And If Your Friends Jumped Off A Bridge, Would You Do It Too? : How Developmental Neuroscience Can Inform Legal Regimes Governing Adolescents

Legal models of adolescent autonomy and responsibility in various domains of law span a spectrum from categorical prohibitions of certain behaviors to recognitions of total adolescent autonomy. The piecemeal approach to the limited decision-making capacity of adolescents lacks an empirical foundation in the differences between adolescent and adult decision-making, leading to counterintuitive and inconsistent legal outcomes. The law limits adolescent autonomy with respect to some decisions that adolescents are perfectly competent to make, and in other areas, the law attributes adult responsibility and imposes adult punishments on adolescents for making decisions that implicate their unique volitional vulnerabilities. As developmental neuroscientists discover more about the biological underpinnings of juvenile decision-making, policymakers now have the opportunity to enhance consistency within and across the legal domains that regulate adolescent behavior. To serve this goal, our paper typologizes extant legal regimes that account for the limitations of adolescent decision making, reviews the neuroscientific evidence about how the brain’s developing structures and functions affect decision making, explores case studies of how certain youth behaviors that implicate the adolescent brain’s unique vulnerabilities intersect with the legal system, and proposes a matrix-based approach for the consistent legal evaluation of adolescent behavior

Anticonvulsants-induced chorea: a role for pharmacodynamic drug interaction?

AbstractChorea is a rare side effect of anticonvulsants. We describe three patients who developed chorea secondary to anticonvulsant combination use. A mechanism to explain this finding is proposed.After identification of an index case with anticonvulsant-induced chorea, we reviewed the electronic data base records for all patients with seizures followed in the epilepsy clinics at our university-based hospital for cases of dyskinesia associated with anticonvulsants. Two additional patients , one adult and one pediatric patient were identified.Three patients developed chorea while receiving combination anticonvulsants. Two patients had transient chorea that resolved with withdrawal of one of the drugs. All three patients were using phenytoin and lamotrigine in combination when the chorea started, chorea improved with tapering one of the medications.Polytherapy with certain anticonvulsants may predispose patients to drug-induced chorea. A particular increased risk was seen with combinations that have phenytoin and lamotrigine. This could be due to an additive or a synergistic effect on central dopaminergic pathways

Successful treatment of childhood prolonged refractory status epilepticus with lacosamide

AbstractProlonged, refractory status epilepticus is a rare clinical syndrome that is associated with severe morbidity and mortality. Lacosamide is a newly approved medication for treatment of partial onset seizures in adults, which has a novel mechanism of action. Experimental data and recent reports suggest that lacosamide could be effective in status epilepticus. We report a child with prolonged, refractory status epilepticus that persisted for 10 weeks despite treatment with multiple anti-epileptics and anesthetics and was then aborted with lacosamide. This is the first report of the effect of lacosamide in prolonged refractory status epilepticus, and the first report of lacosamide efficacy in status epilepticus in a child

Design and optimisation of a multifunctional monolithic filter for fire escape masks

Commercial fire escape masks (FEMs) use packed bed filters to remove gaseous and vaporous toxic components in the event of building fires. Packed bed filters incur a high pressure drop and commercial masks have no method to remove environmental (fire) or process (reaction and adsorption) heats. Here we derive a computationally efficient numeric model based on a bi-linear driving force (LDF) model to investigate the purification of gas streams in a square channelled monolith filter containing an impregnated activated carbon (AC) section to adsorb and react toxic components, and a section consisting of shape stable phase change materials (SS-PCMs) to absorb heat. The modelled test gas mixture contained an adsorbing component, cyclohexane, and a reacting component, carbon monoxide, permitting the combined effects of heat generation, heat absorption, component reaction and component adsorption to be studied for a novel filter. The bi-LDF model was validated against a three-dimensional model and provided excellent accuracy at significantly reduced computational time ca. 99.7%. Additionally, the bi-LDF model was used to optimise the dimensions and configuration of the filter, specifically finding an optimal channel diameter, d ch, to wall thickness, t w, aspect ratio of d ch=1.3t w. The optimal configuration consisted of an initial 2.0 cm long impregnated AC section followed by a 2.5 cm SS-PCM section at the outlet, providing 18 min of thermal protection whilst preventing cyclohexane vapour breakthrough for 21 min. Pt/TiO 2 was confirmed to be a viable CO oxidation catalyst with a minimum weight fraction within the impregnated monolith of 2.5 wt%. The success of this work represents a step change in FEM design and more widely in air purification devices where heat absorption is important. </p

Neuroscience, Ethics, and National Security: The State of the Art

Military involvement and research in neuroscience generates unique ethical, legal, and social issues that require careful elucidation and consideration in order to align the potentially conflicting needs of national defense, public interest, and scientific progress

Mindfulness for educators

What is mindfulness? What benefits can mindfulness provide educators, both professionally and personally? Our panel will include colleagues with various experiences in mindfulness practice, both inside and outside of the classroom. Our discussion will explore the basic tenets of mindfulness practice, the research supporting its use, and the potential benefits that a more systematic inclusion of mindfulness practice at CSB/SJU might have for us and for our students

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