EDMOND Q: My cat Muffin is just about to be 5 years old. He is just a plain cat, no fancy breed but we love him. Recently he has started having seizures. They only last 2 or 3 minutes, but I know they are seizures because many years ago we had a cocker spaniel that had seizures. I did not know cats could have seizures. Is there a treatment for cats having seizures or can they be just fixed and stopped? As far as we know he has never been injured or even sick. He gets his shots every year and has always been healthy. A: Yes, unfortunately cats can have seizures. It is a much lower percentage however than dogs at less than 1 percent. Epilepsy or epileptic seizures can occur for many reasons and have several causes. The cause may originate from the brain as might happen if there is a head injury or trauma to the head. Other causes might be a disease such as rabies, kidney or liver failure, or abnormal electrolytes such as might happen in the summer heat. Toxins can certainly cause seizures and these include sprays and fertilizers being put on plants and … Continue reading →

POSTED: Monday, March 19, 2012 - 9:00pm UPDATED: Monday, March 19, 2012 - 9:14pm The Texas Council on Cardiovascular Disease and Stroke recently recognized Longview for promotion of heart health. Longview was recognized as a Silver Award recipient for practices related to preventing and controlling heart disease and stroke. An award reception will be held at 3:00 p.m., March 22, at the Good Shepherd Institute for Healthy Living, 3133 Good Shepherd Way. The reception will recognize the efforts of the medical community, schools, businesses, the Chamber of Commerce, Gregg County, and the City of Longview as part of the endeavor. Following the reception, the award will also be presented during the Longview City Council meeting at 5:30 p.m., March 22. This program helps bring into focus those cities that raise the bar in cardiovascular health, said Tom Tenner, PhD, Chair of the Texas Council on Cardiovascular Disease and Stroke. The recognized cities were found to be best prepared, based on an assessment of recognized best practices in policies and environmental changes. Ten indicators are used to determine recognition as a Heart and Stroke Healthy City. Environmental indicators include offering physical activity areas, healthy eating options, defibrillators and CPR classes in … Continue reading →

Now academics across Europe are setting up a 9 million study, funded largely by the EU, to test the theory in 1,500 volunteers. Dr Malcolm Macleod, head of experimental neuroscience at the Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences at Edinburgh University, said: "Our estimates are that hypothermia might improve the outcome for more than 40,000 Europeans every year." "The estimate is that this is probably as powerful as clot-busting drugs," he said. Dr Macleod noted cooling appeared to work for up to six hours after the stroke, compared to about 4.5 hours for thrombolysism. He also said it could also be used in the vast majority of stroke patients, which is not the case for clot-busting drugs, which can only be used fro about one in five. He continued: "It's a treatment that might in time be available to give in the back of ambulances." The larger study is needed to verify the pilot study results, he said. Dr Clare Walton from The Stroke Association said: "Cooling is a particularly promising area of stroke research because we know body temperature often increases following a stroke and patients with very high temperatures tend to make poorer recoveries. "We already know that cooling … Continue reading →

By a GenomeWeb staff reporter NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) Proteome Sciences today said that it will be performing biomarker analysis for a new European research initiative to study hypothermia as a treatment after stroke. The research project, called EuroHyp-1, is a phase III clinical trial and today its leaders announced an 11 million ($14.6 million) grant from the European Commission under the Seventh Framework Programme to fund research involving 1,500 stroke victims to determine if cooling the brain within six hours of a stroke can effectively treat such patients. In pilot studies, the method has shown to be "remarkably effective," as a treatment, EuroHyp-1 said. As part of the project, UK-based Proteome Sciences will use its mass spectrometry-based assays to perform biomarker analysis of patient samples in blood, the company said. The trial funded by today's grant involves 60 universities and hospitals in 25 countries and seeks to recruit patients who have had an acute ischemic stroke. A particular focus will be on those without a "truly effective treatment or who exhibit limited response to the existing standard interventions," EuroHyp-1 said in a statement. Cooling the brain after cardiac arrest and birth injuries is already used to reduce ischemic brain … Continue reading →