Details

ICNA

News

Published: 16 May 2012

Hits: 695

1st Upper Egypt Neuroscience September 12-13, 2012
Pyramisa Blue Lagoon, Hurghada

Only 116 days to Go

Reasons to Book Now

With more than 40 key persons, over 30 oral presentations, teaching sessions and special interest groups happening during the 2 days of the conference, you don't want to miss out on this congress of 1st Upper Egypt Neuroscience, in Collaboration with Upper Egypt Universities.

Very spectacular and interesting scientific sessions with our Neurology, Neurosurgery, Psychiatry & Pediatric Neurology colleagues from the all Egypt with a warm social activities, how can Neuropsychiatrists meet together ?. What's new in Neuroscience ?

To register for 1st Upper Egypt Neuroscience, 2012 please visit the following link: http://www.cme-group.net

Important dates : Early registration deadline : 15/07/2012

Abstract submission deadline : 15/07/2012

Accommodation Deadline : 01/08/2012 Late registration deadline : 15/08/2012

Onsite registration : after 15/08/2012

Prof. Amal Tawfik Prof. of Neurology, Menia University
President of the Conference

Ahmed Raouf, MD.
General Secretary of the Conference & Society
Prof. Of Pediatrics & Pediatric Neurology and Neuro- Rehabilitation, ARRC
Consultant of Pediatric Neurology, IPGCS EB
Member of International Child Neurology Association ( ICNA )
Vice - President of African Pediatric Neurology Association ( APNA )
+2 0100 142 6669

Details

ICNA

News

Published: 13 May 2012

Hits: 516

The Child Neurology Society ( USA ) is now accepting applications for the 2012 Bernard D’Souza International Fellowship Award, which will sponsor all expenses for a child neurologist from a developing country to attend the 41st Annual Meeting of the CNS to be held in Huntington Beach, California, from October 31-November 3, 2012.

This will be preceded, or followed, by a visit to a selected training program in North America. The purpose of the award is to promote child neurology in developing countries. Applicants must have trained in a developing country, should be practicing child neurology in an academic environment in a developing country and should be prepared to present a scientific paper in English.

Preference will be shown to applicants less than age 45 years. The deadline for receipt of applications for the award is May 15, 2012. The application and complete selection criteria can be obtained by contacting:

Agustin Legido, MD
Chair, International Affairs Committee
Child Neurology Society
St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children
Section of Neurology
Erie Ave and Front Street
Philadelphia, PA 19134
Telephone: 215 427 5452;
Fax: 215 427 4393 E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Source: The Child Neurology Society. The ICNA is not affiliated to the Child Neurology Society. All enquiries regarding the award should be directed to the Child Neurology Society at the address above.

Details

ICNA

News

Published: 13 May 2012

Hits: 563

The Rapid Anticonvulsant Medication Prior to Arrival Trial (RAMPART) trial results published in the NEJM suggest that IM midazolam is at least as safe and effective as IV lorazepam for prehospital termination of seizures in status epilepticus.

This double-blind, randomised, phase 3, noninferiority trial designed and conducted by the Neurological Emergencies Treatment Trials (NETT) network, a multidisciplinary clinical trials infrastructure funded by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), compared the efficacy of intramuscular midazolam with that of intravenous lorazepam for children and adults in status epilepticus treated by paramedics.

Subjects with seizures lasting for more than 5 minutes and continuing to convulsive on arrival of the paramedics were given either i.m midazolam via autoinjector or i.v lorazepam. The primary outcome was absence of seizures at the time of arrival in the emergency department without the need for rescue therapy and Secondary outcomes included endotracheal intubation, recurrent seizures, and timing of treatment relative to the cessation of convulsive seizures.

At the time of arrival in the emergency department, seizures were absent without rescue therapy in 329 of 448 subjects (73.4%) in the intramuscular-midazolam group and in 282 of 445 (63.4%) in the intravenous-lorazepam group (absolute difference, 10 percentage points; 95% confidence interval, 4.0 to 16.1; P 0.001 for both noninferiority and superiority). Besides, there was no difference between the treatment groups with respect to need for intubation or seizure recurrence or incidence of adverse effects.

All adults and those children with an estimated body weight of more than 40 kg received either 10 mg of intramuscular midazolam followed by intravenous placebo or intramuscular placebo followed by 4 mg of intravenous lorazepam. In children with an estimated weight of 13 to 40 kg, the active treatment was 5 mg of intramuscular midazolam or 2 mg of intravenous lorazepam.

It is possible that this might mean some subjects were administered lorazepam doses below the recommended standard of 0.1mg/kg/dose. The study also did not compare the effects of autoinjector versus conventional IM treatments nor the efficacy of IM/IV lorazepam/midazolam.

However the study results seem to support the use of intramuscular midazolam by emergency medical personnel in the pre hospital setting for status epileptics. In addition midazolam has the advantage of better stability when not refrigerated, compared to lorazepam.

Citation: Silbergleit R, Durkalski V, Lowenstein D, Conwit R, Pancioli A, Palesch Y, Barsan W; NETT Investigators. Intramuscular versus intravenous therapy for prehospital status epilepticus. N Engl J Med. 2012 Feb 16;366(7):591-600. PubMed PMID: 22335736; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3307101.

Details

ICNA

News

Published: 12 May 2012

Hits: 575

Seizures in early life are associated with autism with about 40% of patients with autism also having epilepsy as comorbidity. A study from Boston Children's Hospital finds a reason for the link, and suggests that the mTOR inhibitor rapamycin ,already shown to be safe in children, could help prevent autism from developing in newborns who have seizures.

Frances Jensen (standing) with her postdoc Jocelyn Lippman BellFrances Jensen and colleagues at the Department of Neurology and the F.M. Kirby Neurobiology Center at Boston Children's Hospital used a rat model to show that early seizures not only resulted in epilepsy later in life, but also produced autistic-like behaviour. They have shown that disabling the mTOR pathway – by giving the drug rapamycin before and after seizures – prevented development of abnormal patterns of connections (synapses) between brain cells, reduced later-life seizures and eased autistic-like symptoms.

Dr Jensen's group in a related study published last year has shown that seizures exaggerated excitation and synaptic strengthening too soon in a rat model, causing synapses to lose their plasticity -- their ability to reconfigure in response to input from the outside world and following administration of the drug NBQX, which blocks receptors associated with excitation, these problems were reversed.

The mTOR pathway is already known to be over-active in tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) which often includes epilepsy and autism. Boston Children's Hospital is currently conducting a clinical trial of rapamycin in children with TSC.

This study suggests that even without tuberous sclerosis, seizures are inducing the mTOR pathway, and might on their own be contributing to the development of autism. The fields of epilepsy and autism may thus inform each other about new treatment targets.

SOURCE : Boston Children's Hospital

Citation: Talos DM, Sun H, Zhou X, Fitzgerald EC, Jackson MC, et al. (2012) The Interaction between Early Life Epilepsy and Autistic-Like Behavioral Consequences: A Role for the Mammalian Target of Rapamycin (mTOR) Pathway. PLoS ONE 7(5): e35885. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.003588

For further background, see this feature published last year in Nature Medicine