Severe and rare neurological manifestations following COVID-19 infection in children: A Malaysian tertiary centre experience.

Introduction: Since the emergence of COVID-19, we have experienced potent variants and sub-variants of the virus with non-specific neurological manifestations. We observed a surge of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 patients with neurological manifestations where less cases of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) were reported. This article describes our experience of children with severe and rare neurological manifestations following COVID-19 infection.

Management of status epilepticus in Malaysia: A national survey of current practice and treatment gap.

Introduction: Early and effective treatment is fundamental in status epilepticus (SE) management. At the initiative of the Epilepsy Council of Malaysia, this study aimed to determine the treatment gap in SE across different healthcare settings in Malaysia.

Methods: A web-based survey was sent to clinicians involved in the management of SE, across all states and at all levels of healthcare services.

Geniospasm: A systematic review on natural history, prognosis, and treatment.

Background: Geniospasm is a rare and generally benign movement disorder of the chin yet with potentially debilitating complications. Due to its rarity, previous literature was limited to only case reports or series with critical knowledge gap on its natural history, prognosis, and management. We aimed to establish the natural history, prognosis, and treatment for geniospasm.

Glycemic biomarkers in children with drug-resistant epilepsy on various types of ketogenic diet therapies: A cross-sectional study.

Objective: This study was undertaken to determine the hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) and modified glucose-ketone index (mGKI) in children on different types of ketogenic diet (KD) for treatment of drug-resistant epilepsy, with attempts to evaluate their relationships with components of diet regime and other biomarkers.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study in children with drug resistant epilepsy aged between 6 months and 18 years, who were on various types of KD therapies without any change in regime for at least 3 months. Parental interview, review of medical records, and a single measurement for blood ketone, HbA1c, and plasma carnitine were performed.

Association of common genetic variants with vitamin D status in Malaysian children with epilepsy.

Purpose: Children with epilepsy (CWE) are at risk of vitamin D deficiency. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) affecting the vitamin D pathway are potentially important risk factors for serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] concentration. The aims of our study were to evaluate the association of vitamin d-related SNPs to serum 25(OH)D concentrations in Malaysian CWE.

De Novo Truncating Variants in the Last Exon of SEMA6B Cause Progressive Myoclonic Epilepsy.

De novo variants (DNVs) cause many genetic diseases. When DNVs are examined in the whole coding regions of genes in next-generation sequencing analyses, pathogenic DNVs often cluster in a specific region. One such region is the last exon and the last 50 bp of the penultimate exon, where truncating DNVs cause escape from nonsense-mediated mRNA decay [NMD(-) region].

Vitamin D deficiency and its risk factors in Malaysian children with epilepsy.

Objective: Long-term use of antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) is a significant risk factor for vitamin D deficiency in children with epilepsy. The aims of our study were to evaluate the prevalence and risk factors for vitamin D deficiency among Malaysian children with epilepsy.

Methods: Cross-sectional study of ambulant children with epilepsy on long-term AEDs for >1 year seen in three tertiary hospitals in Malaysia from April 2014 to April 2015.