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NEWS

• Early diagnosis lets patients look Alzheimer's square in the face...
• "Our data strongly suggest that genetic factors make a substantial contribution to autism, but that does not mean that the entire cause of autism is genetic. Together with many other studies, our study argues that genetic factors play a very important role in autism, while leaving open a role for other, environmental factors..."
• "Unidentified traumatic brain injury is an unrecognized major source of social and vocational failure."
• Meningitis is far more common in children than is encephalitis.
• Alzheimer’s is the most common cause of dementia in the elderly, representing 60 percent of all dementias in those over 65.
• The Epilepsy Therapy Project will provide almost US$300,000 over the next two years to a group of researchers from leading Australian institutions including the University of Newcastle.
• Headache is the seventh leading reason for outpatient physician visits in the United States.
• Severe septicaemia including meningococcal septicaemia - the blood poisoning form of meningitis - is a major cause of death and disability in children.
• Initial hopes for improved narcolepsy medicines that replace hypocretin have faded, because studies showed that the molecule did not readily cross the blood-brain barrier.
• Michael J. Fox Foundation Awards $2.4 Million For Validation Of Nine Promising Therapeutic Targets For Parkinson's Disease.
• A long-term study provides important clues that may help doctors predict the clinical course of some individuals’ multiple sclerosis.
• "We found that we could pick up seizure activity in most of the patients using aEEG monitors that included the raw signals."
• Chemotherapy, while effective at treating tumors, often harms healthy cells as well, leading to severe side effects especially in young children.

Headaches

Facts about Headache

Headache is the seventh leading reason for outpatient physician visits in the United States. Each
year, more than $3 billion is spent on over-the-counter medications – more than one billion
dollars of which can be attributed to headache. Headaches have a myriad of causes, including
minor infections, hangovers and fasting and very serious disorders such as brain tumor and
stroke. The most common causes of headache are not secondary to some other disorder and
include migraine and tension type headaches, which are biological disorders of the nervous
system.

Migraine Headaches

• Twenty-eight million Americans, approximately one in five women and one in twenty men, have actual migraine, a painful and often disabling headache disorder.
• Migraine consists of headaches, which are usually one sided and throbbing and associated
  with various combinations of sensitivity to light, sound, nausea and vomiting.
• Migraine is a genuine, inherited medical disorder, as valid as heart disease, high blood
  pressure or diabetes.
• There are two major types of migraine: migraine without aura (formerly called common
  migraine) and migraine with aura (formerly called classic migraine). Twenty percent of
  migraineurs experience migraine with aura. Auras are characterized by changes in vision
  (including seeing spots, lines and heat waves) and tingling and numbness of the hands and feet.
• There are many effective treatments for migraines including treatments for the attack and to reduce the number of attacks.
• The cost of lost work due to migraine is more than $13 billion per year in the United States. Migraine disability is a target for effective therapy.

Tension-Type Headaches

• Tension-type headaches are characterized by pressure, squeezing or vise-like pain on both sides of the head. It may involve pain around the back of the neck, the scalp and the
  forehead.
• Although referred to as tension-type headaches, no evidence suggests that stress or tension causes the head pain, but they may act as triggers.
• Tension headaches, if chronic, may occur as often as every day.

Cluster Headaches

• Cluster headaches are characterized by attacks, which can occur one or several times per day for weeks or months and then may remit for months or years.
• Cluster headaches usually occur at approximately the same time each day, often during sleep, and typically last from 30 to 90 minutes.
• The pain is described as a stabbing pain in or around one eye. Pain is associated with redness and tearing of the eye, nasal stuffiness and drooping of the eye in various combinations. It is difficult for the sufferer to remain still.
• More men than women suffer from cluster headaches.
• Drinking alcohol and smoking heavily may trigger cluster headaches.

Other Types of Headache

While most headaches fall into one of the above three categories, some headaches may signal a
more serious condition such as a tumor. Anyone experiencing frequent, debilitating headaches
that interfere with his or her routine should see a doctor to receive an accurate diagnosis.

For more information, please contact:
Molly Tritt
Associate Executive Director
American Headache Society
19 Mantua Road
Mount Royal, NJ 08061
856-423-0258 / 856-423-0082 fax

ww.AmericanHeadacheSociety.org