Abstract Neonatal seizures are a common emergency in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). There are many questions yet to be answered regarding the temporal/spatial characteristics of seizures from different pathologies, response to medication, effects on neurodevelopment and optimal detection. The dataset presented in this descriptor contains EEG recordings from human neonates, the visual interpretation of the EEG by the human experts, supporting clinical data and codes to assist access. Multi-channel EEG was recorded from 79 term neonates admitted to the NICU at the Helsinki University Hospital. The median recording duration was 74 min (IQR: 64 to 96 min). The presence of seizures in the EEGs was annotated independently by three experts. An average of 460 seizures were annotated per expert in the dataset; 39 neonates had seizures and 22 were seizure free, by consensus. The dataset can be used as a reference set of neonatal seizures, in studies of inter-observer agreement and for the development of automated methods of seizure detection and other EEG analyses.
During the last decade magnetoencephalography (MEG) has been used to study the development of cortical somatosensory functioning in infants and children. The studies on typically developing infants and children have made it possible to extend the investigations on to clinical groups. MEG as a noninvasive neuroimaging method with good spatial and temporal resolution promises new vistas in studying the at-risk infants. For example, the preterm infants, whose survival has tremendously increased in the last decades, form a group of patients susceptible to neurological impairments, such as cerebral palsy (CP). The structural neuroimaging methods, e.g., cranial ultrasonography and magnetic resonance imaging, are known to partly fail in detection of milder abnormalities that may compromise later neurocognitive development of these preterm infants. Further, traditional evoked potential measurements with only few electrodes mainly help in detecting the problems in the somatosensory nerve conductions but tell little about the processing in the somatosensory cortices. Our recent MEG studies on preterm infants suggest that somatosensory evoked magnetic fields (SEFs) may give valuable prognostic information on development of these infants. SEFs to tactile stimulation of the index finger were recorded at term age in 30 preterm infants (< 28 weeks). The SEFs measured at term age were compared with neurodevelopment at two years of age. Controls were 11 healthy infants born at term. All infants showed normal responses from the primary somatosensory cortex. However, in 30% of the preterm infants SEF was categorized abnormal on the basis of lack of response from the secondary somatosensory cortex (SII). The absent SII responses at term age were associated with poor mean developmental quotient and locomotor subscale assessed by Griffiths Mental and Developmental Scales at two years. White matter abnormalities in MRI were not associated with absent SII response or neurodevelopmental outcome.
The present study evaluated neurophysiologic function of the primary sensorimotor cortex in juvenile neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis. A 122-channel magnetometer, which allowed studies of the somatosensory system in millimeter and millisecond precision, was used to record somatosensory evoked magnetic fields to median nerve stimulation from 10 patients and their matched control subjects. In both patients and controls, the somatosensory evoked magnetic fields from primary sensorimotor area typically consisted of N20m, P35m, and P60m deflections. In the patients, N20m was significantly delayed, whereas P35m peaked earlier than in the control subjects. The source strengths for N20m and P35m were greater in the patients than in the controls. Both deflections showed a significant positive correlation with the disease duration: the sources were stronger in the older patients than in the younger ones. P60m deflections were normal or reduced in the patients. The results indicated increased thalamocortical excitability in the sensorimotor cortex in juvenile neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis.
Neonatal seizures are a common emergency in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). There are many questions yet to be answered regarding the temporal/spatial characteristics of seizures from different pathologies, response to medication, effects on neurodevelopment and optimal detection. This dataset contains EEG recordings from human neonates and the visual interpretation of the EEG by the human expert. Multi-channel EEG was recorded from 79 term neonates admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at the Helsinki University Hospital. The median recording duration was 74 minutes (IQR: 64 to 96 minutes). EEGs were annotated by three experts for the presence of seizures. An average of 460 seizures were annotated per expert in the dataset, 39 neonates had seizures by consensus and 22 were seizure free by consensus. The dataset can be used as a reference set of neonatal seizures, for the development of automated methods of seizure detection and other EEG analysis, as well as for the analysis of inter-observer agreement.
