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BackgroundThe number of patients suffering post-stroke seizure after ischemic stroke (PSSi) is quite considerable, especially because ischemic stroke is more prevalent than hemorrhage in the general population. This study aimed to determine the predicting factors for seizure recurrence in ischemic stroke survivors and develop a clinical scoring system for the prediction of risks for seizure recurrence after the first PSSi.MethodsWe reviewed 3792 ischemic stroke patients from the Ewha Stroke Registry. A total of 124 (3.3 %) patients who experienced PSSi were recruited (mean follow-up for 44.4 months). Medical records concerning the etiology, functional disability, seizure onset latency from stroke, type of seizure, electroencephalography (EEG), and neuroimaging findings were statistically analyzed to derive a seizure recurrence risk scoring system.ResultsSeizures recurred in 35.4 % (17/48) of early PSSi patients (≤1 week since stroke onset) and 48.7 % (37/76) of late PSSi (>1 week) patients. Atrial fibrillation, large sized, and cortical stroke lesion were more common in late onset PSSi compared to those in early onset PSSi (p < 0.05). Seizure recurrence tended to be more prevalent in early PSSi patients with male gender, atrial fibrillation or cortical stroke lesion, severe functional disability, and partial seizures. Seizure recurrence in late PSSi group was more common in patients of young age (≤65 years old), male gender, large lesion size, and partial seizure type. The validity of seizure recurrence risk score in the early PSSi group was better when evaluating based on gender, atrial fibrillation, cortical lesion, functional disability, and partial seizure type, with sensitivity of 70.6 % and specificity of 71.0 %.ConclusionsOur study characterized the high risk group for seizure recurrence in patients with the first PSSi. PSSi patients with high risk score of seizure recurrence had a greater chance of developing epilepsy later. Therefore, they should be considered for further treatment such as antiepileptic drug medication in clinical practice.

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Purpose Impaired consciousness in epileptic seizures has a major negative impact on patient quality of life. Prior work on epileptic unconsciousness has mainly used retrospective and nonstandardized methods. Our goal was to validate and to obtain initial data using a standardized prospective testing battery. Methods The responsiveness in epilepsy scale (RES) was used on 52 patients during continuous video/EEG monitoring. RES begins with higher-level questions and commands, and switches adaptively to more basic sensorimotor responses depending on patient performance. RES continues after seizures and includes postictal memory testing. Scoring was conducted based on video review. Key Findings Testing on standardized seizure simulations yielded good intra-rater and inter-rater reliability. We captured 59 seizures from 18 patients (35% of participants) during 1420 hours of RES monitoring. RES impairment was greatest during and after tonic-clonic seizures, less in partial seizures, and minimal in auras and subclinical seizures. In partial seizures, ictal RES impairment was significantly greater if EEG changes were present. Maximum RES impairment (lowest ictal score) was also significantly correlated with long postictal recovery time, and poor postictal memory. Significance We found that prospective testing of responsiveness during seizures is feasible and reliable. RES impairment was related to EEG changes during seizures, as well as to postictal memory deficits and recovery time. With a larger patient sample it is hoped that this approach can identify brain networks underlying specific components of impaired consciousness in seizures. This may allow the development of improved treatments targeted at preventing dysfunction in these networks.

Objective:The purpose of this study was to investigate functional connectivity (FC) changes in epileptogenic networks in intractable partial epilepsy obtained from resting-state fMRI by using intrinsic connectivity contrast (ICC), a voxel-based network measure of degree that reflects the number of connections to each voxel.Methods:We measured differences between intrahemispheric- and interhemispheric-ICC (ICCintra−inter) that could reveal localized connectivity abnormalities in epileptogenic zones while more global network changes would be eliminated when subtracting these values. The ICCintra−inter map was compared with the seizure onset zone (SOZ) based on intracranial EEG (icEEG) recordings in 29 patients with at least 1 year of postsurgical follow-up. Two independent reviewers blindly interpreted the icEEG and fMRI data, and the concordance rates were compared for various clinical factors.Results:Concordance between the icEEG SOZ and ICCintra−inter map was observed in 72.4% (21/29) of the patients, which was higher in patients with good surgical outcome, especially in those patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) or lateral temporal seizure localization. Concordance was also better in the extratemporal lobe epilepsy than the TLE group. In 85.7% (18/21) of the cases, the ICCintra−inter values were negative in the SOZ, indicating decreased FC within the epileptic hemisphere relative to between hemispheres.Conclusions:Assessing alterations in FC using fMRI-ICC map can help localize the SOZ, which has potential as a noninvasive presurgical diagnostic tool to improve surgical outcome. In addition, the method reveals that, in focal epilepsy, both intrahemispheric- and interhemispheric-FC may be altered, in the presence of both regional as well as global network abnormalities.

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WWE on VPA monotherapy are more obese and more frequently suffer from metabolic syndrome. LTG or TPM may be safer when prescribed to the patients with high risk of cardiovascular disease.

In this paper, we present a vibration energy harvester using magnetoelectric laminate composite and a springless spherical permanent magnet as a proof mass. The harvester utilizes a freely movable spherical permanent magnet to transform external vibration into a time varying magnetic field applied to the magnetoelectric transducer. The laminate composite consists of a Ni–Mn–Ga-based MSMA (magnetic shape memory alloy) element and a PZT (lead zirconate titanate) plate. A proof-of-concept harvester has been fabricated and characterized at various input accelerations and frequencies. A maximum open circuit voltage of 1.18 V has been obtained in response to a 3g vibration at 17 Hz with the fabricated device. Moreover, a maximum output voltage of 10.24 V and output power of 4.1 μW have been achieved on a 950 Ω load, when the fabricated energy harvester was mounted on a smartphone and shaken by hand.