Mark Cunningham is the recently appointed Ellen Mayston Bates Professor of Neurophysiology of Epilepsy at Trinity College Dublin. In this piece, he explains the importance of neuroscience in treating epilepsy. ‘
Electricity is life but electricity is an invisible fist punching up your spine, knocking your brains right out of your skull.’
Ray Robinson
A currently approved epileptic drug to treat seizures has been modified by a University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus professor and is currently being used in a clinical trial in Australia for medically refractory epilepsy.
A group of scientific researchers from France claim they have proven that can are capable of using smell to detect epileptic seizures.
The team of researchers out of the University of Rennes are hoping that their results will lead to new methods of seizure detection.
These new methods may include dogs or even “electronic noses” which would be designed to identify the distinct scents given off during a seizure.
Epilepsy Research: a window into dysfunction of the human brain
Monday 15th April
6.30pm – 8.30pm
Paccar Theatre, Science Gallery, Trinity College Dublin
41% of Irish people still incorrectly believe that you should put something in a person’s mouth during a seizure to prevent them from swallowing their tongue. The survey, to mark Purple Day (March 26th), was conducted in March 2019 by Amárach Research who asked 1,000 respondents to identify which actions they would take if they saw someone having a seizure. This figure was previously 47% when a similar survey was carried out in 2015.
A new study has suggested that when women use Valproate during pregnancy, the odds that her baby will develop ADHD are higher.
This report that was conducted in Denmark however cannot prove that valproate causes ADHD only that there is an association between the two.
However, this study found that fetal exposure to valproate was tied to 48% higher odds of a child developing ADHD, according to the research team which was led by Jakob Christensen at Aarhus University.
As part of its Valproate Response Project established in 2018, the HSE has prepared a Rapid Assessment report of the number of women and children exposed to sodium valproate (Epilim) in Ireland over the past 40 years.
Internationally renowned actor Michael Fassbender is supporting the Love your Brain campaign for National Brain Awareness Week March 11th to 17th. In his endorsement video, Michael highlights the need to raise awareness on behalf of the 800,000 Irish people living with neurological conditions.
One out of every four patients that are admitted to hospitals to have their seizures evaluated do not have epilepsy. Oftentimes they will have PNES or psychogenic non-epileptic seizures. This is an extremely difficult to diagnose condition and can be quite debilitating for people living with it.
Epilepsy Ireland and FutureNeuro were pleased to recently co-host a Public Seminar to mark International Epilepsy Day.The seminar was for people with epilepsy, their families & carers and highlighted the latest developments in epilepsy research in Ireland and internationally. Below are a selection of speeches from the event.