ABSTRACT:To a large extent, the human infant is socialized through the acquisition of a specific cognitive mechanism known as theory of mind (ToM), a term which is currently used to explain a related set of intellectual abilities that enable us to understand that others have beliefs, desires, plans, hopes, information, and intentions that may differ from our own. Various neurodevelopmental disorders, such as autism spectrum disorders, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, developmental language disorders, and schizophrenia, as well as acquired disorders of the right brain (and traumatic brain injury) impair ToM. ToM is a composite function, which involves memory, joint attention, complex perceptual recognition (such as face and gaze processing), language, executive functions (such as tracking of intentions and goals and moral reasoning), emotion processing-recognition, empathy, and imitation. Hence, ToM development is dependent on the maturation of several brain systems and is shaped by parenting, social relations, training, and education; thus, it is an example of the dense interaction that occurs between brain development and (social) environment. (Pediatr Res 69: 101R-108R, 2011) H uman beings continuously make inferences about the psychological states of others. Each of us is constantly analyzing our impressions of others and constructing theories on the basis of the cues and information we receive. This enables us to understand ourselves and others and is a key determinant of self-organization and affect regulation. In addition to "verbal" descriptions of people and observation of their actions, the individual seeks deeper, more psychologically meaningful understandings and attributions in a causal framework to explain and to predict others' behavior on the basis of internal mental states (1). This kind of theory construction that makes up the core of everyday (folk) psychology is known as Theory of Mind (ToM), a term originating from a study of chimpanzee behavior (2), but entails verbal and conceptual abilities.ToM, mindreading in everyday parlance (3), is one of the subcomponents of social cognition, which embraces all the skills required to manage social communication and relationships in humans and nonhumans. It develops on the basis of certain mentalizing mechanisms and cognitive abilities and gives rise to the awareness that others have a mind with various mental states including beliefs, intuitions, plans, emotions, information, desires, and intentions and that these may differ from one's own. Impairment of ToM ability is often seen in children with autism, even in cases with a normal or high level of intelligence and other cognitive abilities (4).ToM develops fully only in human beings; the presence of a rudimentary ToM in some nonhuman primates and other animals is arguable although they can show very complex social behavior (5). The evolution of ToM probably depends on the increased size of the neocortex and increased importance of vision in primates as well as human beings' complex forms of ...

Purpose To evaluate the value of shear-wave elastography (SWE) in the detection of diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) of the tibial nerve. Materials and Methods This study was approved by the institutional review board, and written informed consent was obtained from all study participants. The study included 20 diabetic patients with DPN (10 men, 10 women), 20 diabetic patients without DPN (eight men, 12 women), and 20 healthy control subjects (nine men, 11 women). The tibial nerve was examined at 4 cm proximal to the medial malleolus with gray-scale ultrasonography and SWE. The nerve cross-sectional area (in square centimeters) and the mean nerve stiffness (in kilopascals) within the range of the image were recorded. Inter- and intrareader variability, differences among groups, and correlation of clinical and electrophysiologic evaluation were assessed with intraclass correlation coefficients, the Mann Whitney U test, and the Wilcoxon signed rank test. Results Between diabetic patients with and diabetic patients without DPN, mean age (60 years [range, 38-79 years] vs 61 years [range, 46-75 years], respectively), mean duration of diabetes (10 years [range, 1-25 years] vs 10 years [range, 2-26 years]), and mean body mass index (31.4 kg/m [range, 24.7-48.1 kg/m] vs 29.8 kg/m [range, 22.9-44.0 kg/m]) were not significantly different. Diabetic patients without DPN had significantly higher stiffness values on the right side compared with control subjects (P < .001). Patients with DPN had much higher stiffness values on both sides compared with both diabetic patients without DPN (P < .001) and healthy control subjects (P < .001). A cutoff value of 51.0 kPa at 4 cm proximal to the medial malleolus revealed a sensitivity of 90% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 75.4%, 96.7%) and a specificity of 85.0% (95% CI: 74.9%, 91.7%). Conclusion Tibial nerve stiffness measurements appear to be highly specific in the diagnosis of established DPN. The increased stiffness in subjects without DPN might indicate that the nerve is affected by diabetes. RSNA, 2016 Online supplemental material is available for this article.

Summary: Purpose: Despite the benign prognoses of idiopathic partial epilepsies, particularly regarding the response of seizures to treatment, some evidence now exists that patients with such disorders may have subtle neuropsychological deficits. This study was designed to investigate several modalities of neuropsychological functioning in a group of 21 patients, ranging from 6 to 14 years of age, with idiopathic occipital lobe epilepsy (IOLE). The case patients were compared with 21 healthy controls matched for age, sex, and socioeconomic status. Methods: A battery of age‐appropriate neuropsychological tests was administered individually to all the participants. Tests were chosen on the basis of age‐appropriate norms, their ability to represent a wide variety of functional domains, and their appropriateness in a cross‐cultural setting. The tests were selected to measure functioning in six domains: intellectual functioning, attention, memory, academic achievement, visual‐motor functioning, and executive functioning; some were further subdivided by their verbal‐versus‐visual modality of functioning. Results: The results revealed no significant difference in basic neurophysiological functions between the patient and control groups, although the case patients' performance scores were lower in attention (p <0.01) and memory (p <0.01), as well as in intellectual functioning (p <.05). Conclusions: The possibility of subtle cognitive deficits in IOLE patients should always be considered, though further studies are necessary to elaborate their precise and long‐term effects.

Benign rolandic epilepsy (BRE) is a partial idiopathic epilepsy of childhood presenting with a nocturnal seizure and with a typical EEG showing centrotemporal spike and multifocal or generalized sharp slow waves. Although normal neurological and intellectual development are expected in BRE, it is not infrequent to detect subtle defects in neuropsychological functions and neuromotor development. This study included 20 cases of BRE diagnosed according to the criteria of ILAE. The patients underwent several tests of neuropsychological functions as well as detailed neurological examination and the results were compared statistically to normal controls. In the patient group, a family history of language delay or learning disability (P < 0.005), presence of consanguinity (P < 0. 05), dyspraxia in the lower extremities (to imitation) (P < 0.05), difficulties in go-no-go test (P < 0.001), as well as some problems related to language such as dysprosody (P = 0.05), minor motor deficits in the left (P < 0.05) and right upper extremity (P < 0.05) were significantly more frequent compared to the control group. One should be rather guarded against the prognosis in BRE with respect to the higher cortical functions and neurodevelopmental problems.

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