Valproic acid (VPA) is an antiepileptic drug used in the treatment of a wide variety of human seizures including generalized absence (GA) (petit mal) seizures. The mechanism of action of VPA in controlling GA seizures is not known. We tested the effects of VPA on the Ca2+ current components of acutely dissociated rat nodose ganglion neurons. VPA reduced the low-threshold (T) Ca2+ current at cli...

Neuropsychological studies indicate that new-onset childhood absence epilepsy (CAE) is associated with deficits in attention and executive functioning. However, the contribution of these deficits to impaired academic performance remains unclear. We aimed to examine whether attention and executive functioning deficits account for the academic difficulties prevalent in patients with new-onset CAE...

The characterization of a seizure as generalized or focal onset depends on a basic knowledge of the underlying pathophysiology. Recently, an uncommon phenomenon in generalized epilepsy-evolution of seizures from generalized to focal followed by secondary generalization-was reported for the first time. We describe a 15-year-old boy, initially classified as having partial epilepsy, who had a typi...

BACKGROUND Genetic rat models for childhood absence epilepsy have become instrumental in developing theories on the origin of absence epilepsy, the evaluation of new and experimental treatments, as well as in developing new methods for automatic seizure detection, prediction, and/or interference of seizures. METHOD Various methods for automated off and on-line analyses of ECoG in rodent model...

This present study was aimed to investigate the localizable diagnostic value of magnetoencephalography (MEG) combined with synthetic aperture magnetometry (SAM) in childhood absence epilepsy (CAE). Thirteen CAE patients underwent MEG detection at resting state and after hyperventilation, and then the epileptic foci were located by SAM. In the thirteen CAE patients, epileptic foci were found in ...

The major apple allergen Mal d 1 is the predominant cause of apple (Malus domestica) allergies in large parts of Europe and Northern America. Allergic reactions against this 17.5 kDa protein are the consequence of initial sensitization to the structurally homologous major allergen from birch pollen, Bet v 1. Consumption of apples can subsequently provoke immunologic cross-reactivity of Bet v 1-...

Results: Our model predicts that there are plausible conditions under which serial amnioinfusion is cost effective for bilateral renal agenesis. Threshold analysis revealed that serial amnioinfusion must achieve gestational-age appropriate lung function in 12% of cases for intervention to be cost-effective. Time on dialysis, probability of survival to transplant, overall life expectancy and qua...

Bilateral renal agenesis leads to anhydramnios and other sequelae including pulmonary hypoplasia. There have been rare case reports of normal pulmonary function in the presence of bilateral renal agenesis in monoamniotic discordant twins, but this has never been reported in a singleton pregnancy. The few reported cases in twins have all been fatal in the neonatal period with no reported cases o...

A detailed quantitative analysis was made of the lungs from 8 infants dying with bilateral renal agenesis or dysplasia. Total lung volume was reduced in all cases, particularly in those with renal agenesis. In both groups there was a reduction in number of airway generations, indicating interference with development at between 12 and 16 weeks' gestation. The alveoli in each acinus were reduced ...