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Sergio Rosemberg

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Published: 09 March 2013

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The 13th. International Child Neurology Congress will be held in the city of Foz do Iguaçu (Iguazú River Mouth), Brazil, from 4 to 9 May 2014. This is the second time that an ICNC is held in Latin America the first one being in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1992.

In the last 20 years Child Neurology has progressed enormously as a pediatric specialty not only in Brazil but in South America as a whole. Several national societies have been created which perform regularly very active local meetings. In Brazil, the SBNI (Brazilian Society of Infantile Neurology) has currently more then 300 members.

SANI (Argentinian Society of Infantile Neurology) has about the same number of members. Members of the Colombian Society constitute almost one hundred.

Due to this undeniable strength of our specialty that could be witnessed by a number of child neurologists from all parts of the world who have been visiting our countries in these last years associated with the fact that our continent hasn´t hosted an international congress in the last two decades, the ICNA executive board elected Brazil as the venue of ICNC 2014.

From now on SBNI will be concentrating its energy on the local organization of the congress. We are backed by SANI whose executive board is largely involved in this task.

Pre and/or pos-congress events will be held in Buenos Aires and São Paulo.Bourbon Cataratas Convention Resort, a five star hotel, situated in the city of Foz do Iguaçu is the venue of the congress. It is located in a very privileged setting of 160000m2 that embrace a complete infrastructure. Its Convention Center has 14 manageable meeting rooms including a modular 780m2 ballroom holding up 1300 people. Congresses with some two thousand attendants have been held in this venue. A number of hotels of distinct categories not far from the Convention Center will also be available.

The city itself is next to the falls (Cataratas do Iguaçu) which is considered one of the natural wonders of the world. Also, the city is located in the so called Triple Frontier, so that the cities of Ciudad del Este in Paraguay (which is a duty free port) and Puerto Iguazu in Argentina (from where there are also magnificent sights of the falls) can be reached in a few minutes drive.

There are several direct flights to Iguazu Falls from São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires and connecting flights from the major cities of South and Central America.

Brazil is a country with huge dimension, unique cultural diversity and the largest biodiversity of the planet that co-exist with a strong and competitive industry. However, our best trademark is the Brazilian hospitability.

For all these reasons we are sure that ICNC 2014 will be a success from both scientific and touristic point of view.That´s why on the behalf of SBNI, of the Brazilian child neurologists, and of the latin-american colleagues who are involved with the organization of the 13th. ICNC, I welcome you to Brazil looking forward to meeting you in order to make together a very successful and unforgettable congress.

Sergio Rosemberg
Chairman
Organizing Committee
ICNC2014

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ICNA

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Published: 08 March 2013

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tHE icna WOULD LIKE TO THANK THE FOLLOWING MEMBERS FOR THEIR GENEROUS SUPPORT !

Taeun Chang, Washington, USA
Janet Soul, Boston Children's Hospital
Soe Mar, St Louis, USA
Harry Chugani, Detroit, USA
Anonymous, New York, USA
Robert Cerciello, Connecticut, USA
Jonathan Mink, Rochester, USA
Nina Schor, Rochester, USA
Mark Mintz, New Jersey, USA
Mark Patterson, Rochester, USA
Milivoj Velickovic Perat, Kranj, Slovenia
Robert Ouvrier, Sydney, Australia
Carolyn Green, Colorado, USA
Anne Connolly, St Louis, USA
Michael Msall, Chicago, USA

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ICNA

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Published: 07 February 2013

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12th Conference of the Baltic Child Neurology Association

May 30 - June 1, 2013
Kaunas, Lithuania

The BCNA 2013 Organizers are excited to begin new year with great news. The 12th Conference of Baltic Child Neurology Association Preliminary Program has been announced!

Please find the BCNA 2013 Preliminary Program by clicking the link HERE.

Important Dates!

The BCNA 2013 Secretariat would like to remind you the important dates and deadlines worth underlining in your 2013 calendar:

1 April, 2013 - Early Registration deadline

Please register as early as possible to take the advantage of lower registration fees, to get a chance to participate at the Pre-conference Workshop and to allow efficient Conference organization. More information is available by clicking HERE.

Registration fee includes:

• Admission to all scientific sessions of the BCNA Conference
• *Admission to the Workshop "Autism: challenges and opportunities" (click HERE for special details)
• Scientific documentation and Conference bag
• Coffee breaks and lunches
• Certificate of attendance
• Welcome reception
• * Full and paid registration for the BCNA Conference before March 1, 2013, is required to attend the Workshop

Registration fee for accompanying person includes:

• Welcome reception
• Kaunas city tour

1 March, 2013 - Abstract Submission deadline

28-29 May, 2013 - Workshop "Autism: challenges and opportunities"

BCNA 2013 Organizers are happy to introduce the Workshop on autism for the participants who are directly involved in scientific and/or educational activities or deal with autism in their routine clinical practice.

Workshop on childhood autism for child neurologists "Autism: challenges and opportunities" is going to take place at the Children's Rehabilitation Hospital "Lopšelis".

We are honored to present the Invited Speakers:

• Christopher Gillberg, child psychiatrist (Sweden)
• Eva Billsted, psychologist (Sweden)
• Mark Mintz, child neurologist (USA)
• Marina Tredler, speech and language therapist (Israel)

More information regarding the Workshop and registration is available by clicking HERE.

Book a room in advance

Hotel rooms in different categories have been reserved for Conference participants. It is advisable to reserve rooms as early as possible.

Hotel booking is available via Online Registration. For more information regarding the available hotels click on the hotel name:

• PARK INN Kaunas 4* (venue)
• Hotel KAUNAS 4*
• Europa Royale Kaunas 4*
• IBIS Kaunas 4*
• CENTRE Hotel Nuova 3*
• Metropolis 2*

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ICNA

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Published: 08 January 2013

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New research findings published in Epilepsia, indicate that having a strong family history of seizure disorders increases the chance of having migraine with aura (MA). Migraine and epilepsy often co-occur in patients. Previous studies have found that people with epilepsy are substantially more likely than the general population to have migraine headache. However, it has not been clear whether that comorbidity results from a shared genetic cause.

The study led by Dr. Melodie Winawer from Columbia University Medical Center in New York  is the first to confirm a shared genetic susceptibility to epilepsy and migraine in a large population of patients with common forms of epilepsy.

For the present study, Dr. Winawer and colleagues analyzed data collected from participants in the Epilepsy Phenome/Genome Project (EPGP)—a genetic study of epilepsy patients and families from 27 clinical centers in the U.S., Canada, Argentina, Australia, and New Zealand. The study examined one aspect of EPGP: sibling and parent-child pairs with focal epilepsy or generalized epilepsy of unknown cause. Most people with epilepsy have no family members affected with epilepsy. EPGP was designed to look at those rare families with more than one individual with epilepsy, in order to increase the chance of finding genetic causes of epilepsy.

Analysis of 730 participants with epilepsy from 501 families demonstrated that the prevalence of MA—when additional symptoms, such as blind spots or flashing lights, occur prior to the headache pain— was substantially increased when there were several individuals in the family with seizure disorders. EPGP study participants with epilepsy who had three or more additional close relatives with a seizure disorder were more than twice as likely to experience MA than patients from families with fewer individuals with seizures. In other words, the stronger the genetic effect on epilepsy in the family, the higher the rates of MA. This result provides evidence that a gene or genes exist that cause both epilepsy and migraine.

Identification of genetic contributions to the comorbidity of epilepsy with other disorders, like migraine, has implications for epilepsy patients. Prior research has shown that coexisting conditions impact the quality of life, treatment success, and mortality of epilepsy patients, with some experts suggesting that these comorbidities may have a greater impact on patients than the seizures themselves. In fact, comorbid conditions are emphasized in the National Institutes of Health Epilepsy Research Benchmarks and in a recent report on epilepsy from the Institute of Medicine.

“Our study demonstrates a strong genetic basis for migraine and epilepsy, because the rate of migraine is increased only in people who have close (rather than distant) relatives with epilepsy and only when three or more family members are affected,” concludes Dr. Winawer. “Further investigation of the genetics of groups of comorbid disorders and epilepsy will help to improve the diagnosis and treatment of these comorbidities, and enhance the quality of life for those with epilepsy.”

Citation: Winawer, M. R., Connors, R. and the EPGP Investigators (2013), Evidence for a shared genetic susceptibility to migraine and epilepsy. Epilepsia. doi: 10.1111/epi.12072 [Abstract]

Related links:

Epilepsy Phenome/Genome Project (EPGP)