Lonicerae Japonicae Flos Attenuates Neutrophilic Inflammation by Inhibiting Oxidative Stress.

Lonicerae japonicae flos (LJ) is an Asian traditional herb that is used as a dietary supplement, tea, and beverage to clear heat and quench thirst. However, no studies investigated its effect on activated human neutrophils, which played a crucial role in the bad prognosis of coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) patients by aggravating lung inflammation and respiratory failure. Herein, we evaluated the anti-inflammatory effect of LJ ethanol extract (LJEE) on human neutrophils activated by N-formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine (fMLF). Our experimental results indicated that LJEE suppressed fMLF-activated superoxide anion (O2•-) generation, the expression of CD11b, and cell adhesion and migration, as well as the formation of neutrophil extracellular traps in human neutrophils. Further in-depth mechanical investigation revealed that pretreatment with LJEE accelerated the Ca2+ clearance, but did not affect the phosphorylation of mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) and protein kinase B (Akt) in activated human neutrophils. In addition, LJEE displayed a dose-dependent reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenger activity, which assisted its anti-inflammatory activity. From the bioassay-coupled chromatographic profile, chlorogenic acids were found to dominate the anti-inflammatory effects of LJEE. Moreover, LJ water extract (LJWE) demonstrated an interrupting effect on the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 spike protein (SARS-CoV-2-Spike)/angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) binding. In conclusion, the obtained results not only supported the traditional use of LJ for heat-clearance, but also suggested its potential application in daily health care during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lophatherum gracile Brongn. attenuates neutrophilic inflammation through inhibition of JNK and calcium.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Lophatherum gracile Brongn. (L. gracile) has been long used in traditional herbal medicine to clinically clear heat, disinhibit dampness, and treat inflammation. However, the effect of L. gracile on the activation of human neutrophils remains unclear. AIM OF THE STUDY: The aim of current study is to investigate the anti-inflammatory properties of L. gracile extract (LGE) in N-formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine (fMLF)-induced activation of human neutrophils. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Superoxide anion generation and elastase release were estimated by spectrophotometry. A series of signaling pathways including mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) and protein kinase B (Akt), as well as calcium mobilization were studied by Western blot analysis and spectrofluorometry. RESULTS: Our experimental results indicated that the nontoxic dosage of LGE does-dependently inhibited the fMLF-induced superoxide anion (O2•-) generation, elastase release, CD11b expression, adhesion, and chemotactic migration in human neutrophils. LGE selectively inhibited the fMLF-induced phosphorylation of JNK but not p38, ERK, or Akt in human neutrophils. LGE also decreased the intracellular Ca2+ levels ([Ca2+]i) in fMLF-activated human neutrophils. However, a specific JNK inhibitor inhibited the fMLF-induced O2•- generation and CD11b expression, but it had no effect on [Ca2+]i in human neutrophils. CONCLUSIONS: LGE exhibited anti-inflammatory activities in fMLF-activated human neutrophils. The pharmacological mechanisms of LGE-repressed neutrophilic inflammation were through two independent pathways, JNK signaling and calcium mobilization. Our results suggested that LGE holds the potential to be developed as an anti-inflammatory botanical medicine.

High-Performance Seizure Detection System Using a Wavelet-Approximate Entropy-fSVM Cascade With Clinical Validation.

The classification of electroencephalography (EEG) signals is one of the most important methods for seizure detection. However, verification of an atypical epileptic seizure often can only be done through long-term EEG monitoring for 24 hours or longer. Hence, automatic EEG signal analysis for clinical screening is necessary for the diagnosis of epilepsy. We propose an EEG analysis system of seizure detection, based on a cascade of wavelet-approximate entropy for feature selection, Fisher scores for adaptive feature selection, and support vector machine for feature classification. Performance of the system was tested on open source data, and the overall accuracy reached 99.97%. We further tested the performance of the system on clinical EEG obtained from a clinical EEG laboratory and bedside EEG recordings. The results showed an overall accuracy of 98.73% for routine EEG, and 94.32% for bedside EEG, which verified the high performance and usefulness of such a cascade system for seizure detection. Also, the prediction model, trained by routine EEG, can be successfully generalized to bedside EEG of independent patients.

Geographic variation in the age- and gender-specific prevalence and incidence of epilepsy: analysis of Taiwanese National Health Insurance-based data.

PURPOSE: We studied geographic variation in age- and gender-specific prevalence and incidence of epilepsy in four different areas of Taiwan. METHODS: By using large-scale, National Health Insurance (NHI)-based data from 2000-2003 in Taiwan, we identified 131,287 patients diagnosed with epilepsy (ICD code 345) receiving at least of one of 11 antiepileptic drugs (AEDs). Information on age, gender, and location were also collected. The multivariable Poisson regression analysis was used to assess the heterogeneity of the morbidity of epilepsy in different regions. External data validation was also performed to assess the accuracy of capturing epilepsy cases through our NHI data set. KEY FINDINGS: The age-adjusted prevalence and incidence of epilepsy were 5.85 (per 1,000) between 2000 and 2003 and 97 (per 100,000 person-years) during the follow-up time from 2001 to 2003 in Taiwan. The sensitivity and specificity of ICD-9 coding for epilepsy in the NHI data set were 83.91% and 99.83%, respectively, resulting in a slight overestimation. Male patients had a higher probability of having epilepsy than did females. East Taiwan had significantly higher prevalence and incidence than did other areas. The age-specific incidence pattern in east Taiwan was atypical in that it revealed clustering in young and middle-aged groups. SIGNIFICANCE: Our study demonstrated geographic variation in epidemiologic patterns of epilepsy within Taiwan. The findings are informative and provide insight into the clinical management of epilepsy based on consideration of different target groups in different areas.

Neuropsychological performance and seizure-related risk factors in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy: a retrospective cross-sectional study.

The aim of this study was to identify the neuropsychological features in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) and their correlation with seizure-related variables. For this purpose, we carried out a retrospective analysis of data from 65 patients with TLE who had undergone a comprehensive neuropsychological assessment. The results suggest that the majority of patients with TLE were impaired in more than one cognitive domain, and among these patients, the mean proportions with defective semantic memory, language, motor/psychomotor speed, verbal episodic memory, and executive function were >50% each. Moreover, age at seizure onset was the strongest predictor of general intellectual impairment, and number of antiepileptic drugs and seizure frequency could significantly predict deficits in verbal memory, language, and psychomotor speed. However, epilepsy duration was a less potent predictor of cognitive deficit than has been reported in cross-sectional studies.

Painful neuropathy due to skin denervation after metronidazole-induced neurotoxicity.

A 53-year-old male patient developed insidious onset of length-dependent painful neuropathy on a background of encephalopathy during prolonged treatment with metronidazole for a cumulative dose of 146 g in 88 days. The reversible encephalopathy was documented with gradual resolution of hyperintense lesions in bilateral cerebellum and brainstem on brain MRI together with the improvement in symptoms of ataxia and dysarthria. The concomitant impairment of small-diameter sensory nerves posed a diagnostic challenge. The authors took advantage of serial skin biopsies to demonstrate reversible metronidazole-induced small-fibre sensory neuropathy, that is, skin denervation after metronidazole and corresponding skin reinnervation with the disappearance of sensory symptoms.

Conceptual-driven classification for coding advise in health insurance reimbursement.

OBJECTIVE: With the non-stop increases in medical treatment fees, the economic survival of a hospital in Taiwan relies on the reimbursements received from the Bureau of National Health Insurance, which in turn depend on the accuracy and completeness of the content of the discharge summaries as well as the correctness of their International Classification of Diseases (ICD) codes. The purpose of this research is to enforce the entire disease classification framework by supporting disease classification specialists in the coding process. METHODOLOGY: This study developed an ICD code advisory system (ICD-AS) that performed knowledge discovery from discharge summaries and suggested ICD codes. Natural language processing and information retrieval techniques based on Zipf's Law were applied to process the content of discharge summaries, and fuzzy formal concept analysis was used to analyze and represent the relationships between the medical terms identified by MeSH. In addition, a certainty factor used as reference during the coding process was calculated to account for uncertainty and strengthen the credibility of the outcome. RESULTS: Two sets of 360 and 2579 textual discharge summaries of patients suffering from cerebrovascular disease was processed to build up ICD-AS and to evaluate the prediction performance. A number of experiments were conducted to investigate the impact of system parameters on accuracy and compare the proposed model to traditional classification techniques including linear-kernel support vector machines. The comparison results showed that the proposed system achieves the better overall performance in terms of several measures. In addition, some useful implication rules were obtained, which improve comprehension of the field of cerebrovascular disease and give insights to the relationships between relevant medical terms. CONCLUSION: Our system contributes valuable guidance to disease classification specialists in the process of coding discharge summaries, which consequently brings benefits in aspects of patient, hospital, and healthcare system.

Magnetoencephalography demonstrates multiple asynchronous generators during human sleep spindles.

Sleep spindles are approximately 1 s bursts of 10-16 Hz activity that occur during stage 2 sleep. Spindles are highly synchronous across the cortex and thalamus in animals, and across the scalp in humans, implying correspondingly widespread and synchronized cortical generators. However, prior studies have noted occasional dissociations of the magnetoencephalogram (MEG) from the EEG during spindles, although detailed studies of this phenomenon have been lacking. We systematically compared high-density MEG and EEG recordings during naturally occurring spindles in healthy humans. As expected, EEG was highly coherent across the scalp, with consistent topography across spindles. In contrast, the simultaneously recorded MEG was not synchronous, but varied strongly in amplitude and phase across locations and spindles. Overall, average coherence between pairs of EEG sensors was approximately 0.7, whereas MEG coherence was approximately 0.3 during spindles. Whereas 2 principle components explained approximately 50% of EEG spindle variance, >15 were required for MEG. Each PCA component for MEG typically involved several widely distributed locations, which were relatively coherent with each other. These results show that, in contrast to current models based on animal experiments, multiple asynchronous neural generators are active during normal human sleep spindles and are visible to MEG. It is possible that these multiple sources may overlap sufficiently in different EEG sensors to appear synchronous. Alternatively, EEG recordings may reflect diffusely distributed synchronous generators that are less visible to MEG. An intriguing possibility is that MEG preferentially records from the focal core thalamocortical system during spindles, and EEG from the distributed matrix system.

Impaired gist memory in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy and hippocampal sclerosis.

PURPOSE: Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) is the most common focal epilepsy and frequently causes memory problems. It is often associated with hippocampal sclerosis (HS) and is useful in exploring memory functions. We aimed to examine the effect of restricted hippocampal lesions on gist memory function in patients with TLE. METHODS: Forty-five patients with TLE and HS (16 left, 15 right, and 14 bilateral lesions) and 22 control subjects were recruited. Patients with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or electroencephalography (EEG) evidence of extratemporal lesions were excluded. All participants performed a gist-based recognition task following the Deese-Roediger-McDermott paradigm and were tested for verbal IQ and memory functions. We conducted hippocampal volumetry on MRI of all the participants. RESULTS: Patients showed multidomain memory impairments. Gist memory was impaired in patients with bilateral HS and probably in patients with right HS. Hippocampal volumetry supported such findings that total volume of hippocampi and volume of right hippocampus correlated positively with gist memory function. DISCUSSION: HS has a dose effect and a probable right dominance effect on gist memory; good item memory supports gist memory performance; and a disproportionate deficit was noted in tasks with high relational demand but not in tasks with simple association. We should develop memory skills for patients with TLE by enhancing performance of gist memory related to simple association task.

Different prevalence rates of Parkinson's disease in urban and rural areas: a population-based study in Taiwan.

BACKGROUND: Rural living has long been debated as a risk factor for idiopathic Parkinson's disease (IPD). But few community-based studies compared this difference between urban and rural areas. METHODS: Population-based surveys by neurologists using a standardized diagnostic protocol were conducted in the urban areas of Keelung City and compared the prevalence rates of IPD with those we had previously determined in the rural area of Ilan County, Taiwan. Subjects were diagnosed with IPD when at least 2 of the 4 cardinal signs of parkinsonism were present and by exclusion of secondary parkinsonism. Gender-specific age-standardized prevalence rates of IPD by using the 1970 and 2000 US censuses were calculated for comparison. RESULTS: The participation rate was 84.9%. The crude prevalence rate of IPD in persons aged 40 years and over was 706 (95% CI: 551-864) per 100,000 population. The age-adjusted prevalence rates by using the 1970 US census were 633 (95% CI: 620-646) for people aged 40 and over and 230 (95% CI: 227-234) for all ages. Our results were similar to those obtained in Sicily, Rotterdam, and 3 communities in China. Moreover, the prevalence rates of IPD in Keelung, the urban area studied, were twice as high as those in Ilan, the rural area studied (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that urban living is more important as a risk factor for IPD development than rural living in Taiwan.

Levetiracetam inhibits glutamate transmission through presynaptic P/Q-type calcium channels on the granule cells of the dentate gyrus.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Levetiracetam is an effective anti-epileptic drug in the treatment of partial and generalized seizure. The purpose of the present study was to investigate whether levetiracetam regulates AMPA and NMDA receptor-mediated excitatory synaptic transmission and to determine its site of action in the dentate gyrus (DG), the area of the hippocampus that regulates seizure activities. EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH: Whole-cell patch-clamp method was used to record the AMPA and NMDA receptor-mediated excitatory postsynaptic currents (EPSC(AMPA) and EPSC(NMDA)) in the presence of specific antagonists, from the granule cells in the DG in brain slice preparations from young Wistar rats (60-120 g). KEY RESULTS: Levetiracetam (100 microM) inhibited both evoked EPSC(AMPA) and EPSC(NMDA) to an equal extent (80%), altered the paired-pulse ratio (from 1.39 to 1.25), decreased the frequency of asynchronous EPSC and prolonged the inter-event interval of miniature EPSC(AMPA) (from 2.7 to 4.6 s) without changing the amplitude, suggesting a presynaptic action of levetiracetam. The inhibitory effect of levetiracetam on evoked EPSC(AMPA) was blocked by omega-agatoxin TK (100 nM), a selective P/Q-type voltage-dependent calcium channel blocker, but not by nimodipine (10 microM) or omega-conotoxin (400 nM). CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: These results suggest that levetiracetam modulated the presynaptic P/Q-type voltage-dependent calcium channel to reduce glutamate release and inhibited the amplitude of EPSC in DG. This effect is most likely to contribute to the anti-epileptic action of levetiracetam in patients.

Clinical efficacy and cognitive and neuropsychological effects of levetiracetam in epilepsy: an open-label multicenter study.

The aim of this prospective, multicenter, open-label study was to investigate the efficacy of levetiracetam (LEV) and determine its effects on cognitive and neuropsychological function. Sixty-nine patients were evaluated for effects of LEV on seizure control, cognitive (Mini-Mental State Examination [MMSE]) and neuropsychological (Symptom Checklist-90 Revised [SCL-90-R]) functions, and quality of life (Quality of Life in Epilepsy--10 [QOLIE-10]) assessments at 3 and 12 months of follow-up. Thirty-nine percent of patients achieved seizure freedom, and 68% had a > or =50% seizure frequency reduction after 1 year of LEV (1235.5+/-392.7 mg/day). There were also significant improvements in mean MMSE score and in the recall and language items of MMSE. There were modest improvements in interpersonal sensitivity and paranoid ideation scales of the SCL-90-R, and improvements in cognition and medication effect items of the QOLIE-10. The results demonstrate that LEV not only effectively reduces seizure frequency, but also possibly contributes to improvements in neuropsychological functions such as recall, language, interpersonal sensitivity, and paranoid ideation.

Mortality of Parkinson's disease by Hoehn-Yahr stage from community-based and clinic series [Keelung Community-based Integrated Screening (KCIS) no. 17)].

PURPOSE: We aimed to quantify the mortality reduction by which the early detection of Parkinson's disease (PD) within a community-based study could reduce the number of advanced cases. METHODS: Data used in this study were derived from two community-based surveys and from a clinical series of PD cases identified from a medical centre. The cumulative survival by Hoehn-Yahr (H-Y) scale was estimated and the mortality reduction derived from a community-based survey was predicted. RESULTS: A total of 117 PD patients were detected through two community-based approaches. By comparing the H-Y stage distribution of screen-detected cases with those from the clinical series, a 22.5% excess in the number of early PD (H-Y stage I and stage II) were identified with screening. The risk ratios of being H-Y stage III or severe for community-based detected cases versus clinical series were 0.49 (95% confidence interval: 0.30-0.78). The total death rate adjusted by H-Y stage distribution was 21% and 28% for cases from community and clinical series, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The present study revealed that early detection of PD through a community-based survey may reduce 51% incidence of stage III or more severe PD at diagnosis, leading to a 25% reduction in mortality.

Mossy fiber sprouting in pilocarpine-induced status epilepticus rat hippocampus: a correlative study of diffusion spectrum imaging and histology.

Mossy fiber sprouting (MFS) is the main characteristic of temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), which is highly correlated with the frequencies of recurrent seizures as well as degrees of severity of TLE. A recent MRI technique, referred to as diffusion spectrum imaging (DSI), can resolve crossing fibers and investigate the intravoxel heterogeneity of water molecular diffusion. Being able to achieve higher accuracy in depicting the complex fiber architecture, DSI may help improve localization of the seizure-induced epileptic foci. In this study, two indices of DSI, which represented the mean diffusivity (MSL) and diffusion anisotropy (DA), were proposed. A correlative study between diffusion characteristics and the severity of MFS was investigated in the pilocarpine-induced status epilepticus (SE) rat model. Nine SE rats and five control rats were studied with MRI and histological Timm's staining. For MSL, no significant correlation was found in the dentate gyrus (DG), r=-0.36; p=0.2017, and positive correlation was found in cornu ammonis (CA3), r=0.62; p=0.0174. The correlation between DA and Timm's score showed positive correlation in DG, r=0.71; p=0.0047, and negative correlation in CA3, r=-0.63; p=0.0151. Our results were compatible with the previous reports on fiber architecture alterations in DG and CA3 subregions. In conclusion, the histological correspondence of DSI indices was demonstrated. With DSI indices, longitudinal follow-up of hippocampal fiber architecture can be achieved to elucidate the pathophysiology of TLE, which might be helpful in disease localization.

Functional evaluation of polymorphisms in the human ABCB1 gene and the impact on clinical responses of antiepileptic drugs.

OBJECTIVE: The ABCB1 haplotype combinations have been demonstrated to be associated with epilepsy treatment outcomes. The aim of this study is to investigate whether ABCB1 haplotype combinations would affect P-glycoprotein (Pgp) function and impact the clinical responses of antiepileptic drugs (AEDs). METHODS AND RESULTS: Transport of substrate rhodamine 123 and calcein-AM by human Pgp carrying 12 haplotype combinations of 1236C>T, 2677G>T/A and 3435C>T were assayed in the absence and presence of known inhibitors and AEDs. The inhibitory potency of the tested drugs from the dose-response relationships was cyclosporin A>verapamil> phenytoin> carbamazepine> lamotrigine>phenobarbital>valproic acid, levetiracetam, gabapentin. The silent polymorphisms combination (1236T-3435T) and triple haplotypes (1236T-2677A/T-3435T) resulted in profoundly less effective inhibition against substrates with significantly lower intracellular substrate concentration. These results confirmed that ABCB1 polymorphisms were associated with clinical responses of AEDs. CONCLUSION: Our findings demonstrated that human ABCB1 polymorphisms may alter the interactions between Pgp and substrates, and provided functional evidence for ABCB1 haplotypes-associated epilepsy treatment responses.

Lamotrigine inhibits postsynaptic AMPA receptor and glutamate release in the dentate gyrus.

PURPOSE: The dentate gyrus (DG) is a gateway that regulates seizure activity in the hippocampus. We investigated the site of action of lamotrigine (LTG), an effective anticonvulsant, in the regulation of alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole propionic acid (AMPA) and N-methyl-D-aspartic acid (NMDA) receptor-mediated excitatory synaptic transmission on DG. METHODS: Evoked AMPA and NMDA receptor-mediated excitatory postsynaptic currents (eEPSCampa and eEPSCnmda) were recorded by whole-cell patch-clamp recording from the granule cells of DG in brain slice preparation of young Wistar rats (60-120 g). Exogenously applied AMPA and NMDA-induced currents and AMPA receptor-mediated miniature EPSC (mEPSCampa) were recorded in the presence of specific antagonists. RESULTS: LTG inhibited both eEPSCampa and eEPSCnmda, and had no effect on exogenously applied NMDA-induced current indicating LTG inhibited glutamate release. Previous studies demonstrated that alteration in glutamate concentration in synaptic cleft causes parallel changes of eEPSCampa and eEPSCnmda. Our results showed that LTG inhibited eEPSCampa significantly more than eEPSCnmda (p < 0.05), suggesting that LTG may also have blocked the postsynaptic AMPA receptor. The hypothesis is further supported by the facts that; (1) LTG (30-100 microM) inhibited direct exogenously applied AMPA-induced currents (to 90%), (2) LTG significantly reduced the amplitude, but not the frequency of mEPSCampa and asynchronous (EPSC), and (3) LTG-induced reduction of eEPSCampa was not associated with a modification of the paired-pulse ratio. To sum up, LTG exerts a postsynaptic inhibitory mechanism on the AMPA receptor. CONCLUSIONS: Our results demonstrate that LTG suppresses postsynaptic AMPA receptors and reduces glutamate release in granule cells of DG. The postsynaptic effect can be one of the underlying mechanisms of LTG's anticonvulsant action.

Natural history and effectiveness of early detection of Parkinson's disease: results from two community-based programmes in Taiwan (KCIS no. 11).

OBJECTIVES: The natural course of Parkinson's disease (PD), as measured on the Hoehn-Yahr (H-Y) scale, and the impact that early detection would have on prognosis for those with the disease, has barely been addressed since the introduction of L-dopa. This study aimed to elucidate the natural history of PD and effectiveness of early detection in reducing advanced disability and mortality. METHOD: A total of 21 362 participants aged 40 years or older were invited to two community-based programmes for the early detection of PD. The step-by-step annual progression rates from H-Y stage I to stage IV or V, and cumulative survival rates, by the H-Y scale, were estimated and applied to simulated data to assess the impact of different screening intervals upon stage at diagnosis and subsequent survival. RESULTS: The average duration in stages I, II and III was estimated as 2.83, 6.62 and 1.41 years, respectively. The average delay time before deteriorating into H-Y stage III was 9.45 year. Application of these parameters to simulated model predicted a 36% (95% CI: 28-39%), 26% (95% CI: 20-32%) and 19% (95% CI: 13-24%) reduction in death for annual, 5-yearly and 10-yearly screening programmes, respectively. CONCLUSION: The present study recommended a 5-yearly screening programme, with 74% of PD cases prevented from progressing to H-Y stage III or worse within 10 years of diagnosis, and leading to a corresponding 26% reduction in mortality.

Molecular and clinical analyses of 84 patients with tuberous sclerosis complex.

BACKGROUND: Tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) is an autosomal dominant disease characterized by the development of multiple hamartomas in many internal organs. Mutations in either one of 2 genes, TSC1 and TSC2, have been attributed to the development of TSC. More than two-thirds of TSC patients are sporadic cases, and a wide variety of mutations in the coding region of the TSC1 and TSC2 genes have been reported. METHODS: Mutational analysis of TSC1 and TSC2 genes was performed in 84 Taiwanese TSC families using denaturing high-performance liquid chromatography (DHPLC) and direct sequencing. RESULTS: Mutations were identified in a total of 64 (76 %) cases, including 9 TSC1 mutations (7 sporadic and 2 familial cases) and 55 TSC2 mutations (47 sporadic and 8 familial cases). Thirty-one of the 64 mutations found have not been described previously. The phenotype association is consistent with findings from other large studies, showing that disease resulting from mutations to TSC1 is less severe than disease due to TSC2 mutation. CONCLUSION: This study provides a representative picture of the distribution of mutations of the TSC1 and TSC2 genes in clinically ascertained TSC cases in the Taiwanese population. Although nearly half of the mutations identified were novel, the kinds and distribution of mutation were not different in this population compared to that seen in larger European and American studies.

Population-based survey on prevalence of adult patients with epilepsy in Taiwan (Keelung community-based integrated screening no. 12).

PURPOSE: To determine the prevalence rate and patterns of adult patients with epilepsy in Taiwan, we conducted a community-based neuroepidemiological survey. METHODS: Epilepsy was detected by neurologists using one-stage method. It was integrated into a community health screening service and performed from 1 January 2001 to 31 December 2001 in Keelung, a northern city in Taiwan. A total of 13,663 subjects aged 30 years or older participated in this survey. RESULTS: There were 52 patients with epilepsy in this study. Among them, 37 were patients with active epilepsy. The age-adjusted prevalence rate of active epilepsy above 30 years old was 2.77/1000 (to the 1980 US population) with the highest rate in subjects aged 40-49 years (4.0/1000). There was a trend of higher prevalence rate in male than in female. The most common seizure type was complex partial seizure (46.0%). Using one-stage detection method, we found nine (24.3%) patients with active epilepsy who had never been diagnosed before. Among the patients with active epilepsy, 35.1% were symptomatic cases. Head injury (13.5%) is the leading cause, followed by CNS infection (8.1%), stroke (5.4%) and perinatal insult (5.4%). The lifetime prevalence rate of epilepsy (including active epilepsy and epilepsy in remission) was 3.14/1000 for age above 30 years. CONCLUSIONS: Comparing to previous epilepsy survey in 1993, our results showed that the prevalence rate of epilepsy was rather stable over the past decade in northern Taiwan. Head injury is the leading cause responsible for active epilepsy. Improving public safety is an important public health issue which may help to reduce occurrence of epilepsy.

Des-acyl ghrelin acts by CRF type 2 receptors to disrupt fasted stomach motility in conscious rats.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Although it has been shown that des-acyl ghrelin decreases food intake and gastric emptying, no previous studies have examined the effects of des-acyl ghrelin on physiologic fed and fasted motor activity in the gastrointestinal tract. METHODS: We examined the effects of intraperitoneal (IP) administration of des-acyl ghrelin on food intake and the effects of intracerebroventricular (ICV) or intravenous (IV) administration of des-acyl ghrelin on gastroduodenal motility using freely moving conscious rat models. The brain nuclei responding to these effects were examined by c- fos immunohistochemistry of the brain sections. RESULTS: IP injection of des-acyl ghrelin decreased food intake, and this effect was not altered by capsaicin treatment. IP injection of des-acyl ghrelin enhanced c- fos expression in the arcuate and paraventricular nucleus but not in the nucleus of the solitary tract. Both ICV and IV injection of des-acyl ghrelin disrupted fasted motor activity in the antrum but not in the duodenum. Changes in gastric motility induced by IV injection of des-acyl ghrelin were completely antagonized by ICV injection of a selective corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) 2 receptor antagonist; however, the CRF 1 receptor antagonist had no effects. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that des-acyl ghrelin decreases food intake and disrupts the fasted motor activity of the antrum in freely moving conscious rats. Peripheral des-acyl ghrelin may induce this function by direct activation of brain receptor by crossing the blood-brain barrier but not by the activation of vagal afferent pathways. In the brain, CRF 2 receptor, but not CRF 1 receptor, is involved in this action.