The ICNA is very happy to hear that Dr. Greg Powell has been awarded an Order of Australia in the       Queen´s   Birthday Honours list for ´distinguished service to the international community of Zimbabwe in the field of   paediatrics as a  clinician and mentor´.

 Dr. Powell, MD, FRCP, FRACP is an Australian trained paediatrician who has lived in Zimbabwe since 1977. He   was a Senior Lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe Medical School Department of Pediatrics from 1977 until  2001.

 Dr.  Powell’s academic interests have centered on childhood disability and children in institutional care. He   established  the  Children’s Rehabilitation Unit at Harare Central Hospital in 1986 and was the consultant in   charge until 2001. He continues to be actively involved in teaching medical students and consulting at the   Rehabilitation Unit on a part time basis.

 We congratulate Dr. Greg Powell for this well deserved recognition!

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Shesy Rawther

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Published: 24 June 2019

Last Updated: 08 February 2020

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Applications are invited from interested Project Supervisors for Seed Grant Funding under the Global Burden of Disease (GBOD) Research Trainee Fellowship program a new initiative of the International Child Neurology Association (ICNA).

The Award

The award consists of $ 2,000 for room and board for ~ 2-3 months plus up to $ 2,000 for roundtrip airfare.

Timeline

1. The deadline date for receipt of proposals on open competition from project supervisors is August 1.
2. The Scoring and Selection of Grants fulfilling Criteria by Research Task Force Committee (10 point scoring system) will be completed by September 1 and results announced on ICNApedia.
3. The deadline for applications from Prospective Research Trainees will be December 1

Proposal Guidelines

The Letter of Intent (2 pages maximum; 11 point font minimum and one inch page margins, word document) from project supervisor to include the following:

1. 1. PI/mentor role (also to append CV) and contact information. The mentor should be an ICNA member and have an accredited University and hospital appointment.
   2. Title of proposal
   3. Research Site and facilities for trainee
   4. Background and significance
   5. Rationale
   6. Hypothesis
   7. Objectives and specific aims
   8. Research Plan/epidemiologic study design and Methods
   9. Statistical Analysis
   10. Budget (including costs for study and room and board for fellow)
   11. The proposal should be submitted by email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

Practical considerations at local site which should be included in the Letter of Intent (LOI)

1. Assurance that approval by the research ethics board of the hosting institution will be in place prior to beginning of fellowship
2. Adequate population of relevant patient cohort at site (approximate estimate of numbers)
3. Ready access to patients and relevant clinical files with any local administrative costs covered
4. Affordable local room and board in place for research trainee within allotted budget
5. Project start date negotiated between supervisor and trainee to begin within one year of awarded seed grant.

Research trainee criteria

1. Must be a member of ICNA
2. Should have completed two years of an accredited child Neurology training program or be within 5 years of completion of their training program
3. Once the successful proposal(s) is posted on the ICNApedia website, research trainee applicants must provide the following to the project supervisor:
   1. CV
   2. Reference letters – from Program director or Division Head and two other direct supervisors
   3. Statement regarding motivation for project (300 words)
   4. Evidence of completion of certificate for ethical standards in clinical research or equivalent
   5. Potential times of availability for research elective

Applicant selection to be decided by project supervisor and contingent upon approval by the ICNA Research Task Force.

Final Report

1. Publication of the study will be due within 6 months of project completion and will be submitted to JICNA.
2. The study data will also be presented at the next upcoming International Child Neurology Congress. 

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ICNA

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Published: 30 May 2019

Last Updated: 08 February 2020

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Scientists at the University of Southern California (USC), Queen's University (Ontario) and Duke University publishing in Frontiers in Neurology describe a new tool that can screen children for fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) quickly and affordably, making it accessible to more children in remote locations worldwide.

The tool uses a camera and computer vision to record patterns in children's eye movements as they watch multiple one-minute videos, or look towards/away from a target, and then identifies patterns that contrast to recorded eye movements by other children who watched the same videos or targets. The eye movements outside the norm were flagged by the researchers as children who might be at-risk for having FASD and need more formal diagnoses by healthcare practitioners.

The study "Detection of Children/Youth With Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder Through Eye Movement, Psychometric, and Neuroimaging Data," by Chen Zhang, Angelina Paolozza, Po-He Tseng, James N. Reynolds, Douglas P. Munoz and Laurent Itti, was published in Frontiers in Neurology.

According to the paper's corresponding author, Laurent Itti, a professor of computer science, psychology and neuroscience at USC, FASD is still quite difficult to diagnose -- a professional diagnosis can take a long time with the current work up taking as much as an entire day. "There is not a simple blood test to diagnose FASD. It is one of those spectrum disorders where there is a broad range of the disorder. It is medically very challenging and it is co-morbid with other conditions. The current gold standard is subjective, as it involves a battery of tests and clinical evaluation. It is also costly."

Itti said he and his colleagues conducted this research as they felt that a screening tool might be able to reach more children who might be at risk. It is estimated that millions of children will be diagnosed with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD). This condition, when not diagnosed early in a child's life, can give rise to secondary cognitive and behavioral disabilities.

"The new screening procedure only involves a camera and a computer screen, and can be applied to very young children. It takes only 10 to 20 minutes and the cost should be affordable in most cases," said Chen Zhang, a doctoral candidate from the Neuroscience Graduate Program at USC and the paper's first author. "The machine learning pipeline behind this gives out objective and consistent estimations in minutes."

While this computer vision tool is not intended to replace full diagnosis by professionals, it is intended to provide important feedback so that parents can ensure that their children are seen by professionals and receive early cognitive learning and potentially behavioral interventions.

The impact of such screening tools could be significant. Study co-author and FASD expert, James N. Reynolds, who is the Interim Chief Scientific Officer at the Kids Brain Health Network, said, "The economic impact of FASD is spread across multiple systems, including health care, education, criminal justice, as well as lost productivity costs for both individuals with FASD and their caregivers. Estimates suggest that the mean annual cost of FASD in Canada and the US ranges from $22,000-$24,000 per individual, and therefore many billions of dollars collectively on society. There is simply no escaping the fact that FASD is a major public health problem associated with tremendous economic and social costs."

USC's Itti has many ideas of how this screening tool could be implemented whether via a mobile unit, on an app or in a pharmacy as one of the free screening tools used while waiting for a prescription. He says, 'This could be the blood pressure monitoring system for your brain."

Funding for this work was provided by the Kids Brain Health Network [formerly NeuroDevNet; Reynolds et al.], the National Science Foundation (CCF-1317433 and CNS-1545089), and the JPB Foundation (grant number 378).

Article reference

Chen Zhang, Angelina Paolozza, Po-He Tseng, James N. Reynolds, Douglas P. Munoz, Laurent Itti. Detection of Children/Youth With Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder Through Eye Movement, Psychometric, and Neuroimaging Data. Frontiers in Neurology, 2019; 10 DOI: 10.3389/fneur.2019.00080

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ICNA

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Published: 26 May 2019

Last Updated: 08 February 2020

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Researchers from Trinity College Dublin publishing in BRAIN describes for the first time a model of mitochondrial epilepsy. Mitochondrial disease is one of the most common forms of genetic diseases, affecting one in 9,000 births in Ireland with debilitating consequences. A quarter of patients with mitochondrial disease have epilepsy which is often severe and resistant towards conventional antiepileptic drugs.

Currently no animal models are available to provide a mechanistic understanding of the condition. The current study has thrown light at the important role that astrocytes play in driving seizure generation in mitochondrial epilepsy. They recreated a novel brain slice model by the application of an astrocytic-specific aconitase inhibitor, fluorocitrate, concomitant with mitochondrial respiratory inhibitors, rotenone and potassium cyanide. The model was robust and exhibited both face and predictive validity.

The model was then used to assess the role that astrocytes play in seizure generation and demonstrated the involvement of the GABA-glutamate-glutamine cycle, which regulates how chemical transmitters are released from neurons and then taken up by the supporting cells; the astrocytes. Notably, glutamine appears to be an important intermediary molecule between the neuronal and astrocytic compartment in the regulation of GABAergic inhibitory tone.

They also found that a deficiency in glutamine synthetase is an important part of the pathogenic process for seizure generation in both the brain slice model and the human neuropathological study. Future work will develop the model so that it can be used to stratify novel anti-seizure drugs in a tailored manner for patients diagnosed with mitochondrial disorders and who phenotypically exhibit epilepsy."

Story Source: Trinity College Dublin

Journal Reference:

Felix Chan, Nichola Z Lax, Caroline Marie Voss, Blanca Irene Aldana, Shuna Whyte, Alistair Jenkins, Claire Nicholson, Sophie Nichols, Elizabeth Tilley, Zoe Powell, Helle S Waagepetersen, Ceri H Davies, Doug M Turnbull, Mark O Cunningham. The role of astrocytes in seizure generation: insights from a novel in vitro seizure model based on mitochondrial dysfunction. Brain, 2019; 142 (2): 391 DOI: 10.1093/brain/awy320

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ICNA

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Published: 25 May 2019

Last Updated: 08 February 2020

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