Potentially life-threatening ictal bradycardia in intractable epilepsy.

Background: Recently a high prevalence of asystole was found in individuals with refractory epilepsy.

Objective: To measure the prevalence and characterize the pattern of ictal bradycardia (IB) in our cohort.

Method: We analyzed ictal heart rate (HR) and seizure localization in 69 consecutive individuals with intractable epilepsy.

Microsurgery of epileptic foci in the insular region.

Object: The insular region has long been neglected in the investigation and treatment of refractory epilepsy. Surgery in the insular region is rarely performed because of the risk of injury to the opercula, the arteries transiting on the surface of the insula, and the deep structures such as the basal ganglia and the internal capsule. This study was undertaken to report the results of insular surgery using modern microsurgical techniques in patients with epilepsy.

Revisiting the role of the insula in refractory partial epilepsy.

Purpose: Recent evidence suggesting that some epilepsy surgery failures could be related to unrecognized insular epilepsy have led us to lower our threshold to sample the insula with intracerebral electrodes. In this study, we report our experience resulting from this change in strategy.

Methods: During the period extending from October 2004 to June 2007, 18 patients had an intracranial study including 10 with insular coverage.

A multistate model for the genetic analysis of the ageing process.

In this paper a multivariate frailty model is suggested that can be used in the genetic analysis of the ageing process as a whole, simplified to consisting of the states 'healthy', 'disabled' and 'deceased'. The model allows us to evaluate simultaneously the relative magnitude of genetic and environmental influences on frailty variables corresponding to the period of good health and to the life span. The frailty variables can be interpreted as susceptibility to illness or death.

Hereditary ptosis of late onset: early observations on oculopharyngeal muscular dystrophy in Quebec by Roma Amyot.

In 1948, Roma Amyot, a well-known French-Canadian neurologist, observed in ten families a late onset syndrome consisting of hereditary ptosis which was sometimes associated with dysphagia but rarely with limb weakness. At that time, Taylor's original work dating back to 1915 was still unknown to him. Nonetheless, these reports constitute the two earliest publications about this syndrome prevalent in the French-Canadian population.