Development of an Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Anti-racism Pledge as the Foundation for Action in an Academic Department of Neurology.

Recent racial inequities as illustrated by the health disparities in COVID-19 infections and deaths, the recent killings of Black men and women by law enforcement, and the widening socioeconomic inequality and have brought systemic racism into a national conversation. These unprecedented times may have deleterious consequences, increasing stress, and trauma for many members of the neurology workforce. The Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Anti-Racism Committee within our Department of Neurology provides infrastructure and guidance to foster a culture of belonging and addresses the well-being of faculty, staff, and trainees.

Building Bridges through Science.

Science is ideally suited to connect people from different cultures and thereby foster mutual understanding. To promote international life science collaboration, we have launched "The Science Bridge" initiative. Our current project focuses on partnership between Western and Middle Eastern neuroscience communities.

A prototype worldwide survey of diagnostic and treatment modalities for stroke.

Stroke is a global health problem. However, very little is known about stroke care in low- to middle-income countries. Obtaining country-specific information could enable us to develop targeted programs to improve stroke care.

Pregabalin or placebo used adjunctively with levetiracetam in refractory partial-onset epilepsy: a post hoc efficacy and safety analysis in combined clinical trials.

Objective: Some patients with epilepsy require treatment with >1 adjunctive antiepileptic drug (AED) to achieve adequate seizure remission. The purpose of this analysis was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of adding adjunctive pregabalin to an AED regimen that included levetiracetam in patients with refractory partial-onset epilepsy.

Research Design And Methods: Data from the pregabalin and placebo arms of two placebo-controlled, double-blind, randomized studies of pregabalin in patients who received adjunctive treatment with levetiracetam in addition to ≥1 other AEDs were pooled for this post hoc analysis.

Long-term add-on pregabalin treatment in patients with partial-onset epilepsy: pooled analysis of open-label clinical trials.

Purpose: To evaluate the safety, tolerability, and efficacy of long-term pregabalin as add-on therapy for patients with poorly controlled partial seizures.

Methods: Analysis of data from six long-term clinical trials involving 2,061 patients receiving open-label pregabalin 75-600 mg/day adjunctive therapy for partial onset epilepsy refractory to multiple antiepileptic drugs.

Results: Total pregabalin exposure was 3,877 person-years.

A robust spike and wave algorithm for detecting seizures in a genetic absence seizure model.

Animal Models are used extensively in basic epilepsy research. In many studies, there is a need to accurately score and quantify all epileptic spike and wave discharges (SWDs) as captured by electroencephalographic (EEG) recordings. Manual scoring of long term EEG recordings is a time-consuming and tedious task that requires inordinate amount of time of laboratory personnel and an experienced electroencephalographer.

Real-time differentiation of nonconvulsive status epilepticus from other encephalopathies using quantitative EEG analysis: a pilot study.

Purpose: Distinguishing nonconvulsive status epilepticus (NCSE) from some nonepileptic encephalopathies is a challenging problem. In many situations, NCSE and nonepileptic encephalopathies are indistinguishable by clinical symptoms and can produce very similar electroencephalography (EEG) patterns. Misdiagnosis or delay to diagnosis of NCSE may increase the rate of morbidity and mortality.

Antiepileptic drug intervention decouples electroencephalogram (EEG) signals: a case study in Unverricht-Lundborg Disease.

Change in severity of myoclonus as an outcome measure of antiepileptic drug (AED) treatment in patients with Unverricht-Lundborg Disease (ULD) has been estimated by utilizing the Unified Myoclonus Rating Scale (UMRS). In this study, we measure treatment effects through EEG analysis using mutual information approach to quantify interdependence/coupling strength among different electrode sites. Mutual information is known to have the ability to capture linear and non-linear dependencies between EEG time series with superior performance over the traditional linear measures.

The influence of vagus nerve stimulation on memory.

Background: Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) has been shown to improve memory.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to learn at which stage of memory formation this influence occurs.

Methods: Ten subjects who had been implanted with vagus nerve stimulators for the treatment of intractable seizures performed tasks that assessed learning and retention (Hopkins Verbal Learning Test) during actual and sham VNS.

Effect of vagus nerve stimulation on creativity and cognitive flexibility.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine whether vagus nerve stimulation influences cognitive flexibility and creativity.

Methods: Ten subjects, in whom vagus nerve stimulators had been implanted for the treatment of intractable seizures, performed tasks that assessed cognitive flexibility (solving anagrams), creativity (Torrance Test), and memory (Hopkins Verbal Learning Test) during actual and sham vagus nerve stimulation.

Results: Vagus nerve stimulation impaired cognitive flexibility and creativity, but these results could not be explained by the induction of a general encephalopathy because VNS did not impair learning and improved retention.

Safety of 25- and 50-mg capsules in the initiation of zonisamide therapy in patients with epilepsy: an uncontrolled, open-label study.

Objective: This study was designed to assess the safety of 25- and 50-mg dosage strengths of zonisamide for initial titration in patients with epilepsy.

Research Design And Methods: This phase 3, multicenter, open-label, uncontrolled study conducted at 26 study sites in the United States included male and female patients with epilepsy >or= 12 years of age. After a screening visit, subjects began zonisamide therapy at a dosage depending on their body weight.

Seizure-alert dogs: a review and preliminary study.

Purpose: Gather data on incidence of canine alerting/responding behavior with a defined patient population. Research development and use of purported alerting dogs.

Methods: Review of the literature was performed.

Progressive Myoclonic Epilepsies.

The treatment of progressive myoclonus epilepsy (PME) remains a major therapeutic challenge in neurology. Generalized convulsive seizures are often well controlled through classic antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) like valproate and clonazepam, whereas myoclonus, the main symptom that is affecting patients most in their daily life, is usually refractory to standard AEDs. Alternative therapy concepts have been and still are investigated.