One of the most exciting areas in epilepsy has been the explosion in our understanding of the genetics of the epilepsies over the last decade. Built on a long history of careful clinical genetic studies of the epilepsies, the relatively recent discovery of epilepsy genes has enabled insights into pathways causing seizure disorders. A variety of mutational mechanisms can cause epilepsy resulting from different, and sometimes surprising, molecular processes such as copy number variation within the genome. The majority of known epilepsy genes encode ion channel subunits leading many of the genetic epilepsies to be regarded as channelopathies. Understanding how dysfunction of a mutant protein leads to hyperexcitability is key to understanding the pathophysiology of this group of serious and common childhood disorders. The architecture of the common genetic epilepsies following complex inheritance, where multiple genes are involved, is also beginning to be unraveled. The clinical approach to understanding the genetics of the epilepsies has matured and requires a detailed family history of seizures together with delineation of the child's epilepsy syndrome. Recognition of specific genetic epilepsy syndromes enables optimal treatment and prognostic and genetic counseling.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-444-52891-9.00059-2 | DOI Listing |
Schizophr Res
January 2025
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany; German Center for Mental Health (DZPG), partner site Mannheim-Heidelberg-Ulm, Germany. Electronic address:
Background: Loneliness, distress from having fewer social contacts than desired, has been recognized as a significant public health crisis. Although a substantial body of research has established connections between loneliness and various forms of psychopathology, our understanding of the neural underpinnings of loneliness in schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSD) and major depressive disorder (MDD) remains limited.
Methods: In this study, structural magnetic resonance imaging (sMRI) data were collected from 57 SSD and 45 MDD patients as well as 41 healthy controls (HC).
Genet Test Mol Biomarkers
January 2025
Department of Biology, University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran.
Fanconi anemia (FA) is a rare genetic disorder that affects multiple systems in the body and is the most prevalent congenital syndrome, leading to bone marrow failure. Twenty-two genes have been identified as contributors to the disease. Significant advancements have been made in the past 2 decades in understanding the genetic and pathophysiological processes involved.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSickle cell disease (SCD) is the most common genetic disease in the world and a societal challenge. SCD is characterized by multi-organ injury related to intravascular hemolysis. To understand tissue-specific responses to intravascular hemolysis and exposure to heme, we present a transcriptomic atlas in the primary target organs of HbSS vs HbAA transgenic SCD mice.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSci Adv
January 2025
State Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing Science, National Key Laboratory of Intelligent Tracking and Forecasting for Infectious Diseases, Beijing Research Center for Respiratory Infectious Diseases, School of National Safety and Emergency Management, Center for Global Change and Public Health, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.
The effectiveness of poultry vaccination in preventing the transmission of highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses (AIVs) has been debated, and its impact on wild birds remains uncertain. Here, we reconstruct the movements of H5 subtype AIV lineages among vaccinated poultry, unvaccinated poultry, and wild birds, worldwide, from 1996 to 2023. We find that there is a time lag in viral transmission among different host populations and that movements from wild birds to unvaccinated poultry were more frequent than those from wild birds to vaccinated poultry.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHepatology
January 2025
I. Department of Medicine, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, 20246 Hamburg, Germany.
Primary sclerosing cholangitis is one of the most challenging conditions in hepatology, and due to our limited understanding of its pathogenesis, no causal therapies are currently available. While it was long assumed that a minority of people with IBD also develop PSC, which is sometimes labeled an extraintestinal manifestation of IBD, the clinical phenotype, genetic and intestinal microbiota associations strongly argue for PSC-IBD being a distinct form of IBD, existing alongside ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease. In fact, the liver itself could contribute to intestinal pathology, clinically overt in 60 - 80 % of patients.
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