Hypotheses of pathophysiological mechanisms in epileptic encephalopathies: A review.

Introduction: Epileptic encephalopathy (EE) is a serious clinical issue that manifests as part of developmental and epileptic encephalopathy (DEE), particularly in childhood epilepsy. In EE, neurocognitive functions and behavior are impaired by intense epileptiform electroencephalogram (EEG) activity. Hypotheses of pathophysiological mechanisms behind EE are reviewed to contribute to an effective solution for EE.

A retrospective study on post-operative recovery of daily living activity after total corpus callosotomy.

Introduction: Post-operative complications of corpus callosotomy (CC) in children, prolonged hospitalization due to inactivity as acute disconnection syndrome is occasionally experienced. We aimed to clarify this issue and its risk factors with a hypothesis that electroencephalogram (EEG) findings as measures of functional lateralization may be among prognostic factors for post-operative recovery.

Materials And Methods: Twenty-three patients with childhood-onset drug-resistant epilepsy who underwent total CC between April 2017 and December 2023 were included in the study and they were divided into two groups based on the duration of post-operative hospitalization as an indicator of recovery of daily living activity.

The effects of bolus isosorbide dinitrate on pulmonary hypertension with cardiopulmonary comorbidities.

Lowering mean pulmonary arterial pressure (mPAP) without reducing cardiac output is essential in treating pulmonary hypertension (PH). Isosorbide dinitrate (ISDN) potentially achieves this in post-capillary PH but can decrease cardiac output and blood pressure (BP), especially in pre-capillary PH. However, post-capillary PH and pre-capillary PH can overlap, and their clear discrimination is difficult.

Centrifugal Field-Flow Fractionation Enables Detection of Slight Aggregation of Nanoparticles That Impacts Their Biomedical Applications.

Nanoparticles (NPs) are anticipated to be used for various biomedical applications in which their aggregation has been an important issue. However, concerns regarding slightly aggregated but apparently monodispersed NPs have been difficult to address because of a lack of appropriate evaluation methods. Here, we report centrifugal field-flow fractionation (CF3) as a powerful method for analyzing the slight aggregation of NPs, using antibody-modified gold NPs (Ab-AuNPs) prepared by a conventional protocol with centrifugal purification as a model.

Modulation index predicts the effect of ethosuximide on developmental and epileptic encephalopathy with spike-and-wave activation in sleep.

Purpose: In developmental and epileptic encephalopathy with spike-and-wave activation in sleep (DEE-SWAS), the thalamocortical network is suggested to play an important role in the pathophysiology of the progression from focal epilepsy to DEE-SWAS. Ethosuximide (ESM) exerts effects by blocking T-type calcium channels in thalamic neurons. With the thalamocortical network in mind, we studied the prediction of ESM effectiveness in DEE-SWAS treatment using phase-amplitude coupling (PAC) analysis.

Improving image quality using the pause function combination to PROPELLER sequence in brain MRI: a phantom study.

While some MRI systems offer a "pause" function, combining it with the PROPELLER method for image quality improvement remains underexplored. This study investigated whether repositioning the head after pausing during PROPELLER imaging enhances image quality. All brain phantom images in this study were obtained using a 3.

Exploration of urine metabolic biomarkers for new-onset, untreated pediatric epilepsy: A gas and liquid chromatography mass spectrometry-based metabolomics study.

Objective: The discovery of objective indicators for recent epileptic seizures will help confirm the diagnosis of epilepsy and evaluate therapeutic effects. Past studies had shortcomings such as the inclusion of patients under treatment and those with various etiologies that could confound the analysis results significantly. We aimed to minimize such confounding effects and to explore the small molecule biomarkers associated with the recent occurrence of epileptic seizures using urine metabolomics.

Effective Epilepsy Surgery for Post-Traumatic West Syndrome Following Abusive Head Trauma.

West syndrome, an infantile developmental and epileptic encephalopathy with a deleterious impact on long-term development, requires early treatment to minimize developmental abnormality; in such cases, epilepsy surgery should be considered a powerful therapeutic option. We describe a 10-month-old female admitted with West syndrome associated with a hemispheric lesion following abusive head trauma. Her seizures were suppressed by hemispherotomy at 12 months of age, leading to developmental improvement.

A female patient with adolescent-onset progressive myoclonus epilepsy carrying a truncating MECP2 mutation.

Background: MECP2 is a well-known causative gene for Rett syndrome but other phenotypes have also been reported. Here, we report a case of a female patient with adolescent-onset progressive myoclonus epilepsy (PME) carrying a novel truncating mutation in the MECP2 gene.

Case Report: The patient was a 29-year-old woman with infantile-onset intellectual disability of unspecified cause.

A case of giant cell myocarditis mimicking cardiac sarcoidosis successfully maintained by prednisolone and tacrolimus.

Unlabelled: A 45-year-old woman with no medical history underwent pacemaker implantation for a symptomatic complete atrioventricular block. On day 6, she noticed diplopia and then fever, general malaise, and elevation of serum creatinine kinase (CK). She was transferred to our hospital on day 21.

Comprehensive study of metabolic changes induced by a ketogenic diet therapy using GC/MS- and LC/MS-based metabolomics.

Objective: The ketogenic diet (KD), a high-fat and low-carbohydrate diet, is effective for a subset of patients with drug-resistant epilepsy, although the mechanisms of the KD have not been fully elucidated. The aims of this observational study were to investigate comprehensive short-term metabolic changes induced by the KD and to explore candidate metabolites or pathways for potential new therapeutic targets.

Methods: Subjects included patients with intractable epilepsy who had undergone the KD therapy (the medium-chain triglyceride [MCT] KD or the modified Atkins diet using MCT oil).

Artificial Intelligence-based Detection of Epileptic Discharges from Pediatric Scalp Electroencephalograms: A Pilot Study.

We developed an artificial intelligence (AI) technique to identify epileptic discharges (spikes) in pediatric scalp electroencephalograms (EEGs). We built a convolutional neural network (CNN) model to automatically classify steep potential images into spikes and background activity. For the CNN model' training and validation, we examined 100 children with spikes in EEGs and another 100 without spikes.

Dual-Energy Computed Tomography-Based Iodine Concentration Estimation for Evaluating Choroidal Malignant Melanoma Response to Treatment: Optimization and Primary Validation.

Contrast-enhanced imaging for choroidal malignant melanoma (CMM) is mostly limited to detecting metastatic tumors, possibly due to difficulties in fixing the eye position. We aimed to (1) validate the appropriateness of estimating iodine concentration based on dual-energy computed tomography (DECT) for CMM and optimize the calculation parameters for estimation, and (2) perform a primary clinical validation by assessing the ability of this technique to show changes in CMM after charged-particle radiation therapy. The accuracy of the optimized estimate (eIC_optimized) was compared to an estimate obtained by commercial software (eIC_commercial) by determining the difference from the ground truth.

A Case of Chronic Heart Failure Complicated by Primary Biliary Cholangitis and Skeletal Myopathy.

Several autoantigens related to inflammatory myopathy have been identified. Antimitochondrial antibody M2 (AMA-M2) is known as one of the serologic hallmarks of primary biliary cholangitis (PBC). There have been several reports on the association between AMA-M2 and various types of inflammatory myopathy, including cardiomyopathy.

Intraocular Water Movement Visualization Using H-MRI With Eye Drops of O-17-Labeled Saline: First-in-Human Study.

Background: Visualization of aqueous humor flow in MR contrast images using gadolinium is challenging because of the delayed contrast effects associated with the blood-retinal and blood-aqueous humor barriers. However, oxygen-17 water (H O) might be used as an ocular contrast agent.

Purpose: To observe the distribution of H O in the human eye, and its flow in and out of the anterior chamber, using dynamic T2-weighted MRI.

Long-Term Outcomes in Patients with Not-Retrieval Inferior Vena Cava Filter Under Anticoagulation.

Since permanent inferior vena cava (IVC) filters increase deep vein thrombosis (DVT), filter retrieval should be performed as possible. Despite the guideline recommendation, IVC filters are not always retrieved in clinical practice. To date, many patients with not-retrieval IVC filters have been prescribed anticoagulant therapy, but the long-term prognosis, including venous thromboembolism (VTE) and bleeding events, remains unknown.

Exclusion of the Possibility of "False Ripples" From Ripple Band High-Frequency Oscillations Recorded From Scalp Electroencephalogram in Children With Epilepsy.

Aim: Ripple-band epileptic high-frequency oscillations (HFOs) can be recorded by scalp electroencephalography (EEG), and tend to be associated with epileptic spikes. However, there is a concern that the filtration of steep waveforms such as spikes may cause spurious oscillations or "false ripples." We excluded such possibility from at least some ripples by EEG differentiation, which, in theory, enhances high-frequency signals and does not generate spurious oscillations or ringing.

Effect of growth hormone therapy on thyroid function in isolated growth hormone deficient and short small for gestational age children: a two-year study, including on assessment of the usefulness of the thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) stimulation test.

Background The relationship between growth hormone (GH)-replacement therapy and the thyroid axis in GH-deficient (GHD) children remains controversial. Furthermore, there have been few reports regarding non-GHD children. We aimed to determine the effect of GH therapy on thyroid function in GHD and non-GHD children and to assess whether thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) stimulation test is helpful for the identification of central hypothyroidism before GH therapy.

Longitudinal correspondence of epilepsy and scalp EEG fast (40-200 Hz) oscillations in pediatric patients with tuberous sclerosis complex.

Introduction: Epilepsy associated with tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) has very complex clinical characteristics. Scalp electroencephalogram (EEG) fast (40-200 Hz) oscillations (FOs) were recently suggested to indicate epilepsy severity. Epileptic FOs may undergo age-dependent longitudinal change in individual patients, however, and the typical pattern of such change is not yet fully clarified.

Structural origin of high-density GdO-MoO-BO glass and low-density β'-Gd(MoO) crystal: a study conducted using high-energy x-ray diffraction and EXAFS at high temperatures.

In this study, the short- and medium-range ordering of 21.25GdO-63.75MoO-15BO glass (GM15B glass) was studied at temperatures ranging from 297 K to above the crystallization temperature.