International Symposium on Dietary Therapies for Epilepsy and Other Neurological

描述（由申请人提供）：虽然大多数神经系统疾病传统上用药物治疗，但越来越多的证据表明，饮食干预也可以发挥与药物治疗相当或可能超过药物治疗的有益临床效果。对于那些对高脂肪低碳水化合物饮食（即生酮饮食）反应良好的癫痫患者来说尤其如此。事实上，根据历史上的观察，禁食对控制癫痫发作是有效的，临床医生在20世纪20年代制定了生酮饮食，以反映禁食状态下的生化变化。虽然生酮饮食从那时起在美国的医疗中心就可以使用，但直到最近十年，这种非药物干预作为治疗难治性癫痫的有效方法才被国际上广泛接受。对生酮饮食的科学兴趣也与世界各地临床中心的发展同步，目的是了解其潜在的作用机制-这是改善其临床实施所必需的重要信息。在过去的几年里，生酮饮食的变化已经成为儿童和成人癫痫治疗中有效且耐受性更好的选择。此外，通过饮食干预（如限制卡路里摄入）治疗其他神经系统疾病的兴趣虽小，但日益增长，这与KD有一些生化上的相似之处。这些疾病包括帕金森病、阿尔茨海默病、肌萎缩侧索硬化症、创伤性脑和脊髓损伤，甚至脑肿瘤。饮食因素会影响大脑功能并不完全令人惊讶，但值得注意的是，这种治疗方法可以产生如此深远的临床效果，而在许多情况下，药物未能产生持久的效果。对于通常被认为是神经退行性和/或衰弱性疾病的疾病，需要对饮食和代谢对大脑功能和疾病过程的影响有更深入的基本理解，从而制定出新颖有效的策略。本次研讨会的目标是神经科医生、癫痫医生、研究科学家、护士、营养师和其他相关卫生专业人员，其基本目标是分享关于这一迅速扩大的主题的最新信息，并确定未来应该追求的重要临床和研究问题。此外，本次研讨会将提供一个论坛，就实际临床实施、不良反应监测以及重要的是，对基本细胞和分子机制进行批判性的探讨，这些机制可以解释生酮饮食的抗惊厥和神经保护作用。本次研讨会将持续三天，包括全体会议和小型专题讨论会，以及专门针对特定医疗保健专业人员和研究人员群体的海报和分组会议。虽然研讨会的大部分重点将放在癫痫的饮食治疗上，但最后一天将回顾我们在其他神经系统疾病（包括阿尔茨海默氏症和帕金森病，脑肿瘤和神经创伤）的饮食治疗方面的临床和实验经验，为更好地理解饮食基质及其给药的生化和代谢后果如何保护患病的大脑铺平道路。另一个实际的短期目标是让与会者分享信息并建立临床和研究合作。它需要一个多学科的团队来成功地实施生酮饮食，适当地研究它，并改进它。这种合作精神是本次国际研讨会的核心依据。公共卫生相关性：本次研讨会的基本目标是分享关于癫痫饮食疗法这一迅速扩大的主题的最新信息，并确定未来应该追求的重要临床和研究问题。虽然有一些国际会议专门讨论了KD的主题，但没有一个会议全面审查了这种历史悠久的治疗方法的临床和基础科学方面。因此，我们相信这次研讨会可能是第一次致力于这个长期被忽视的医学领域的具有里程碑意义的科学会议。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): While most neurological disorders have traditionally been treated with pharmacological agents, there is growing evidence that dietary interventions can also exert beneficial clinical effects comparable to, or perhaps exceeding, drug therapy. This is especially true for the epilepsies which respond favorably to a high-fat low-carbohydrate diet known as the ketogenic diet. Indeed, following historical observations that fasting was effective for seizure control, clinicians formulated the ketogenic diet in the 1920's to mirror the biochemical changes seen in the fasted state. And although the ketogenic diet has been available since then in medical centers throughout the United States, it was not until this past decade that widespread international acceptance of this non-pharmacological intervention as an effective treatment for medically refractory epilepsy had been achieved. Scientific interest in the ketogenic diet has also paralleled the growth of clinical centers throughout the world, with the goal of understanding its underlying mechanisms of action - important information that is necessary to improve upon its clinical implementation. In the past several years, variations of the ketogenic diet have emerged as efficacious and better tolerated options in the treatment of epilepsy in both pediatric and adult patients. Additionally, there is a small but growing interest in treating other neurological disorders with dietary interventions - such as calorie restriction - that share some biochemical similarities with the KD. These conditions include Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, traumatic brain & spinal cord injury, and even brain tumors. That dietary factors should influence brain function is not altogether surprising, but it is important to note that such treatments can exert such profound clinical effects, where in many instances drugs have failed to produce lasting effects. A greater fundamental understanding of dietary and metabolic effects of brain function and disease processes is required to develop novel and effective strategies for what are often considered neurodegenerative and/or debilitating disorders. This symposium is aimed at neurologists, epileptologists, research scientists, nurses, dietitians, and other allied health professionals, with the fundamental goal of sharing up-to-date information on this rapidly expanding topic, and defining the important clinical and research questions that should be pursued in the future. Additionally, this symposium will provide a forum for extended discussions regarding practical clinical implementation, surveillance of adverse effects, and importantly, a critical look at basic cellular and molecular mechanisms that could account for the anticonvulsant and neuroprotective effects of the ketogenic diet. This symposium will be held over three full days, and will consist of both plenary sessions and mini- symposia, as well as poster and break-out sessions devoted to specific groups of healthcare professionals and researchers. While much of the focus of the symposium will be on dietary treatments for epilepsy, the final day will review our clinical and experimental experience with dietary therapies for other neurological disorders (including Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, brain tumors and neurotrauma), paving the way toward a greater understanding of how dietary substrates, and the biochemical and metabolic consequences of their administration, can protect the diseased brain. An additional practical short-term goal will be to have attendees share information and establish clinical and research collaborations. It takes a multidisciplinary team to successfully implement the ketogenic diet, study it appropriately, and improve upon it. This spirit of cooperation constitutes the core rationale for this international symposium. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The fundamental goal of this symposium is to share up-to-date information on the rapidly expanding topic of dietary therapies for epilepsy, and to define the important clinical and research questions that should be pursued in the future. While there have been a few international meetings devoted to the topic of the KD, none have comprehensively examined both clinical and basic science aspects of this time-honored treatment. As such, we believe that this symposium may be the first landmark scientific meeting devoted to this long-neglected area of medicine.