The UCLA study of Predictors of Cognitive Functioning Following Moderate/Severe Pediatric Traumatic Brain Injury.

Objectives: Following pediatric moderate-to-severe traumatic brain injury (msTBI), few predictors have been identified that can reliably identify which individuals are at risk for long-term cognitive difficulties. This study sought to determine the relative contribution of detailed descriptors of injury severity as well as demographic and psychosocial factors to long-term cognitive outcomes after pediatric msTBI.

Methods: Participants included 8- to 19-year-olds, 46 with msTBI and 53 uninjured healthy controls (HC).

The UCLA Study of Children with Moderate-to-Severe Traumatic Brain Injury: Event-Related Potential Measure of Interhemispheric Transfer Time.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) frequently results in diffuse axonal injury and other white matter damage. The corpus callosum (CC) is particularly vulnerable to injury following TBI. Damage to this white matter tract has been associated with impaired neurocognitive functioning in children with TBI.

White matter disruption in moderate/severe pediatric traumatic brain injury: advanced tract-based analyses.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is the leading cause of death and disability in children and can lead to a wide range of impairments. Brain imaging methods such as DTI (diffusion tensor imaging) are uniquely sensitive to the white matter (WM) damage that is common in TBI. However, higher-level analyses using tractography are complicated by the damage and decreased FA (fractional anisotropy) characteristic of TBI, which can result in premature tract endings.

Neurocognitive profiles in children with epilepsy.

Purpose: The presence of specific neurocognitive deficits may help explain why school achievement and psychosocial functioning are often worse in children with epilepsy than would be predicted by their global intellectual functioning. This study compared children with two forms of epilepsy: localization-related epilepsy with complex partial seizures (CPS) and childhood absence epilepsy (CAE), to determine whether they display distinct neurocognitive profiles.

Methods: Fifty-one children with CPS, 31 children with CAE, and 51 controls underwent neuropsychological testing assessing verbal memory, visual memory, and executive functioning.

Metabolic levels in the corpus callosum and their structural and behavioral correlates after moderate to severe pediatric TBI.

Diffuse axonal injury (DAI) secondary to traumatic brain injury (TBI) contributes to long-term functional morbidity. The corpus callosum (CC) is particularly vulnerable to this type of injury. Magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) was used to characterize the metabolic status of two CC regions of interest (ROIs) (anterior and posterior), and their structural (diffusion tensor imaging; DTI) and neurobehavioral (neurocognitive functioning, bimanual coordination, and interhemispheric transfer time [IHTT]) correlates.