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Objective: Infantile seizures cause great concern for both doctors and parents. In addition to modern neuroimaging and genetics, clinical tools helpful in predicting the course of the disease are needed. We prospectively studied the incidence, electroclinical characteristics and etiologies of epilepsy syndromes with onset before the age of 12 months and looked for prognostic determinants of outcome by age 24 months. Methods: From February 2017 through May 2019, we recruited all eligible infants diagnosed with epilepsy at our unit. Data on electroclinical studies, genetic investigations and drug response were gathered prospectively. The infants were given a structured neurological examination (Hammersmith Infantile Neurological examination [HINE] and Griffiths scales) at predetermined intervals until age 24 months at which age neurocognitive evaluation with Bayley scales was performed. Results: Included were 60 infants (27 female). The mean onset age of epilepsy was 5.3 (±2.5 standard deviation) months. The incidence of epilepsy in the population‐based cohort was 131 (95% confidence interval 99–172)/100 000. Epilepsy syndrome was identified in 80% and etiology in 58% of infants. Self‐limited infantile epilepsy was the second most common syndrome (incidence 18/100 000) after infantile epileptic spasms syndrome. PRRT2 was the most common monogenic cause. At age 24 months, 37% of the infants had drug‐resistant epilepsy (DRE) and half had a global developmental delay (GDD). Abnormal first HINE was the strongest predictor of GDD, followed by DRE and identified etiology. DRE was associated with structural etiology and GDD. Those with normal first HINE and good response to treatment had favorable outcomes, irrespective of the identified etiology. Significance: Our results support a high incidence of self‐limited epilepsy in infancy and PRRT2 as the genetic cause in the first year of life. Notwithstanding the advances in etiological discovery, we want to highlight the importance of clinical evaluation as standardized neurological examination with HINE proved a valuable tool in prognostication. Plain Language Summary: One in every 700–800 babies develop epilepsy within the first year after birth. Our study identified an epilepsy syndrome in 80% and the cause of epilepsy in 60% of the participants. By age 2 years, over one‐third of the children still experienced seizures, and almost half faced significant developmental delay. Structural brain abnormalities increased the likelihood of difficult epilepsy and developmental challenges. Babies whose epilepsy was caused by a gene defect varied widely in development and response to medications. Babies with normal neurological examination at first visit, especially if their seizures stopped quickly, had favorable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reporting on the 14th International Congress for Luther Research, "Word and World: Luther across Borders," held in Thousand Oaks, California, on August 14–19, 2022, with brief reflections on the history, rationale, and organization of the Congress, as well as on future opportunities for Luther scholarship to engage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An editorial is presented on remembering devastating global pandemic with Covid-19 and the Presidential elections in the USA. Topics include improving the quality of life of all the people where the government being supposed to work; protesting the evident racial injustices in the current society and the Donald Trump administration's mishandling of many issues pertaining to the commonwealth; and correct reading of the Scriptures accompanied by stricter codes of living and moral decision making.

The article presents the author's views on the need to combat violence and nationalism through multi-faith alliance. Topics discussed include violent acts in the U.S., particularly a massacre of the Jews in Pittsburgh; why this culture of violence in the U.S. is growing; and opinion that Christian theology and proclamation is a major player, which subconsciously or explicitly, support imaginations of Christian superiority.

Abstract: Women—still—experience different forms of sexism in their daily lives. After the sixteenth‐century Protestant proclamation of the blessings of motherhood and women's bodies, and the women's sexual liberation movement of the 1960s, women's real freedoms and rights with their bodies, including sexual relations and procreation, are still being negotiated. Violence against women's bodies, including sex trafficking, relates to both the lack of appropriate education and fundamentally distorted views of humanity. Considering Luther's teaching on women as imago Dei, and attending theologically to the issues pertaining to misogyny—such as reforming the traditionally male‐centered God‐language and challenging the culture's implicit permission for ongoing violence against women—are some of the concrete steps that can be taken. Given the revelations with the #MeToo movement, the ELCA's 2018 draft on the Social Statement on Gender and Justice is timely. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considering the 16th-century Reformation from the perspective of women is ecumenically promising. Following the tracks of women who embraced the Protestant faith, and learning from their theological orientations, leads to a major rewriting of the Reformation histories; it also provides valuable sources for the reassessment of the Protestant theological traditions. Even if women's place was seen as being at home, in relishing the holy calling of motherhood, women were impassioned to expand their vocations through their own experiences and aspirations. Some of them participated in theological discourse via letters. First-hand knowledge of the scriptures and observations on injustice empowered women to use a public voice. Compassion emerges as a common theme in the theologies the women themselves considered 'Christian.' The 16th-century reforming women assist us in naming the sins of sexism and misogyny, and direct our attention to the matter of gender. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considering the tenderness and detail with which Luther attends to matters 'all about Eve' in his Genesis lectures-and how he treats the matriarchs in the Genesis narrative-we can say that gender and women constitute a central interest for the reformer. He developed, in his context, a new theological anthropology that valued women's biological distinction, difference within sameness in creation, and absolute equality in redemption and callings. While his gender ideology is a work in progress, Luther's instincts are modern, if not even feminist, when placing the uterus at the central place of the delivery of the saving incarnate Word. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The movie The Third Miracle invites theological reflection on miracles, sainthood, and faith. A movie filled with Lutheran themes of unmerited grace and blessings of the ordinary life, the story line follows a Catholic priest tasked with exploring the authenticity of reported miracles associated with a lay woman and a bleeding statue. Faith and miracles are shown in their ordinariness, easily missed without the eye of faith, and sainthood is juxtaposed with the expected and unexpected vis‐à‐vis motherhood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective Prenatal exposure to antiepileptic drugs ( AEDs) is associated with an increased risk of cognitive dysfunction at early school age. Our aim was to investigate whether signs of adverse drug effects on brain function could be detected already during the first 2 weeks of life. Methods We studied prospectively 56 full-term newborns with prenatal exposure to AEDs and 67 unexposed newborns for the following characteristics: Background information, AED exposure data, pregnancy outcome, neuropsychological evaluation of the mothers, clinical neurologic status with Hammersmith Neonatal Neurological Examination and early cortical activity using electroencephalography ( EEG). For EEG assessment, we developed and provide automated quantitation algorithms of several earlier described features: oscillatory bouts at theta and alpha frequencies, frequency spectra, interhemispheric synchrony, and interburst intervals ( IBIs). Results The AED-exposed newborns had lower limb and axial tone and were less irritable than the unexposed newborns. EEG assessment disclosed significant differences in alpha bouts, in the frequency spectra, as well as in the spatial distributions of interhemispheric synchrony and IBIs. Significance The results indicate that fetal AED exposure may affect early neonatal neurologic status and several features of early cortical activity. The findings suggest that interference of activity-dependent network development may be a possible mechanism to explain the link from fetal AED exposure to later neurocognitive sequelae. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the implication of the teachings of Martin Luther for global scholarship. Topics covered include the continued reading of Luther to mentor new partners in the Church. Also mentioned is the confidence and credibility of Lutherian followers in the different parts of the world including Europe.

Lutheran theology does not have a monopoly on grace. 'Grace alone' statements do not suffice in unfolding what 'all' grace is and does. In comparison to Catholic tradition, the Lutheran imagination of grace appears abstract and excludes experience. Feminist theology, in conversation with the tradition, promises to expand Lutheran hermeneutics and epistemology, starting with grace. In the footsteps of Tuomo Mannermaa, returning to Luther's transformative experience of grace, new avenues open up for reforming Lutheran grace-language. With Luther, a holistic approach to grace can be developed, one that includes Mary the mother of God. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Not salvation but spirituality gives a hospitable rationale for the practice of baptism. On the basis of Luther's theology of grace and justification (Large Catechism) and the purpose of sacraments as stated in the Lutheran confessional texts (Augsburg Confession), Lutheran sacramental theology today can re-adjust its language about the 'necessity' of baptism and consider its hospitable interpretation and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses a study that investigates how SurePrep (SP) can be used in the preparation of multichannel neonatal electroencephalography (EEG) recordings. It shows that skin preparation time was little faster with SP procedure compared to the skin abrasion. It indicates that SP is better tolerated than a skin abrasion and that the infants usually sleep undisturbed when SP is performed.

The article discusses the use of cumulative deviance scores as an alternative to the Hammersmith Neonatal Neurological Examination in scientific research. Goals of the study include to preserve more the interindividual variability in the score, better scoring system could predict neurodevelopmental outcome and testing for other factors such as gestational age. It concludes that cumulative deviance scores could also reflect the quality of deviance which to have pathophysiological significance.

An introduction is presented in which editor discusses various articles within the issue on topics including young women facing serious issues regarding their choices with reproduction, tensions around bodies in both Buddhism and Christianity and sensuality in his core spiritual insights.