1,721,040 research outputs found
Knowledge and attitudes toward epilepsy among primary and secondary schoolteachers in Italy.
No full textA nationwide telephone interview was conducted on a random sample of Italian schoolteachers (300 from primary and 300 from secondary schools) to ascertain knowledge and attitudes about epilepsy. Included were 516 women and 84 men aged 22 to 70 years. Thirty-seven percent of the teachers believed epilepsy starts only in childhood, 55% considered it hereditary, 46.8% declared it incurable, and only 10.5% knew surgery is a therapeutic option. Thirty-three percent considered epilepsy a moderate-to-strong limitation for marriage, 24.6% for having children, 39.7% for regular employment, and 32.8% for sports and leisure activities. Among the teachers, 66.4% declared they were unable to manage a seizing child, 24.7% were convinced that epilepsy impairs learning, 26.0% believed that it carries mental/behavioral alterations, and 36.4% thought it requires support at school. Differences in knowledge and attitudes were predicted by teachers' age and area of residency. There were no major differences between teachers and the Italian population in their knowledge and attitudes
The ROME (Retrospective Observational Multicenter study on Eslicarbazepine) study: efficacy and behavioural effects of Eslicarbazepine acetate as adjunctive therapy for adults with partial onset seizures in real life
No full textPurpose: Eslicarbazepine acetate (ESL) is a third-generation member of the dibenzazepine family approved in 2009 by the European Medicines Agency with the indication of adjunctive therapy in adult people with partial-onset seizures (PPOS). We aimed at assessing the ESL impact on seizure frequency and quality of life in PPOS with a particular attention to sleepiness and depression.
Methods: We evaluated 50 adult PPOS (>18 years; 48 ! 14 years-old; 23 males) treated with adjunctive ESL for !2months with a retrospective multi-centric design. Clinical files of the last 2 years were reviewed checking for monthly seizure frequency, treatment retention rate, adverse drug reactions (ADRs), concomitant anti-epileptic drugs and behavioural scales for sleepiness (Stanford Sleepiness Scale, SSS, and Epworth Sleepiness Scale, ESS), depression (Beck Depression Inventory-II, BDI) and overall quality of life (QOLIE-31).
Results: At the end of 96 ! 28 days of ESL treatment, the mean seizure reduction was 56%; 60% of patients had seizure reduction above 50%, with a 31% of the whole population becoming seizure free. We reported 16 ADRs with 4 hyponatremia. Retention rate was 76%. Patient reported less sleepiness after ESL (SSS, p = 0.031; ESS, p = 0.0000002). Before ESL, 38% of patients had pathologic BDI scores, which normalized in most of them (73%) after ESL (BDI improvement, p = 0.000012). These scores resulted in an amelioration of quality of life (QOLIE-31, p = 0.000002).
Conclusions: ESL is a safe and effective anti-epileptic drug in a real life scenario, with an excellent behavioural profile for the overall quality of life and, in particular, for sleepiness and depression
Differentiation of convulsive syncope and epilepsy with contemporary tilt-test and polygraphic-EEG. A family study
No full textNeurophysiological investigations of hepatic encephalopathy: ISHEN practice guidelines
No full textAbstract
By studying neuronal activity through neuronal electrogenesis, neurophysiological investigations provide a functional assessment of the nervous system and, therefore, has been used for quantitative assessment and follow-up of hepatic encephalopathy (HE). The different clinical neurophysiological approaches can be classified depending on the function to explore and their sensitivity to HE. The reliable techniques are those that reflect cortical function, i.e., cognitive-evoked potentials (EPs) (P300 paradigm), electroencephalogram (EEG), visual EPs (latency>100 ms) and somatosensory EPs (SEPs) (latency between 25 and 100 ms). Short-latency EPs (brainstem acoustic EPs, SEPs of a latency<25 ms) are in principle insensitive to HE, but can disclose brainstem conduction deficits due to oedema. SEPs and motor EPs can disclose myelopathies. Because of its parallelism to the clinical examination, clinical neurophysiology can complement the neurological examination: (i) to provide evidence of HE in patients who have normal consciousness; (ii) to rule out, at least under some conditions, disturbances of consciousness due to other causes (e.g. drug-induced disturbances, non-convulsive status epilepticus) with the reservation that the mildest degrees of encephalopathy might be associated with an EEG pattern similar to that induced by drugs; and (iii) to demonstrate the worsening or, conversely improvement, of HE in the follow-up period
Effects of eslicarbazepine acetate on lipid profile and sodium levels in patients with epilepsy
No full textPurpose Several studies have demonstrated that treatment with enzyme-inducing antiepileptic drugs is associated with increased serum lipid levels. Eslicarbazepine acetate (ESL) is a novel antiepileptic drug specifically designed with the objective to identify carbamazepine and oxcarbazepine analogues with favorable pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic profiles. The present study aimed to assess the changes in lipid profile and sodium levels in patients with epilepsy taking ESL as adjunctive therapy. Method This report describes a retrospective cohort study of 36 adult patients with epilepsy, taking ESL as an add-on treatment. The laboratory values assessed prior and after (range 6–18 months) ESL treatment were sodium levels, total cholesterol (TC), low (LDL) and high (HDL) density lipoproteins and triglycerides. Results TC and LDL values were significantly decreased already after at least six months of therapy with ESL (191.3 ± 29.6 vs 179.7 ± 29.2 mg/dl, p < 0.0001 and 114.58 ± 22.7 vs 103.11 ± 19.46 mg/dl, p < 0.0001 respectively). HDL values before and during ESL treatment were significantly increased (57.5± 9.1 vs 63.9 ± 8.3 mg/dl; p < 0.0001). No statistically significant changes have been found in triglycerides and sodium values. Conclusions Add-on therapy with ESL, in contrast to the negative effects observed with traditional older carboxamides, positively affects lipid metabolism profile in patients with epilepsy over an average follow-up of 11 months. Further research is needed to confirm the obtained results with a focus on a comprehensive assessment of the biochemical and molecular mechanisms involved. © 2017 British Epilepsy Associatio
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
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