Transplacental genotoxicity of antiepileptic drugs: animal model and pilot study on mother/newborn cohort.

Antiepileptic drugs (AED) as transplacental agents are known to have adverse effects on fetal development. Genotoxicity of AEDs is still not fully understood. The aim of present study was to investigate the transplacental genotoxicity of valproate on animal model and in 21 mothers and their newborns receiving AED.

Is the role of estrogens and estrogen receptors in epilepsy still underestimated?

The etiology of epilepsy still represents an open subject of discussions and research. Contrary to the majority of diseases for which drugs are developed following the origin of disease, epilepsy is treated symptomatically because it is perceived to have diverse causes. Recent results of oncological, neurological, developmental and biochemical studies suggest that the reproductive dysfunction in men and women, as a side effect related with antiepileptic therapy, points to the single origin of this disease.

Knowledge and use of folic acid in Croatian pregnant women--a need for health care education initiative.

Adequate periconceptional folic acid (FA) intake reduces the risk of neural tube defects. There are still no official FA supplementation guidelines, FA fortification policies or larger studies of awareness regarding FA or number of planned pregnancies in Croatia. This study assesses the knowledge and practice regarding FA supplementation and reports the trends in pregnancy planning in Croatia.

Preventing neural tube defects in Europe: a missed opportunity.

Each year, more than 4500 pregnancies in the European Union are affected by neural tube defects (NTD). Unambiguous evidence of the effectiveness of periconceptional folic acid in preventing the majority of neural tube defects has been available since 1991. We report on trends in the total prevalence of neural tube defects up to 2002, in the context of a survey in 18 European countries of periconceptional folic acid supplementation (PFAS) policies and their implementation.

[Treatment of West syndrome].

Purpose: West syndrome (WS) is one of the catastrophic epileptic syndromes in infancy characterized by a triad of infantile spasms, psychomotor deterioration and hypsarrhythmic EEG pattern. WS is commonly associated with poor long-term outcome, especially in symptomatic cases, with development of other seizure types, impaired cognitive and psychosocial functioning. The aim of our study was to evaluate the efficacy of the control of infantile spasms using synthetic ACTH or vigabatrin in newly diagnosed cases and to correlate it with the underlyning causes, outcome and adverse effects.