New Stem Cell Found that May Heal Brain Injury and Disease

Researchers at Lund University in Sweden have discovered a new stem cell in the adult brain. These cells can proliferate and form several different cell types -- most importantly, they can form new brain cells. Scientists hope to take advantage of the finding to develop methods to heal and repair disease and injury in the brain.

Analyzing brain tissue from biopsies, the researchers for the first time found stem cells located around small blood vessels in the brain. The cell's specific function is still unclear, but its plastic properties suggest great potential.

"A similar cell type has been identified in several other organs where it can promote regeneration of muscle, bone, cartilage and adipose tissue," said Patrik Brundin, M.D., Ph.D., Jay Van Andel Endowed Chair in Parkinson's Research at Van Andel Research Institute (VARI), Head of the Neuronal Survival Unit at Lund University and senior author of the study.

In other organs, researchers have shown clear evidence that these types of cells contribute to repair and wound healing. Scientists suggest that the curative properties may also apply to the brain. The next step is to try to control and enhance stem cell self-healing properties with the aim of carrying out targeted therapies to a specific area of the brain.

"Our findings show that the cell capacity is much larger than we originally thought, and that these cells are very versatile," said Gesine Paul-Visse, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Neuroscience at Lund University and the study's primary author. "Most interesting is their ability to form neuronal cells, but they can also be developed for other cell types. The results contribute to better understanding of how brain cell plasticity works and opens up new opportunities to exploit these very features."

The study, published in the journal PLoS ONE, is of interest to a broad spectrum of brain research. Future possible therapeutic targets range from neurodegenerative diseases to stroke.

"We hope that our findings may lead to a new and better understanding of the brain's own repair mechanisms," said Dr. Paul-Visse. "Ultimately the goal is to strengthen these mechanisms and develop new treatments that can repair the diseased brain."

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“Living With Epilepsy” Conference - May 5th 2012 - Houston TX, CME Available!

What: “Living With Epilepsy” Conference & Fundraising Launch Party

Who: The Epilepsy Warriors Foundation

When: Saturday, May 5th, 2012

Why:  The Goal of this Conference is to Educate those dealing, living and working with Epilepsy on what Epilepsy is, how it is managed, the Dangers of Sudden Death from Epilepsy (SUDEP) and not talking about it, the daily struggle of trying to manage epilepsy and also manage a family as well . The Main Goal is to provide Research Funding and Attention to the phenomenal research that is being done within the Houston Medical District both at University of Texas and Baylor College of Medicine and what we need to do to keep it moving forward towards a CURE

Where:  Memorial City-The Westin Hotel, Houston Texas
945 Gessner Road, Houston TX 77024

There is a block of rooms being held at a discounted rate of $109.00 for Friday and Saturday Evenings. Ask for the Epilepsy Warriors Foundation Room Block.

Each person is responsible for making their own room reservations contact the Westin Hotel Directly at 281-501-4300 or through this link you can make your reservations directlyhttps://www.starwoodmeeting.com/StarGroupsWeb/booking/reservation?id=1204184117&key=7F606

Time:  Conference Doors open 8:00 Am and Conference Runs from 9:00 Am-5:00 Pm

The Epilepsy Warriors Foundation Fundraising and Launch Party is from 7:00 Pm-11:00 Pm in the Ballroom of the Westin

RSVP if you would like to attend: Registration is $100.00 and This activity  has been approved forAMA PRA Category 1 Credit™

                                                                                                 

Susan Noble
President/Executive Director
239-233-2205
info@epilepsywarriors.org
www.epilepsywarriors.org

KeyNote Speaker: Richard Siravo of The Matty Fund

http://mattyfund.org/

Matthew Siravo was born on February 18, 1998, the son of Debra and Richard Siravo of Wakefield, Rhode Island. His three older brothers are; Joseph, Stephen and Christopher. Matthew was a healthy newborn child with no diagnosed medical conditions during most of his first year of life. Ten days before his first birthday, Matty suffered a gran mal seizure during the early morning of February 8, 1999.

In May 2003, at the advice of doctors, Matthew underwent brain surgery at Boston Childrens Hospital. The surgery reportedly went well however, Matthew suffered a prolonged seizure while in recovery, which caused cardiac arrest and massive brain damage. Matthew died peacefully on May 11, 2003, Mother’s Day, surrounded by his family and while his favorite church music played by his bedside.

The Matty Fund takes great pride in the programs and services which assist families dealing with epilepsy. While we admire our accomplishments, we must also move forward to meet the challenges ahead by creating innovative ways to inform and educate families, school and hospital personnel about the protocols surrounding epilepsy. It is the goal and positive attitude we acquired after losing young Matty in 2003. Richard and Debbie  Siravo, Founders of th Matty FundWe have committed ourselves to honor his legacy by helping children that face the uncertainties surrounding epilepsy.

Physicians Speaking: 

Dr. Joshua Rotenberg, MD, MMS, DABPN, DABP,DABSM

Diplomate American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology with Added Qualifications in Sleep Medicine

& Special Qualifications in Child Neurology

Dr. Melissa S. Jones, MD

Diplomate American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology with Special Qualifications in Child Neurology

Dr. Daniel J. Curry, M.D.

Texas Childrens Hospital -Director of Pediatric Surgical Epilepsy and Functional Neurosurgery 

Assistant Professor Neurological Surgery Baylor College of Medicine

Dr. Giridhar P. Kalamangalam, M.D., D.Phil.
American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology in Clinical Neurophysiology
CCST, Neurology Board Certification of the United Kingdom

Study: Half Siblings show Genetic Clues to Autism

When a child has autism, siblings are also at risk for the disorder. New research from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis shows that the genetic reach of the disorder often extends to half siblings as well.

On the surface, the finding may not be surprising -- half siblings share about 25 percent of their genes. But the discovery is giving scientists new clues to how autism is inherited.

The study is published online in the journal Molecular Psychiatry.

According to principal investigator John N. Constantino, MD, the new research adds to recent evidence that even though autism is far more common in males, females still can inherit and pass along genetic risk for autism.

"We found that autism risk for half siblings is about half of what it is for full siblings," he says. "Most of the half siblings we studied had the same mothers. Given that half of the risk of transmission was lost and half was preserved among those maternal half siblings, mothers and fathers appear to be transmitting risk equally in families in which autism recurs."

Constantino, the Blanche F. Ittleson Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics and director of the William Greenleaf Eliot Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Washington University and psychiatrist-in-chief at St. Louis Children's Hospital, says the findings also suggest that in many families, the transmission of autism is the result of the effects of many genes -- not just one -- with each contributing a small proportion of risk.

Prior estimates of the extent to which autism is influenced by genetic factors are derived from studies of identical and fraternal twins where one, or both, are affected by the disorder. Since identical twins share 100 percent of their genes, and fraternal twins share 50 percent, inherited conditions tend to be twice as common in an identical twin pair compared to a fraternal twin pair. But twin studies of autism are too small to give precise estimates about how the disorder is inherited.

"The largest studies have included less than 300 clinically affected twin pairs," Constantino says. "And they include girls, boys and mixed twin pairs, which complicates the testing of models of inheritance in autism because the disorder is much more common in boys than girls."

Other studies have focused on siblings of children with autism, looking at how much more common autism recurrence is in siblings than the general population. But to derive more information on genetic structure from their family studies, Constantino's group looked at autism recurrence in half siblings and compared it to that in full siblings.

The researchers studied over 5,000 families in which there was a child with autism and at least one additional sibling -- the families were enrolled in a national volunteer, Internet-based family registry for autism, the Interactive Autism Network (IAN). Among those families, 619 included at least one maternal half-sibling. The researchers focused on maternal half-siblings rather than paternal half siblings because these children were more likely to live full-time with their biological mothers and to share the same environmental influences between the time they were born and the age of two, the time at which the onset of autistic syndromes occur. They compared autism recurrence among the 619 maternal half siblings to the rate among 4,832 full siblings.

In an attempt to replicate their findings, the researchers also looked at a group of local St. Louis families in which maternal half siblings also were known to have been raised in the same household.

After analyzing both sets of families, the researchers found that 10 percent to 11 percent of full siblings had been diagnosed with autism, compared to 5 percent to 7 percent of half siblings.

"If transmission of autism risk was occurring equally from unaffected mothers and fathers, you would predict that maternal half siblings' risk of autism would be about half of what we saw in full siblings," Constantino says. "And that's exactly what we found."

Current statistics from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that about one in 110 children in the United States is somewhere on the autism spectrum. Constantino says that according to the new findings, more than 60 percent of those cases of autism are likely to be inherited on the basis of genetic variations inherited from unaffected mothers and fathers.

"In 15 to 20 percent of children with autism, it appears that genetic problems aren't inherited, rather that genes become altered in sperm cells, egg cells or in the developing embryo," he says. "The recent discovery of these kinds of abnormalities have raised questions about the interpretation of twin studies and the extent to which autism is inherited. The current study, however, supports inheritance as a central cause for a majority of autistic syndromes and encourages a new focus on the mechanisms by which genetic susceptibility to autism can be silenced in some individuals, especially females who typically exhibit symptoms of autism at only one third of the rate seen in males."

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Attention Issues in Children may be Sleep Related

Diagnoses of attention hyperactivitydisorder among children have increased dramatically in recent years, rising 22 percent from 2003 to 2007, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But many experts believe that this may not be the epidemic it appears to be.

Many children are given a diagnosis of A.D.H.D., researchers say, when in fact they have another problem: a sleep disorder, like sleep apnea. The confusion may account for a significant number of A.D.H.D. cases in children, and the drugs used to treat them may only be exacerbating the problem.

“No one is saying A.D.H.D. does not exist, but there’s a strong feeling now that we need to rule out sleep issues first,” said Dr. Merrill Wise, a pediatric neurologist and sleep medicine specialist at the Methodist Healthcare Sleep Disorders Center in Memphis.

The symptoms of sleep deprivation in children resemble those of A.D.H.D. While adults experience sleep deprivation as drowsiness and sluggishness, sleepless children often become wired, moody and obstinate; they may have trouble focusing, sitting still and getting along with peers.

The latest study suggesting a link between inadequate sleep and A.D.H.D. symptoms appeared last month in the journal Pediatrics. Researchers followed 11,000 British children for six years, starting when they were 6 months old. The children whose sleep was affected by breathing problems like snoring, mouth breathing or apnea were 40 percent to 100 percent more likely than normal breathers to develop behavioral problems resembling A.D.H.D.

Children at highest risk of developing A.D.H.D.-like behaviors had sleep-disordered breathing that persisted throughout the study but was most severe at age 2 1/2.

“Lack of sleep is an insult to a child’s developing body and mind that can have a huge impact,” said Karen Bonuck, the study’s lead author and a professor of family and social medicine at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. “It’s incredible that we don’t screen for sleep problems the way we screen for vision and hearing problems.”

Her research builds on earlier, smaller studies showing that children with nighttime breathing problems did better with cognitive and attention-directed tasks and had fewer behavioral issues after their adenoids and tonsils were removed. The children were significantly less likely than untreated children with sleep-disordered breathing to be given an A.D.H.D. diagnosis in the ensuing months and years.

Most important, perhaps, those already found to have A.D.H.D. before surgery subsequently behaved so much better in many cases that they no longer fit the criteria. The National Institutes of Health has begun a study, called the Childhood Adenotonsillectomy Study, to understand the effect of surgically removing adenoids and tonsils on the health and behavior of 400 children. Results are expected this year.

“We’re getting closer and closer to a causal claim” between breathing problems during sleep and A.D.H.D. symptoms in children, said Dr. Ronald Chervin, a neurologist and director of University of Michigan Sleep Disorders Center in Ann Arbor.

In his view, behavioral problems linked to nighttime breathing difficulties are more likely a result of inadequate sleep than possible oxygen deprivation. “We see the same types of behavioral symptoms in children with other kinds of sleep disruptions,” he said.

Indeed, sleep experts note that children who lose as little as half an hour of needed sleep per night — whether because of a sleep disorder or just staying up too late texting or playing video games — can exhibit behaviors typical of A.D.H.D.

Not only is a misdiagnosis stigmatizing, but treatment of A.D.H.D. can exacerbate sleeplessness, the real problem. The drugs used to treat A.D.H.D., like Ritalin, Adderall or Concerta, can cause insomnia.

“It can become a vicious, compounding cycle,” said Dr. David Gozal, chairman of the department of pediatrics at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, whose clinical practice focuses on children with sleep disorders.

Sleep deprivation is difficult to spot in children. Of the 10,000 members of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, only 500 have specialty training in pediatric sleep issues. And pediatricians may not even know to make a referral, because they often depend on parents to bring up their children’s sleep problems during checkups.

But parents themselves often are uninformed about healthy sleep habits. A study conducted last year by researchers at Penn State University-Harrisburg and published in The Journal of Sleep Research showed that of 170 participating parents, fewer than 10 percent could correctly answer basic questions like the number of hours of sleep a child needs.

“Parents didn’t know what was normal sleep behavior,” said Kimberly Anne Schreck, a psychologist and behavioral analyst at Penn State who was the study’s lead author. “Many thought snoring was cute and meant their child was sleeping deeply and soundly.”

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New Laser Surgery can help Children with Epilepsy

Removing part of a patient's brain is the traditional way to cure certain kinds of epilepsy, but the complications can be worse than the seizures themselves.

Now, there is a new high-tech and low-risk way to erase epilepsy. It is a medical first.

Robin and Khris Dysart say their son Keagan had gelastic seizures that sounded like laughter three times every hour.

A craniotomy was the best chance for a cure. Surgeons may have to take out normal brain tissue to move the lesion causing the seizures. Complications can include paralysis, uncontrolled urination, and death.

Keagan’s mother Robin says, "There were lists of children who have died."

Dr. Angus Wilfong adds, "You can't put back brain that you wish you hadn't taken out."

To avoid taking out any brain, Dr. Angus Wilfong and Dr. Daniel Curry of Texas Children's Hospital developed a low-risk, minimally invasive, MRI-guided laser surgery to cure epilepsy.

Keagan was one of their first patients.

The instrument used is smaller than the size of a pencil lead piece, according to Dr. Wilfong.

The doctors navigated their way to Keagan's deep-seated lesion.

With the MRI, they were able to see in real time exactly where they were in Keagan's brain. The doctors watched the laser destroy the lesion and cure Keagan's epilepsy.

"That's exactly what's happening and it's really amazing to see."

Today, Keagan is seizure free.

Robin says, "Now, the world has opened up to him."

He loves basketball and says, "I've been practice dribbling."

His life has been forever changed by a laser.

Texas Children's Hospital is the first in the world to perform the MRI-guided laser surgery to cure epilepsy.

The procedure was adopted from a technique to treat brain tumors.

It's now being used for kids and adults. The doctors tell us some of their patients go home the day after their brain surgery.

RESEARCH SUMMARY

BACKGROUND: Gelastic seizures are epileptic events characterized by bouts of laughter. Laughter-like vocalization is usually combined with facial contraction in the form of a smile. Gelastic epilepsy is very rare and occurs slightly more commonly in boys than in girls. Of every 1000 children with epilepsy, only one or at the very most, two children will have gelastic epilepsy. (SOURCE: www.epilepsyfoundation.org, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth)

The gelastic and other types of seizures are often very difficult to control. It is rare for anyone to have their seizures controlled for more than a few weeks or months at a time. The best outcome is probably seen in those children (and adults) who have a benign tumor in the hypothalamus (the hamartoma or astrocytoma) causing their epilepsy. Successful surgery in these children and adults may improve not just their seizure control but also improve their behavioral and even learning problems. (SOURCE: epilepsy.org.uk)

TREATMENT: The type of treatment prescribed will depend on several factors including the frequency and severity of the seizures as well as the person's age, overall health, and medical history. The majority of epileptic seizures are controlled through drug therapy. Patients may take a drug called anticonvulsants, to reduce the number of seizures they experience. Patients may also make changes to their diet. In certain cases in which medications and diet are not working, surgery may be used. (SOURCE: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth, www.webmd.com)

LATEST BREAKTHROUGHS: Real-time MRI-guided thermal imaging and laser technology is now being used to destroy lesions in the brain that cause epilepsy and uncontrollable seizures. The surgery is performed by first mapping the area of the brain where the lesion is located using magnetic resonance imaging. The catheter is inserted through the skull in the operating room and then the patient is transferred to an MRI unit where the ablation of the lesion is performed. The MRI confirms probe placement in the target, and the magnetic resonance thermal imaging allows the surgeon to see the ablation of the lesion by the laser heat as it happens with an automatic feedback system that shuts the laser off when the heat approaches nearby critical brain structures.

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Study claims 1 in 26 may develop epilepsy

A landmark study from the Institute of Medicine (IOM) reports that your chance of developing epilepsy at some point in your life is one in 26. Onset is highest in children and older adults. But epilepsy knows no boundaries—it can strike at any age and across all socio-economic levels and ethnicities. There is no known cure and one-third of people with epilepsy have treatment-resistant or refractory epilepsy.

With more than 150,000 new epilepsy cases diagnosed in the U.S. annually, epilepsy is the fourth most prevalent neurological disorder after migraine, stroke and Alzheimer's disease. Despite being so common, epilepsy gets less public recognition than some neurological disorders that affect fewer people.

In introducing the report, IOM President Harvey Fineberg, M.D., Ph.D. described epilepsy as "a problem remarkably hidden for such a visible illness," and later commented that the condition is "a very serious problem that has been too long neglected as a public health concern. We hope that this report will begin to change the way in which we as a nation come to understand, embrace, deal with and solve the problem of epilepsy."

Alarmingly, the number of epilepsy cases is much higher than many people realize. Thus, the IOM report highlights the vast need for better surveillance and data collection, including through electronic health records, to more precisely define the scope of the problem. "Current data sources provide a patchwork of surveillance activity," it says, "and substantially limit the ability to understand, plan and guide the provision of policies."

"Epilepsy's high rate of occurrence and heavy burden on patients and families is in stark contrast with the highly insufficient attention the disease gets at all levels of our health care system and our society at large," says Frances Jensen, M.D., president of the American Epilepsy Society and chair of Vision 20/20, a cooperative group of more than 20 consumer, health professional, and advocacy organizations concerned with the broad spectrum of the epilepsies. "Gaps in the nation's ability to deal with epilepsy and its consequences prevail in so many spheres that vigorous action is urgently needed to affect change and create a system that will assure accessible, comprehensive, high-quality optimal care for every person who has the condition."

Epilepsy is a spectrum of more than 25 seizure syndromes—sometimes called the epilepsies—that affects more than 2.2 million Americans in a variety of ways. The disorder is characterized by unpredictable seizures in which the brain produces sudden bursts of electrical energy that can interfere with a person's consciousness, movements and sensations. Seizures differ widely in type, cause, severity, and treatment.

The impact that epilepsy has on physical health and quality of life spans another spectrum, with individuals experiencing different health outcomes. In addition, people with epilepsy often experience quality of life issues, including but not limited to impaired memory and cognitive functions, difficulty in social interactions and achieving gainful employment, and driving restrictions.

Access to care varies with significant disparities along racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic lines in diagnosis and treatment of patients. A significant challenge for people with epilepsy, according to the IOM report, has been the way epilepsy is misunderstood and misperceived, leading to the perpetuation of age-old stigma.

The report further underscores that epilepsy is associated with substantially higher rates of mortality than experienced in the population as a whole, with sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP) being the most common cause of epilepsy-related deaths. Estimates in the report indicate that 2-10 years of life are lost for people who have epilepsy.

Given the current gaps in epilepsy knowledge, care and education, the IOM report emphasizes the urgent need to take action-across multiple dimensions-to improve and save lives. The IOM report provides the research priorities and action-oriented steps needed to enable short- and long-term improvements for people with epilepsy.

"This new report will serve as a roadmap for real progress in the next few years to improve the lives of individuals with epilepsy, increase access to medical care and social services, increase public awareness, reduce stigma, and work towards better education of healthcare professionals around epilepsy care and research," adds Jensen.

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Genes for Epilepsy found in Dogs

Researchers in Europe and the United States have identified a novel epilepsy gene for idiopathic epilepsy in Belgian Shepherds in the canine chromosome 37. Presented in the PLoS ONE journal, the findings fuel our understanding of the genetic background of the most common canine epilepsies, and provide insight into common epilepsies in humans. The study was funded in part by the LUPA ('Unravelling the molecular basis of common complex human disorders using the dog as a model system') project, which is backed under the 'Health' Theme of the EU's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) to the tune of EUR 12 million.

A set of chronic neurological disorders characterised by seizures, epilepsy affects the lives of around 1-5% of the human population at some point in their lives. Experts say epilepsy is characterised by various syndromes, causes, prognosis and the age of patients. Based on their basic mechanisms, epilepsy syndromes are split into genetic (idiopathic) epilepsies, structural/metabolic (symptomatic) epilepsies and epilepsies of unknown cause.

Led by the University of Helsinki and the Folkhälsan Institute of Genetics in Finland, researchers from Denmark, Finland, Sweden and the United States compared the genome of dogs with epilepsy and healthy control dogs and identified a gene region in chromosome 37, which is linked to the most common form of canine epilepsy.

Up to 40% of patients with epilepsy can trace their diagnosis to genetic factors. If the specific gene region is homozygous, the risk of suffering from epilepsy is seven times greater. The researchers also suggest that other, still unknown, genetic risk factors may be present in the breed.

The type of epilepsy affecting Belgian Shepherds is very common in other breeds as well. So this discovery could improve our knowledge about epilepsies in different dog breeds.

'There are only few genes in the identified region and I believe that the ongoing analyses will help us to discover the specific epilepsy gene,' says Professor Hannes Lohi of the University of Helsinki, senior author of the study. 'This would give us a better understanding of the disease mechanisms and provide us with new diagnostic tools for the disease.'

Commenting on the study, lead author Dr Eija Seppälä of the University of Helsinki says: 'The identified genomic region is likely to be the strongest single risk factor for epilepsy in Belgian Shepherds, and we are studying an interesting gene variant causing an amino acid change in the protein level. However, this homozygous amino acid change is also present in one fifth of healthy Belgian Shepherds. The research continues in the breed and aims to identify the specific mutation for genetic testing in this loci and possibly in other chromosomes. The need for the gene test is urgent since as much as 20% of the dogs in this breed are estimated to have epilepsy.'

Idiopathic epilepsy in Belgian Shepherds appears at around three years of age.

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