Anumber of therapies have been developed in the past decades.About two thirds of patients can be seizure free with antiepileptic drugs.1 Other patients are drug resistant,some of whom are good candidates for epileptic focus resection and become seizure free after surgery.2 The treatment for drug-resistant patients who are not eligible for resection is still challenging.Traditionally,these patients can receive palliative surgery such as callosotomy and multiple subpial transection,3,4 but the long-term outcomes of these procedures are not satisfactory.5-7 In the past decades,neuromodulation techniques have been applied in the treatment of epilepsy.Much evidence has been accumulated about the therapeutic effects of vagus nerve stimulation for epilepsy.In contrast to peripheral nerve stimulation,brain stimulation techniques have also been developed for patients with epilepsy recently.
Lu YingzhiRen QingtaoZong LiWu YingliZhang QinfengMa XiuqingPu JinyuDong HanzhenLiu QingqingTang YunxiangSong LishengChen XingshiPan XiaoCui Yi
Backgorund Nicotine may improve schizophrenia patient＇s cognitive deficit symptoms.This study was to explore the chronic effects of smoking on prepulse inhibition of the startle reflex （PPI） and P50 in the patients with first-episode schizophrenia （FES）.Methods The event-related potentials （ERP） recording and analysis instrument made by Brain Products,Germany,was used to detect PPI and P50 in 49 male FES patients （FES group,n=21 for smokers and n=28 for non-smokers） and 43 normal male controls （control group,n=19 for smokers and n=24 for non-smokers）.Results Compared with normal controls,the FES group had prolonged PPI latency when elicited by single stronger stimulus （P ＜0.05）; the FES group had prolonged PPI latency and increased PPI amplitude （P ＜0.05,0.01） when elicited by weak and strong stimuli.The FES group had lower PPI inhibition rate than normal controls （P ＜0.05）.Compared with normal controls,the FES group had increased P50-S2 amplitude and increased amplitude ratio S2/S1 （both P ＜0.05）.In the control group,the smokers had a tendency of increase in P50-S2 amplitude （P ＞0.05） and shorter P50-S2 latency （P ＜0.05） than the non-smokers.The smokers had higher PPI amplitude than the non-smokers （P ＜0.05）.In the FES group,the smokers had higher P50-S1 amplitude,shorter P50-S2 latency,and higher amplitude ratio S2/S1 than the non-smokers （P ＜0.05,0.01）.The smokers had higher PPI amplitude than the non-smokers （P ＜0.05）.Conclusions There is obvious PPI and P50 deficits in schizophrenic patients.However,these deficits are relatively preserved in the smokers compared with the non-smokers,which suggests that long-term smoking might partially improve the sensory gating in schizophrenic patients.Whether this conclusion can be deduced to female patients requires further follow-ups.
Song LishengChen XingshiChen MeijuanTang YunxiangWang JijunZhang MingdaoLou FeiyingLiang JianhuaChen Chong
