Factors associated with lateralized cognitive dysfunction using the Cognitive Lateralization Rating Index in pediatric epilepsy.

Introduction: Optimizing cognitive outcomes of pediatric epilepsy surgery requires understanding of risk for change in function, typically based on hemispheric lateralization of language skills. Identification of cognitive lateralization in children is complicated by disease in the setting of ongoing functional development. A quantitative method for assessing lateralization, the Cognitive Lateralization Rating Index (CLRI), was used as a systematic way to assess lateralized cognitive dysfunction in a sample of pediatric epilepsy surgery candidates.

Synergy, complexity, and the dirty, dirty cheats of the world.

Studies of symbiosis employ the term "parasitism" to connote different sorts of relationships. Within the context of mutualistic symbioses, parasites are otherwise cooperative individuals or strains that appropriate a disproportionate amount of the synergistic products. In the context of antagonistic symbioses, there is no pretence of cooperation, and instead parasites are defined as individuals or strains that derive fitness benefits at a fitness cost to their hosts.

Association of the cognitive lateralization rating Index with surgical variables of a national cohort of pediatric patients with epilepsy.

Objective: Surgery is a standard treatment for medically refractory epilepsy, and many factors contribute to determining surgical approaches. The Cognitive Lateralization Rating Index (CLRI) quantifies the degree of dysfunction evident and can suggest atypical neuroanatomical functional organization if dominant skills remain despite left-hemisphere seizure foci (i.e.

Genomic Insights into the Successful Invasion of the Avian Vampire Fly (Philornis downsi ) in the Galápagos Islands.

Invasive species pose significant threats to island ecosystems, often leading to the decline of native species and the disruption of ecological balance. The avian vampire fly (Philornis downsi), introduced to the Galápagos Islands of Ecuador, has emerged as a major threat to the endemic avifauna, parasitizing multiple species of Darwin's finches and other passerines. Yet, the genetic mechanisms of its invasion remain unclear.

Neuropsychology's Role in Multidisciplinary Follow-Up Care of Neurologically Complex Infants and Toddlers.

Background: Adverse effects on brain development prenatally and during early childhood can disrupt cognitive development, with earlier neural insults often proving to be particularly detrimental. As such, infants and toddlers with neurological conditions are at increased risk for medical and neurodevelopmental complications. Pediatric neuropsychologists are well suited to evaluate brain-behavior relationships and identify emergent delays in these patients.

Machine learning risk stratification for high-risk infant follow-up of term and late preterm infants.

Background: Term and late preterm infants are not routinely referred to high-risk infant follow-up programs at neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) discharge. We aimed to identify NICU factors associated with abnormal developmental screening and develop a risk-stratification model using machine learning for high-risk infant follow-up enrollment.

Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort study identifying abnormal developmental screening prior to 6 years of age in infants born ≥34 weeks gestation admitted to a level IV NICU.

The changing landscape of electrical stimulation language mapping with subdural electrodes and stereoelectroencephalography for pediatric epilepsy: A literature review and commentary.

Electrical stimulation mapping (ESM) is used to locate the brain areas supporting language directly within the human cortex to minimize the risk of functional decline following epilepsy surgery. ESM is completed by utilizing subdural grid or depth electrodes (stereo-electroencephalography [sEEG]) in combination with behavioral evaluation of language. Despite technological advances, there is no standardized method of assessing language during pediatric ESM.

Factor analysis of neuropsychological domains in a preschool clinic.

Introduction: The clinical practice of preschool neuropsychology assumes that our assessment tools are measuring underlying neuropsychological functions, and that these functions are negatively impacted by early life neurological injury, disease, and disorder. This study hypothesized that general intellectual capacity and specific cognitive skills, both "broad" neuropsychological domains and "specific" subdomains within those broader clusters, would be differentiable in a preschool-age clinical population.

Methods: Using neuropsychological data from 580 children (6 and 71 months) seen for a clinical neuropsychological evaluation in the Preschool and Infant Neuropsychological Testing (PINT) Clinic, exploratory factor analyses (EFA) were conducted.

Urban living can rescue Darwin's finches from the lethal effects of invasive vampire flies.

Human activity changes multiple factors in the environment, which can have positive or negative synergistic effects on organisms. However, few studies have explored the causal effects of multiple anthropogenic factors, such as urbanization and invasive species, on animals and the mechanisms that mediate these interactions. This study examines the influence of urbanization on the detrimental effect of invasive avian vampire flies (Philornis downsi) on endemic Darwin's finches in the Galápagos Islands.

Awake craniotomy for supratentorial tumors or epileptogenic lesions in pediatric patients: a 16-year retrospective cohort study.

Objective: Awake craniotomy with intraoperative mapping is the widely accepted procedure for adult patients undergoing supratentorial tumor or epileptogenic focus resection near eloquent cortex. In children, awake craniotomies are notably less common due to concerns for compliance and emotional or psychological repercussions. Despite this, successfully tolerated awake craniotomies have been reported in patients as young as 8 years of age, with success rates comparable to those of adults.

The fitness landscape of a community of Darwin's finches.

Divergent natural selection should lead to adaptive radiation-that is, the rapid evolution of phenotypic and ecological diversity originating from a single clade. The drivers of adaptive radiation have often been conceptualized through the concept of "adaptive landscapes," yet formal empirical estimates of adaptive landscapes for natural adaptive radiations have proven elusive. Here, we use a 17-year dataset of Darwin's ground finches (Geospiza spp.

Neural representations of self-perception of voice: An intracortical evoked potential analysis based on an adolescent with right temporal lobe epilepsy.

Introduction: The neural bases for language perception have been studied elsewhere using Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Direct Cortical Stimulation. However, to our knowledge, there is no previous report about a patient identifying the change in his voice tone, speed, and prosody because of right temporal cortical stimulation. Nor has there been a cortico-cortical evoked potential (CCEP) assessment of the network underlying this process.

HOPE and DREAM: A Two-Clinic NICU Follow-up Model.

Objective: The natural extension of inpatient-focused neonatal neurocritical care (NNCC) programs is the evaluation of long-term neurodevelopmental outcomes in the same patient population.

Clinical Design: A dedicated and collaborative team of neonatologists, neonatal neurologists, neuropsychologists, neurosurgeons, physical medicine and rehabilitation physicians, and psychologists are necessary to provide personalized medicine, developmental assessments, and parental education for NNCC graduates. To achieve this goal, we devised a two-clinic follow-up model at Children's Wisconsin: HOPE (Healthy Outcomes Post-ICU Engagement) and DREAM: Developmentally Ready: Engagement for Achievement of Milestones) clinics.

Leveraging expertise and optimizing clinical research: Initial success of a pediatric epilepsy surgery collaborative.

Objective: Improve data-driven research to inform clinical decision-making with pediatric epilepsy surgery patients by expanding the Pediatric Epilepsy Research Consortium Epilepsy Surgery (PERC-Surgery) Workgroup to include neuropsychological data. This article reports on the process and initial success of this effort and characterizes the cognitive functioning of the largest multi-site pediatric epilepsy surgery cohort in the United States.

Methods: Pediatric neuropsychologists from 18 institutions completed surveys regarding neuropsychological practice and the impact of involvement in the collaborative.

The terroir of the finch: How spatial and temporal variation shapes phenotypic traits in DARWIN'S finches.

The term is used in viticulture to emphasize how the biotic and abiotic characteristics of a local site influence grape physiology and thus the properties of wine. In ecology and evolution, such terroir (i.e.

Efficacy of a peer-based in-home education program in improving social-emotional outcomes of parents and children.

Significant disparities in education and social-emotional outcomes exist between racial/ethnic groups, particularly impacting children growing up in impoverished environments. Home visitation intervention programs, such as the Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY), have been used for decades to improve academic readiness in these vulnerable preschool-aged children. Although the benefits of HIPPY on academic readiness and performance are well-documented, there has been no examination of social-emotional benefits to participating parent-child dyads.

Role of neuropsychology in identification of CSWS in a school-aged child with a remote neurological insult.

Electrical status epilepticus of slow-wave sleep (ESES) is characterized by excessive interictal spike-wave discharges on EEG during sleep and can occur in the absence of overt clinical seizures. Continuous spike-wave during slow wave sleep (CSWS), an epilepsy syndrome associated with ESES, is associated with a plateau/decline in cognitive development and increases in behavioral and emotional dysregulation. Here we present a case in which neuropsychological (NP) evaluation initially ordered based on memory and attention concerns led to the identification of subclinical seizure activity and an evolving epileptic encephalopathy in an 11-year-old child with a history of remote neurological insult.

Sociodemographic disparities in fetal surgery for myelomeningocele: a single-center retrospective review.

Objective: Fetal surgery for myelomeningocele has become an established treatment that offers less risk of requiring a ventricular shunt and improved functional outcomes for patients. An increasing body of literature has suggested that social determinants of health have a profound influence on health outcomes. The authors sought to determine the socioeconomic and racial and ethnic backgrounds of patients who were treated with fetal surgery versus those who underwent postnatal repair.

The genome sequence of the avian vampire fly (Philornis downsi), an invasive nest parasite of Darwin's finches in Galápagos.

The invasive avian vampire fly (Philornis downsi, Diptera: Muscidae) is considered one of the greatest threats to the endemic avifauna of the Galápagos Islands. The fly larvae parasitize nearly every passerine species, including Darwin's finches. Most P.

Parental perception of FIRES outcomes, emotional states, and social media usage.

Objective: To investigate parental perception of FIRES outcomes, assess emotional states and related social media usage.

Methods: A survey-based study of parents of children with FIRES participating in a FIRES-specific Facebook group was performed. The survey collected information on medical aspects of their child's course in the acute, subacute, and chronic periods, emotional states, and social media usage.

Determination of language dominance in pediatric patients with epilepsy for clinical decision-making: Correspondence of intracarotid amobarbitol procedure and fMRI modalities.

Identification of the language dominant hemisphere is an essential part of the evaluation of potential pediatric epilepsy surgery patients. Historically, language dominance has been determined using the intracarotid amobarbitol procedure (IAP), but use of functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) scanning is becoming more common. Few studies examine the correspondence between fMRI and IAP in pediatric samples.

Assessing risk: Characterizing language performance in pediatric patients with intractable epilepsy pre- and post-surgical resection.

Neuropsychologists play an important role in assessing risk for post-surgical cognitive decline in pediatric patients with medically refractory epilepsy. Families, neurologists, and neurosurgeons are particularly concerned about the possibility for language decline for patients with a dominant, most often left, hemisphere epileptic focus and planned surgical resection. This study aims to describe language functioning in pediatric epilepsy patients following resection and evaluate the accuracy of a clinical approach of assessing risk.

Differential access to neuropsychological evaluation in children with perinatal complications or autism spectrum disorder: Impact of sociodemographic factors.

Early childhood evaluation can identify deficits related to disruptions in early brain development and facilitate interventions. Access to care may differ by race/ethnicity or socioeconomic status. We explored neuropsychological evaluation access patterns and examined potential sociodemographic disparities in evaluation timing.

"How to" operate a pediatric neuropsychology practice during the COVID-19 pandemic: Real tips from one practice's experience.

This paper aims to provide pediatric neuropsychologists with suggested processes and procedures to continue to provide neuropsychology services during the COVID-19 global pandemic. Our practice is located within an academic medical center/children's hospital, and setting-specific recommendations may not extend to all practices, though our hope is that others find guidance from our approach to providing pediatric neuropsychology evaluations when physical distancing is required. With consideration of ethics, equity, and assessment validity, we provide suggestions for a) modifying practices around seeing patients during COVID-19, b) tele-health for the pediatric neuropsychologist, c) safety standards and requirements, and d) working with special populations (e.

The ecological stage changes benefits of mate choice and drives preference divergence.

Preference divergence is thought to contribute to reproductive isolation. Ecology can alter the way selection acts on female preferences, making them most likely to diverge when ecological conditions vary among populations. We present a novel mechanism for ecologically dependent sexual selection, termed 'the ecological stage' to highlight its ecological dependence.