Epilepsy & Seizures

Epilepsy

Several factors were explored at the 58th conference of the American Academy of Neurology which relates to Epilepsy. Below is a summarization of key points addressed.

1. Ketogenic diet (i.e. diets which promote ketoacidosis): This diet has been ‘around’ for 75 years. There does seem to be some relationship with this type of diet and either frequency of seizures or seizure free periods.

Types of seizures differ from each other. Here is information about three common types of seizures, the temporal lobe seizure, the gran mal seizure, and the petite mal seizure, which affects both children and adults. Click on the text in green to jump to the web page showing that information.

When a sudden burst of excess electrical activity takes place in the brain, the brain's messages become temporarily halted or mixed up. This is called a "seizure." The type of seizure a person has depends on the area of the brain where this activity occurs.

According to the Epilepsy Foundation, epilepsy is a neurological condition that makes people susceptible to seizures. A seizure is a change in sensation, awareness, or behavior brought about by a sudden change in how the cells of the brain send electrical signals to each other.

When discussing types of epilepsy, physicians talk about syndromes, or a characteristic group of features that usually occur together.

Epilepsy syndromes are defined by a cluster of features. These feature clusters may include:

Brussels has announced stricter and streamlined rules for the approval of pesticides for use in EU agriculture.

The European commission, on Wednesday, July 12, 2006, set out plans to ensure safer use of pesticides and to reduce red tape in authorisation procedures of plant protection products.

Petitions are circulating in Winnipeg, Canada to call for an independent, external and unbiased committee to do an ethical review of both the municipal and provincial governments' endorsement of Malathion to control mosquitoes.