This special issue, in collaboration with John Libbey Eurotext, celebrates the 25th year of existence of the Mariani Foundation
Editor: F. Guzzetta
London-Paris, John Libbey Eurotext Ltd, 2009, pp. 344

Recent advances in the field of developmental neuroscience have been quite exciting, especially as they pertain to infants and children, in whom neurologic development proceeds more rapidly than at any other time of life. So much has now been learned of normal neurologic development, which in turn informs the more pressing work of understanding how these normal functions become disordered by genetic, physical, or neurochemical mishaps. The information thus gained can, it is hoped, provide clinicians with the means to improve both their diagnostic and therapeutic tools and, more importantly, to use this understanding in the service of preventing or mitigating the effects of these childhood neurologic disorders. The physiologic and pathologic signs of neurologic diseases are better understood in the light of the current gains made in the fields of paediatric neurophysiology, neurochemistry, neuroimaging, and genetics. This progress in knowledge can assuredly help the clinician to recognize the nature of the disorder and to plan the most appropriate and effective measures to improve the quality of the affected child’s life. This volume, a special issue in collaboration with John Libbey Eurotext, celebrates the 25th year of existence of the Mariani Foundation, whose mission is to provide paediatric neurologists and all clinicians with the most current knowledge in order to care for children with neurologic disabilities and their families towards achieving the best life they can have.

Contents
Preface
1) Developmental assessment: neurological examination – Eugenio Mercuri, Giovanni Baranello and Daniela Ricci
2) Developmental assessment: functional techniques – Andrea Guzzetta
3) Psychomotor development: the beginning of cognition – Francesco Guzzetta
4) Malformations of cortical development – Francesco Guzzetta, Cesare Colosimo and Tommaso Tartaglione
5) Early brain injuries: infantile cerebral palsy – Francesco Guzzetta
6) Congenital defects: a clinical approach – Giuseppe Zampino
7) Early intervention – Giovanni Cioni, Giulia D’Acunto and Paola Bruna Paolicelli
8) Metabolic disorders – Enrico Bertini and Carlo Dionisi-Vici
9) Brain tumours – Luca Massimi, Gianpiero Tamburrini and Concezio Di Rocco
10) Epilepsy in infancy – Francesco Guzzetta and Domenica Battaglia
11) Paroxysmal non-epileptic disorders – Federico Vigevano, Raffaella Cusmai and Nicola Specchio
12) The infant with neuromuscular disorders – Eugenio Mercuri, Paolo Alfieri and Marika Pane
13) Peripheral neuropathies – Francesco Guzzetta