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Cureus 2021 Apr 10;13(4):e14395. Epub 2021 Apr 10.

Neurology, California Institute of Behavioral Neurosciences & Psychology, Fairfield, USA.

Post-traumatic seizures (PTS) have become an emerging challenge for neurologists worldwide with the rise of brain injuries. Trauma can lead to various outcomes, ranging from naive spasms to debilitating post-traumatic epilepsy (PTE). In this article, we will explore the pathogenesis of convulsions following a concussion. Read More

Seizure 2021 May 1;89:38-40. Epub 2021 May 1.

Epilepsy Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.

Objectives: The aim of the current study was to compare the frequency of significant head injuries in three groups of people with seizures [idiopathic generalized epilepsies (IGE) vs. temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) vs. functional seizures (FS)]. Read More

Eur J Psychotraumatol 2021 Mar 30;12(1):1894806. Epub 2021 Mar 30.

Danish National Centre of Psychotraumatology, Department of Psychology, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark.

: The 11 version of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) revised the diagnosis of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and introduced Complex PTSD as a sibling disorder to PTSD. As the Danish Health Authorities will implement the ICD-11 in 2022, it is more relevant than ever to introduce a measure that enables the identification of ICD-11 PTSD and CPTSD. : The primary aim of the present study was to test the construct validity of the ICD-11 conceptualization of PTSD and DSO in five clinical samples using translated versions of the International Trauma Questionnaire (ITQ). Read More

J Am Coll Radiol 2021 May;18(5S):S199-S211

Specialty Chair, Riley Hospital for Children Indiana University, Indianapolis, Indiana.

In children, seizures represent an extremely heterogeneous group of medical conditions ranging from benign cases, such as a simple febrile seizure, to life-threatening situations, such as status epilepticus. Underlying causes of seizures also represent a wide range of pathologies from idiopathic cases, usually genetic, to a variety of acute and chronic intracranial or systemic abnormalities. This document discusses appropriate utilization of neuroimaging tests in a child with seizures. Read More

J Neurophysiol 2021 May 5. Epub 2021 May 5.

Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, United Statesgrid.266190.a.

Unilateral-onset spike-wave discharges (SWDs) following fluid percussion injury (FPI) in rats have been used for nearly two decades as a model for complex partial seizures in human post-traumatic epilepsy (PTE). This study determined if SWDs with a unilateral versus bilateral cortical onset differed. In this experiment, 2-month old rats received severe FPI (3 atm) or sham surgery, and were instrumented for chronic video-electrocorticography (ECoG) recording (up to 9 months). Read More

Acta Neuropathol Commun 2021 Apr 26;9(1):76. Epub 2021 Apr 26.

Laboratory of Acute Brain Injury and Therapeutic Strategies, Department of Neuroscience, Istituto Di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri IRCCS, Via Mario Negri 2, 20156, Milan, Italy.

Post-traumatic epilepsy (PTE) accounts for 5% of all epilepsies and 10-20% of the acquired forms. The latency between traumatic brain injury (TBI) and epilepsy onset in high-risk patients offers a therapeutic window for intervention to prevent or improve the disease course. However, progress towards effective treatments has been hampered by the lack of sensitive prognostic biomarkers of PTE, and of therapeutic targets. Read More

Epilepsia 2021 Apr 23. Epub 2021 Apr 23.

Department of Pediatrics, David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Los Angeles, CA, USA.

Objective: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) may lead to the disruption of the intestinal barrier (IB), and to the escape of products of commensal gut bacteria, including lipopolysaccharide (LPS), into the bloodstream. We examined whether lateral fluid percussion injury (LFPI) and post-traumatic epilepsy (PTE) are associated with the increased intestinal permeability and endotoxemia, and whether these events in turn are associated with PTE.

Methods: LFPI was delivered to adult male Sprague-Dawley rats. Read More

J Clin Neurol 2021 Apr;17(2):176-186

Departments of Neurology and Psychiatry, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, Cleveland, OH, USA.

Background And Purpose: Mental illness is disproportionately common in people with epilepsy (PWE). This systematic literature review identified original research articles that reported the prevalence of psychiatric comorbidities based upon clinical assessments in a sample of PWE and assessed the clinical features of the populations found in studies included in our review of mental health comorbidity.

Methods: The included articles were written in English and published from 2008 to 2018, and focused on adults aged ≥18 years who had psychiatric diagnoses determined in clinical assessments, such as those found in medical records, clinician psychiatric evaluations, structured diagnostic interviews, and mental health screening questionnaires specific for a psychiatric disorder. Read More

Seizure 2021 May 26;88:36-44. Epub 2021 Mar 26.

Department of Neurology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, No. 37, Guo Xue Xiang, Chengdu, 610041, Sichuan Province, China. Electronic address:

Objective: We aimed to develop and validate a predictive model of posttraumatic epilepsy (PTE).

Methods: The training cohort was patients registered at West China Hospital and diagnosed as traumatic brain injury (TBI) between January 1, 2011, and December 31, 2017. On the basis of multivariable cox proportional hazards model using a forward stepwise method, the nomogram was generated. Read More

J Neurosurg Pediatr 2021 Apr 2:1-12. Epub 2021 Apr 2.

4Neurology, and.

Objective: The authors present a new "bloodless" technique for minimally invasive robotic thermocoagulative hemispherotomy (ROTCH). Such a method is being described in the literature for the first time.

Methods: A robotic system was used to plan five sets of different trajectories: anterior disconnection, middle disconnection, posterior disconnection, corpus callosotomy, and temporal stem and amygdalar disconnection. Read More

Confl Health 2021 Apr 1;15(1):19. Epub 2021 Apr 1.

Division of Psychology, Department of Life Sciences, College of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Brunel University London, Kingston Lane, Uxbridge, London, UB8 3PH, UK.

Child protection and mental health during conflict intersects with a variety of adverse conflict-related factors, and intervention outcomes in the field are often difficult to predict. Using the casefiles of 376 school children registered in a Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) project in the Northwest governorate of Idleb in Syria, this study aimed to determine (i) the rates of various protection concerns (potential mental health conditions, psychosocial deprivation issues, and social, behavioural and emotional issues) for students enrolled in this project, (ii) whether the rates of any of the protection concerns varied between children and adolescents, or between boys and girls, and (iii) which of the identified demographic and protection sector factors predicted the presence of potential mental health conditions and MHPSS intervention outcomes. MHPSS interventions (including individual MHPSS sessions tailored for children in conflict, resilience building activities, tutoring, peer building activities, community awareness, and other tailored services) were implemented at schools operated by the UK-based organization, Syria Relief. Read More

Front Neural Circuits 2021 15;15:634875. Epub 2021 Mar 15.

Department of Medical Pharmacology, Nagasaki University Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Nagasaki, Japan.

Trans-regulation of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) by leucine-rich repeat (LRR) transmembrane proteins has emerged as a novel type of synaptic molecular interaction in the last decade. Several studies on LRR-GPCR interactions have revealed their critical role in synapse formation and in establishing synaptic properties. Among them, LRR-GPCR interactions between extracellular LRR fibronectin domain-containing family proteins (Elfn1 and Elfn2) and metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs) are particularly interesting as they can affect a broad range of synapses through the modulation of signaling by glutamate, the principal excitatory transmitter in the mammalian central nervous system (CNS). Read More

Prog Brain Res 2021 10;261:83-158. Epub 2021 Mar 10.

Laboratory of Neurophysiology, Department of Physiology and Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, University of Malta, Msida, Malta; Neuroscience Division, School of Biosciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff, United Kingdom.

The hippocampal region receives a dense serotoninergic innervation originating from both medial and dorsal raphe nuclei. This innervation regulates hippocampal activity through the activation of distinct receptor families that are expressed in excitatory and inhibitory neurons, terminals of several afferent neurotransmitter systems, and glial cells. Preclinical and clinical studies indicate that hippocampal dysfunctions are involved in learning and memory deficits, dementia, Alzheimer's disease, epilepsy and mood disorders such as anxiety, depression and post-traumatic syndrome disorder, whereas the hippocampus participates also in the therapeutic mechanisms of numerous medicines. Read More

Epilepsy Behav 2021 04 17;117:107901. Epub 2021 Mar 17.

Graduate Institute of Clinical Medical Sciences, College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan; Department of Neurosurgery, New Taipei Municipal TuCheng Hospital (Built and Operated by Chang Gung Medical Foundation), New Taipei City, Taiwan. Electronic address:

Objective: To explore whether status epilepticus affected cardiac mortality.

Methods: We used the 2008-2017 multicause mortality data of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Wide-ranging Online Data for Epidemiological Research. The status epilepticus group included patients whose death certificates mentioned status epilepticus as contributing to death. Read More

Exp Ther Med 2021 Apr 27;21(4):290. Epub 2021 Jan 27.

Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University, Nantong, Jiangsu 226001, P.R. China.

The present study aimed to explore the pathogenesis behind post-traumatic epilepsy (PTE). In the present study, a chloride ferric injection-induced rat PTE model was established. The expression levels of apoptosis-antagonizing transcription factor (AATF), cleaved caspase-3, p53, Bcl-2 and Bax were measured by western blotting or immunofluorescence staining (IF). Read More

Seizure 2021 Mar 3. Epub 2021 Mar 3.

Physiology Department, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil; Instituto D'Or de Pesquisa e Ensino, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil. Electronic address:

The basic mechanisms by which brain insults, such as trauma, stroke or status epilepticus produce epilepsy are not completely understood, and effective preventive measures and treatment are still not available in the clinical setting. Over the last 2 decades we have conducted several studies with animal models of epilepsy (rodents and non-human primates) and demonstrated that drugs that modify neuronal plastic processes, such as anticholinergic agents (e.g. Read More

Front Mol Neurosci 2021 23;14:612073. Epub 2021 Feb 23.

Medical Laboratories, Department of Pediatrics, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, United States.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a leading cause of death in young adults and a risk factor for acquired epilepsy. Severe TBI, after a period of time, causes numerous neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative problems with varying comorbidities; and brain homeostasis may never be restored. As a consequence of disrupted equilibrium, neuropathological changes such as circuit remodeling, reorganization of neural networks, changes in structural and functional plasticity, predisposition to synchronized activity, and post-translational modification of synaptic proteins may begin to dominate the brain. Read More

J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 2021 Mar 9. Epub 2021 Mar 9.

Department of Clinical Neuroscience, University of Gothenburg Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, Gothenburg, Sweden

Objective: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a leading cause of epilepsy. Our aim was to characterise the risk of epilepsy in adults after hospitalisation for TBI.

Methods: Register-based cohort study. Read More

Epilepsia Open 2021 03 15;6(1):181-194. Epub 2021 Jan 15.

Department of Neurology University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health Madison WI USA.

Study Objectives: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) results in sequelae that include posttraumatic epilepsy (PTE) and sleep-wake disturbances. Here, we sought to determine whether sleep characteristics could predict development of PTE in a model of severe TBI.

Methods: Following controlled cortical impact (CCI) or sham injury (craniotomy only), CD-1 mice were implanted with epidural electroencephalography (EEG) and nuchal electromyography (EMG) electrodes. Read More

Neurochem Res 2021 Mar 4. Epub 2021 Mar 4.

Institute of Cellular Neurosciences, Medical Faculty, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany.

Changes in astrocyte channels, transporters, and metabolism play a critical role in seizure generation and epilepsy. In particular, alterations in astrocyte potassium, glutamate, water and adenosine homeostasis and gap junctional coupling have all been associated with hyperexcitability and epileptogenesis (largely in temporal lobe epilepsy). Distinct astrocytic changes have also been identified in other types of epilepsy, such as tuberous sclerosis, tumor-associated epilepsy and post-traumatic epilepsy. Read More

Front Psychiatry 2021 11;12:638032. Epub 2021 Feb 11.

Centro Brasileiro de Informações Sobre Drogas Psicotrópicas (CEBRID), Department of Preventive Medicine, Federal University of São Paulo, UNIFESP, São Paulo, Brazil.

Although cannabis has been known for ages as an "alternative medicine" to provide relief from seizures, pain, anxiety, and inflammation, there had always been a limited scientific review to prove and establish its use in clinics. Early studies carried out by Carlini's group in Brazil suggested that cannabidiol (CBD), a non-psychotropic phytocannabinoid present in , has anticonvulsant properties in animal models and reduced seizure frequency in limited human trials. Over the past few years, the potential use of cannabis extract in refractory epilepsy, including childhood epilepsies such as Dravet's syndrome and Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome, has opened a new era of treating epileptic patients. Read More

Sci Rep 2021 Feb 25;11(1):4708. Epub 2021 Feb 25.

Neurorehabilitation and Spinal Unit, Institute of Pavia, Istituti Clinici Scientifici Maugeri IRCCS, Via Maugeri 4, 27100, Pavia, Italy.

Post-traumatic seizures (PTS) are a common and debilitating complication of traumatic brain injury (TBI) and could have a harmful impact on the progress of patient rehabilitation. To assess the effect of PTS and relative therapy on outcome in the initial phase after TBI, during the rehabilitation process when neuroplasticity is at its highest, we retrospectively examined the clinical data of 341 adult patients undergoing rehabilitation for at least 6 months post-TBI in our neurorehabilitation unit between 2008 and 2019. We correlated through logistic regression the occurrence of seizures and use of anti-seizure medication (ASM) with neurological and functional outcomes, respectively assessed with the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) and the Functional Independence Measure (FIM). Read More

Cannabis Cannabinoid Res 2021;6(1):66-73. Epub 2021 Feb 12.

School of Pharmacy, Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine (PCOM) Georgia, Suwanee, Georgia, USA.

Over the last few years, a growth in research and interest in medical cannabis (most often referred to as medical marijuana) use have occurred nationally. Medical cannabis has become a treatment option for disease conditions, such as epilepsy, wasting syndrome associated with AIDs, and post-traumatic stress disorder, when traditional medication is ineffective. The objectives were to identify knowledge deficits of the medical cannabis program (MCP) in Connecticut among Connecticut pharmacists and the impact of MCP on Connecticut pharmacy practice and concerns Connecticut pharmacists have regarding medical cannabis use. Read More

Front Mol Neurosci 2020 1;13:610090. Epub 2021 Feb 1.

Hubei University of Police, Wuhan, China.

Dysregulated expression of microRNAs and potassium channels have been reported for their contributions to seizure onset. However, the microRNA-potassium channel gene interactions in traumatic brain injury-induced post-traumatic epilepsy (PTE) remain unknown. PTE was induced in male rats by intracranial injection with ferrous chloride (0. Read More

Curr Addict Rep 2020 Sep 25;7(3):405-412. Epub 2020 Jul 25.

Behavioral Pharmacology Research Unit, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.

Purpose Of Review: Global policy changes have increased access to products containing cannabidiol (CBD), a primary constituent of hemp and cannabis. The CBD product industry has experienced tremendous growth, in part, because CBD is widely touted as an effective therapeutic for myriad health conditions. However, only 1 CBD product (Epidiolex®) has been approved by the U. Read More

Gen Hosp Psychiatry 2021 Mar-Apr;69:81-93. Epub 2021 Jan 31.

Research Center, Montreal Heart Institute, Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Department of Psychiatry and Addiction, Faculty of Medicine, Université de Montréal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Electronic address:

Objective: PTSD is increasingly recognized following medical traumas although is highly heterogeneous. It is difficult to judge which medical contexts have the most traumatic potential and where to concentrate further research and clinical attention for prevention, early detection and treatment. The objective of this study was to compare PTSD prevalence in different medical populations. Read More

Epilepsy Behav 2021 03 7;116:107796. Epub 2021 Feb 7.

Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA. Electronic address:

A large proportion of patients with focal-onset epilepsy have frequent seizures despite treatment with newer anti-seizure medications (ASMs). We describe our experience optimizing cenobamate treatment for 49 patients treated at one center for up to eight years. We assessed the influence of treatment response on measurements of quality of life (QOLIE). Read More

Epilepsy Behav 2021 03 7;116:107768. Epub 2021 Feb 7.

Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, Brain Injury Research, Think+Speak Lab, Shirley Ryan Ability Lab, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA; Departments of Neurology, Psychiatry, and Cognitive Neurology & Alzheimer's Disease, Feinberg School of Medicine, Department of Psychology, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA. Electronic address:

Purpose: We determined burden of caring for patients with post-traumatic epilepsy (PTE) following penetrating traumatic brain injury (TBI) and identified factors predicting higher burden.

Method: We assessed 331 caregiver-veteran dyads in Phase 2 (136 PTE, 136 non-PTE, and 59 HC dyads), 133 in Phase 4 (47 PTE, 56 non-PTE, and 30 HC dyads) - 30 years later, and 46 dyads in the follow-up study (18 PTE, 19 non-PTE, and 9 HC). Caregiver's burden was measured by Zarit Burden Index and a questionnaire. Read More

Elife 2021 Feb 2;10. Epub 2021 Feb 2.

Department of Biology, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada.

Zebrafish larvae models can be used to study the link between seizures and the neurodegeneration that follows brain trauma. Read More

Elife 2021 Feb 2;10. Epub 2021 Feb 2.

Centre for Prions & Protein Folding Disease, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a prominent risk factor for dementias including tauopathies like chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). The mechanisms that promote prion-like spreading of Tau aggregates after TBI are not fully understood, in part due to lack of tractable animal models. Here, we test the putative role of seizures in promoting the spread of tauopathy. Read More