The mitochondrial transfer ribonucleic acid for leucine is encoded by nucleotides 3230-3304. A-to-G transition at nucleotide 3243 can cause maternally transmitted diabetes mellitus–deafness syndrome, and MELAS syndrome. MELAS syndrome is a rare disorder of mitochondrial energy production, and is an acronym for myopathy, encephalopathy, lactic acidosis, and stroke-like episodes. Cortical malformations are heterogeneous and result from abnormal cell proliferation/apoptosis, migration, and/or differentiation of neuroepithelial cells. They are an important and relatively common cause of intractable epilepsy and neurodevelopmental disorders. The association between these A3243G mutations and cortical malformation has never before been reported. Here a 14-year-old female with A3243G mutation and polymicrogyria is described and possible aetiologies of this association are discussed.

The ambulatory prognosis of children with cerebral palsy (CP) remains a major issue for both their parents and the professionals concerned with their management. The question most frequently asked by the parents is: Will my child walk? Several studies have examined the prognostic criteria for ambulation in children with CP.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of botulinum toxin A (BTX-A, Botox) dilution volume and post-injection exercise with electrical stimulation on muscle paralysis. We injected 10 units of BTX-A diluted with 0.1 ml (B1, n=8) or 0.5 ml (B5, n=8) normal saline into both gastrocnemius muscles of 16 New Zealand white rabbits; two controls received no BTX-A. After BTX-A injection, all rabbits received calf muscle stretching exercise and electrical stimulation for 2 hours on the left leg. The compound muscle action potential (CMAP) decrease was most pronounced at 1 week and progressive recovery was observed (i.e. recovery from paralysis, increase of CMAP). There was a significant decrease of CMAP amplitudes in the B5 group compared with the B1 group at week 1 and week 4 (p<0.001). Left limbs with stretching exercise and electrical stimulation showed lower CMAP amplitudes compared with control right limbs of all rabbits. To maximize the muscle paralysis effect of BTX-A, increasing dilution volume and performing post-injection stretching exercise with electrical stimulation may be a promising strategy for increasing the beneficial effect of BTX-A treatment. Future studies are needed to investigate the clinical application of this finding.

We investigated a male, aged 4 years 11 months, who fulfilled the criteria of Asperger syndrome). In addition to the typical pattern of autistic symptoms, psychological testing revealed prosopagnosia in tasks for face recognition and matching. Prosopagnosia was also present when he tried to identify the faces of his parents and himself in photographs whenever these were presented with photographs of other persons. Although impairment in reciprocal social interaction in individuals with Asperger syndrome is closely correlated to their impaired perceptional abilities in non-verbal communication, especially facial expression, overt prosopagnosia seems to be a rare neuropsychological symptom in persons with autistic disorders.

Kabuki syndrome is a dysmorphogenic syndrome which has been reported in over 300 patients since it was first described in Japan in 1981. In addition to its cardinal features (typical facies, mild-to-moderate learning disability, short stature, skeletal anomalies, and dermatoglyphic abnormalities with persistent foetal fingerpads), neurological anomalies are frequently reported, including epilepsy in 8% of those with the syndrome. We present here a 22-year-old white female patient with refractory partial epilepsy, Kabuki syndrome, and bilateral perisylvian polymicrogyria on MRI: the first reported case of this association. The aetiology of the syndrome, including the diverse genetic changes recognized, is then discussed.

Attentional neglect of left space is one of the most striking acquired neurological disorders of adulthood. Recent evidence indicates a link between left spatial neglect and general right-hemisphere impairments in sustained attention and alertness. Poor sustained attention and alertness is also a central feature of other disorders, particularly childhood attention-deficit–hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Here we present the case of a 7-year-old male showing that frank neglect can be present in children with sustained attention problems without a clear aetiological event, or obvious structural brain abnormalities as indicated by a normal MRI. Experimental amelioration of the neglect through left-hand movement and externally alerting stimulation by uninformative sounds further suggest close similarities to the adult disorder. We suggest that such distortions of spatial attention may be more common in childhood than previously thought.

The aim of this study was to define quantitative measures for assessing the integration and maturation of suck and swallow rhythms in preterm infants as they relate to each other. Fourteen preterm infants (eight males, six females; gestational age range 26 to 32 weeks) with bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) and an age-matched cohort of 20 infants (10 males, 10 females; gestational age range 26 to 33 weeks) without BPD were studied weekly from time of initiation of oral feeding using simultaneous recordings of nipple and pharyngeal pressure. The integration of suck and swallow rhythms was quantified by using the coefficient of variation (COV) of the suck–swallow dyad interval. Infants without BPD had a significant correlation between increasing postmenstrual age (PMA) and decreasing COV of the dyadic interval (increasing stabilization; r=0.45; p=0.008). In the non-BPD cohort 35 weeks or less PMA, the mean dyadic COV was 0.42 (SD 0.12) versus 0.34 (SD 0.09) in those more than 35 weeks PMA (p=0.039). In contrast, dyadic stability in infants with BPD was not correlated with PMA. Infants with BPD of more than 35 weeks PMA had less dyadic stability (0.45, SD 0.10) than did age-matched controls (p<0.001). Dyadic stability was also correlated with feeding efficiency in the non-BPD group (r=0.46; p=0.007) but not in the BPD cohort. Therefore, ontogeny of rhythmic suckle feeding can be described quantitatively in preterm infants, allowing comparison with at-risk populations. Infants with BPD do not follow predicted maturational patterns of suck–swallow rhythmic integration.

A previously neurodevelopmentally intact 5-year-old male was admitted to hospital with a right lower lobe pneumonia with pleural effusion, subsequently confirmed to be a Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection. On the seventh day of the illness he had a prolonged generalized tonic or tonic–clonic convulsion, requiring intubation and ventilation. He was slow to regain consciousness (Child's Glasgow Coma Score 7–10 over 6 days) and brain imaging with CT and then MRI demonstrated bilateral thalamic lesions with oedema and central haemorrhage suggestive of acute bilateral thalamic necrosis, without striatal or white-matter involvement. He was treated with a 2-week course of erythromycin, and as an autoimmune process was considered possible, 5 days of intravenous methylprednisolone (20mg/kg/day) followed by a 4-week oral prednisolone taper. He made a slow recovery over the next few weeks with almost complete neurological recovery by 2 months but with significant dysarthria, drooling, and a mild left hemiparesis. At 9 months, significant dystonia continued to affect his speech and, together with tremor, his upper-limb fine motor function bilaterally. His gait, personality, and higher cognitive functions appeared to have recovered fully. Although acute striatal necrosis, acute disseminated encephalomyelitis, and encephalitis have been reported with Mycoplasma pneumoniae and a similar picture of acute bilateral thalamic necrosis with influenza-A (‘acute necrotizing encephalopathy’), this is the first reported case of Mycoplasma pneumoniae-associated isolated acute bilateral thalamic necrosis.

A female child presenting with acute flaccid paraparesis at 18 months was found to have a dermal sinus in combination with a dermoid cyst and a myxopapillary ependymoma of the cauda equina and conus medullaris. A possible embryologic relation between these lesions is discussed.

Monozygous twin births have been associated with brain lesions such as hydranencephaly, multicystic encephalomalacia, and porencephaly. Prenatal circulatory injury has been considered to be the cause. Polymicrogyria is rare but has been reported in autopsied cases. The sibship in this case report, comprising monozygotic male twins and their elder sister from the same non-consanguineous parents, all had global developmental delay. Brain MRI showed polymicrogyria. We suggest that, apart from circulatory compromise, genetic etiology must be implicated as the cause of polymicrogyria.

Tonsillectomy is a frequently performed surgical procedure. Surgical complications can be serious. We report the case of a 7-year-old female who experienced an arterial ischaemic cerebral infarction following elective adenotonsillectomy.

As previously described, the subject of consanguineous marriage became a source of major scientific and public interest in the UK and the USA from the mid-19th century onwards. Much of this interest centred on the claimed deleterious outcomes of consanguinity, although there were also scientists and clinicians who denied any adverse effects and instead argued that inbreeding offered major biological advantages. A large majority of studies have indicated that early mortality is increased in the progeny of consanguineous unions when compared with children born to unrelated parents. However, most of these studies failed to control for the potential effects of sociodemographic variables. Where such control was attempted, as in extensive post-World War II surveys conducted in Japan, the adverse biological effects of consanguinity were still present but were much less obvious, and similar findings have been reported in more recent studies in the Indian sub-continent.

A 10-year-old male was referred with difficulties at school. He had particular difficulty with reading long words, following the sequence of text down a page, writing words in the correct order, writing words in line, and copying from the blackboard. He had a history of infective endocarditis complicated by intracerebral haemorrhage at the age of three years. Detailed history taking revealed symptoms typical of ‘dorsal stream’ pathology, namely a deficit of ‘vision for action’. This included a spatial disorder of attention (simultanagnosia), defective hand and foot movements under visual control (optic ataxia), and acquired oculomotor apraxia which are consistent with Balint's syndrome. Strategies were suggested for coping with the symptoms and one year later a distinct improvement in adapting to the disability was found.

In the current practice of physical therapy for children with chronic physical disabilities, more and more attention is paid to parental participation. In the past, physical therapy was mainly impairment oriented, with supposed effects on the daily functioning of the child. It was the exclusive domain of therapists and physicians. Parents were usually not involved in the therapy for their children. It was not until recently that physical therapists became more aware of the possible role of parents. In the early 1980s an important development in this area started. The role of parents changed from a passive one into an active participating one. Parents became a sort of co-therapist, meaning that while therapists decided on the treatment goals and methods, parents were expected to perform the treatment activities at home in cooperation with the treatment activities of the therapist in the clinic. Since then, the discussion about the optimal role of parents in the physical therapy of their children has continued. This discussion has resulted in the current belief that parents should be actively involved, and should be working with therapists as equal partners in deciding the goals and content of the physical therapy for their children.