Le syndrome d’apnées obstructives du sommeil : une cause de troubles cognitifs chez les personnes âgées ?

Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome is a chronic disease characterized by repeated upper airway obstructions during sleep, resulting in fragmented sleep with arousals, nocturnal intermittent hypoxemia and diurnal dysfunctions. Despite its high prevalence in elderly, sleep apnea syndrome seems to be underestimated and difficult to be recognized because of the lack of clinical symptoms specificity in this population. Among the numerous consequences of the obstructive sleep apnea syndrome, cognitive impairment prevails on the attention, executive functions and memory. Neuroimaging studies in human and experimental models allowed to highlight neural correlates of these cognitive dysfunctions in obstructive sleep apnea syndrome. The obstructive sleep apnea syndrome with cognitive impairment shares some features with Alzheimer's disease, involving genetic predisposition ApoE4, hippocampus and synaptic plasticity abnormalities. In this context, the question arises whether obstructive sleep apnea syndrome is a possible etiological or aggravating factor of cognitive decline in elderly with mild cognitive impairment or Alzheimer's disease. Although there are conflicting results in studies evaluating therapeutic efficiency of continuous positive air pressure, obstructive sleep apnea syndrome seems nevertheless as a correctable factor, at least for its impact on some cognitive consequences. Looking for sleep apnea syndrome in elderly with cognitive decline should be considered in a global, diagnosis and therapeutic management.     

Understanding Lennox–Gastaut syndrome: insights from focal epilepsy patients with Lennox–Gastaut features

To delineate the clinical and EEG features of adults with focal epilepsy associated with a generalized paroxysmal fast activity (GPFA) pattern on EEG who developed refractory seizures, notably drop attacks, but do not fulfill the classical triad for the diagnosis of Lennox–Gastaut syndrome (LGS) and provide further insight into LGS mechanisms. Among 957 patients admitted to video-EEG monitoring between 2002 and 2015, we retrospectively research adult patients with refractory focal epilepsy, drop attacks and GPFA on EEG. We collected demographic, anamnestic, and clinical data from medical records. We reviewed for all patients the interictal and ictal video-EEG recordings. We identified ten patients with focal epilepsy and electro-clinical features of LGS. As compared to classical LGS patients, our patients: (1) began epilepsy later (15.4 ± 8 years); (2) exhibited exclusively focal onset seizures, including drop attacks seizures linked to focal asymmetrical tonic posturing seizures; (3) had a stable cognition over time and (4) evolved favourably with a good secondary response to treatments in 80% of cases. Interestingly, all patients exhibited apparent diffuse interictal and ictal EEG abnormalities but a detailed analysis revealed that 50% had asymmetrical GPFA and 70% secondary bilateral synchrony processes. We may hypothesize here that a process of “secondary LGS” occurred which produced a worsening of seizures with the apparition of drop attacks and GPFA on EEG. This study brings arguments to consider that some cases of LGS could be linked to the development of a “secondary epileptic network” driven by a primary focal epileptic zone.     

Epilepsy surgery: when thinking about? Who are the good candidates?

Epilepsy surgery concerns any patient with pharmacoresistant partial epilepsy, responsible for disability. Children and adult patients can be candidates for epilepsy surgery. A presurgical evaluation, adapted to each patient, must identify the most precisely the cortical area, where the seizures originate, using converging data: the clinical and electroencephalographic semiology of the seizures, the structural and sometimes functional brain imagings, and evaluate if the removal of the epileptogenic focus may induce a neurological or cognitive deficit, using neuropsychological tests and sometimes functional brain imagings. Such therapeutical strategy should be evoked as soon as possible in patients for whom the epilepsy becomes pharmacoresistant, and these patients should be oriented in specialized centres. The results of epilepsy surgery vary according to the lobar origin of the epileptogenic focus and to the existence of a visible lesion on brain MRI. A multidisciplinary evaluation of the benefits and risks should be presented to the patient. Results of the surgery are usually excellent when a focus is clearly identified and the neuropsychological tests did not predict a deficit.     

Épilepsies généralisées idiopathiques chez le sujet âgé : le point de vue du gériatre

Introduction

Long-term follow-up studies indicate a low remission rate in idiopathic generalised epilepsies (IGE) (Martinez-Juarez et al., 2006), suggesting they may persist to an advanced age. However there are few estimates of IGE frequency in the elderly.

Methods

EEGs of 700 patients aged over 70 years, recorded between January 2006 and March 2007, were reviewed for anomalies consistent with IGE. We then examined the clinical history of patients with these anomalies.

Results

A persistent IGE was identified in four female patients (mean age: 79 years); in two cases it was a juvenile myoclonic epilepsy (JME) and in two an epilepsy with grand mal seizures. Seizures in three patients had begun in childhood or adolescence and in one at 40 years. Before hospitalization, few or no seizures were reported and IGE had not been diagnosed. IGE was revealed in each patient by a relatively severe event: an absence status (AS), subcontinuous myoclonic seizures or repeated convulsive generalised seizures (CGS). These events were not situation-related but in one patient the relapse of simple convulsive seizures, may have been related to the withdrawal of anti-epileptic drugs (AED) several months previously. EEG records showed generalised spikes or polyspikes and waves organised in a status epilepticus or in interictal rhythmic discharges. In one case they were evident only from a 24 hours recording. Clonazepam injection was used to suppress the AS episode and the subintrant myoclonia. After the AS, interictal generalised epileptic discharges persisted. Two of the four patients had familial history of epilepsy or febrile seizures but in no case was an epileptogenic lesion evident in brain CT scan or MRI. Clinical exams and biologic parameters were normal. All of the patients had worked and were married with children. Appropriate therapies were followed after the diagnosis of IGE. One patient with JME had been treated by Valproate which was discontinued by the general practitioner because of lethargy and replaced by Carbamazepine; seizures were aggravated under both Carbamazepine and then Lamotrigine and until the patient became seizure-free on Levetiracetam. The antiepiletic treatment was also modified in a second patient, while the two others responded well to Valproate.

Conclusions

IGE can exacerbate in the elderly, as different types of seizures including AS, subintrant myoclonia or repeated CGS. Our data suggest persistent IGE are quite frequent in an aged population and may be underestimated due to difficulties in diagnosis. Correctly diagnosed, adjustment of AED may offer substantial clinical improvements in IGE of the elderly.     

Epilepsy related to focal neuronal lipofuscinosis: extra-frontal localization,EEG signatures and GABA involvement

Journal of Neurology - Focal neuronal lipofuscinosis (FNL) is an uncommon epileptic disorder related to an excess of lipofuscin accumulation within dysmorphic-appearing neurons (DANs), whose...     

Dietary correlates of emotional eating in adolescence

To better understand the relation between emotional eating and dietary choices, dietary correlates of emotional eating were investigated in an adolescent sample. Participants were 617 predominantly Latino middle school students from seven schools in Los Angeles County. Analyses of cross-sectional data revealed that emotional eating was associated with increased frequency of intake of sweet high energy-dense foods, such as cake and ice cream, salty high energy-dense foods like chips, and soda. Gender stratified analyses revealed an association between emotional eating and more frequent fruit and vegetable intake in boys only, and a positive association between emotional eating and salty high energy-dense intake in both boys and girls. These data support previous literature that reports a preference for high energy-dense food in emotional eating, and shows that this association may be generalizable to Latino youth. Considering that emotional eating may lead to overeating because it often takes place in the absence of hunger, it may be appropriate to develop interventions to teach youth healthier substitutions and regulate mood by means other than eating in order to reduce risk for obesity, especially in high risk populations, such as Latinos.     

Long-term (6-year) effect of selective digestive decontamination on antimicrobial resistance in intensive care,multiple-trauma patients

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether selective digestive decontamination (SDD) had some negative impact on the bacterial resistance observed in strains isolated from samples from patients receiving nonabsorbable antibiotics and cefazolin. DESIGN: Case-control study. SETTING: Intensive care unit of a university tertiary-care hospital. PATIENTS: Over a 6-yr period, 360 multiple trauma patients (case patients) submitted to SDD were compared with 360 patients not receiving SDD (controls). INTERVENTIONS: SDD consisted of polymyxin E, gentamicin, and amphotericin B and was applied on the buccal mucosa and provided in the nares and the stomach. For the first 3 days, systemic cefazolin (1 g three times a day) was provided. Resistance analysis was performed in case patients and controls on samples collected at predetermined intervals. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: SDD was used in a small subset of patients admitted to the intensive care unit (360 of 5987 over the 6-yr study period). A relative overgrowth of gram-positive cocci was observed. Methicillin resistance of Staphylococcus epidermidis was increased (SDD 76%, controls 63%, p <.05) but not that of Staphylococcus aureus (SDD 20%, controls 18%). Resistance of Enterobacteriaceae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Acinetobacter to beta-lactamines and aminoglycosides was the same in SDD patients and controls. CONCLUSIONS: When used in a small subset of patients who have been shown to derive benefit from it (patients who have experienced multiple trauma), SDD has a moderate impact on microbial ecology. However, surveillance cultures are indispensable because the absence of resistance to SDD antibiotics determines the long-term safety of the SDD prophylaxis.