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Approximately 50 million people worldwide live with epilepsy and making this disease one of the most common neurological diseases worldwide. About 0.6 – 2 % of children aged 0-17 years have active epilepsy. Childhood epilepsy affects children at different ages and in many different ways; some seizures in childhood are not associated with a definite cause. The most common type of idiopathic focal epilepsy syndrome is Childhood Epilepsy with Centrotemporal Spikes (CECTS). CECTS is age-dependent and self-limited. CECTS was previously considered a `benign’ epilepsy, because of the excellent seizure prognosis. However, there are increasing reports that children with CECTS exhibit various cognitive and behavioral problems. Recently, quantitative structural MRI analyses have shown that there is atypical cortical morphology in CECTS compared to typically developing children. However, the findings are often contradictory, which may be due to heterogenous study populations. Therefore, the aim of this study was to compare cortical thickness between drug-naive new onset CECTS patients and typically developing children, with careful inclusion criteria to promote homogeneity within groups and careful matching between. We also investigated the correlation with Processing Speed Index (PSI), which was significantly different between groups, and frequency of centrotemporal spikes (CTS) within regions of interest (ROIs). We did not find any cortical thickness differences between groups based on the whole brain analysis. We found a significant interaction between PSI and group in cortical thickness within the ROIs. There were positive correlations with PSI and cortical thickness in typically developing children, but no or negative correlation in CECTS. In addition, cortical thickness in right pars opercularis was thinner with higher frequency of right –sided CTS. These findings indicate that children with CECTS have atypical cortical features which may underlie poorer processing speed.

The past 15 years has seen increases in the nonmedical use of prescription stimulants (NMUPS; e.g., Adderall, Ritalin, Focalin) across college students with rates reported between 6 and 34 percent. Many underestimate or ignore the serious side effects associated with stimulant medication. Furthermore, stimulant medications used to treat ADHD are classified as Schedule II drugs by the Drug Enforcement Agency as they provide beneficial outcomes when used as a prescription medication, but have a high potential risk for abuse, rendering the diversion and unprescribed use illegal. There is also the ethical dilemma that arises when students have access to prescription stimulants to use nonmedically for the purpose of cognitive enhancement. The present study measured the effect a placebo stimulant and one’s personal expectancies have on subjective physiological changes and academic enhancement. Undergraduate college students (N = 305) participated in a two-phase study. Phase I involved completing an online survey to gather distal study variables and screen participants for medical exclusionary criteria that precludes them from obtaining a stimulant prescription. Phase II required students to attend an in-person session in which they completed various physiological and neuropsychological measures (e.g., Physical Symptom Checklist, Digit Span, Passage Comprehension). Students were randomized to receive 30 milligrams of a placebo stimulant medication (experimental) or no medication (control). Following a 30-minute absorption period, participants completed another set of physiological and neuropsychological measures. A repeated measures-MANCOVA revealed no significant differences between groups from time 1 to 2 despite positive symptom changes in the experimental group. Expectancies moderated performance on some neuropsychological tasks. Future research should include more participants with a history of NMUPS and stimulant medication in addition to placebo.