#62: Spasms, Fits, Convulsions - Seizure matters, Installment #4 [29:26m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (552)

#62: Spasms, Fits, Convulsions - seizure matters. (installment #4).

Publication Date: Mar 23rd, 2007.

1. MRI Reveals New Epilepsy Surgery Candidates: Diffuse EEG patterns do not necessarily mean children don’t have a focal lesion amenable to the surgery.
2. Depression in Epilepsy Patients Is Common, but Undertreated: Consider using the PHQ-9 depression “instrument” in your practice.
3. New Approaches to Epilepsy: three intriguing new therapeutic approaches being funded by grants from the Epilepsy Research Foundation.
4. And last but not least: Relax, I Trained With Dr. Nintendo - You might want a neurosurgeon who plays at least 3 hours of video games per week!

 

 #55: Ideology for Neurology, Installment #4 [26:04m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (487)

#55: Ideology for Neurology- Working toward neurological perfection Installment: #4.

Publication Date: Feb 2, 2007.

Show Notes: Some ‘alternative medicine’ approaches for treating Multiple Sclerosis (MS) are showing promise empirically, but controlled studies are largely lacking. If the scientific evidence of efficacy substantiates some of the treatments, it may then be time to integrate them more fully into ‘conventional medicine.’ Possible examples include omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin D, ginkgo biloba, cannabis sativa, bee sting therapy (’apitherapy), acupuncture, hyperbaric oxygen, and maybe even someday the avoidance of dairy in select people.

A French neurologist in the early 1990s conducted a prospective study on more than 200 women with MS. He found that the MS relapse rate dropped by about 80% during pregnancy. Early this year, investigators will start enrolling women with relapsing-remitting MS in a multicenter trial designed to evaluate whether treatment with physiologic levels of estriol - comparable with levels which can be measured during pregnancy - will induce the same reductions in MS activity that have been documented during pregnancy. And MRI measures will be used to assess the MS patients’ progression.

And finally: MRI has revealed that adolescents who play violent video games have less activation in their prefrontal lobes, compared to those who played non-violent video games. The pre-frontal region is not a part of the brain we want to be less active in our young (or older) society members!

Show links: www.vitasearch.com (review of vitamin D as possible preventive and treatment for MS).

 

 #54: Imagery for Neurology [34:39m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (584)

Imaging and images for neurology professionals, installment #1.

Publication Date: Jan 26, 2007.

Show Notes: Conjuring up lies in the brain changes its magnetic resonance properties - so reproducibly and consistently that functional MRI images are over 90% accurate in actually viewing those lies! With neuroimaging research, potential benefits and thorny hazards abound!

A modern-day Pandora’s Box has been opened after revealing the secrets of modern-day imaging technology, releasing its potential societal woes. We invoke ‘contemporary mythology’ to address the neuroethical challenges being raised by the new imaging technologies. There are answers to help us survive the challenges, and progress efficiently and safely with neuroimaging. In fact, the answers are the only thing remaining in the mythical ‘Pandora’s Box’! Listen to learn some answers.

Show links: For a brief history of fMRI see www.ee.duke.edu.

 

 #51 - Neurology's Believe it or Not - Curiosities from the Neurology Treasure Trove. [33:01m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (614)

Publication Date: Jan 5, 2007.

Show Notes: What ubiquitous dietary factor has recently been documented (using MRI) to result in brain atrophy and neurodegeneration in large numbers of humans? Listen and learn. And what substance normal to our physiology - at high-normal levels in the serum - is linked to significantly lower rates of progression of Parkinson’s disease? And last, but not least - believe it or not - the Institute for Condom Consultancy hopes to roll out a provoking new product in 2007.

Show website reference: www.celiac.com

 

 #39 - Spasms, Fits, Convulsions [36:44m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (515)

All things seizure-related, with focus on epilepsy. This is installment #3 of Spasms, Fits, and Convulsions - All Things Seizure-Related.

Publication Date: 10/13/06.

Show notes: We look at exciting clinical developments in epilepsy, with focus on medical imaging to locate origin of seizures. MRI is already able to identify seizure foci in infants. Our lead story is on combining different imaging modalities — in this case PET and CT — to find seizure foci even when MRI can’t.