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Researchers have identified two significant factors that can help predict cognitive outcomes in Dravet syndrome patients: Longer  treatment with antiepileptics that block sodium channels, and being younger when the first afebrile seizure occurs. The study “Influence of contraindicated…

The National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD) will celebrate the 35th anniversary of both the 1983 Orphan Drug Act and NORD’s founding at a dinner tonight in Washington, D.C. The 2018 Rare Impact Awards, to be held at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium, will be webcast via Facebook for those…

Children with Dravet syndrome are at risk of coma after prolonged epileptic seizures, especially when associated with high fever, according to a large Chinese retrospective study. The study, “The clinical outcome and neuroimaging of acute encephalopathy after status epilepticus in Dravet syndrome,” was published in the journal…

An approved cancer medication was able to reduce average daily seizures by 60 percent in zebrafish and mice with epilepsy. That finding was in an article, “A novel metabolism-based phenotypic drug discovery platform in zebrafish uncovers HDACs 1 and 3 as a potential combined anti-seizure drug target,” that was…

Inhibiting the communication between nerve cells located on different sides of the brain can prevent epilepsy seizures from spreading, a mouse study shows. The study “Dynamic interaction of local and transhemispheric networks is necessary for progressive intensification of hippocampal seizures” was published in the journal Scientific…