The majority of patients with epilepsy maintain seizure control during pregnancy. The apparently higher risk of seizures among women treated with oxcarbazepine and the more frequent increases in drug load in the oxcarbazepine and lamotrigine cohorts prompts further studies on relationships with pharmacokinetic changes. Risks associated with status epilepticus appear to be lower than previously reported.

Running title: Prospective use of immunohistochemistry ... Key words: primary breast cancer, sentinel lymph node biopsy, immunohistochemistry, isolated tumour cells and non-sentinel lymph node metastasis.

Loss of ATBF flexibility in overweight postmenopausal women may contribute to the metabolic dysfunction seen in this group of women.

Objective: To explore possible associations between adipose tissue (AT) blood flow (ATBF), AT depot sizes and adipocytederived hormones (adipokines) in women. Subjects: In all, 43 healthy women were divided into four groups: normal-weight (n ¼ 11) and obese (n ¼ 11) pre-menopausal women and normal-weight (n ¼ 10) and obese (n ¼ 11) post-menopausal women. Methods: Fasting levels of adipokines were obtained, and a single-slice computed tomography scan at the level of L4-L5 was used to estimate fat depot sizes. ATBF was assessed by xenon washout while in a fasting state and after oral glucose load. We also measured glucose, insulin and non-esterified fatty acids. Results: Total, subcutaneous and visceral AT areas strongly correlated with ATBF (all Po0.001). Circulating leptin levels strongly and inversely correlated with ATBF (P ¼ 0.001), but this association did not remain after adjustment for body mass index. Adiponectin was not associated with blood flow. Conclusion: ATBF is closely linked to subcutaneous and visceral AT size. Further analyses are needed to determine possible mediators of this association, including mechanistic studies to assess a putative role for leptin as a significant modulator of blood flow.

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