Researchers have found provocative evidence that the brain dysfunction that underlies epilepsy may also determine whether people are at risk for suicide. According to Eurekalert, the study also suggests that depression and suicide may have different brain mechanisms.
“For reasons that are not understood, depression both increases the risk for developing epilepsy and is also common among people with epilepsy who experience many seizures,“ said lead author Dale C. Hesdorffer, Ph.D., of the Gertrude Sergievsky Center at Columbia University.
It has commonly been assumed that the difficulties associated with living with epilepsy could provoke depression, and in some cases, an increased risk of suicide, the authors write. But is harder to explain the opposite findings, that people who develop depression have a higher risk of later experiencing a first seizure.
While neuroscientists have postulated overlapping brain systems for depression and epilepsy, this evidence is still preliminary. In the present study, the researchers attempted to define more clearly the relationship between depression, suicide, and epilepsy.
Hesdorffer and colleagues compared data for both epilepsy and depression in 324 people with epilepsy and 647 control subjects.
A history of depression increased the risk of epilepsy, but the startling finding was that people with epilepsy were 4 times more likely to have attempted suicide before ever having a seizure, even after other factors were taken into account like drinking alcohol, having depression, age, and gender.
The individual presence of other symptoms of depression, whether common (e.g., depressed mood) or more rare (e.g., weight change) did not predict a greater likelihood of later seizures.
While this finding clearly suggests common underlying brain mechanisms for suicidal behavior and epilepsy, the results also suggest that depression and suicidal behavior may be related to different mechanisms.
“Increasingly, clinicians treating people with epilepsy ask about current depression, but they may not ask about past suicide attempt or suicidal thoughts,“ said Hesdorffer. “Our results may alert clinicians to the need to ask this question and offer any needed counseling to prevent the occurrence of later completed suicide.“

Side sleep position is unstable and increases the chances of the infant rolling onto his stomach.

Infants should be put to sleep on their backs only, not their sides, and pacifiers can be used to help prevent sudden infant death syndrome, US pediatricians said.
Revised guidelines from the American Academy of Pediatrics also discourage parents from sleeping with their infants at all, saying babies are safer in their own cribs.
According to Reuters, SIDS, the sudden, unexplained death of an infant in the first year of life, is the third leading cause of infant mortality in the United States, causing the deaths of 2,500 infants each year.
Campaigns to encourage parents and other caregivers to put babies to sleep on their backs instead of their tummies slashed the death rates from SIDS, also known as crib death or cot death, in countries such as Britain and the United States in the 1980s and 1990s.
“Studies have found that the side sleep position is unstable and increases the chances of the infant rolling onto his or her stomach. Every caregiver should use the back sleep position during every sleep period,“ the academy said in a statement.
“Infants may be brought into bed for nursing or comforting, but should be returned to their own crib or bassinet when the parent is ready to return to sleep. However, there is growing evidence that room sharing (infant sleeping in a crib in parent’s bedroom) is associated with a reduced risk of SIDS.“
About the often controversial use of pacifiers, also known as dummies, the pediatricians’ group said: “Research now indicates an association between pacifier use and a reduced risk of SIDS, which is why the revised statement recommends the use of pacifiers at nap time and bedtime throughout the first year of life,“ the statement said.
No one is entirely sure what causes SIDS.
But lying prone, or face-down, sleeping on a soft surface, smoking during pregnancy, overheating, late or no prenatal care, having a young mother, being born pre-term or at a low weight all greatly raise a baby’s risk.
So the Academy recommends that babies be laid to sleep on their backs, without a pillow, quilt, stuffed toys or other items that could interfere with breathing. Mothers should not smoke while pregnant or afterward, rooms should not be too hot or stuffy and if a baby likes a pacifier, let him or her have it.

A team of international researchers has discovered that a specific gene on chromosome 15 regulates inflammation, a finding with implications for a wide range of disorders, including cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, Alzheimer’s, and infections, according to Eurekalert.
Investigators believe this discovery will be of great interest to biomedical and pharmaceutical researchers because of an already heightened understanding of the role of inflammation in so many human disorders.
“Practically every common disease involves an inflammation component,“ said John Blangero, Ph.D., a scientist at the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research (SFBR) in San Antonio and the paper’s senior author.
The research study identified SEPS1 as a type of “garbage truck“ that helps clear cells of misfolded proteins that build up when cells are placed under stress, Blangero said. Inflammation develops when those faulty proteins accumulate in a cell.
People with a genetic variation that impairs SEPS1’ ability to purify the cells by clearing out the bad proteins tend to suffer higher levels of inflammation than people in whom the gene fulfills that role more efficiently, according to the study.
The study found the same relationship between SEPS1 and inflammation in two geographically and ethnically distinct populations of people in the United States, one in Wisconsin and one in Texas.
Greg Collier, Ph.D., CEO of ChemGenex, said the discovery of SEPS1 and its function could yield new approaches for inhibiting inflammation, perhaps through medications that regulate SEPS1. An expected search for other genes that influence SEPS1 also could lead to other potential areas for drug intervention.
Researchers studying diseases impacted by inflammation also might look to see what role SEPS1 plays in disease susceptibility. Already, ChemGenex and SFBR scientists are beginning to study how this gene influences a variety of complex diseases, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, preeclampsia, and various infectious diseases.
Kissebah said it provides new insight into studies he leads on the genetics of obesity.
“Now that we have identified SEPS1’ role in inflammation, which is known to initiate the process of arterial wall hardening and the onset of Type 2 diabetes, we are developing an understanding of why obese persons with a faulty SEPS1 gene may be at higher risk of developing heart disease and diabetes,“ he said.

A research team led by scientists at the University of Texas Medical School at Houston has determined the structure of an enzyme that when defective causes an inherited disease that afflicts sufferers with severe abdominal pain, psychiatric symptoms, skin fragility, and light sensitivity, according to Science Daily.
“Unless prompt and appropriate treatment is given, hereditary coproporphyria can very quickly turn into a life-threatening medical emergency,“ said C. S. Raman, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.
Using x-ray crystallography, researchers have generated a three-dimensional image of the enzyme coproporphyrinogen oxidase (CPO) at the atomic level, (resolution of 1.58 angstroms).
The enzyme participates in the sixth step of an eight-step pathway that generates heme Ð an essential molecule that gives blood its distinctive red color and also helps hemoglobin in red blood cells transport oxygen to tissues.
The PNAS paper demonstrates for the first time the enzyme’s atomic structure and how mutations in this enzyme specifically disrupt the heme pathway, causing hereditary coproporphyria. The authors review a series of CPO mutations and their effects on the structure and function of the enzyme.
Hereditary coproporphyria is rare, affecting two in every million people, “but rare diseases give you major insights into extremely complex biological problems.“
Porphyrias are disorders of enzymes in the heme synthesis pathway that reduce heme production and, more importantly, cause accumulation of porphyrins or their precursors, Raman explained. In the case of hereditary coproporphyria, inherited mutations in CPO result in accumulation of coproporphyrin in the liver, leading to disease. In July, British researchers connected the madness of King George III to one of the porphyrias.
“The atomic image of the enzyme teaches us the inner workings of this molecular machine. Particularly, it helps us understand how mutations cause the enzyme to fail, disrupt the heme biosynthesis pathway and culminate in coproporphyrin accumulation,“ Raman said.
Excess porphyrins are excreted in the feces and urine. As a result urine from patients suffering from coproporphyria turns red or purple when exposed to light.
The CPO structure is the third unique structure solved by Raman’s research team, which focuses on heme and nitric oxide synthesis and signaling pathways.

Physical activity and a healthy diet could help obese people reduce gastrointestinal (GI) problems such as stomach pain, diarrhea and irritable bowel syndrome.
According to ABC News, the study of 1,801 men and women found that obese people who got some form of physical activity were less likely to suffer GI problems than inactive obese people.
The study also found that a high body mass index (BMI) was associated with increased symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome, abdominal pain and diarrhea. Binge eating was associated with increased abdominal pain, constipation and bloating.
“It is well-documented that maintaining a healthy diet and regular physical activity can benefit GI health,“ study author Rona L. Levy, a professor at the University of Washington in Seattle, said in a prepared statement.
“Our study is the first to show the benefit of maintaining these healthy habits and staving off the occurrence of GI symptoms in obese people. These findings have future implications for the treatment of both obesity and various GI disorders and symptoms that are more prevalent in this population,“ Levy said.
The average body weight of Americans has increased by about 10 percent over the past two decades. More than half the U.S. adult population is overweight and nearly one in three adults is obese.
“Potential reduction of GI symptoms is yet another reason for obese people to consider engaging in physical activity. It could mean the difference between leading a normal life or leading one filled with constant discomfort,“ Levy said.

University of Utah biologists found a gene that controls rhythmic events in a worm’s life: swallowing food, laying eggs and pooping.
According to Science Daily, if the gene is disabled, the worms can’t swallow, so they die. If the gene is partly restored so the worms can swallow, they have trouble reproducing and get constipated.
“We have found a gene that is important for the control of fundamental rhythms in nematode worms,“ says biology professor and physician Andres Villu Maricq, a member of the Brain Institute at the University of Utah.
The study deals with seconds- to hours-long ultradian rhythms that control such body functions as heart rate, breathing, swallowing and contraction of the intestines.
The gene that controls ultradian rhythms in worms is related to other genes that, when mutated, cause uncontrolled growth of mammalian cells--a hallmark of cancer. By learning how the gene works, researchers may learn how to interfere with it--a possible way to find new cancer drugs
Maricq and colleagues studied Caenorhabditis elegans, a millimeter-long (one 25th of an inch) nematode worm that is found in soil, eats bacteria and frequently is used by geneticists. The researchers discovered a worm gene they named
vav-1--which is related to three similar human genes. The study showed that the gene controlled the rhythmic contractions of smooth muscle in three parts of the worm’s body by regularly raising and lowering calcium levels in the muscle cells:
The pharynx, which is the worm equivalent of the throat and must undergo a wave-like expansion and contraction every one or two seconds so the worm can swallow.
The gonadal sheath, a tube-like smooth muscle structure that contracts every seven seconds during ovulation, squeezing out eggs so they can be fertilized by sperm.
The intestines, which must pressurize and then release so the worm can defecate every 45 to 50 seconds.
When the scientists disabled the vav-1 gene, the worms could not swallow food and died before the end of the first of four larval stages, or 10 to 12 hours into their normal two-week lifespan. When the researchers restored the vav-1 gene just in the pharynx so worm larvae could eat, survive and grow to adulthood, the worms rarely were able to produce offspring and their 50-second defecation cycle became irregular, with the mean time between poops increasing to 195 seconds, or 3ù minutes.
Scientists do not know if vav-1 genes control human swallowing, ovulating or defecating, “but it will be an obvious avenue for further research,“ he adds.