Treatment of Seizures in People with Intellectual Disability.

There is a synergistic relationship between epilepsy and intellectual disability (ID), and the approach to managing people with these conditions needs to be holistic. Epilepsy is the main co-morbidity associated with ID, and clinical presentation tends to be complex, associated with higher rates of treatment resistance, multi-morbidity and premature mortality. Despite this relationship, there is limited level 1 evidence to inform treatment choice for this vulnerable population.

An advocacy based cross sectional study of healthcare professionals of factors impacting on medication adherence across nine Sub-Saharan African countries.

Background: Adherence to anti-seizure medication (ASM) by people diagnosed with epilepsy in sub-Saharan Africa remains low. The factors for low adherence are not well understood. To improve adherence, it is important to understand the perceptions and views of healthcare professionals delivering epilepsy care to this population.

Evidencing the challenges of care delivery for people with intellectual disability and epilepsy in England by using the Step Together toolkit.

Background: People with intellectual disability (PwID) and epilepsy have increased premature and potentially preventable mortality. This is related to a lack of equitable access to appropriate care. The Step Together guidance and toolkit, developed with patient, clinical, charity and commissioning stakeholders, allows evaluation and benchmarking of essential epilepsy service provision for PwID in eight key domains, at a care system level.

A cross-sectional study of healthcare provider perceptions of the management of epilepsy in pregnancy in sub-Saharan Africa.

Background: Epilepsy prevalence in sub-Saharan Africa is high with a significant treatment gap. In this context, epilepsy presents substantial challenges to effective and safe reproductive and maternal healthcare. To improve this, it is important to understand the views and perceptions of healthcare professionals delivering epilepsy care to this population.

Anti-LGI-1 Limbic Encephalitis and Autoimmune Epilepsy Following a Third Dose of COVID-19 Vaccination: A Case Report.

Anti-leucine rich glioma inactivated 1 (LGI-1) autoimmune encephalitis (AE) typically presents with cognitive impairment, faciobrachial dystonic seizures (FBDS) and hyponatraemia. Reports are growing of neurological complications following coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination. Here we describe a 50 year old man who developed anti-LGI-1 limbic encephalitis and autoimmune epilepsy 4 days following a dose of the mRNA Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine (of note, his first two vaccinations were viral vector ChAdOX1-S).

Accounting for unobserved population dynamics and aging error in close-kin mark-recapture assessments.

Obtaining robust estimates of population abundance is a central challenge hindering the conservation and management of many threatened and exploited species. Close-kin mark-recapture (CKMR) is a genetics-based approach that has strong potential to improve the monitoring of data-limited species by enabling estimates of abundance, survival, and other parameters for populations that are challenging to assess. However, CKMR models have received limited sensitivity testing under realistic population dynamics and sampling scenarios, impeding the application of the method in population monitoring programs and stock assessments.

National audit of pathways in epileptic seizure referrals (NAPIER): A national, multicentre audit of first seizure clinics throughout the UK and Ireland.

Background: Current guidelines set clinical standards for the management of suspected first seizures and epilepsy. We aimed to assess if these standards are being met across first seizure clinics nationally, to describe variations in care and identify opportunities for service delivery improvement.

Methods: Multicentre audit assessing the care of adults (≥16 years) referred to first seizure clinics from 31st December 2019 going backwards (30 consecutive patients per centre).

Preventing Teratogenicity in Women with Epilepsy.

Over the last 50 years there has been a significant increase in our understanding of the issues faced by women with epilepsy, in both planning and undertaking pregnancy. The risks of teratogenicity associated with antiseizure medications have emerged slowly. The major pregnancy registers have substantially contributed to our knowledge about teratogenic risk associated with the commonly used antiseizure medications.

A retrospective study of the correlation between duration of monitoring in the epilepsy monitoring unit and diagnostic yield.

Objective: Long-term video-electroencephalographic (LTVEM) monitoring is a valuable tool in the evaluation of paroxysmal clinical events. However, vEEG itself is costly. Hence, we aimed to establish if longer duration of monitoring (DOM) is associated with higher diagnostic yield.

The emerging story of Sodium Valproate in British newspapers- A qualitative analysis of newspaper reporting.

Background: Sodium valproate is a significant human teratogen. Newspapers are a potential source of useful public health information, but the extent to which concerns around valproate were presented to the public via newspapers has not been evaluated.

Aim: To explore how sodium valproate has been portrayed by UK newspapers over the last several decades.

Perceptions about mental healthcare for people with epilepsy in Africa.

Background: Mental illness is commonly comorbid with epilepsy. In sub-Saharan Africa there exists limited access to neurological and psychiatric services predisposing to a "treatment gap" in epilepsy and mental healthcare.

Aims: To understand healthcare providers' knowledge, attitudes, and management practices toward epilepsy and comorbid mental illness in sub-Saharan Africa.

Survey of the perceived treatment gap in status epilepticus care across Sub-Saharan countries from the perspective of healthcare providers.

Background: Status epilepticus (SE) is a serious condition disproportionately affecting Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries. Little is known about healthcare provider experiences. This study investigated the healthcare provider perspective of SE care.

Readability of online sources of information regarding epilepsy surgery and its impact on decision-making processes.

Introduction: People with epilepsy can have cognitive deficits, including difficulty with reading tasks. This can potentially impact on how written information is understood. Websites increasingly provide information about different medical interventions including epilepsy surgery.

Priority concerns for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Background: The approach taken to support individuals during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic needs to take into account the requirements of people with intellectual disabilities and/or autism, who represent a major vulnerable group, with higher rates of co-occurring health conditions and a greater risk of dying prematurely. To date, little evidence on COVID-related concerns have been produced and no report has provided structured feedback from the point of view of people with intellectual disabilities and/or autism or of their family/carers.

Aims: To provide systemised evidence-based information of the priority concerns for people with intellectual disabilities and/or autism regarding the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The Brain Society": The First Two Years of an Undergraduate Neuroscience Society in Northern Ireland.

The Queen's University Belfast Brain Society was set up in September 2018 to promote interest in the human brain. There were three main goals: firstly to provide opportunities for medical students to learn from neurologists and neurosurgeons outside their formal curriculum; secondly the Brain Society aimed to organise events that included students from other disciplines and to members of the general public who were interested in learning about aspects of neuroscience; thirdly to tackle neurophobia. In the last two years, there have been 14 events, ranging from formal lectures, to practical sessions and to patient-focused information evenings.

What can Google Trends and Wikipedia-Pageview analysis tell us about the landscape of epilepsy surgery over time?

Background: Epilepsy surgery is an effective treatment for drug-resistant epilepsy. Some centers have noticed changes in referral patterns.

Aim: The aim of this study was to determine if online infodemiological data related to epilepsy surgery reflect reported changes in referrals to surgical centers.

Structured testing during seizures: A practical guide for assessing and interpreting ictal and postictal signs during video EEG long term monitoring.

Background: Ictal and postictal testing carried out in long-term epilepsy monitoring units is often sub-optimal. Recently, a European consensus protocol for testing patients during and after seizures was developed by a joint taskforce of the International League Against Epilepsy - Commission on European Affairs and the European Epilepsy Monitoring Unit Association.

Aim: Using this recently developed standardised assessment battery as a framework, the goal of this narrative review is to outline the proposed testing procedure in detail and explain the rationale for each individual component, focusing on the underlying neurobiology.

Investigative practice into sudden death in epilepsy: A global survey.

Objectives: Sudden death is a recognized consequence of epilepsy. Little is known about the practice of confirming the cause of sudden death from most nations. We sought to determine how often autopsy is undertaken, clinician confidence in cause of death and identify the factors which may influence autopsy utilization.

Underdiagnosis of Hereditary Breast Cancer: Are Genetic Testing Guidelines a Tool or an Obstacle?

Purpose: An estimated 10% of breast and ovarian cancers result from hereditary causes. Current testing guidelines for germ line susceptibility genes in patients with breast carcinoma were developed to identify carriers of BRCA1/ 2 variants and have evolved in the panel-testing era. We evaluated the capability of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) guidelines to identify patients with breast cancer with pathogenic variants in expanded panel testing.