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	<title>Epilepsy Talk</title>
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		<title>Epilepsy Talk</title>
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		<title>The “SmartPen” –- PERFECT for Struggling Students!</title>
		<link>http://epilepsytalk.com/2012/02/10/the-smartpen-perfect-for-struggling-students/</link>
		<comments>http://epilepsytalk.com/2012/02/10/the-smartpen-perfect-for-struggling-students/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 10 Feb 2012 19:50:01 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Phylis Feiner Johnson</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Epilepsy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tips]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[answers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[defines]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[digital]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[help]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[improve grades]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[learning disabled]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[smartpen]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[struggling students]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://epilepsytalk.com/?p=2966</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[For all those struggling students, now there’s this new, incredible device called the “Smartpen”.

Yup. A pen can be smart.

Here is a pen that could transform the life of a learning disabled child. Or a physically challenged person.

How about a pen that might bring up the grades of a college student who finds it difficult to take notes fast enough to record the main points covered by lecturers?

A Smartpen is a computer in a pen that can capture handwriting at the same time as recording speech. Users can tap on their notes to replay what was recorded. Think of it as a digital “touch” pen...<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=epilepsytalk.com&amp;blog=9257692&amp;post=2966&amp;subd=epilepsytalk&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://epilepsytalk.com/2012/02/10/the-smartpen-perfect-for-struggling-students/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>7</slash:comments>
	
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		<item>
		<title>Epilepsy Scholarships</title>
		<link>http://epilepsytalk.com/2012/02/02/epilepsy-scholarships/</link>
		<comments>http://epilepsytalk.com/2012/02/02/epilepsy-scholarships/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 02 Feb 2012 01:30:30 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Phylis Feiner Johnson</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Epilepsy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Research]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tips]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[businesses]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[college scholarships]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Epilepsy Foundation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[financial assistance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[foundations]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[geographic areas]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[U.S. Government]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://epilepsytalk.com/?p=2948</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[When I first started this article, I thought I was whistling in the wind. But I was happily surprised. Epilepsy scholarships do exist!

Some foundations and businesses award thousands of dollars towards your college education, others provide a few hundred. But the more you apply, the better chances you’ll have of getting at least some kind of assistance with your college tuition.

For five good epilepsy scholarship sponsors click on: http://www.collegescholarships.org/health/epileptic-students.htm and you’re off to a really good start!
<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=epilepsytalk.com&amp;blog=9257692&amp;post=2948&amp;subd=epilepsytalk&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://epilepsytalk.com/2012/02/02/epilepsy-scholarships/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
	
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		<title>If You DON’T Have Epilepsy, Then WHAT Is It???</title>
		<link>http://epilepsytalk.com/2012/01/31/if-you-dont-have-epilepsy-then-what-is-it/</link>
		<comments>http://epilepsytalk.com/2012/01/31/if-you-dont-have-epilepsy-then-what-is-it/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 31 Jan 2012 22:49:59 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Phylis Feiner Johnson</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Epilepsy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Research]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Encephalitis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hypoglycemia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[imitators]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[infection]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Malnutrition]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Meningitis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Migraine]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Narcolepsy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Panic Attacks]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[similar]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Stroke]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Syncope (fainting)]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tumor]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://epilepsytalk.com/?p=2936</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[You might call them “imitators” of epilepsy, but that’s kind of extreme. You might say “similar” or you might say “confused”, which I think they are.

In a previous article titled “Conditions Commonly Misdiagnosed as Epilepsy” http://epilepsytalk.com/2010/02/17/conditions-commonly-misdiagnosed-as-epilepsy/ I thought I had it all covered.

But, believe it or not, that was just the tip of the iceberg.  I dug deeper and researched further and here is what I learned about signs and signals which might cause epilepsy, might show the same symptoms of epilepsy, or might be masquerading in their own way as epilepsy… 

<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=epilepsytalk.com&amp;blog=9257692&amp;post=2936&amp;subd=epilepsytalk&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://epilepsytalk.com/2012/01/31/if-you-dont-have-epilepsy-then-what-is-it/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>9</slash:comments>
	
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		<title>Laughter as effective as cocaine?</title>
		<link>http://epilepsytalk.com/2012/01/27/laughter-as-effective-as-cocaine-2/</link>
		<comments>http://epilepsytalk.com/2012/01/27/laughter-as-effective-as-cocaine-2/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 27 Jan 2012 17:33:47 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Phylis Feiner Johnson</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Epilepsy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Fun]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Research]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[brain regions]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cocaine]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[dopamine]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[EEG]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[euphoria]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[laughter]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[MRI]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[scentific evidence]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://epilepsytalk.com/?p=2921</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Yup. A comic cartoon fires up the same brain centre as a shot of cocaine, researchers report.

A team at Stanford University in California asked lab mates, spouses and friends to select the wittiest newspaper cartoons from a portfolio. They showed the winning array to 16 volunteers while peering inside their heads with an MRI.

The cartoons activated the same reward circuits in the brain that are tickled by cocaine, money or a pretty face, the neuroscientists found. (Wow!)
<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=epilepsytalk.com&amp;blog=9257692&amp;post=2921&amp;subd=epilepsytalk&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://epilepsytalk.com/2012/01/27/laughter-as-effective-as-cocaine-2/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>7</slash:comments>
	
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			<media:title type="html">Phylis</media:title>
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		<title>Medical mistakes out of control!</title>
		<link>http://epilepsytalk.com/2012/01/24/medical-mistakes-out-of-control/</link>
		<comments>http://epilepsytalk.com/2012/01/24/medical-mistakes-out-of-control/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 24 Jan 2012 18:59:13 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Phylis Feiner Johnson</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Epilepsy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Research]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[#1 killer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[deaths]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[diagnostic]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[inpatient]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[medical errors]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[outpatient]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[surgical]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[treatment]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://epilepsytalk.com/?p=2906</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Believe it or not, the total number of medical errors and deaths in the U.S. equals SIX jumbo jets crashing every day! If a Jumbo Jet crashed and killed 280 people everyday…365 days a year…year after year…would you be concerned about flying? Would you question the Federal Aviation Administration? Would you demand answers?? Think about it...close to 100,000 people dying every year from plane crashes. Sounds Ridiculous??!! <img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=epilepsytalk.com&amp;blog=9257692&amp;post=2906&amp;subd=epilepsytalk&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://epilepsytalk.com/2012/01/24/medical-mistakes-out-of-control/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>6</slash:comments>
	
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			<media:title type="html">Phylis</media:title>
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		<title>MS or Epilepsy?</title>
		<link>http://epilepsytalk.com/2012/01/20/ms-or-epilepsy/</link>
		<comments>http://epilepsytalk.com/2012/01/20/ms-or-epilepsy/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 20 Jan 2012 16:48:38 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Phylis Feiner Johnson</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Epilepsy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Medication Issues]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Research]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[autoimmune]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[epilepsy MS]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[misdiagnosis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[neuroimaging]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[research sparse]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://epilepsytalk.wordpress.com/?p=2897</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Recently a woman wrote to me telling about the awful diagnostic disaster that she had been through.

In her words: “It took 3 years, 3 primary doctors, and 7 neurologists to diagnose me.

I told everyone that ‘it feels like my brain is shaking in my head.’

If they had listened to me the first time and had done a simple EEG, it would’ve saved us and the insurance company a lot of money!

I was misdiagnosed with MS after 4 MRIs. We had 3 trips to the ER. A lot of blood work. And on and on…”<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=epilepsytalk.com&amp;blog=9257692&amp;post=2897&amp;subd=epilepsytalk&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://epilepsytalk.com/2012/01/20/ms-or-epilepsy/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	
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			<media:title type="html">Phylis</media:title>
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		<title>Diagnostic tests that save millions&#8230;</title>
		<link>http://epilepsytalk.com/2012/01/16/diagnostic-tests-that-save-millions/</link>
		<comments>http://epilepsytalk.com/2012/01/16/diagnostic-tests-that-save-millions/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 16 Jan 2012 18:12:44 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Phylis Feiner Johnson</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Epilepsy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Fundraising]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Medication Issues]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Research]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cost]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[diagnostic tests]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[pennies a day]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[saving millions]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://epilepsytalk.com/?p=2890</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[A diagnosis for cervical cancer with vinegar?

A test for liver damage which requires a single drop of blood and 15 minutes?

A team approach for AIDS treatment...?
<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=epilepsytalk.com&amp;blog=9257692&amp;post=2890&amp;subd=epilepsytalk&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://epilepsytalk.com/2012/01/16/diagnostic-tests-that-save-millions/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
	
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			<media:title type="html">Phylis</media:title>
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		<title>For Refractory Epilepsy &#8212; Two AEDs and You’re Home Free!</title>
		<link>http://epilepsytalk.com/2012/01/08/for-refractory-epilepsy-two-aeds-and-youre-home-free/</link>
		<comments>http://epilepsytalk.com/2012/01/08/for-refractory-epilepsy-two-aeds-and-youre-home-free/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 08 Jan 2012 18:51:57 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Phylis Feiner Johnson</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Epilepsy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Research]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[lamotrigine and valproate]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[more effective]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[reduce seizures by 50%]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[refractory epilepsy]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://epilepsytalk.com/?p=2839</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[A recent University of Washington report, published in the journal of the American Academy of Neurology, found a combination of two common drugs, lamotrigine and valproate, is more effective in treating refractory epilepsy than other anti-epileptic regimens.

In a large-scale retrospective study of patients with very difficult-to-control epilepsy, researchers discovered that out of the 32 drug combinations studied, only the lamotrigine/valproate treatment regimen significantly decreased seizure frequency in this group. This specific combination reduced seizure frequency by about half, on average, compared to other regimens. 
<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=epilepsytalk.com&amp;blog=9257692&amp;post=2839&amp;subd=epilepsytalk&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://epilepsytalk.com/2012/01/08/for-refractory-epilepsy-two-aeds-and-youre-home-free/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>5</slash:comments>
	
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			<media:title type="html">Phylis</media:title>
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		<title>2012 Top Ranked Neurology and Neurosurgery Hospitals in the U.S.</title>
		<link>http://epilepsytalk.com/2012/01/06/2012-top-ranked-neurology-and-neurosurgery-hospitals-in-the-u-s/</link>
		<comments>http://epilepsytalk.com/2012/01/06/2012-top-ranked-neurology-and-neurosurgery-hospitals-in-the-u-s/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 06 Jan 2012 19:22:27 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Phylis Feiner Johnson</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Epilepsy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Research]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tips]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://epilepsytalk.com/?p=2807</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Every year, patients and potential patients alike, look forward to the U.S. News &#38; World Report’s impartial list of top ranking hospitals. Attached is a link to their most current list for best Neurology and Neurosurgery services. This year, more than 1,300 hospitals are included. The top 50 are ranked and the rest are listed alphabetically. 

Criteria for the survey was: reputation among specialists, nursing staffing, and patient survival. Also considered was technology, patient safety, and patient services.

Here are the first ten...


<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=epilepsytalk.com&amp;blog=9257692&amp;post=2807&amp;subd=epilepsytalk&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://epilepsytalk.com/2012/01/06/2012-top-ranked-neurology-and-neurosurgery-hospitals-in-the-u-s/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>8</slash:comments>
	
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		<title>Epilepsy Help! No-cost or low-cost drugs and patient assistance programs</title>
		<link>http://epilepsytalk.com/2012/01/04/epilepsy-help-no-cost-or-low-cost-drugs-and-patient-assistance-programs/</link>
		<comments>http://epilepsytalk.com/2012/01/04/epilepsy-help-no-cost-or-low-cost-drugs-and-patient-assistance-programs/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 04 Jan 2012 16:42:29 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Phylis Feiner Johnson</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Epilepsy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Research]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[comprehensive list]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[free]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[help]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[low-cost]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[medication]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[new]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[pharmaceuticals]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[resources]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://epilepsytalk.com/?p=2797</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Today, things are constantly changing. Especially when it comes to epilepsy medications and resources. 

Some companies have expanded their programs or even offer new ones. Others have cut their funds, and sadly others have ceased to exist.

Here’s a new and comprehensive list... 
<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=epilepsytalk.com&amp;blog=9257692&amp;post=2797&amp;subd=epilepsytalk&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>11</slash:comments>
	
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