Current Status and Future Strategies for Mentoring Women in Neurology.

The American Academy of Neurology's (AAN) 2017 Gender Disparity Report identified improving mentorship as a key intervention to fill the leadership and pay gaps for women in neurology. Here we summarize the literature on mentoring women, provide an outline of ideal components of programs geared toward closing gender gaps, and present a mentoring program for AAN members. The strategies discussed share similarities with those for closing gaps related to race, ethnicity, and religion.

Atypical Pediatric Demyelinating Diseases of the Central Nervous System.

Purpose Of Review: Pediatric central nervous system demyelinating diseases include multiple sclerosis (MS), neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD), and acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM). As diagnostic criteria become more inclusive, the risk of misdiagnosis of atypical demyelinating diseases of rheumatologic, infectious, and autoimmune etiology increases.

Recent Findings: We review mimics of multiple sclerosis, neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder, and acute disseminated encephalomyelitis, including rheumatologic diseases: systemic lupus erythematosus and neuro-Behçet disease; infectious diseases: human immunodeficiency virus, progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy, and subacute sclerosis panencephalitis; and autoimmune diseases including X-linked Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, chronic lymphocytic inflammation with pontine perivascular enhancement responsive to steroids (CLIPPERS) and autoimmune glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) encephalopathy.

Infant with protein C deficiency and stroke in the setting of iron deficiency anemia.

We report an 18-month-old infant with ischemic stroke, neurocognitive impairment, and psychomotor retardation in the setting of severe iron deficiency anemia. Although an uncommon outcome in anemic children, stroke is important to consider as a cause for developmental delay in children with iron deficiency anemia.

Mitochondrial Dysfunction and Multiple Sclerosis.

In recent years, several studies have examined the potential associations between mitochondrial dysfunction and neurodegenerative diseases such as multiple sclerosis (MS), Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease. In MS, neurological disability results from inflammation, demyelination, and ultimately, axonal damage within the central nervous system. The sustained inflammatory phase of the disease leads to ion channel changes and chronic oxidative stress.

MRI-Negative Myelitis Associated With Myelin Oligodendrocyte Glycoprotein Antibody Spectrum Demyelinating Disease.

Myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein is expressed in the central nervous system on the surface of oligodendrocytes and is associated with a broad range of adult and pediatric demyelinating phenotypes. The entire spectrum of clinical and radiologic features of myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein antibody spectrum disorder remains to be fully elucidated. We describe the case of a 9-year-old boy with immune-mediated myelitis undetectable by conventional magnetic resonance imaging in the context of relapsing anti-myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein spectrum disorder.