Bipolar Disorder in Children With ADHD: A Clinical Sample Study.

Objective: To explore the impact of early-onset bipolar disorder (pediatric bipolar disorder [PBD]) on ADHD.

Method: We compared ADHD symptom severity, ADHD subtype distribution, and rates of comorbid and familial psychiatric disorders between 49 ADHD children with comorbid PBD and 320 ADHD children without PBD.

Results: Children with ADHD and PBD showed higher scores in the Hyperactive and Inattentive subscales of the ADHD Rating Scale, than children with ADHD alone.

Epilepsy and cerebral palsy: characteristics and trends in children born in 1976-1998.

Background: Although epilepsy is common in children with cerebral palsy (CP), no data exists on prevalence rates of CP and epilepsy.

Aims: To describe epilepsy in children with CP, and to examine the association between epilepsy and neonatal characteristics, associated impairments and CP subtypes.

Methods: Data on 9654 children with CP born between 1976 and 1998 and registered in 17 European registers belonging to the SCPE network (Surveillance of Cerebral Palsy in Europe) were analyzed.

The forward parachute reaction and independent walking in infants with brain lesions.

Aim: The aim of this study was to assess the onset of forward parachute reaction (FPR) in infants with brain lesions and its correlation with age of walking.

Method: FPR was assessed at 6, 9, and 12 months in 140 infants with brain lesions (78 males, 62 females; mean gestational age 31 wks; SD 3.6 wks; mean birthweight 1450 g, SD 252 g).

Epigenetic modification of the FMR1 gene in fragile X syndrome is associated with differential response to the mGluR5 antagonist AFQ056.

Fragile X syndrome (FXS) is an X-linked condition associated with intellectual disability and behavioral problems. It is caused by expansion of a CGG repeat in the 5' untranslated region of the fragile X mental retardation 1 (FMR1) gene. This mutation is associated with hypermethylation at the FMR1 promoter and resultant transcriptional silencing.

Treatment with valproic acid ameliorates ADHD symptoms in fragile X syndrome boys.

Fragile X syndrome (FXS) is the leading cause of inherited mental retardation, due to expansion and methylation of the CGG sequence at the 5' UTR of the FMR1 gene. Around 90% of affected boys present with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), while this percentage is lower in FXS girls (35-47%). Treatment of these behavioral symptoms is critical for many families.

Cortical visual function in preterm infants in the first year.

Objective: To assess visual function in low-risk preterm infants at 3, 5, and 12 months corrected age to determine whether the maturation of visual function in the first year is similar to that reported in term-born infants.

Study Design: Seventy-five low-risk infants (25.0-30.

Hypo-phosphorylation of salivary peptidome as a clue to the molecular pathogenesis of autism spectrum disorders.

RP-HPLC-ESI-MS profile of naturally occurring salivary peptides of subjects with autistic spectrum disorder [ASD; N = 27:12 with diagnosis of autism, 1 with diagnosis of Asperger, 14 with diagnosis of pervasive developmental disorders not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS)] was compared to that of age-matched controls with the goal of identifying differences that could turn out to become hallmarks of at least a subgroup of ASD individuals. Phosphorylation level of four specific salivary phospho-peptides, namely statherin, histatin 1 (both, p < 0.0001) and acidic proline-rich proteins (both entire and truncated isoforms) (p < 0.

A double-blind, parallel, multicenter comparison of L-acetylcarnitine with placebo on the attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in fragile X syndrome boys.

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a frequent behavioral problem in young boys with fragile X syndrome (FXS), and its treatment is critical for improving social ability. The short-term efficacy of stimulant medications like methylphenidate (MPH) is well established in children with ADHD. FXS boys treated with MPH have improved attention span and socialization skills; however their mood becomes unstable at higher doses.

Trends in cerebral palsy among infants of very low birthweight (<1500 g) or born prematurely (<32 weeks) in 16 European centres: a database study.

Background: The risk of cerebral palsy, the commonest physical disability of children in western Europe, is higher in infants of very low birthweight (VLBW)--those born weighing less than 1500 g--and those from multiple pregnancies than in infants of normal birthweight. An increasing proportion of infants from both of these groups survive into childhood. This paper describes changes in the frequency and distribution of cerebral palsy by sex and neurological subtype in infants with a birthweight below 1000 g and 1000-1499 g in the period 1980-96.

Cerebral palsy and intrauterine growth in single births: European collaborative study.

Background: Cerebral palsy seems to be more common in term babies whose birthweight is low for their gestational age at delivery, but past analyses have been hampered by small datasets and Z-score calculation methods.

Methods: We compared data from ten European registers for 4503 singleton children with cerebral palsy born between 1976 and 1990 with the number of births in each study population. Weight and gestation of these children were compared with reference standards for the normal spread of gestation and weight-for-gestational age at birth.

Conversion reaction presenting as a polyradiculonevritis.

Aim: To show that conversion reactions should be suspected when symptomatology or instrumental checking does not conform to a precise pathological pattern in its anatomical and physiological keys.

Methods: We report the case of a 14-y-old girl who presented with signs and symptoms of Guillain-Barré polyradiculonevritis. Negative instrumental and laboratory tests led us to consider a possible diagnosis of conversion reaction.

[L-acetylcarnitine treatment on fragile X patients hyperactive behaviour].

Hyperactivity is a significant problem for almost all young males affected by fragile X syndrome (FXS), the most common inherited disease causing mental retardation. Therapeutical approaches are actually based on Central Nervous System (CNS) stimulants lacking a well defined rationale and efficacy while they further decrease the patient's limited attention span. A pilot study on 17 fragile X male treated with L-acetylcarnitine (LAC) over one year, showed a significant reduction of their hyperactivity behaviour tested by the Conners Abbreviated Parent-Teacher Questionnaire.

Perceptual-motor, visual and cognitive ability in very low birthweight preschool children without neonatal ultrasound abnormalities.

Thirty-six children born preterm with very low birth weight without neonatal brain disorders and normal cerebral ultrasound findings were examined at pre-school age: visual, perceptual motor, attention, behaviour and cognitive assessments were performed in the study group as well as in a control group of term children matched for age, sex and parental educational and occupational status. The results showed a significant lower scoring in perceptual motor skills in the study group, associated with a defect of accuracy in spatial attention and a higher incidence of stereopsis impairment related with perceptual motor disabilities. Behavioural disorders, in terms of emotional maturation and hyperactivity, were significantly more frequent in the study group.

Linguistic and non-linguistic abilities in a patient with early left hemispherectomy.

A patient who underwent early removal of the left hemisphere because of Sturge-Weber syndrome was submitted to detailed linguistic and visuospatial batteries. The performances were compared to performances of subjects matched for age, education and IQ, but without focal cerebral lesions. Language was mildly impaired but to the same extent as in IQ controls.

Opitz C trigonocephaly syndrome and midline brain anomalies.

We describe a child with trigonocephaly, strabismus, upslanting palpebral fissures, nasal bridge hypoplasia, hypertrophic alveolar ridges and large gingivo-labial frenula, short neck, hip "dysplasia," equinovarus deformities, cryptorchidism, atrial septal defect ostium secundum, and severe mental retardation, findings consistent with C syndrome. The patient also had a Dandy-Walker malformation, complete callosal agenesis, and occipital meningocele. These structural defects are independent of the premature closure of the metopic suture, and confirm that midline brain anomalies are part of C syndrome.

Brain-stem somatosensory dysfunction in a case of long-standing left hemispherectomy with removal of the left thalamus: a nasopharyngeal and scalp SEP study.

We have studied median nerve somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) in a patient who had undergone early surgical removal of the left cerebral hemisphere and left thalamus. Stimulation of the right side evoked normal latency P9, P11 and P13 potentials at scalp as well as at nasopharyngeal (NP) leads, while P14 and N18 potentials were absent. These SEP abnormalities, that have been described previously in cervico-medullary lesions and in comatose patients with upper brain-stem involvement, suggest that in our patient the removal of the left thalamus has caused retrograde degeneration of the cuneate-thalamic projections.

Sleep in babies born to chronically heroin addicted mothers. A follow up study.

The effects of chronic addiction to, and withdrawal from, opiates on sleep have been described in experimental animals, in human adults and infants born to addicted mothers. These sleep alterations are seen through the first weeks of life. Thirteen maternally addicted babies were studied.

Fetal addiction to methadone: postnatal abstinence syndrome and development of visual evoked potentials.

Female rats were given different doses of methadone for the whole duration of pregnancy. The effects of methadone on birthweight and abstinence syndrome were studied from birth to maturation. Visual Evoked Potentials (VEP) from onset to 90 days of age were studied with averaging and frequency analysis techniques.

[Neurologic pathology in the neonatal period: relation to birth weight and gestational age].

Six Italian university centers have taken part in the Perinatal Preventive Medicine Project of the National Research Council since 1973. In this report the preliminary data on neonatal neurological disorders of 38775 single not malformed infants are presented. Neurological abnormality has been defined by the presence of at least one of the following symptoms: seizures, hypertonia, hypotonia, apneic spells.