Diffusion Tensor Imaging And Tractography In Autistic, Dysphasic, And Healthy Control Children.

Background: Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) is a powerful tool for investigating brain anatomical connectivity. The aim of our study was to compare brain connectivity among children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), developmental dysphasia (DD), and healthy controls (HC) in the following tracts: the arcuate fasciculus (AF), inferior frontal occipital fasciculus (IFOF), inferior longitudinal fasciculus (ILF), and uncinate fasciculus (UF).

Methods: Our sample consisted of 113 children with a mean age 8.

Cognitive performance in distinct groups of children undergoing epilepsy surgery-a single-centre experience.

Background: We aimed first to describe trends in cognitive performance over time in a large patient cohort ( = 203) from a single tertiary centre for paediatric epilepsy surgery over the period of 16 years divided in two (developing-pre-2011 vs. established-post-2011). Secondly, we tried to identify subgroups of epilepsy surgery candidates with distinctive epilepsy-related characteristics that associate with their pre- and post-surgical cognitive performance.

Corrigendum: The Sub-Regional Functional Organization of Neocortical Irritative Epileptic Networks in Pediatric Epilepsy.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fneur.2018.

Evolution of pediatric epilepsy surgery program over 2000-2017: Improvement of care?

Purpose: We assessed trends in spectrum of candidates, diagnostic algorithm, therapeutic approach and outcome of a pediatric epilepsy surgery program between 2000 and 2017.

Methods: All pediatric patients who underwent curative epilepsy surgery in Motol Epilepsy Center during selected period (n = 233) were included in the study and divided into two groups according to time of the surgery (developing program 2000-2010: n = 86, established program 2011-2017: n = 147). Differences in presurgical, surgical and outcome variables between the groups were statistically analyzed.

Early predictors of clinical and mental outcome in tuberous sclerosis complex: A prospective study.

Aim: We aimed to identify early predictors of intractable epilepsy, intellectual disability (ID) and autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in the cohort of TSC patients initially diagnosed with cardiac rhabdomyomas (CR).

Method: Over the period of twelve years we prospectively obtained clinical, neuropsychological, electrophysiological and neuroimaging data in a group of 22 TSC patients (9 females, 13 males) with the pre/perinatal diagnosis of CR, included to the study at the time of diagnosis. Afterwards, we statistically determined variables associated with ID, ASD and intractable epilepsy.

The Sub-Regional Functional Organization of Neocortical Irritative Epileptic Networks in Pediatric Epilepsy.

Between seizures, irritative network generates frequent brief synchronous activity, which manifests on the EEG as interictal epileptiform discharges (IEDs). Recent insights into the mechanism of IEDs at the microscopic level have demonstrated a high variance in the recruitment of neuronal populations generating IEDs and a high variability in the trajectories through which IEDs propagate across the brain. These phenomena represent one of the major constraints for precise characterization of network organization and for the utilization of IEDs during presurgical evaluations.

Educational video and story as effective interventions reducing epilepsy-related stigma among children.

Stigma has been related to epilepsy since ancient times. Despite the importance of this issue, only a few interventions focusing on the reduction of epilepsy-related stigma may be found in the literature. Thus, the aim of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of two interventions focused on the reduction of epilepsy-related stigma in children aged 9-11years.

Ictal SPECT is useful in localizing the epileptogenic zone in infants with cortical dysplasia.

Aims: To assess the localizing value of ictal SPECT in very young epilepsy surgery candidates when cerebral haemodynamic responses are known to be immature.

Methods: We retrospectively studied 13 infants with intractable focal epilepsy caused by focal cortical dysplasia (FCD). Completeness of resection of the (1) ictal SPECT hyperperfusion zone and (2) cerebral cortex with prominent ictal and interictal abnormalities on intracranial EEG (ECoG or long-term invasive monitoring) and the MRI lesion, when present, were correlated with postoperative seizure outcome.

Initial manifestation of type I diabetes mellitus as an unusual cause of early post-operative seizures.

We present a case of an 18-year-old patient who underwent resective epilepsy surgery for intractable epilepsy caused by focal cortical dysplasia. In the early post-surgical period, the patient started experiencing atypical seizures refractory to antiepileptic treatment. In due course, abnormally low levels of blood sodium and extremely high levels of blood glucose were discovered.

Anti-N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor encephalitis: the clinical course in light of the chemokine and cytokine levels in cerebrospinal fluid.

Background: Anti-N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) encephalitis is an autoimmune disorder of the central nervous system (CNS). Its immunopathogenesis has been proposed to include early cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) lymphocytosis, subsequent CNS disease restriction and B cell mechanism predominance. There are limited data regarding T cell involvement in the disease.

Structural alterations of the language connectome in children with specific language impairment.

We evaluated brain white matter pathways associated with language processing in 37 children with specific language impairment aged 6-12 years and 34 controls, matched for age, sex and handedness. Arcuate fascicle (AF), inferior fronto-occipital fascicle (IFOF), inferior longitudinal fascicle (ILF) and uncinate fascicle (UF) were identified using magnetic resonance diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). Diffusivity parameters and volume of the tracts were compared between the SLI and control group.

Detection of interictal epileptiform discharges using signal envelope distribution modelling: application to epileptic and non-epileptic intracranial recordings.

Interictal epileptiform discharges (spikes, IEDs) are electrographic markers of epileptic tissue and their quantification is utilized in planning of surgical resection. Visual analysis of long-term multi-channel intracranial recordings is extremely laborious and prone to bias. Development of new and reliable techniques of automatic spike detection represents a crucial step towards increasing the information yield of intracranial recordings and to improve surgical outcome.

An AP4B1 frameshift mutation in siblings with intellectual disability and spastic tetraplegia further delineates the AP-4 deficiency syndrome.

The recently proposed adaptor protein 4 (AP-4) deficiency syndrome comprises a group of congenital neurological disorders characterized by severe intellectual disability (ID), delayed or absent speech, hereditary spastic paraplegia, and growth retardation. AP-4 is a heterotetrameric protein complex with important functions in vesicle trafficking. Mutations in genes affecting different subunits of AP-4, including AP4B1, AP4E1, AP4S1, and AP4M1, have been reported in patients with the AP-4 deficiency phenotype.

Peri-ictal headache due to epileptiform activity in a disconnected hemisphere.

A 4-year-old girl with intractable epilepsy due to left-side hemispheric cortical dysplasia underwent a hemispherotomy. She was seizure-free after the surgery. EEG showed persistent abundant epileptiform activity over the left (disconnected) hemisphere, including ictal patterns that neither generalised nor had clinical correlates.

Predictive factors of ictal SPECT findings in paediatric patients with focal cortical dysplasia.

Aims: To identify variables that influence the extent of ictal single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) findings in paediatric patients with focal cortical dysplasia (FCD).

Methods: We visually evaluated 98 ictal SPECT studies from 67 children treated surgically for intractable epilepsy caused by FCD. SPECT findings were classified as "non-localised", "well-localised", and "extensive" and compared with parameters of injected seizures (seizure type and duration, injection time, and scalp EEG ictal pattern), presence of structural pathology on MRI, type of surgery performed after SPECT study, and histological findings.

Predictors of seizure-free outcome after epilepsy surgery for pediatric tuberous sclerosis complex.

Purpose: Variable predictors of postsurgical seizure outcome have been reported in children with tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC). We analyzed a large surgical series of pediatric TSC patients in order to identify prognostic factors crucial for selection of subjects for epilepsy surgery.

Methods: Thirty-three children with TSC who underwent excisional epilepsy surgery at Miami Children's Hospital were retrospectively reviewed.

Th1 and Th17 but no Th2-related cytokine spectrum in the cerebrospinal fluid of children with Borrelia-related facial nerve palsy.

Background: Chemokines and cytokines in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and serum have been extensively studied in adults with neuroborreliosis (NB), whereas there are limited data about the pediatric population. In adults, T helper type 1 (Th1) and Th17-related cytokines were observed during acute NB. In children, the Th2 response is thought to moderate the disease course.

Epilepsy, behavior, and art (Epilepsy, Brain, and Mind, part 1).

Epilepsy is both a disease of the brain and the mind. Brain diseases, structural and/or functional, underlie the appearance of epilepsy, but the notion of epilepsy is larger and cannot be reduced exclusively to the brain. We can therefore look at epilepsy from two angles.

SISCOM and FDG-PET in patients with non-lesional extratemporal epilepsy: correlation with intracranial EEG, histology, and seizure outcome.

Aims: To assess the practical localising value of subtraction ictal single-photon emission computed tomography (SISCOM) coregistered with MRI and (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) in patients with extratemporal epilepsy and normal MRI.

Methods: We retrospectively studied a group of 14 patients who received surgery due to intractable epilepsy and who were shown to have focal cortical dysplasia, undetected by MRI, based on histological investigation. We coregistered preoperative SISCOM and PET images with postoperative MRI and visually determined whether the SISCOM focus, PET hypometabolic area, and cerebral cortex, exhibiting prominent abnormalities on intracranial EEG, were removed completely, incompletely, or not at all.

Localizing value of ictal SPECT is comparable to MRI and EEG in children with focal cortical dysplasia.

Purpose: To assess the predictive value of ictal single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) for outcome after excisional epilepsy surgery in a large population of children with focal cortical dysplasia (FCD).

Methods: One hundred seventy-three ictal SPECT studies in 106 children with histologically proven FCD were retrospectively analyzed. The extent and location of ictal hyperperfusion and completeness of surgical removal were assessed.

Improving the knowledge of epilepsy and reducing epilepsy-related stigma among children using educational video and educational drama--a comparison of the effectiveness of both interventions.

Purpose: This study was intended to compare the effectiveness of educational animated video and educational drama in improving the knowledge of epilepsy and reducing epilepsy-related stigma among children aged 9-11 years.

Method: The first group of children involved in the study (n(1)=762) watched a video and then completed a questionnaire on epilepsy. The second group (n(2)=400) completed the questionnaire after participating in a drama.

Frontal lobe epilepsy with atypical seizure semiology resembling shuddering attacks or wet dog shake seizures.

We report a girl with a drug-resistant frontal lobe epilepsy caused by focal cortical dysplasia, who exhibited uncommon seizures. The seizures consisted of shoulder or whole body shuddering after a short psychic aura and face grimacing. Consciousness was fully preserved.

Antiepleptic drug interactions: a clinical case demonstration.

Epilepsy is a serious health disorder affecting both paediatric and adult population worldwide. Due to difficulties in identifying its aetiology, initial management is often guided by empiric therapy measures. Symptomatic control requires the use of antiepileptic drugs (AEDs), many of which have the potential for adverse drug interactions.