A Systematic Review of the Predictive and Diagnostic Uses of Neuroinflammation Biomarkers for Epileptogenesis.

A central role for neuroinflammation in epileptogenesis has recently been suggested by several investigations. This systematic review explores the role of inflammatory mediators in epileptogenesis, its association with seizure severity, and its correlation with drug-resistant epilepsy (DRE). The study analysed articles published in JCR journals from 2019 to 2024. The search strategy comprised the MESH, free terms of "Neuroinflammation", and selective searches for the following single biomarkers that had previously been selected from the relevant literature: "High mobility group box 1/HMGB1", "Toll-Like-Receptor 4/TLR-4", "Interleukin-1/IL-1", "Interleukin-6/IL-6", "Transforming growth factor beta/TGF-ß", and "Tumour necrosis factor-alpha/TNF-α". These queries were all combined with the MESH terms "Epileptogenesis" and "Epilepsy". We found 243 articles related to epileptogenesis and neuroinflammation, with 356 articles from selective searches by biomarker type. After eliminating duplicates, 324 articles were evaluated, with 272 excluded and 55 evaluated by the authors. A total of 21 articles were included in the qualitative evaluation, including 18 case-control studies, 2 case series, and 1 prospective study. As conclusion, this systematic review provides acceptable support for five biomarkers, including TNF-α and some of its soluble receptors (sTNFr2), HMGB1, TLR-4, CCL2 and IL-33. Certain receptors, cytokines, and chemokines are examples of neuroinflammation-related biomarkers that may be crucial for the early diagnosis of refractory epilepsy or may be connected to the control of epileptic seizures. Their value will be better defined by future studies.

Understanding School Anxiety in Italian Adolescence through an Artificial Neural Network: Influence of Social Skills and Coping Strategies.

School anxiety depends on multiple factors that occur directly or indirectly in the teaching-learning process, such as going to the blackboard in class or reporting low grades at home. Other factors that influence school climate are social skills and coping strategies. That said, the aim of this research was to analyze the sources of school anxiety, coping strategies, and social skills in Italian secondary school students through an artificial neural network. For this purpose, a quantitative and ex post facto design was used in which the Inventory of School Anxiety (IAES), the Coping Scale for Children (EAN), and the Questionnaire for the Evaluation of Social Skills student version (EHS-A) were administered. The results showed that cognitive avoidance and behavioral avoidance coping strategies, together with the lack of social skills in students, are the variables that contributed the most to school anxiety scores in the artificial neural network. The conclusions revolve around the need to develop primary prevention programs.