Epilepsia
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
Efficacy and safety of eslicarbazepine acetate as adjunctive treatment in adults with refractory partial-onset seizures: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group phase III study.
To study the efficacy and safety of eslicarbazepine acetate (ESL) as adjunctive therapy for refractory partial seizures in adults with >or=4 partial-onset seizures (simple or complex, with or without secondary generalization) per 4 weeks despite treatment with 1-2 antiepileptic drugs (AEDs). ⋯ ESL, 800 and 1,200 mg once-daily, was well tolerated and more effective than placebo in patients who were refractory to treatment with one or two concomitant AEDs.
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Despite the fact that status epilepticus was been recognized since antiquity, its existence was largely ignored until the mid-nineteenth century. In this review we cover the medical literature of status epilepticus from the late nineteenth century until the early 1970s when the modern era of status epilepticus began. We pay particular attention to the impact of the ILAE and its principal members on the understanding and awareness of status epilepticus. We also cover the evolution of treatment regimens advocated for status epilepticus from the late nineteenth century to the early 1970s when the benzodiazepines were established as first line treatments.
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Valproate (VPA) interferes with mitochondrial metabolism causing hyperammonemia, thereby shifting the balance reaction of glutamine (Gln)/glutamate (Glu) toward Gln. In this study we wanted to determine whether metabolic changes could be reproduced in VPA-treated patients with epilepsy and whether the results differed from those known in chronic hepatic encephalopathy (CHE). ⋯ In VPA-treated patients the alteration of the Glu/Gln ratio differs from that in patients with CHE, where Glx is markedly increased because of an increase in Gln. The expected shift from the biochemical balance reaction of Gln/Glu induced by VPA could be reproduced for the parietal lobe. Significantly reduced mI in the parietal lobe of VPA-treated patients most likely reflects an osmolytic compensation for high Gln.