Mark McAllisterCanadian television broadcaster Mark McAllister attained an unfortunate moment of infamy two years ago when he garbled a live segment on Global Toronto. The incident was mocked at the time as a simple blooper, it was actually a partial seizure a side effect of a medical condition McAllister did not realize he was suffering. McAllister was diagnosed with epilepsy less than a month later, and has been balancing the affliction with his family life and career ever since. McAllister will publicly discuss his condition for the first time in a weekend news feature, part of which will air on Global Toronto Thursday evening. [ Brew Archives: Global reporter feeling better after on-air incoherence ] McAllister spoke with Yahoo! Canada News ahead of that broadcast. Y! Lets talk first about the on-air incident in 2011. Is that the first time something like that had happened to you? No, it was the first time it was as public as it was. I had been experiencing what my wife and I had been calling episodes prior to that moments where I would lose my train of thought or would just stop speaking for moments at a time. I had no idea what … Continue reading →

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/9llnsp/pharmapoint) has announced the addition of GlobalData's new report "PharmaPoint: Epilepsy - Spain Drug Forecast and Market Analysis to 2022" to their offering. GlobalData has released its new Country report, PharmaPoint: Epilepsy - Spain Drug Forecast and Market Analysis to 2022. Epilepsy is a brain disorder characterized by spontaneously occurring and recurrent seizures. The market is heavily driven by the sales of antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) targeted at seizure reduction. The AED market is currently dominated by UCB's Keppra and GlaxoSmithKline's Lamictal. Although both drugs have experienced significant generic erosion, they form the mainstay of epilepsy treatment in the nine markets and will continue to have significant market share during the forecast period. Other key drugs include older generation AEDs such as Pfizer's Dilantin, Abbott's Depakote, and Novartis' Tegretol and Trileptal which still have significant usage due to their longevity in the market. However, the AED dominance landscape will continue to shift towards newer generation drugs particularly following the recent market entry of GlaxoSmithKline's Trobalt/Potiga and Eisai's Fycompa which both offer first-in-class mechanisms of action. The main drivers for growth in this market are the launch of new AEDs, the continued uptake of recent AEDs, and … Continue reading →

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/tsnzn2/pharmapoint) has announced the addition of GlobalData's new report "PharmaPoint: Epilepsy - UK Drug Forecast and Market Analysis to 2022" to their offering. GlobalData has released its new Country report, PharmaPoint: Epilepsy - UK Drug Forecast and Market Analysis to 2022. Epilepsy is a brain disorder characterized by spontaneously occurring and recurrent seizures. The market is heavily driven by the sales of antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) targeted at seizure reduction. The AED market is currently dominated by UCB's Keppra and GlaxoSmithKline's Lamictal. Although both drugs have experienced significant generic erosion, they form the mainstay of epilepsy treatment in the nine markets and will continue to have significant market share during the forecast period. Other key drugs include older generation AEDs such as Pfizer's Dilantin, Abbott's Depakote, and Novartis' Tegretol and Trileptal which still have significant usage due to their longevity in the market. However, the AED dominance landscape will continue to shift towards newer generation drugs particularly following the recent market entry of GlaxoSmithKline's Trobalt/Potiga and Eisai's Fycompa which both offer first-in-class mechanisms of action. The main driver for growth in this market is the launch of new AEDs and the continued uptake of recent AEDs, … Continue reading →

Step By Step adds to its growing number of credentialed staff with three more clinicians who recently passed and obtained masters level certification as Board Certified Behavior Analysts treating individuals with autism and developmental disabilities. Columbus, Ohio (PRWEB) March 07, 2013 Through the program, Step By Step leadership provides supervision and fieldwork placement for staff and trainees wanting to become BCaBAs or BCBAs. The program currently hosts 11 individuals receiving field work supervision from Step By Step and five individuals using Step By Step as their practicum site for their respective universities. Step By Step currently has seven certified behavior analysts and continues to add to it with a number of staff preparing to sit for their certification exams this year. Our continual commitment to those we serve, be it through offering the latest in applied behavior analysis therapy or by ensuring that our staff has the most advanced level of training possible, means we can provide the highest level of care available in the area to individuals with an array of developmental disabilities, said Michele LaMarche, BCBA, founder and executive director of Step By Step. According to LaMarche, Step By Step provides opportunities for supervisees to not only practice … Continue reading →

TRENTON Parents of children with autism told an Assembly committee today that state regulations governing insurance coverage for their children's treatment are so confusing they had to hire an attorney and medical billing expert to help untangle them. "I'm a medical doctor and the issues with coding were so involved I had to hire someone to help me," Meredith Blitz-Goldstein, an oral surgeon, told the Assembly Financial Institutions and Insurance Committee. After listening to complaints for nearly two hours, Assemblyman Gary Schaer (D-Passaic), the committee chairman, ordered insurance companies and disability advocates to revise the regulations and make them easier for families to navigate or else lawmakers would do it for them. There will be a hearing convened six months from now, and for everyones sake I pray we have meaningful movement, Schaer said. Gina Pastino, a pharmacologist from Montclair, said the quest to get her son treatment consumes so much of her time and money that she had to stop contributing to her retirement fund and delay treatment for her own chronic health conditions. The amount of time that is required is so out of bounds and unreasonable, Ive had to take vacation days to take care of some … Continue reading →

Public release date: 7-Mar-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ] Contact: Beth Casteel bcasteel@acc.org 240-328-4549 American College of Cardiology SAN FRANCISCO (March 7, 2013) A nationwide study of women in Denmark who are of child-bearing age finds that those who are obese appear to have a much greater risk of heart attack or stroke, according to research being presented at the American College of Cardiology's 62nd Annual Scientific Session. In fact, women with a high body mass index (BMI)a measure of the body's fat contentthat is indicative of obesity were twice as likely as those of normal weight to suffer a potentially life-threatening heart attack or stroke within just four to five years following childbirth. Researchers at the University of Copenhagen said that while these cardiac events are very rare among women of this age, there is a very clear and strong link between carrying excess weight and suffering a heart attack or stroke. These associations remained unchanged even after accounting for other pregnancy-associated complications or cardiovascular risk factors, including smoking. "Young women need to be aware that there are serious health risks associated with obesity and poor lifestyle habits, and these [negative effects] appear to set in early," said … Continue reading →

6 March 2013 Last updated at 23:03 ET By Ian Youngs Arts reporter, BBC News Veteran actor Edward Petherbridge was two days into rehearsals for King Lear when he suffered two strokes. He is now back on stage and has turned the experience into a new show about having the strokes and missing the chance to play Lear. After more than five decades as one of Britain's most dependable and distinguished thespians, Edward Petherbridge had never had the chance to tackle an actor's biggest challenge - a lead role in one of Shakespeare's great tragedies. So when an email came asking him to play King Lear in New Zealand in 2007, he had no hesitation. "I'd have gone to Timbuktu," he says. Petherbridge earned his spurs as part of Laurence Olivier's National Theatre company in the 1960s and as a mainstay of the Royal Shakespeare Company from the '70s. He formed The Actors' Company with Sir Ian McKellen, played Newman Noggs in Nicholas Nickleby in the West End and on Broadway, has won an Olivier Award and was the original Guildenstern in Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. "Olivier himself handed me the script," the 76-year-old recalls. "He said, … Continue reading →

By JERRY WOLFFE Of The Oakland Press Stroke patients in Oakland County can be assured of receiving the latest and fastest treatment at Henry Ford West Bloomfield and McLaren Oakland hospitals. McLaren Oakland, in Pontiac, and Ford, both have been designated as certified primary stroke centers. McLaren will celebrate the certification in the West Tower at 50 North Perry St., from 7-8 a.m. in a ceremony with president and CEO Clarence Sevillian; Dr. Tressa Gardner, director of Emergency Medical Services; and Dr. Aaron L. Ellenbogen, a neurologist, the hospital said in a press release. The hospitals were certified as primary stroke centers by the Healthcare Facilities Accreditation Program. All patients showing symptoms of an acute stroke will be evaluated rapidly and treated as a stroke code. Its critical to determine whether a patient can receive such therapies as intravenous tPA (tissue plasminogen activator) within one hour of arrival, in compliance with American Heart Association guidelines. If blood flow to the brain is stopped for longer than a few seconds, the brain cannot get oxygen. When brain cells die, permanent damage can occur. Death and permanent paralysis can result from a stroke. During a stroke, the brain loses seven million neurons … Continue reading →

People who walk regularly and briskly after suffering a stroke will not only improve their physical fitness, but also their mobility and quality of life, according to a new study. Researchers at the University of the West Indies in Jamaica had one group of stroke survivors follow a supervised program of brisk outdoor walking for three months. A second group, which did not do supervised exercise, received therapeutic massages. The walkers started out by following a designated route for 15 minutes, lengthening the duration of their walk by five minutes a week until they walked for 30 straight minutes. As people became more fit, they gradually increased their pace, reaching 60 to 85 percent of their target heart rate. People in the massage group received light massage on their affected side for 25 minutes three times a week. All of the 128 participants, who ranged in age from 42 to 90, had suffered either an ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke six to 24 months prior to the start of the study. (An ischemic stroke occurs when a clot blocks the blood supply to part of the brain. A hemorrhagic stroke occurs when a blood vessel in or around the brain weakens … Continue reading →

REDMOND, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- With the recent release of the updated American Heart Association (AHA)/American Stroke Association (ASA) Guidelines for Early Management of Acute Stroke Patients, Physio-Control, a world leader in emergency medical response technologies, today announced that the LIFENET Systems OnePush feature can be used to rapidly activate stroke care teams. LIFENETs stroke alert capability enables faster time-to-treatment, assisting stroke care teams in meeting the updated AHA/ASA Guidelines and helping improve stroke patient outcomes. The updated Guidelines, released January 31, 2013, support the overarching concept of stroke systems of care and detail aspects of stroke care from patient recognition; emergency medical services activation, transport and triage; through the initial hours in the emergency department and stroke unit.1 The LIFENET stroke alert capability utilizes LIFENETs easy-to-configure settings allowing hospitals to create a OnePush automated stroke protocol activation, similar to how customers now activate a STEMI alert protocol. When a prehospital notification of a stroke is received, the appropriate notifications, vital signs and ECGs are forwarded to the entire hospital stroke team and events are recorded, noting the time of the protocol activation which aids in documenting response times for quality improvement purposes. In addition, a OnePush stroke alert can be activated … Continue reading →