Management of epilepsy during pregnancy and lactation.

Epilepsy is a group of neurological diseases characterized by susceptibility to recurrent seizures. Antiseizure medications (ASMs) are the mainstay of treatment, but many antiseizure medications with variable safety profiles have been approved for use. For women with epilepsy in their childbearing years, the safety profile is important for them and their unborn children, because treatment is often required to protect them from seizures during pregnancy and lactation.

Measuring Ambulatory Racial and Ethnic Neurologic Disparities With the Axon Registry.

Background And Objectives: The primary objective is to examine potential racial and ethnic (R/E) disparities in ambulatory neurology quality measures within the American Academy of Neurology Axon Registry. R/E disparities in neurologic US morbidity and mortality have been clearly documented. Despite these findings, there have been no nationwide examinations of how ambulatory neurologic care affects these negative health outcomes.

Analysis of Morbidity and Outcomes Associated With Use of Subdural Grids vs Stereoelectroencephalography in Patients With Intractable Epilepsy.

Importance: A major change has occurred in the evaluation of epilepsy with the availability of robotic stereoelectroencephalography (SEEG) for seizure localization. However, the comparative morbidity and outcomes of this minimally invasive procedure relative to traditional subdural electrode (SDE) implantation are unknown.

Objective: To perform a comparative analysis of the relative efficacy, procedural morbidity, and epilepsy outcomes consequent to SEEG and SDE in similar patient populations and performed by a single surgeon at 1 center.

Reducing neurodisparity: Recommendations of the 2017 AAN Diversity Leadership Program.

Many advances in prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of neurologic disease have emerged in the last few decades, resulting in reduced mortality and decreased disability. However, these advances have not benefitted all populations equally. A growing body of evidence indicates that barriers to care fall along racial and ethnic lines, with persons from minority groups frequently having lower rates of evaluation, diagnosis, and intervention, and consequently experiencing worse neurologic outcomes than their white counterparts.

Laser ablation for mesial temporal lobe epilepsy: Surgical and cognitive outcomes with and without mesial temporal sclerosis.

Objectives: Laser interstitial thermal therapy (LITT) is a minimally invasive surgical technique for focal epilepsy. A major appeal of LITT is that it may result in fewer cognitive deficits, especially when targeting dominant hemisphere mesial temporal lobe (MTL) epilepsy. To evaluate this, as well as to determine seizure outcomes following LITT, we evaluated the relationships between ablation volumes and surgical or cognitive outcomes in 43 consecutive patients undergoing LITT for MTL epilepsy.

Surgical Resection for Epilepsy Following Cerebral Gunshot Wounds.

Objective: The surgical management of epilepsy after penetrating gunshot wounds (GSWs) to the head has not been described in the modern era. Given the extensive damage to the cranium and cortex from such injuries, the safety and efficacy of surgical intervention are unclear. We report surgical strategy and outcomes after resection for medically refractory epilepsy following GSWs in 4 patients.

Longitudinal feasibility of MINDSET: a clinic decision aid for epilepsy self-management.

The purpose of this paper is to report on the development and feasibility of the longitudinal version of MINDSET, a clinical tool to assist patients and health-care providers in epilepsy self-management. A previous study described the feasibility of using MINDSET to identify and prioritize self-management issues during a clinic visit. This paper describes the development of the longitudinal version of MINDSET and feasibility test over multiple visits with a printed action plan for goal setting and the capacity for monitoring changes in self-management.

Quality assessment of electroencephalography obtained from a "dry electrode" system.

This study examines the difference in application times for routine electroencephalography (EEG) utilizing traditional electrodes and a "dry electrode" headset. The primary outcome measure was the time to interpretable EEG (TIE). A secondary outcome measure of recording quality and interpretability was obtained from EEG sample review by two blinded clinical neurophysiologists.

Geriatric epilepsy: research and clinical directions for the future.

There is a growing awareness of the need for improved treatment and care of older adults with epilepsy. The present review article highlights key clinical and research issues in the emerging field of geriatric epilepsy. Drs.

New-onset geriatric epilepsy care: Race, setting of diagnosis, and choice of antiepileptic drug.

Purpose: There is a growing movement to assess the quality of care provided to patients in the US, but few studies have examined initial care for epilepsy patients. We examined the relationships among patient race, setting of initial diagnosis, and initial treatment for older veterans newly diagnosed with epilepsy.

Methods: We used Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) inpatient, outpatient, pharmacy and Medicare data (1999-2004) to identify patients 66 years and older with new-onset epilepsy.

Monoamine and motor responses to cocaine are co-deficient in the Fawn-Hooded depressed animal model.

The Fawn-Hooded (FH) genetic animal model of depression continues to be of interest because the FH model has limited biochemical and immune function. The FH animal has an inherited trait, platelet storage pool deficiency (PSPD), an hemorrhagic disorder that is also a component of Chediak-Higashi syndrome (CHS). CHS is a pyrogenic infectious childhood disease; few patients live past the age of 20.

Clozapine and cocaine effects on dopamine and serotonin release in nucleus accumbens during psychostimulant behavior and withdrawal.

There is an increasing awareness that a psychosis, similar to that of schizophrenic psychosis, can be derived from cocaine addiction. Thus, the prototypical atypical antipsychotic medication, clozapine, a 5-HT(2)/DA(2) antagonist, was studied for its effects on cocaine-induced dopamine (DA) and serotonin (5-HT) release in nucleus accumbens (NAcc) of behaving male Sprague-Dawley laboratory rats with In Vivo Microvoltammetry, while animals' locomotor (forward ambulations), an A(10) behavior, was monitored at the same time with infrared photobeams. Release mechanisms for monoamines were determined by using a depolarization blocker, gamma-butyrolactone (gammaBL).