The changing landscape of electrical stimulation language mapping with subdural electrodes and stereoelectroencephalography for pediatric epilepsy: A literature review and commentary.

Electrical stimulation mapping (ESM) is used to locate the brain areas supporting language directly within the human cortex to minimize the risk of functional decline following epilepsy surgery. ESM is completed by utilizing subdural grid or depth electrodes (stereo-electroencephalography [sEEG]) in combination with behavioral evaluation of language. Despite technological advances, there is no standardized method of assessing language during pediatric ESM.

Factor analysis of neuropsychological domains in a preschool clinic.

Introduction: The clinical practice of preschool neuropsychology assumes that our assessment tools are measuring underlying neuropsychological functions, and that these functions are negatively impacted by early life neurological injury, disease, and disorder. This study hypothesized that general intellectual capacity and specific cognitive skills, both "broad" neuropsychological domains and "specific" subdomains within those broader clusters, would be differentiable in a preschool-age clinical population.

Methods: Using neuropsychological data from 580 children (6 and 71 months) seen for a clinical neuropsychological evaluation in the Preschool and Infant Neuropsychological Testing (PINT) Clinic, exploratory factor analyses (EFA) were conducted.

Awake craniotomy for supratentorial tumors or epileptogenic lesions in pediatric patients: a 16-year retrospective cohort study.

Objective: Awake craniotomy with intraoperative mapping is the widely accepted procedure for adult patients undergoing supratentorial tumor or epileptogenic focus resection near eloquent cortex. In children, awake craniotomies are notably less common due to concerns for compliance and emotional or psychological repercussions. Despite this, successfully tolerated awake craniotomies have been reported in patients as young as 8 years of age, with success rates comparable to those of adults.

Neural representations of self-perception of voice: An intracortical evoked potential analysis based on an adolescent with right temporal lobe epilepsy.

Introduction: The neural bases for language perception have been studied elsewhere using Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Direct Cortical Stimulation. However, to our knowledge, there is no previous report about a patient identifying the change in his voice tone, speed, and prosody because of right temporal cortical stimulation. Nor has there been a cortico-cortical evoked potential (CCEP) assessment of the network underlying this process.

Leveraging expertise and optimizing clinical research: Initial success of a pediatric epilepsy surgery collaborative.

Objective: Improve data-driven research to inform clinical decision-making with pediatric epilepsy surgery patients by expanding the Pediatric Epilepsy Research Consortium Epilepsy Surgery (PERC-Surgery) Workgroup to include neuropsychological data. This article reports on the process and initial success of this effort and characterizes the cognitive functioning of the largest multi-site pediatric epilepsy surgery cohort in the United States.

Methods: Pediatric neuropsychologists from 18 institutions completed surveys regarding neuropsychological practice and the impact of involvement in the collaborative.

Sociodemographic disparities in fetal surgery for myelomeningocele: a single-center retrospective review.

Objective: Fetal surgery for myelomeningocele has become an established treatment that offers less risk of requiring a ventricular shunt and improved functional outcomes for patients. An increasing body of literature has suggested that social determinants of health have a profound influence on health outcomes. The authors sought to determine the socioeconomic and racial and ethnic backgrounds of patients who were treated with fetal surgery versus those who underwent postnatal repair.

Determination of language dominance in pediatric patients with epilepsy for clinical decision-making: Correspondence of intracarotid amobarbitol procedure and fMRI modalities.

Identification of the language dominant hemisphere is an essential part of the evaluation of potential pediatric epilepsy surgery patients. Historically, language dominance has been determined using the intracarotid amobarbitol procedure (IAP), but use of functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) scanning is becoming more common. Few studies examine the correspondence between fMRI and IAP in pediatric samples.

Assessing risk: Characterizing language performance in pediatric patients with intractable epilepsy pre- and post-surgical resection.

Neuropsychologists play an important role in assessing risk for post-surgical cognitive decline in pediatric patients with medically refractory epilepsy. Families, neurologists, and neurosurgeons are particularly concerned about the possibility for language decline for patients with a dominant, most often left, hemisphere epileptic focus and planned surgical resection. This study aims to describe language functioning in pediatric epilepsy patients following resection and evaluate the accuracy of a clinical approach of assessing risk.

Differential access to neuropsychological evaluation in children with perinatal complications or autism spectrum disorder: Impact of sociodemographic factors.

Early childhood evaluation can identify deficits related to disruptions in early brain development and facilitate interventions. Access to care may differ by race/ethnicity or socioeconomic status. We explored neuropsychological evaluation access patterns and examined potential sociodemographic disparities in evaluation timing.

Fifty consecutive hemispherectomies: outcomes, evolution of technique, complications, and lessons learned.

Background: Techniques for achieving hemispheric disconnection in patients with epilepsy continue to evolve.

Objective: To review the outcomes of the first 50 hemispherectomy surgeries performed by a single surgeon with an emphasis on outcomes, complications, and how these results led to changes in practice.

Methods: The first 50 hemispherectomy cases performed by the lead author were identified from a prospectively maintained database.

Beta-HPV 5 and 8 E6 promote p300 degradation by blocking AKT/p300 association.

The E6 oncoprotein from high-risk genus alpha human papillomaviruses (α-HPVs), such as HPV 16, has been well characterized with respect to the host-cell proteins it interacts with and corresponding signaling pathways that are disrupted due to these interactions. Less is known regarding the interacting partners of E6 from the genus beta papillomaviruses (β-HPVs); however, it is generally thought that β-HPV E6 proteins do not interact with many of the proteins known to bind to α-HPV E6. Here we identify p300 as a protein that interacts directly with E6 from both α- and β-HPV types.

Corpus callosotomy in multistage epilepsy surgery in the pediatric population.

Object: The object of this study was to evaluate surgical outcome in a select group of patients with medically refractory epilepsy who had undergone corpus callosotomy combined with bilateral subdural electroencephalography (EEG) electrode placement as the initial step in multistage epilepsy surgery.

Methods: A retrospective chart review of 18 children (ages 3.5-18 years) with medically refractory symptomatic generalized or localization-related epilepsy was undertaken.

The relationship of neuropsychological functioning to adaptation outcome in adolescents with spina bifida.

Adolescents with spina bifida (SB) vary in their ability to adapt to the disease, and it is likely that numerous risk and protective factors affect adaptation outcomes. The primary aim was to test neuropsychological impairment, exemplified herein by executive dysfunction, as a risk factor in the Ecological Model of Adaptation for Adolescents with SB. Specific hypotheses were that: (1) executive functioning predicts the adaptation outcome of functional independence in adolescents with SB; (2) executive functioning mediates the impact of neurological severity on functional independence; and (3) family and adolescent protective factors are related to functional independence and moderate the relationship between executive functioning and functional independence.

E6 proteins from multiple human betapapillomavirus types degrade Bak and protect keratinocytes from apoptosis after UVB irradiation.

Human papillomavirus (HPV) types from the beta genus (beta-HPVs) have been implicated in the development of skin cancer. A potentially important aspect of their carcinogenic role is the ability of the E6 protein to degrade the proapoptotic family member Bak, which gives cells the ability to survive UV damage. However, it is unknown if the ability to degrade Bak is limited to certain beta-HPV types or whether E6 expression in keratinocytes affects other proteins important for apoptosis signaling.

Neuropsychological correlates of electroencephalograms in children with epilepsy.

Introduction: This study examined the degree to which neurophysiological activity on routine clinical EEG is associated with neuropsychological deficiencies in children with epilepsy.

Methods: Ninety-five children with epilepsy (58 chronic, 37 recent-onset; mean age = 10.41 years, S.

Development of the DPA Fidelity Scale: using fidelity to define an existing vocational model.

Psychiatric rehabilitation practices are often poorly defined, hindering implementation, research, and dissemination efforts. Documentation of adherence to a specific psychiatric rehabilitation approach is particularly important in conducting randomized controlled trials. This paper outlines steps taken to define and measure the Diversified Placement Approach (DPA), a well-regarded vocational program for people with severe mental illnesses.

Telomere erosion and chromosomal instability in cells expressing the HPV oncogene 16E6.

Progression to advanced-stage cervical carcinomas is characterized by a recurrent pattern of chromosomal rearrangements. Structural chromosome rearrangements are generated through the fusion of broken chromosome ends. These chromosome breaks may be induced by mutagenic agents such as ionizing radiation, or chromosome ends may be exposed through extensive telomere shortening.

Is it ACT yet? Real-world examples of evaluating the degree of implementation for assertive community treatment.

Despite growing interest in assessment of program implementation, little is known about the best way to evaluate whether a particular program has implemented the intended service to a level that is minimally acceptable to a funding source, such as a state mental health authority. Such is the case for assertive community treatment (ACT), an evidence-based practice being widely disseminated. Using an exploratory, actuarial approach to defining program standards, this study applies different statistical criteria for determining whether or not a program meets ACT standards using the 28-item Dartmouth Assertive Community Treatment Scale.