Closure of Ventricular Septal Rupture through a Left Thoracotomy in a Patient with a History of Esophageal Reconstruction.

A 73-year-old man who had undergone esophagectomy and retrosternal gastric tube reconstruction for esophageal cancer 8 years prior was transferred to our hospital for the treatment of an acute myocardial infarction. Emergent percutaneous coronary intervention for the left anterior descending artery (#7) was successfully performed. However, echocardiography revealed a ventricular septal rupture (25×27 mm).

Surgical Treatment of an Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm in a Patient with a Liver Abscess.

The presence of an intraperitoneal source of infection, e.g., a liver abscess, can be an obstacle to performing an abdominal aortic surgery with a midline laparotomy because graft infection is one of the most critical complications of aortic surgery.

Effects of dapagliflozin on myoglobin efflux from cardiomyocyte during myocardial ischemia/reperfusion in anesthetized rats.

It has been suggested that sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors have cardioprotective effects during myocardial ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) independent of glucose-lowering action. However, the effects of SGLT2 inhibitors on structural damage to cardiomyocytes in the ischemic region during I/R remain unknown. We applied a microdialysis technique to the heart of anesthetized rats and investigated the effects of an SGLT2 inhibitor, dapagliflozin, on myocardial interstitial myoglobin levels in the ischemic region during coronary occlusion followed by reperfusion.

Modulation index predicts the effect of ethosuximide on developmental and epileptic encephalopathy with spike-and-wave activation in sleep.

Purpose: In developmental and epileptic encephalopathy with spike-and-wave activation in sleep (DEE-SWAS), the thalamocortical network is suggested to play an important role in the pathophysiology of the progression from focal epilepsy to DEE-SWAS. Ethosuximide (ESM) exerts effects by blocking T-type calcium channels in thalamic neurons. With the thalamocortical network in mind, we studied the prediction of ESM effectiveness in DEE-SWAS treatment using phase-amplitude coupling (PAC) analysis.

Effective Epilepsy Surgery for Post-Traumatic West Syndrome Following Abusive Head Trauma.

West syndrome, an infantile developmental and epileptic encephalopathy with a deleterious impact on long-term development, requires early treatment to minimize developmental abnormality; in such cases, epilepsy surgery should be considered a powerful therapeutic option. We describe a 10-month-old female admitted with West syndrome associated with a hemispheric lesion following abusive head trauma. Her seizures were suppressed by hemispherotomy at 12 months of age, leading to developmental improvement.

Epilepsy in Children With Congenital Heart Disease: Risk Factors and Characteristic Presentations.

Background: Children with a congenital heart disease (CHD) are at a higher risk of developing epilepsy than the general population, but detailed characteristics of CHD-associated epilepsy have not been clarified. The purposes of this study were to determine the risk factors for developing epilepsy associated with CHD and to elucidate the characteristics of such epilepsy.

Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort study based on medical records of pediatric patients with CHD who were born between January 2006 and December 2016, underwent cardiac surgery at Okayama University Hospital, and were followed up until at least age three years.

High-frequency oscillations in scalp EEG: A systematic review of methodological choices and clinical findings.

Objective: Pathological high-frequency oscillations (HFOs) in intracranial EEG are promising biomarkers of epileptogenic tissue, and their physiological counterparts play a role in sensorimotor and cognitive function. HFOs have also been found in scalp EEG, but an overview of all studies is lacking. In this systematic review, we assessed the methodology to detect scalp HFOs and their clinical potential.

Exclusion of the Possibility of "False Ripples" From Ripple Band High-Frequency Oscillations Recorded From Scalp Electroencephalogram in Children With Epilepsy.

Aim: Ripple-band epileptic high-frequency oscillations (HFOs) can be recorded by scalp electroencephalography (EEG), and tend to be associated with epileptic spikes. However, there is a concern that the filtration of steep waveforms such as spikes may cause spurious oscillations or "false ripples." We excluded such possibility from at least some ripples by EEG differentiation, which, in theory, enhances high-frequency signals and does not generate spurious oscillations or ringing.

A study on the relationship between non-epileptic fast (40 - 200 Hz) oscillations in scalp EEG and development in children.

Objective: Physiological gamma and ripple activities may be linked to neurocognitive functions. This study investigated the relationship between development and non-epileptic, probably physiological, fast (40-200 Hz) oscillations (FOs) including gamma (40 - 80 Hz) and ripple (80 - 200 Hz) oscillations in scalp EEG in children with neurodevelopmental disorders.

Methods: Participants were 124 children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and/or attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Effects of a stable concentration of propofol on interictal high-frequency oscillations in drug-resistant epilepsy.

The aim of this study was to clarify the effect of a stable concentration of propofol on interictal high-frequency oscillations (HFOs), which may contribute to identifying the epileptogenic zone intraoperatively for resection surgery. Nine patients with drug-resistant focal epilepsy who underwent invasive pre-surgical evaluation with chronic subdural electrodes were recruited. Five-minute electrocorticograms during wakefulness, slow-wave sleep, and under a stable brain concentration of propofol were recorded with the same electrodes.

Monozygotic twins with DYT-TOR1A showing jerking movements and levodopa responsiveness.

Background: DYT-TOR1A is caused by a GAG deletion in the TOR1A gene. While it usually manifests as early-onset dystonia, its phenotype is extremely diverse, even within one family. Recent reports have revealed that some DYT-TOR1A cases have novel mutations in the TOR1A gene while others have mutations in both TOR1A and another DYT gene (THAP1 or SGCE).

Longitudinal correspondence of epilepsy and scalp EEG fast (40-200 Hz) oscillations in pediatric patients with tuberous sclerosis complex.

Introduction: Epilepsy associated with tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) has very complex clinical characteristics. Scalp electroencephalogram (EEG) fast (40-200 Hz) oscillations (FOs) were recently suggested to indicate epilepsy severity. Epileptic FOs may undergo age-dependent longitudinal change in individual patients, however, and the typical pattern of such change is not yet fully clarified.

Action of antiepileptic drugs on neurons.

The recent development of various new antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) has provided a wide range of therapeutic strategies for epilepsy. Information regarding the mechanisms of the action of AEDs is valuable when selecting drugs for individual epilepsy patients. AEDs can be categorized as those acting at the excitatory synapse, at the inhibitory synapse, on the extrasynaptic neuronal membrane, or with multiple or miscellaneous mechanisms of action.

Epileptic High-frequency Oscillations in Scalp Electroencephalography.

Electroencephalography (EEG) examines the functional state of the brain. High-frequency oscillations (HFOs) in the ripple (80-200/250 Hz) and fast ripple (200/250-500/600 Hz) bands have recently been attracting attention, and their recording has been enabled by advancements in digital EEG techniques. The detection of HFOs was previously limited to intracranial EEG, but fast oscillations (FOs) in the gamma (40-80 Hz) and ripple bands can now be detected over the scalp.

Complex observation of scalp fast (40-150 Hz) oscillations in West syndrome and related disorders with structural brain pathology.

We investigated the relationship between the scalp distribution of fast (40-150 Hz) oscillations (FOs) and epileptogenic lesions in West syndrome (WS) and related disorders. Subjects were 9 pediatric patients with surgically confirmed structural epileptogenic pathology (age at initial electroencephalogram [EEG] recording: mean 7.1 months, range 1-22 months).

Detection of fast (40-150 Hz) oscillations from the ictal scalp EEG data of myoclonic seizures in pediatric patients.

Objective: We explored fast (40-150 Hz) oscillations (FOs) from the ictal scalp electroencephalogram (EEG) data of myoclonic seizures in pediatric patients to obtain insight into the pathophysiological mechanisms involved in the generation of myoclonic seizures.

Subjects And Methods: The participants were 21 children (11 boys, 10 girls; age ranging from 5 months to 17 years 2 months) with myoclonic seizures associated with generalized (poly)spike-wave bursts in the ictal EEG data. The patients had heterogeneous etiologies and epilepsy diagnoses.

A ten-year follow-up cohort study of childhood epilepsy: Changes in epilepsy diagnosis with age.

Objective: To elucidate all of the characteristics of childhood epilepsy, we performed a long-term follow-up study on the patients who visited Okayama University Hospital.

Subjects And Methods: We retrospectively investigated the patients who were involved in the previous epidemiological study and visited Okayama University Hospital for a period of 10years after December 31, 1999.

Results: Overall, there were 350 patients' medical records that were evaluated, and 258 patients with complete clinical information available for a 10-year period were enrolled.

A study on spike focus dependence of high-frequency activity in idiopathic focal epilepsy in childhood.

Objective: Spike foci in benign epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes (BECTS) are related to seizure semiologies, but this relationship is inconspicuous in Panayiotopoulos syndrome (PS). We analyzed spike-associated high-frequency activity (HFA) and its relationship to spike foci in the electroencephalograms (EEGs) of patients with BECTS and PS in order to elucidate the pathophysiology of these epileptic syndromes.

Methods: In 35 patients with BECTS and 29 with PS, focal spikes in scalp sleep EEGs were first classified by clustering according to their characteristics, including shape and distribution.

A case of Dravet syndrome with cortical myoclonus indicated by jerk-locked back-averaging of electroencephalogram data.

We report a female patient with Dravet syndrome (DS) with erratic segmental myoclonus, the origin of which was first identified in the cerebral cortex by the detection of myoclonus-associated cortical discharges. The discharges were disclosed through jerk-locked back-averaging of electroencephalogram (EEG) data using the muscle activity of myoclonus as triggers. The detected spikes on the contralateral parieto-central region preceded myoclonic muscle activity in the forearms by 28-46ms.

Fast (40-150Hz) oscillations are associated with positive slow waves in the ictal EEGs of epileptic spasms in West syndrome.

Objective: To elucidate the generative mechanisms of epileptic spasms (ESs) in West syndrome, we investigated the temporal relationship between scalp fast (40-150Hz) oscillations (FOs) and slow waves in the ictal electroencephalograms (EEGs) of ESs.

Methods: In 11 infants with WS, ictal FOs were detected in a bipolar montage based on spectral and waveform criteria. Their temporal distribution was analyzed in terms of the positive peaks (trough point, T) of identical EEG data in a referential montage.

A novel HYLS1 homozygous mutation in living siblings with Joubert syndrome.

The p.Asp211Gly homozygous HYLS1 mutation is so far known to cause only hydrolethalus syndrome, a lethal malformation syndrome. We report living sibling patients with a homozygous no-stop mutation in exon 4 of HYLS1, NM_145014.

Occurrence of bilaterally independent epileptic spasms after a corpus callosotomy in West syndrome.

We report a patient with intractable West syndrome whose epileptic spasms (ESs) were initially bilaterally synchronous, as is typical; after a complete corpus callosotomy, however, bilaterally independent ESs originated in either hemisphere. Activity of probable cortical origin associated with ESs was detected by observing ictal gamma oscillations. Brain MRI revealed no structural abnormality before surgery.