The plantar grasp reflex is of great clinical significance, especially in terms of the detection of spasticity. The palmar grasp reflex also has diagnostic significance. This grasp reflex of the hands and feet is mediated by a spinal reflex mechanism, which appears to be under the regulatory control of nonprimary motor areas through the spinal interneurons. This reflex in human infants can be regarded as a rudiment of phylogenetic function. The absence of the Moro reflex during the neonatal period and early infancy is highly diagnostic, indicating a variety of compromised conditions. The center of the reflex is probably in the lower region of the pons to the medulla. The phylogenetic meaning of the reflex remains unclear. However, the hierarchical interrelation among these primitive reflexes seems to be essential for the arboreal life of monkey newborns, and the possible role of the Moro reflex in these newborns was discussed in relation to the interrelationship.

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The Costello syndrome is characterized by dwarfism, unique cutaneous lesions, distinct facial gestalt, and mental retardation. We present a Japanese patient with the Costello syndrome. She showed high serum IgM level during the early infantile period. Nissen's fundplication was carried out to treat severe gastroesophageal reflux. Endocrinological investigations revealed a partial deficiency of growth hormone.

Summary: Purpose: In infants, benign convulsions can be triggered by febrile illness or mild diarrhea such as Rotavirus gastroenteritis. The triggering mechanism of these convulsions is still unknown. In spite of several reports concerning clinical features, the ictal EEG recordings were rarely analyzed by a video-EEG monitoring system. To reveal a clue for the triggering mechanism of these convulsions, we analyzed the correlation of clinical manifestations and the EEG discharges during the ictal events and compared with previous reports.Methods : The ictal EEG of a cluster of three afebrile convulsions associated with mild gastroenteritis was recorded by an EEG closed-circuit TV (EEG-CCTV) monitoring system in a 6-month-old healthy female infant.Results: All seizures began as complex partial seizures (CPSs), which exhibited a motionless stare with or without leftward deviation of both eyes, and evolved to secondarily generalized tonicxlonic seizures (SGTCSs) for -90 s. Each of three ictal discharges began from the right occipital, right centroparietotemporal, and left occipital regions, respectively.Conclusions: Although initiating sites of ictal discharges of benign infantile convulsions associated with mild gastroenteritis (BICE) were previously reported to be variable among patients, these results indicated that those differ among seizures even in a same infant. Key Words: Benign infantile convulsion-Benign partial epilepsy in infancy-Mild gastroenteritis-EEG-video monitoring.In infants, afebrile convulsions with good prognosis triggered by mild diarrhea, such as Rotavirus gastroenteritis, have been called "benign infantile convulsions precipitated by mild diarrhea" (BICD) (I), which was later called "benign infantile convulsions associated with mild gastroenteritis (BICE) ( 2 ) . Although clinical features of such cases were reported (3-6), the ictal EEG recordings were rarely analyzed by a video-EEG monitoring system (7).We report here a female case of BICE. Three convulsions were recorded by a video-EEG monitoring system. We analyzed the correlation of clinical manifestations and the EEG discharges during the ictal events and compared them with those of previous reports.

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