Related topics: brain · seizures · children · neurons · brain cells

A new antiseizure target?

Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) is the most common form of epilepsy with focal seizures, and about one-third of individuals with TLE experience seizures that do not respond to medical treatment.

Red Sea fungus yields leads for new epilepsy drugs

New treatments for epilepsy are sorely needed because current medications don't work for many people with the disease. To find new leads, researchers have now turned to the sea—a source of unique natural products that have ...

Cats and humans suffer from similar forms of epilepsy

Epilepsy arises when the brain is temporarily swamped by uncoordinated signals from nerve cells.  Research at the Vetmeduni Vienna has now uncovered a cause of a particular type of epilepsy in cats.  Surprisingly, an incorrectly ...

Researchers find gene critical to sense of smell in fruit fly

(Medical Xpress) -- Fruit flies don't have noses, but a huge part of their brains is dedicated to processing smells. Flies probably rely on the sense of smell more than any other sense for essential activities such as finding ...

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Epilepsy

Epilepsy (from the Greek επιληψία /epili΄psia/ ) is a common chronic neurological disorder characterized by recurrent unprovoked seizures. These seizures are transient signs and/or symptoms of abnormal, excessive or synchronous neuronal activity in the brain. About 50 million people worldwide have epilepsy, with almost 90% of these people being in developing countries. Epilepsy is more likely to occur in young children, or people over the age of 65 years, however it can occur at any time. Epilepsy is usually controlled, but not cured, with medication, although surgery may be considered in difficult cases. However, over 30% of people with epilepsy do not have seizure control even with the best available medications. Not all epilepsy syndromes are lifelong – some forms are confined to particular stages of childhood. Epilepsy should not be understood as a single disorder, but rather as a group of syndromes with vastly divergent symptoms but all involving episodic abnormal electrical activity in the brain.

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