BACKGROUND In 2010, intense focus was brought to bear on febrile convulsions in Australian children particularly in relation to influenza vaccination. Febrile convulsions are relatively common in infants and can lead to hospital admission and severe outcomes. We aimed to examine the relationships between the population incidence of febrile convulsions and influenza and respiratory syncytial vir...

Twenty-two infants and children were studied after convulsions of varied cause and duration. Arterial and CSF acid-base variables, lactate and pyruvate concentrations, and lactate/pyruvate ratios were measured between 3 and 18 hours after convulsive episodes. Biochemical signs of cerebral hypoxia were found in 7 patients with prolonged (greater than 30 minutes) or recurrent short convulsions. T...

The opioid receptor subtypes and brain regions involved in eliciting convulsions and wet dog shakes (WDS) were studied by testing different opioid receptor selective agonists in unanesthetized rats. Selective mu agonists, [NMe-Phe3-D-Pro4]-morphiceptin (PL017) and [D-Ala2-N-methyl-Phe3-Gly5-ol]-enkephalin, induced convulsions and WDS when unilaterally injected into the ventral hippocampus. [D-A...

Theophylline-associated convulsions have been observed most frequently in children with fever, but the mechanism is not fully understood. In this study, we investigated the basic mechanism of aminophylline [theophylline-2-ethylenediamine]-induced convulsions and the effects of Brewer's yeast-induced pyrexia in mice. Diazepam (5-10mg/kg, i.p.), a benzodiazepine receptor agonist, significantly pr...

It has long been recognized that severe convulsive attacks are followed by depletion of the carbohydrate reserves of the body. Indeed one of the experimental methods of exhausting the glycogen of the tissues is by inducing convulsions by the administration of strychnine or other similar drugs. Clearly in these circumstances the reduction of available carbohydrate is the result and not the cause...