Partial epilepsies: Choice of antiepileptic drugs in adults in the outpatient setting

The paper depicts the author's view on how a neurologist/epileptologist chooses an antiepileptic drug in his practice under present-day conditions. It considers possible clinical situations and therapeutic tactics in relation to the efficiency of performed therapy, as well as methods for switching to other antiepileptic drugs if the previous/first monotherapy is ineffective. The author gives main international and Russian guidelines in terms of the type of epileptic seizure/form of epilepsy/epilepsy syndrome. Despite its almost semicentennial history of effective clinical application, valproate is shown to be now a first-line choice drug for the therapy of undifferentiated, cryptogenic, and symptomatic partial epilepsies in patients of different age groups. The properties of valproate, such as efficacy against different types of seizures and forms of epilepsy, good tolerability, minimal aggravation risk, high monotherapy retention rates, various dosage forms, including the brand-name extendedrelease drug Depakine chrono or Depakine chronosphere and its intravenous formulation, favorable pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamics profiles, make it indispensable at the present developmental stage of epileptology

Review of the monograph

Review of the monograph Dmitrenko D.V., Shnaider N.A., Egorova A.T., et al. Epilepsiya i beremennost’ (Epilepsy and Pregnancy). Moscow: Medika, 2014. Illustrated

Plasma treatment of heat-resistant materials

Refractory lining of thermal generating units is exposed to chemical, thermal, andmechanical attacks. The degree of fracture of heat-resistant materials depends on the chemicalmedium composition, the process temperature and the material porosity. As is known, a shorttermexposure of the surface to low-temperature plasma (LTP) makes possible to createspecific coatings that can improve the properties of workpieces. The aim of this work is toproduce the protective coating on heat-resistant chamotte products using the LTP technique.Experiments have shown that plasma treatment of chamotte products modifies the surface, anda glass-ceramic coating enriched in mullite is formed providing the improvement of heatresistance. For increasing heat resistance of chamotte refractories, pastes comprising mixturesof Bacor, alumina oxide, and chamot were applied to their surfaces in different ratios. It isproved that the appropriate coating cannot be created if only one of heat-resistant componentsis used. The required coatings that can be used and recommended for practical applications areobtained only with the introduction of powder chamot. The paste composition of 50% chamot,25% Bacor, and 25% alumina oxide exposed to plasma treatment, has demonstrated the mostuniform surface fusion

Fractional Systems and Fractional Bogoliubov Hierarchy Equations

We consider the fractional generalizations of the phase volume, volume element and Poisson brackets. These generalizations lead us to the fractional analog of the phase space. We consider systems on this fractional phase space and fractional analogs of the Hamilton equations. The fractional generalization of the average value is suggested. The fractional analogs of the Bogoliubov hierarchy equations are derived from the fractional Liouville equation. We define the fractional reduced distribution functions. The fractional analog of the Vlasov equation and the Debye radius are considered.Comment: 12 page

Therapy for epilepsy in women: Additional sanogenetic effect caused by the intake of topiramate

Objective: to investigate the efficacy/tolerability of topiramate in reproductive-aged women.Subjects and methods. A group of 58 patients in fertile age (18–35 years) with a long history of focal (n=44) or idiopathic generalized (n=14) epilepsy (FE and IGE) who received mainly combined therapy with 2 antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) was analyzed. 82.8% of the patients were overweight; 51.7% had one or other menstrual cycle disorders; however, the women had been followed up by a gynecologist in exceptional cases.Results. Switch from one of the parent AEDs to topiramate or its incorporation into a treatment regimen as an additional drug substantially improved the course of the disease: remission at 12 months was achieved in 59.1% of the patients with FE and 78.6% of those with IGE. 29.3% of the patients receiving dual therapy, the second medication of which was topiramate, were observed to have lost weight not only if those had high baseline body mass index (BMI), but also if those had normal BMI at baseline. 8.6% of all the patients and 16.7% of those with menstrual cycle disorder achieved normalization of menstrual function. Topiramate was discontinued only in 1 (1.7%) patient because of critical weight loss (BMI<15). In addition to substantial improvement, topiramate used in mono- or dual therapy for FE and IGE may normalize weight and a menstrual cycle. Menstrual function is indicated to be monitored in epileptic women

Equilibration in the time-dependent Hartree-Fock approach probed with the Wigner distribution function

Calculating the Wigner distribution function in the reaction plane, we are able to probe the phase-space behavior in time-dependent Hartree-Fock during a heavy-ion collision. We compare the Wigner distribution function with the smoothed Husimi distribution function. Observables are defined to give a quantitative measure for local and global equilibration. We present different reaction scenarios by analyzing central and non-central $^{16}O+$$^{16}O$ and $^{96}Zr+$$^{132}Zn$ collisions. It is shown that the initial phase-space volumes of the fragments barely merge. The mean values of the observables are conserved in fusion reactions and indicate a "memory effect" in time-dependent Hartree-Fock. We observe strong dissipation but no evidence for complete equilibration.Comment: 12 pages, 10 figure

Status epilepticus: Analysis of refractory cases

Objective: to analyze refractory status epilepticus (SE) cases.Patients and methods. Fifteen female patients aged 21 to 62 years with refractory SE were comprehensively examined using long-term electroencephalography monitoring. The investigators evaluated the efficiency of treatment regimens with intravenous antiepileptic drugs (AEDs), such as diazepam (DZP); valproic acid (VPA); levetiracetam; and lacosamide and their combinations, at the prehospital and hospital stages, as well as SE therapy complications noted only in the intravenous administration of narcotics (propofol, sodium thiopental).Results and discussion. A fetal outcome due to multiple organ dysfunction indirectly related to SE was recorded in 2 (13.3%) patients with acute symptomatic status. SE was abolished in the other 13 cases. The preliminary findings may suggest that it is appropriate to prescribe VPA just at the prehospital stage. The co-administration of VPA and DZP substantially enhances the efficiency of SE therapy. The maximum acceptable doses of AEDs using the whole available therapeutic arsenal should be administered within the first hours of acute symptomatic SE