50 to 70 years, ...

The highly heterogeneous population of elderly with epilepsy continues to increase as the incidence of epilepsy rises with increasing life expectancy. There are many aspects to consider in the treatment of elderly with epilepsy, e g comorbidities and the complexity of polypharmacy. The literature on quality-of-life (QoL) and patient-centered outcomes in elderly in general as well as in elderly with epilepsy is limited, most of the existing studies report results from quality-of-life surveys. No such QoL questionnaires have, however, in ...

In the early 1960ties, when working as a physician in an area with a particularly high incidence of epilepsy in the Mahenge mountains of southern Tanzania, Louise Jilek-Aall observed a peculiar type of epileptic seizures characterised by “dropping” or “nodding” movements of the head [1]. At a time prior to the introduction of the first Classification of Epileptic Seizures by the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) [2], these seizures were called “petit mal attacks” in order to distinguish them from ...

: About 25% of new-onset epilepsies are diagnosed after age 65. Late-onset epilepsy (LOE) is predicted to become a major healthcare problem in the next 15 years as the global population increases and ages. Neurodegenerative disorders account for 10-20% of LOE, while over 20% of these patients have an unknown etiology. Established diagnostic tools such as FDG-PET and novel biomarkers of neurodegeneration including amyloid and tau PET hold a lot of promise in diagnosing and ruling out neurodegenerative disorders in ...

Epileptic seizures arise from neuronal hyperexcitability, which leads to various clinical presentations depending on the topography of electrical activity [1]. The excitability of the neuronal membrane is maintained by a range of membrane proteins that control the physiological balance of ions between the intracellular space and extracellular matrix [2,3]. Voltage-gated sodium channels (VGSCs), which have been associated with multiple types of genetic epilepsy, are membrane proteins encoded by nine genes in the SCN group [4,5].