Electroencephalogram in premature infants: From normal to pathological activity

This study was aimed to assess electrophysiological brain activity in newborns of various gestational ages using electroencephalography (EEG). We summarized the data on the main EEG characteristics of premature infants and their dynamics and described the most common pathological EEG changes that can be identified at this age. We also discussed prognostic value of various neonatal EEG patterns (including their proportion and location), which allow verification of functional brain disorders at early stages. © 2019 ABV-Press Publishing House. All rights reserved.Russian Science Foundation, RSFФинансирование. Работа выполнена при финансовой поддержке гранта №16-18-10371 Российского научного фонда. Исследование прово-дится в рамках программы, поддержанной постановлением №211 Правительства Российской Федерации, соглашение №02.A03.21.0006. Financing. The study was funded by the grant No. 16-18-10 371 from the Russian Science Foundation. The study conducts within a program, supported by the resolution of the Russian Government No. 211, agreement No. 02.A03.21.0006

Апробация методики «Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development – Third Edition»

Introduction. There is currently no universal comprehensive measurement tool for the assessment of children development in the Russian Federation (RF). The Bayley-III scales developed by American researchers are widely used as such a tool. Numerous research groups recognize the need to modify the original scales before using them in a new linguistic and socio-cultural environment. Methods. The authors (a) translated the original Bayley-III manual into Russian, (b) tested the tool by assessing cognitive, language, and motor development of 163 Russian children aged 2–11 months, and (c) made an indirect comparison of the mean scale scores of neuropsychological development and those obtained from the original American sample of children using Student’s t-test. Results. The modified version of the Bayley-III manual has been successfully tested in the RF. The indices of language and motor development of the children examined in this study did not statistically differ from the original American data (10 points). Higher scores were obtained for the cognitive scale (10.7 versus 10; p = 0.003). However, this effect was not very pronounced (Cohen’s d = 0.25). Discussion. The indices of neuropsychological development of Russian children fully comply with the original Bayley-III norms, which opens up new possibilities for its use in the RF. Slightly higher scores of the cognitive scale among Russian children do not generally affect the compliance with the original tool, since the difference was not significant. The results of this study can be extrapo-lated to full-term Caucasian children aged 2–11 months, whose parents have at least secondary education and average level of earnings. The widespread use of Bayley-III requires its further adaptation in larger and more representative samples of children from different regions of the RF with the additional assessment of social-emotional development as well as adaptive behavior. © 2020, Russsian Psychological Society. All rights reserved

Frontal EEG asymmetry as a possible indicator of determining psychophysiological development of infants

The article is described the attempt of using a specific electroencephalogram pattern - frontal EEG asymmetry as possible marker to identify risk groups of formation of mental disorders in children at a later age. Case-control study was in groups of full-term infants and infants born preterm. Preterm infants are strongly characterized by a «right» type of asymmetry and higher absolute values of this pattern.В статье рассмотрено использование специфического электроэнцефалографического показателя, так называемого паттерна фронтальной ЭЭГ асимметрии в качестве одного из возможных методов выделения группы риска формирования психических расстройств у детей в более старшем возрасте. Исследование типа «случай-контроль» было проведено в двух группах детей: родившихся доношенными и недоношенными. Дети, родившиеся недоношенными, характеризуются преимущественно правым типом асимметрии, а также имеют более высокие абсолютные значения данного показателя

Two Subpopulations of Human Monocytes That Differ by Mitochondrial Membrane Potential

Atherosclerosis is associated with a chronic local inflammatory process in the arterial wall. Our previous studies have demonstrated the altered proinflammatory activity of circulating monocytes in patients with atherosclerosis. Moreover, atherosclerosis progression and monocyte proinflammatory activity were associated with mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) mutations in circulating monocytes. The role of mitochondria in the immune system cells is currently well recognized. They can act as immunomodulators by releasing molecules associated with bacterial infection. We hypothesized that atherosclerosis can be associated with changes in the mitochondrial function of circulating monocytes. To test this hypothesis, we performed live staining of the mitochondria of CD14+ monocytes from healthy donors and atherosclerosis patients with MitoTracker Orange CMTMRos dye, which is sensitive to mitochondrial membrane potential. The intensity of such staining reflects mitochondrial functional activity. We found that parts of monocytes in the primary culture were characterized by low MitoTracker staining (MitoTracker-low monocytes). Such cells were morphologically similar to cells with normal staining and able to metabolize 5-aminolevulinic acid and accumulate the heme precursor protoporphyrin IX (PplX), indicative of partially preserved mitochondrial function. We assessed the proportion of MitoTracker-low monocytes in the primary culture for each study subject and compared the results with other parameters, such as monocyte ability to lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced proinflammatory activation and the intima-media thickness of carotid arteries. We found that the proportion of MitoTracker-low monocytes was associated with the presence of atherosclerotic plaques. An increased number of such monocytes in the primary culture was associated with a reduced proinflammatory activation ability of cells. The obtained results indicate the presence of circulating monocytes with mitochondrial dysfunction and the association of such cells with chronic inflammation and atherosclerosis development