Epilepsy (from the Ancient Greek verb meaning "to seize, possess, or afflict")[1] is a group of neurological disorders characterized by epileptic seizures.[2][3] Epileptic seizures are episodes that can vary from brief and nearly undetectable to long periods of vigorous shaking.[4] In epilepsy, seizures tend to recur, and have no immediate underlying cause[2] while seizures that occur due to a specific cause are not deemed to represent epilepsy.[5] The cause of most cases of epilepsy is unknown, although some people develop epilepsy as the result of brain injury, stroke, brain tumor, and drug and alcohol misuse. Genetic mutations are linked to a small proportion of the disease.[6] Epileptic seizures are the result of excessive and abnormal cortical nerve cell activity in the brain.[5] The diagnosis typically involves ruling out other conditions that might cause similar symptoms such as syncope. Additionally it involves determining if any other cause of seizures are present such as alcohol withdrawal or electrolyte problems.[6] This may be done by doing imaging of the brain and blood tests.[6] Epilepsy can often be confirmed with an electroencephalogram (EEG) but a normal test does not rule out the disease.[6] Seizures are controllable with medication in about 70% of cases.[7] In … Continue reading →

By Estel Grace Masangkay Biopharmaceutical company GW Pharmaceuticals announced that it has received Orphan Drug Designation from the European Medicines Agency (EMA) for Epidiolex as treatment for rare form of epilepsy Dravet syndrome. Epidiolex is an oral liquid formulation of a highly purified (cannabidiol or CBD) extract. The companys CBD is a non-psychoactive molecule from the cannabis plant. The drug has previously received U.S. orphan designations in both Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome and Dravet Syndrome, as well as Fast Track status for the latter from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Justin Gover, GWs CEO, said, GW is now advancing a full clinical development program for Epidiolex in Dravet syndrome and looks forward to commencing this program in the coming weeks. We believe that the clinical effect and safety data recently released on Epidiolex support GWs confidence in the prospect of ultimately enabling children with Dravet syndrome around the world to have access to an approved prescription CBD medicine. Dravet syndrome is also known as Severe Myoclonic Epilepsy of Infancy (SMEI). There is currently no cure for the form of epilepsy that begins the patients first year of life and gets progressively worse. Patients with Dravet syndrome are at a higher … Continue reading →

Welcome to the Ma Center for Non-Surgical Solutions website. Our goal is to help you make an educated decision about your health care and provide you with information about our office. Welcome to the Mane Center. We believe that we have something unique to offer those who desire the best health at a reasonable cost. Dr. Mane is the founder and Director and brings a wealth of experience, science and success to those who choose the Mane Center for their health needs. A high percentage of the time, if a patient has a persistent condition and standard conservative care does not help, we have the knowledge, experience and technology to get the optimum results. Getting back to good health and maintaining it! The effectiveness of any treatment depends on the quality of the treatment, the expertise and experience of the clinician, the cooperation of the patient and the severity of the disease process. In order to optimize chances of the best results, it is highly recommended that the patient maintain optimal health to reduce the likelihood of developing disease as well as benefiting from your attempts to reduce or eradicate the disease process. When disease develops, begin by seeking treatment … Continue reading →

Autism Treatment Plus (AT+) provides a unique and tailored service to ensure those with autism, and their families, receive the diagnostic, medical and educational provisions they need. We believe that a fully integrated approach is required to treat and address the needs of a person with autism, which will in turn lead to improvements in their condition.Our service is based on two unique approaches; biomedical intervention and behaviour therapy. AT+s team of consultants comprises of professionals in the field including, medical doctors, research scientists, behavioural analysts and psychologists. These professionals aim to ensure we are providing a holistic approach to diagnosing and treating autism. My son has autism and we have been treating him biomedically for four years. I have been working with Dr Lorene Amet of the Autism Treatment Trust in Edinburgh who has dealt with all his health issues (all privately funded by us) and he is improved to the point of probably losing the diagnosis soon. Susan, Parent Three wonderful things happened with April this morning. First she said, Mummy can I hug you tight? while I was getting her ready for school. Second, she touched a dog for the first time. She was attacked by a … Continue reading →

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 27-Oct-2014 Contact: Erin Digitale digitale@stanford.edu 650-724-9175 Stanford University Medical Center @sumedicine Parents can learn to use a scientifically validated autism therapy with their own children by taking a short series of group classes, a new study by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford has found. The therapy helped children improve their language skills, an area of deficiency in autism, according to the study, which will be published Oct. 27 in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. The study is the first randomized, controlled trial to test whether group classes are a good way to train parents on using an autism therapy. "We're teaching parents to become more than parents," said the study's lead author, Antonio Hardan, MD, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, who directs the hospital's Autism and Developmental Disabilities Clinic. "What we're most excited about is that parents are able to learn this intervention and implement it with their kids." The treatment is not intended to replace autism therapies administered by professionals, but rather to improve parents' ability to help their children learn from everyday interactions. "There are two benefits: The child can make progress, and … Continue reading →

if it seems like autism is popping up more in the news lately, thats not a coincidence. On the web stories about autism abound, with headlines like Moms iron intake might be associated with autism risk from The Huffington Post and Children born too close together face autism risk from The Telegraph in the U.K. popping up just last month. More often than not, these stories feed the Internet beast and our hunger to unlock the mysteries surrounding autism rather than provide concrete answers. In 2012, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimated that one in 88 children in multiple communities in the U.S. had been identified as having autism (now more commonly referred to as autism spectrum disorder or ASD). This past March, the CDC reported that this number was now one in 68 children, a 30 percent increase from two years ago. Its unclear whether this significant up-tick is due to a rise in the actual number of children with autism spectrum disorder or simply because more awareness has led to more diagnoses. Nicole King, a board certified behavior analyst with ABC Behavioral in Eagle, said while there have been numerous studies focusing on ASD, we still dont … Continue reading →

TIME Health Autism Parents can learn how to give effective therapy to their children with autism, a new study in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry finds. Researchers at Stanford University looked at a type of therapy called Pivotal Response Training (PRT), which is one the of the handful of treatments shown to be effective for kids on the autism spectrum, says Kari Berquist, PhD, study co-author and a clinical instructor in psychiatry and behavioral sciences and an autism clinician at Lucile Packard Childrens Hospital Stanford. The therapy focuses on improving kids motivation language skills by reinforcing their use of language related to the task at hand. One of the advantages is it can be done anywhere: anytime a child attempts to ask for something by namea toy, saytheyd be rewarded with the item they requested, which reinforces their use of language. They enrolled a group of parents of 53 autistic children between ages 2-6 in either a PRT course, which taught parents how to do the therapy with their kids, or a psychoeducation group, which taught general autism information. The children joined their parents for several sessions. Researchers found that after just 12 weeks, 84% of parents were … Continue reading →

Strokes are considered serious medical conditions that cannot be treated outside of a hospital. In terms of the different types of strokes, there are two. These are: ischemic strokes and hemorrhagic strokes. Both are very serious, though since they are a bit different from one another a person may experience unique sets of stroke symptoms. A more detailed explanation of how these types of strokes work is provided below. With an Ischemic stroke, the vessel is blocked because of a clog. This is the most common type of stroke, making up 83 percent of all stroke cases. The clogs come about because of fatty deposits that are unable to travel through the bloodstream, (a condition known as atherosclerosis). The clogs can cause one of two problems in the blood vessels including: cerebral thrombosis and cerebral embolism. With cerebral thrombosis a blood clot develops in the area where the blockage has occurred. On the other hand, with a cerebral embolism, the clot itself actually forms in another area of the body, such as the heart or the neck. It grows to the point that it breaks apart. These broken portions travel into the bloodstream and eventually reach the blood vessels in … Continue reading →

Ischaemic strokes can be treated using a 'clot-busting' medicine called alteplase, which dissolves blood clots (thrombolysis). However, alteplase is only effective if started during the first four and a half hours after the onset of the stroke. After that time, the medicine has not been shown to have beneficial effects. Even within this narrow time frame, the quicker alteplase can be started the better the chance of recovery. However, not all patients are suitable for thrombolysis treatment. You will also be given a regular dose of aspirin (an anti-platelet medication), as this makes the cells in your blood, known as platelets, less sticky, reducing the chances of further blood clots occurring. If you are allergic to aspirin, other anti-platelet medicines are available. You may also be given an additional medication called an anticoagulant. Like aspirin, anticoagulants prevent blood clots by changing the chemical composition of the blood in a way that prevents clots from occurring. Heparin, warfarin and more recently rivaroxabanare examples of anticoagulants. Anticoagulants are often prescribed for people who have an irregular heartbeat that can cause blood clots. If your blood pressure is too high, you may be given medicines to lower it. Medicines that are commonly usedinclude: … Continue reading →

Karen Owen, CTV Calgary Published Monday, October 27, 2014 4:43PM MDT Last Updated Monday, October 27, 2014 5:24PM MDT When it comes to stroke the saying is time is brain. It means the longer a brain is starved of oxygen-rich blood because of a stroke - the more brain function will be lost. Neurologist Dr. Eric Smith said every minute the brain isn't getting blood flow more brain cells are dying off. With that in mind, Emergency Medical Services crews in Calgary and the stroke team at the Foothills Hospital are trying to reduce the time it takes for stroke patients to start receiving diagnosis and treatment. EMS crews and the stroke team have been practicing a new protocol in which EMS skips stopping at the triage desk at the emergency department, in fact skips the emergency department entirely and takes the patient directly to the stroke team. Dr. Smith said we could shave off as many as 15 minutes. If we do that, we can save a few people from being disabled after a stroke. Fifteen minutes is a long time for a stroke patient, because as Dr. Smith said every minute counts. Bypassing the emergency department means that … Continue reading →