Publications by authors named "Monden Yukifumi"

Seizures in patients with developmental and epileptic encephalopathies (DEEs) are often highly resistant to various antiseizure medications. Perampanel (PER) is a novel antiseizure medication that non-competitively inhibits the α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid receptor and is expected to reduce seizure frequency not only for focal seizures and generalized tonic-clonic seizures (GTCS) but also for other seizure types. This study aimed to clarify the long-term therapeutic efficacy and tolerability of PER in patients with DEEs.

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  • - This study investigated how stopping ADHD medication (methylphenidate) affects brain activity in youths, aiming to help clinicians decide on discontinuation.
  • - Analyzed data from 14 children (mostly males) showed improved ADHD-Rating Scores after medication was stopped, with specific brain regions like the prefrontal cortex showing activation during cognitive tasks.
  • - Findings indicate that certain brain functions change after stopping medication, suggesting that some children can manage ADHD symptoms without ongoing treatment.
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  • The study investigates behavioral problems in foster children in Japan using the Eyberg Child Behavior Inventory (ECBI) to collect data from foster and non-foster families.
  • Results indicate that foster children had significantly higher intensity scores for behavioral problems, but there was no notable difference in perceived difficulties between foster and non-foster families.
  • Findings suggest that severe behavioral issues in foster children may be linked to factors like neurological disorders and histories of abuse, while foster parents might adopt a more lenient approach due to these backgrounds.
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Background: Premature children are known to be at a high risk of developing behavioral problems. This study examined the effectiveness of parent-child interaction therapy (PCIT) in reducing behavioral problems in young children born premature.

Methods: The study included 18 child-parent pairs with children born at less than 35 weeks of gestation (range: 23-34 weeks, median: 31.

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Background: Infants with trisomy 13 have a very high mortality rate. However, aggressive interventions for their complications, can improve their prognosis and may, thereby, increase the number of long-term survivors with trisomy 13. To date, there is no study on the psychomotor developmental progress of patients with trisomy 13.

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TUBB4A gene variants cause dystonia type 4 and hypomyelination with atrophy of the basal ganglia and cerebellum. We report the case of a child with delayed motor development, intellectual disability, and dystonia. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed hypomyelination and progressive cerebellar atrophy without atrophy of the basal ganglia.

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The ability to understand the way other people see the world differs from one's own viewpoint is referred to as ''visual perspective-taking'' (VPT). Previous studies have demonstrated the behavioral performance in level 2 VPT (VPT2), the ability to understand that two different observers can have unique visual experiences of the same scene or object depending on the observers' physical location, changes during childhood. However, the developmental aspects underlying the neural mechanisms of VPT2 remains unknown.

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Difficulties with visual perspective-taking among individuals with autism spectrum disorders remain poorly understood. Many studies have presumed that first-person visual input can be mentally transformed to a third-person perspective during visual perspective-taking tasks; however, existing research has not fully revealed the computational strategy used by those with autism spectrum disorders for taking another person's perspective. In this study, we designed a novel approach to test a strategy using the opposite-directional effect among children with autism spectrum disorders.

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  • The Eyberg Child Behavior Inventory (ECBI) is a standardized tool used to identify disruptive behavior in children, and this study focuses on establishing norms for its Japanese version.
  • Researchers used a sample of 1,992 parents of 2-7 year-olds in Japan to validate the ECBI scores and determined clinical cutoff values.
  • The study found that the Japanese ECBI is reliable, with proposed cutoff scores of 125 for the Intensity Scale and 14 for the Problem Scale, making it a useful assessment tool for children's behavior issues.
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  • The study investigated the effects of guanfacine extended release (GXR) on inhibitory control in children with ADHD using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS).
  • Twelve children aged 6-10 took part in a double-blind crossover trial, performing a go/no-go task before and after either GXR or a placebo.
  • Although the main analysis showed no significant medication effects on the right prefrontal cortex, a secondary analysis revealed significant changes in the right angular gyrus, suggesting it could serve as a biological marker for assessing GXR's impact on cognitive performance in ADHD.
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  • High-dose intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) is the primary treatment for Kawasaki disease, typically given at a rate that varies between institutions, but this study focuses on comparing the effects of two administration speeds (12 hours vs. 24 hours).
  • In a multicenter, unblinded, randomized controlled study with 39 patients, both groups showed similar outcomes concerning fever duration and coronary artery abnormalities, with only a few mild adverse events reported.
  • The study concluded that administering IVIG at a faster rate (12 hours) is just as effective and safe as the standard rate (24 hours), although the 24-hour group had a greater increase in serum immunoglobulin G levels.
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Intravenous corticosteroids have been regarded as the first-line therapy of anti-myelin-oligodendrocyte glycoprotein antibody (MOG-Ab)-positive acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM). While steroids are the first-choice therapy, MOG-Ab-positive ADEM has a high relapse rate. In some cases, MOG-Ab-positive ADEM relapses even in a low-MOG-Abs state.

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It has been reported that children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have impairment in the recognition of angry but not of happy facial expressions, and they show atypical cortical activation patterns in response to facial expressions. However, little is known about neural mechanisms underlying the impaired recognition of facial expressions in school-aged children with ADHD and the effects of acute medication on their processing of facial expressions. We aimed to investigate the possibility that acute administration of methylphenidate (MPH) affects processing of facial expressions in ADHD children.

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  • - The study explores how brain connectivity changes dynamically during rest and in response to tasks, specifically using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to measure brain signals in children performing a Go/No-Go (GNG) task.
  • - It compares 21 typically developing children with 21 age-matched children with ADHD, focusing on differences in task-related connectivity states that arise during the task.
  • - Four distinct connectivity states were identified, with two being predominant during task performance and showing strong connections within the frontoparietal network, while ADHD children displayed reduced occurrence of these dominant states and increased activation of other connectivity patterns.
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Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are associated with face perception atypicalities, and atypical experience with faces has been proposed as an underlying explanation. Studying the own-race advantage (ORA) for face recognition can reveal the effect of experience on face perception in ASD, although the small number of studies in the area present mixed findings. This study probed the ORA in ASD by comparing two cultural groups simultaneously for the first time.

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  • Connectivity issues are linked to ADHD, with research focusing on how these issues impact children during both resting states and task performance.
  • In a study, 23 control and 36 ADHD/autism-comorbid children were analyzed using functional near-infrared spectroscopy while performing an attention task, revealing distinct differences in brain connectivity.
  • The study found that while control kids maintained stable connectivity, ADHD kids showed mixed connectivity patterns; notably, connectivity biomarkers were more effective for screening ADHD than brain activation indicators.
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Background: The pathogenesis of acute encephalopathy (AE) remains unclear, and a biomarker has not been identified.

Methods: Levels of 49 cytokines and chemokines, including osteopontin (OPN), were measured in serum and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of children with AE (n = 17) or febrile convulsion (FC; n = 8; control group). The AE group included acute necrotizing encephalopathy (n = 1), acute encephalopathy with biphasic seizures and late reduced diffusion (AESD; n = 3), clinically mild encephalitis/encephalopathy with a reversible splenial lesion (MERS; n = 4), and unclassified acute encephalopathy (UCAE; n = 9) that does not meet the criteria of syndrome classification.

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Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has been frequently reported as co-occurring with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, ASD-comorbid ADHD is difficult to diagnose since clinically significant symptoms are similar in both disorders. Therefore, we propose a classification method of differentially recognizing the ASD-comorbid condition in ADHD children.

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  • Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is affected by motion artifacts and physiological noises, which reduce its effectiveness in detecting brain activity and increase the chance of statistical errors.
  • To tackle this issue, researchers developed an adaptive algorithm that identifies and selects noise-free blocks from fNIRS data, allowing for better analysis while maintaining sample size.
  • The algorithm uses specific noise criteria and was successfully validated with datasets from children with ADHD, optimizing the analysis for reproducibility across varying conditions and datasets.
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Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by impairment in social communication and the presence of restricted and repetitive behaviors and interests. Executive function impairment is reportedly partially responsible for these symptoms. Executive function includes planning, flexibility, and inhibitory control.

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Background: The effect of rituximab on acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM) followed by recurrent optic neuritis (ON) is not yet known.

Patient: We are reporting the case of a 4-year-old Japanese girl who was diagnosed with anti-myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG) antibody positive ADEM followed by recurrent ON. She developed altered mental status, left facial paralysis, left paresis, and experienced three episodes of ON.

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Alexander disease (AxD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease caused by a mutation in the glial fibrillary acid protein (GFAP) gene. A 4-year-old boy presented several times with hemiclonic seizures with eye deviation for a few minutes at 28 days after birth. Electroencephalogram showed independent sharp waves in the right and left temporal area.

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