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Journal of Pediatric Neurology 2006; 04(01): 053-056
DOI: 10.1055/s-0035-1557301
Case Report
Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart – New York

Blockage of eye-closure-generated generalized paroxysms by mental activity

Rami Amit
a   Tod Children’s Hospital, Youngstown, OH, USA
,
Yali Amit
b   Department of Statistics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
,
Daniel J. Amit
c   Department of Physics, University of Rome, La Sapienza, Rome, Italy
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Publication History

08 June 2005

02 July 2005

Publication Date:
29 July 2015 (online)

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Abstract

Seizures and electroencephalography (EEG) paroxysms induced by eye closure. Are rare but a recognized form of stimulus induced epilepsy. We report a case of a 15-year-old male diagnosed with juvenile absence epilepsy in whom EEG paroxysms in the form of generalized three per second spike and wave bursts generated by sustained eye closure were consistently blocked during mental activity in the form of skip counting. To the best of our knowledge, this phenomenon has not been previously reported. We propose two possible mechanisms to account for this blockage, both based on reduction of excitability: (1) blockage of the seizures in the brainstem at the level of the reticular activating system, by raising the level of attention, via the thalamo-cortical circuitry, (2) task-specific, based on the model mechanism of “winner-takes-all“ which generates enhanced inhibition to produce cognitive selectivity.

Keywords

Seizures - reflex epilepsy - eye closure