Two big messages of joy – from Sweden and Norway

Two big messages of joy – from Sweden and Norway

It involves two important discoveries.

In Norway, researchers have developed, with the help of artificial intelligence (AI), a new method that can investigate brain diseases and epilepsy faster than ever before.

For the first time ever, artificial intelligence can be used to interpret an EEG — the study of brain activity, often used to investigate epilepsy.

The survey is also important for following up patients with epilepsy, NRK reports.

It will help millions

According to the World Health Organization, around 50 million people worldwide suffer from epilepsy.

The new AI technology will be of great benefit to those affected by the disease.

Patients will benefit from this. Torhild Næss Vedeler, Clinic Director at the Neuroclinic at Haukeland University Hospital, tells NRK: We can screen more patients because it takes less time to interpret an EEG.

“She’s a pioneer”

The new model, developed by Norwegian researchers, is called “SCORE-AI”.

With the help of the model, it will be possible to examine and diagnose epilepsy faster and more accurately.

– For the first time, you can interpret an EEG with artificial intelligence and get a good result as if the best experts are doing the interpretation. Harald Orlin, senior physician in clinical neurophysiology at Hawkland University Hospital, believes we are pioneers in NRK.

Swedish discovery

In Sweden, successes have also been noted on the research front.

Researchers at the Karolinska Institutet KI have made a new genetic discovery that offers hope in the fight against severe multiple sclerosis.

This discovery opens the way for the development of treatments that prevent the increased functional impairment that occurs as the disease progresses, KI said in a press release.

Openness to new therapies

Previous studies have identified genetic factors that increase the risk of developing MS. They lead to a somewhat treatable imbalance in the immune system, which slows down the disease.

But risk factors do not explain the large difference in disease severity.

However, the discovery of the new gene increases the possibility of achieving understanding. An important step in the fight against neurological disease.

This is a major advance because the result represents the first real advance in understanding long-term disability in MS, in which patients gradually lose mobility and independence. This gives us an opportunity to develop new therapies to control disease progression, something many MS patients desperately need, says Ingrid Kokum, a professor in the Department of Clinical Neuroscience at Karolinska Institutet, and one of the people behind the study.

Photo: S. Sammy

Text: Editors