Short-horizon neonatal seizure prediction using EEG-based deep learning.

Strategies to predict neonatal seizure risk have typically focused on long-term static predictions with prediction horizons spanning days during the acute postnatal period. Higher temporal resolution or short-horizon neonatal seizure prediction, on the time-frame of minutes, remains unexplored. Here, we investigated quantitative electroencephalography (QEEG) based deep learning (DL) for short-horizon seizure prediction.

Payer type and prediction of the time from epilepsy onset to neurosurgical intervention and from first diagnostic MRI to neurosurgical consultation in lesional drug-resistant epilepsy at a California level IV epilepsy center.

Objective: The aim of this study was to identify socioeconomic factors that underlie disparity by insurance type on time to surgery from epilepsy onset and from first diagnostic imaging identifying a structural lesion in children with drug-resistant epilepsy (DRE).

Methods: Retrospective data were abstracted from children (< 18 years) who underwent epilepsy surgery at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), between 2012 and 2022 with a diagnosis of DRE and structural abnormality on MRI. Univariable and multivariable Cox proportional hazard regression were used to assess associations between socioeconomic barriers (English-language speaking, ethnicity, race, single-parent household, number of parents working, number of siblings, receipt of Supplemental Security Income [SSI], distance from hospital, and practice setting of referral center) and time from epilepsy onset to surgery.

Machine learning for forecasting initial seizure onset in neonatal hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy.

Objective: This study was undertaken to develop a machine learning (ML) model to forecast initial seizure onset in neonatal hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) utilizing clinical and quantitative electroencephalogram (QEEG) features.

Methods: We developed a gradient boosting ML model (Neo-GB) that utilizes clinical features and QEEG to forecast time-dependent seizure risk. Clinical variables included cord blood gas values, Apgar scores, gestational age at birth, postmenstrual age (PMA), postnatal age, and birth weight.

Simulation-based Inference of Developmental EEG Maturation with the Spectral Graph Model.

The spectral content of macroscopic neural activity evolves throughout development, yet how this maturation relates to underlying brain network formation and dynamics remains unknown. Here, we assess the developmental maturation of electroencephalogram spectra via Bayesian model inversion of the spectral graph model, a parsimonious whole-brain model of spatiospectral neural activity derived from linearized neural field models coupled by the structural connectome. Simulation-based inference was used to estimate age-varying spectral graph model parameter posterior distributions from electroencephalogram spectra spanning the developmental period.

Simulation-based inference of developmental EEG maturation with the spectral graph model.

The spectral content of macroscopic neural activity evolves throughout development, yet how this maturation relates to underlying brain network formation and dynamics remains unknown. Here, we assess the developmental maturation of electroencephalogram spectra via Bayesian model inversion of the spectral graph model, a parsimonious whole-brain model of spatiospectral neural activity derived from linearized neural field models coupled by the structural connectome. Simulation-based inference was used to estimate age-varying spectral graph model parameter posterior distributions from electroencephalogram spectra spanning the developmental period.

PIGG variant pathogenicity assessment reveals characteristic features within 19 families.

Purpose: Phosphatidylinositol Glycan Anchor Biosynthesis, class G (PIGG) is an ethanolamine phosphate transferase catalyzing the modification of glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI). GPI serves as an anchor on the cell membrane for surface proteins called GPI-anchored proteins (GPI-APs). Pathogenic variants in genes involved in the biosynthesis of GPI cause inherited GPI deficiency (IGD), which still needs to be further characterized.

Scalp EEG interictal high frequency oscillations as an objective biomarker of infantile spasms.

Objective: To investigate the diagnostic utility of high frequency oscillations (HFOs) via scalp electroencephalogram (EEG) in infantile spasms.

Methods: We retrospectively analyzed interictal slow-wave sleep EEGs sampled at 2,000 Hz recorded from 30 consecutive patients who were suspected of having infantile spasms. We measured the rate of HFOs (80-500 Hz) and the strength of the cross-frequency coupling between HFOs and slow-wave activity (SWA) at 3-4 Hz and 0.

Interictal scalp fast ripple occurrence and high frequency oscillation slow wave coupling in epileptic spasms.

Objective: Intracranial high frequency oscillation (HFO) occurrence rate (OR) and slow wave activity (SWA) coupling are potential markers of epileptogenicity in epileptic spasms (ES). Scalp ripple (R) detection and SWA coupling have been described in ES; however, the feasibility of scalp fast ripple (FR) detection and measurement of scalp FR coupling to SWA is not known. We evaluated interictal scalp R and FR OR and SWA coupling in pre-treatment EEG in children with short-term treatment-refractory ES compared to short-term treatment non-refractory ES.

Prospective observational study: Fast ripple localization delineates the epileptogenic zone.

Objective: To investigate spatial correlation between interictal HFOs and neuroimaging abnormalities, and to determine if complete removal of prospectively identified interictal HFOs correlates with post-surgical seizure-freedom.

Methods: Interictal fast ripples (FRs: 250-500 Hz) in 19 consecutive children with pharmacoresistant focal epilepsy who underwent extra-operative electrocorticography (ECoG) recording were prospectively analyzed. The interictal FRs were sampled at 2000 Hz and were visually identified during 10 min of slow wave sleep.

Interrater reliability in visual identification of interictal high-frequency oscillations on electrocorticography and scalp EEG.

High-frequency oscillations (HFOs), including ripples (Rs) and fast ripples (FRs), are promising biomarkers of epileptogenesis, but their clinical utility is limited by the lack of a standardized approach to identification. We set out to determine whether electroencephalographers experienced in HFO analysis can reliably identify and quantify interictal HFOs. Two blinded raters independently reviewed 10 intraoperative electrocorticography (ECoG) samples from epilepsy surgery cases, and 10 scalp EEG samples from epilepsy monitoring unit evaluations.

Automated Detection of High Frequency Oscillations in Human Scalp Electroencephalogram.

High frequency oscillations (HFOs) > 80 Hz are a promising biomarker of epileptic tissue. Recent evidence has shown that spontaneous HFOs can be recorded from the scalp, but detection of these electrographic events remains a challenge. Here, we modified a simple automatic detector, used originally for intracranial EEG (iEEG) recordings, to detect ripples and fast ripples in scalp EEG.

Reconstructing the Deep Population History of Central and South America.

We report genome-wide ancient DNA from 49 individuals forming four parallel time transects in Belize, Brazil, the Central Andes, and the Southern Cone, each dating to at least ∼9,000 years ago. The common ancestral population radiated rapidly from just one of the two early branches that contributed to Native Americans today. We document two previously unappreciated streams of gene flow between North and South America.

Visual and semi-automatic non-invasive detection of interictal fast ripples: A potential biomarker of epilepsy in children with tuberous sclerosis complex.

Objectives: We aim to establish that interictal fast ripples (FR; 250-500 Hz) are detectable on scalp EEG, and to investigate their association to epilepsy.

Methods: Scalp EEG recordings of a subset of children with tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC)-associated epilepsy from two large multicenter observational TSC studies were analyzed and compared to control children without epilepsy or any other brain-based diagnoses. FR were identified both by human visual review and compared with semi-automated review utilizing a deep learning-based FR detector.

Morphological affinities of Homo naledi with other Plio-Pleistocene hominins: a phenetic approach.

Recent fossil material found in Dinaledi Chamber, South Africa, was initially described as a new species of genus Homo, namely Homo naledi. The original study of this new material has pointed to a close proximity with Homo erectus. More recent investigations have, to some extent, confirmed this assignment.

Exomic variants of an elderly cohort of Brazilians in the ABraOM database.

Brazilians are highly admixed with ancestry from Europe, Africa, America, and Asia and yet still underrepresented in genomic databanks. We hereby present a collection of exomic variants from 609 elderly Brazilians in a census-based cohort (SABE609) with comprehensive phenotyping. Variants were deposited in ABraOM (Online Archive of Brazilian Mutations), a Web-based public database.

The Oldest Case of Decapitation in the New World (Lapa do Santo, East-Central Brazil).

We present here evidence for an early Holocene case of decapitation in the New World (Burial 26), found in the rock shelter of Lapa do Santo in 2007. Lapa do Santo is an archaeological site located in the Lagoa Santa karst in east-central Brazil with evidence of human occupation dating as far back as 11.7-12.

The cranial morphology of the Botocudo Indians, Brazil.

The Botocudo Indians were hunter-gatherer groups that occupied the East-Central regions of Brazil decimated during the colonial period in the country. During the 19th century, craniometric studies suggested that the Botocudo resembled more the Paleoamerican population of Lagoa Santa than typical Native Americans groups. These results suggest that the Botocudo Indians might represent a population that retained the biological characteristics of early groups of the continent, remaining largely isolated from groups that gave origin to the modern Native South American variation.

Toxoplasmic encephalitis during mycophenolate mofetil immunotherapy of neuromuscular disease.

Objective: To show that immunotherapy with medications such mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) can cause serious complications in patients with neuromuscular disorders.

Methods: Two patients with neuromuscular disorders on immunotherapy with long-term MMF who developed toxoplasmic encephalitis (TE) were included in this case series.

Results: One patient with myasthenia gravis and one patient with inflammatory myopathy on immunotherapy with long-term MMF developed severe TE.

Two ancient human genomes reveal Polynesian ancestry among the indigenous Botocudos of Brazil.

Understanding the peopling of the Americas remains an important and challenging question. Here, we present (14)C dates, and morphological, isotopic and genomic sequence data from two human skulls from the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, part of one of the indigenous groups known as 'Botocudos'. We find that their genomic ancestry is Polynesian, with no detectable Native American component.

Cranial morphological diversity of early, middle, and late Holocene Brazilian groups: implications for human dispersion in Brazil.

The history of human occupation in Brazil dates to at least 14 kyr BP, and the country has the largest record of early human remains from the continent. Despite the importance and richness of Brazilian human skeletal collections, the biological relationships between groups and their implications for knowledge about human dispersion in the country have not been properly explored. Here, we present a comprehensive assessment of the morphological affinities of human groups from East-Central, Coastal, Northeast, and South Brazil from distinct periods and test for the best dispersion scenarios to explain the observed diversity across time.

Rock art at the pleistocene/holocene boundary in Eastern South America.

Background: Most investigations regarding the first americans have primarily focused on four themes: when the New World was settled by humans; where they came from; how many migrations or colonization pulses from elsewhere were involved in the process; and what kinds of subsistence patterns and material culture they developed during the first millennia of colonization. Little is known, however, about the symbolic world of the first humans who settled the New World, because artistic manifestations either as rock-art, ornaments, and portable art objects dated to the Pleistocene/Holocene transition are exceedingly rare in the Americas.

Methodology/principal Findings: Here we report a pecked anthropomorphic figure engraved in the bedrock of Lapa do Santo, an archaeological site located in Central Brazil.

Downregulation of NR3A-containing NMDARs is required for synapse maturation and memory consolidation.

NR3A is the only NMDA receptor (NMDAR) subunit that downregulates sharply prior to the onset of sensitive periods for plasticity, yet the functional importance of this transient expression remains unknown. To investigate whether removal/replacement of juvenile NR3A-containing NMDARs is involved in experience-driven synapse maturation, we used a reversible transgenic system that prolonged NR3A expression in the forebrain. We found that removal of NR3A is required to develop strong NMDAR currents, full expression of long-term synaptic plasticity, a mature synaptic organization characterized by more synapses and larger postsynaptic densities, and the ability to form long-term memories.

Ube3a is required for experience-dependent maturation of the neocortex.

Experience-dependent maturation of neocortical circuits is required for normal sensory and cognitive abilities, which are distorted in neurodevelopmental disorders. We tested whether experience-dependent neocortical modifications require Ube3a, an E3 ubiquitin ligase whose dysregulation has been implicated in autism and Angelman syndrome. Using visual cortex as a model, we found that experience-dependent maturation of excitatory cortical circuits was severely impaired in Angelman syndrome model mice deficient in Ube3a.