Long-Term Clinical and Biological Prognostic Factors of Anti-NMDA Receptor Encephalitis in Children.

Background And Objectives: Anti-NMDAR encephalitis (NMDARE) is a severe neurologic condition, and recently, the NMDAR Encephalitis One-Year Functional Status (NEOS) score has emerged as a 1-year prognostic tool. This study aimed to evaluate NEOS score and biomarker (neurofilament light chains [NfL], total-Tau protein, glial fibrillary acidic protein, and serum cytokines) correlation with modified Rankin Scale (mRS), cognitive impairment, and clinical recovery in pediatric NMDARE over 2 years.

Methods: In this French multicenter observational study, 104 pediatric patients with NMDARE were followed for a minimum of 2 years.

Ketamine alleviates NMDA receptor hypofunction through synaptic trapping.

Activity-dependent modulations of N-methyl-D-aspartate glutamate receptor (NMDAR) trapping at synapses regulate excitatory neurotransmission and shape cognitive functions. Although NMDAR synaptic destabilization has been associated with severe neurological and psychiatric conditions, tuning NMDAR synaptic trapping to assess its clinical relevance for the treatment of brain conditions remains a challenge. Here, we report that ketamine (KET) and other clinically relevant NMDAR open channel blockers (OCBs) promote interactions between NMDAR and PDZ-domain-containing scaffolding proteins and enhance NMDAR trapping at synapses.

NMDA receptor autoantibodies primarily impair the extrasynaptic compartment.

Autoantibodies directed against the N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR-Ab) are pathogenic immunoglobulins detected in patients suffering from NMDAR encephalitis. NMDAR-Ab alter the receptor membrane trafficking, synaptic transmission and neuronal network properties, leading to neurological and psychiatric symptoms in patients. Patients often have very little neuronal damage but rapid and massive (treatment-responsive) brain dysfunctions related to an unknown early mechanism of NMDAR-Ab.

Phosphatidylserine enriched with polyunsaturated n-3 fatty acid supplementation for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder in children and adolescents with epilepsy: A randomized placebo-controlled trial.

Background: Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a frequent comorbidity in children with epilepsy, which management mostly relies on the usual treatments of ADHD, especially methylphenidate. Supplementation with polyunsaturated n-3 Fatty Acid (PUFA) has been proposed as an alternative therapeutic approach in ADHD without epilepsy but has never been evaluated in epilepsy-associated ADHD.

Methods: A multicenter double blind randomized placebo-controlled trial evaluating supplementation with PUFA, in eicosapentaenoic- and docosahexaenoic-acid form, conjugated to a phospholipid vector (PS-Omega3) in children aged >6 and <16-years old, and suffering from any type of epilepsy and ADHD (inattentive or combined type) according to DSM-V.

Long-term outcome of paediatric anti-N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor encephalitis.

Aim: To study long-term clinical and cognitive outcomes of patients with anti-N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor encephalitis (NMDAR-E), an acute autoimmune neurological disease with severe acute presentations.

Method: In this French multicentre retrospective observational cohort study, patients no older than 18 years with a follow-up of at least 2 years were included. Data from clinical and cognitive assessments were collected.

Early-onset epileptic encephalopathy related to germline PIGA mutations: A series of 5 cases.

The molecular diagnosis of early-onset epileptic encephalopathy (EOEE), an expanding field in child neurology, is becoming increasingly possible thanks to the widespread availability of next-generation sequencing and whole-exome sequencing. In the past 15 years, mutations in STXBP1, KCNQ2, SCN2A, SCN8A and numerous other genes have been reported, giving a more accurate insight for these rare diseases. Among these genes, germline mutations in Phosphatidyl Inositol Glycan A (PIGA) gene were first reported in 2012.

Neonatal Herpes Simplex Virus-1 Recurrence with Central Nervous System Disease in Twins after Completion of a Six-Month Course of Suppressive Therapy: Case Report.

Seventeen-day-old twins were hospitalized for neonatal herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) with central nervous system disease and internal capsule and thalamic lesions on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). They were treated with the usual intravenous (IV) treatment and oral therapy for 6 months. The clinical course was good in both children with negative HSV polymerase chain reaction on completion of IV therapy.

Clinical study of 19 patients with SCN8A-related epilepsy: Two modes of onset regarding EEG and seizures.

Objective: To describe the mode of onset of SCN8A-related severe epilepsy in order to facilitate early recognition, and eventually early treatment with sodium channel blockers.

Methods: We reviewed the phenotype of patients carrying a mutation in the SCN8A gene, among a multicentric cohort of 638 patients prospectively followed by several pediatric neurologists. We focused on the way clinicians made the diagnosis of epileptic encephalopathy, the very first symptoms, electroencephalography (EEG) findings, and seizure types.

Vascular impairment as a pathological mechanism underlying long-lasting cognitive dysfunction after pediatric traumatic brain injury.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is the leading cause of death and disability in children. Indeed, the acute mechanical injury often evolves to a chronic brain disorder with long-term cognitive, emotional and social dysfunction even in the case of mild TBI. Contrary to the commonly held idea that children show better recovery from injuries than adults, pediatric TBI patients actually have worse outcome than adults for the same injury severity.

[Hereditary neuropathy with liability to pressure palsies in childhood: Report of three cases].

Hereditary neuropathy with liability to pressure palsy (HNPP) is an autosomal dominant neuropathy. It is characterized by recurrent sensory and motor nerve palsies, usually precipitated by minor trauma or compression. Even though rare in childhood, this disorder is probably underdiagnosed given its wide spectrum of clinical symptoms.

Circulating bacterial lipopolysaccharide-induced inflammation reduces flow in brain-irrigating arteries independently from cerebrovascular prostaglandin production.

Brain dysfunction is a frequent complication of the systemic inflammatory response to bacterial infection or sepsis. In the present work, the effects of intravenous bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) administration on cerebral arterial blood flow were assessed with time-of-flight (TOF)-based magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) in mice. Cerebral expression of the transcription factors nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-κB) and c-Fos and that of enzymes synthesizing vasoactive mediators, such as prostaglandins and nitric oxide, known to be increased under inflammatory conditions, were studied in the same animals.

Case Report of a Severe Recurrent Tongue Self-Injury in an Infant With Dystonia.

Dystonia is characterized by sustained or intermittent muscle contractions causing abnormal, often repetitive movements, postures, or both that are typically patterned, twisting, and sometimes tremulous. It is often initiated or worsened by voluntary action and associated with overflow muscle activation. In this article we report a case of severe oromandibular dystonia, which is a specific form of dystonia characterized by involuntary, action-induced tonic or clonic spasms of the masticatory, lingual, and pharyngeal musculature.

Perinatal arterial ischemic stroke related to carotid artery occlusion.

Background: The aetiology of perinatal arterial ischemic stroke remains speculative. It is however widely accepted that the aetiology is multifactorial, involving various maternal, placental, foetal and neonatal risk factors. A resulting thromboembolic process is hypothesized and the placenta identified as the most plausible source.

Treatment and outcome of children and adolescents with N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor encephalitis.

The objective of this study is to describe the treatment and outcome of children and adolescents with N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDA-R) encephalitis. A retrospective study of children and adolescents with NMDA-R encephalitis was performed by the French Paraneoplastic Neurological Syndrome Reference Center between January 1, 2007 and December 31, 2012. The modified Rankin scale (mRS) was used to assess outcome.

Refractory status epilepticus: electroconvulsive therapy as a possible therapeutic strategy.

Refractory status epilepticus (SE) is a current daily therapeutic challenge. Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), which is frequently used to treat psychiatric disorders, is known to raise the seizure threshold. As such, ECT could be of major interest in refractory SE.

Dysmorphic features in subtelomeric 20p13 deletion excluding JAG1: a recognizable microdeletion phenotype?

We report a 19 year-old patient carrying a terminal 20p microdeletion. She displayed clinical features resembling those of two other previously described patients. We suggest that a specific phenotype can be associated with this chromosomal anomaly.

[Polymorphic expression of epilepsy and cognitive impairment in ring chromosome 20 syndrome].

Ring chromosome 20 syndrome combines epilepsy with varying levels of mental retardation, behavioral disorders, and malformations. Epilepsy is generally serious, with frequent drug resistance. The pathophysiology of seizures remains unclear.