Showing papers in "Neurotherapeutics in 2007"

TL;DR: Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) is a promising method for characterizing microstructural changes or differences with neuropathology and treatment and the biological mechanisms, acquisition, and analysis of DTI measurements are addressed.

TL;DR: This review considers how recent advances in the physiology of ion channels and other potential molecular targets, in conjunction with new information on the genetics of idiopathic epilepsies, can be applied to the search for improved antiepileptic drugs (AEDs).

TL;DR: The following review summarizes the current state of myelin imaging using MR and highlights a number of important findings related to myelin development, damage, and repair.

TL;DR: This article focuses on the imaging of brain iron and the underlying physiology and metabolism relating to iron deposition and the potential implications of iron-related toxicity to neurotherapeutic development.

TL;DR: ASL perfusion and perfusion-based functional MRI methods have been applied in many clinical settings, including acute and chronic cerebrovascular disease, CNS neoplasms, epilepsy, aging and development, neurodegenerative disorders, and neuropsychiatric diseases.

TL;DR: The functional studies of two FHM1 knockin mice and of several FHM mutants in heterologous expression systems show that the FHM data support a key role of CSD in migraine pathogenesis and point to cortical hyperexcitability as the basis for vulnerability to CSD and to migraine attacks.

TL;DR: This chapter will review the current process for AED discovery employed by the Anticonvulsant Drug Development Program at the University of Utah and other laboratories working toward the common goal of discovering better therapeutic options for patients living with epilepsy.

TL;DR: Variable levels of evidence suggest that lamotrigine and the vagal nerve stimulator have antidepressant properties, and Carbamazepine, valproate, lamOTrigine, and oxcarbazepine appear to have mood stabilizing properties while gabapentin, pregabalin, and tiagabine have anxiolytic benefits.

TL;DR: 4-AP prevented attacks in five of six patients with EA 2, most likely by increasing the resting activity and excitability of the Purkinje cells, and these findings were confirmed by experiments in animal models of EA 2.

TL;DR: Eslicarbazepine acetate (ESL) is a novel central nervous system (CNS)-active compound with anticonvulsant activity that behaves as a voltage-gated sodium channel (VGSC) blocker and is currently under clinical development for the treatment of epilepsy and bipolar disorder.

TL;DR: Chemokine biology suggests several approaches for treating neurological disease, including inhibition of chemokine receptor signaling, which has anti-inflammatory properties and CX3CL1-CX3CR1 controls neurotoxicity.

TL;DR: The pharmacology of voltage-gated and neurotransmitter- gated ion channels involved in neurologic diseases, with emphasis on neurologic channelopathies is discussed, highlighting the need for pharmacogenetic research to allow identification of drugs with more specific effects on channel isoforms or mutants to increase efficacy and reduce side effects.

TL;DR: A profile of active disease emerges that matches some of the typical distribution patterns known from structural neuroimaging techniques, but additionally shows involvement of brain regions linked through neural pathways, in the context of cell-based in vivo neuropathology.

TL;DR: Findings indicate that the deficiency in CD4+CD25+FoxP3+ regulatory T-cells in multiple sclerosis is restored by GA treatment, which represents a plausible explanation for GA-mediated T-cell immune modulation.

TL;DR: To become a successful second-generation VPA drugs, the new drug should possess the following characteristics: broad-spectrum antiepileptic activity, better potency than VPA, lack of teratogenicity and hepatotoxicity, and a favorable pharmacokinetic profile compared with VPA including a low potential for drug interactions.

TL;DR: Several approaches, ranging from molecular profiling of isolated cells to the generation of irradiation chimeric rodent models, are now beginning to generate rudimentary definitions distinguishing the various types of microglia and macrophages found within the CNS and the potential roles that these cells may play in health and disease.

TL;DR: The recognition that the idiopathic epilepsies are a group of channelopathies has explained the therapeutic action of the common anticpileptic drugs and has assisted clinical diagnosis of some epilepsy syndromes.

TL;DR: Congenital myasthenic syndromes are heterogeneous disorders in which the safety margin of neuromuscular transmission is compromised by one or more mechanisms and strategies for therapy are based on whether a given CMS decreases or increases the synaptic response to acetylcholine (ACh).

TL;DR: Brivaracetam was effective at all tested doses (10 – 80 mg) in reducing or abolishing EEG discharges evoked by a photic stimulus in patients with photosensitive epilepsy and the pharmacokinetic profile of bri varacetam is unaltered in elderly subjects or those with impaired renal function.

TL;DR: The localization methods currently used in proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy of the brain are described and the technical and practical factors that determine the applicability of the methods to particular clinical studies are discussed.

TL;DR: An overview of the array of tools available with brain and spinal cord MRI technology as it is applied to MS is provided, focusing on the most relevant pathologic and clinical correlation studies relevant to these measures.

TL;DR: This review examines the current understanding of episodic ataxia type 1, focusing on its clinical and genetic features, pathophysiology, and treatment.

TL;DR: The application of magnetization transfer MRI for the assessment of damage in macroscopic lesions, in normal-appearing white and gray matter, and in the spinal cord and optic nerve of patients with several neurological conditions is providing important in vivo information, dramatically improving understanding of the factors associated with the appearance of clinical symptoms and the accumulation of irreversible disability.

TL;DR: The clinical, laboratory, and genetic features of Andersen-Tawil syndrome are reviewed, with particular emphasis on treatment and management of the concomitant involvement of cardiac and skeletal muscle in ATS.

TL;DR: Comparative brain imaging follow-up studies of blood-brain barrier leakage by MRI with gadolinium-chelates, microglia activation by positron emission tomography with radiotracer ligand PK11195 and MRI detection of macrophage infiltration provide more precise information about the pathophysiological cascade of inflammatory events in cerebral diseases.

TL;DR: The present article reviews each of the nondystrophic myotonias by exploring the unique clinical features, electrodiagnostic findings, diagnostic criteria, gene mutations, and response to pharmacologic therapy.

TL;DR: Because hyperkalemic PP has been described to be associated with an R83H mutation of a MiRP2 potassium channel subunit, evidence refuting disease-causality in this case will be discussed.

TL;DR: Safinamide (SAF) as discussed by the authors ((S)-(+)-2-(4-(3-fluorobenzyloxy) benzylamino)propanamide) was initially synthetized by Farmitalia Carlo Erba (Italy). Following initial anticonvulsant screening, SAF was selected for its potency, broad spectrum of action, and good safety margin.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated the mechanism of action of interferon-β and found that a reduction in active lesions seen on magnetic resonance imaging implies primary anti-inflammatory properties, a mechanism supported by basic immunologic research.

TL;DR: Applications to AD and other dementias are discussed, with a brief review of related findings in other neurological and neuropsychiatric illnesses, including epilepsy, HTV/AIDS, schizophrenia, and disorders of brain development.