McHENRY Phil Abraham had a healthy, normal childhood until at age 11 he began having recurring seizures that sent him into a spiral of depression and memory loss. Thanks to a simple procedure, Abraham, now 51, is living a drastically better life. Abraham, of Island Lake, is one of 50 million people worldwide affected by epilepsy. According to the Epilepsy Foundation of America, epilepsy is the third most common neurological disorder, with nearly 200,000 new cases diagnosed annually. I cant remember my first seizure at all, Abraham said. I was just kicking along like a normal kid and playing on the hood of my dads car. I was acting like Tarzan and hit my head on a tree branch. I cant recall much after that. In the years since, Abraham has been prescribed anti-convulsion medications, which have had only a small effect. He now takes five different medications for his seizures. Even with his seizure control medication, he was still experiencing two to four seizures a week, taking nearly an hour to recover from each, said Abrahams wife of 18 years, Mary, 55. Because of the seizures, Phil Abraham is unemployed and is no longer able to drive. He also … Continue reading →

WEDNESDAY, July 3 (HealthDay News) -- A link may exist between autism and bacteria in a child's digestive tract, a small new study suggests. Researchers analyzed gut bacteria in fecal samples from 20 children with autism and 20 children without the disorder. The children with autism had significantly fewer types of gut bacteria, which potentially could make them more vulnerable to harmful bacteria. The study also found that children with autism had significantly lower amounts of three types of important gut bacteria. Autism, a neurodevelopmental disorder that can range from mild to severe, affects social and communication skills. The new study appears July 3 in the journal PLoS One. "One of the reasons we started addressing this topic is the fact that autistic children have a lot of [gastrointestinal] problems that can last into adulthood," study leader Rosa Krajmalnik-Brown, a researcher at Arizona State University's Biodesign Institute, said in a university news release. "Studies have shown that when we manage these problems, their behavior improves dramatically." This type of research could lead to new ways to treat autism-associated gastrointestinal problems, and improve diagnosis, prevention and treatment of autism, the study authors said. Previous research has shown that gut bacteria plays … Continue reading →

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WEDNESDAY, July 3 (HealthDay News) -- Thousands of sequences that control genes are active in the development of human limbs, a new study says. The findings don't determine the exact genetic mechanisms that control development of limbs, but do provide the first genome-wide view of candidates to analzye, the researchers said. "We now have a parts list that may account for these biological changes," study senior author James Noonan, an associate professor of genetics at the Yale School of Medicine, said in a university news release. He and his colleagues compared gene regulatory sequence activity that occurs in humans, rhesus monkeys and mice during limb development in the womb. While activity was generally similar in all three species, certain regulatory sequences were active only in humans. The study was published online July 3 in the journal Cell. Noonan plans to transfer some of gene regulatory elements specific to humans into mice to see what aspects of human limb development they may control. "It has been difficult to understand how human traits evolved, because we didn't have any idea where the important genetic changes might be," Noonan said. "Now we do, and we have the experimental tools to determine what biological … Continue reading →