Public release date: 24-Jan-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ] Contact: Jeremy Walter Jeremy.Walter@tuhs.temple.edu 215-707-7882 Temple University Health System (Philadelphia, PA) - Researchers at Shriner's Hospital Pediatric Research Center at the Temple University School of Medicine, and the University of Pennsylvania have evidence linking the human papillomavirus 16 (HPV16) the most common cause of cervical cancer to a common form of childhood epilepsy. They have shown for the first time that HPV16 may be present in the human brain, and found that when they added a viral protein to the brains of fetal mice, the mice all demonstrated the same developmental problems in the cerebral cortex associated with this type of epilepsy, called focal cortical dysplasia type IIB (FCDIIB). The findings suggest that the virus could play a role in the development of epilepsy. The results also mean that doctors may have to re-think their approach to treating this type of epilepsy, and perhaps consider other therapeutic options related to HPV, an infectious disease. "This is a novel mechanism, and it fills a gap in our understanding about the development of congenital brain malformations," said Peter Crino, MD, PhD, Professor of Neurology at Temple University School of Medicine, and a … Continue reading →

Jan. 24, 2013 Maternal inflammation during early pregnancy may be related to an increased risk of autism in children, according to new findings supported by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), part of the National Institutes of Health. Researchers found this in children of mothers with elevated C-reactive protein (CRP), a well-established marker of systemic inflammation. The risk of autism among children in the study was increased by 43 percent among mothers with CRP levels in the top 20th percentile, and by 80 percent for maternal CRP in the top 10th percentile. The findings appear in the journal Molecular Psychiatry and add to mounting evidence that an overactive immune response can alter the development of the central nervous system in the fetus. "Elevated CRP is a signal that the body is undergoing a response to inflammation from, for example, a viral or bacterial infection," said lead scientist on the study, Alan Brown, M.D., professor of clinical psychiatry and epidemiology at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York State Psychiatric Institute, and Mailman School of Public Health. "The higher the level of CRP in the mother, the greater the risk of autism in the child." Brown cautioned … Continue reading →

As Dennis Daye lay unconscious in Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre Tuesday, his wife and physician sat in a hospital hearing room five floors above, locked in dispute over whether to keep him alive or let him die. A massive stroke last month brought the 65-year-old retired truck driver to Sunnybrook, where doctors removed a large section of his skull due to swelling a trauma that stole much of his brain function and continues to place him in medical peril, Dr. Robert Fowler, one of Dayes physicians, testified before a three-member Consent and Capacity Board panel. Dayes unknown wishes for life or death in these circumstances and the kind of medical care that is now in his best interests are now under dispute before the provincial board that mediates end-of-life conflicts between physicians and substitute decision-makers. On the one side of that debate are Sunnybrook physicians, represented by Fowler, who wish to remove life-sustaining care and allow Daye to die peacefully. On the other, Dayes wife and substitute decision-maker, Pilar, who wants her husband, a status Mohawk who attended Christian church services, to be treated with traditional, plant-based medicine. Daye is the latest in a string of patients whose medical fortunes … Continue reading →

As Dennis Daye lay unconscious in Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre Tuesday, his wife and physician sat in a hospital hearing room five floors above, locked in dispute over whether to keep him alive or let him die. Read the Atkinson series on Life and Death A massive stroke last month brought the 65-year-old retired truck driver to Sunnybrook, where doctors removed a large section of his skull due to swelling a trauma that stole much of his brain function and continues to place him in medical peril, Dr. Robert Fowler, one of Dayes physicians, testified before a three-member Consent and Capacity Board panel. Dayes unknown wishes for life or death in these circumstances and the kind of medical care that is now in his best interests are now under dispute before the provincial board that mediates end-of-life conflicts between physicians and substitute decision-makers. On the one side of that debate are Sunnybrook physicians, represented by Fowler, who wish to remove life-sustaining care and allow Daye to die peacefully. On the other, Dayes wife and substitute decision-maker, Pilar, who wants her husband, a status Mohawk who attended Christian church services, to be treated with traditional, plant-based medicine. Daye is the latest … Continue reading →