Central nervous system

Scientists develop epilepsy warning device

Agence France-PresseMay 2, 2013 07:00

A tiny device implanted in the brain of epilepsy sufferers has for the fist time been able to predict the onset of seizures, scientists reported on Thursday. The potentially life-saving device works with electrodes that monitor electrical activity on the brain surface, they wrote in The Lancet Neurology. The electrodes were connected to a second device implanted under the skin of the chest, which transmitted the data wirelessly to a hand-held device that calculated the probability of a seizure.

Australia-led study in epilepsy breakthrough

Agence France-PresseApril 2, 2013 02:30

An Australia-led study has identified a gene associated with a common form of epilepsy which could lead to earlier diagnosis, a researcher said Tuesday. Melbourne University academic Ingrid Scheffer said a number of genes linked to epilepsy were known to scientists, but these related to rare families in which a large number of members had the condition. "The reason that this discovery is very important is that it's not just for rare families, we think it will be a gene that will be important for people without a family history," Scheffer told AFP.

Japan tsunami stress may have brought on seizures: study

Thomson ReutersJanuary 20, 2013 22:15

Jan 21 (Reuters) - The number of seizure patients in a northern Japanese fishing community devastated by the March 11, 2011 tsunami spiked in the weeks following the disaster, according to a Japanese study. The study, published in the journal Epilepsia, looked at 440 patient records from Kesennuma City Hospital, in a city that was devastated by the massive tsunami touched off by the 9.0 magnitude earthquake.