Learning from those who thrive: protective factors and neuroimaging markers in adolescents with complex congenital heart disease and with a favorable neurodevelopmental profile.

Patients with complex congenital heart disease (cCHD) are at risk for neurodevelopmental impairments, yet many patients develop normally. This study investigated associations between a favorable neurodevelopmental profile and protective factors, quality of life (QoL), resilience, and brain development. Adolescents with cCHD ( = 100) were prospectively enrolled.

Early High-Dose Erythropoietin and Cognitive Functions of School-Aged Children Born Very Preterm.

Importance: Children born very preterm are at risk for long-term neurodevelopmental sequelae. Prophylactic high-dose recombinant human erythropoietin (rhEpo) shortly after birth has not been shown to improve cognitive, motor, and behavioral development at 2 and 5 years.

Objective: To investigate whether early high-dose rhEpo is associated with better executive functions and processing speed-late-maturing cognitive functions-in school-aged children born very preterm.

Stress Markers, Executive Functioning, and Resilience Among Early Adolescents With Complex Congenital Heart Disease.

Importance: Infants with complex congenital heart disease (cCHD) may experience prolonged and severe stress when undergoing open heart surgery. However, little is known about long-term stress and its role in neurodevelopmental impairments in this population.

Objective: To investigate potential differences between early adolescents aged 10 to 15 years with cCHD and healthy controls in physiological stress markers by hair analysis, executive function (EF) performance, and resilience.

Cerebral perfusion differences are linked to executive function performance in very preterm-born children and adolescents.

Children and adolescents born very preterm are at risk of cognitive impairment, particularly affecting executive functions. To date, the neural correlates of these cognitive differences are not yet fully understood, although converging evidence points to a pattern of structural and functional brain alterations, including reduced brain volumes, altered connectivity, and altered brain activation patterns. In very preterm neonates, alterations in brain perfusion have also been reported, but the extent to which these perfusion alterations persist into later childhood is not yet known.

Occipital transcranial direct current stimulation in episodic migraine patients: effect on cerebral perfusion.

Cerebral blood flow differs between migraine patients and healthy controls during attack and the interictal period. This study compares the brain perfusion of episodic migraine patients and healthy controls and investigates the influence of anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over the occipital cortex. We included healthy adult controls and episodic migraineurs.