The current study examined the hemodynamic response during the Go/NoGo task in children with/without attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Using near-infrared spectroscopy, oxy-Hb and deoxy-Hb concentration changes in the frontal areas were compared during the conditions with/without inhibitory demand. Compared with typically developing children, children with ADHD showed significantly reduced activation during the conditions with inhibitory demand (NoGo-condition) in the frontal areas. However, no significant differences in activation during the conditions without inhibitory demand (Go-condition) were found between the two groups. The current findings revealed that children with ADHD exhibit an altered hemodynamic response specifically during response inhibition, but not during response execution, and suggested the clinical usefulness of near-infrared spectroscopy for the evaluation of response inhibition deficits in children with ADHD.

Zonisamide was tried on 44 children, 18 girls and 26 boys, from 8 months to 15 years of age at the start of the trial. In 6 children the drug has been stopped because of side effects. The drug was introduced at a dose of 2-4 mg/kg/day and increased to 12 mg/kg/day unless a satisfactory response occurred at a Power dose. A 1OOyo control of seizures was achieved in 5 of 5 cases of idiopathic generalized epilepsies, in 7 of 8 cases of symptomatic generalized epilepsies, in one of one case of idiopathic partial epilepsies, and in 17 of 24 cases of symptomatic partial epilepsies. The main side effect was drowsiness, especially during the introduction.

We describe a woman with 15q11.2-q14 duplication who had clinical manifestations of proximal 15q trisomy and hyperpigmentation. Within this region, the P gene, located at chromosome segment 15q11.2-q12, is associated with oculocutaneous albinism type II (OCA2) and with hypopigmentation in the Prader-Willi and Angelman chromosome 15q deletion syndromes. We therefore hypothesized that in this woman skin hyperpigmentation might result from a duplication of the P gene. We carried out chromosomal and interphase fluorescence in situ hybridization (I-FISH) analyses, and determined that the P gene is duplicated in this woman. Our findings demonstrate that trisomy of the P gene can be associated with skin hyperpigmentation.

We treated 27 children with idiopathic epilepsy with zonisamide monotherapy over a period of 2 years and observed behaviour disturbances in a prospective study. In all cases, seizure control was excellent; however, two cases (7.4%) had behaviour disturbances. The first (Case 1) was a 14-year-old girl with partial epilepsy which began at age 4 years. Zonisamide was administered at age 6 years, which was effective against her seizures, but selective mutism, violent behaviour, and lack of concentration developed at age 10 years. The second (Case 2) was a 15-year-old girl with generalized tonic-clonic seizures which began at age 10 years. Zonisamide was also effective against her seizures, but obsessive compulsive disorders (OCD) developed at age 13 years. The patients have had no other physical or mental problems and decreasing the dosage of zonisamide reduced the problems. There are few reports of behaviour disturbances provoked by zonisamide monotherapy in epileptic children who are neither physically nor mentally disturbed. While problems can develop several years later, in the present study, decreasing the zonisamide dosage maintained adequate prevention of seizures and eliminated the behaviour disturbances. Zonisamide is still a useful anticonvulsant for epileptic seizures, but physicians should be wary of its adverse behavioural side effects, which may arise several years later.

An 8-year old girl with a not previously described type of complicated hereditary spastic paraplegia (HSP) is presented. Spasticity in her lower limbs had already been recognized during infancy and worsened progressively. Severe delay in mental development was observed. Peripheral neuropathy and optic atrophy developed at 5 years of age. On brain magnetic resonance imaging, an abnormally thin corpus callosum was observed. Involvement of the fasciculus gracilis was suggested by somatosensory evoked potentials. To our knowledge, there has been no reported case of complicated HSP with peripheral neuropathy, optic atrophy and mental retardation so far. We postulate that our patient is a sporadic case of not previously described complicated HSP.