Francis L. Waterstraat

National General Practice Study of Epilepsy and Epileptic Seizures: Objectives and Study Methodology of the Largest Reported Prospective Cohort Study of Epilepsy

Most available data on the prognosis of epileptic seizures come from hospital-based clinics in which patients with chronic or severe disease are over-represented. The National General Practice Study of Epilepsy and Epileptic Seizures is a large prospective community-based study of people with newly diagnosed seizures which aims to address questions related to the early prognosis of epilepsy. 275 general practitioners throughout the United Kingdom have registered a total of 1,195 patients. In this paper we discuss the background to the study and the methodology used.

Routine Blood Chemistry Screen: A Diagnostic Aid for Alzheimer's Disease

Results of blood chemistry screens of 47 Alzheimers disease patients were compared to those of 71 non-Alzheimers disease patients with other dementias. Only kidney-related tests differed between the groups (urea nitrogen, creatinine, uric acid and albumin) with the Alzheimers disease patients nearer the normal ranges. Multivariate analyses were used to examine whether the simultaneous use of the analytes could aid in diagnosing Alzheimers disease. Linear and quadratic discriminant analysis and logistic regression were used to evaluate a number of models. A linear discriminant model of albumin, uric acid, lactate dehydrogenase, and age demonstrated 70-75% classification accuracy using randomly selected test populations of 20%.