The Key Search Subtest of the Behavioural Assessment of the Dysexecutive Syndrome in Children (BADS-C) Instrument Reveals Impaired Planning Without External Constraints in Children With Neurofibromatosis Type 1.

Studies of executive function and its relationship with brain T2-weighted hyperintensities in children with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) have yielded inconsistent results. We examined 16 children with NF1 aged 8 to 15 years, of normal intelligence, and compared their findings to those of 16 siblings and 16 typically developing children using the Behavioural Assessment of the Dysexecutive Syndrome in Children (BADS-C). NF1 patients had an adequate overall score at BADS-C, but showed significantly lower performance than typical peers in the Key Search subtest.

Neuroimaging findings in 41 low-functioning children with autism spectrum disorder: a single-center experience.

The data on the rate of brain imaging abnormalities in autistic spectrum disorders are still inconsistent. A recent study on patients with high-functioning autism found that approximately 90% of children had normal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans whereas an unexpected high rate of MRI abnormalities was reported in 77 nonsyndromic autistic children with or without intellectual disability. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of neuroradiologic findings in low-functioning autistic children compared to controls matched for age.

Ventral stream sensitivity in "healthy" preterm-born adolescents: psychophysical and neuropsychological evaluation.

Background: Deficits of motion processing have been reported in premature and very low birth-weight subjects during infancy, childhood and adolescence. Less is known about ventral stream functioning in preterms.

Aim: The aim of this study is to investigate ventral stream functioning in a sample of "healthy" adolescents born preterm with normal outcome and without brain damage.

Attention in children and adolescents with headache.

Objective: The previous studies reporting consistent visual reaction times slowing in patients with migraine prompted us to verify if headache could be associated to a broader impairment of attention. This study aims to undertake a thorough investigation of attentional performance by extending the evaluation to children with primary headache of different types.

Methods: We compared 62 children with headache (14 migraineurs with aura, 29 without aura and 19 with tension type headache) and 52 controls without headache, matched for age, sex, and intelligence using Conners' Continuous Performance Test.

Adaptive functioning in children in the first six months after surgery for brain tumours.

Purpose: To examine the adaptive functioning of children who underwent surgery for brain tumours with a view to analyse the related acute impairments and to describe their short-term outcome.

Method: We investigated adaptive functioning in 25 children (ranging from 2 to 18 years of age) for 40 days and again 3 and 6 months after they underwent surgery for various brain tumours. The Vineland Adaptive Behaviour Scales (VABS) were used to assess their adaptive functioning, considering the four main domains and all the subdomains.

Progressive neurocognitive decline in two children with Dravet syndrome, de novo SCN1A truncations and different epileptic phenotypes.

Dravet syndrome, often caused by mutations of SCN1A-gene, presents with prolonged clonic, generalized or unilateral seizures often occurring with fever during the first year of life, followed by usually severe epilepsy. The EEG, normal at the outset, later shows generalized and focal epileptic activities. The psychomotor development deteriorates, but little is known about the time course of the cognitive impairment and its relationship with seizures severity.

Use of ICF to describe functioning and disability in children with brain tumours.

Purpose: To underline the importance of Environmental Factors for reducing Disability and to demonstrate the complex condition of life, especially in terms of social inclusion and participation for children and adolescents affected by brain tumour.

Method: An observational study applying the ICF version for Children and Youth (ICF-CY), the quality of life KIDSCREEN questionnaires and the Vineland assessment was performed. Age-specific ICF-CY Questionnaires were used to interview children at three time-points.

Cognition before and after chemotherapy alone in children with chiasmatic-hypothalamic tumors.

Studies on adults with cancer, with or without CNS involvement, have shown that chemotherapy (CT) can affect cognitive functions. Two studies on children with optic pathway gliomas, involving the hypothalamus in some cases, and treated with CT according to various protocols reported the children maintaining a good IQ (no other cognitive abilities were tested). Among 18 children with chiasmatic-hypothalamic tumors (CHT) given front-line CT treatment at our institute using the same protocol (cisplatin and etoposide), we screened eight children for cognitive sequelae, correlating their test performance with several clinical variables (age at diagnosis and at time of treatment, time elapsing since treatment, and tumor volume reduction).

Memory performance on the California Verbal Learning Test of children with benign childhood epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes.

Verbal learning and retrieval, as well as the use of learning strategies, were assessed in 24 children with benign epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes (BECTS) and 16 controls, using the California Verbal Learning Test-Children's Version. Neuropsychological data were correlated with EEG features. Compared with age-matched controls, the children with BECTS younger than 10 exhibited significant learning difficulties and were less efficient in using a semantic clustering strategy, whereas no such difference emerged for subjects older than 10.

Verbal dichotic listening performance and its relationship with EEG features in benign childhood epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes.

Purpose: Benign epilepsy of childhood with centrotemporal spikes (BECTS) is the most common form of idiopathic partial epilepsy in children from 3 to 12 years old. Little and far from conclusive information is available on its chronic impact on the organization of higher cognitive functions during development. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of interictal EEG discharges in the peri-sylvian regions on language lateralization in BECTS.

Intellectual and language findings and their relationship to EEG characteristics in benign childhood epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes.

Recent research has revealed that benign childhood epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes (BECTS) causes deficient performance in various neuropsychological areas, without arriving at a definition of a uniform profile. The purpose of this study was to examine intelligence and certain language functions in 24 children with an active centrotemporal focus, comparing them with a group of 16 controls matched for age and schooling. Test results were correlated with several EEG characteristics, including focal versus multifocal presentation of interictal epileptiform activity, lateralization, spike maximum on midtemporal or extratemporal electrodes, and rate of interictal activity when awake and during non-REM sleep.

Age-related trends in Stroop and conflicting motor response task findings.

Inhibition problems are reportedly at the heart of several childhood pathologies and learning disorders, but few instruments are available for their in-depth investigation. The main aim of the present study was to investigate the development of a capacity to inhibit automatic responses in young and middle childhood. For this purpose, 100 children between 6 and 11 years old were administered two tests that measure executive inhibition: an animal Stroop task (in a paper-and-pencil version of the computerized original proposed by Wright and colleagues in 2003) and a conflicting motor response task.