Why Do Doctors Sometimes Laugh When Watching Seizures? Scientists Investigated This Surprisingly Awkward Medical Reaction

 Two epileptologists spent five years giving the same lecture on functional seizures on three continents. Each time, they showed the same patient videos. Each time, an unannounced observer in the room counted how many people laughed.

At grand rounds in the United States, roughly 57% of the medical audience did. At an epilepsy symposium in Marburg, Germany, about 5%. At an epilepsy course in São Paulo, about 8%. At the Turkish Epilepsy Congress in Bodrum, about 13%, and about 17% across the remaining countries.

https://www.medicaldaily.com/doctors-laughter-functional-seizures-survey-477170

Levodopa exacerbated tremor in Parkinson's disease

 

Background:

Levodopa is considered the most effective pharmacological therapy for Parkinson's disease (PD). However, it can cause side effects including diverse types of dyskinesia. In rare cases, tremor worsening has been reported in patients with PD taking levodopa. The frequency of this effect in clinical practice is unclear, and the phenomenology is poorly characterized.

Objectives:

We aimed to assess the frequency, clinical features, and factors associated with tremor exacerbated by levodopa in patients with PD.

Methods:

We studied a cohort of 274 consecutive patients with PD and determined the frequency of tremor exacerbated by levodopa.

Results:

Tremor exacerbation with levodopa was identified in four patients (1.46%) and 1.55% of patients taking levodopa. There were two men and two women, with ages ranging from 53 to 73 years at the time of evaluation. All patients experienced a consistent worsening of rest tremor within 20 min of taking a low dose of levodopa (62.5 mg or 125 mg). No benefit from biperiden or amantadine was observed for levodopa-exacerbated tremor in any of the cases. None of the patients showed signs of atypical parkinsonism or abnormal MRI. Patients with levodopa-exacerbated tremor were very reluctant to take more than a small dose of levodopa or any dose at all, hampering potential benefits for other parkinsonian features such as rigidity, bradykinesia, and parkinsonian gait.

Conclusion:

Tremor exacerbated by levodopa is an uncommon side effect in patients with PD that limits the benefit of this therapy.

https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neurology/articles/10.3389/fneur.2026.1866044/full

Lisa McHugh announces difficult family update after year of ‘challenges and change’

 

Lisa McHugh announced on Wednesday that she and her husband Nathan Khan have separated.

The country music star revealed that she had been keeping the news private in order to protect their two children, Hallie, two, and Milo, four.

https://rollercoaster.ie/celebrity-2/lisa-mchugh-husband/

Convent Mass Hysteria Has Six Centuries of Case Records; Netflix’s The Body Dramatizes Them

 When Netflix drops all eight episodes of The Body on November 11, 2026, audiences will encounter what creator Quinn Shephard is calling a "raunchy teen psychodrama with a dash of Catholic horror" — a series about Catholic schoolgirls who begin experiencing prophetic visions after a dance-team initiation goes wrong, triggering mass hysteria across their town.

https://www.techtimes.com/articles/324097/20260812/convent-mass-hysteria-has-six-centuries-case-records-netflixs-body-dramatizes-them.htm

'I woke up with no feeling in my legs - now I'm doing a triathlon'

 Footballer Martha Sharland's life changed overnight when she woke up with no feeling below her waist.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2r18vvg08o

Fundraiser launched to support Laois man following life-changing neurological disorder diagnosis

 A fundraiser has been launched to support a Ballylinan man and his family after a neurological disorder left him unable to walk and requiring the use of a wheelchair.

https://www.laoistoday.ie/2026/08/14/fundraiser-launched-to-support-laois-man-following-life-changing-neurological-disorder-diagnosis/

Unresponsive in the PACU: A Case Report of Functional Neurological Symptom Disorder and Review of Recent Literature

 

• James P. Chung
• Arnav Sugavanam1
• Joseph G. Tharion,

Journal of Obstetric Anaesthesia and Critical Care 16(2):p 172-178, Jul-Dec 2026. | DOI: 10.4103/JOACC.JOACC_68_26

Functional neurological symptom disorder (FND), also known as conversion disorder, is a somatoform disease that can cause neurological deficits without anatomical or physiological causes. It can be caused by any physical or psychological stressor, including trauma, hospital admission, surgery, as well as having to undergo anesthesia. We report about a pediatric patient (with a history of previous FND) who became suddenly unresponsive and exhibited seizure-like activity in the postanesthesia care unit after undergoing general anesthesia for a gynecological procedure (intrauterine device placement). After undergoing largely normal testing, including electrolytes, imaging, and consultation from pediatric neurology, she spontaneously recovered and was eventually discharged to psychiatry follow-up. FND is a debilitating disease both physically and mentally for both patients and families; diagnosis and treatment both need multidisciplinary involvement. Ultimately, individually tailored perioperative care is needed for patients with a history of FND; the anesthesiologist’s role in preparing patients and their families for surgery and anesthesia, as well as appropriate follow-up care, may improve long-term patient outcomes.

https://www.ovid.com/jnls/joac/fulltext/10.4103/joacc.joacc_68_26~unresponsive-in-the-pacu-a-case-report-of-functional