A revolutionary genetic “band-aid” has managed to curb seizures in children and adolescents with Dravet syndrome, a rare, intractable form of epilepsy in which attacks can be triggered by infections, heat, or even visual stimuli such as geometric patterns — stripes, checks, or diamonds.

Spanish neurologist Antonio Gil‑Nagel explains that one of his patients, a four‑year‑old boy who suffered around 20 seizures a month, was among the first to receive this experimental therapy, developed by Uruguayan biologist Isabel Aznárez and her colleagues at the U.S. company Stoke Therapeutics.

“The improvement was immediate, from the first injection. If things are as they seem, it’s impressive,” says Gil-Nagel, from the Ruber International Hospital in Madrid.

The child, treated in 2023, went from experiencing around 20 seizures a month to having only about one a year, according to the neurologist. Gil‑Nagel’s young patient received the therapy at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children in London, which has been partially funded by the copyright of the Peter Pan character since 1929, when the Scottish novelist James Matthew Barrie donated it to the institution. The promising results of that first clinical trial, conducted in the United States and the United Kingdom, were published on Wednesday in The New England Journal of Medicine. “It is the first gene-regulatory treatment for epilepsy,” says Gil-Nagel.

One in every 16,000 newborns has Dravet syndrome. In most cases, the condition is caused by a mutation in the SCN1A gene, which alters the behavior of neurons and leads to frequent epileptic seizures. The mortality rate reaches 15%. The experimental treatment — administered into the cerebrospinal fluid through a lumbar puncture — is called zorevunersen and is a genetic patch that reduces the effects of the mutation.

The clinical trial involved 81 children and adolescents between the ages of two and 18. The experiment was designed to test the treatment’s safety, but scientists also observed an 85% reduction in epileptic seizures within three months among participants who received high doses. These improvements persisted over 20 months of follow‑up, with reductions ranging from 60% to 90%. Because the therapy targets the underlying cause of the disorder, it also improves other aspects of the syndrome, such as severe cognitive and motor delays.

Researchers at Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago, led by neurologist Linda Laux, shared the case of Owen, a 12-year-old patient with uncontrolled seizures, intellectual disability, and difficulty walking. The boy’s mother, Austin, explained in a statement that after receiving the experimental treatment, her son speaks more easily. “He is able to make friends, which is kind of a new development. His quality of life has increased substantially,” she said.

The reported adverse effects are mild to moderate. The most concerning is an increase in cerebrospinal‑fluid protein levels observed in nearly half of the participants, although no cases of elevated intracranial pressure or hydrocephalus were detected. Stoke Therapeutics, which had more than €200 million ($215 million) in funding at the start of 2025, will finance a new clinical trial that will include at least two private centers in Spain: Ruber International Hospital and the Clínica Universidad de Navarra. The U.S. biotechnology company Biogen has paid over $160 million for the rights to market zorevunersen outside the United States, Mexico, and Canada, although additional trials are still required to confirm the treatment’s efficacy and safety.

Paradigm shift

Pediatrician Rocío Sánchez-Carpintero will lead the trials at the Clínica Universidad de Navarra. The researcher says that, until now, there were only treatments to alleviate the symptoms of Dravet syndrome.

“This is a paradigm shift. We’re going from treating one of the manifestations, the epileptic seizures, to treating the disease itself,” she says. “It’s like using an antibiotic to kill the bacteria that causes pneumonia, and then you no longer have a cough. Until now, we were only treating the cough. Epilepsy is a manifestation of Dravet syndrome, not its cause.”

“It’s a historic milestone,” she adds. “The quality of life for patients today is horrific. Horrible. They have epileptic seizures that are not controlled by any medication, an intellectual disability that becomes increasingly evident, difficulty walking as teenagers, some symptoms similar to autism… Families practically live to be able to care for them.”

She continues: “Because they have a risk of sudden death associated with epilepsy, many parents take turns at night so that, if there is a seizure, they can try to wake their child and prevent them from dying. It is very difficult to live like this.”

These types of genetic patches are called antisense oligonucleotides. The first similar treatment, authorized in 2016, was nusinersen, indicated for spinal muscular atrophy. It was priced at $750,000 the first year and $375,000 in subsequent years, per patient. The results of the next clinical trial, expected by the end of 2028, will determine whether zorevunersen is truly a potential treatment for the devastating Dravet syndrome. “The outlook is very promising. I’m very hopeful,” says Sánchez-Carpintero.

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Una falla en la principal termoeléctrica de Cuba ha provocado un apagón masivo que afecta a dos terceras partes de la isla, según ha confirmado este miércoles el Gobierno del país caribeño. La caída parcial del Sistema Electroenergético Nacional (SEN) de la isla —la segunda en un mes— ha dejado sin luz a cerca de 7 millones de los casi 10 millones que viven en la isla. El colapso afecta también a la capital, La Habana.

El Gobierno no ha precisado por el momento las razones que provocaron la desconexión, que afecta a 10 de las 15 provincias del país, desde la oriental Camagüey hasta el extremo occidental, Pinar del Río. De acuerdo con la televisión estatal, una “salida imprevista” de la central Antonio Guiteras, la mayor generadora de la isla, provocó la enésima caída del sistema energético.

La desconexión de este miércoles es la quinta caída parcial —distinta al colapso de todo el sistema eléctrico, de punta a punta— en menos de seis meses y la mayor del año. El hecho, asimismo, refleja el endeble estado del sistema eléctrico en medio de la presión petrolera de Estados Unidos, que ha cortado en seco el suministro del petróleo venezolano a La Habana y que ha amenazado con imponer aranceles a cualquier país que le envíe crudo, vital para echar a andar su red eléctrica.

Pero el asedio petrolero estadounidense solo empeoró un problema crónico en la isla. Cuba sufre de una crisis eléctrica total que ha empeorado considerablemente en el último año y medio, sobre todo provocado por la caída progresiva de los envíos de petróleo de Venezuela. De hecho, en los últimos 18 meses el SEN cubano ha sufrido cinco caídas totales. Es decir, todo el país a oscuras al mismo tiempo por la incapacidad de generar electricidad.

Como una vía de escape, el Ejecutivo cubano se ha volcado en la instalación de paneles solares, desperdigados por toda la isla. Sin embargo, la apuesta no ha logrado cubrir el enorme pozo que dejó el fin de los envíos de petróleo desde Caracas y Ciudad de México, el último gran valedor de la isla, que también cortó el suministro ante la amenaza arancelaria de Washington. Las termoeléctricas, con más de cuatro décadas en funcionamiento, componen el 40% del mix energético del país, que produce apenas una tercera parte del crudo que necesita para subsistir.

Los apagones son ya parte de la vida diaria de los cubanos, que en los últimos meses se han acostumbrado a cortes que en algunas regiones pueden llegar a superar las 20 horas diarias. Estos cortes, sin embargo, son distintos a las caídas del SEN. En el primer caso, se trata de interrupciones diarias en el servicio por la incapacidad de las obsoletas termoeléctricas —de la era soviética— de satisfacer la demanda.

Sin embargo, las desconexiones del SEN obligan a las autoridades a aplicar una suerte de reinicio que, en el peor de los casos, puede llegar a tardar hasta días en lograr el restablecimiento al 100%. Antes de conocerse la desconexión de este miércoles, la empresa estatal Unión Eléctrica (UNE) advirtió de que hasta el 63 % del país iba a quedarse sin luz en el momento de mayor demanda: al final de la tarde.

Ese momento del día es crítico para el frágil sistema cubano porque coincide con la vuelta a las casas y el encendido de aires acondicionados y ventiladores. A diferencia de gran parte del mundo, en Cuba la mayor demanda de electricidad viene de los hogares y no del sector industrial, herido de muerte desde hace décadas en el país caribeño.

Por el momento, La Habana no ha adelantado cuánto tardarán las autoridades en restablecer nuevamente el SEN. Pero su desconexión parcial es una nueva vuelta de tuerca en una policrisis endémica que ha provocado que el Producto Interno Bruto (PIB) acumule desde 2020 una caída del 15% y que hasta un 20% de la población de la isla haya emigrado en los últimos cinco años.

The pictures confirm it. British actress Emma Watson and Mexican businessman Gonzalo Hevia Baillères have been in a relationship since December 2025. According to photographs published by Quién magazine, the couple have been spotted dining in Mexico City, vacationing in Punta Mita, and kissing inside a Mexican airport.

According to the magazine, the first recorded appearance of the couple was at the Courchevel ski resort in the French Alps at the end of last year. The resort is famous, among other things, for having the steepest international airport in the world. Shortly afterwards, the couple visited Punta Mita, in Nayarit, west of México, one of the most exclusive areas on the Mexican Pacific coast.

According to the magazine, the actress and businessman were in Mexico City recently. However, it is difficult to tell from the photographs whether they were taken in the Mexican capital, on the coast, or somewhere else: the images are blurred or have a motion‑blur effect, as if the shutter had been pressed at the exact moment the camera was moved. What can be made out, however, are the faces of the lovers.

This isn’t the first time the Mexican businessman has been romantically linked to someone from the entertainment world. In 2022, social media accounts and media outlets said that Hevia was in a relationship with Belinda Peregrín Schüll, a Mexican actress and singer. Neither of them ever confirmed the relationship, but photographs also hinted at the romance.

In 2025, Belinda released the song Heterocromía, in which she mocks the luxuries of the upper class in Mexico. The name of the song refers to a condition where the iris of each eye is a different color, either completely or partially. Hevia has this condition.

Gonzalo Heiva Baillères, 28, belongs to one of Mexico’s wealthiest families, the Baillères, owners of the insurance companys GNP and Profuturo, the luxury department stores Palacio de Hierro, the mining and metallurgical group Industrias Peñoles, the brokerage firm Valmex, among other companies. He is heir to one of Mexico’s largest fortunes.

Emma Watson, 35, is a British actress who played Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter series, a series written by J. K. Rowling beginning in 1997 (with the first book) that went on to achieve immense popularity. In 2001, The Philosopher’s Stone reached movie theaters. Over the next 10 years, Warner Bros. produced eight films. The main actors, including Watson, played their characters throughout that decade, and although the actress has appeared in other films, she is most identified with her role as Granger.

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