Early identification and diagnosis of epilepsy related to fever sensitivity / 中国当代儿科杂志

Febrile seizures are the most common nervous system disease in childhood, and most children have a good prognosis. However, some epilepsy cases are easily induced by fever and are characterized by "fever sensitivity", and it is difficult to differentiate such cases from febrile seizures. Epilepsy related to fever sensitivity includes hereditary epilepsy with febrile seizures plus, Dravet syndrome, and

Immunological mechanism of prednisone in the treatment of infantile spasm / 中国当代儿科杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the immunological mechanism of prednisone in the treatment of infantile spasm (IS) by evaluating the immune function of IS children before and after treatment.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Thirty children with IS were enrolled as IS group. Thirty healthy infants who underwent physical examination were enrolled as healthy control group. Fasting venous blood was collected for both groups before and after prednisone treatment. Chemiluminescence was used to measure serum levels of interleukin-1B (IL-1B), interleukin-2R (IL-2R), interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-8 (IL-8), and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α). Immunoturbidimetric assay was used to measure serum levels of immunoglobulin A (IgA), immunoglobulin M (IgM), and immunoglobulin G (IgG). Flow cytometry was used to measure the percentages of T lymphocyte subsets (CD3, CD4, and CD8). The clinical outcome and electroencephalographic findings were evaluated for all IS children after prednisone treatment.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The IS group had significantly higher serum levels of IL-2R, IL-8, and TNF-α than the healthy control group before treatment (P<0.05). The mean number of daily ictal clusters was positively correlated with the levels of IL-2R, IL-8, and TNF-α in IS children, the mean number of total daily seizures was positively correlated with IL-8 level, and any two indices out of IL-2R, IL-8, and TNF-α were positively correlated with each other (P<0.05). Among the 30 IS children treated with prednisone, 19 achieved seizure control; electroencephalography showed that 18 children achieved complete remission of hyperarrhythmia. After treatment, the IS group had significant reductions in the numbers of daily ictal clusters and total daily seizures, significant improvement in developmental quotient (P<0.05), and significant reductions in serum levels of IL-2R, L-8, and TNF-α, the percentage of CD4T lymphocytes, and CD4/CD8ratio (P<0.05), as well as a significant increase in the percentage of CD8T lymphocytes (P<0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>IS children have immune dysfunction. Prednisone can control seizures in IS children, possibly by regulating and improving immune dysfunction.</p>

Management of anti-N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor encephalitis in children / 中国当代儿科杂志

Anti-N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (anti-NMDAR) encephalitis is a new category of severe, potentially treatable autoimmune encephalitis and can appear in patients of all ages, but more frequently in children. It is a highly characteristic syndrome evolving in five stages: the prodromal phase (viral infection-like symptoms), psychotic phase, unresponsive phase, hyperkinetic phase, and gradual recovery phase. The treatment for this disorder includes first-line immunotherapy (steroids, intravenous immunoglobulin, plasmapheresis), second-line immunotherapy (rituximab, cyclophosphamide), and tumor removal. Hereby the progresses, selections and shortcomings of the treatment protocols for this disease are introduced.

Hair root fragile X mental retardation protein assay for the diagnosis of fragile X syndrome / 中国当代儿科杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>Fragile X syndrome (FXS) may be identified by many methods, such as PCR assay and Southern blot. However, each method has its limits or shortcomings. This study explored the reliability of the rapid, convenient and inexpensive hair root fragile X mental retardation protein (FMRP ) assay in the identification of FXS.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>FMRP in hair roots was determined by immunohistochemistry assay in 80 healthy children, in 40 children with mental retardation of unknown etiology and in 12 family members in one pedigree of FXS. FXS was confirmed by 7-deza-dGTP PCR.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>There was a high expression of FMRP in hair roots (> or =80%) in healthy children. Two children were confirmed with FXS by 7-deza-dGTP PCR in 40 children with mental retardation of unknown etiology. FMRP expression was 10% and zero respectively in the two children. The other 38 children had FMRP expression of more than 80%. FMRP was not expressed in the two cases of FXS from the pedigree of FXS.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Inexpensive, rapid and convenient hair root FMRP assay is reliable for the diagnosis of FXS and may be widely applied for screening and diagnosing FXS in children with mental retardation.</p>