In recent years, the topic of child abuse as an issue facing Japanese society has gained considerable attention with regard to the field of medicine and education and also in scenarios that relate to child care. The definition of child abuse includes abusing children verbally or psychologically, and is not limited to abusing children physically such as beating, sexual abuse, or neglect. Recent studies have revealed that emotional trauma during childhood development could be much more difficult to treat than physical abuse. Severe abuse during childhood can cause abnormal brain development and have a negative impact later in life. In this review, I will introduce the mechanisms of brain damage due to child abuse with consideration of how and when child abuse can have an impact on the victims' brains. The information presented is based on a collaborative study with the Psychiatry Department at Harvard University on the relationship between brain functions and the human mind.

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  Aminergic neurotransmitter disorders occurring in childhood include metabolic disorders of pteridine and tyrosine hydroxylase (TH). Pteridine metabolic disorders cause a deficiency of serotonin (5-HT) and dopamine (DA) and TH disorder causes a deficiency of noradrenaline (NA) and DA in the terminals of each aminergic neuron. The activities of TH or DA in the terminals are marked in early childhood, and then they show an exponential age-dependent decrement and achieve stationary or minimal levels in the twenties. As observed in Segawa disease, TH or DA activities in these disorders follow this age-related decrease with levels around 20% of normal, and patients develop symptoms age-dependently, with onset in childhood, progression by the late teens, and a stationary period after the twenties, but this does not cause morphological changes. These phenomena may occur with other neurotransmitters. So replacement therapies are effective irrespective of the clinical course. However, early-onset cases in infancy or early childhood showing a marked decrement of 5-HT or NA activities show postural hypotonia and failed locomotion. These cause failure in atonia restriction in the REM stage and induce dysfunction of the pedunculopontine nucleus, and, consequently induce dysfunction or failure in the development of DA neurons in the sutbstantia nigra and ventrotegmental area. These relate to failure in the development of higher cortical functions. Thus, assessing of ages at onset and activities of antigravity muscles and locomotion in infancy is cardinal for the treatment the neurotransmitter disorders occurring in infancy and early childhood. PARK2 with deficiency of DA in the substantia nigra leads to dystonia in the teens and Parkinson disease after 20 years, although these respond to l-Dopa favorably but induce D₂ receptor upregulation and intractable dyskinesia. A decrease of DA in the perikaryon leads to symptoms after 10 years and causes dysfunction of the target structures.

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  Recently, a disease-specific antibody was found in serum from patients with neuromyelitis optica (NMO), and its target antigen was identified as aquaporin 4 (AQP4) water channel protein. There is no clinical picture of pediatric cases with anti-AQP4 antibody, except one report from North America. Here, we report the clinical features of 18 Japanese anti-AQP4-antibody-positive patients with childhood-onset of NMO.
  Of the 2,000 patients who had been examined for anti-AQP4 antibody at Tohoku University Hospital up until 2008, 60 were under 15 years of age at onset, and 18 of them were positive for anti-AQP4 antibody. We analyzed the clinical information on those patients. There were 14 girls and 4 boys (M : F ratio=1 : 3.5). The age of onset ranged from 3 to 15 years old (median 13). The clinical diagnoses of the 18 patients before the anti-AQP4 antibody tests were:NMO in 8 (44%), MS in 7 (39%), and opticospinal MS (OSMS) in 3 (17%). Nine patients developed only optic neuritis at onset. At the last follow-up, brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was abnormal in 14 patients, nine had monocular or binocular blindness, and the expanded disability status scale score was 6.0 or higher (cannot walk without support) in eight patients. NMO has a poor prognosis, as seen in adult cases, suggesting the importance of an early diagnosis using the anti-AQP4 antibody test to institute effective immunosuppressive treatment.

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  Continuous Performance Test (CPT) is widely used to assess the attention function and response inhibition in both children and adults. This study attempts to examine the performances of boys with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD) and pervasive developmental disorder (PDD) with and without comorbid AD/HD using a CPT. Among the various versions of the CPT available, we used the Kiddie CPT (K-CPT) modified for younger children. The K-CPT was administered to children with AD/HD (n=22), those with PDD (n=19), and typically developing children (n=41) from 7 to 12 years of age. All children were drug free at the time of examination. The performances were examined in 6 measures: total number of omission errors (OE), total number of commission errors (CE), mean hit reaction time (HRT), hit reaction time standard error (HRTSE), perceptual sensitivity (d’ ), and response style (β). Significantly lower scores in d’ and a tendency to more errors in CE were found in the AD/HD group compared with the control group. Significantly lower scores in d’ and significantly more errors in CE were also found in the PDD group with AD/HD symptoms compared with the control group. Moreover the AD/HD group showed significantly more errors in OE and higher scores in HRTSE compared with the control group. There were no significant group differences between the PDD group without AD/HD symptoms and the control group on all measures. Less favorable scores in AD/HD suggest inadequate selective attention, sustained attention and/or response inhibition. Results of the PDD group with comorbid AD/HD may reflect a basis of AD/HD impairment. Our findings may provide an understanding of neuropsychological characteristics underlying developmental disorders.

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  We investigated seizure, intelligence quotient (IQ), and neurological outcomes including the process of motor function recovery after functional right hemispherectomy in 3 children with Rasmussen's encephalitis (RE). Before the procedure, they were unable to walk, nor sit without support due to progressive worsening of left hemiplegia and relentless epilepsia partialis continua (EPC) of the left extremities, which were refractory to antiepileptic drug and immunological treatment. After functional right hemispherectomy, EPC completely disappeared, although complete left hemiplegia was sustained. However, they recovered up to being able to walk independently with assistance devices, and to have an ordinary life with family support within 1.5 to 5 months through rehabilitation. At the same time, the interictal EEG improved on the unaffected side of hemisphere, exhibiting a posterior alpha rhythm. Their IQ also improved, and they were able to attend school. Early functional hemispherectomy should be considered before patients with RE are left in a serious condition due to progressive worsening of hemiplegia and seizures refractory to the available treatment.

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  The aim of this study was to investigate the neuropsychological profile of children with cryptogenic localization-related epilepsy (CLRE). Neuropsychological evaluations were performed in 16 CLRE children and 14 children with idiopathic localization-related epilepsy (ILRE) for control within 8 months (average 2.1 months) of initial seizure. The neuropsychological tests used in this study are as follows: the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Third Edition, Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised, and Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence.
  Age at onset and test differed significantly between CLRE and ILRE, while the duration between onset and test and the number of seizures before test did not. No marked difference was observed in the neuropsychological profile between 2 groups; however, the discrepancy between VIQ and PIQ was significantly larger in CLRE than in ILRE. This discrepancy was negatively correlated with age at the time of seizure onset (r=-0.615, and p=0.011). The laterality in discrepancy between VIQ and PIQ was associated with the dominance of interictal discharge.
  In conclusion, children with lower age at the time of seizure onset were likely to have had a larger discrepancy between VIQ and PIQ.

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  We provided reading aloud instructions to a child who was diagnosed with dyslexia in a regular class of 69 first graders, comprising 33 boys and 36 girls, during a test of reading sentences aloud. The instructions consisted of a 2-step approach, i. e., decoding instruction and vocabulary instruction. First, a decoding instruction, which emphasized an important point in effortless decoding, was presented to the child. Next, a vocabulary instruction, which aimed to facilitate word-form recognition, was provided. We found that, the decoding instruction was effective in decreasing the number of reading errors, and that the vocabulary instruction was effective against reducing the time taken to read aloud.

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  We report a 13-year-old girl diagnosed with neuromyelitis optica (NMO). We also report that plasma exchange could be performed early in her clinical course as well as her good response to this treatment.
  At the onset, transient numbness of both upper extremities appeared. Approximately one month thereafter, photesthesia of the left eye disappeared and she visited our hospital. Optic neuritis and myelitis were diagnosed based on neuroimaging of the brain and spinal MRI scans. Intravenous high-dose methylprednisolone was administered. Subsequently, although left vision improved to 0.4, numbness of the hands and feet appeared during methylprednisolone therapy. Since anti-AQP-4 antibody seropositivity was confirmed after methylprednisolone therapy, she met the NMO diagnostic criteria. Therefore, plasma exchange was performed followed by high dose methylprednisolone therapy, which improved left vision to 0.8 and the sensory disturbance of the hands and feet disappeared. A 0.5 mg/kg/day dose of prednisolone was then administered prophylactically, followed by plasma exchange, and there has been no relapse to date.
  In general, the rate of NMO recurrence is high and the neurological prognosis is poor. Therefore, it is important to measure serum anti-AQP4 antibody during the first attack, if NMO is suspected, because this value is useful for the diagnosis of NMO. Appropriate treatments including plasma exchange and prophylactic therapy should be started after confirming the diagnosis.

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