Cameron Boyce, who starred in the Disney Channel’s television show Jessie, passed away at age 20 after having a seizure in his sleep, People reports.

His untimely death startled actors who worked with him, including Adam Sandler, who tweeted in response to his death, “Thank you, Cameron, for all you gave to us. So much more was on the way. All our hearts are broken.”

Boyce’s family said in a statement obtained by People: “It is with a profoundly heavy heart that we report that this morning we lost Cameron.” They said an ongoing medical condition was the cause of Boyce’s fatal seizure. According to the New York Daily News, Boyce suffered from epilepsy.

What is epilepsy?

Epilepsy is a neurologic condition that can cause recurring seizures. About 50 million people worldwide have the disorder, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). In the US, about 470,000 children have it, the CDC says. The CDC also reports that new epilepsy diagnoses are most common in older adults and children. Some kids outgrow epilepsy after having the condition for a few years; however, other children diagnosed with epilepsy require life-long treatment, the Epilepsy Foundation says.

Three main types of seizures are categorized by different symptoms. Someone having a complex partial seizure might appear confused; these seizures could make a person unable to verbally respond to questions. Petit mal or absence seizures cause someone to stare into space or blink rapidly. And then there’s what most people think of when they hear seizure—the grand mal or tonic-clonic seizure. Symptoms include jerking arms or legs, loss of consciousness, and body stiffening.

RELATED: Newsweek Writer Says Tweet Caused Epileptic Seizure

Epilepsy isn’t the only cause of seizures. Alcohol withdrawal, low blood sugar, high fever, and concussion can also result in a seizure.

The WHO says 70% of epileptic patients can control their seizures with antiseizure medication. But a small percentage of people with epilepsy die from sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP). “The numbers vary from one in 1,000 to one in 2,000,” Steven Wolf, MD, director of pediatric epilepsy for the Mount Sinai Health System in New York City, tells Health. “The risk of SUDEP is like standing in the lobby of my building and a taxi crashing through the waiting area and running over you,” Dr. Wolf adds.

He explains that epileptic patients who die from SUDEP are usually found dead in their beds. However, seizures aren’t always to blame. “It can be a seizure or [something else] unexplained,” Dr. Wolf says. “We recently had a case with a young patient who clearly didn’t have a seizure. She had a best friend sleeping right in the bed with her and was found dead in bed. [Sometimes] the brain just stops breathing.”

RELATED: 18-Year-Old Suffering Seizures Dies After Tapeworm Eggs Infect His Brain

What should you do if you witness a seizure?

If someone around you suffers a tonic-clonic seizure, you should put something flat and soft under them and position them on their side, the CDC says, noting that this will help them breathe. (A common myth is that a person might swallow their tongue during a seizure, but this is false.)

The CDC also says that seizures don’t usually necessitate a 911 call. However, if a friend or family member who has never struggled with seizures has one, you should seek emergency medical care. If a seizure causes someone to stop breathing or it causes an injury, you should seek medical help then too. Seizures that occur in the water or that last longer than five minutes also require immediate medical attention.

RELATED: 6 Things That Can Trigger a Seizure Even If You Don’t Have Epilepsy

Getting your upper arms in shape is a worthy ambition in any season, and the triceps are the muscles to target for a sleek look.

Toning them can be a challenge, but the “triceps extension” and variations of this key strength training move make up the core of an effective training routine.

Triceps variations

For the basic triceps extension, lie flat on a mat with knees bent and hip-width apart or on a weight bench with feet flat on the floor in front of you. Hold the ends of a dumbbell or the handles of a weighted ball with both hands. Lift arms straight up to the ceiling. From this position, and without moving the upper arms, bend elbows to bring the weight toward your forehead until arms make a 90-degree angle. With control, straighten arms. Repeat.

For the first variation, from the same starting position, hold a dumbbell in each hand. Raise arms straight up to the ceiling, with palms facing away from you. Again, moving only your forearms, bend elbows until upper arms and forearms make a 90-degree angle. With control, straighten arms, but before you lower them again, rotate your wrists so that palms are facing you as you lower your forearms. Straighten arms and continue to reverse the position of your wrists with each rep.

For the second variation, from the same starting position and with a dumbbell in each hand, raise arms straight up to the ceiling. Again, moving only your forearms, bend elbows to lower the weights to the floor on either side of your head. Avoid moving your shoulders. Straighten arms to return to start.

For each exercise, aim for three sets of up to 15 reps each. Start with a weight that allows you to do eight reps per set in good form. Once you can complete 15 reps per set before reaching muscle failure, increase the weight.

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Thirteen paralysed young adults have regained elbow and hand movement after undergoing complex surgery in Australia, surgeons report.

The patients now brush their hair and teeth, feed themselves and put on makeup – tasks that were impossible before the “nerve transfer” surgery, the doctors report in The Lancet medical journal.

Cost-effective procedure

“For people with tetraplegia [paralysis of upper and lower limbs], improvement in hand function is the single most important goal,” said study leader Dr Natasha van Zyl, of Austin Health in Melbourne.

“Stem cells and neuroprostheses could change the landscape of regenerative medicine in the future,” noted Dr Ida Fox of Washington University in St. Louis.

But, “for now, nerve transfers are a cost-effective way to harness the body’s innate capability to restore movement in a paralysed limb,” said Fox in an editorial accompanying the new study.

The patients underwent extensive physical therapy after the procedure. Two years out, they are using electronic devices and tools, and handling money and credit cards, according to the report.

The restored elbow movement improved their ability to move their wheelchair and to get into bed or a car, the authors said.

Single or multiple transfers

The study included 16 young adults (average age 27) with paralysis of the upper and lower limbs due to spinal cord injuries suffered within the previous 18 months. Most of the injuries occurred in sports or motor vehicle crashes.

The patients underwent single or multiple nerve transfers in one or both arms. Surgeons took nerves from functioning expendable muscles above the spinal injury and attached them to paralysed muscles below the spinal injury.

Altogether, 59 nerve transfers were completed in 13 men and three women and a total of 27 limbs. In 10 patients, nerve transfers were combined with tendon transfers to improve hand function.

The patients were assessed before surgery, and one and two years afterward. Two patients did not complete the follow-up, and one died of causes unrelated to the surgery.

At the two-year assessment, the patients showed major improvements in the ability to pick up and release objects.

The results suggest that nerve transfers can provide improvements similar to traditional tendon transfers, but with smaller incisions and shorter immobilisation times after surgery, according to the researchers.

Excellent results

One hand surgeon who wasn’t involved in the trial said these types of operations have been used for years in other contexts.

“Nerve transfers have been used for the past decade for multiple conditions with excellent results,” explained Dr Steven Beldner. He helps direct the New York Hand and Wrist Center at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City.

This type of surgery appears to work when spinal cord injuries are involved, as well, Bender said. As he explained, “most muscles have multiple nerve branches controlling the same muscle function. [In these surgeries] some of these muscle branches are transferred to other muscles, which have lost their voluntary control due to nerve injury.”

However, the Australian team stressed that the operation isn’t foolproof. Four nerve transfers failed in three patients, and the researchers said further study is needed to determine which patients are the best candidates for nerve transfer surgery.

“We believe that nerve transfer surgery offers an exciting new option, offering individuals with paralysis the possibility of regaining arm and hand functions to perform everyday tasks, and giving them greater independence and the ability to participate more easily in family and work life,” van Zyl said in a journal news release.

“What’s more, we have shown that nerve transfers can be successfully combined with traditional tendon transfer techniques to maximise benefits,” van Zyl said.

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All boys in the UK aged 12 to 13 will be offered the vaccine from the start of the new school year.

It’s not often that anything good is associated with obesity. Yet heavy folks and those who bulk up as they age may have less risk for the deadly disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a new study finds.

The Norwegian study found that over several decades, people who packed on the most weight had a 37% lower risk of ALS compared to those who maintained their figure or got thinner.

Basis for future research

ALS – also called Lou Gehrig’s disease – is a rare neurodegenerative disease that kills nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. You lose control of your muscles, which can lead to paralysis and death two to five years after diagnosis, researchers said.

“This study provides a basis for future research to focus on possibilities to prevent or treat ALS on factors linked to body size and energy expenditure,” said lead researcher Dr Ola Nakken.

Nakken, of the University of Oslo in Norway, cautioned that these findings can’t prove that being overweight prevents ALS, as only an association was observed. Nor should you think the findings give you license to fatten up. They don’t, he said.

Although the reasons why weight might be protective aren’t known, Nakken thinks that increased bulk may add to a person’s energy reserve.

“It has become increasingly clear that motor neurons, which are the main cells involved in ALS, are remarkably vulnerable to energy depletion,” Nakken said.

It’s also possible that genetic factors that lower the risk for ALS may also play a part in weight gain, without one causing the other. In addition, environmental factors may be associated with both weight and the risk of ALS, the researchers said.

Family history plays no role

“Physical activity and smoking are examples of such factors. However, adjusting for this in our study did not change the results,” Nakken said.

According to the ALS Association, about 5 000 Americans are diagnosed with ALS each year. The disease usually strikes people between the ages of 40 and 70, but can occur earlier.

Family history of ALS plays no role in 90% of the cases. The other 10% are caused by an inherited gene mutation.

For the study, Nakken and his team collected data on nearly 1.5 million Norwegians ages 20 to 70 between 1963 and 1975. They tracked cases of ALS until 2017. Nearly 3 000 developed the disease in that time period, with most followed an average of 33 years.

Those who started out at a normal weight but gained pounds over time had a 17% lower risk for ALS for each 5-point increase in body mass index (BMI), the study found. BMI is a measurement of body fat based on height and weight.

Over the length of the study, those who were obese when it began had 34% lower odds of developing ALS, compared with those with low to normal BMI. Overweight people had an 18% lower risk, the researchers reported.

Warning against gaining weight

The study results were published online in the journal Neurology.

However, some cautions are in order, one neurologist suggested.

The understanding of how ALS and other neurodegenerative diseases develop doesn’t include weight as either a cause or a preventative, said Dr Carmel Armon, from the department of neurology at Tel Aviv University Sackler School of Medicine in Israel.

“We also cannot speculate that elevated BMI directly increases the resistance of the motor neurons to the development of ALS,” he said.

Armon is co-author of an accompanying journal editorial. He warned against gaining weight in the hope of preventing ALS.

“The health risks of high BMI outweigh any protective effect it might confer on ALS occurrence,” Armon said. “The findings do not allow us to conclude such a protective effect exists.”

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Vegetated highway medians are a proverbial buffet for small mammals, according to new research by University of Alberta biologists. Animals such as weasels, mink, and chipmunks use the roadside bands of vegetation as habitat to find food.

Do differences in performance have an impact on the appetite for risk-taking in decision-makers? Economists at the University of Göttingen have addressed this question. The result of their study is that people’s willingness to take risks increases as soon as they get a lower return than other people with whom they compare themselves. At the same time, decision-makers take lower risks if they get a higher return than their peers. The study was published in the journal Games and Economic Behavior.

New research from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management could upend the approach to sales forecasting for industries from cell phones to cars.

A child born in 2011 in Birmingham may die two to seven months early, researchers say.