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Objectives: The objective of this study is to describe the clinical, biochemical, radiological, and genetic profile of patients presenting with progressive spastic paraparesis due to homocysteine remethylation pathway defect. Methods: This was a retrospective study conducted by reviewing the medical records of patients with serum homocysteine levels >50 μmol/L between January 2015 and January 2019 at our hospital. We included patients presenting with progressive spastic paraparesis, having serum homocysteine >50 μmol/L with low or normal blood methionine suggesting disorders of homocysteine remethylation. Demographic details, clinical manifestations, biochemical abnormalities, neuroimaging findings, and genetic profile were analyzed. Results: A total of seven patients (M: F = 5:2) fulfilled the study eligibility criteria. The mean age at onset of the disease was 13.4 ± 2.4 years (range: 9–17 years). Spastic paraparesis was the presenting manifestation in 4/7 (57.1%) patients. Other manifestations included cognitive decline, poor scholastic performance, behavioral disturbances, seizures, and spastic bladder. Severe hyperhomocysteinemia (>100 μmol/L) was noted in 6/7 (85.7%) patients with median levels of serum homocysteine being 185.7 μmol/L (range: 85.78–338.5 μmol/L). Neuroimaging showed parieto-occipital predominant leukoencephalopathy in 5/7 (71.4%) and diffuse cerebral atrophy in 1/7 (14.2%). Genetic analysis in three patients revealed pathogenic missense variants c.459C >G (p.Ile153Met), c.973C >T (p.Arg325Cys), and c.1031G >T (p.Arg344Met) in MTHFR gene. All the patients received vitamin B12 (injection and oral), folic acid, and pyridoxine and two patients received betaine. At the last follow-up of a median duration of 12 months, there was a good clinical and biochemical response with reduction in the median value of serum homocysteine by 77.5 μmol/L. Conclusion: Evaluation of serum homocysteine and blood methionine in adolescents presenting with progressive spastic paraparesis gives clue to a treatable homocysteine remethylation disorders.

To determine the feasibility and efficacy of home-based sensory interventions in children with Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) with sensory processing abnormalities. This was a 12-wk, parallel group, pilot, randomized controlled trial. During the study-period, 185 children with ASD between 3–12 y of age, with sensory processing abnormalities were screened for eligibility. Twenty-one children were randomly assigned to the sensory-intervention group and 19 to the standard-therapy group. Sensory-intervention group received home-based sensory interventions by the parents/caregivers plus standard therapy; standard-therapy group received speech therapy by the speech pathologists and applied behavior analysis by the child psychologist. The mean change in scores at baseline and 12 wk into intervention showed that children in sensory-intervention group (Mean = 9.33, SD = 3.52) scored significantly better on Parent Rated 10-item Likert Scale (PRILS-10), as compared to standard-therapy group (Mean = 2.47, SD = 1.46), t(36) = 8.16, p

Parieto-occipital (PO) gliosis secondary to perinatal insult, is often associated with neurologic sequelae such as epilepsy, which can be drug resistant.To evaluate the spectrum of epilepsy among patients presenting with seizures in association with PO gliosis and to determine factors that influence the development of epileptic encephalopathy (EE) in these patients.We retrospectively evaluated patients aged 16 years with drug refractory epilepsy and PO gliosis who underwent video electroencephalography (Video EEG). We evaluated the clinical, electrophysiological and radiological profile including treatment responsiveness of subjects with EE.One hundred one patients (M: F=3:1) with mean age of onset of epilepsy at 28.9 ± 33.1 months were recruited into the study. Based on video EEG findings, Based on video EEG findings, the commonest type of focal onset ictus was tonic seizures with impaired awareness (n = 26, 29.9%). Myoclonic jerks (n = 20, 23%) were the commonest type of generalised onset seizures. Ictal onset from parieto occipital region were observed in 28 patients. Ictal onset from frontal, temporal and fronto temporal region were observed in 6 (6.8%), 7(7.9%) and 9 (8.9%) patients, respectively. Comparison of the seizure types and ictal onset among subgroups of patients with occipital gliosis, parieto-occipital gliosis and parieto-occipital with frontal gliosis revealed that the extent of gliosis did not significantly affect seizure semiology or ictal onset. EE was significantly associated with presence of neonatal seizures (p = 0.04), hypoglycaemia (p = 0.005), longer duration of ICU stay (Z score = -3.55, p 0.001) and younger age of onset of seizures (Z score = - 2.97, p = 0.03). Eleven out of eighteen (64.7%) subjects with EE showed greater than 50% improvement in seizure frequency following three months of pulse intravenous methylprednisolone therapy.Among subjects with PO gliosis on MRI, the seizure semiology is unaffected by laterality, radiologic extension beyond the occipital cortex or presence of ulegyria. Patients with PO gliosis can have florid interictal epileptiform discharges anteriorly and can have seizures with ictal onset from frontal and temporal region. Development of EE is strongly related to the age of onset of seizures, neonatal seizures, prolonged NICU admission, rather than the radiological findings. Subjects with EE and PO gliosis show good response to intravenous pulse methylprednisolone.

Neurocysticercosis is a common parasitic infection in children in developing countries and neurological symptoms such as seizures are the most common manifestations. However, symptoms of encephalopathy are an unusual presentation in children. A 4-year-old boy presented with recurrent episodes of febrile encephalopathy. His magnetic resonance imaging of the brain was suggestive of milliary neurocysticercosis of various stages. Reports on recurrent encephalopathy following neurocysticercosis are scarce in literature. Hence, we report this case who presented with recurrent episodes of encephalopathy. Keywords: Recurrent encephalopathy, Neuro infection, Parasitic infection, Inflammatory granuloma

Cryptococcal meningitis is an opportunistic fungal infection commonly seen in immunocompromised individuals. Information on cryptococcal meningitis is scarce in immunocompetent children. The authors report an 8-year-old immunocompetent boy with cryptococcal meningitis and bilateral vision loss. The role of repeated therapeutic lumbar puncture in the management of raised intracranial pressure in cryptococcal meningitis is discussed.

A 3-year-old boy, born of consanguineous parentage, presented with recurrent falls and toe-walking from 2 years. Examination showed microcephaly (45 cm

MTHFR enzyme deficiency is an autosomal-recessive inborn error of folate metabolism. The deficiency cause defect in the remethylation of homocysteine to methionine leading to increased blood levels of homocysteine. Hyperhomocysteinemia in infants cause seizures, hypotonia, apnoea, microcephaly, progressing to coma and death if untreated whereas in childhood onset it causes developmental delay, seizures, psychiatric disturbances, spastic gait, and ataxia. We report a 10-year-old girl with rapidly progressive spastic paraplegia requiring wheelchair ambulation within 3 months of symptom onset with behavioral disturbances. Plasma homocysteine and plasma lactate were high with normal vitamin B12 levels. Clinical exome sequencing showed homozygous missense mutation in MTHFR gene which was likely pathogenic variant. Respiratory chain complex assay from muscle sample showed reduced complex 1 deficiency (

SLC9A6 gene encodes for a sodium/hydrogen exchanger-6 protein mainly involved in endosomal trafficking and maintaining intraluminal pH. Loss of function mutations in SLC9A6 gene in children has been associated with Christianson syndrome and autism spectrum disorder. We describe a 3-year-old boy with intellectual disability, infantile-onset drug-refractory epilepsy, progressive brain atrophy and large head with a novel missense hemizygous mutation in exon 16 of the SLC9A6 gene on chromosome X. Presence of large head, early developmental regression and progressive cerebral atrophy expand the phenotypic spectrum of SLC9A6 mutations. Our case also highlights the importance of genetic testing in children with unexplained intellectual disability, epilepsy and neurodevelopmental impairments.

An 8-year-old girl with intellectual disability and severe myopia presented with subacute bilateral painless loss of vision. Anthropometric examination showed a weight of 26 kg (−0.1 Z score), height of 122.5 cm (between −1 and −2 Z score), arm span of 129 cm (6.5 cm longer than the height) and head circumference of 51 cm (between −1 and −2 Z score). Physical examination showed thin, hypopigmented hair with malar rash (figure 1A), acral hyperpigmentation, bilateral inferonasal subluxation of lens and bilateral optic atrophy. Other marfanoid features such as arachnodactyly, high-arched palate, joint hyperlaxity and cardiac anomalies were absent. A clinical diagnosis of classical homocystinuria was …

Introduction: White matter signal changes are common in wide spectrum of disorders other than primary demyelinating diseases. Knowledge into their characteristics is of great relevance as treatment options are available in most cases, if diagnosed early. Patient and methods: Patients both children and adults who showed radiological evidences of leukoencephalopathy which was not due to primary demyelinating disorders were evaluated in detail. Results: There were a total of 55 patients in the last 2 years. 58% patients were

X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy (X-ALD) is a pan-ethnic disorder and affects approximately 1:20,000 males (Moser HW, Mahmood A, Raymond GV. X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy. Nat Rev Clin Pract Neurol 2007;3:140-51; Natarajan A, Christopher R, Netravathi M, Bhat M, Chandra SR. Liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method for estimation of a panel of lysophosphatidylcholines in dried blood spots for screening of X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy. Clin Chim Acta 2018;485:305-10). Phenotypes include the childhood cerebral form, which affects children who present with rapid cognitive decline. Adolescents and adults present with spastic paraparesis or adrenomyeloneuropathies and also as pure Addison′s disease. The less common presentations are psychosis and cortical blindness. A 9-year-old boy presented with progressive cognitive decline, behavioral disturbance, extrapyramidal symptoms, and opisthotonic posturing. Magnetic resonance imaging of brain and blood levels of very long-chain fatty acids lysophosphatidylcholine confirmed X-ALD.

Introduction: A neuropsychiatric syndrome characterized by a wide spectrum of clinical manifestations. It is seen in patients with antibodies against NR1-NR2 heteromers of the NMDA receptor. As the spectrum is mainly psychiatric most patients are treated as psychiatric disease resulting in huge diagnostic delay. Patient and methods: Here we describe 29 patients with NMDA encephalitis seen by the authors in the last five years. Percentage of Transfected cells showing granular cytoplasmic florescence was considered for positivity and severity both in CSF and serum. Their presenting diagnosis, clinical features and the dilemmas, alarming gaps, laboratory data, response to treatment and relapses are discussed. Observations: All patients presented with a spectrum of psychiatric symptoms varying from panic to severe aggression, seizures, chorea, hemiplegia, catatonia, mitgehen, mutism, delirium, mania and memory problems. EEG is invariably abnormal as against imaging. Conclusion: NMDA receptor mediated encephalitis should be suspected in all children and females of adolescent age with refractory neuropsychiatric syndrome. Both CSF and serum should be tested and regular follow up for relapses and neoplasms is mandatory.

SLC9A6 gene encodes for a sodium/hydrogen exchanger-6 protein mainly involved in endosomal trafficking and maintaining intraluminal pH. Loss of function mutations in SLC9A6 gene in children has been associated with Christianson syndrome and autism spectrum disorder. We describe a 3-year-old boy with intellectual disability, infantile-onset drug-refractory epilepsy, progressive brain atrophy and large head with a novel missense hemizygous mutation in exon 16 of the SLC9A6 gene on chromosome X. Presence of large head, early developmental regression and progressive cerebral atrophy expand the phenotypic spectrum of SLC9A6 mutations. Our case also highlights the importance of genetic testing in children with unexplained intellectual disability, epilepsy and neurodevelopmental impairments.