seyed sohrab hashemi fesharaki

Since electroencephalography (EEG) signal contains temporal information and fMRI carries spatial information, we can reasonably expect that a combination of the two contributes greatly to precise localization of epileptic focuses. With that in mind, we have first extracted spike patterns from outside of scanner EEG, through detecting and averaging the interictal epileptiform discharges (IED). Then, having implemented the correlation between the identified pattern and inside-scanner EEG, an automated system was developed to extract the temporal information when an epileptic seizure is triggered. We proceeded to convolve the obtained regressor with the hemodynamic response function (HRF) using the general linear model (GLM) for the purpose of localizing the epileptic focus. This study was conducted on 6 medication-resistant patients with epilepsy whose data was recorded in the National Brain Mapping Lab (NBML). The results of the proposed method are in line with the information provided in EEG for each of the 6 patients, and for the 4 patients who were candidates for brain surgery, they provided further information. The results suggest a significant improvement in localization accuracy and precision compared to existing methods in the literature.

Brucellosis is a common zoonotic infection caused by bacterial genus Brucella, a Gram‑negative bacterium, and continued to be a health problem in endemic areas. Anti‑N‑methyl‑d‑aspartate receptor (NMDAR) encephalitis is an autoimmune disease which can lead to status epilepticus. A 19‑year‑old male patient was referred to our hospital with status epilepticus. The diagnosis of brucellosis was confirmed about 2 weeks before. The brain magnetic resonance imaging was normal. Lumbar puncture was performed, and cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) was in normal limits. The patient was treated with antiepileptic, anti‑brucellosis agents. Two weeks after discharge, the patient readmitted to hospital with status epilepticus again. Extensive workup was negative except that NMDAR antibodies were detected in serum and CSF. The diagnosis of anti‑NMDAR encephalitis was established. Brucellosis as a triggering factor for NMDAR encephalitis should be considered.

In recurrent event a specific event occur repeatedly over time for a person. The frailty models take into account this correlation and provide efficient inferences. The frailties are assumed to be constant over time that it may be insufficient. Therefore time-varying frailty models are more realistic models. The aim of this study was to fit a time-dependent frailty model in the gap time between recurrent events.
In this study, a time-dependent frailty model was introduced in the gap time between recurrent events, that was a generalization of the Wintrebert (2004) model in cluster data (center-effect). The parameters were estimated by Gaussian quadrature method. The model was applied to epilepsy data.
The time-dependent frailty model fitted better in compare to shared frailty model. The observation time for IED on EEG in 56 patients (%73 male, %34 veteran status) with epilepsy was studied. Age and veteran status were the two risk factors in the gap time between IEDs. Variance of frailty was significant too.
The result of time-dependent frailty model was reliable when there were unknown time-dependent factors in medical data and make changes on times of occurring recurrent events. The Gaussian quadrature was an applied method to fit a time-dependent frailty model. The programming for this method was comfortable; hence this method can cause time-dependent fraility models to be more practical in medical studies.

Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS) is a non-invasivemethod with the capability to correctly lateralize the seizure foci in patients withTemporal Lobe Epilepsy (TLE), with the first evidence published in 1993. Onemajor drawback of this modality is that the MRS data is naturally high dimensional.This, along with the time-consuming post-processing and quantificationprocedures such as spectral fitting, have made MRS impractical for clinical use.Dimension reduction techniques eliminate undesired properties of high-dimensionalspaces, suggesting simple and feasible analysis techniques in comparisonwith quantification procedures. In this study, we use two dimension reduction techniques so-called Isomapand Diffusion maps to quantify MRS data obtained from TLE patients for localizationseizure foci. Then, we evaluate the results by comparison with obtainedratio of NAA/ (Cr+Cho) from the quantification method. Our results show that the proposed methodology has the ability to localizeand/or to lateralize the seizure foci in such patients, while itmaintains minimal requiredamount of computations and time (Sensitivity=60%, Specificity=82.81%). We are hoping that this method broadens new horizons to explore theinformative yetcomplicated MRS modality into Epileptic diagnosis.

Shared neuropathology hypothesis in schizophrenia and temporal lobe epilepsy has been introduced long term ago. Similar neuropathology leads to the analogous clinical features like neuropsychological features as an example. The aim of this study was to examine this hypothesis by the means of comparing neuropsychological functions in these two patient groups. Present study consisted of 28 DSM_IV_TR schizophrenics and 29 patients with temporal lobe epilepsy recruited from Roozbeh, Razi and khatamolanbia hospital in Tehran by convenient sampling method. SCID in schizophrenic group and EEG, MRI in epileptic patients were taken in regard to diagnostic determination. Neuropsychological tests were taken later. Package of neuropsychological tests consisted of Modified Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, Stroop Color- Word Test, Logic Memory, Visual Reproduction and Digit Span subscales of Wechsler Memory Scale- Revised and Block Design, Vocabulary and Symbol Digit subscales of Wechsler Adult intelligence Scale- Revised. there was no significant difference in two groups of patients with respect to demographic and clinical (Age, Depression, premorbid function and duration) variables. Analysis of MANOVA was taken to compare two groups of patients in neuropsychological functions. The results revealed no significant differences between schizophrenics and temporal lobe epileptic patients except for Symbol Digit subscale that was significantly lower in schizophrenic group (p<0.05). the result of current study is consistent with shared neuropathology hypothesis in schizophrenia and temporal lobe epilepsy. Profile of neuropsychological functions in both groups was generalized and beyond temporal lobe.