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Published: 17 July 2014

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Born in Vienna on the 6th of July 1927, Heinz F. R. Prechtl studied medicine, zoology, and anthropology at the University of Vienna. In 1951, he followed his mentor, the founder of ethology and later Nobel Prize laureate Konrad Lorenz to the Max Planck Institute for Behavioural Physiology in Buldern, Germany. Within five years his observational focus had moved from birds, lizards, salamanders, and cats to human infants. In 1955 he published a series of films on the sucking, grasping, posture and locomotion of human newborns and infants.

His groundbreaking ideas and scientific vision led him to Groningen, where he became Professor of experimental neurology at the age of 35. Under his aegis, developmental neurology was born four years later (1968) with ontogenetic adaptation as one of its basic principles: the functional repertoire of the developing neural structure must meet the requirements of the organism and its environment. It was essential to Heinz Prechtl that immaturity (deriving from an irrelevant reference to later developmental stages) does not exist if the various developmental stages are studied in their own right. Consequently, already in 1968, he postulated that age-related vulnerability causes age-specific lesions and requires both age-adequate diagnostic procedures and interventions.

In the early 1970s, Prechtl found that the neural functions of the newborn infant are characterized by a strict dependency on behavioural states. In his Duivenvoorde Lecture (1974) he summarized the five behavioural states of the newborn infant as distinct – and not continual – modes of the nervous system. Prechtl strove to prove that the distinction of behavioural states is essential for the neurological examination of the newborn since, for example, reactions to proprioceptive stimulations are exaggerated during state 1 but can hardly be elicited during state 2, whereas reactions to exteroceptive stimulations cannot be seen during state 1 but typically occur during state 2. Thus, each manoeuvre of the Prechtl Neurological Examination of the Fullterm Newborn Infant (1977) is standardised for behavioural states.

Already in his Award Lecture of the Mental Health Research Fund in London (1967) Prechtl introduced another milestone of his scientific oeuvre, the optimality concept. In a study on 1.500 newborns, he elaborated on this concept by defining optimal conditions for both each perinatal variable and the neurological findings instead of using the normal/abnormal dichotomy (1980).

Observing low-risk preterm infants, Heinz Prechtl started wondering about the prenatal origin of the many spontaneous movement patterns. In the early 1980s the ultrasound equipment in obstetrics had improved substantially enough to allow a detailed observation of the fetus. His descriptions of fetal behaviour were an eye-opener and revealed that fetal behaviour is patterned right from the beginning (8 weeks postmenstrual age). Although very different in nature, abrupt startles and complex general movements (GMs) are among the first movements and emerge at the same time; they are followed by isolated limb movements a mere week later.

Already at 12 weeks, the fetus has a rich repertoire of spontaneous endogenously generated movements: startles, GMs, hiccup, isolated arm and leg movements, side-to-side movements of the head, ante- and retroflexion of the head, breathing movements, opening and closing of the fingers, jaw movements, stretching and yawning. In one of the Clinics in Developmental Medicine, Prechtl described the continuity of this complex behavioural repertoire from prenatal to postnatal life, followed by a significant behavioural transformation at 3 months of age (1984).

Prechtl's observation that high-risk infants move differently compared to typically developing infants marked a new approach to assessing the young nervous system: the assessment of general movements, or GMs (1990). During the last 25 years it has been extensively proven that the patterns of GMs are sensitive indicators of certain neurological impairments, and are hence regarded as a window into the developing brain.

Heinz Prechtl received numerous honours and awards for his scientific achievements, including the Folke Bernadotte Award, the Heinrich Hoffmann Award, the Kenneth Craik Award, the Maternity Award of the European Society of Perinatal Medicine, the Cornelia de Lange Prize, and the Prize of the Dutch Science Foundation. He was a Mac Arthur and Ronnie Mac Keith lecturer, received honorary degrees in medicine from the Universities of Graz and Genoa, and became Honorary Fellow of the Royal Academy of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. In 1990, he was knighted by the Queen of the Netherlands.

Heinz Prechtl was a polymath with a deep interest in music (from Monteverdi to Mahler), paintings (particularly the Flemish masters of the 15th and 16th centuries and Piero della Francesca, but also the "Twittering Machine" by Paul Klee) and books. He never read just one book at a time; the copies he left behind on his desk were Safranski's biography of Goethe, a crime story, two books about proverbs and their origin, and one about French Baroque masters.

Heinz Prechtl's influence on so many people was truly impressive. There was nothing pretentious about him. All of us who knew him well will sometimes – mostly when we struggle to explain our thoughts – hear him say: "What exactly do you mean?" or "Why do you think so?" Words like these will carry on his legacy in the studies of early human development.

On July 3rd 2014, just  three days before his 87th birthday Heinz Prechtl passed away peacefully but what he left us and developmental neuroscience, he will be forever.

Submitted by:
Dr. Christa Einspieler, DPhil, PhD
Professor of Physiology
Institute of Physiology, Research Unit iDN - interdisciplinary
Developmental Neuroscience Center for Physiological Medicine
Medical University of Graz

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Published: 29 May 2014

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Risk of brain injury in premature babies is modulated by common variation in genes associated with schizophrenia and fat metabolism, a new study suggests.

Study of single nucleotide polymorphisms alongside DTI studies including tract-based spatial statistics and deformation-based morphometry in brains of preterm infants showed that SNP in Armadillo repeat gene deleted in velocardiofacial syndrome (ARVCF) gene linked to neuronal migration and schizophrenia and in fatty acid desaturase (FADS2) gene encoding rate limiting step in endogenous Polyunsaturated Fatty Acid PUFA synthesis and linked to intelligence was associated with white matter abnormalities.

ARVCF2 member of the catenin family modulates neural cell-cell adhesion and migration. It is richly expressed in the human ganglionic eminence in neurons that migrate from the granglionic eminence to the intermediate zone, the amygdaloid complex and the thalaus during fetal life.The authors have previously reported that volume and neuronal loss in the dorsomedial nucleus of the thalamus is associated with preterm birth.

The FADS2 gene encodes the rate limiting enzyme in endogenous production of the long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFA) docosohexaeneoic acid and arachidonic acid. These long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids has been shown to accumulate in the brain in abundance from the third trimester to 18 months postpartum and are essential for neurogenesis, neurotransmission and protection from oxidative stress.

According to the authors these findings are consistent with recent research suggesting preterm infants have higher rates of neuropsychiatric illness in adult life.

The study, published in the journal Pediatrics, was funded by NIHR Imperial College Biomedical Research Centre.

Reference:

Boardman JP, Walley A, Ball G, Takousis P, Krishnan ML, Hughes-Carre L et al. (2014) Common Genetic Variants and Risk of Brain Injury After Preterm Birth.Pediatrics ():. DOI: 10.1542/peds.2013-3011 PMID:24819575.

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Published: 02 April 2014

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Autism In Africa, 3-5th April 2014 Accra , Ghana
Oak Plaza Hotel, Accra

Under The Auspices Of The 

International Child Neurology Association 
And African Child Neurology Association

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Published: 30 January 2014

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The International Child Neurology Association is calling for Nominations for election of the Secretary and of the Treasurer as well as the Members of the Executive Board. Nominations will be accepted from 30 January 2014to 28 February 2014. Voting will commence on 14 March 2014 after completion of the Nominations and preparation of the ballot papers. The election will close at midnight (GMT) on 28 March 2014.

(1) How do I register my Vote ?

All eligible ICNA members have been send an email on March 20, 2014 by Electoral Reform Services (The Election Centre, 33 Clarendon Road, London N8 0NW) who is administering the Election of Officers and Members of the Executive Board on behalf of the International Child Neurology Association. This email would have contained your security codes , which you would use to login to the voting site at http://www.votebyinternet.com/icna2014 and register your votes

(2) How can I learn more about the candidates ?

The candidate statements are available on the election site once you login. You could also see the candidate statements here http://icnapedia.org/2014-candidate-statements

(3) I never received the "security codes". What can I do?

If you haven't received the security codes, please inform the ICNA This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  as soon as possible. We will send your codes in the post for you

(4) I was away on holiday / sick leave / maternity / paternity leave during the period. Could I still get vote?

Unfortunately you won't be allowed to vote once the deadline is over.

(5) When will I get to know the results of the elections?

Formal announcement will be made at the General Body Meeting at the ICNC2014 ( Iguazu Falls, Brazil)

(6) Who are the members who are eligible to vote?

All active members of the ICNA (excludes trainee and associate members) who have been accepted to the ICNA on or before 28 February 2013 will be eligible to vote in the ICNA 2014 elections

(7) Is there any other background information on the elections?

The following background is provided:

Dr Jo Wilmshurst and Dr Linda de Meirleir have indicated that they will stand for the positions of Secretary and Treasurer respectively. Dr Orvar Eeg-Olofsson will step down from the position of Treasurer at the Executive Board Meeting in Iguazu, Brazil. Members may nominate other candidates for Secretary and Treasurer.

All current EB members who have chosen to continue on the EB will be eligible for re-election by the full ICNA active membership but several have indicated their intention to step down. These  include Drs Paolo Curatolo, Orvar Eeg-Olofsson, Vijeya Ganesan, Yong Seung Hwang, Robert Ouvrier, Raili Riikonen, Michael Shevell and André Venter.

The President, Dr Harry Chugani, will retire but remain on the Executive Board as the Immediate Past-President. Dr Ingrid Tein will take over the role of President at the 13th ICNC in Brazil 2014. The Constitution requires that there must be at least one Belgian citizen on the EB

(8) Could you tell me something about the nomination process?.

Any active member of the ICNA is eligible to nominate himself or other candidates for election to the EB. It is the role of the Nominating Commitee also to propose suitable candidates as well as to ensure that there are enough candidates from each ICNA geographical region to satisfy the ICNA Constitutional requirements that there must be at least two EB members from each region (but no more than eight EB members from any one region).

The Nomination and Acceptance Forms provided below was utilised and candidate Statements submitted for subsequent publication on the Ballot material on ICNApedia.

ICNA-Elections-2014---Nomination-Form.doc

The last date for filing nominations was 28 February 2014

Professor Robert Ouvrier
Chair
ICNA Nominations Committee