Pediatric Neurology News

Cannabis use during pregnancy may place children at risk for attention, social and behavioral problems into early adolescence and mental health issues and substance use later on, according to research published in JAMA Pediatrics.

Low-dose ketamine was generally safe, well-tolerated and effective in treating clinical symptoms in a small group of children with activity-dependent neuroprotective protein syndrome, researchers reported.

Initiating tobacco use during childhood was associated with inferior cognitive function and reduced brain structure, researchers reported in JAMA Network Open.

Therapist-supported internet-based exposure and response therapy led to higher response rates and was cost effective for young persons with Tourette syndrome or chronic tic disorder compared with internet-delivered tic education.

About 7% of children hospitalized with COVID-19 at major pediatric hospitals in the United States experienced a neurologic complication of some kind, even if they were otherwise healthy, a study in Pediatrics reported.

In this week’s edition, a Labcorp blood test identifies signs of neurodegenerative disease; the FDA approves an oral treatment for partial seizures in teens; ketamine shows efficacy in epilepsy; and more.

In this edition, Break Through Cancer awards $50M to fund a ‘radical collaboration’ in cancer research; the FDA grants a breakthrough device designation for an MS plasma test; App-based mental exercises may improve cognitive impairment; and more.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision to overturn Roe v. Wade will compromise standard neurological care for approximately 40 million women in as many as 28 states, educators wrote in JAMA Neurology.

Treatment with ketamine significantly improved seizure occurrence related to refractory status epilepticus in both neonates and children, according to results of a study published in Neurology.

High-dose erythropoietin failed to lower the risk for death among newborns undergoing therapeutic hypothermia for neonatal hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy, according to study findings published in The New England Journal of Medicine.