Association of Cystic Periventricular Leukomalacia and Postnatal Epilepsy in Very Preterm Infants.

Introduction: Cystic periventricular leukomalacia (PVL) is the most common white matter injury and a common cause of cerebral palsy in preterm infants. Postnatal epilepsy may occur after cystic PVL, but their causal relationship remains uncertain. Our aim was to validate the contribution of cystic PVL to postnatal epilepsy in very preterm infants and demonstrate their seizure characteristics.

Effective Modulation by Lacosamide on Cumulative Inhibition of during High-Frequency Stimulation and Recovery of Block during Conditioning Pulse Train.

The effects of lacosamide (LCS, Vimpat), an anti-convulsant and analgesic, on voltage-gated Na current () were investigated. LCS suppressed both the peak (transient, ) and sustained (late, ) components of with the IC values of 78 and 34 μM found in GH cells and of 112 and 26 μM in Neuro-2a cells, respectively. In GH3 cells, the voltage-dependent hysteresis of persistent () during the triangular ramp pulse was strikingly attenuated, and the decaying time constant (τ) of or during a train of depolarizing pulses was further shortened by LCS.

Effective Perturbations by Phenobarbital on , , and during Pulse Train Stimulation in Neuroblastoma Neuro-2a Cells.

Phenobarbital (PHB, Luminal Sodium) is a medication of the barbiturate and has long been recognized to be an anticonvulsant and a hypnotic because it can facilitate synaptic inhibition in the central nervous system through acting on the γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) type A (GABA) receptors. However, to what extent PHB could directly perturb the magnitude and gating of different plasmalemmal ionic currents is not thoroughly explored. In neuroblastoma Neuro-2a cells, we found that PHB effectively suppressed the magnitude of voltage-gated Na current () in a concentration-dependent fashion, with an effective IC value of 83 µM.

Novel Variations in the Gene Causing X-Linked Intellectual Disability.

Background And Objectives: To investigate the pathogenicity of 2 novel variations, report the clinical and neuroimaging findings, and review the available literature.

Methods: Physical examinations, structural neuroimaging studies, and exome sequence analysis were performed. KDM5C constructs were used to study the effect of the variations in transfected cells.

Lactate Predicts Neurological Outcomes after Perinatal Asphyxia in Post-Hypothermia Era: A Prospective Cohort Study.

Background: Neonatal hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) is the most common cause of mortality and neurological disability in infancy after perinatal asphyxia. Reliable biomarkers to predict neurological outcomes of neonates after perinatal asphyxia are still not accessible in clinical practice.

Methods: A prospective cohort study enrolled neonates with perinatal asphyxia.

Precocious puberty as a consequence of anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis in children.

Background: Anti-N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor encephalitis is one of the most common autoimmune encephalitis in children. Most children recovered well after anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis. However, the NMDA receptor network functions are critical for the developing brain in children.

Early Blood Biomarkers Distinguish Inflammation from Neonatal Hypoxic-Ischemia Encephalopathy.

Neonatal hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy is the most common cause of neurological disability in infancy. Superimposed inflammation may further worsen neurological outcomes. Reliable biomarkers which are both sensitive to hypoxic-ischemia and inflammation are critically needed.

Epilepsy occurrence after neonatal morbidities in very preterm infants.

Objective: This study investigated the incidence of epilepsy and identified neonatal risk morbidities for epilepsy in children born extremely preterm.

Methods: Of the 806 very preterm infants (birth weight < 1500 g, gestational age < 32 weeks) who survived and were discharged from the four neonatal intensive care units in southern Taiwan between 2003 and 2012, 686 (85.1%) had longitudinal neurodevelopmental follow-up assessments up to 5 years of age.

Corpus callosum and cerebellar vermis size in very preterm infants: Relationship to long-term neurodevelopmental outcome.

Background: The neonatal changes of corpus callosum or cerebellar volume in preterm infants have been shown to link with abnormal mentality and motor disability in early childhood. This study aims to predict the long-term neurological outcomes by measuring these changes on neonatal brain ultrasound in preterm infants.

Methods: Our cohort consisted of infants aged below 32 weeks' gestation with very low birth body weights who completed neuro-assessments at 5 years of age.