Is Life Span Inherited From Your Parents?
Your parents may largely dictate how long you're going to live. And your mom appears to have most of the control over your "aging gene." Previous research has linked the length of telomeres -- the tips of chromosomes -- to disease and life span, say researchers. These structures become progressively shorter each time the cell divides, and it is thought that this shortening is one of the critical features of cellular aging and illness. One study showed people with heart disease had shorter telomeres, while other research showed telomere length was a predictor of death.
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Epileptic Seizure: Red Flag for Stroke
An unexplained epileptic seizure is a red flag: After age 60, a seizure could mean a great risk for stroke, new research shows. A first-time seizure after age 60 means an almost threefold higher risk of stroke, reports lead researcher Paul Cleary, MD, with Scotland's Gartnaval General Hospital in Glasgow. His study appears in this week's issue of The Lancet.
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Seizure Medication Linked to Birth Defects
Children born to women taking the commonly prescribed seizure medication Depakote are more likely to have birth defects and other problems. Researchers say that if possible women should avoid taking this medication during their childbearing years.
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Older Epilepsy Drugs Promote Bone Loss
Older women who take antiseizure drugs are at increased risk for developing osteoporosis, according to findings from one of the largest and longest studies of bone loss and epilepsy treatment ever reported. Researchers found that elderly women who took drugs to control their epilepsy lost bone mass at nearly twice the rate of women who did not. This translated into a 29% increase in the risk of hip fractures among the women with epilepsy over a five-year period.
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Dogs Anticipate Epileptic Seizures
The family dog can often sense when a child has an impending epileptic seizure, a new study shows. One dog may sit on a toddler before an attack. Another dog might push a young girl away from stairs just minutes before her seizure. Yet another dog wakes up in the night 20 minutes before a child's seizure.
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Study Shows Small Seizure Risk From Vaccine
There's no question that childhood vaccinations against measles, mumps, and rubella save lives. But this protection may come with a price -- an increased risk of fever-related seizures. These so-called febrile seizures occur almost three times more often in kids who get vaccinated than those who don't, typically striking within two weeks following the MMR vaccine.
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Pokemon Seizures Linked to Epilepsy, Not TV
New research suggests that the children in Japan who suffered epileptic seizures after watching a popular Japanese TV cartoon in 1997 would have probably developed seizures regardless of whether they watched the program or not In an incident that drew worldwide attention in December 1997, many children and some adults in Japan who were watching the popular television cartoon Pokemon ("Pocket Monster" had epileptic seizures.
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Snail Venom Studied as Source for New Drugs
Researchers are plumbing the depths of the seas to develop new drugs for pain relief and brain diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and epilepsy. They're particularly interested in some of the lowliest ocean dwellers: cone snails.
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A College Guide to Chronic Disease
Sure, there's a bit of exaggeration in the above statement. But for some students, particularly those who already have a chronic disease when they enter college, the stresses and strains of life amid the ivory towers could place them at risk for becoming ill or making an existing chronic illness even worse.
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Brain Chemicals Suggest Marijuana's Effects
Marijuana is well known for its widespread effects on the brain. The key to understanding its impact may come from the brain's own pharmacy. Brains make their own calming substances called cannabinoids, which are similar to marijuana's active ingredients.
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Epilepsy Causes Few Fatal Car Accidents
Here's something to be grateful for the next time you buckle up. Of all the hazards on the road, epileptic drivers aren't very likely to cause a fatal wreck. In the U.S., 86 drivers per year died as a result of crashes caused by seizures from 1995-1997, according to experts at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the University of Maryland, Baltimore.
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Depression Often Accompanies Epilepsy
Depression is common in people with epilepsy, affecting more than a third of epilepsy patients in a recent survey. The survey, funded by GlaxoSmithKline and published in the September issue of the journal Neurology, compared depression rates among epilepsy patients, people with asthma, and people without a chronic disease.
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Is Your Medication Working Overtime?
Many medications on the market today are prescribed for one condition but have been found to help others as well. Is your drug doing double duty? "Many drugs do have added benefits," says Marc Siegel, MD, clinical associate professor at New York University School of Medicine. Aspirin, for example, can not only treat headaches, but it also reduces the risk of heart attack and has been shown to possibly lower the risk of breast and colon cancer, to name just a few of its benefits.
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How to Handle a Chronic Illness at Work
When you have a chronic illness, such as epilepsy, peanut allergies, or diabetes, you need an ally at your place of work. Who should that ally be, how does he need to handle himself, and what should he do in case of an emergency? Here are some practical tips experts offer WebMD that will help you balance your health with your career.
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