Great experiments 3

Lee HF, Chi CS, Tsai CR, Chen CH, Wang CC. Electroencephalographic features of patients with SCN1A-positive Dravet syndrome. Brain Dev. 2015 Jun;37(6):599-611. doi: 10.1016/j.braindev.2014.10.003. Epub 2014 Oct 27. PMID: 25459968.

Video EEG recording during HWBT (hot water bathing test) was performed after obtaining informed consent from the patients’ parents. After a 20-min routine EEG recording, the patient was requested to remove his or her clothing and then sit in chest above the level of the water. The initial water temperature was around 35–37 C depending on the patient’s preference. Hot water at a temperature of around 55–60 C was collected in a stainless wash basin. The water temperature of the bath tub was increased gradually by means of alternately scooping water out of the bath tub and transferring hot water from the wash basin to the bath tub to raise the water temperature up to a maximum of around 40 C. Simultaneously, water from the bath tub was intermittently poured onto the patient’s shoulders with a small bowl in order to elevate the patient’s body temperature. The patient’s axillary temperature and the water temperature were recorded simultaneously every 10 min during the course of the test. The procedure was discontinued immediately after seizure initiation. In cases where the patient exhibited a seizure during the test, he or she was taken out of the water, placed on a bed, gently dried with a towel, and seizure patterns were then recorded. If no seizure developed, the HWBT was ended after 30 min, and the final axillary and water temperatures were recorded.

Mytinger JR, Weisleder P. E. Steve Roach: Reflections From the Editor-In-Chief of Pediatric Neurology. Pediatr Neurol. 2021 Dec;125:58-60. doi: 10.1016/j.pediatrneurol.2021.09.006. PMID: 34715988.

What is the most chillingly inappropriate manuscript that was submitted during your term as the journal's editor?

One alarming manuscript summarized a study that attempted to verify the clinical observation that increased temperature can trigger seizures in children with Dravet syndrome by immersing children in a hot water bath designed to raise their body temperature to see if it would trigger a seizure. The children who experienced a seizure were then removed from the bath so the seizure could be filmed and characterized, with no stated plan for intervening should a prolonged seizure occur. All of this, naturally, without mention of an institutional review board approval!