(Press-News.org) A team led by a University of British Columbia professor has developed a new class of drugs that completely suppress absence seizures – a brief, sudden loss of consciousness – in rats, and which are now being tested in humans.
Absence seizures, also known as "petit mal seizures," are a symptom of epilepsy, most commonly experienced by children. During such episodes, the person looks awake but dazed. The seizures, arising from a flurry of high-frequency signals put out by the neurons of the thalamus, can be dangerous if they occur while a person is swimming or driving, and can also interrupt learning.
Available medications don't completely control such seizures in many patients. They also cause severe side effects, including sleepiness, blurred vision and diminished motor control.
A Canadian-Australian team, led by neuroscientist Terrance P. Snutch, a Canada Research Chair in the Michael Smith Laboratories at UBC, developed new drugs with a different target – the flow of calcium into brain cells. Their findings were published today in Science Translational Medicine.
The new drugs, known as Z941 and Z944, block the flow of calcium ions into those neurons. When given to rats with absence epilepsy, they suppressed seizures by 85 to 90 per cent.
The team, which included collaborators at Zalicus Pharmaceuticals Ltd. of Vancouver and the University of Melbourne, was surprised to find that when seizures did occur, they were also of shorter duration; existing medications don't have any effect on the length of seizures.
The first phase of human clinical trials of Z944 began in December, with results expected later this year.
"Z941 and Z944 were designed to target a specific type of nerve cell calcium channel associated with epilepsy, as well as other hyper-excitability disorders such as chronic pain," says Snutch, a professor in the departments of psychiatry and zoology. "The dramatic effect of the drugs in rats with absence epilepsy, together with the drugs' ability to be administered orally and easily absorbed, and its good safety profile in animals, provide us with cautious optimism for the current clinical trial."
###Dr. Snutch's translational research program has previously resulted in the development of drugs to treat chronic pain, one of which is currently undergoing clinical trials and another that has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and is available to patients.
New drugs show promise for preventing 'absence seizures' in children: UBC research
Drugs target calcium channel in neurons
2012-02-16
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Goat kids can develop accents
2012-02-16
The ability to change vocal sounds (vocal plasticity) and develop an accent is potentially far more widespread in mammals than previously believed, according to new research on goats from Queen Mary, University of London.
Vocal plasticity is the ability of an individual to modify the sound of their voice according to their social environment. Humans benefit from an extreme form of vocal plasticity which allows us to produce a wide range of sounds and accents, but in most other mammals (except, for example, bats and whales) vocalisations were thought to be genetically ...
Owning a dog encourages exercise in pregnant women
2012-02-16
The study of more than 11,000 pregnant women, in partnership with Mars Petcare, showed that those who owned dogs were approximately 50% more likely to achieve the recommended 30 minutes of exercise a day through high levels of brisk walking than those without dogs. Scientists suggest that as it is a low-risk exercise, walking a dog could form part of a broader strategy to improve the health of pregnant women.
Previous studies have shown that maternal obesity and large weight gain during pregnancy has adverse outcomes for mother and child. Studies show, for example, that ...
National trial shows autoinjectors faster, more effective than IV lines in stopping seizures
2012-02-16
CINCINNATI -- As part of the first national, randomized clinical trial to study two methods of drug delivery for seizing patients, researchers have shown that using an auto-injector, similar to an EpiPen, to deliver anticonvulsant medication stops prolonged seizures more quickly and effectively than drug delivery through an IV line.
The research, which will be published in the Feb. 16 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine, was conducted as part of the Rapid Anticonvulsant Medication Prior to Arrival Trial (RAMPART), which included University of Cincinnati (UC) ...
Finnish research organisation VTT combines mobile phone technology and microscopy
2012-02-16
VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, the leading multi-technological applied research organisation in Northern Europe, has developed an optical accessory that turns an ordinary camera phone into a high-resolution microscope. The device is accurate to one hundredth of a millimetre. Among those who will benefit from the device are the printing industry, consumers, the security business, and even health care professionals. A new Finnish enterprise called KeepLoop Oy and VTT are already exploring the commercial potential of the invention. The first industrial applications ...
Genetic mutation implicated in 'broken' heart
2012-02-16
BOSTON, MA (February 15, 2012) — For decades, researchers have sought a genetic explanation for idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), a weakening and enlargement of the heart that puts an estimated 1.6 million Americans at risk of heart failure each year. Because idiopathic DCM occurs as a familial disorder, researchers have long searched for genetic causes, but for most patients the etiology for their heart disease remained unknown.
Now, new work from the lab of Christine Seidman, a Howard Hughes Investigator and the Thomas W. Smith Professor of Medicine and Genetics ...
Improved emergency treatment for prolonged seizures
2012-02-16
When a person is experiencing a prolonged convulsive seizure, quick medical intervention is critical. With every passing minute, the seizure becomes harder to stop, and can place the patient at risk of brain damage and death. This is why paramedics are trained to administer anticonvulsive medications as soon as possible -- traditionally giving them intravenously before arriving at the hospital.
Now a major clinical trial has shown that an even faster method that involves injecting the drugs into the thigh muscle using an autoinjector (similar to a pre-loaded syringe) ...
Lava formations in western US linked to rip in giant slab of Earth
2012-02-16
Like a stream of air shooting out of an airplane's broken window to relieve cabin pressure, scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego say lava formations in eastern Oregon are the result of an outpouring of magma forced out of a breach in a massive slab of Earth. Their new mechanism explaining how such a large volume of magma was generated is published in the Feb. 16 issue of the journal Nature.
For years scientists who study the processes underlying the planet's shifting tectonic plates and how they shape the planet have debated the origins of ...
Black hole came from a shredded galaxy
2012-02-16
Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have found a cluster of young, blue stars encircling the first intermediate-mass black hole ever discovered. The presence of the star cluster suggests that the black hole was once at the core of a now-disintegrated dwarf galaxy. The discovery of the black hole and the star cluster has important implications for understanding the evolution of supermassive black holes and galaxies.
"For the first time, we have evidence on the environment, and thus the origin, of this middle-weight black hole," said Mathieu Servillat, who worked ...
Plasmas torn apart
2012-02-16
VIDEO:
An argon plasma jet forms a rapidly growing corkscrew, known as a kink instability. This instability causes an even faster-developing behavior called a Rayleigh-Taylor instability, in which ripples grow and...
Click here for more information.
PASADENA, Calif.—January saw the biggest solar storm since 2005, generating some of the most dazzling northern lights in recent memory.
The source of that storm—and others like it—was the sun's magnetic field, described by ...
Tool assessing how community health centers deliver 'medical home' care may be flawed
2012-02-16
On the health front, the poor often have at least two things going against them: a lack of insurance and chronic illnesses, of which diabetes is among the most common.
The federal Affordable Care Act would expand the capacity of the nation's 8,000 community health centers to provide care for low-income, largely minority patients — from the current 20 million to about 40 million by 2015. The federal government is also trying to ensure that these community health centers deliver high-quality primary care, including diabetes care.
A crucial part of this is the implementation ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
Pavlov’s dogs were conditioned to go to their treat. Why do some animals learn to interact with the bell instead?
Call for Young Editorial Board members at Current Molecular Pharmacology
MSU team develops scalable climate solutions for agricultural carbon markets
Playing an instrument may protect against cognitive aging
UNM study finds link between Grand Canyon landslide and Meteor Crater impact
Ultra-hot Jupiter’s death spiral could reveal stellar secrets
You only get one brain! The best helmet material for protecting your noggin
Neurodegeneration and stroke after GLP-1RAs in diabetes and obesity
Pediatric COVID-19 hospitalization trends by race and ethnicity, 2020-2023
Research spotlight: New genetic roadmap offers insights into obesity and diabetes
Fred Hutch leads new Vanguard Study for Cancer Screening Research Network
‘Mismatched’ transplants now safe, effective for blood cancer patients, study finds
New research helps narrow down uncertainties in near-term precipitation projections for the Asian Water Tower
AI tool accurately detects tumor location on breast MRI
Researchers use OCT imaging to uncover how the fallopian tube transports embryos
PolyU secures RGC theme-based research scheme funding to develop cost-effective and sustainable Co-GenAI model
Van Andel Institute scientists develop technique for high-resolution single cell epigenetic analysis
The Lundquist Institute wins multi-year NIH grant exceeding $11 million to transform diagnosis and treatment of deadly mucormycosis
Review suggests ending adult boosters for tetanus, diphtheria
ESMT Berlin welcomes Rebecca Schaumberg to faculty
Blocking a little-known protein may offer new hope for devastating lung disease
Medieval medicine was smarter than you think – and weirdly similar to TikTok trends
FAU receives NIH grant to investigate amphetamine addiction
Realizing on-site carbon nanotube photo-thermoelectric imaging
Most of us love memes. But are they a form of comics?
Novel biosensor allows real-time monitoring of sucrose uptake in plants
Korea University researchers reveal revealing how WEE1 drives cancer resistance to immunotherapy
Pusan National University researchers develop breakthrough deep learning model that enhances handheld 3D medical imaging
SLAS Discovery and SLAS Technology demonstrate research impact with 2024 impact factors
Disease-causing bacteria can deal with stink as long as they get a meal
[Press-News.org] New drugs show promise for preventing 'absence seizures' in children: UBC researchDrugs target calcium channel in neurons