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Sample records for twenty-three children aged

  1. Age Effects on Upper Limb Kinematics Assessed by the REAplan Robot in Healthy School-Aged Children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gilliaux, Maxime; Dierckx, Floriane; Vanden Berghe, Lola; Lejeune, Thierry M; Sapin, Julien; Dehez, Bruno; Stoquart, Gaëtan; Detrembleur, Christine

    2015-05-01

    The use of kinematics is recommended to quantitatively evaluate upper limb movements. The aims of this study were to determine the age effects on upper limb kinematics and establish norms in healthy children. Ninety-three healthy children, aged 3-12 years, participated in this study. Twenty-eight kinematic indices were computed from four tasks. Each task was performed with the REAplan, a distal effector robotic device that allows upper limb displacements in the horizontal plane. Twenty-four of the 28 indices showed an improvement during childhood. Indeed, older children showed better upper limb movements. This study was the first to use a robotic device to show the age effects on upper limb kinematics and establish norms in healthy children.

  2. PHONOLOGICAL PROCESSES OF THREE INDONESIAN CHILDREN AGED BETWEEN 1;8 AND 2;6

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Patuan Raja

    2007-01-01

    Full Text Available Children are believed to employ universal processes in simplifying adult language words to match their developing phonology. The present paper is intended to describe the phonological processes used by three Indonesian children aged between 1;8 and 2;6. There is an indication that the utilization of the processes might be not only quantitatively but also qualitatively age-related, and that the processes might actually be of three types: universal (species-specific, local (language-specific, and idiosyncratic (individual-specific.

  3. The Development of Empathy in Chinese and American Children Between Three and Six Years of Age: A Cross-Cultural Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Borke, Helene

    A series of social interaction situations representing the four emotions of happy, afraid, sad, and angry were administered to 288 American children and 288 Chinese children. Twenty-four girls and 24 boys, half from middle class families and half from disadvantaged families, were tested at six-month intervals between 3 and 6 years of age. Children…

  4. Asymptomatic Celiac Disease in Children with Trisomy 21 at 26 Months of Age or Less

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nancy J. Roizen

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available We report three cases of asymptomatic celiac disease identified in children with Down syndrome after being screened at around twenty-four months of age.  These cases raise the question as to what age is screening for celiac disease indicated in a child with Down syndrome and no symptoms.

  5. Cultural and age differences of three groups of Taiwanese young children's creativity and drawing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wei, Mei-Hue; Dzeng, Annie

    2013-06-01

    This study investigated the cultural and age effects on children's overall creativity and drawing. 1,055 children ages 6 to 8 from three groups--urban and rural Taiwanese children and Taiwanese children of immigrant mothers, all in public schools--were given a creativity test, a people-drawing test, and a free-drawing test. The results showed that the older Taiwanese children scored higher than the young Taiwanese children on people-drawing and free-drawing, but not overall creativity. Drawing and creativity scores increased in accordance with age. In the six-year-old group, a group difference was found only on the scale of people-drawing. Urban Taiwanese children in the eight-year-old group scored higher than the other two groups of children on creativity and free-drawing. Results are discussed in terms of educational opportunities.

  6. Mortality in Children Aged 0-9 Years: A Nationwide Cohort Study from Three Nordic Countries

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Yu, Yongfu; Qin, Guoyou; Cnattingius, Sven

    2016-01-01

    boys and girls decreased from 1.25 to 1.21 with the most prominent reduction in children aged 5–9 years (from 1.59 to 1.19). Neoplasms, diseases of the nervous system and transport accidents were the most frequent cause of death after the first year of life. These three leading causes of death declined...... comparing cause-specific mortality, and half of deaths from diseases of the nervous system occurred in infancy. Mortality rate due to transport accidents increased with age and was highest in boys aged 5–9 years. Conclusions Mortality rate in children aged 0–9 years has been decreasing with diminished...... difference between genders over the past decades. Our results suggest the importance of further research on mortality by causes of neoplasms, and causes of transport accidents—especially in children aged 5–9 years...

  7. Oral health of children born small for gestational age.

    LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

    O'Connell, A C

    2010-10-01

    We sought to evaluate the oral health status of children born small for gestational age (SGA). Children now aged 4-8 years who were born SGA (birth weight < -2 SDS) were examined using standardised criteria. The parents completed a structured oral health questionnaire. Twenty females and 25 males, mean age 72.1 months, and mean birth weight 2.1 kg, participated in the study. Poor appetite was a concern; 32 (71%) children snacked between meals and 14 (30%) used carbonated beverages more than 3 times daily. Erosion was present in 9 (20%) children. Dental decay occurred in 22 (47%) children with 92% being untreated. Eight children had more than 5 decayed teeth. It is essential that clinicians working with children born SGA include oral health within the general health surveillance and refer these children for a dental assessment within the first 2 years to support parents in establishing safe feeding patterns for their children.

  8. Neurodevelopmental delay among children under the age of three years at immunization clinics in Lagos State, Nigeria - Preliminary report.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bakare, Muideen O; Bello-Mojeed, Mashudat A; Munir, Kerim M; Ogun, Oluwayemi C; Eaton, Julian

    2016-04-29

    Late diagnosis and interventions characterize childhood neurodevelopmental disorders in Sub-Saharan Africa. This has negatively impacted on the prognosis of the children with neurodevelopmental disorders. This study examined the prevalence and pattern of neurodevelopmental delays among children under the age of 3 years attending immunization clinics in Lagos State, Nigeria and also affords opportunity of early follow-up and interventions, which had been documented to improve prognosis. The study involved two stage assessments; which consisted of first phase screening of the children for neurodevelopmental delays in immunization clinics at primary healthcare centers Lagos State, Nigeria and second phase which consists of definitive clinical evaluation and follow-up interventions for children screened positive for neurodevelopmental delays. Twenty seven (0.9%) of a total of 3,011 children under the age of 3 years were screened positive for neurodevelopmental delays and subsequently undergoing clinical evaluation and follow-up interventions. Preliminary working diagnoses among these children include cerebral palsy, autism spectrum disorder trait, nutritional deficiency, Down syndrome and Non-specific neurodevelopmental delay with co-morbid seizure disorder accounting for 33.3%, 14.8%, 18.5%, 7.4% and 25.9% respectively. This is a preliminary report that would be followed up with information on medium and long term intervention phase.

  9. Production and processing asymmetries in the acquisition of tense morphology by sequential bilingual children

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Chondrogianni, Vicky; Marinis, Theodoros

    2011-01-01

    This study investigates the production and online processing of English tense morphemes by sequential bilingual (L2) Turkish-speaking children with more than three years of exposure to English. Thirty-nine six- to nine-year-old L2 children and twenty-eight typically developing age-matched monolin......This study investigates the production and online processing of English tense morphemes by sequential bilingual (L2) Turkish-speaking children with more than three years of exposure to English. Thirty-nine six- to nine-year-old L2 children and twenty-eight typically developing age...

  10. bacterial meningitis among children in federal medical centre

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    One hundred and fifty samples of cerebrospinal fluid were received from children up to twelve years of age. Only three samples were reported turbid which were culture positive. Twenty five (25 of 150 or 16.7%) of these children had microbiology proven diagnosis of meningitis. Twenty one (21 of 25) was by culture, five by.

  11. Three dimensional images of the sternum in children with using MDCT

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, Young Tong; Kim, Hyun Cheol; Bae, Won Kyung; Kim, Il Young

    2006-01-01

    We wanted to analyze the three dimensional images with using multidetector CT scanning of the sternum in children, and we wanted to compare the CT findings with the children's age. We studied the three dimensional images of the sternum of 67 children (62 were boys and 5 were girls). The age of the children was 3-15 years old (mean age:7.5). We evaluated the number of sternal bodies, the presence of the xiphoid process and the bifid shape of each sternal body. The number of sternal bodies was from three to five; 30 patients had 3 bodies, 25 patients had 4 bodies and 5 patients had 2. The number of sternal bodies was 3.4 in Group I, 3.5 in Group II and 3.9 in Group III. As the children's age increased, the number of sternal body was statistically increased. When the number of sternal bodies was three, the mean age of children was 5.4 year; when it was four or five, the mean age of children was 8.1 year. The children's age was increased as the number of sternal bodies increased. The mean age of the children with a xiphoid process was 7.0 years, and the mean age of children without a xiphoid process was 8.1. There was no statistical difference between the two groups with or without xiphoid process. Among the 67 children, 9 had the bifid shape in the 3rd portion of the sternal body, 5 had the bifid shape in 4th portion, 2 had the bifid shape in 2nd portion and 1 had the bifid shape in 5th portion. The number of sternal bodies was mostly three or four. The number of sternal bodies was related to the children's age. Three is no relationship between children's age and the presence of the xiphoid process. The bifid shapes are mostly shown in the 3rd and 4th portion of the sternal body

  12. Influence of parenting styles on development of children aged three to six years old.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nanthamongkolchai, Sutham; Ngaosusit, Chutima; Munsawaengsub, Chokchai

    2007-05-01

    To investigate the influences of parenting styles on development of children aged three to six years. A cross-sectional study was conducted in 360 children and their parents selected by multi-stage random sampling. The data were collected from July 24th to August 31st, 2004. The Denver II test kit and the scale by Baumrind D were used to test the child development and parenting styles respectively. A questionnaire was used to collect the family and child factors. Data were analyzed by frequency distribution and Multiple logistic regression with the significant level set at p-value of Parenting styles had significant influences on child development (p-value parenting style had a 1.9 times higher chance of having delayed development compared with those with democratic parenting style. In addition, significant family and child factors for explaining child development were family type, mother's education, father's occupation, relationship within the family, nutritional status and sex. Parenting styles had a significant influence on child development. The children raised with mixed parenting style had a 1.9 timds higher chance of having delayed development compared to those whose parents used democratic parenting style. Therefore, the parents should rear their children by using the democratic parenting style that leads to the age-appropriate development child

  13. Theory of mind and specific language impairment in school-age children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spanoudis, George

    2016-01-01

    Research on the relationship between aspects of language development and Theory of Mind (ToM) in children with language impairments suggests that children with language impairment show a delay in ToM development. This study aimed to examine the relationships of the syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic skills with ToM in school-age children. Twenty children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI) aged 9-12 years and two control groups, one matched for chronological age (CA) and one for language ability (LA) (aged 8-10 years) were compared on a set of language tasks tapping syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic skills and on an advanced test of ToM. Results showed that children with SLI performed poorly on the ToM task compared to the CA matches. Also, analysis showed that language skills and ToM are related and that syntactic and pragmatic abilities contributed significantly to the prediction of ToM performance in the SLI group. It is concluded that the syntax/pragmatic aspects of the language impact on ToM understanding in children with SLI. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  14. Vesico-vaginal fistula repair: experience with first twenty-three ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Vesico-vaginal fistula repair: experience with first twenty-three patients seen at a tertiary hospital in north-central Nigeria. Stephen D. Ngwan, Bassey E. Edem, Ajen S. Anzaku, Barnabas A. Eke, Mohammed A. Shittu, Solomon A. Obekpa ...

  15. Culture and diet among Chinese American children aged 9–13 years: A qualitative study

    Science.gov (United States)

    This study examined Chinese American children's behaviors, food preferences, and cultural influences on their diet. Qualitative individual interviews were conducted with twenty-five Chinese American children aged 9-13 years in community centers and Chinese schools in Houston, TX using constructs fro...

  16. Intravenous pamidronate treatment in children with moderate-to-severe osteogenesis imperfecta started under three years of age

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Alcausin, M.B.; Briody, J.; Pacey, V.; Ault, J.; McQuade, M.; Bridge, C.; Engelbert, R.H.H.; Sillence, D.O.; Munns, C.F.

    OBJECTIVE: Evaluate clinical outcome of early cyclic intravenous pamidronate treatment in children with moderate-to-severe osteogenesis imperfecta (OI), commenced before three years of age. METHODS: A retrospective review of 17 patients with moderate-to-severe OI. Development, anthropometry,

  17. Cerebral MRI of very low birth weight children at 6 years of age compared with the findings at 1 year

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Skranes, J.S.; Nilsen, G.; Smevik, O.; Vik, T.; Brubakk, A.M.

    1998-01-01

    Background. We have previously reported the results of cerebral MRI examinations in an unselected year cohort of very low birth weight (VLBW) infants at one year of corrected age. Twenty-one (78 %) of 27 infants had abnormal myelination, mainly in the central occipital white matter (COWM) and in the centrum semiovale (CS), seen on T2-weighted images. Twelve infants had irregular and dilated lateral ventricles. We speculated whether these findings indicated perinatal periventricular leukomalacia (PVL). Only two infants had completely normal MRI at age 1 year. Objective. To determine whether the abnormal myelination seen at 1 year of age, was still present, either as delayed myelination or as gliosis caused by perinatal PVL. Materials and methods. In the present study, we report the results of follow-up cerebral MRI in 20 of these infants at 6 years of age. Results. Most of the children with MRI deviations at 1 year still had abnormalities at 6 years. Abnormal myelination in the central occipital white matter combined with abnormalities in the CS or with ventricular dilatation at age 1 year, presented as gliosis in 12 of 13 children at 6 years of age. Abnormalities solely in the COWM at age 1 year had normalised in two of five children and persisted as delayed myelination in three at age 6 years. Gliotic changes in periventricular white matter were found in 12 of 20 children (60 %). Areas most affected were the CS (11 children) and the COWM (9 children). Delayed myelination in COWM was found in six children (30 %), combined with gliosis in CS in three children. Twelve infants had ventricular dilatation both at 1 and 6 years of age. Conclusions. The MRI correlates of PVL, i. e. gliosis and ventricular dilatation, are common findings on cerebral MRI at 6 years of age in VLBW infants. (orig.)

  18. THE CAUSES AND THE COURSE OF CHRONIC KIDNEY DISEASE IN CHILDREN OF PRESCHOOL AGE

    OpenAIRE

    T. Yu. Abaseeva; T. E. Pankratenko; A. A. Burov; Kh. M. Emirova; A. L. Muzurov

    2015-01-01

    Background: Data on etiology and clinical course of CKD stage  3 to 5 in children of preschool  age could help obstetricians, pediatricians, and nephrologists with proper diagnostics and management of this condition and prediction of outcomes. Aim: To study causes and clinical features of CKD stage 3 to 5 in preschool  children. Materials and methods: The causes and clinical features of CKD stage 3 to 5 were investigated in 55 preschool children aged from 7 months  to 8 years. Twenty four had...

  19. Parieto-occipital encephalomalacia in children; clinical and electrophysiological features of twenty-seven cases.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Karaoğlu, Pakize; Polat, Ayşe İpek; Yiş, Uluç; Hız, Semra

    2015-01-01

    Brain injuries occurring at a particular time may cause damages in well-defined regions of brain. Perinatal hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy and hypoglycemia are some of the most common types of brain injuries. Neonatal hypoglycemia can cause abnormal myelination in parietal and occipital lobes resulting in parieto-occipital encephalomalacia. There is a small number of studies about clinical and electroencephalographic (EEG) features of children with parieto-occipital encephalomalacia. They might have important neurologic sequelae such as cortical visual loss, seizures, and psychomotor retardation. We aimed to evaluate the causes of parieto-occipital encephalomalacia and evaluate the clinical and electrophysiological features of children with parieto-occipital encephalomalacia. We evaluated clinical features and EEGs of 27 children with parieto-occipital encephalomalacia. Descriptive statistics were used. Hospitalization during the neonatal period was the most common cause (88.9%) of parieto-occipital brain injury. Eleven patients (40.7%) had a history of neonatal hypoglycemia. Twenty-three patients (85.2%) had epilepsy and nine of the epileptic patients (39%) had refractory seizures. Most of the patients had bilateral (50%) epileptic discharges originating from temporal, parietal, and occipital lobes (56.2%). However, some patients had frontal sharp waves and some had continuous spike and wave discharges during sleep. Visual abnormalities were evident in 15 (55.6%) patients. Twenty-two (81.5%) had psychomotor retardation. Fine motor skills, social contact and language development were impaired more than gross motor skills. In our study, most of the patients with parieto-occipital encephalomalacia had an eventful perinatal history. Epilepsy, psychomotor retardation, and visual problems were common neurologic complications.

  20. Distributional learning aids linguistic category formation in school-age children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hall, Jessica; Owen VAN Horne, Amanda; Farmer, Thomas

    2018-05-01

    The goal of this study was to determine if typically developing children could form grammatical categories from distributional information alone. Twenty-seven children aged six to nine listened to an artificial grammar which contained strategic gaps in its distribution. At test, we compared how children rated novel sentences that fit the grammar to sentences that were ungrammatical. Sentences could be distinguished only through the formation of categories of words with shared distributional properties. Children's ratings revealed that they could discriminate grammatical and ungrammatical sentences. These data lend support to the hypothesis that distributional learning is a potential mechanism for learning grammatical categories in a first language.

  1. Three-dimensional facial analysis of Chinese children with repaired unilateral cleft lip and palate

    Science.gov (United States)

    Othman, Siti Adibah; Aidil Koay, Noor Airin

    2016-08-01

    We analyzed the facial features of Chinese children with repaired unilateral cleft lip and palate (UCLP) and compared them with a normal control group using a three-dimensional (3D) stereophotogrammetry camera. This cross-sectional study examined 3D measurements of the facial surfaces of 20 Chinese children with repaired UCLP and 40 unaffected Chinese children aged 7 to 12 years old, which were captured using the VECTRA 3D five-pod photosystem and analyzed using Mirror software. Twenty-five variables and two ratios were compared between both groups using independent t-test. Intra- and inter-observer reliability was determined using ten randomly selected images and analyzed using intra-class correlation coefficient test (ICC). The level of significance was set at p cleft group exhibited wider alar base root width, flattened nose and broader nostril floor width on the cleft side. They tended to have shorter upper lip length and thinner upper vermillion thickness. Faces of Chinese children with repaired UCLP displayed meaningful differences when compared to the normal group especially in the nasolabial regions.

  2. The effect of three different educational approaches on children's drawing ability: Steiner, Montessori and traditional.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cox, M V; Rowlands, A

    2000-12-01

    Although there is a national curriculum for art education in the UK there are also alternative approaches in the private sector. This paper addresses the issue of the effect of these approaches on children's drawing ability. To compare the drawing ability in three drawing tasks of children in Steiner, Montessori and traditional schools. The participants were 60 school children between the ages of 5;11 and 7;2. Twenty children were tested in each type of school. Each child completed three drawings: a free drawing, a scene and an observational drawing. As predicted, the free and scene drawings of children in the Steiner school were rated more highly than those of children in Montessori and traditional schools. Steiner children's use of colour was also rated more highly, although they did not use more colours than the other children. Steiner children used significantly more fantasy topics in their free drawings. Further observation indicated that the Steiner children were better at using the whole page and organising their drawings into a scene; their drawings were also more detailed. Contrary to previous research Montessori children did not draw more inanimate objects and geometrical shapes or fewer people than other children. Also, contrary to the prediction, Steiner children were significantly better rather than worse than other children at observational drawing. The results suggest that the approach to art education in Steiner schools is conducive not only to more highly rated imaginative drawings in terms of general drawing ability and use of colour but also to more accurate and detailed observational drawings.

  3. Is tuberculin testing before BCG vaccination necessary for children over three months of age?

    LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

    Hennessy, B

    2008-03-01

    In July 2007 Irish national policy changed such that children aged 3 months to 6 years no longer routinely require tuberculin (Mantoux) skin testing prior to BCG vaccination. Previous to that a tuberculin test was required in all children in this age group pre vaccination. While the previous policy was in place this study was conducted to assess the value of this test. The observation that children are frightened by the test (an injection into the skin) prompted the study. The author conducted a retrospective study of the results of 1,854 tuberculin tests performed as a prerequisite to BCG vaccination and found that only 0.7% of children had a positive test result (induration > 5mm). None of 107 children < 6 years of age tested positive. Those > 12 years were more likely to test positive than younger children (1.09% vs 0.4% respectively, p < 0.05). This study suggests that testing young children before BCG vaccination has a low yield of positive results and adds little to the detection of latent or active TB.

  4. The effects of three different distraction methods on pain and anxiety in children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sahiner, Nejla Canbulat; Bal, Meltem Demirgoz

    2016-09-01

    This study aims to investigate of three different distraction methods (distraction cards, listening to the music of cartoon and balloon inflation) on pain and anxiety relief of children during phlebotomy. This study is a prospective, randomized, and controlled trial. The sample consisted of 6 to 12 years old children who require blood tests. Children were randomized into four groups as the distraction cards, the music, the balloon inflation, and the control. Data were obtained by conducting interviews with the children, their parents, and the observer before and after the procedure. The pain levels of the children were assessed by the parent and observer reports as well as self-report using the Wong-Baker FACES. The anxiety levels of children were assessed by parent and observer reports using Children Fear Scale. One hundred and twenty children (mean age: 9.1 ± 1.6 years) were included. The self-reported procedural pain levels showed significant differences among the study groups (p = .040). The distraction card group (2.33 ± 3.24) had significantly lower pain levels (p = .057) than the control group (4.53 ± 3.23). The procedural child anxiety levels reported by the observer showed a significant difference among the study groups (p = .032). All the forms of distraction significantly reduced pain and anxiety perception. © The Author(s) 2015.

  5. Age-specific association between percent body fat and pulmonary ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    This study describes the association between percent body fat and pulmonary function among apparently normal twenty male children tidal volume aged 4 years and twenty male children aged 10 years in Ogbomoso. The mean functional residual capacity of the lung in male children aged 10 years was significantly higher ...

  6. Ataxia rating scales are age-dependent in healthy children

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Brandsma, Rick; Spits, Anne H.; Kuiper, Marieke J.; Lunsing, Roelinka J.; Burger, Huibert; Kremer, Hubertus P.; Sival, Deborah A.; Barisic, N.; Baxter, P.; Brankovic-Sreckovic, V.; Calabrò, G. E.; Catsman-Berrevoets, C.; de Coo, Ifm; Craiu, D.; Dan, B.; Gburek-Augustat, J.; Kammoun-Feki, F.; Kennedy, C.; Mancini, F.; Mirabelli-Badenier, M.; Nemeth, A.; Newton, R.; Poll-The, B. T.; Steinlin, M.; Synofzik, M.; Topcu, M.; Triki, C.; Valente, E. M.

    2014-01-01

    To investigate ataxia rating scales in children for reliability and the effect of age and sex. Three independent neuropaediatric observers cross-sectionally scored a set of paediatric ataxia rating scales in a group of 52 healthy children (26 males, 26 females) aged 4 to 16 years (mean age 10y 5mo

  7. Cradling bias is absent in children with autism spectrum disorders ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Objective: This study investigated relations among empathy and cradling bias in children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). Method: Twenty children with ASDs and 20 typically developing (TD) children, aged 5–15 years old, cradled a doll as if it were an infant s/he was putting to sleep on three separate ...

  8. Portosystemic shunts for extrahepatic portal hypertension in children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tocornal, J; Cruz, F

    1981-07-01

    Twenty-three children with prehepatic portal hypertension and hemorrhage due to ruptured esophagogastric varices had portosystemic shunts. Their ages ranged from two years and seven months to 15 years. Eleven were less than eight years of age. Twenty patients had portal vein cavernomatosis and three patients had double portal veins. In 21 patients, a mesocaval type of shunt was done. A splenorenal shunt was performed in two. There was no surgical mortality. Two shunts occluded, both in rather young infants--two years and seven months and three years of age. In all the others, there was no further bleeding, and the shunts remained patent, as shown by abdominal angiograms. Neuropsychiatric disorders, probably due to hepatic encephalopathy, occurred in only one patient. On the basis of this favorable experience, we believe that an elective portosystemic shunt should, in general, be performed upon children with prehepatic portal hypertension after one major variceal hemorrhage. We favor a mesocaval type of shunt in these children because of the larger diameter of the vessels involved in the anastomosis and because it preserves the spleen, maintaining defense against subsequent infection.

  9. [Comparison of neostigmine induced reversal of rocuronium in different age children].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Jinzhu; Cheng, Zhaoyu

    2016-03-15

    To compare the effectiveness of neostigmine induced reversal of rocuronium in neonates, infants, young children and children. One hundred and sixty ASA I or II pediatric patients undergoings elective surgical procedures under total intravenous anesthesia were enrolled during July 2014 to April 2015 in Tianjin Children's Hospital. The patients were divided into four groups according to ages: neonate group, infant group, young children group and children group.Then control subgroup and neostigmine reversal subgroup including twenty patients were randomly selected from every different age groups by the method of random number table. After induction of anesthesia, 0.6 mg/kg rocuronium was administered, and 0.2 mg/kg maintenance doses given as required during period of operation. Neuromuscular block was monitored using acceleromyographic train of four (TOF). When T1/control returned to 15%, 0.03 mg/kg neostigmine and 0.01 mg/kg atropine were given to patients of reversal subgroups, and saline 0.1 ml/kg was given to patients of control subgroups. The recovery time of T25, T75, TR0.7, recovery index, blood pressure, heart rate and adverse reactions were observed and recorded. In control subgroups, the recovery time of T75 for neonates, infants, young children and children were (27.10±8.72), (16.70±6.35), (13.05±1.96), (14.40±3.08) min, respectively (F=25.052, P0.05). But the recovery time of T75, TR0.7 and recovery index in neonate group were longer than other age groups (all Procuronium are comparable in infant, young children and children. There are obviously reversal effects in all of age groups when neostigmine is given to antagonize rocuronium. Either spontaneous recovery time or reversal recovery time of neostigmine to rocuronium is longer for neonates than other age's children.

  10. Ataxia rating scales are age-dependent in healthy children

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Brandsma, Rick; Spits, Anne H.; Kuiper, Marieke J.; Lunsing, Roelinka J.; Burger, Huibert; Kremer, Hubertus P.; Sival, Deborah A.

    AIM: To investigate ataxia rating scales in children for reliability and the effect of age and sex. METHOD: Three independent neuropaediatric observers cross-sectionally scored a set of paediatric ataxia rating scales in a group of 52 healthy children (26 males, 26 females) aged 4 to 16 years (mean

  11. Paternal age in relation to offspring intelligence in the West of Scotland Twenty-07 prospective cohort study.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elise Whitley

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: The adverse effects of advancing maternal age on offspring's health and development are well understood. Much less is known about the impact of paternal age. METHODS: We explored paternal age-offspring cognition associations in 772 participants from the West of Scotland Twenty-07 study. Offspring cognitive ability was assessed using Part 1 of the Alice Heim 4 (AH4 test of General Intelligence and by reaction time (RT. RESULTS: There was no evidence of a parental age association with offspring RT. However, we observed an inverse U-shaped association between paternal age and offspring AH4 score with the lowest scores observed for the youngest and oldest fathers. Adjustment for parental education and socioeconomic status somewhat attenuated this association. Adjustment for number of, particularly older, siblings further reduced the scores of children of younger fathers and appeared to account for the lower offspring scores in the oldest paternal age group. CONCLUSION: We observed a paternal age association with AH4 but not RT, a measure of cognition largely independent of social and educational experiences. Factors such as parental education, socioeconomic status and number of, particularly older, siblings may play an important role in accounting for paternal age-AH4 associations. Future studies should include parental intelligence.

  12. 99mTc-MDP Three Phase Bone Scan - An Important Imaging Modality in the Diagnosis of Bone Infection in Children

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sethi, R.S.; Mittal, B.R.; Bhattacharya, A.; Singh, B.; Jindal, S.K.

    2002-01-01

    In patients suspected to have osteomyelitis, three-phase bone scan is one of the earlier investigations to become positive. Early diagnosis helps in starting the appropriate therapy and thus reducing morbidity. A retrospective analysis of scintigraphic findings of 53 children (37 boys, 16 girls) with mean age of 7.4 years (25 days - 2 years), referred for three-phase bone scan to rule out osteomyelitis was done. The presenting signs and symptoms in all children in order of frequency were swelling of body part, guarding, fever of unknown origin. Limitation of movement of body part was the most frequent sign in infants below 6 months of age. In 32 (60.3%) of these 53 children, x-rays were normal. Eleven (20.7%) of the 53 children had normal three phase bone scan. Nine children (16.9%) had increased blood flow along with increased soft tissue tracer concentration in the involved area suggesting soft tissue inflammation / infection. Five (9.4%) children who presented with multiple abscesses over extremities with the suspicion of immunodeficiency also had positive three-phase bone scan. All these 5 children had pus culture positive for staphylococcus aureus. Four (7.5%) children had thalassemia major and were on regular blood transfusion. Three of these 4 children showed positive three-phase bone scan while in the fourth patient bone phase (3rd phase) was normal suggesting soft tissue inflammation only. One child who was a case of Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and had recently finished chemotherapy also showed positive three-phase bone scan. One infant who had positive three-phase bone scan with nonspecific abnormality on chest x-ray was diagnosed to have Caffey's disease, while his other twin showed a normal bone scan. In twenty-four children (45.2%) three-phase bone scan was positive involving mostly one extremity. According to the frequency of site of involvement these were knee, elbow and ankle. Most frequent bones involved were femur followed by humerus. Staphylococcus

  13. Visual acuity and refraction by age for children of three different ethnic groups in Paraguay

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marissa Janine Carter

    2013-04-01

    Full Text Available PURPOSE: To characterize refractive errors in Paraguayan children aged 5-16 years and investigate effect of age, gender, and ethnicity. METHODS:The study was conducted at 3 schools that catered to Mennonite, indigenous, and mixed race children. Children were examined for presenting visual acuity, autorefraction with and without cycloplegia, and retinoscopy. Data were analyzed for myopia and hyperopia (SE ≤-1 D or -0.5 D and ≥2 D or ≥3 D and astigmatism (cylinder ≥1 D. Spherical equivalent (SE values were calculated from right eye cycloplegic autorefraction data and analyzed using general linear modelling. RESULTS: There were 190, 118, and 168 children of Mennonite, indigenous and mixed race ethnicity, respectively. SE values between right/left eyes were nonsignificant. Mean visual acuity (VA without correction was better for Mennonites compared to indigenous or mixed race children (right eyes: 0.031, 0.090, and 0.102 logMAR units, respectively; P<0.000001. There were 2 cases of myopia in the Mennonite group (1.2% and 2 cases in the mixed race group (1.4% (SE ≤-0.5 D. The prevalence of hyperopia (SE ≥2 D was 40.6%, 34.2%, and 46.3% for Mennonite, indigenous and mixed race children. Corresponding astigmatism rates were 3.2%, 9.5%, and 12.7%. Females were slightly more hyperopic than males, and the 9-11 years age group was the most hyperopic. Mennonite and mixed race children were more hyperopic than indigenous children. CONCLUSIONS: Paraguayan children were remarkably hyperopic and relatively free of myopia. Differences with regard to gender, age, and ethnicity were small.

  14. Behavioral characteristics and cognitive development among school age children born to women with epilepsy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Güveli, Betül T; Gürses, Candan; Ataklı, Dilek; Akça Kalem, Şükriye; Dirican, Ahmet; Bebek, Nerses; Baykan, Betül; Gökyiğit, Aysen

    2015-04-01

    Greater risks of congenital malformation as well as cognitive and behavioral development in later childhood occur as a result of in utero exposure to antiepileptic drugs (AEDs). We examined the effects of AEDs on behavioral characteristics and cognitive development among school age children born to women with epilepsy. Children aged 6-15 years and born to women with epilepsy were enrolled in the study. Information was collected on the women's demographics and the details of their usage/non-usage of AEDs during pregnancy. The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for the Children-Revised (WICS-R) test was administered to the children. The Alexander IQ test and the Conner Parent Rating Scale (CPRS) were administered to the mothers. Comparisons were made between children who had been exposed and not exposed to AEDs in utero and if exposed, according to exposure to AED monotherapy or polytherapy. The mother's education level and IQ score and data from the same parent's siblings were evaluated with respect to consanguinity. Forty-one children born to 28 women with epilepsy were enrolled. Seven mothers had multiple pregnancies. Twenty-three pregnancies (56%) were exposed to monotherapy and five (12·1%) to polytherapy. The remaining 13 (31·7%) were not exposed to AEDs. Maternal education level was a significant major factor in child IQ development (P sibling assessment indicated a negative effect of valproate on IQ. It is important that the AED dosage be reduced to a minimum to maintain seizure control for healthy cognitive and behavioral development of a child.

  15. Hearing aid and cochlear implant use in children with hearing loss at three years of age: Predictors of use and predictors of changes in use

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marnane, Vivienne; Ching, Teresa YC

    2015-01-01

    Objective To examine usage patterns of hearing aids and cochlear implants in children up to three years of age, how usage changes longitudinally, and factors associated with device usage. Design Parent report and Parent’s Evaluation of Aural/oral performance of Children (PEACH) data were obtained at six and twelve months after hearing-aid fitting or cochlear implant switch-on, and again at three years of age. The effect of device use on auditory functional performance was investigated using the PEACH questionnaire. Study sample Four hundred and thirteen participants from the Longitudinal Outcomes of Children with Hearing Impairment (LOCHI) study were included for analysis. Result For users of hearing aids, higher usage at three years was associated with higher maternal education, and more severe hearing loss. For users of cochlear implants, higher usage was associated with higher maternal education and the absence of additional disabilities. Higher PEACH scores was associated with higher usage scores. After allowing for the effects of demographic characteristics, device use was not a significant predictor of functional performance. Conclusions Sixty-two percent of children achieved consistent use (>75% of waking hours) within the first year of receiving a hearing aid or a cochlear implant, and 71% by three years of age. PMID:25816866

  16. Diagnosis and treatment of ear disease among children in the ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Audiologists and ENT registrars examined 2 036 children aged 10 years or younger by means of pure-tone audiometry, tympanometry and otoscopic examinations. Twenty per cent of these children had ear pathology and 7,5% had impaired hearing. Forty-three pus swabs taken from patients with suppurative otitis media ...

  17. Crossed cerebellar diaschisis demonstrated by SPECT in hemiplegic children

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hamano, Shin-ichiro; Nara, Takahiro; Nozaki, Hidetsugu; Fukushima, Kiyomi; Imai, Masayuki; Kumagai, Koumei; Maekawa, Kihei.

    1991-01-01

    Crossed cerebellar diaschisis (CCD) in twenty five children with hemiplegia were studied using single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) with N-isopropyl-p-I-123-iodoamphetamine. Seven of twenty-five patients had cerebral palsy, and the others were impaired by acquired brain injury between ten months and fourteen years of age. CCD was demonstrated in five patients (20%), who were impaired by acquired brain injury after seven years of age. CCD could never be detected in patients with cerebral palsy. Ipsilateral cerebellar diaschisis was also demonstrated in two patients with cerebral palsy and three with early acquired brain injury before three years of age. It is suggested that diaschisis presents itself as a different form in a contralateral and ipsilateral cerebellum before three years of age from a form which presents after seven years of age. (author)

  18. Digital Games for Young Children Ages Three to Six: From Research to Design

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lieberman, Debra A.; Fisk, Maria Chesley; Biely, Erica

    2009-01-01

    Young children ages 3 to 6 play a wide range of digital games, which are now available on large screens, handheld screens, electronic learning systems, and electronic toys, and their time spent with games is growing. This article examines effects of digital games and how they could be designed to best serve children's needs. A small body of…

  19. The development of the own-race advantage in school-age children: A morphing face paradigm.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chien, Sarina Hui-Lin; Tai, Chu-Lik; Yang, Shu-Fei

    2018-01-01

    Previous studies examining the other-race effect in school-age children mostly focused on recognition memory performance. Here we investigated perceptual discriminability for Asian-like versus Caucasian-like morph faces in school-age Taiwanese children and adults. One-hundred-and-two 5- to 12-year-old children and twenty-three adults performed a sequential same/different face matching task, where they viewed an Asian- or a Caucasian-parent face followed by either the same parent face or a different morphed face (containing 15%, 30%, 45%, or 60% contribution from the other parent face) and judged if the two faces looked the same. We computed the d' as the sensitivity index for each age groups. We also analyzed the group mean rejection rates as a function of the morph level and fitted with a cumulative normal distribution function. Results showed that the adults and the oldest 11-12-year-old children exhibited a greater sensitivity (d') and a smaller discrimination threshold (μ) in the Asian-parent condition than those in the Caucasian-parent condition, indicating the presence of an own-race advantage. On the contrary, 5- to 10-year-old children showed an equal sensitivity and similar discrimination thresholds for both conditions, indicating an absence of the own-race advantage. Moreover, a gradual development in enhancing the discriminability for the Asian-parent condition was observed from age 5 to 12; however, the progression in the Caucasian-parent condition was less apparent. In sum, our findings suggest that expertise in face processing may take the entire childhood to develop, and supports the perceptual learning view of the other-race effect-the own-race advantage seen in adulthood likely reflects a result of prolonged learning specific to faces most commonly seen in one's visual environment such as own-race faces.

  20. Efficacy, safety and immunogenicity of a human rotavirus vaccine (RIX4414) in Hong Kong children up to three years of age: a randomized, controlled trial.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lau, Yu-Lung; Nelson, E Anthony S; Poon, Kin-Hung; Chan, Paul K S; Chiu, Susan; Sung, Rita; Leung, Chi Wai; Ng, Daniel; Ma, Yee Man; Chan, Desmond; Lee, Tsz Leung; Tang, Joyce; Kwan, Yat Wah; Ip, Patricia; Ho, Marco; Fung, Lai-Wah Eva; Tang, Haiwen; Suryakiran, P V; Han, Htay Htay; Bock, Hans

    2013-04-26

    A phase III, double-blind, randomized, controlled trial was conducted in Hong Kong to evaluate the efficacy, safety and immunogenicity of a human rotavirus vaccine, RIX4414 (Rotarix) against severe rotavirus gastroenteritis in children up to three years of age. Healthy infants aged 6-12 weeks were enrolled between 08-December-2003 and 31-August-2005 and received two oral doses of either RIX4414 vaccine (N=1513) or placebo (N=1512) given 2 months apart. Vaccine efficacy was assessed from two weeks post-Dose 2 until the children were two and three years of age. Anti-rotavirus IgA seroconversion rate was calculated pre-vaccination and 1-2 months post-Dose 2 using ELISA (cut-off=20 U/mL) for 100 infants. Safety was assessed until the children were two years of age; serious adverse events (SAEs) were recorded throughout the study period. In children aged two and three years of life, vaccine efficacy against severe rotavirus gastroenteritis was 95.6% (95% CI: 73.1%-99.9%) and 96.1% (95% CI: 76.5%-99.9%), respectively. The seroconversion rate 1-2 months after the second dose of RIX4414 was 97.5% (95% CI: 86.8%-99.9%). At least one SAE was recorded in 439 and 477 infants who were administered RIX4414 and placebo, respectively (p-value=0.130). Six intussusception cases were reported (RIX4414=4; placebo=2) and none was assessed to be vaccine-related. RIX4414 was efficacious, immunogenic and safe in the prevention of rotavirus gastroenteritis for at least two years post-vaccination in Hong Kong children. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  1. Exploring the Relationship between Participation in a Structured Sports Program and Development of Gross Motor Skills in Children Ages 3 to 6 Years

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jahagirdar, Ishanee; Venditti, Laura Anne; Duncan, Andrea; Reed, Nick; Fleming, Sean

    2017-01-01

    This study looked at the relationship between participation in a structured sports program and gross-motor-skills development in children aged 3 to 6 years. Twenty-seven children participated in the study, with 16 children receiving an eight-week sports program intervention. Children were assessed at pre- and postintervention using a modified…

  2. Quality of Play, Social Acceptance and Reciprocal Friendship in Preschool Children

    Science.gov (United States)

    Coelho, Leandra; Torres, Nuno; Fernandes, Carla; Santos, António J.

    2017-01-01

    Playing with peers is one of the most important contexts for the acquisition of social competencies in early childhood. This study examined the relation between children's play behavior, social acceptance in the peer group, and number of reciprocal friendships. One hundred and twenty eight children, aged between three and five years, participated…

  3. Family food involvement is related to healthier dietary intake in preschool-aged children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Metcalfe, Jessica Jarick; Fiese, Barbara H

    2018-03-27

    Children in the United States fall far short of meeting federal dietary recommendations. The unhealthy diets common amongst young children are of crucial public health concern, given that they can inhibit healthy development and are predictive of chronic diseases in adulthood. Research investigating behaviors that are related to dietary habits is crucial to allow a better understanding of the causes of unhealthy dietary practices. Involvement in food preparation is known to be associated with healthy dietary behaviors in school-aged children, but little is known about these behaviors and their correlates in younger children. The present study sought to examine the influences and correlates of involvement in family food preparation in children at ages three and four. Parents of preschool aged children (n = 497) completed surveys including information about demographic background, their children's family food involvement, dietary intake, mealtime routines, and problematic eating behaviors. Data were collected when children were three (wave one of the survey) and four years of age (wave two). Findings from this study indicate that family food involvement at age three is predictive of healthier dietary intake at age four (increased consumption of fruits and vegetables, decreased consumption of fast food). These findings indicate that family food involvement is predictive of healthier dietary behaviors in young children, and that outreach efforts focused on family food involvement in early childhood may improve children's dietary habits. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  4. Child Sustained Attention in Preschool-Age Children

    Science.gov (United States)

    DiCarlo, Cynthia F.; Baumgartner, Jennifer J.; Ota, Carrie; Geary, Kelly

    2016-01-01

    This study examined the mean duration of child attention across three teaching conditions (child choice, adult choice, or adult presentation) of 63 preschool-age children. A repeated-measures ANOVA was used to compare the means across the three teaching conditions, indicating a statistically significant difference between the teaching conditions.…

  5. Comparison of bone age in small-for-gestationalage children vs appropriate-for-getational-age children

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lionardus Edward

    2010-04-01

    Full Text Available BackgroundAbout 10-15% small-for-gestational-age children are in higher risk for having linear growth retardation due to growth hormone-insulin like growth factor 1 axis defect (GH-IGF 1 which causes bone age delay.ObjectivesTo compare bone age in 24-36 month old children born small-for-gestational-age (SGA to that in children born appropriate-for-gestational-age (AGA.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted in Hasan Sadikin General Hospital, Bandung, from January to April 2009.Subjects consisted of50 healthy children of 24-36 months old (25 children born at term, SGA, 25 children born at term, AGA. We compared the appropriateness and delay of bone age between the two groups. ResultsMean bone age in the SGA group was 20.8 (SD 7.7 months, and in the AGA group was 25.7 (SD 7.1 months (P=0.022. Mean bone age deficit was -10.5 (6.5 months in the SGA group and -5.5 (SD 5.7 months in the AGA group (P=0.009. The prevalence ratio was 1.77 (95% CI: 1.19–2.62. Bone age delay was found to be higher in children born SGA than that in children of the other group (23 vs 13. On the contrary, appropriate bone age was found more in children born AGA (12 vs 2 (P=0.002.Conclusion Bone age delay in 24-36 months old children born small-for-gestational-age was found to be higher than in those born appropriate-for-gestational-age.

  6. Executive Dysfunction in School-Age Children With ADHD

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lambek, Rikke; Tannock, Rosemary; Dalsgaard, Søren

    2011-01-01

    Objective: The study examined executive function deficits (EFD) in school-age children (7 to 14 years) with ADHD. Method: A clinical sample of children diagnosed with ADHD (n = 49) was compared to a population sample (n = 196) on eight executive function (EF) measures. Then, the prevalence of EFD...... in clinical and non-clinical children was examined at the individual level according to three methods previously applied to define EFD, and a fourth method was included to control for the effect of age on performance. Results: Children with ADHD were significantly more impaired on measures of EF than children...... without ADHD at the group level. However, only about 50% of children with ADHD were found to have EFD at the individual level, and results appeared relatively robust across methods applied to define EFD. Conclusion: As a group, children with ADHD displayed more problems on neuropsychological measures...

  7. Pharmacokinetics of rectal paracetamol after repeated dosing in children

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hahn, T W; Henneberg, S W; Holm-Knudsen, R J

    2000-01-01

    Twenty-three children (aged between 9 weeks and 11 yr) were given paracetamol suppositories 25 mg kg-1 every 6 h (maximum 5 days) after major surgery and serum and saliva concentrations were measured. There was a good correlation (r = 0.91, P

  8. Maternal age and offspring developmental vulnerability at age five: A population-based cohort study of Australian children.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kathleen Falster

    2018-04-01

    sociodemographic, perinatal, health, and developmental variables at the child's birth and school entry, the study was necessarily limited to variables available in the source data, which were mostly recorded for administrative purposes.Increasing maternal age was associated with a lesser risk of developmental vulnerability for children born to mothers aged 15 years to about 30 years. In contrast, increasing maternal age beyond 35 years was generally associated with increasing vulnerability, broadly equivalent to the risk for children born to mothers in their early twenties, which is highly relevant in the international context of later childbearing. That socioeconomic disadvantage explained approximately half of the increased risk of developmental vulnerability associated with younger motherhood suggests there may be scope to improve population-level child development through policies and programs that support disadvantaged mothers and children.

  9. The Effects of Task Explicitness to Communicate on the Expressiveness of Children's Drawings of Different Topics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burkitt, Esther

    2017-01-01

    Effects of asking children to communicate through their drawings have been investigated using animate rather than inanimate drawing topics. The present study investigated the impact of a communication context on children's drawings of topics with contrasting animism. Three hundred and twenty-two children, 156 boys and 166 girls aged 6-11 years…

  10. Three-dimensional spiral CT of craniofacial malformations in children

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Binaghi, S.; Gudinchet, F.

    2000-01-01

    Objective. To assess the value of three-dimensional CT (3D CT) in the diagnosis and management of suspected paediatric craniofacial malformations. Materials and methods. Twenty-eight children (12 girls, 16 boys) with a mean age of 4 years, suffering from craniofacial or cervical malformations, underwent craniofacial spiral CT. 3D reformatting was performed using an independent workstation. Results. 3D CT allowed the preoperative evaluation of 16 patients with craniosynostosis and the post-surgical management of 2 patients. 3D CT clearly depicted malformations of the skull base involving the petrous bone in seven patients (four cases of Goldenhar-Gorlin syndrome, one case of Treacher-Collins syndrome and two cases of Crouzon's disease). Four patients with craniofacial clefts were also evaluated. Radiological findings were confirmed by the clinical and intraoperative findings in all patients that underwent surgical treatment. Movement artefacts and ''Lego effect'' related to abrupt change of cranial vault border were encountered and are discussed. Conclusions. 3D CT of the skull can safely and reliably identify paediatric craniofacial malformations involving bone, and it should be used as morphological mapping to help the surgeon in planning surgical treatment. (orig.)

  11. Purposes for Literacy in Children's Use of the Online Virtual World "Club Penguin"

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marsh, Jackie

    2014-01-01

    This paper reports on a study of the purposes for literacy discernible in young children's use of the virtual world, "Club Penguin." Twenty-six children aged between 5 and 11 took part in semi-structured interviews in which their use of virtual worlds was explored. Further, three 11-year-old children were filmed using "Club…

  12. METHYLMERCURY BIOACCUMULATION DEPENDENCE ON NORTHERN PIKE AGE AND SIZE IN TWENTY MINNESOTA LAKES

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mercury accumulation in northern pike muscle tissue (fillets) was found to be directly related to fish age and size. Measurements were made on 173 individual northern pike specimens from twenty lakes across Minnesota. Best fit regressions of mercury fillet concentration (wet wt.)...

  13. Play Therapy Applied by Parents for Children with Darkness Phobia: Comparison of Two Programmes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Santacruz, Isabel; Mendez, Francisco J.; Sanchez-Meca, Julio

    2006-01-01

    Two play therapies applied by parents for darkness phobia in young children are compared. Seventy-eight children between the ages of 4 and 8 were recruited from twenty-seven schools. The participants were randomly assigned to three experimental conditions: bibliotherapy and games, emotive performances, and no treatment. The treatments were applied…

  14. HOARSENESS AMONG SCHOOL-AGE CHILDREN

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Robert Šifrer

    2004-02-01

    Full Text Available Background. The prevalence of dysphonia in schoolchildren has been reported to be from 7.1% to 23.3% and in adolescents from 0 to 80%. In Slovenia, the study on prevalence of dysphonia in schoolchildren has not been performed yet.Methods. The voice samples of 100 4th-graders and 102 8thgraders of elementary school were recorded. A lay judge and a professional assessed independently degree of hoarseness in the voice samples. One to three months after the recording, the dysphonic children were invited to an otorhinolaryngologic examination in order to find out the cause of dysphonia. All children and their parents answered the questionnaires on illnesses and vocal habits that might cause hoarseness. The prevalence of these unfavourable factors was compared between the group of children with long lasting hoarseness and the children without it.Results. At voice samples’ recording there were 34.2% dysphonic children. One to three months later, there were still 14.9% children with hoarse voice. The most frequent causes for acute dysphonia were acute respiratory infection and exacerbation of chronic laryngitis. The most frequent causes for persistent dysphonia were allergic catarrhal laryngitis, muscle tension dysphonia with or without vocal nodules and mutational voice disorder. The fast speaking rate appeared to be characteristic for children with long lasting dysphonia.Conclusions. Dysphonia in school-age children is the result of diseases of upper respiratory tract and/or functional voice disorders. Both causes of dysphonia could be successfully treated if they are detected early and the children are advised to see an otorhinolaryngologist. Adolescence is an ideal period for treatment of functional voice disorders. It is also the period when the children must decide for their future profession.

  15. Conversational Repair in School-Aged Children with High-Functioning Autism

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pei-Mei Lu

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available The main purpose of this study was to investigate the conversational repair skills of Mandarin Chinese-speaking children with high-functioning autism (HFA as compared with those of typically developing children (TD. Ten school-aged children (age 9 to 12 with HFA were recruited and matched against ten TD children in the control group based on age, gender, and verbal intelligence level. During three different conversation situations (free talk, story picture description, play, an examiner engineered 9 episodes of communicative breakdowns. Each consisted of a stacked series of three prompts for responding to requests for clarification (RQCLs (i.e.‘What?’, ‘I don’t understand’, ‘I still don’t know’. Verbal responses to each RQCL were then coded for further analyses. The results showed that (1 In response to the stacked series RQCLs, children with HFA were similar to the control group children in evidencing repetition, revision, and addition types of repair. Furthermore, children with HFA showed fewer cue type of repair and more inappropriate type of repair than TD group. (2For both groups, the pattern of responding over the series of RQCLs was similar in varying the repetition and revision types of repair strategies. However, the pattern in the addition, cue, and inappropriate types of repair strategies were different. Children with HFA were significantly more likely to respond to an RQCL with an inappropriate response than the language and age-matched controls. It is suggested that teachers and parents could facilitate the conversational repair skills of children with high-functioning autism by offering them opportunities to manage different types of communicative breakdowns.

  16. AGE AND REASONS OF THE FIRST DENTAL VISIT OF CHILDREN IN LEBANON.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Daou, Maha H; Eden, Ece; El Osta, Nada

    2016-01-01

    The American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry have recommended that the child's first dental visit should be during the child's first year of life for dental disease prevention and to decrease the invasive restorative interventions. In Lebanon, no study has been conducted to determine the age and the reasons of the first dental visit of children and who requested the first dental screening. To assess at what age occurred the first dental visit in a group of Lebanese children visiting a private pediatric dental clinic and to explore the reasons for their first dental consultation. An observational cross-sectional study was conducted. During a five-year period, all children visiting the pediatric clinic were invited to participate in the study. Parents were asked about the general health status of their child, the use of antibiotics before the age of 2 years. Parents were also requested to give the dental reasons for their initial visit to a pedodontist. Two hundred and twenty children (mean age 4.24 ± 1.35 years) visited the pedodontic care office for the first time and were included in the study. All participants had visited a pediatrician before the age of 1 year. Fifty-seven (25.9%) children were referred by a dentist and 163 (74.1%) came with their parents without referral. All participants had at least one reason for the first consultation; the most common were the presence of decayed teeth (50.9%) and a dental pain perception (29.5%). All participants had visited a pediatrician at an earlier age but none was referred to a pedodontist by a pediatrician for check-up or prevention. Children came upon the decision of their parents. A dental problem was the major reason which triggered the first visit. Therefore, pediatricians in Lebanon need to keep themselves updated on recommendations regarding children oral health and be encouraged to play an important role in prompting oral health and first dental visits.

  17. Twenty-Five Year Survival of Children with Intellectual Disability in Western Australia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bourke, Jenny; Nembhard, Wendy N; Wong, Kingsley; Leonard, Helen

    2017-09-01

    To investigate survival up to early adulthood for children with intellectual disability and compare their risk of mortality with that of children without intellectual disability. This was a retrospective cohort study of all live births in Western Australia between January 1, 1983 and December 31, 2010. Children with an intellectual disability (n = 10 593) were identified from the Western Australian Intellectual Disability Exploring Answers Database. Vital status was determined from linkage to the Western Australian Mortality database. Kaplan-Meier product limit estimates and 95% CIs were computed by level of intellectual disability. Hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% CIs were calculated from Cox proportional hazard regression models adjusting for potential confounders. After adjusting for potential confounders, compared with those without intellectual disability, children with intellectual disability had a 6-fold increased risk of mortality at 1-5 years of age (adjusted HR [aHR] = 6.0, 95%CI: 4.8, 7.6), a 12-fold increased risk at 6-10 years of age (aHR = 12.6, 95% CI: 9.0, 17.7) and a 5-fold increased risk at 11-25 years of age (aHR = 4.9, 95% CI: 3.9, 6.1). Children with severe intellectual disability were at even greater risk. No difference in survival was observed for Aboriginal children with intellectual disability compared with non-Aboriginal children with intellectual disability. Although children with intellectual disability experience higher mortality at all ages compared with those without intellectual disability, the greatest burden is for those with severe intellectual disability. However, even children with mild to moderate intellectual disability have increased risk of death compared with unaffected children. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  18. Cross-cultural differences for three visual memory tasks in Brazilian children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Santos, F H; Mello, C B; Bueno, O F A; Dellatolas, G

    2005-10-01

    Norms for three visual memory tasks, including Corsi's block tapping test and the BEM 144 complex figures and visual recognition, were developed for neuropsychological assessment in Brazilian children. The tasks were measured in 127 children ages 7 to 10 years from rural and urban areas of the States of São Paulo and Minas Gerais. Analysis indicated age-related but not sex-related differences. A cross-cultural effect was observed in relation to copying and recall of Complex pictures. Different performances between rural and urban children were noted.

  19. Ultrasound Diagnosis of Either an Occult or Missed Fracture of an Extremity in Pediatric-Aged Children

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cho, Kil Ho [Yeungnam University, Daegu (Korea, Republic of); Lee, Sung Moon [Keimyung University Dongsan Hospital, Daegu (Korea, Republic of); Lee, Young Hwan [Daegu Catholic University, Daegu (Korea, Republic of); Suh, Kyung Jin [Dongkuk University, Kyungju (Korea, Republic of)

    2010-02-15

    To report and assess the usefulness of ultrasound (US) findings for occult fractures of growing bones. For six years, US scans were performed in children younger than 15 years who were referred with trauma-related local pain and swelling of the extremities. As a routine US examination, the soft tissue, bones, and adjacent joints were examined in the area of discomfort, in addition to the asymptomatic contralateral extremity for comparison. Twenty-five occult fractures in 25 children (age range, five months-15 years; average age, 7.7 years) were confirmed by initial and follow-up radiograms, additional imaging studies, and clinical observation longer than three weeks. The most common site of occult fractures was the elbow (n = 9, 36%), followed by the knee (n = 7, 28%), ischium (n = 4, 16%), distal fibula (n = 3, 12%), proximal femur (n = 1, 4%), and humeral shaft (n = 1, 4%). On the retrograde review of the routine radiographs, 13 out of the 25 cases showed no bone abnormalities except for various soft tissue swelling. For the US findings, cortical discontinuity (direct sign of a fracture) was clearly visualized in 23 cases (92%) and was questionable in two (8%). As auxiliary US findings (indirect signs of a fracture), step-off deformities, tiny avulsed bone fragments, double-line appearance of cortical margins, and diffuse irregularity of the bone surfaces were identified. Performing US for soft tissue and bone surfaces with pain and swelling, with or without trauma history in the extremities, is important for diagnosing occult or missed fractures of immature bones in pediatric-aged children.

  20. Imitation of live and televised models by children one to three years of age.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McCall, R B; Parke, R D; Kavanaugh, R D

    1977-01-01

    The results of these studies indicated that children younger than 1 year possess the cognitive capability of translating a perception of a novel action into their own behavior. However, the likelihood of imitation varied as a function of the nature of the target behavior. For example, actions requiring direct social commerce with the examiner were imitated less frequently than simple motor behaviors with objects, and reproducing gestures was more common than vocalizations. Moreover, imitation seemed to depend upon the child's level of mental development--the imitation of coordinated sequences, which requires the child to associate two external events, lagged behind the imitation of single-unit behaviors. There was no evidence for individual traits of general imitativeness, at least not until symbolic relations were involved. Live models were imitated more than TV models but only prior to age 3. While children under 2 years of age were not facile at imitating sequences of behaviors or delaying performance at short time after modeling, older toddlers readily and accurately imitated televised sequences even after a 24-hour delay. Whereas socially extroverted and fearless children imitated live models more than shy children, TV imitation was not related to temperament, home TV viewing habits, or parental education. Finally, the experience of being imitated may facilitate the social cognition of influencing another person.

  1. Overweight and Obesity Prevalence Among School-Aged Nunavik Inuit Children According to Three Body Mass Index Classification Systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Medehouenou, Thierry Comlan Marc; Ayotte, Pierre; St-Jean, Audray; Meziou, Salma; Roy, Cynthia; Muckle, Gina; Lucas, Michel

    2015-07-01

    Little is known about the suitability of three commonly used body mass index (BMI) classification system for Indigenous children. This study aims to estimate overweight and obesity prevalence among school-aged Nunavik Inuit children according to International Obesity Task Force (IOTF), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and World Health Organization (WHO) BMI classification systems, to measure agreement between those classification systems, and to investigate whether BMI status as defined by these classification systems is associated with levels of metabolic and inflammatory biomarkers. Data were collected on 290 school-aged children (aged 8-14 years; 50.7% girls) from the Nunavik Child Development Study with data collected in 2005-2010. Anthropometric parameters were measured and blood sampled. Participants were classified as normal weight, overweight, and obese according to BMI classification systems. Weighted kappa (κw) statistics assessed agreement between different BMI classification systems, and multivariate analysis of variance ascertained their relationship with metabolic and inflammatory biomarkers. The combined prevalence rate of overweight/obesity was 26.9% (with 6.6% obesity) with IOTF, 24.1% (11.0%) with CDC, and 40.4% (12.8%) with WHO classification systems. Agreement was the highest between IOTF and CDC (κw = .87) classifications, and substantial for IOTF and WHO (κw = .69) and for CDC and WHO (κw = .73). Insulin and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein plasma levels were significantly higher from normal weight to obesity, regardless of classification system. Among obese subjects, higher insulin level was observed with IOTF. Compared with other systems, IOTF classification appears to be more specific to identify overweight and obesity in Inuit children. Copyright © 2015 Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  2. Influence of hearing age and understanding verbal instructions in children with cochlear implants

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Đoković Sanja

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Hearing age is defined as a period of using any amplification. Most researches indicate that hearing age influences the developmental rate of auditory and speech-language abilities in deaf children, especially when cochlear implantation was performed before the age of three. This research is aimed at analyzing the influence of hearing age on understanding verbal instructions in children with cochlear implants. The sample consists of 23 children with cochlear implants and 21 children with normal hearing, aged between 4 and 10. Hearing age of children with cochlear implants was between 2 and 7 years. Token Test with toys, adapted for children with hearing impairments, was used to analyze understanding verbal instructions. The results indicate that there are statistically significant differences between children with cochlear implants and children with normal hearing, aged between 4 and 7, on all subtests and the total score regardless of the hearing age (sub1 p<0.001, sub2 p<0.000, sub3 p<0.001, total score p<0.000. No statistically significant differences were determined on any of the subtests in children aged between 7.1 and 10, regardless of the hearing age. Comparative results analysis within the experimental group of children with different hearing age indicates that the difference in understanding verbal instructions between these two groups is not statistically significant.

  3. Energy and nutrient intake in preschool and school age Mexican children: National Nutrition Survey 1999

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Barquera Simón

    2003-01-01

    Full Text Available OBJECTIVE: To estimate energy and nutrient intake and adequacy in preschool and school age Mexican children, using the National Nutrition Survey 1999 (NNS-1999. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Twenty four-h dietary recalls from pre-school (n=1 309 and school (n=2 611 children obtained from a representative sub-sample of the NNS-1999 were analyzed. Intakes and adequacies were estimated and compared across four regions, socio-economic strata, and between urban and rural areas, and indigenous vs. non-indigenous children. RESULTS: Median energy intake in pre-school children was 949 kcal and in school children 1 377 kcal, with adequacies 150% in both age groups. The North and Mexico City regions had the highest fat intake and the lowest fiber intake. Children in the South region, indigenous children, and those in the lowest socio-economic stratum had higher fiber and carbohydrate intakes and the lowest fat intake. These children also showed the highest risks of inadequacies for vitamin A, vitamin C, folate, iron, zinc and calcium. CONCLUSIONS: Mexico is experiencing a nutrition transition with internal inequalities across regions and socio-economic strata. Food policy must account for these differences in order to optimize resources directed at social programs.

  4. Antipsychotic Prescriptions for Children Aged 5 Years or Younger

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ana Lòpez-De Fede

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available The use of antipsychotics in very young children is of concern given the lack of empirical evidence in their efficacy and long-term impact on children’s health. This study examined the prescription of antipsychotics among children aged ≤5 years enrolled in a state Medicaid program. Secondary data analysis was conducted using the Medicaid administrative data of a southeastern state. Using SAS 9.3, descriptive statistics were performed to examine socio-demographic characteristics, psychiatric diagnoses, off-label use, receipt of medications from multiple psychotropic drug classes, and receipt of non-pharmacologic psychiatric services among children aged ≤5 years who received antipsychotic prescriptions in calendar year (CY 2011. A total of 112 children in the target age group received antipsychotics in CY 2011, the most common prescription being risperidone. The most common listed psychiatric diagnosis was attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Two in five children received antipsychotics for off-label use. Three in four children also received medications from at least one other psychotropic drug class. More than half did not receive adjunct psychiatric services. State-level policies offering specific guidance and recommendations for antipsychotic use among very young children are urgently needed. Future research is warranted to examine long-term impact of such practices on children’s growth and development.

  5. The Second-Language Vocabulary Trajectories of Turkish Immigrant Children in Norway from Ages Five to Ten: The Role of Preschool Talk Exposure, Maternal Education, and Coethnic Concentration in the Neighborhood

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rydland, Veslemoy; Grover, Vibeke; Lawrence, Joshua

    2014-01-01

    Little research has explored how preschools can support children's second-language (L2) vocabulary development. This study keenly followed the progress of twenty-six Turkish immigrant children growing up in Norway from preschool (age five) to fifth grade (age ten). Four different measures of preschool talk exposure (amount and diversity of…

  6. AGE-DEPENDENT FEATURES OF EVOLVING HUMORAL IMMUNITY IN CHILDREN

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A. P. Toptygina

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract. Age dynamics of humoral immunity was studied in healthy children, i.e., 11 newborns, 33 infants of 4 to 8 months, 32 children of 1 to 2 years old,, 17 children of 4 to 5 years old, 25 children of 6 to 8 years old, 15 children of 9 to 11 years old, and 28 adolescents of 14 to 16 years old. Evaluation of membrane receptors on B cells was performed by means of three-colour fluorescent label and allowed of characterizing B1 subpopulations (CD19+CD5+CD27-, naпve B2 cells (CD19+CD5-CD27-, and B2 memory cells (CD19+CD5-CD27+. B1 cells have been shown to dominate in blood of newborns and younger children (up to 5 years old. By the contrary, B2 memory cells were nearly undetectable in newborns, and exceeded 20% in adolescents (by 15 years old. Meanwhile, it has been revealed that the amounts of IgG1 and IgG3 subclasses did progressively increase with age, whereas IgG2 remained decreased to 50% of adult values for a long time, and reached them by 11 years and later. We suggest that the age dynamics of IgG subclasses is connected with age-dependent changes in B cell subpopulations.

  7. Influence of physical activity on the posture of school age children

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Laštro Dijana

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Proper posture is an indicator of good health, proper growth and development, which is why it is important to start learning about posture from the earliest age using various forms of physical activity. To establish the impact of physical activity on aspects of posture components of children of school age. The study included 120 subjects aged 10-16 years who were grouped into three groups, which was stratified equal number of boys and girls. The first group consisted of 40 children who are actively practice sports. The second group consisted of 40 children who are not actively practice sport a third group of 40 children with deformity of the spine. For research purposes, we used: test for assessing the degree of physical activity and test for the assessment of body posture. By applying multiple regression analysis, we found that there is an influence of different predictors on the dependent variables in all three categorically defined pattern. The strongest positive correlation was found in the first sample categorically defined between predictors warming up exercises in the training and position keeping the legs, and the amount of connections is β = 0.43. The strongest negative correlations were established also at first categorically defined pattern between predictors time spent at the computer and position keeping the legs, and the amount of connections is β = -0.35. It was found that there is a difference in the level of physical activity between the three categorically defined sample (F = 95.687, p = 0.01, and also the difference in posture between the three categorically defined sample (F = 10.93, p = 0.01. The results show the necessity of promotion of various forms of physical activity of children school age in order of their proper growth and development.

  8. Pattern of acquisition of rotavirus antibody in children followed up from birth to the age of three years

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alexandre C. Linhares

    1989-03-01

    Full Text Available Nine hundred and forty-eight serum samples from 83 children living in Belem, Brazil, collected'within their first three years of life, were testedfor the presence of group- specific rotavirus-antibody by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA blocking-test. Passively transferred maternal antibody lasted about two and half months; subsequentely, low levels of rotavirus antibody started to appear at seven months, reaching a peak at eleven months of age. From one year onwards positivity gradually increased, reaching highest values at 34 months of life. Individual responses were examined in sera from 61 children who were followed up since birth to three years of age: 38 (62,3% ofthem developed a long-term immunity following first infection; eleven (18.0% children developed a short-term immunity after first infection by rotavirus; seven (11.5% had no antibody response within their first three years of life; and 5 (8.2% showed positive antibody response from birth to three years old.Amostras de soro, em número de 948, foram coletadas de 83 crianças, ao longo de seus três primeiros anos de vida, e testadas quanto àpresença de anticorpos grupo-especificos para rotavirus por um teste de bloqueio, utilizando-se o ensaio imunoenzimático (ELISA. Observou-se que anticorpos transferidos passivamente pela mãe persistiram por cerca de dois e meio meses; subseqüentemente, baixos níveis de anticorpos para rotavirus começaram a aparecer aos sete meses de idade, atingindo um pico por volta dos onze. A partir de um ano apositividade aumentou gradualmente, alcançando os mais altos valores aos 34 meses de vida. Respostas imunes individuais foram avaliadas em 61 crianças acompanhadas desde o seu nascimento até os três anos de idade, obtendo-se os seguintes resultados: 38 (62,3% delas desenvolveram imunidade de longa duração, após a primo-infecção; 11 (18,0% indivíduos apresentaram anticorpos específicos que se mantiveram por um intervalo de

  9. Vision screening in children: Is 7-9 years of age a threshold for visual impairment?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ertekin, Yusuf Haydar; Tekin, Murat; Uludag, Aysegul; Arikan, Sedat; Sahin, Erkan Melih

    2016-01-01

    The present study aimed to assess the prevalence of decreased visual acuity, strabismus, and spectacle wear in children aged 5 to 13 years. A cross-sectional study was performed in primary education schools. A total of 1938 participants, including 940 females (48.5%) and 998 males (51.5%) with a mean age 8.96 ± 2.31 (5-13 years old), were screened. The comparisons were performed with gender, age, and age groups. The children attended to vision screening were assigned to three age groups as 5-6 years, 7-9 years, and 10-13 years. The prevalence of the parameters was detected as decreased visual acuity 12.4%, strabismus 2.2%, and spectacle wear 6.9%. The prevalence of decreased visual acuity was significantly higher in girls and in children aged 7-9 years old (p = 0.013, p children aged 7-9 years old (p = 0.019, p visual acuity decrease in 33 of 106 (31.1%) children despite wearing own spectacle. There was no significant difference among three age groups for strabismus. Increased prevalence of decreased visual acuity, as well as the higher frequency of spectacle wear in children at ages of 7-9 years old may point out a threshold for visual impairment.

  10. [Comparison of polysomnographic characteristics in preschool and school aged children with obstructive sleep apnea hypopnea syndrome].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sun, Yuanfeng; Lei, Fei; Du, Lina; Tang, Xiangdong; Yang, Linghui

    2016-03-01

    To compare the characteristics of polysomnography in preschool and school aged children with obstructive sleep apnea hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS). The clinical data were collected from October 2009 to October 2013 among children monitored in Sleep Medical Center of West China Hospital. Among them, 189 preschool aged (aged 3-5 years) and 211 school aged (aged 6-13 years) children with sleep breathing disorder, and 33 children complained with sleep talking as controls were enrolled and underwent polysomnography. According to apnea hyponea index (AHI), they were classified as primary snoring (AHIstage and N2 stage among groups (P>0.05). In preschool aged children, the percentage of N1 stage in the moderate/severe group was more than other three groups (moderate/severe group vs control group, primary snoring group, mild group: 24.7%±13.7% vs 17.0%±8.7%, 21.7%±12.4%, 20.9%±11.6%, all Pstage in the moderate/severe group was more than the control group (moderate/severe group vs control group: 18.0%±10.4% vs 12.0%±4.8%, Pstage in the moderate/severe group and the mild group were less than the control group (moderate/severe group, mild group vs control group: 28.3%±9.6%, 28.8%±8.8% vs 33.9%±13.0%, both Ppreschool and school aged children group, the arouse index in the moderate/severe group was higher than other three groups, the mean oxygen saturation and the lowest oxygen saturation in the moderate/severe group were lower than those of the other three groups, the differences were statistically significant (all Ppreschool children (r=-0.02, P>0.05). However, there was significance in school aged children (r=0.26, Ppreschool and school aged (r=0.42, 0.55, both Ppreschool children than in school aged children. The severity is mainly related to enlarged tonsils and adenoids. School aged children with OSAHS may be more susceptible to sleep structure disorder and the severity is mainly related to BMI.

  11. Effect of community-based food supplementation on improving growth of underweight children under five years of age in West Nusa Tenggara

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aman Bhakti Pulungan

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Background The prevalence of underweight children in West Nusa Tenggara is as high as 30%. This region had the third largest number of stunted children in the country. The local government has attempted to tackle this problem by providing supplementary food to underweight children. Objective To assess the success of the community-based food supplementation program onimproving children’s growth in West Nusa Tenggara. Methods We conducted a prospective cohort study for 10 months in Paruga District Primary Health Care Unit, Bima, West Nusa Tenggara, in year 2012. Children were given supplementary food according to the Ministry of Health’s guidelines, consisting of formula milk, high calorie biscuits, and a 60-day supply of eggs, estimated to be sufficient to normalize their weights, for their age and sex.  A child’s weight and height were measured every 3 months and the results plotted on WHO growth charts for weight-for-age, height-for-age, and weight-for-height (nutritional status. Z-score -2 SD was classified as normal for all three categories. Results Twenty-five children under five years of age participated in this study. Subjects’ median age was 29 months. None of the subjects had normal weight-for-age Z-score at the beginning of the study. Eighty-four percent (21/25 of the subjects were severely underweight. Only 8% (2/25 of the subjects had normal height-for-age Z-score and 88% (22/25 of them were severely stunted. However, 80% (20/25 of subjects had normal nutritional status (weight-for-height. Changes in weight-for-age Z-score varied throughout the study. The highest median score was in the tenth month of follow up (-3.82. The highest median height-for-age score and weight-for-height score were also in the last month of follow up. At the end of the study, only one subject had normal weight-for-age score (4% and none of the subjects had normal height-for-age scores.   Conclusion The 10-month supplementary food program for under

  12. Parental break-ups and stress: roles of age & family structure in 44 509 pre-adolescent children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dissing, Agnete S; Dich, Nadya; Andersen, Anne-Marie Nybo; Lund, Rikke; Rod, Naja H

    2017-10-01

    Parental break-up is wide spread, and the effects of parental break-up on children's well-being are known. The evidence regarding child age at break-up and subsequent family arrangements is inconclusive. Aim: to estimate the effects of parental break-up on stress in pre-adolescent children with a specific focus on age at break-up and post-breakup family arrangements. We used data from the Danish National Birth Cohort. Participants included 44 509 children followed from birth to age 11. Stress was self-reported by children at age 11, when the children also reported on parental break-up and post break-up family arrangements. Twenty-one percent of the children had experienced a parental break-up at age 11, and those who had experienced parental break-up showed a higher risk of stress (OR:1.72, 95%CI:1.55;1.91) regardless of the child's age at break-up. Children living in a new family with stepparents (OR = 1.63, 95%CI:1.38;1.92), or shared between the parents (OR = 1.48, 95%CI:1.26;1.75) reported higher stress than children of intact families. Single parent families reported markedly higher stress levels than children in intact families (OR = 2.18, 95%CI:1.90;2.50) and all other family types. Children who were satisfied with their living arrangements post-break-up reported the same stress level as children living in intact families (OR = 1.01, 95%CI:0.86;1.18). Children who experience parental break-up have higher stress levels, also many years after the break-up, and those living in a single parent household post break-up seem to be most vulnerable. Living arrangements post-breakup should be further investigated as a potential protective factor. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Public Health Association. All rights reserved.

  13. T-lymphocyte subsets in West African children: impact of age, sex, and season

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lisse, I M; Aaby, P; Whittle, H

    1997-01-01

    method to determine T-lymphocyte subsets. RESULTS: We found differences by age, sex, and season, whereas there were no significant differences by birth order, twinning, or ethnic group. The CD4+ percentage declined from birth to age 2 years, at which time it started to increase to higher levels at age 4......OBJECTIVE: There has been no reference material for T-lymphocyte subsets for normal children in developing countries. We therefore used T-lymphocyte subset determinations among children in three different studies in Guinea-Bissau to construct age-related reference material and to examine possible...... determinants of T-lymphocyte subset levels. METHODS: A total of 803 healthy West African children younger than 6 years were included in the three community studies of T-lymphocyte subsets among twins and singletons, after measles infection and after measles immunization. We used the immunoalkaline phosphatase...

  14. Incarcerated umbilical hernia in children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chirdan, L B; Uba, A F; Kidmas, A T

    2006-02-01

    Umbilical hernia is common in children. Complications from umbilical hernias are thought to be rare and the natural history is spontaneous closure within 5 years. A retrospective analysis was performed of the medical records of a series of 23 children who presented with incarcerated umbilical hernias at our institution over an 8-year period. Fifty-two children with umbilical hernias were seen in the hospital over the period. Twenty-three (44.2%) had incarceration. Seventeen (32.7%) had acute incarceration while 6 (11.5%) had recurrent incarceration. There were 16 girls and 7 boys. The ages of the children with acute incarceration ranged from 3 weeks to 12 years (median 4 years), while the ages of those with recurrent incarceration ranged from 3-15 years (median 8.5 years). Incarceration occurred in hernias of more than 1.5 cm in diameter (in those whose defect size was measured). Twenty-one children (15 with acute and all six with recurrent incarceration) underwent repair of the umbilical hernia using standard methods. The parents of two children with acute incarceration declined surgery after spontaneous reduction of the hernia in one and taxis in the other. One boy had gangrenous bowel containing Meckel's diverticulum inside the sac, for which bowel resection with end-to-end anastomosis was done. Operation led to disappearance of pain in all 6 children with recurrent incarceration. Superficial wound infection occurred in one child. There was no mortality. Incarcerated umbilical hernia is not as uncommon as thought. Active observation of children with umbilical hernia is necessary to prevent morbidity from incarceration.

  15. Assessment of bone age in prepubertal healthy Korean children: Comparison among the Korean standard bone age chart, Greulich-Pyle method, and Tanner-Whitehouse method

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim Jeong Rye; Lee, Young Seok; Yu, Jee Suk

    2015-01-01

    To compare the reliability of the Greulich-Pyle (GP) method, Tanner-Whitehouse 3 (TW3) method and Korean standard bone age chart (KS) in the evaluation of bone age of prepubertal healthy Korean children. Left hand-wrist radiographs of 212 prepubertal healthy Korean children aged 7 to 12 years, obtained for the evaluation of the traumatic injury in emergency department, were analyzed by two observers. Bone age was estimated using the GP method, TW3 method and KS, and was calculated in months. The correlation between bone age measured by each method and chronological age of each child was analyzed using Pearson correlation coefficient, scatterplot. The three methods were compared using one-way analysis of variance. Significant correlations were found between chronological age and bone age estimated by all three methods in whole group and in each gender (R2 ranged from 0.87 to 0.9, p < 0.01). Although bone age estimated by KS was slightly closer to chronological age than those estimated by the GP and TW3 methods, the difference between three methods was not statistically significant (p > 0.01). The KS, GP, and TW3 methods show good reliability in the evaluation of bone age of prepubertal healthy Korean children without significant difference between them. Any are useful for evaluation of bone age in prepubertal healthy Korean children.

  16. Age-specific cerebral perfusion in 4- to 15-year-old children: a high-resolution brain SPET study using 99mTc-ECD

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Barthel, H.; Dannenberg, C.; Bettin, S.; Sattler, B.; Knapp, W.H.; Wiener, M.

    1997-01-01

    This study addresses the question of whether the normal range for distribution of local cerebral blood flow (lCBF) in adults can be transferred to the 4- to 15-year-old age group. Twenty-three children (age: 4-15 years; mean 11±3 years, group I) and 10 adults (age: 27-56 years; mean 45±10 years, group II) without evidence of cerebrovascular disease or other brain diseases underwent technetium-99m ethyl cysteinate dimer single-photon emission tomography. Counts in cortical and subcortical regions of interest (ROIs) were related to those in cerebellar ROIs (= 100%). Relative cortical activity in group I exceeded that in group II, particularly in left parietal (107.6%±9.8% vs 84.1%±12.4%), left frontal (97.7%±6.7% vs 79.4%±8.9%) and left temporal areas (99.7%±7.4% vs 84.9%±10.1%) and in the cingulate cortex (112.1%±9.1% vs 95.9%±10.1%, P<0.05). Cerebral activity uptake per injected dose was inversely correlated with age in 19 children of group I (r -0.77, P<0.001). In group I, there was also an inverse correlation between age and the relative local count density in the parietal (r = -0.42 to -0.57), frontal (r = -0.48), temporal (r=-0.42 to -0.58) and occipital cortex (r=-0.44). In these cortical regions relative counts differed when subgroups of children aged 4-10 and 11-15 years were analysed. It is concluded that there are systematic differences between 4- to 15-year-old children and adults with regard to normal lCBF. Diagnostic use of perfusion agents has to consider age-adjusted normal flow maps; normal ranges should be determined separately for the age groups 4-10 and 11-15 years. (orig.)

  17. Adaptive and Defensive Strategies in Post-Traumatic Play of Young Children Exposed to Violent Attacks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chazan, Saralea; Cohen, Esther

    2010-01-01

    Twenty-three children, aged four to eight years, who had been exposed to violent attacks, were videotaped in individual 40-minute play sessions. These play narratives were recorded by a student researcher trained in narrative analysis and play therapy. She then sorted these play vignettes into three patterns of post-traumatic play, defined in the…

  18. Digit Sucking, Age, Sex, and Socioeconomic Status as Determinants of Oral Hygiene Status and Gingival Health of Children in Suburban Nigeria.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Agbaje, Hakeem O; Kolawole, Kikelomo A; Folayan, Morenike O; Onyejaka, Nneka K; Oziegbe, Elizabeth O; Oyedele, Titus A; Chukwumah, Nneka M; Oshomoji, Olusegun V

    2016-09-01

    This study determines prevalence of digit sucking and gingivitis, and association among age, sex, socioeconomic status, presence of digit-sucking habits, oral hygiene status (OHS), and gingivitis among a group of Nigerian children. Data of 992 children aged 1 to 12 years recruited through a household survey conducted in Osun State, Nigeria were analyzed. Information on age, sex, socioeconomic status, and history of digit-sucking habits were collected. Children were assessed for OHS and severity of gingivitis using the simplified oral hygiene index and the gingival index, respectively. Predictors of presence of gingivitis and poor oral hygiene were determined using multivariate logistic regression. One (0.2%) and 454 (93.0%) children aged 1 to 5 years had poor oral hygiene and mild gingivitis, respectively. Twenty-two (4.4%) and 361 (72.9%) children aged 6 to 12 years had poor oral hygiene and mild gingivitis, respectively. The odds of having poor oral hygiene (adjusted odds ratio [AOR]: 0.26; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.20 to 0.35; P oral hygiene and gingivitis. Increasing age and low socioeconomic status were factors that significantly increased chances of having poor oral hygiene and gingivitis.

  19. Assessment of functional status in children with brain tumors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sugita, Yasuo; Kobayashi, Seiichi; Uegaki, Masami; Katayama, Masahiko; Miyagi, Jun; Iryo, Osamu; Shigemori, Minoru; Kuramoto, Shinken; Ootsubo, Masaaki

    1987-01-01

    Thirty children treated for brain tumors between 1978 - 1985 at Kurume university hospital were evaluated for alternation in intellectual, emotional, and social function. They were 15 males and 15 females, aged 3 to 16 years, on the averaged 1.7 years after treatment. Twenty-eight children had no neurological deficits and 2 children had slight neurological deficits. It was possible for twenty-eight children to be evaluated for intelligence quotient by Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-revised and Tanaka-Binet. The median score and standard deviation of intelligence quotient (IQ) test in children with brain tumors were as follows; verbal IQ: 84 ± 16, performance IQ: 77 ± 20, full scale IQ: 80 ± 20. There children with brain tumors obtained significant low IQ scores than children (t-test, P < 0.01). Twenty-one (72 %) children showed subnormal IQ scores (IQ < 90) and 7 children showed normal IQ scores (IQ ≥ 90). Concerning social and emotional function, twelve children (45.7 %) showed abnormal behaviour. The median scores and standard deviation of IQ scores in cranial irradiated patients were as follows; verbal IQ: 79 ± 13, performance IQ: 71 ± 15, full scale IQ: 71 ± 14. Especially, ten of twelve cranial irradiated patients showed subnormal IQ scores. Also, cranial irradiated patients obtained significant low IQ scores than non-cranial irradiated patients (t-test, P < 0.05). Serial evaluation of three cranial irradiated patients revealed further deterioration without recurrence of tumor and hydrocephalus. The results are discussed to: (1) the effects and mechanism of cranial irradiation on cognitive development: (2) the relationship between cognitive dysfunction and irradiation methods. The effects and mechanism of cranial irradiation on cognitive dysfunction is considered to be not only injury of cortex but also injury of fiber tracts. Also, cognitive dysfunction is apt to be related to age of irradiated patients. (J.P.N.)

  20. Assessment of functional status in children with brain tumors

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sugita, Yasuo; Kobayashi, Seiichi; Uegaki, Masami; Katayama, Masahiko; Miyagi, Jun; Iryo, Osamu; Shigemori, Minoru; Kuramoto, Shinken; Ootsubo, Masaaki

    1987-06-01

    Thirty children treated for brain tumors between 1978 - 1985 at Kurume university hospital were evaluated for alternation in intellectual, emotional, and social function. They were 15 males and 15 females, aged 3 to 16 years, on the averaged 1.7 years after treatment. Twenty-eight children had no neurological deficits and 2 children had slight neurological deficits. It was possible for twenty-eight children to be evaluated for intelligence quotient by Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-revised and Tanaka-Binet. The median score and standard deviation of intelligence quotient (IQ) test in children with brain tumors were as follows; verbal IQ: 84 +- 16, performance IQ: 77 +- 20, full scale IQ: 80 +- 20. There children with brain tumors obtained significant low IQ scores than children (t-test, P < 0.01). Twenty-one (72 %) children showed subnormal IQ scores (IQ < 90) and 7 children showed normal IQ scores (IQ greater than or equal to 90). Concerning social and emotional function, twelve children (45.7 %) showed abnormal behaviour. The median scores and standard deviation of IQ scores in cranial irradiated patients were as follows; verbal IQ: 79 +- 13, performance IQ: 71 +- 15, full scale IQ: 71 +- 14. Especially, ten of twelve cranial irradiated patients showed subnormal IQ scores. Also, cranial irradiated patients obtained significant low IQ scores than non-cranial irradiated patients (t-test, P < 0.05). Serial evaluation of three cranial irradiated patients revealed further deterioration without recurrence of tumor and hydrocephalus. The results are discussed to: (1) the effects and mechanism of cranial irradiation on cognitive development: (2) the relationship between cognitive dysfunction and irradiation methods. The effects and mechanism of cranial irradiation on cognitive dysfunction is considered to be not only injury of cortex but also injury of fiber tracts. Also, cognitive dysfunction is apt to be related to age of irradiated patients. (J.P.N.).

  1. Emergent literacy profiles of preschool-age children with specific language impairment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cabell, Sonia Q; Lomax, Richard G; Justice, Laura M; Breit-Smith, Allison; Skibbe, Lori E; McGinty, Anita S

    2010-12-01

    The primary aim of the present study was to explore the heterogeneity of emergent literacy skills among preschool-age children with specific language impairment (SLI) through examination of profiles of performance. Fifty-nine children with SLI were assessed on a battery of emergent literacy skills (i.e., alphabet knowledge, print concepts, emergent writing, rhyme awareness) and oral language skills (i.e., receptive/expressive vocabulary and grammar). Cluster analysis techniques identified three emergent literacy profiles: (1) Highest Emergent Literacy, Strength in Alphabet Knowledge; (2) Average Emergent Literacy, Strength in Print Concepts; and (3) Lowest Emergent Literacy across Skills. After taking into account the contribution of child age, receptive and expressive language skills made a small contribution to the prediction of profile membership. The present findings, which may be characterized as exploratory given the relatively modest sample size, suggest that preschool-age children with SLI display substantial individual differences with regard to their emergent literacy skills and that these differences cannot be fully determined by children's age or oral language performance. Replication of the present findings with a larger sample of children is needed.

  2. Diagnostic accuracy of language sample measures with Persian-speaking preschool children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kazemi, Yalda; Klee, Thomas; Stringer, Helen

    2015-04-01

    This study examined the diagnostic accuracy of selected language sample measures (LSMs) with Persian-speaking children. A pre-accuracy study followed by phase I and II studies are reported. Twenty-four Persian-speaking children, aged 42 to 54 months, with primary language impairment (PLI) were compared to 27 age-matched children without PLI on a set of measures derived from play-based, conversational language samples. Results showed that correlations between age and LSMs were not statistically significant in either group of children. However, a majority of LSMs differentiated children with and without PLI at the group level (phase I), while three of the measures exhibited good diagnostic accuracy at the level of the individual (phase II). We conclude that general LSMs are promising for distinguishing between children with and without PLI. Persian-specific measures are mainly helpful in identifying children without language impairment while their ability to identify children with PLI is poor.

  3. Age-related trends in psychotropic medication use among very young children in foster care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    dosReis, Susan; Tai, Ming-Hui; Goffman, David; Lynch, Sean E; Reeves, Gloria; Shaw, Terry

    2014-12-01

    The specific objectives were to investigate changes in the prevalence of psychotropic medication use for each year increase in age from three to six years old among children in foster care and to examine time-varying odds of longer duration of use by each year of age. A retrospective analysis of data on mental health and pharmacy services was conducted for 1,491 children age six and younger who were in foster care in 2010 and had at least 365 days in foster care during 2009-2011. A total of 178 children received at least one psychotropic medication from 2009 through 2011. Psychotropic prevalence and average days of use were calculated for each therapeutic class. Longitudinal regression models assessed the time-varying relationship between year of age and duration of use, controlling for demographic and clinical covariates. Approximately 12% of children age six and younger in foster care for 365 days or more received at least one psychotropic medication over the three-year study period. Prevalence of ADHD medication and antipsychotic medication and duration increased with each year of age (p<.001). In adjusted longitudinal models, each year increase in age was associated with a nearly twofold higher likelihood of longer duration of antipsychotic and ADHD medication use. Young children who initiated antipsychotic and ADHD medications before the age of six continued to receive them for longer periods of time. There is a critical need for long-term studies to evaluate the effect of chronic exposure on children's health and well-being.

  4. [Effect of exogamy on morbidity among children during the first three years of life].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dubrova, Iu E; Korzeneva, I B; Stiazhkina, T V

    1997-01-01

    The incidence of common diseases among children in the first three years of life was studied in relation to the degree of outcrossing in family history, the level of education of both parents, and the age of entering nursery school. A total of 526 children (274 boys and 252 girls) were inspected. The factors under study proved to have no effect on morbidity among children under one year of age. However, morbidity during the second and third years of life depended on the degree of outcrossing in the children's family background, the educational level of their mothers, and the age of their entrance into nursery school. Higher morbidity at this age was characteristic of children born of parents belonging to different ethnic groups, and this situation was independent of social factors. The role of genetic coadaptation and epistasis in determining the relationship between outcrossing and morbidity is discussed.

  5. Changes in body water distribution during treatment with inhaled steroid in pre-school children

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Heitmann, B L; Anhøj, Jacob; Bisgaard, A M

    2004-01-01

    .i.d. delivered via Babyhaler, budesonide pressurized metered dose inhaler (pMDI) 200 microg b.i.d. delivered via Nebuchamber and placebo. Spacers were primed before use. In total, 40 children aged 1-3 years, with mild intermittent asthma were included. Twenty-five of the children completed all three treatments...... overall this effect was not statistically significant (0.1 growth during inhaled steroid treatment seems to partly reflect generalized changes...

  6. Differential motor alterations in children with three types of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

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    Adrián Poblano

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available Objective To determine frequency of motor alterations in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD. Method We evaluated 19 children aged 7-12 years with ADHD classified in three sub-types: Combined (ADHD-C, with Inattention (ADHD-I, and with Hyperactivity (ADHD-H. Controls were age- and gender matched healthy children. We utilized Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency (BOTMP for measuring motor skills. Results We observed differences between children with ADHD and controls in BOTMP general score and in static coordination, dynamic general- and hand- coordination, and in synkinetic movements. We also found differences in dynamic hand coordination between controls and children with ADHD-C; in dynamic general coordination between controls and children with ADHD-H; and in frequency of synkinetic movements between controls and children with ADHD-H. Conclusion Children with ADHD with a major degree of hyperactivity showed greater frequency of motor alterations.

  7. Predictors of Dietary Energy Density among Preschool Aged Children

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    Nilmani N.T. Fernando

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available Childhood obesity is a global problem with many contributing factors including dietary energy density (DED. This paper aims to investigate potential predictors of DED among preschool aged children in Victoria, Australia. Secondary analysis of longitudinal data for 209 mother–child pairs from the Melbourne Infant Feeding, Activity and Nutrition Trial was conducted. Data for predictors (maternal child feeding and nutrition knowledge, maternal dietary intake, home food availability, socioeconomic status were obtained through questionnaires completed by first-time mothers when children were aged 4 or 18 months. Three 24-h dietary recalls were completed when children were aged ~3.5 years. DED was calculated utilizing three methods: “food only”, “food and dairy beverages”, and “food and all beverages”. Linear regression analyses were conducted to identify associations between predictors and these three measures of children’s DED. Home availability of fruits (β: −0.82; 95% CI: −1.35, −0.29, p = 0.002 for DEDfood; β: −0.42; 95% CI: −0.82, −0.02, p = 0.041 for DEDfood+dairy beverages and non-core snacks (β: 0.11; 95% CI: 0.02, 0.20, p = 0.016 for DEDfood; β: 0.09; 95% CI: 0.02, 0.15, p = 0.010 for DEDfood+dairy beverages were significantly associated with two of the three DED measures. Providing fruit at home early in a child’s life may encourage the establishment of healthful eating behaviors that could promote a diet that is lower in energy density later in life. Home availability of non-core snacks is likely to increase the energy density of preschool children’s diets, supporting the proposition that non-core snack availability at home should be limited.

  8. Effectiveness of Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention in Children under Ten Years of Age in Senegal: A Stepped-Wedge Cluster-Randomised Trial.

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    Badara Cissé

    2016-11-01

    ] was 0.90, 95% CI 0.68-1.2, p = 0.496. A reduction of 60% (95% CI 54%-64%, p < 0.001 in the incidence of malaria cases confirmed by a rapid diagnostic test (RDT and a reduction of 69% (95% CI 65%-72%, p < 0.001 in the number of treatments for malaria (confirmed and unconfirmed was observed in children. In areas where SMC was implemented, incidence of confirmed malaria in adults and in children too old to receive SMC was reduced by 26% (95% CI 18%-33%, p < 0.001 and the total number of treatments for malaria (confirmed and unconfirmed in these older age groups was reduced by 29% (95% CI 21%-35%, p < 0.001. One hundred and twenty-three children were admitted to hospital with a diagnosis of severe malaria, with 64 in control areas and 59 in SMC areas, showing a reduction in the incidence rate of severe disease of 45% (95% CI 5%-68%, p = 0.031. Estimates of the reduction in the prevalence of parasitaemia at the end of the transmission season in SMC areas were 68% (95% CI 35%-85% p = 0.002 in 2008, 84% (95% CI 58%-94%, p < 0.001 in 2009, and 30% (95% CI -130%-79%, p = 0.56 in 2010. SMC was well tolerated with no serious adverse reactions attributable to SMC drugs. Vomiting was the most commonly reported mild adverse event but was reported in less than 1% of treatments. The average cost of delivery was US$0.50 per child per month, but varied widely depending on the size of the health post. Limitations included the low rate of mortality, which limited our ability to detect an effect on this endpoint.SMC substantially reduced the incidence of outpatient cases of malaria and of severe malaria in children, but no difference in all-cause mortality was observed. Introduction of SMC was associated with an overall reduction in malaria incidence in untreated age groups. In many areas of Africa with seasonal malaria, there is a substantial burden in older children that could be prevented by SMC. SMC in older children is well tolerated and effective and can contribute to reducing

  9. Comparison of Measures of Morphosyntactic Complexity in French-Speaking School-Aged Children

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mimeau, Catherine; Plourde, Vickie; Ouellet, Andrée-Anne; Dionne, Ginette

    2015-01-01

    This study examined the validity and reliability of different measures of morphosyntactic complexity, including the Morphosyntactic Complexity Scale (MSCS), a novel adaptation of the Developmental Sentence Scoring, in French-speaking school-aged children. Seventy-three Quebec children from kindergarten to Grade 3 completed a definition task and a…

  10. The effect of a music therapy intergenerational program on children and older adults' intergenerational interactions, cross-age attitudes, and older adults' psychosocial well-being.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Belgrave, Melita

    2011-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of participation in a music-based intergenerational music program on cross-age interactions and cross-age attitudes of elementary-age children and older adults, and older adults' psychosocial well-being. Twenty-one children in the 4th grade volunteered to participate in the experimental (n = 12) or control (n = 9) group. Twenty-six older adults from a retirement living facility also volunteered to participate in the experimental (n = 14) or control (n = 12) group. Ten 30-min music sessions occurred in which participants engaged in singing, structured conversation, moving to music, and instrument playing interventions. Data analysis of cross-age interactions revealed that the interventions "structured conversation" and "moving to music" were more effective in eliciting interaction behaviors than the interventions "singing" and "instrument playing." Standardized measures revealed that children's attitudes towards older adults improved, though not significantly so, after participation in the intergenerational program. Results of biweekly post-session questionnaires revealed a decrease in negative descriptions of older adults and an increase in positive descriptions of older adults--suggesting a more positive view towards aging. Results revealed that older adults' attitudes towards children improved significantly after their participation in the intergenerational program. While standardized measures revealed that older adults did not perceive a significant improvement in their psychosocial well-being, their bi-weekly post-session questionnaires showed they perceived increased feelings of usefulness and other personal benefits from the intergenerational interactions. Suggestions for future research, the utility of varied measurement instruments, and implications for practice are discussed.

  11. Daytime Secretion of Salivary Cortisol and Alpha-Amylase in Preschool-Aged Children with Autism and Typically Developing Children

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kidd, Sharon A.; Corbett, Blythe A.; Granger, Douglas A.; Boyce, W. Thomas; Anders, Thomas F.; Tager, Ira B.

    2012-01-01

    We examined daytime salivary cortisol and salivary alpha-amylase (sAA) secretion levels and variability in preschool-aged children with autism (AUT) and typically developing children (TYP). Fifty-two subjects (26 AUT and 26 TYP) were enrolled. Salivary samples were obtained at waking, midday, and bedtime on two consecutive days at three phases…

  12. Decoding and Encoding Facial Expressions in Preschool-Age Children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zuckerman, Miron; Przewuzman, Sylvia J.

    1979-01-01

    Preschool-age children drew, decoded, and encoded facial expressions depicting five different emotions. Accuracy of drawing, decoding and encoding each of the five emotions was consistent across the three tasks; decoding ability was correlated with drawing ability among female subjects, but neither of these abilities was correlated with encoding…

  13. BUDESONIDE TREATMENT IN CHILDREN PRESCHOOL AGE

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    E.A. Vishneva

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available Bronchial asthma remains disease with wide prevalence in children different age. Inhalation corticosteroids are medications of first line of therapy in children. The article describes the ways of treatment with budesonide (Pulmicort in children preschool age. The data from different studies prove the effectiveness and safety of treatment with as turbuhaler, as nebulizer form of this drug. Key words: children, bronchial asthma, inhalational corticosteroids, budesonide.(Voprosy sovremennoi pediatrii — Current Pediatrics. 2010;9(1:76-80

  14. Gender atypical behavior in Chinese school-aged children: its prevalence and relation to sex, age, and only child status.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yu, Lu; Winter, Sam

    2011-07-01

    This study had three purposes: (a) to compare the prevalence of boys' and girls' gender-atypical behaviors (GABs) in a sample of Chinese school-aged children, (b) to examine the developmental pattern of GABs in Chinese boys and girls over the age range in question (6-12 years), and (c) to test the effects of being an only child on children's GAB expression. Parents of 486 boys and 417 girls completed a Child Play Behavior and Activity Questionnaire (CPBAQ) in regard to their own children, and a demographic information sheet. The frequency distribution for each gender-related behavior was calculated. The associations between sex, age, and only-child status, and CPBAQ scale scores were examined. Although most GABs (by their very nature) were exhibited infrequently in Chinese children, it was found that girls displayed GABs more frequently than boys did. The prevalence of GABs rose for girls as they grew older, but fell slightly for boys. The expressions of GABs in only children did not differ from that in children with siblings. Possible effects of Chinese culture (including the current only-child policy) on children's GABs are discussed.

  15. Leadership for Twenty-First-Century Schools and Student Achievement: Lessons Learned from Three Exemplary Cases

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schrum, Lynne; Levin, Barbara B.

    2013-01-01

    The purpose of this research was to understand ways exemplary award winning secondary school leaders have transformed their schools for twenty-first-century education and student achievement. This article presents three diverse case studies and identifies ways that each school's leader and leadership team reconfigured its culture and expectations,…

  16. Learned Helplessness in Exceptional Children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brock, Herman B.; Kowitz, Gerald T.

    The research literature on learned helplessness in exceptional children is reviewed and the authors' efforts to identify and retrain learning disabled (LD) children who have characteristics typical of learned helplessness are reported. Twenty-eight elementary aged LD children viewed as "learned helpless" were randomly assigned to one of four…

  17. Physical activity and play in kindergarten age children

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Caroli, Margherita; Malecka-Tendera, Ewa; Epifani, Susi

    2011-01-01

    PERISCOPE project assesses factors promoting or preventing obesity development in early age. A specifi c aim is to assess preschool children ’ s physical activity habits in three different European countries. PERISCOPE has been implemented in 1094 children attending kindergartens in Denmark, Italy...... and Poland. The parents ’ and children ’ s physical activity habits and attitudes assessed by a questionnaire fi lled by the parents. Overweight and obesity assessed by Cole ’ s BMI cut-off points. Statistical analysis performed by χ^2 test and the test of proportion. Denmark shows the lowest rate (14...... hour (p active, the Polish are in the middle and the Italians are the least active. The difference in infrastructures (safety of walking streets, access...

  18. PERIPHERAL RETINAL FINDINGS IN HIGHLY MYOPIC CHILDREN ≤10 YEARS OF AGE

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bansal, Alok S.; Hubbard, G. Baker

    2011-01-01

    Purpose The purpose of this study was to characterize the peripheral retinal findings in highly myopic young children without other known risk factors for retinal detachment. Methods A retrospective review of all cases of children ≤10 years of age with high myopia (>6.00 diopters) who were evaluated for presumed risk of retinal detachment by either an examination under anesthesia or office examination by a single retina specialist from January 2001 through December 2008. Patients with regressed retinopathy of pre-maturity, retinal detachment in the fellow eye, or known Stickler syndrome were excluded. Results Fifty-four eyes of 30 patients with high myopia were examined. Twenty-six eyes of 14 patients were examined under anesthesia because of the examiner’s inability to adequately visualize the peripheral retina during an office examination. Mean age at examination was 6 ± 3 (range, 1–10) years. Mean spherical equivalent refractive error was −13.88 ± 3.79 (range, −6.00 to −25.00) diopters. Peripheral retinal findings were identified in 33% of eyes, the most common being lattice degeneration (20%), white without pressure (11%), and retinal holes with subretinal fluid (4%). Conclusion Approximately one third of highly myopic children in our study showed peripheral retinal findings. If the peripheral retina is not adequately visualized during an office evaluation, examination under anesthesia should be considered. PMID:20224463

  19. Three consecutive (1993, 1995, 1997) surveys of food intake, nutritional attitudes and knowledge, and lifestyle in 1000 French children, aged 9-11 years.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bellisle, F; Rolland-Cachera, M-F

    2007-06-01

    the lifestyle of children in developed societies is susceptible to rapid changes and these may affect the nutritional status of children. Reduced physical activity and changes in diet have been proposed as contributing factors to the growth in childhood overweight and obesity. The aim of this study was to assess trends in the food-related behaviour and markers of activity/inactivity in French 9-11 year old children. Three successive surveys (1993, 1995, 1997) were carried out in samples of 1,000 French children, aged 9-11 years. Socio-demographic, anthropometric and food-related parameters were obtained for each child, using standardized questionnaire administered by trained interviewers. previous-day reports of food intake by the child revealed a strong persistence of the traditional French meal structure. Breakfast was eaten by 97% of children. Over the three surveys, an increasing percentage of reported breakfasts contained at least one dairy food, one cereal food, and one fruit or juice (from 11% to 17%). Almost all children had lunch, which occurred at the school cafeteria for one-third of the subjects. The afternoon snack, a traditional meal for French children, was consumed by 86-88% of the samples. Almost all children had dinner (99%), most often at home and in the company of all family members (73-87%). Lunches and dinners were composed of several courses presented in succession, as is usual in France. The foods most preferred by the children were often rich in sugar and/or fat (fried potatoes, ice cream, nut spread, chocolate, cake, etc). The children could list 'healthy foods'competently. They also demonstrated knowledge of terms used in nutrition (e.g. calories, fats) and were aware of possible links between intake of certain substances and disease. In families of higher socio-economic strata (income, education of parents) more time was devoted to sports by the children. Over the three surveys, linear trends indicated more exercise time per week and

  20. Australian children with cleft palate achieve age-appropriate speech by 5 years of age.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chacon, Antonia; Parkin, Melissa; Broome, Kate; Purcell, Alison

    2017-12-01

    Children with cleft palate demonstrate atypical speech sound development, which can influence their intelligibility, literacy and learning. There is limited documentation regarding how speech sound errors change over time in cleft palate speech and the effect that these errors have upon mono-versus polysyllabic word production. The objective of this study was to examine the phonetic and phonological speech skills of children with cleft palate at ages 3 and 5. A cross-sectional observational design was used. Eligible participants were aged 3 or 5 years with a repaired cleft palate. The Diagnostic Evaluation of Articulation and Phonology (DEAP) Articulation subtest and a non-standardised list of mono- and polysyllabic words were administered once for each child. The Profile of Phonology (PROPH) was used to analyse each child's speech. N = 51 children with cleft palate participated in the study. Three-year-old children with cleft palate produced significantly more speech errors than their typically-developing peers, but no difference was apparent at 5 years. The 5-year-olds demonstrated greater phonetic and phonological accuracy than the 3-year-old children. Polysyllabic words were more affected by errors than monosyllables in the 3-year-old group only. Children with cleft palate are prone to phonetic and phonological speech errors in their preschool years. Most of these speech errors approximate typically-developing children by 5 years. At 3 years, word shape has an influence upon phonological speech accuracy. Speech pathology intervention is indicated to support the intelligibility of these children from their earliest stages of development. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  1. THE CAUSES AND THE COURSE OF CHRONIC KIDNEY DISEASE IN CHILDREN OF PRESCHOOL AGE

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    T. Yu. Abaseeva

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Background: Data on etiology and clinical course of CKD stage  3 to 5 in children of preschool  age could help obstetricians, pediatricians, and nephrologists with proper diagnostics and management of this condition and prediction of outcomes. Aim: To study causes and clinical features of CKD stage 3 to 5 in preschool  children. Materials and methods: The causes and clinical features of CKD stage 3 to 5 were investigated in 55 preschool children aged from 7 months  to 8 years. Twenty four had  CKD stage  3 to 4 and  31 children with endstage  CKD  were  on  peritoneal  dialysis. Results:96% of CKD stage 3 to 5 in preschool children were due  to  congenital/genetic kidney abnormalities. Predictors  of renal  replacement therapy  beginning in the first 5 years of life were as follows: antenatal detection of congenital  abnormalities  of the kidney and urinary tract, oligohydroamnion, high neonatal  BUN levels.  Anemia, hyperparathyroidism, arterial hypertension were more prevalent  in children on the dialysis stage of CKD, and myocardial hypertrophy and/or of the left ventricle dilatation were found in 26% of them. Forty two percent of children had growth retardation, and 40% had delayed  speech  development. Conclusion: The course CKD in preschool  children is characterized by a combination of typical metabolic  disorders with the growth  retardation (often dramatic and delayed mental development that significantly limits the possibilities of the social adaptation of these children and social activities of their parents. Participation  of  neuropsychiatrists,  clinical psychologists, and teachers, rather than pediatricians and  nephrologists only, is desirable  in management of preschool children with CKD stage 3 to 5.

  2. Preschool Children's Exposure to Story Grammar Elements during Parent-Child Book Reading

    Science.gov (United States)

    Breit-Smith, Allison; van Kleeck, Anne; Prendeville, Jo-Anne; Pan, Wei

    2017-01-01

    Twenty-three preschool-age children, 3;6 (years; months) to 4;1, were videotaped separately with their mothers and fathers while each mother and father read a different unfamiliar storybook to them. The text from the unfamiliar storybooks was parsed and coded into story grammar elements and all parental extratextual utterances were transcribed and…

  3. Validity of self-reported lunch recalls in Swedish school children aged 6-8 years.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hunsberger, Monica; Pena, Pablo; Lissner, Lauren; Grafström, Lisen; Vanaelst, Barbara; Börnhorst, Claudia; Pala, Valeria; Eiben, Gabriele

    2013-09-18

    Previous studies have suggested that young children are inaccurate reporters of dietary intake. The purpose of this study was to validate a single recall of the previous day's school lunch reported by 6-8 year old Swedish children and to assess teacher-recorded intake of the same meal in a standardized food journal. An additional research question was whether parents could report their child's intake of the previous day's lunch. Subjects constituted a convenience sample from the large, multi-country study Identification and prevention of Dietary- and lifestyle-induced health EFfects In Children and infantS (IDEFICS). Validations of both children's recalls and teachers' records were made by comparing results with the duplicate plate reference method. Twenty-five children (12 boys/13 girls) aged 6-8 years participated in the validation study at one school in western Sweden. Children were accurate self-reporters of their dietary intake at lunch, with no significant difference between reported and weighed intake (Mean difference (SD): 7(50) kcals, p=0.49). Teachers significantly over-reported intake (Mean difference (SD): 65(79) kcals, p=0.01). For both methods, child-reported and teacher-recorded, correlations with weighed intake were strong (Pearson's correlations r=0.92, pteacher-records and weighed intakes. Foods were recalled by children with a food-match rate of 90%. In all cases parents themselves were unable to report on quantities consumed and only four of 25 children had parents with knowledge regarding food items consumed. Children 6-8 years of age accurately recalled their school lunch intake for one occasion while teachers recorded with less accuracy. Our findings suggest that children as young as six years of age may be better able to report on their dietary intake than previously suggested, at least for one main meal at school. Teacher-recorded intake provides a satisfactory estimate but with greater systematic deviation from the weighed intake

  4. Dental Age Difference in Children with ADHD.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wadhwa, Puneet; Yu, Qingzhao; Zhu, Han; Townsend, Janice A

    2018-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to determine if changes in dental development are associated with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) or ADHD medications. This retrospective chart review evaluated the dental age of 128 patients between 6 and 16 years of age using the Demirjian method from the following two groups a) children with ADHD b) unaffected children. The ADHD group was further stratified into four groups according to the medication type. The impact of ADHD on dental age difference (the difference between dental age and chronologic age) was analyzed using T-test and the association between medication type and dental age difference was analyzed through one way ANOVA. The mean difference between estimated dental age and chronologic age (dental age difference) for all subjects was 0.80 years. There was no significant dental age difference in subjects with ADHD and the control group (0.78±1.28vs. 0.84 ±1.09 years respectively; P=0.75) and there was no significant difference in dental age difference and type of medication (P=0.84). No significant difference was found between children with ADHD and unaffected children with respect to dental age difference. No significant differences were found in dental age difference in the four medication groups.

  5. Motor performance and functional ability in preschool- and early school-aged children with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis: a cross-sectional study

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    Takken Tim

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Objective To describe the level of motor performance and functional skills in young children with JIA. Methods In a cross-sectional study in 56 preschool-aged (PSA and early school- aged children (ESA with JIA according to ILAR classification, motor performance was measured with the Bayley Scales of Infant Development II (BSID2 and the Movement Assessment Battery for Children (M-ABC. Functional skills were measured with the Pediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory (PEDI. Disease outcome was measured with a joint count on swelling/range of joint motion, functional ability and joint pain. Results Twenty two PSA children (mean age 2.1 years with a mean Developmental Index of the BSID2 of 77.9 indicating a delayed motor performance; 45% of PSA children showed a severe delayed motor performance. Mean PEDI scores were normal, 38% of PSA scored below -2 SD in one or more domains of the PEDI. Thirty four ESA children (mean age 5.2 years with a mean M-ABC 42.7, indicating a normal motor performance, 12% of ESA children had an abnormal score. Mean PEDI scores showed impaired mobility skills, 70% of ESA children scored below -2 SD in one or more domains of the PEDI. Disease outcome in both age groups demonstrated low to moderate scores. Significant correlations were found between age at disease onset, disease duration and BSID2 or M-ABC and between disease outcome and PEDI in both age cohorts. Conclusion More PSA children have more impaired motor performance than impaired functional skills, while ESA children have more impairment in functional skills. Disease onset and disease duration are correlated with motor performance in both groups. Impaired motor performance and delayed functional skills is primarily found in children with a polyarticular disease course. Clinical follow up and rehabilitation programs should also focus on motor performance and functional skills development in young children with JIA.

  6. A longitudinal perspective on violence in the lives of South African children from the Birth to Twenty Plus cohort study in JohannesburgSoweto

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    L Richter

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available Background. Violence against children is a significant cause of personal suffering and long-term ill health, poor psychological adjustment, and a range of social difficulties, including adverse effects intergenerationally.Objectives. Using a large corpus of longitudinal data collected in the Birth to Twenty Plus cohort, to give an overview of exposure to and experience of violence, as well as perpetration of violence, across childhood, reported contemporaneously by several informants. This overcomes limitations of retrospectively recalled information collected from one person at one point in time.Methods. We identified 280 data points relating to exposure to and perpetration of violence in 14 of the 21 waves of data collection from birth to 22 years of age. Data were classified into four developmental stages (preschool, primary school years, adolescence and young adulthood and seven categories (exposure to violence in the community, home and school; exposure to peer violence; being a victim of violence, excluding sexual violence; sexual violence; and perpetration of violence. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were employed to analyse the data.Results. Over the past two decades, only 1% of the sample had not been exposed to or experienced violence in their home, school and/or community. Two-thirds of children of schoolgoing age were reported as having been exposed to community violence, and more than half of all children to violence in their home. Reports of sexual violence increased from 10% among primary school-aged children to ~30% among adolescents and young adults. Over the course of their lives, ~40% of children were reported as having been exposed to or being victims of five or six of the categories of violence coded in this analysis. High levels of violence perpetration were reported across childhood. Age and gender differences in exposure to and experience and perpetration of violence were evident, and all categories of

  7. [Television publicity and food preferences of school age children of the metropolitan region].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Olivares, S; Albala, C; García, F; Jofré, I

    1999-07-01

    There is an alarming increase in the prevalence of child obesity in Chile. Lack of exercise and bad feeding habits strongly strongly contribute to the problem. To investigate the influence of television publicity on school age children food preferences. A semi structured interview was applied to a representative sample of 786 school age children aged 6 to 11 years old, living in Metropolitan Santiago. Time watching television during week days and the attitude towards food and beverage commercials was analyzed and related to food preferences. Ninety nine percent of school age children watch television during week days and 20% watches more the three hours daily. Snack commercials such as those about potato chips, chocolates, cookies and ice cream, are preferred by 35% of children. Soda commercials are preferred by 33% and yoghurt commercials by 12%. Eighty five percent of children had money to buy food. Of these, 66% bought snacks, 15% bought sodas and 7% yoghurt. The same tendency was observed in school collations. The high percentage of children, watching television and the influence of commercials in their food preferences, requires an urgent educational strategy to promote healthy feeding habits.

  8. Age and CD4 count at initiation of antiretroviral therapy in HIV-infected children: effects on long-term T-cell reconstitution.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lewis, Joanna; Walker, A Sarah; Castro, Hannah; De Rossi, Anita; Gibb, Diana M; Giaquinto, Carlo; Klein, Nigel; Callard, Robin

    2012-02-15

    Effective therapies and reduced AIDS-related morbidity and mortality have shifted the focus in pediatric human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) from minimizing short-term disease progression to maintaining optimal long-term health. We describe the effects of children's age and pre-antiretroviral therapy (ART) CD4 count on long-term CD4 T-cell reconstitution. CD4 counts in perinatally HIV-infected, therapy-naive children in the Paediatric European Network for the Treatment of AIDS 5 trial were monitored following initiation of ART for a median 5.7 years. In a substudy, naive and memory CD4 counts were recorded. Age-standardized measurements were analyzed using monophasic, asymptotic nonlinear mixed-effects models. One hundred twenty-seven children were studied. Older children had lower age-adjusted CD4 counts in the long term and at treatment initiation (P memory CD4 counts increased less, albeit on a faster timescale. It appears the immature immune system can recover well from HIV infection via the naive pool. However, this potential is progressively damaged with age and/or duration of infection. Current guidelines may therefore not optimize long-term immunological health.

  9. The Effect of Age-Correction on IQ Scores among School-Aged Children Born Preterm

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roberts, Rachel M.; George, Wing Man; Cole, Carolyn; Marshall, Peter; Ellison, Vanessa; Fabel, Helen

    2013-01-01

    This study examined the effect of age-correction on IQ scores among preterm school-aged children. Data from the Flinders Medical Centre Neonatal Unit Follow-up Program for 81 children aged five years and assessed with the WPPSI-III, and 177 children aged eight years and assessed with the WISC-IV, were analysed. Corrected IQ scores were…

  10. Twenty-four-hour esophageal pH monitoring in children and adolescents with chronic and/or recurrent rhinosinusitis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    V.R.S.G. Monteiro

    2005-02-01

    Full Text Available Gastroesophageal reflux (GER disorder was studied in children and adolescents with chronic and/or recurrent rhinosinusitis not associated with bronchial asthma. Ten children with a clinical and radiological diagnosis of chronic and/or recurrent rhinosinusitis, consecutively attended at the Pediatric Otolaryngology Outpatient Clinic, Federal University of São Paulo, were evaluated. Prolonged esophageal pH monitoring was used to investigate GER disorder. The mean age of the ten patients evaluated (eight males was 7.4 ± 2.4 years. Two patients presented vomiting as a clinical manifestation and one patient presented retrosternal pain with a burning sensation. Twenty-four-hour esophageal pH monitoring was performed using the Sandhill apparatus. An antimony probe electrode was placed in the lower third of the esophagus, confirmed by fluoroscopy and later by a chest X-ray. The parameters analyzed by esophageal pH monitoring included: total percent time of the presence of acid esophageal pH, i.e., pH below 4 (<4.2%; total number of acid episodes (<50 episodes; number of reflux episodes longer than 5 min (3 or less, and duration of the longest reflux episode (<9.2 min. One patient (1/10, 10% presented a 24-h esophageal pH profile compatible with GER disorder. This data suggest that an association between chronic rhinosinusitis not associated with bronchial asthma and GER disorder may exist in children and adolescents, especially in those with compatible GER disorder symptoms. In these cases, 24-h esophageal pH monitoring should be performed before indicating surgery, since the present data suggest that 10% of chronic rhinosinusitis surgeries can be eliminated.

  11. Vital signs: sodium intake among U.S. school-aged children - 2009-2010.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cogswell, Mary E; Yuan, Keming; Gunn, Janelle P; Gillespie, Cathleen; Sliwa, Sarah; Galuska, Deborah A; Barrett, Jan; Hirschman, Jay; Moshfegh, Alanna J; Rhodes, Donna; Ahuja, Jaspreet; Pehrsson, Pamela; Merritt, Robert; Bowman, Barbara A

    2014-09-12

    A national health objective is to reduce average U.S. sodium intake to 2,300 mg daily to help prevent high blood pressure, a major cause of heart disease and stroke. Identifying common contributors to sodium intake among children can help reduction efforts. Average sodium intake, sodium consumed per calorie, and proportions of sodium from food categories, place obtained, and eating occasion were estimated among 2,266 school-aged (6–18 years) participants in What We Eat in America, the dietary intake component of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2009–2010. U.S. school-aged children consumed an estimated 3,279 mg of sodium daily with the highest total intake (3,672 mg/d) and intake per 1,000 kcal (1,681 mg) among high school–aged children. Forty-three percent of sodium came from 10 food categories: pizza, bread and rolls, cold cuts/cured meats, savory snacks, sandwiches, cheese, chicken patties/nuggets/tenders, pasta mixed dishes, Mexican mixed dishes, and soups. Sixty-five percent of sodium intake came from store foods, 13% from fast food/pizza restaurants, 5% from other restaurants, and 9% from school cafeteria foods. Among children aged 14–18 years, 16% of total sodium intake came from fast food/pizza restaurants versus 11% among those aged 6–10 years or 11–13 years (plunch (29%), snacks (16%), and breakfast (15%). Sodium intake among school-aged children is much higher than recommended. Multiple food categories, venues, meals, and snacks contribute to sodium intake among school-aged children supporting the importance of populationwide strategies to reduce sodium intake. New national nutrition standards are projected to reduce the sodium content of school meals by approximately 25%–50% by 2022. Based on this analysis, if there is no replacement from other sources, sodium intake among U.S. school-aged children will be reduced by an average of about 75–150 mg per day and about 220–440 mg on days children consume school meals.

  12. Gross motor skills and sports participation of children with visual impairments

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Houwen, S; Visscher, C.; Hartman, E.; Lemmink, K.A.P.M.

    Gross motor skill performance of children with visual impairments and its association with the degree of visual impairment and sports participation was examined. Twenty children with visual impairments (M age = 9.2 years, SD =1.5) and 100 sighted children (M age = 9.1 years, SD = 1.5) from

  13. The Associations of Lens Power With Age and Axial Length in Healthy Chinese Children and Adolescents Aged 6 to 18 Years.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xiong, Shuyu; Zhang, Bo; Hong, Yuan; He, Xiangui; Zhu, Jianfeng; Zou, Haidong; Xu, Xun

    2017-11-01

    To investigate the relationship between lens power and age as well as the relationship between lens power and axial length (AL) in Chinese children and adolescents. The participants underwent a comprehensive ophthalmic examination that included AL, cycloplegic refraction, and Pentacam measurements. The crystalline lens power was calculated using Bennett's formula and then compared among the children of different age groups, refractive statuses, and AL categories. The association of lens power and AL was analyzed using multiple regression. A total of 1992 children and adolescents aged 6- to 18-years old were included. The difference in lens power was greater before 10-years old, followed by a relatively smaller difference in children aged 10 to 14 years and the difference in lens power came to a near plateau in adolescents after 14-years old. The negative association between lens power and AL was found to be more evident in nonmyopes than in myopes irrespective of age (younger than 10 years: nonmyopes: β = -1.499, myopes: β = -0.872; older than 10 years: nonmyopes: β = -1.288, myopes: β = -0.390, all P power in children and adolescents aged 6 to 18 years exhibited three stages. The association between lens power and AL differed between the nonmyopes and myopes. These findings suggested that less reduction in lens power might be associated with both growing age and increasing AL in myopes.

  14. Epidemiological characteristics of children born with Down syndrome in western Herzegovina in the period of the last twenty years (1994-2013).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sumanović-Glamuzina, Darinka; Zovko, Ana; Letica, Ivona; Jerković-Raguž, Marjana; Mustapić, Antonija; Božić, Tomica; Vukojević, Mladenka

    2014-12-01

    Children with Down syndrome (DS) are an everyday casuistry of pediatric clinical medicine. The prevalence of DS is dependent on socio-demographic and cultural conditions of a community. Antenatal screening is not carried out mainly due to religious views, and the prevalence of DS in our region is really considered a "natural phenomenon". The aim of the study was to analyze some epidemiological characteristics of infants with Down syndrome in the western region of Herzegovina in the period between year 1994-2013. We performed a retrospective analysis of hospital records of children who were supervised and treated at Children's Hospital through the twenty-year period. In this period there were 44,100 liveborn infants. Down syndrome was detected in 78 children (54 male and 24 female). The prevalence is estimated at 1.8/1,000 of live births. Aborted fetuses and stillbirths were not analyzed. 37 (47%) of the parent couples were over 35 years of age. Out of that 65 cytogenetic analysis, a regular type of trisomy 21 was found in 94% of cases, and the translocation in 6%. From major malformations (MM) heart failure was more often present (47%), then the anomaly of the gastrointestinal and genitourinary systems. Ten children (12%) died, most often in the early period of infancy due to complications of the cardiovascular system. The prevalence of DS throughout these two decades has been uniform in the region of western Herzegovina. Improvement in perinatal care in recent years caused higher survival and a better quality of life for the children with DS and thus their families. DS is less a desirable family tragedy, and increasingly a tolerable family fate.

  15. Problematic eating behaviour in Turkish children aged 12-72 months: characteristics of mothers and children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Orün, Emel; Erdil, Zeynep; Cetinkaya, Semra; Tufan, Naile; Yalçin, S Songül

    2012-12-01

    The aim of this study was to determine prevalence of problematic eating behaviour (PEB), associated risk factors, feeding practices including place of meal, variety of diet, and habits of consuming junk food, the mothers' perception of the child growth status in comparison to his/ her peers, and the effects on anthropometric measurements. This study was carried out among children aged 12-72 months who attended the outpatient clinic in the Ihsan Dogramaci Children's Hospital between February-June 2007. Three hundred and thirty-one mothers of children were asked to complete an extensive questionnaire covering socio-demographic characteristics and their child's general eating behaviour and feeding practices at mealtimes. Children with PEB were identified based on their mothers' statements. Three hundred and thirty-one cases were 3.32 +/- 1.39 years old. One hundred thirty-five mothers reported having a child with PEB. The mothers described the children's problematic behaviour as: need to walk around with the child during mealtime (45.6%), watching TV during meals (41.9%), picky or fussy eating (39%), vomiting and/or retching (25.7%), retaining food in the mouth for a long time (20.6%), and not eating solid foods (11.8%). In children who had ate neither meat nor vegetables and fruits, took cod-liver oil-containing supplement during the course of the study, and had taken iron supplements in the first year of life, PEB was more frequent than in others. The mean z scores of weight for age (WAZ) were significantly lower in cases with PEB than without PEB. Counselling and supporting of the mother/caregiver could alleviate the effect of inappropriate solutions taken by families. Insistence on composing of the diet variety including especially vegetables, fruits and meat may be promoted by provision of alternative cooking/presentation samples to mothers of children who refuse some foods. Pediatricians should be alerted that lower WAZ values may be a warning indicating a

  16. Relationship between food insecurity and nutritional status of Brazilian children under the age of five.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Santos, Leonardo Pozza dos; Gigante, Denise Petrucci

    2013-12-01

    The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between food insecurity and nutritional status of Brazilian children. The National Demographic and Health Survey 2006 database is available on the worldwide web. Thus, the analyzed variables were obtained in this study, including nutritional indices, food insecurity and other socioeconomic and demographic variables. The height-for-age, weight-for-age and weight-for-height indices were evaluated as the Z-score of the World Health Organization reference curves. Food insecurity was defined by using the Brazilian Food Insecurity Scale. Averages of three indices according to the presence of food insecurity were analyzed, including other variables. Linear regression evaluated the effect of food insecurity on the Z-score of the three nutritional indices. The sample included 4,817 children, out of whom 7% had deficit in height, 7% were overweight and 47% had food insecurity. It was found that the average of height-for-age, weight-for-age and weight-for-height were -0.31, 0.12 and 0.40, respectively, being lower among children with food insecurity. The regression analysis showed that children living with some level of food insecurity have worse rates of height-for-age, even controlling for demographic and socioeconomic factors.

  17. Detection of pulmonary aspiration in infants and children with respiratory disease: concise communication

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Boonyaprapa, S.; Alderson, P.O.; Garfinkel, D.J.; Chipps, B.E.; Wagner, H.N. Jr.

    1980-04-01

    Twenty children with respiratory disease ingested 500 ..mu..Ci of Tc-99m sulfur colloid orally, and scintigrams of the thorax were obtained to determine whether pulmonaryaspiration of gastric contents could be detected. The children ranged in age from 1 mo to 14 y; 13 were 8 months of age or younger. Children were studied at 5 min and 4 h after ingestion of Tc-99m sulfur colloid using a high-sensitivity computer oscilloscope to record 100K-count images. Additional images were obtained after the children had slept overnight. Five children (25%) showed definite pulmonary accumulation of activity; four of these also had a barium swallow and three showed either pulmonary aspiration of barium or moderately severe gastroesophageal reflux. Oral ingestion of Tc-99m sulfur colloid provides a noninvasive means for diagnosing pulmonary aspiration under physiologic conditions in infants and children.

  18. Food supplementation for improving the physical and psychosocial health of socio-economically disadvantaged children aged three months to five years.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kristjansson, Elizabeth; Francis, Damian K; Liberato, Selma; Benkhalti Jandu, Maria; Welch, Vivian; Batal, Malek; Greenhalgh, Trish; Rader, Tamara; Noonan, Eamonn; Shea, Beverley; Janzen, Laura; Wells, George A; Petticrew, Mark

    2015-03-05

    Undernutrition contributes to five million deaths of children under five each year. Furthermore, throughout the life cycle, undernutrition contributes to increased risk of infection, poor cognitive functioning, chronic disease, and mortality. It is thus important for decision-makers to have evidence about the effectiveness of nutrition interventions for young children. Primary objective1. To assess the effectiveness of supplementary feeding interventions, alone or with co-intervention, for improving the physical and psychosocial health of disadvantaged children aged three months to five years.Secondary objectives1. To assess the potential of such programmes to reduce socio-economic inequalities in undernutrition.2. To evaluate implementation and to understand how this may impact on outcomes.3. To determine whether there are any adverse effects of supplementary feeding. We searched CENTRAL, Ovid MEDLINE, PsycINFO, and seven other databases for all available years up to January 2014. We also searched ClinicalTrials.gov and several sources of grey literature. In addition, we searched the reference lists of relevant articles and reviews, and asked experts in the area about ongoing and unpublished trials. Randomised controlled trials (RCTs), cluster-RCTs, controlled clinical trials (CCTs), controlled before-and-after studies (CBAs), and interrupted time series (ITS) that provided supplementary food (with or without co-intervention) to children aged three months to five years, from all countries. Adjunctive treatments, such as nutrition education, were allowed. Controls had to be untreated. Two or more review authors independently reviewed searches, selected studies for inclusion or exclusion, extracted data, and assessed risk of bias. We conducted meta-analyses for continuous data using the mean difference (MD) or the standardised mean difference (SMD) with a 95% confidence interval (CI), correcting for clustering if necessary. We analysed studies from low- and middle

  19. Proceedings of the twenty-fourth water reactor safety information meeting. Volume 1: Plenary session; High burnup fuel; Containment and structural aging

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Monteleone, S.

    1997-01-01

    This three-volume report contains papers presented at the Twenty-Fourth Water Reactor Safety Information Meeting held at the Bethesda Marriott Hotel, Bethesda, maryland, October 21--23, 1996. The papers are printed in the order of their presentation in each session and describe progress and results of programs in nuclear safety research conducted in this country and abroad. Foreign participation in the meeting included papers presented by researchers from Czech Republic, Finland, France, Japan, Norway, Russia and United Kingdom. This first volume is divided into 3 sections: plenary session; high burnup fuel; and containment and structural aging. Selected papers are indexed separately for inclusion in the Energy Science and Technology Database

  20. Proceedings of the twenty-fourth water reactor safety information meeting. Volume 1: Plenary session; High burnup fuel; Containment and structural aging

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Monteleone, S. [comp.] [Brookhaven National Lab., Upton, NY (United States)

    1997-01-01

    This three-volume report contains papers presented at the Twenty-Fourth Water Reactor Safety Information Meeting held at the Bethesda Marriott Hotel, Bethesda, maryland, October 21--23, 1996. The papers are printed in the order of their presentation in each session and describe progress and results of programs in nuclear safety research conducted in this country and abroad. Foreign participation in the meeting included papers presented by researchers from Czech Republic, Finland, France, Japan, Norway, Russia and United Kingdom. This first volume is divided into 3 sections: plenary session; high burnup fuel; and containment and structural aging. Selected papers are indexed separately for inclusion in the Energy Science and Technology Database.

  1. Examining Play among Young Children in Single-Age and Multi-Age Preschool Classroom Settings

    Science.gov (United States)

    Youhne, Mia Song

    2009-01-01

    Advocates for multi-age classrooms claim multi-age groupings benefit children (Brynes, Shuster, & Jones, 1994). Currently, there is a lack of research examining play among students in multi-age classrooms. If indeed there is a positive benefit of play among children, research is needed to examine these behaviors among and between young children in…

  2. Risk factors for unintentional poisoning in children aged 1-3 years in NSW Australia: a case-control study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schmertmann, Marcia; Williamson, Ann; Black, Deborah; Wilson, Leigh

    2013-05-24

    Unintentional poisoning in young children is an important public health issue. Age pattern studies have demonstrated that children aged 1-3 years have the highest levels of poisoning risk among children aged 0-4 years, yet little research has been conducted regarding risk factors specific to this three-year age group and the methodologies employed varied greatly. The purpose of the current study is to investigate a broad range of potential risk factors for unintentional poisoning in children aged 1-3 years using appropriate methodologies. Four groups of children, one case group (children who had experienced a poisoning event) and three control groups (children who had been 'injured', 'sick' or who were 'healthy'), and their mothers (mother-child dyads) were enrolled into a case-control study. All mother-child dyads participated in a 1.5-hour child developmental screening and observation, with mothers responding to a series of questionnaires at home. Data were analysed as three case-control pairs with multivariate analyses used to control for age and sex differences between child cases and controls. Five risk factors were included in the final multivariate models for one or more case-control pairs. All three models found that children whose mothers used more positive control in their interactions during a structured task had higher odds of poisoning. Two models showed that maternal psychiatric distress increased poisoning risk (poisoning-injury and poisoning-healthy). Individual models identified the following variables as risk factors: less proximal maternal supervision during risk taking activities (poisoning-injury), medicinal substances stored in more accessible locations in bathrooms (poisoning-sick) and lower total parenting stress (poisoning-healthy). The findings of this study indicate that the nature of the caregiver-child relationship and caregiver attributes play an important role in influencing poisoning risk. Further research is warranted to explore the

  3. The Effects of a Contingency Contracting Program on the Nocturnal Enuresis of Three Children

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stover, Anthony C.; Dunlap, Glen; Neff, Bryon

    2008-01-01

    Objective: This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of a contingency contracting program to eliminate nocturnal enuresis of three children ages 5 to 12. Methods: The program was implemented by the children's primary caregivers, two of whom were foster parents and the third a case worker in the foster care system. The program was a package…

  4. Urinary schistosomiasis among preschool-aged children in Sahelian rural communities in Mali

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Doumbo Ogobara K

    2011-02-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Mass chemotherapy with praziquantel is the main control strategy for schistosomiasis in Mali. However, in the national control programme for schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted helminthiasis, infants and preschool-aged children are overlooked in preventive chemotherapy campaigns. We therefore determined the prevalence and intensity of urinary schistosomiasis in children between the ages 1-4 years in three villages across Diema health district, a rural community with endemic schistosomiasis in Mali. For Schistosoma haematobium diagnosis, a single urine sample of 10 ml obtained from each child was subjected to the standard urine filtration method. Results Of the 338 children examined 173 (51.2% were infected. Both prevalence and intensity of infection varied significantly between communities (p Conclusion Our study showed that preschool children living closely to lakes across in Mali are at high risk to be infected by schistosomiasis and contributed largely to the transmission; therefore schistosomiasis control interventions should also target infants in addition to school children and adults in endemic areas.

  5. Active transport among Czech school-aged children

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jan Pavelka

    2012-09-01

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Active transport is a very important factor for increasing the level of physical activity in children, which is significant for both their health and positive physical behaviour in adult age. OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to establish the proportion of Czech children aged 11 to 15 who select active transport to and from school and, at the same time, describe socio-economic and socio-demographic factors influencing active transport to and from school among children. METHODS: To establish the socio-demographic factors affecting active transport, data of a national representative sample of 11 to 15 year-old elementary school children in the Czech Republic (n = 4,425. Research data collection was performed within an international research study called Health Behaviour in School Aged Children in June 2010. Statistical processing of the results was made using a logistic regression analysis in the statistical programme IBM SPSS v 20. RESULTS: Active transport to and from school is opted for in the Czech Republic by approximately 2/3 of children aged 11 to 15. Differences between genders are not statistically significant; most children opting for active transport are aged 11 (69%. An important factor increasing the probability of active transport as much as 16 times is whether a child's place of residence is in the same municipality as the school. Other factors influencing this choice include BMI, time spent using a computer or a privateroom in a family. A significant factor determining active transport by children is safety; safe road crossing, opportunity to leave a bicycle safely at school, no fear of being assaulted on the way or provision of school lockers where children can leave their items. CONCLUSIONS: Active transport plays an important role in increasing the overall level of physical activity in children. Promotion of active transport should focus on children who spend more time using a computer; attention should also be

  6. Health maintenance in school-aged children: Part I. History, physical examination, screening, and immunizations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Riley, Margaret; Locke, Amy B; Skye, Eric P

    2011-03-15

    The goals of the well-child examination in school-aged children (kindergarten through early adolescence) are promoting health, detecting disease, and counseling to prevent injury and future health problems. A complete history should address any concerns from the patient and family and screen for lifestyle habits, including diet, physical activity, daily screen time (e.g., television, computer, video games), hours of sleep per night, dental care, and safety habits. School performance can be used for developmental surveillance. A full physical examination should be performed; however, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends against routine scoliosis screening and testicular examination. Children should be screened for obesity, which is defined as a body mass index at or above the 95th percentile for age and sex, and resources for comprehensive, intensive behavioral interventions should be provided to children with obesity. Although the evidence is mixed regarding screening for hypertension before 18 years of age, many experts recommend checking blood pressure annually beginning at three years of age. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends vision and hearing screening annually or every two years in school-aged children. There is insufficient evidence to recommend screening for dyslipidemia in children of any age, or screening for depression before 12 years of age. All children should receive at least 400 IU of vitamin D daily, with higher doses indicated in children with vitamin D deficiency. Children who live in areas with inadequate fluoride in the water (less than 0.6 ppm) should receive a daily fluoride supplement. Age-appropriate immunizations should be given, as well as any missed immunizations.

  7. Predictors of the risk of malnutrition among children under the age of 5 years in Somalia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kinyoki, Damaris K; Berkley, James A; Moloney, Grainne M; Kandala, Ngianga-Bakwin; Noor, Abdisalan M

    2015-12-01

    To investigate the predictors of wasting, stunting and low mid-upper arm circumference among children aged 6-59 months in Somalia using data from household cross-sectional surveys from 2007 to 2010 in order to help inform better targeting of nutritional interventions. Cross-sectional nutritional assessment surveys using structured interviews were conducted among communities in Somalia each year from 2007 to 2010. A two-stage cluster sampling methodology was used to select children aged 6-59 months from households across three livelihood zones (pastoral, agro-pastoral and riverine). Predictors of three anthropometric measures, weight-for-height (wasting), height-for-age (stunting) and mid-upper arm circumference, were analysed using Bayesian binomial regression, controlling for both spatial and temporal dependence in the data. The study was conducted in randomly sampled villages, representative of three livelihood zones in Somalia. Children between the ages of 6 and 59 months in Somalia. The estimated national prevalence of wasting, stunting and low mid-upper arm circumference in children aged 6-59 months was 21 %, 31 % and 36 %, respectively. Although fever, diarrhoea, sex and age of the child, household size and access to foods were significant predictors of malnutrition, the strongest association was observed between all three indicators of malnutrition and the enhanced vegetation index. A 1-unit increase in enhanced vegetation index was associated with a 38 %, 49 % and 59 % reduction in wasting, stunting and low mid-upper arm circumference, respectively. Infection and climatic variations are likely to be key drivers of malnutrition in Somalia. Better health data and close monitoring and forecasting of droughts may provide valuable information for nutritional intervention planning in Somalia.

  8. Complex Sentence Comprehension and Working Memory in Children with Specific Language Impairment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Montgomery, James W.; Evans, Julia L.

    2009-01-01

    Purpose: This study investigated the association of 2 mechanisms of working memory (phonological short-term memory [PSTM], attentional resource capacity/allocation) with the sentence comprehension of school-age children with specific language impairment (SLI) and 2 groups of control children. Method: Twenty-four children with SLI, 18 age-matched…

  9. [Nervous system involvement in three children poisoned with thallium].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gergont, Aleksandra; Lankosz-Lauterbach, Janina; Pietrzyk, Jacek J; Kaciński, Marek

    2004-01-01

    Three children, aged 5, 10 and 16 years, poisoned with thallium were hospitalized. Two of them suffered from sensory-motor and third from sensory polyneuropathy and additionally in the youngest child severe encephalopathy was observed. The correlations between serum and urine thallium levels and the severity of the symptoms in the course of the disease were positive. The most severe symptoms and the highest thallium level were observed in the youngest child.

  10. "Trees and Things That Live in Trees": Three Children with Special Needs Experience the Project Approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Griebling, Susan; Elgas, Peg; Konerman, Rachel

    2015-01-01

    The authors report on research conducted during a project investigation undertaken with preschool children, ages 3-5. The report focuses on three children with special needs and the positive outcomes for each child as they engaged in the project Trees and Things That Live in Trees. Two of the children were diagnosed with developmental delays, and…

  11. Twenty-degree-tilt radiography for evaluation of lateral humeral condylar fracture in children

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Imada, Hideaki; Tanaka, Ryuji; Itoh, Yohei; Kishi, Kazuhiko

    2010-01-01

    To investigate the efficacy of '20 -tilt anteroposterior (A-P) radiography' in the assessment of lateral condylar fractures of the distal humerus. Eighteen children with lateral humeral condylar fractures were studied. Every child underwent conventional A-P and lateral radiography, and six children underwent multi-detector computed tomography (MDCT). For the investigation of 20 -tilt radiography, ten children with lateral humeral condylar fractures had conventional and 20 -tilt A-P and lateral radiography both preoperatively and postoperatively. Fragment dislocation was measured at the lateral and medial margins of the fracture on both the conventional A-P and 20 -tilt A-P radiographs. The lateral condylar fragment was triangular and was most prominent posteriorly. The fracture line was typically tilted approximately 20 to a reference line perpendicular to the long axis of the humerus in the lateral view. The extent of dislocation at the lateral and medial margins of the fracture site by 20 -tilt A-P radiography (9.3 ± 3.6 mm and 5.6 ± 2.5 mm) was significantly wider than that measured by the conventional method (6.8 ± 4.1 mm and 2.0 ± 1.5 mm), which may influence treatment. Twenty-degree-tilt A-P radiography may more precisely demonstrate fragment dislocation than standard radiographs and may influence patient treatment. (orig.)

  12. Dietary intake and parents' perception of mealtime behaviors in preschool-age children with autism spectrum disorder and in typically developing children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lockner, Donna W; Crowe, Terry K; Skipper, Betty J

    2008-08-01

    Parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) frequently report that their children have selective eating behaviors and refuse many foods, which could result in inadequate nutrient intake. This preliminary cross-sectional descriptive study investigated dietary intake and parents' reported perception of food behaviors of 20 3- to 5-year-old children with ASD. Twenty typically developing children matched for sex, age, and ethnicity were also studied as a case-control comparison. Nutrient intake determined from 3-day food records was adjusted for day-to-day variation to determine the estimate of usual intake distribution for the two groups. This distribution was compared with the Estimated Average Requirement or Adequate Intake recommendations. The reported food behaviors and use of vitamin or mineral supplements were compared for matched pairs using the exact McNemar test. Nutrient intake was similar for both groups of children, with the majority of children consuming more than the recommended amounts for most nutrients. Nutrients least likely to be consumed in recommended amounts were vitamin A, vitamin E, fiber, and calcium. Children with ASD were more likely to consume vitamin/mineral supplements than typically developing children. Compared with parents of typically developing children, parents of children with ASD were more likely to report that their children were picky eaters and resisted trying new foods, and they were less likely to describe their children as healthy eaters or that they eat a variety of foods. Despite the similar and generally adequate nutrient intake for the 40 children in this study, parents of children with ASD had more negative perceptions of their children's dietary behaviors.

  13. Prevalence of vitamin D deficiency and rickets in children with cholestasis in Iran.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mohammadi, Bahram; Najafi, Mehri; Farahmand, Fateme; Motamed, Farzaneh; Ghajarzadeh, Mahsa; Mohammadi, Jamshid; Eshagh Roze, Mohammad

    2012-01-01

    This study was aimed to determine prevalence of vitamin D deficiency and rickets in children with cholestatic liver diseases. Forty eight children with established cholestatic liver disease who referred to gastrointestinal clinic of Children Medical Center (Tehran, Iran) between April 2010 and March 2011 were enrolled in a cross-sectional study. Laboratory analysis including calcium, phosphate, albumin, total and direct bilirubin, aminotransferases, alkalinephosphatase (ALP), prothrombin time (PT), parathyroid hormone (PTH), total protein determined by routine laboratory techniques. Mean age of participants was 299.1 ± 676.8 days (range 2-3600 days) whereas twenty one were female (43.8%) and 27 (56.3%) were male. Twenty two (45.8%) had evidences of rickets in X-ray evaluation. Three children with rickets and two with normal X-ray had vitamin D deficiency while ten in rickets group and 16 in normal group had vitamin D insufficiency. The main underlying diseases were anatomical biliary atresia in cases with rickets and idiopathic in other group. Rickets and vitamin D deficiency should be considered in chronic cholestatic children.

  14. Quantitative Evaluation System of Soft Neurological Signs for Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kaneko, Miki; Yamashita, Yushiro; Iramina, Keiji

    2016-01-18

    Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by symptoms of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. Soft neurological signs (SNS) are minor neurological abnormalities in motor performance, and are used as one evaluation method for neurodevelopmental delays in children with ADHD. Our aim is to establish a quantitative evaluation system for children with ADHD. We focused on the arm movement called pronation and supination, which is one such soft neurological sign. Thirty three children with ADHD aged 7-11 years (27 males, six females) and twenty five adults participants aged 21-29 years old (19 males, six females) participated in our experiments. Our results suggested that the pronation and supination function in children with ADHD has a tendency to lag behind that of typically developing children by several years. From these results, our system has a possibility to objectively evaluate the neurodevelopmental delay of children with ADHD.

  15. Prevalence of parent-reported immediate hypersensitivity food allergy in Chilean school-aged children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hoyos-Bachiloglu, R; Ivanovic-Zuvic, D; Álvarez, J; Linn, K; Thöne, N; de los Ángeles Paul, M; Borzutzky, A

    2014-01-01

    Food allergies (FAs) affect 2-4% of school-aged children in developed countries and strongly impact their quality of life. The prevalence of FA in Chile remains unknown. Cross-sectional survey study of 488 parents of school-aged children from Santiago who were asked to complete a FA screening questionnaire. Parents who reported symptoms suggestive of FA were contacted to answer a second in-depth questionnaire to determine immediate hypersensitivity FA prevalence and clinical characteristics of school-aged Chilean children. A total of 455 parents answered the screening questionnaire: 13% reported recurrent symptoms to a particular food and 6% reported FA. Forty-three screening questionnaires (9%) were found to be suggestive of FA. Parents of 40 children answered the second questionnaire; 25 were considered by authors to have FA. FA rate was 5.5% (95% CI: 3.6-7.9). Foods reported to frequently cause FA included walnut, peanut, egg, chocolate, avocado, and banana. Children with FA had more asthma (20% vs. 7%, Phistory compatible with anaphylaxis. Of 13 children who sought medical attention, 70% were diagnosed with FA; none were advised to acquire an epinephrine autoinjector. Up to 5.5% of school-aged Chilean children may suffer from FA, most frequently to walnut and peanut. It is critical to raise awareness in Chile regarding FA and recognition of anaphylaxis, and promote epinephrine autoinjectors in affected children. Copyright © 2013 SEICAP. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.

  16. Rhythm and Melody Tasks for School-Aged Children With and Without Musical Training: Age-Equivalent Scores and Reliability

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kierla Ireland

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available Measuring musical abilities in childhood can be challenging. When music training and maturation occur simultaneously, it is difficult to separate the effects of specific experience from age-based changes in cognitive and motor abilities. The goal of this study was to develop age-equivalent scores for two measures of musical ability that could be reliably used with school-aged children (7–13 with and without musical training. The children's Rhythm Synchronization Task (c-RST and the children's Melody Discrimination Task (c-MDT were adapted from adult tasks developed and used in our laboratories. The c-RST is a motor task in which children listen and then try to synchronize their taps with the notes of a woodblock rhythm while it plays twice in a row. The c-MDT is a perceptual task in which the child listens to two melodies and decides if the second was the same or different. We administered these tasks to 213 children in music camps (musicians, n = 130 and science camps (non-musicians, n = 83. We also measured children's paced tapping, non-paced tapping, and phonemic discrimination as baseline motor and auditory abilities We estimated internal-consistency reliability for both tasks, and compared children's performance to results from studies with adults. As expected, musically trained children outperformed those without music lessons, scores decreased as difficulty increased, and older children performed the best. Using non-musicians as a reference group, we generated a set of age-based z-scores, and used them to predict task performance with additional years of training. Years of lessons significantly predicted performance on both tasks, over and above the effect of age. We also assessed the relation between musician's scores on music tasks, baseline tasks, auditory working memory, and non-verbal reasoning. Unexpectedly, musician children outperformed non-musicians in two of three baseline tasks. The c-RST and c-MDT fill an important need for

  17. Rhythm and Melody Tasks for School-Aged Children With and Without Musical Training: Age-Equivalent Scores and Reliability.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ireland, Kierla; Parker, Averil; Foster, Nicholas; Penhune, Virginia

    2018-01-01

    Measuring musical abilities in childhood can be challenging. When music training and maturation occur simultaneously, it is difficult to separate the effects of specific experience from age-based changes in cognitive and motor abilities. The goal of this study was to develop age-equivalent scores for two measures of musical ability that could be reliably used with school-aged children (7-13) with and without musical training. The children's Rhythm Synchronization Task (c-RST) and the children's Melody Discrimination Task (c-MDT) were adapted from adult tasks developed and used in our laboratories. The c-RST is a motor task in which children listen and then try to synchronize their taps with the notes of a woodblock rhythm while it plays twice in a row. The c-MDT is a perceptual task in which the child listens to two melodies and decides if the second was the same or different. We administered these tasks to 213 children in music camps (musicians, n = 130) and science camps (non-musicians, n = 83). We also measured children's paced tapping, non-paced tapping, and phonemic discrimination as baseline motor and auditory abilities We estimated internal-consistency reliability for both tasks, and compared children's performance to results from studies with adults. As expected, musically trained children outperformed those without music lessons, scores decreased as difficulty increased, and older children performed the best. Using non-musicians as a reference group, we generated a set of age-based z-scores, and used them to predict task performance with additional years of training. Years of lessons significantly predicted performance on both tasks, over and above the effect of age. We also assessed the relation between musician's scores on music tasks, baseline tasks, auditory working memory, and non-verbal reasoning. Unexpectedly, musician children outperformed non-musicians in two of three baseline tasks. The c-RST and c-MDT fill an important need for researchers

  18. Phonological processes in the speech of school-age children with hearing loss: Comparisons with children with normal hearing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Asad, Areej Nimer; Purdy, Suzanne C; Ballard, Elaine; Fairgray, Liz; Bowen, Caroline

    2018-04-27

    In this descriptive study, phonological processes were examined in the speech of children aged 5;0-7;6 (years; months) with mild to profound hearing loss using hearing aids (HAs) and cochlear implants (CIs), in comparison to their peers. A second aim was to compare phonological processes of HA and CI users. Children with hearing loss (CWHL, N = 25) were compared to children with normal hearing (CWNH, N = 30) with similar age, gender, linguistic, and socioeconomic backgrounds. Speech samples obtained from a list of 88 words, derived from three standardized speech tests, were analyzed using the CASALA (Computer Aided Speech and Language Analysis) program to evaluate participants' phonological systems, based on lax (a process appeared at least twice in the speech of at least two children) and strict (a process appeared at least five times in the speech of at least two children) counting criteria. Developmental phonological processes were eliminated in the speech of younger and older CWNH while eleven developmental phonological processes persisted in the speech of both age groups of CWHL. CWHL showed a similar trend of age of elimination to CWNH, but at a slower rate. Children with HAs and CIs produced similar phonological processes. Final consonant deletion, weak syllable deletion, backing, and glottal replacement were present in the speech of HA users, affecting their overall speech intelligibility. Developmental and non-developmental phonological processes persist in the speech of children with mild to profound hearing loss compared to their peers with typical hearing. The findings indicate that it is important for clinicians to consider phonological assessment in pre-school CWHL and the use of evidence-based speech therapy in order to reduce non-developmental and non-age-appropriate developmental processes, thereby enhancing their speech intelligibility. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  19. Working memory in school-age children with and without a persistent speech sound disorder.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Farquharson, Kelly; Hogan, Tiffany P; Bernthal, John E

    2017-03-17

    The aim of this study was to explore the role of working memory processes as a possible cognitive underpinning of persistent speech sound disorders (SSD). Forty school-aged children were enrolled; 20 children with persistent SSD (P-SSD) and 20 typically developing children. Children participated in three working memory tasks - one to target each of the components in Baddeley's working memory model: phonological loop, visual spatial sketchpad and central executive. Children with P-SSD performed poorly only on the phonological loop tasks compared to their typically developing age-matched peers. However, mediation analyses revealed that the relation between working memory and a P-SSD was reliant upon nonverbal intelligence. These results suggest that co-morbid low-average nonverbal intelligence are linked to poor working memory in children with P-SSD. Theoretical and clinical implications are discussed.

  20. Visuospatial biases in preschool children: Evidence from line bisection in three-dimensional space.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Patro, Katarzyna; Nuerk, Hans-Christoph; Brugger, Peter

    2018-04-09

    Spatial attention in adults is characterized by systematic asymmetries across all three spatial dimensions. These asymmetries are evident when participants bisect horizontal, vertical, or radial lines and misplace their midpoints to the left, the top, or far from the body, respectively. However, bisection errors are rarely examined during early childhood. In this study, we examined the development of spatial-attentional asymmetries in three-dimensional (3D) space by asking preschool children (aged 3-6 years) to bisect horizontal, vertical, and radial lines. Children erred to the left with horizontal lines and to the top with vertical lines, consistent with the pattern reported in adults. These biases got stronger with age and were absent in the youngest preschoolers. However, by controlling for a possible failure in hitting the line, we observed an additional unpredicted pattern: Children's pointing systematically deviated away from the line to an empty space on its left side (for vertical and radial lines) or above it (for horizontal lines). Notably, this task-irrelevant deviation was pronounced in children as young as 3 or 4 years. We conclude that asymmetries in spatial-attentional functions should be measured not only in task-relevant dimensions but also in task-irrelevant dimensions because the latter may reveal biases in very young children not typically observed in task-relevant measures. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  1. Age- and gender-dependent values of skeletal muscle mass in healthy children and adolescents.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Webber, Colin E; Barr, Ronald D

    2012-03-01

    Skeletal muscle mass (SMM) can be extracted from whole-body scans obtained by X-ray-based dual-photon absorptiometry (DXA). There is a need to establish expected age-dependent values for children and adolescents. Appendicular lean tissue mass (ALM) was extracted from whole-body DXA scans in 140 healthy children and adolescents (68 females and 72 males). Whole-body SMM was calculated from ALM using equations developed by Kim et al. (Am J Clin Nutr 84:1014-1020, 2006). Age-dependent patterns of increase in SMM were derived by fitting SMM values to equations that consisted of the sum of two logistic expressions, one accounting for SMM changes during growth and the other for SMM changes during puberty. Normal ranges were defined so that 95% of the SMM values were included. The reproducibility of SMM measurements was obtained from whole-body DXA scans repeated on three occasions in each of a separate group of 32 normal children with repositioning between scans. Normal ranges are presented as equations describing the age-dependent pattern of increase in SMM as well as population standard deviations that increased steadily with age. For 15 children below age 10, SMM reproducibility (95% CI) was 149 g (119-199 g) while for 17 children and adolescents over age 10, reproducibility was 170 g (138-223 g). DXA-based measurements of SMM in children and adolescents are reproducible and can be expressed in terms of age-dependent Z scores.

  2. Motor planning in children with cerebral palsy: A longitudinal perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lust, Jessica Mireille; Spruijt, Steffie; Wilson, Peter H; Steenbergen, Bert

    2018-08-01

    Motor planning is important for daily functioning. Deficits in motor planning can result in slow, inefficient, and clumsy motor behavior and are linked to disruptions in performance of activities of daily living in children with cerebral palsy (CP). However, the evidence in CP is primarily based on cross-sectional data. Data are presented on the development of motor planning in children with CP using a longitudinal design with three measurement occasions, each separated by 1 year. Twenty-two children with CP (9 boys, 13 girls; age in years;months, M = 7;1, SD = 1;2) and 22 age-matched controls (10 boys, 12 girls, M  = 7;1, SD = 1;3) participated. Children performed a bar transport task in which some conditions ("critical angles") required participants to sacrifice initial posture comfort in order to achieve end-state comfort. Performance on critical trials was analyzed using linear growth curve modeling. In general, children with CP showed poor end-state planning for critical angles. Importantly, unlike in controls, motor planning ability did not improve across the three measurement occasions in children with CP. These longitudinal results show that motor planning issues in CP do not resolve with development over childhood. Strategies to enhance motor planning are suggested for intervention.

  3. Accommodative Amplitude in School-Age Children

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ikaunieks Gatis

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available In children, intensive near-work affects the accommodation system of the eye. Younger children, due to anatomical parameters, read at smaller distance than older children and we can expect that the accommodation system of younger can be affected more than that of older children. We wanted to test this hypothesis. Some authors showed that the norms of amplitude of accommodation (AA developed by Hofstetter (1950 not always could be applied for children. We also wanted to verify these results. A total of 106 (age 7-15 children participated in the study. Distance visual acuity was measured for all children and only data of children with good visual acuity 1.0 or more (dec. units were analysed (73 children. Accommodative amplitude was measured before and after lessons using subjective push-up technique (with RAF Near Point Ruler. The results showed that the amplitude of accommodation reduced significantly (p < 0.05 during the day and decrease of AA was similar in different age groups (about ~0.70 D. Additional measurements are needed to verify that the observed changes in AA were associated with fatigue effect. The results showed lower accommodation values compared to average values calculated according to the Hofstetter equation (p < 0.05.

  4. Dynamic drawing characteristics of preschool and younger school age children

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cvetković Andrijana

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available The main objective of this research is to determine developmental characteristics of dynamic drawings of preschool and younger school age children. The sample consists of 90 typical developed children, aged between 6 and 9. The sample includes 47 (52.2% girls and 43 (47.8% boys from preschool institutions and elementary schools in Pirot and Belgrade. Action representation in dynamic drawings was evaluated using three types of drawings: a man who runs, a man shooting a ball and a man lifting a ball from the floor. We determined that a very small number of the respondents reaches the highest level of graphical representation of figures in motion, and that girl’s achievements are better than boy’s achievements. However, this result is on the border of statistical significance (p=0.052. Also, there is a statistically significant trend of progress to higher levels of action representation (p=0.000 with the increase in chronological age of the respondents.

  5. Development of kinesthetic-motor and auditory-motor representations in school-aged children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kagerer, Florian A; Clark, Jane E

    2015-07-01

    In two experiments using a center-out task, we investigated kinesthetic-motor and auditory-motor integrations in 5- to 12-year-old children and young adults. In experiment 1, participants moved a pen on a digitizing tablet from a starting position to one of three targets (visuo-motor condition), and then to one of four targets without visual feedback of the movement. In both conditions, we found that with increasing age, the children moved faster and straighter, and became less variable in their feedforward control. Higher control demands for movements toward the contralateral side were reflected in longer movement times and decreased spatial accuracy across all age groups. When feedforward control relies predominantly on kinesthesia, 7- to 10-year-old children were more variable, indicating difficulties in switching between feedforward and feedback control efficiently during that age. An inverse age progression was found for directional endpoint error; larger errors increasing with age likely reflect stronger functional lateralization for the dominant hand. In experiment 2, the same visuo-motor condition was followed by an auditory-motor condition in which participants had to move to acoustic targets (either white band or one-third octave noise). Since in the latter directional cues come exclusively from transcallosally mediated interaural time differences, we hypothesized that auditory-motor representations would show age effects. The results did not show a clear age effect, suggesting that corpus callosum functionality is sufficient in children to allow them to form accurate auditory-motor maps already at a young age.

  6. [Behaviour problems of children with Down syndrome in preschool-age - Results from the Heidelberg Down syndrome study].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sarimski, Klaus

    2018-05-01

    We report on the frequency and the correlations of behaviour problems among children with Down syndrome in preschool-age. As part of a longitudinal study 48 mothers of children with Down syndrome completed the German version of the “Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire” (SDQ-D) and the Parenting Stress Inventory (PSI). The mothers were asked to fill out the questionnaires when the children had a mean age of five years. The results were compared to norms from children with typical development. Thirty per cent of the children with Down syndrome were rated as abnormal. Specifically, mean scores indicating problems with children of the same age and hyperactivity were elevated. A regression analysis predicting the total problem score of the SDQ-D revealed maternal educational level, optimistic attitude, and subjective parental stress at the age of one year and the degree of behavioural abnormalities at the age of three years as significant influential factors. Early intervention for Down syndrome children should include supporting parenting competence and coping skills in order to prevent behaviour problems.

  7. Gross Motor Skills and Sports Participation of Children with Visual Impairments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Houwen, Suzanne; Visscher, Chris; Hartman, Esther; Lemmink, Koen A. P. M.

    2007-01-01

    Gross motor skill performance of children with visual impairments and its association with the degree of visual impairment and sports participation was examined. Twenty children with visual impairments (M age = 9.2 years, SD = 1.5) and 100 sighted children (M age = 9.1 years, SD = 1.5) from mainstream schools participated. The results showed that…

  8. Reference limits and behaviour of serum transferrin receptor in children 6-10 years of age.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Danise, P; Maconi, M; Morelli, G; Di Palma, A; Rescigno, G; Esposito, C; Avino, D; Talento, B

    2008-08-01

    Serum transferrin receptor (sTfR) originates mostly from erythroblasts and lesser from reticulocytes. The usefulness of sTfR has been implicated in several clinical situations, mainly as a marker of accelerated erythropoiesis or iron deficiency. The assessment of sTfR may be useful in the period of rapid growth during infancy, childhood and adolescence. We evaluated sTfR and the other quantitative and qualitative parameters of the erythropoiesis (Hb, MCV, CHr, Ret-He) and of the iron storage (serum ferritin, sTfR/ferritin index) in a total of 916 children aged 6-10 years. Children were divided into three groups: (A) healthy children, (B) with storage iron deficiency (serum ferritin 3.3). We determined reference intervals by sex and by age in healthy children. sTfR showed a slight but statistically significant age related increase but did not show significant sex differences. We compared sTfR and the other parameters investigated in the three groups of children. sTfR is not a decisive parameter that can be utilized alone in discriminating the border-line situations between normal and pathologic ones but can help in completing the panel of tests in iron deficiency and in thalassaemia Beta trait carriers.

  9. Growth measures among preschool-age Inuit children living in Canada and Greenland.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Galloway, Tracey; Niclasen, Birgit V L; Muckle, Gina; Young, Kue; Egeland, Grace M

    2012-12-01

    The present study reports findings from a study of preschool-age Inuit children living in the Arctic regions of Canada and Greenland. We compare stature and obesity measures using cutoffs from the Centers for Disease Control and the International Obesity Task Force references. The sample is comprised of 1121 Inuit children (554 boys and 567 girls) aged 3-5 years living in Nunavut (n=376) and Nunavik (n=87), Canada, in the capital city of Nuuk, Greenland (n=86), and in Greenland's remaining towns and villages (n=572). Greenland Inuit children were significantly taller than their Canadian counterparts, with greatest height and weight observed among children from Nuuk. Overall prevalence of stunting was low with the three cutoffs yielding similar values for height-for-age z-scores. Obesity prevalence was higher among Canadian Inuit children than their Greenland counterparts. Inuit children have stature values consistent with those of the Centers for Disease Control reference and low prevalence of stunting, though geographic variability in mean stature values between Canadian and Greenlandic samples likely reflects differences in both socioeconomic status and genetic admixture. Obesity prevalence is high among both Canadian and Greenland Inuit preschoolers, with children living in the city of Nuuk exhibiting lower obesity prevalence than children living in either Nunavut or Nunavik, Canada or Greenland's towns and villages. Varying obesity prevalence may reflect varying degrees of food security in remote locations as well as the influence of stature and sitting height which have not been well studied in young Inuit children.

  10. The interaction between parenting and children's cortisol reactivity at age 3 predicts increases in children's internalizing and externalizing symptoms at age 6.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barrios, Chelsey S; Bufferd, Sara J; Klein, Daniel N; Dougherty, Lea R

    2017-10-01

    Little is known about the role of stress reactivity in the emergence of psychopathology across early childhood. In this longitudinal study, we tested the hypothesis that child cortisol reactivity at age 3 moderates associations between early parenting and children's internalizing and externalizing symptoms from age 3 to age 6. One hundred and sixty children were assessed at age 3, and 135 children were reassessed at age 6. At age 3, we exposed children to stress-inducing laboratory tasks, during which we obtained four salivary cortisol samples, and parental hostility was assessed using an observational parent-child interaction task. At ages 3 and 6, child psychiatric symptoms were assessed using a clinical interview with parents. The results indicated that the combination of high child cortisol reactivity and high observed parental hostility at age 3 was associated with greater concurrent externalizing symptoms at age 3 and predicted increases in internalizing and externalizing symptoms from age 3 to age 6. Findings highlight that increased stress reactivity, within the context of hostile parenting, plays a role in the emergence of psychopathology from preschool to school entry.

  11. Effect of Simultaneous Bilingualism on Speech Intelligibility across Different Masker Types, Modalities, and Signal-to-Noise Ratios in School-Age Children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reetzke, Rachel; Lam, Boji Pak-Wing; Xie, Zilong; Sheng, Li; Chandrasekaran, Bharath

    2016-01-01

    Recognizing speech in adverse listening conditions is a significant cognitive, perceptual, and linguistic challenge, especially for children. Prior studies have yielded mixed results on the impact of bilingualism on speech perception in noise. Methodological variations across studies make it difficult to converge on a conclusion regarding the effect of bilingualism on speech-in-noise performance. Moreover, there is a dearth of speech-in-noise evidence for bilingual children who learn two languages simultaneously. The aim of the present study was to examine the extent to which various adverse listening conditions modulate differences in speech-in-noise performance between monolingual and simultaneous bilingual children. To that end, sentence recognition was assessed in twenty-four school-aged children (12 monolinguals; 12 simultaneous bilinguals, age of English acquisition ≤ 3 yrs.). We implemented a comprehensive speech-in-noise battery to examine recognition of English sentences across different modalities (audio-only, audiovisual), masker types (steady-state pink noise, two-talker babble), and a range of signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs; 0 to -16 dB). Results revealed no difference in performance between monolingual and simultaneous bilingual children across each combination of modality, masker, and SNR. Our findings suggest that when English age of acquisition and socioeconomic status is similar between groups, monolingual and bilingual children exhibit comparable speech-in-noise performance across a range of conditions analogous to everyday listening environments.

  12. The Impact of Nutrition, Sedentary Behaviour and Lifestyle on School-Age Children

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pantea-Stoian Anca

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available Background and Aims. Diet and lifestyle in school-age children have a particularly large impact on health, as well as various consequences in future. The objective of this papers it to assess the relationship between lifestyle and daily diet and the effects of an unhealthy diet. Material and Methods. An observational cohort study was conducted in Bucharest, in three schools and one high school on 100 children, between 2011 and 2013. The criterion for inclusion was the appropriate age (school-age. The protocol consisted in clinical examination, body mass index (BMI calculation, questions about diet, physical activity and time spent watching television (TV. Results. Most children do not respect a schedule of meals and snacks (78%. Unhealthy diet (fast food, carbonated beverages, chocolate registered higher preferences. Mean TV time was 2.32 hours/day (SD=1.92 and a strong evidence on relationship between age and number of hours allocated to TV was discovered (p< .01. Four percent of children were found to be under the 5th percentile (underweight, 18% between 85th and 95th percentile (overweight and 14% above 95th percentile (obesity. Conclusions. A sedentary life in this case was mainly determined by the time spent daily in front of the television rather than lack of exercise.

  13. Families with School-Age Children

    Science.gov (United States)

    Christensen, Kathleen; Schneider, Barbara; Butler, Donnell

    2011-01-01

    Most working parents face a common dilemma--how to care for their children when they are not in school but the parents are at work. In this article Kathleen Christensen, Barbara Schneider, and Donnell Butler describe the predictable and unpredictable scheduling demands school-age children place on working couples and single working parents. The…

  14. Early Children's Literature and Aging

    Science.gov (United States)

    McGuire, Sandra L.

    2016-01-01

    Increased longevity is a worldwide phenomenon placing emphasis on the need for preparation for life's later years. Today's children will be the older adults of tomorrow. A resource that can help to educate them about aging and prepare them for the long life ahead is early children's literature (Preschool-Primary). This literature can provide…

  15. Total deposition of inhaled particles related to age: comparison with age-dependent model calculations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Becquemin, M.H.; Bouchikhi, A.; Yu, C.P.; Roy, M.

    1991-01-01

    To compare experimental data with age-dependent model calculations, total airway deposition of polystyrene aerosols (1, 2.05 and 2.8 μm aerodynamic diameter) was measured in ten adults, twenty children aged 12 to 15 years, ten children aged 8 to 12, and eleven under 8 years old. Ventilation was controlled, and breathing patterns were appropriate for each age, either at rest or at light exercise. Individually, deposition percentages increased with particle size and also from rest to exercise, except in children under 12 years, in whom they decreased from 20-21.5 to 14-14.5 for 1 μm particles and from 36.8-36.9 to 32.2-33.1 for 2.05 μm particles. Comparisons with the age-dependent model showed that, at rest, the observed data concerning children agreed with those predicted and were close to the adults' values, when the latter were higher than predicted. At exercise, child data were lower than predicted and lower than adult experimental data, when the latter agreed fairly well with the model. (author)

  16. Children's estimates of food portion size: the development and evaluation of three portion size assessment tools for use with children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Foster, E; Matthews, J N S; Lloyd, J; Marshall, L; Mathers, J C; Nelson, M; Barton, K L; Wrieden, W L; Cornelissen, P; Harris, J; Adamson, A J

    2008-01-01

    A number of methods have been developed to assist subjects in providing an estimate of portion size but their application in improving portion size estimation by children has not been investigated systematically. The aim was to develop portion size assessment tools for use with children and to assess the accuracy of children's estimates of portion size using the tools. The tools were food photographs, food models and an interactive portion size assessment system (IPSAS). Children (n 201), aged 4-16 years, were supplied with known quantities of food to eat, in school. Food leftovers were weighed. Children estimated the amount of each food using each tool, 24 h after consuming the food. The age-specific portion sizes represented were based on portion sizes consumed by children in a national survey. Significant differences were found between the accuracy of estimates using the three tools. Children of all ages performed well using the IPSAS and food photographs. The accuracy and precision of estimates made using the food models were poor. For all tools, estimates of the amount of food served were more accurate than estimates of the amount consumed. Issues relating to reporting of foods left over which impact on estimates of the amounts of foods actually consumed require further study. The IPSAS has shown potential for assessment of dietary intake with children. Before practical application in assessment of dietary intake of children the tool would need to be expanded to cover a wider range of foods and to be validated in a 'real-life' situation.

  17. A longitudinal investigation of children internationally adopted at school age.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Helder, Emily J; Mulder, Elizabeth; Gunnoe, Marjorie Linder

    2016-01-01

    Most existing research on children adopted internationally has focused on those adopted as infants and toddlers. The current study longitudinally tracked several outcomes, including cognitive, behavioral, emotional, attachment, and family functioning, in 25 children who had been internationally adopted at school age (M = 7.7 years old at adoption, SD = 3.4, range = 4–15 years). We examined the incidence of clinically significant impairments, significant change in outcomes over the three study points, and variables that predicted outcomes over time. Clinically significant impairments in sustained attention, full-scale intelligence, reading, language, executive functioning, externalizing problems, and parenting stress were common, with language and executive functioning impairments present at higher levels in the current study compared with past research focusing on children adopted as infants and toddlers. Over the three study points, significant improvements across most cognitive areas and attachment functioning were observed, though significant worsening in executive functioning and internalizing problems was present. Adoptive family-specific variables, such as greater maternal education, smaller family size, a parenting approach that encouraged age-expected behaviors, home schooling, and being the sole adopted child in the family were associated with greater improvement across several cognitive outcomes. In contrast, decreased parenting stress was predicted by having multiple adopted children and smaller family sizes were associated with greater difficulties with executive functioning. Child-specific variables were also linked to outcomes, with girls displaying worse attachment and poorer cognitive performance and with less time in orphanage care resulting in greater adoption success. Implications for future research and clinical applications are discussed.

  18. Predicting Mothers' Reports of Children's Mental Health Three Years after Hurricane Katrina

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lowe, Sarah R.; Godoy, Leandra; Rhodes, Jean E.; Carter, Alice S.

    2013-01-01

    This study explored pathways through which hurricane-related stressors affected the psychological functioning of elementary school aged children who survived Hurricane Katrina. Participants included 184 mothers from the New Orleans area who completed assessments one year pre-disaster (Time 1), and one and three years post-disaster (Time 2 and Time…

  19. A Neuropsychological Profile for Agenesis of the Corpus Callosum? Cognitive, Academic, Executive, Social, and Behavioral Functioning in School-Age Children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Siffredi, Vanessa; Anderson, Vicki; McIlroy, Alissandra; Wood, Amanda G; Leventer, Richard J; Spencer-Smith, Megan M

    2018-05-01

    Agenesis of the corpus callosum (AgCC), characterized by developmental absence of the corpus callosum, is one of the most common congenital brain malformations. To date, there are limited data on the neuropsychological consequences of AgCC and factors that modulate different outcomes, especially in children. This study aimed to describe general intellectual, academic, executive, social and behavioral functioning in a cohort of school-aged children presenting for clinical services to a hospital and diagnosed with AgCC. The influences of age, social risk and neurological factors were examined. Twenty-eight school-aged children (8 to 17 years) diagnosed with AgCC completed tests of general intelligence (IQ) and academic functioning. Executive, social and behavioral functioning in daily life, and social risk, were estimated from parent and teacher rated questionnaires. MRI findings reviewed by a pediatric neurologist confirmed diagnosis and identified brain characteristics. Clinical details including the presence of epilepsy and diagnosed genetic condition were obtained from medical records. In our cohort, ~50% of children experienced general intellectual, academic, executive, social and/or behavioral difficulties and ~20% were functioning at a level comparable to typically developing children. Social risk was important for understanding variability in neuropsychological outcomes. Brain anomalies and complete AgCC were associated with lower mathematics performance and poorer executive functioning. This is the first comprehensive report of general intellectual, academic, executive social and behavioral consequences of AgCC in school-aged children. The findings have important clinical implications, suggesting that support to families and targeted intervention could promote positive neuropsychological functioning in children with AgCC who come to clinical attention. (JINS, 2018, 24, 445-455).

  20. Birth Order and Maladaptive Behavior in School-Aged Children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carmichael, Karla D.

    Drawing on Alfred Adler's theories on the effect of birth order on maladaptive behavior in children, this study focused on the relationship between birth order and the referral to counseling of school-aged children with maladaptive disorder. School-aged children (N=217) with academic or behavioral problems, ages 5 to 18, were referred to the staff…

  1. Late effects after treatment of twenty children with soft tissue sarcomas of the head and neck. Experience at a single institution with a review of the literature

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fromm, M.; Littman, P.; Raney, R.B.; Nelson, L.; Handler, S.; Diamond, G.; Stanley, C.

    1986-01-01

    Twenty children with soft tissue sarcomas of the head and neck, treated at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania from 1972 to 1981, were evaluated for the late deleterious effects of treatment. All patients received radiation therapy and combination chemotherapy with vincristine, dactinomycin, and cyclophosphamide; certain patients also received Adriamycin (doxorubicin). All had ophthalmologic, otologic, growth, and cosmetic evaluations; 15 also had dental and maxillofacial examinations. The median age at diagnosis was 6 years (range, 7 months-13 years). Median follow-up from time of diagnosis was 5.5 years with a minimum of 3 years in all but four patients. The major problems encountered were related to the eyes (xerophthalmia and cataracts), ears (hearing loss), teeth (maleruption and caries), glandular structures (xerostomia, hypopituitarism), and development (craniofacial deformity). It is concluded that children treated for soft tissue sarcomas of the head and neck with combined modality therapy, including radiation enhancers, may show a variety of late treatment-related adversities. These children require close multidisciplinary follow-up for detection of late effects in order that appropriate prophylactic or symptomatic treatment can be instituted to minimize their consequences

  2. Role of Twenty-Four-Hour Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring in Children on Dialysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sutherland, Scott M.; Begin, Brandy; Salsbery, Kari; McCabe, Lonisa; Potter, Donald; Alexander, Steven R.; Wong, Cynthia J.

    2011-01-01

    Summary Background and objectives Pre- or postdialysis BP recordings are imprecise, can be biased, and have poor test–retest reliability in children on dialysis. We aimed to examine the possible differences between pre- and postdialysis BP levels and 24-hour ambulatory BP monitoring (ABPM) in diagnosis of hypertension (HTN). Design, setting, participants, & measurements Twenty-four children on dialysis had 24-hour ABPM in the interdialytic period, and values were compared with average pre- and postdialysis systolic BP (SBP) and diastolic BP (DBP) recordings that week. Each patient had an echocardiogram to determine presence of left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH). Results By ABPM, 8% of patients had white coat HTN and 12% had masked HTN. There was no significant difference in diagnosis of systolic HTN based on ABPM daytime SBP mean or load and postdialysis SBP. However, only 15% of patients had diastolic HTN based on postdialysis measures, whereas 46% of patients had significantly elevated daytime DBP loads and 71% had high nighttime DBP loads on ABPM. Forty-eight percent of patients were SBP nondippers. Children with LVH had higher daytime and nighttime SBP loads, significantly higher daytime and nighttime DBP loads, and lesser degree of nocturnal dipping of SBP compared with those who did not. Conclusion ABPM is more informative than pre- and postdialysis BPs and improves the predictability of BP as a risk factor for target organ damage. Diagnosis and treatment monitoring of HTN among pediatric dialysis patients is enhanced with addition of ABPM. PMID:21273374

  3. The Effectiveness of Dialogic Reading in Increasing English Language Learning Preschool Children's Expressive Language

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brannon, Diana; Dauksas, Linda

    2014-01-01

    The effectiveness of dialogic reading in increasing the literacy interactions between English language learning parents (ELL) and their preschool aged children and children's expressive language development were studied. Twenty-one ELL parents of preschool aged children received dialogic reading training every other week for a ten-week period.…

  4. Latent Factors in Attention Emerge from 9 Years of Age among Elementary School Children

    OpenAIRE

    Tao, Ting; Wang, Ligang; Fan, Chunlei; Gao, Wenbin; Shi, Jiannong

    2017-01-01

    We explored the development of attention among elementary school children. Three hundred and sixty-five primary school children aged 7–12 years completed seven attention tests (alertness, focused attention, divided attention, attentional switching, sustained attention, spatial attention, and supervisory attention). A factor analysis indicated that there was no stable construct of attention among 7- to 8-year-old children. However, from 9 years on, children’s attention could be separated into ...

  5. Quantitative Evaluation System of Soft Neurological Signs for Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Miki Kaneko

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by symptoms of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. Soft neurological signs (SNS are minor neurological abnormalities in motor performance, and are used as one evaluation method for neurodevelopmental delays in children with ADHD. Our aim is to establish a quantitative evaluation system for children with ADHD. We focused on the arm movement called pronation and supination, which is one such soft neurological sign. Thirty three children with ADHD aged 7–11 years (27 males, six females and twenty five adults participants aged 21–29 years old (19 males, six females participated in our experiments. Our results suggested that the pronation and supination function in children with ADHD has a tendency to lag behind that of typically developing children by several years. From these results, our system has a possibility to objectively evaluate the neurodevelopmental delay of children with ADHD.

  6. Research of Fears of Preschool Age Children

    Science.gov (United States)

    Konkabayeva, Aiman E.; Dakhbay, Beybitkhan D.; Oleksyuk, Z?ryana Ya.; Tykezhanova, Gulmira M.; Alshynbekova, Gulnaziya K.; Starikova, Anna Ye.

    2016-01-01

    One of the symptoms of neurosis at preschool age children is fear. In our opinion, research in this area will help to solve a number of problems of children of preschool age, including difficulties of acceptance on themselves in the new social roles in relation from kindergarten transition to school adjustment problems and a number of other…

  7. [Children's relative age in class and medication for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. A population-based study in a health department in Spain].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Librero, Julián; Izquierdo-María, Roberto; García-Gil, María; Peiró, Salvador

    2015-12-07

    Previous studies in various countries have shown that the youngest school children in the same class-grade are more likely to be treated for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) than their older classmates. The aim of this study is to determine in the Spanish setting whether younger relative age children in each grade have a higher prevalence of treatment for ADHD. Population, observational, cross-sectional study in a health department, using prevalence data (November 2013) of treatment for ADHD in children aged 6-12 years. Data was obtained from the information systems of the Valencia Ministry of Health and multivariate models were used to estimate the prevalence ratio of treatment according to the month of birth of children in each grade. Twenty thousand two hundred and thirty-seven children were included of whom 1.73% were treated for ADHD (boys: 2.70%; girls: 0.71%) in October 2013. The prevalence of treatment increased with age, in males, and in youngest children (born in the last months of each year). In the multivariate analysis, the prevalence of treatment in the youngest children (born in the months of August to December) was 2.5 to 3 times higher than in their older classmates (born in January). The younger children relative to their classmates are more likely to be treated pharmacologically with methylphenidate and/or atomoxetine. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

  8. Iron therapy for improving psychomotor development and cognitive function in children under the age of three with iron deficiency anaemia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Bo; Zhan, Siyan; Gong, Ting; Lee, Liming

    2013-06-06

    Iron deficiency and iron deficiency anaemia (IDA) are common in young children. It has been suggested that the lack of iron may have deleterious effects on children's psychomotor development and cognitive function. To evaluate the benefits of iron therapy on psychomotor development and cognitive function in children with IDA, a Cochrane review was carried out in 2001. This is an update of that review. To determine the effects of iron therapy on psychomotor development and cognitive function in iron deficient anaemic children less than three years of age. We searched the following databases in April 2013: Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, LILACS, ClinicalTrials.gov and World Health Organization International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP). We also searched the reference lists of review articles and reports, and ran citation searches in the Science Citation Index for relevant studies identified by the primary search. We also contacted key authors. Studies were included if children less than three years of age with evidence of IDA were randomly allocated to iron or iron plus vitamin C versus a placebo or vitamin C alone, and assessment of developmental status or cognitive function was carried out using standardised tests by observers blind to treatment allocation. Two review authors independently screened titles and abstracts retrieved from the searches and assessed full-text copies of all potentially relevant studies against the inclusion criteria. The same review authors independently extracted data and assessed the risk of bias of the eligible studies. Data were analysed separately depending on whether assessments were performed within one month of beginning iron therapy or after one month. We identified one eligible study in the update search that had not been included in the original review. In total, we included eight trials.Six trials, including 225 children with IDA, examined the effects of

  9. The development of memory maintenance strategies: training cumulative rehearsal and interactive imagery in children aged between 5 and 9.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miller, Sadie; McCulloch, Samantha; Jarrold, Christopher

    2015-01-01

    The current study explored the extent to which children above and below the age of 7 years are able to benefit from either training in cumulative rehearsal or in the use of interactive imagery when carrying out working memory tasks. Twenty-four 5- to 6-year-olds nd 24 8- to 9-year olds were each assigned to one of three training groups who either received cumulative rehearsal, interactive imagery, or passive labeling training. Participants' ability to maintain material during a filled delay was then assessed, and the nature of the distraction that was imposed during this delay was varied to shed further light on the mechanisms that individuals used to maintain the memoranda in working memory in the face of this distraction. The results suggest that the rehearsal training employed here did improve recall by virtue of encouraging rehearsal strategies, in a way that was not observed among participants receiving interactive imagery training. The fact that these effects were not mediated by age group counts against the view that younger individuals are either unable to rehearse, or show impoverished verbal serial recall because they do not spontaneously engage in rehearsal.

  10. The development of memory maintenance strategies: training cumulative rehearsal and interactive imagery in children aged between 5 and 9

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sadie eMiller

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available The current study explored the extent to which children above and below the age of 7 years are able to benefit from either training in cumulative rehearsal or in the use of interactive imagery when carrying out working memory tasks. Twenty-four 5- to 6-year-olds and 24 8- to 9-year olds were each assigned to one of three training groups who either received cumulative rehearsal, interactive imagery, or passive labelling training. Participants’ ability to maintain material during a filled delay was then assessed, and the nature of the distraction that was imposed during this delay was varied to shed further light on the mechanisms that individuals used to maintain the memoranda in working memory in the face of this distraction. The results suggest that the rehearsal training employed here did improve recall by virtue of encouraging rehearsal strategies, in a way that was not observed among participants receiving interactive imagery training. The fact that these effects were not mediated by age group counts against the view that younger individuals are either unable to rehearse, or show impoverished verbal serial recall because they do not spontaneously engage in rehearsal.

  11. FLAT FEET OF DHE CHILDREN IN PRE-SCHOOL AGE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Admira Koničanin

    2011-03-01

    Full Text Available Subjekt : Of this research are flat feet of the children of both sexes in pre-school age children Aim : Of the research is confirm wheter is exists or flat feel of the children of both sexes in pre-school age.

  12. The Relationship between Drawing and Oral Language in Deaf Students Aged Three to Five

    Science.gov (United States)

    Silvestre, Nuria; Cambra, Cristina

    2009-01-01

    This study examines the relationship between drawing and oral language acquisition in deaf students aged three to five. The sample is made up of one hundred participants: fifty deaf and fifty hearing children. Goodenough's Human Figure Drawing Test and the WPPSI Scale of Intelligence geometric design subtest have been used to evaluate graphic…

  13. Construct Validity of the Movement Assessment Battery for Children-Second Edition Test in Preschool Children with Respect to Age and Gender

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jakub Kokštejn

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available BackgroundThe Movement Assessment Battery for Children-second edition (MABC-2 Age Band 1 is widely used to identify preschoolers with motor difficulties. Despite unsatisfactory construct validity of the original three-factor model, MABC-2 (manual dexterity, aiming and catching, and balance, previous research has not considered possible age and gender differences throughout the entire preschool period.AimThe aim of this study was to verify the construct validity of the MABC-2 Age Band 1 in a population of Czech preschoolers with respect to age and gender.MethodsUsing data from 510 Czech preschoolers (3–6 years; 4.9 ± 1.1 years, confirmatory factor analyses (CFA were used for each age category and gender.ResultsThe goodness-of-fit indices of CFA supported the original three-factor model of the MABC-2 only in 3- and 4-year-old children, and in boys (3–6 years. Low factor loadings and ceiling effects of several test items (Drawing Trail, Walking Heels Raised, and Jumping on Mats seem to be a probable cause of weak fit indices in 5- and 6-year-old children and in girls (3–6 years.ConclusionThese results suggest that the MABC-2 can be a valid tool for assessing motor development and identifying motor difficulties among 3- to 4-year olds, and generally fits better for preschool boys in the Czech Republic. However, in 5- to 6-year olds, ceiling effects and a low power of discrimination was found for the Drawing Trail, Walking Heels Raised, and Jumping on Mats tests. Therefore, the three-factor model is not appropriate for all preschoolers, and separate norms should be established for each age and gender.

  14. Age as a factor in sensory integration function in Taiwanese children

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lin CK

    2013-07-01

    Behavior, the effect of age was significant in only group 1 (children aged 3−4 years and group 2 (children aged 5−6 years.Conclusion: There was significant difference between group 1 and group 2 for seven categories. Significant differences were contributed by the differences from group 1 (3−4 years and group 4 (9−10 years in five subscales (Postural Movement, Bilateral Integration Sequences, Sensory Discrimination, Sensory Seeking, and Attention and Activity. There were three developmental trends in the seven categories of the TSIF.Keywords: age effect, sensory integration function, developmental trend

  15. Strengths and Weaknesses in Executive Functioning in Children with Intellectual Disability

    Science.gov (United States)

    Danielsson, Henrik; Henry, Lucy; Messer, David; Ronnberg, Jerker

    2012-01-01

    Children with intellectual disability (ID) were given a comprehensive range of executive functioning measures, which systematically varied in terms of verbal and non-verbal demands. Their performance was compared to the performance of groups matched on mental age (MA) and chronological age (CA), respectively. Twenty-two children were included in…

  16. Quality of life in children three and nine months after discharge from a paediatric intensive care unit: a prospective cohort study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bos Albert P

    2008-03-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Improved survival in children with critical illnesses has led to new disease patterns. As a consequence evaluation of the well being of survivors of Pediatric Intensive Care Units (PICU has become important. Outcome assessment should therefore consist of evaluation of morbidity, functional health and Health Related Quality of Life (HRQoL. Awareness of HRQoL consequences and physical sequelae could lead to changes in support during the acute phase and thereafter. The aim of this study was to evaluate HRQoL in PICU survivors. Methods Prospective follow-up study three and nine months after discharge from a 14-bed tertiary PICU. Eighty-one of 142 eligible, previously healthy children were included from December 2002 through October 2005. HRQoL was assessed with the TNO-AZL Preschool Children Quality of Life Questionnaire (TAPQOL-PF for children aged 1 to 6 years of age, the TNO-AZL Children's Quality of Life Questionnaire Parent Form (TACQOL-PF for children aged 6 to 12 years of age, and the TNO-AZL Children's Quality of Life Questionnaire Child Form (TACQOL-CF for children aged 8 to 15 years of age. The studied patients were compared with age appropriate normative data using non-parametric tests and effect sizes. Results Thirty-one and 27 children, and 55 and 50 parents completed questionnaires respectively three and nine months after discharge. In 1–6 year old children parents reported more lung problems (3 and 9 months, worse liveliness (9 months and better appetite and problem behaviour (3 months; in 6–12 year old children parents reported worse motor functioning (3 months; and 12–15 year old adolescents reported worse motor functioning (3 months. Large effect sizes indicating clinical significant differences in HRQoL with healthy control subjects were found on more domains. Conclusion In this small group of PICU survivors differences in HRQoL with the normative population exist three and nine months after discharge

  17. Determinants of Anemia and Hemoglobin Concentration in Haitian School-Aged Children

    Science.gov (United States)

    Iannotti, Lora L.; Delnatus, Jacques R.; Odom, Audrey R.; Eaton, Jacob C.; Griggs, Jennifer J.; Brown, Sarah; Wolff, Patricia B.

    2015-01-01

    Anemia diminishes oxygen transport in the body, resulting in potentially irreversible growth and developmental consequences for children. Limited evidence for determinants of anemia exists for school-aged children. We conducted a cluster randomized controlled trial in Haiti from 2012 to 2013 to test the efficacy of a fortified school snack. Children (N = 1,047) aged 3–13 years were followed longitudinally at three time points for hemoglobin (Hb) concentrations, anthropometry, and bioelectrical impedance measures. Dietary intakes, infectious disease morbidities, and socioeconomic and demographic factors were collected at baseline and endline. Longitudinal regression modeling with generalized least squares and logit models with random effects identified anemia risk factors beyond the intervention effect. At baseline, 70.6% of children were anemic and 2.6% were severely anemic. Stunting increased the odds of developing anemia (adjusted odds ratio [OR]: 1.48, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.05–2.08) and severe anemia (adjusted OR: 2.47, 95% CI: 1.30–4.71). Parent-reported vitamin A supplementation and deworming were positively associated with Hb concentrations, whereas fever and poultry ownership showed a negative relationship with Hb concentration and increased odds of severe anemia, respectively. Further research should explore the full spectrum of anemia etiologies in school children, including genetic causes. PMID:26350448

  18. The Interface of Syntax with Pragmatics and Prosody in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Terzi, Arhonto; Marinis, Theodoros; Francis, Kostantinos

    2016-08-01

    In order to study problems of individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) with morphosyntax, we investigated twenty high-functioning Greek-speaking children (mean age: 6;11) and twenty age- and language-matched typically developing children on environments that allow or forbid object clitics or their corresponding noun phrase. Children with ASD fell behind typically developing children in comprehending and producing simple clitics and producing noun phrases in focus structures. The two groups performed similarly in comprehending and producing clitics in clitic left dislocation and in producing noun phrases in non-focus structures. We argue that children with ASD have difficulties at the interface of (morpho)syntax with pragmatics and prosody, namely, distinguishing a discourse prominent element, and considering intonation relevant for a particular interpretation that excludes clitics.

  19. Catch-up growth does not associate with cognitive development in Indian school-age children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sokolovic, N; Selvam, S; Srinivasan, K; Thankachan, P; Kurpad, A V; Thomas, T

    2014-01-01

    Stunting is significantly associated with lifetime morbidity and poorer cognitive outcomes in children. Although several studies have examined the relationship between stunting, catch-up growth and cognitive performance in young populations, this relationship has not yet been explored in school-aged children. In this study, we used data from three different nutritional intervention studies conducted over a 4-year period on school-age children in Bangalore, India to assess these relationships. A battery of cognitive tests was conducted before each intervention to determine whether stunting status at baseline was related to cognitive performance across four separate domains, and repeated after a 6-month period to assess whether changes to stunting status is related to cognitive advancement. Results of independent t-tests showed that while stunted children had significantly poorer performance on short-term memory, retrieval ability and visuospatial ability tests (P=0.023, 0.026 and 0.028, respectively), there was no significant difference in the change in cognitive scores following nutritional interventions over a 6-month period between those who remained stunted and those who were no longer stunted (P>0.10). Evidently, stunting remains associated with cognitive ability in school-age children; however, the reversal of these effects in this age group may be quite difficult.

  20. Early Experiences Matter: A Relationships-Based Curriculum for the Birth-to-Three Age Group

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ebbeck, Marjory; Warrier, Sheela; Goh, Mandy

    2018-01-01

    The paper discusses some research findings in Singapore that investigated if a relationships-based curriculum extended the active involvement of the infants, toddlers, and young children (up to the age of three) in their learning. Using a relationships-based curriculum, a study conducted over a year involved the use of a well-tested, traditional…

  1. The personality structure of toddlers and pre-school children as perceived by their kindergarten teachers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maja Zupančič

    2003-04-01

    Full Text Available The present study was designed to analyse the personality structure of children aged one to seven, as perceived by their kindergarten teachers. In addition, gender differences were examined to determine whether kindergarten teachers perceived the personality characteristics of toddler and pre-school girls differently than those of boys. 508 randomly-selected Slovenian children were assessed by their kindergarten teachers using adapted Flemish Big-Five Bipolar Rating Scales. Four-factor structures that explained more than two-thirds of the variance emerged for teachers' personality ratings of children in each of the three age groups: toddlers, three- to five-year-olds and five- to seven-year-olds. However, five of the twenty-five scales, four of them referring to the Conscientiousness dimension, did not appear to be relevant when assessing individual differences in the toddlerhood. Intellect/Openness, as observed for the toddler sample, and the combined Conscientiousness-Intellect/Openness factor, extracted for each of the two older age groups, accounted for the greatest part of the variance. Extroversion was obtained as a second factor in each of the three age groups, while Emotional Stability showed relatively less stability across these groups. Agreeableness was clearly differentiated only in the oldest age group, emerging there for the first time as an independent factor. A few gender differences were found to be significant within the two groups of pre-school children, with girls consistently being rated higher in terms of Conscientiousness-Intellect/Openness.

  2. Age and Family Control Influences on Children's Television Viewing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rubin, Alan M.

    1986-01-01

    Indicates that (1) age and family control did not influence children's television viewing levels; (2) age influenced program preferences of children; (3) cartoon preferences related negatively to family control for the youngest groups; and (4) comedy and children's program preferences and television realism related positively to family control for…

  3. School-aged children can benefit from audiovisual semantic congruency during memory encoding.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heikkilä, Jenni; Tiippana, Kaisa

    2016-05-01

    Although we live in a multisensory world, children's memory has been usually studied concentrating on only one sensory modality at a time. In this study, we investigated how audiovisual encoding affects recognition memory. Children (n = 114) from three age groups (8, 10 and 12 years) memorized auditory or visual stimuli presented with a semantically congruent, incongruent or non-semantic stimulus in the other modality during encoding. Subsequent recognition memory performance was better for auditory or visual stimuli initially presented together with a semantically congruent stimulus in the other modality than for stimuli accompanied by a non-semantic stimulus in the other modality. This congruency effect was observed for pictures presented with sounds, for sounds presented with pictures, for spoken words presented with pictures and for written words presented with spoken words. The present results show that semantically congruent multisensory experiences during encoding can improve memory performance in school-aged children.

  4. Percutaneous nephrolithotomy in children in different age groups

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Guven, Selcuk; Frattini, Antonio; Onal, Bulent

    2013-01-01

    no standardisation in the age categorisation of children, there are inconsistencies among the age subgroups in the current literature. To achieve a standard terminology and thus a common language, the World Health Organization age classification criterion was used in the present study. Based on the findings, we can...... suggest that PCNL can be applied safely and effectively in children in different age groups. OBJECTIVES: •  To present the overall results of paediatric percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) compared with adults. •  To present the indications, complications and outcomes of patients treated...... in the participating centres in the PCNL Global Study, as categorised in different age groups. PATIENTS AND METHODS: •  The Clinical Research Office of the Endourological Society (CROES) Study was conducted from November 2007 to December 2009, and included 96 centres and >5800 patients. •  All children aged ≤14 years...

  5. Sustained attention in school-age children with congenital hypothyroidism: Influence of episodes of overtreatment in the first three years of life.

    Science.gov (United States)

    García Morales, L; Rodríguez Arnao, M D; Rodríguez Sánchez, A; Dulín Íñiguez, E; Álvarez González, M A

    2017-11-20

    Children with congenital hypothyroidism (CH) are at risk of developing mild cognitive impairment despite normal overall intellectual performance. These deficits may be caused by disease-related and treatment-related factors. This study explores the impact of abnormal thyroid function during the first 3 years of life on attention performance at school age. We included 49 children diagnosed with CH and receiving treatment for the condition: 14 boys (mean age 9.5±2.8 years) and 35 girls (9.6±2.6 years). The number of episodes of normal, under-, and overtreatment were estimated based on TSH levels during their first 3 years of life (at 12, 18, 24, 30, and 36 months). Children were assessed using a computerised version of a Sustained attention test. General linear models were calculated with the attention index as the dependent variable and sex, aetiology, and number of episodes of normal, under-, and overtreatment as independent variables. Higher numbers of episodes of overtreatment (low TSH level) were associated with poorer attention performance at school age (P=.005, r=-0.45). Children with CH should be monitored closely during the first 3 years of life in order to prevent not only hypothyroidism but also any adverse effects of overtreatment that may affect attentional function at school age. Copyright © 2017 Sociedad Española de Neurología. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

  6. Assessment of anaemia and iron status of school age children (aged ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    -12 years in some rural communities in Nigeria as well as identify factors associated with anemia in the children. A total of 249 school children, 120 males and 129 females aged between 7-12 years were used in the study. Haemomoglobin ...

  7. Mitral valve replacement in infants and children 5 years of age or younger: Evolution in practice and outcome over three decades with a focus on supra-annular prosthesis implantation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tierney, Elif Seda Selamet; Pigula, Frank A.; Berul, Charles I.; Lock, James E.; del Nido, Pedro J.; McElhinney, Doff B.

    2014-01-01

    Objective Successful mitral valve replacement in young children is limited by the lack of small prosthetic valves. Supra-annular prosthesis implantation can facilitate mitral valve replacement with a larger prosthesis in children with a small annulus, but little is known about its effect on the outcomes of mitral valve replacement in young children. Methods One hundred eighteen children underwent mitral valve replacement at 5 years of age or younger from 1976–2006. Mitral valve replacement was supra-annular in 37 (32%) patients. Results Survival was 74% ± 4% at 1 year and 56% ± 5% at 10 years but improved over time (10-year survival of 83% ± 7% from 1994–2006). Factors associated with worse survival included earlier mitral valve replacement date, age less than 1 year, complete atrioventricular canal, and additional procedures at mitral valve replacement, but not supra-annular mitral valve replacement. As survival improved during our more recent experience, the risks of supra-annular mitral valve replacement became apparent; survival was worse among patients with a supra-annular prosthesis after 1991. A pacemaker was placed in 18 (15%) patients within 1 month of mitral valve replacement and was less likely in patients who had undergone supra-annular mitral valve replacement. Among early survivors, freedom from redo mitral valve replacement was 72% ± 5% at 5 years and 45% ± 7% at 10 years. Twenty-one patients with a supra-annular prosthesis underwent redo mitral valve replacement. The second prosthesis was annular in 15 of these patients and upsized in all but 1, but 5 required pacemaker placement for heart block. Conclusions Supra-annular mitral valve replacement was associated with worse survival than annular mitral valve replacement in our recent experience. Patients with supra-annular mitral valve replacement were less likely to have operative complete heart block but remained at risk when the prosthesis was subsequently replaced. PMID:18954636

  8. Anemia in young children living in the Surinamese interior: the influence of age, nutritional status and ethnicity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zijlmans CWR

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available CWR Zijlmans,1 A Stuursma,2 AJ Roelofs,2 BC Jubitana,3 MS MacDonald-Ottevanger1 1Department of Mother & Child Health Care, Scientific Research Center Suriname, Academic Hospital Paramaribo, Paramaribo, Suriname; 2Faculty of Medicine, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands; 3Department of Monitoring Evaluation Surveillance & Research, Medical Mission PHCS, Paramaribo, Suriname Purpose: This study investigates the prevalence of anemia in young children living in the interior of Suriname and the influence of the associated factors age, nutritional status and ethnicity. Patients and methods: In this cross-sectional observational study, 606 children aged 1–5 years from three different regions of Suriname’s interior were included, and hemoglobin levels and anthropometric measurements were collected. Logistic regression models were computed to examine independent associations between anemic and nonanemic groups and to measure the influence of age, nutritional status and ethnicity. Results: A total of 606 children were included, of whom 330 (55% were aged 1–3 years and 276 were aged 4–5 years. The overall prevalence of anemia was 63%. Younger age was associated with anemia (odds ratio [OR]=1.78; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.27–2.51. Anemia was less prevalent in Amerindian than in Maroon children (OR=0.51; 95% CI: 0.34–0.76. Hemoglobin level was not influenced by nutritional status nor by sex. Conclusion: The prevalence of anemia in children aged 1–5 years living in Suriname’s interior is high (63% compared to that in similar aged children in Latin America and the Caribbean (4–45%. Children aged 1–3 years were more affected than those aged 4–5 years as were Maroon children compared to Amerindian children. Nutritional status and sex were not of influence. Keywords: Maroon, Amerindian, hemoglobin, malnutrition, stunting, younger age

  9. Experience and nursing needs of school-age children undergoing lumbar puncture during the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia: a descriptive and qualitative study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xie, Anwei; Shan, Yuying; Niu, Mei E; Chen, Yi; Wang, Xiya

    2017-11-01

    To describe experiences and nursing needs of school-age Chinese children undergoing lumbar puncture for the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. Lumbar puncture is an invasive procedure, causing psychological changes and physical discomfort in patients. In a previous study, it was proved that distraction intervention, such as music therapy, relieves pain and anxiety. There is limited evidence regarding the experience and needs of school-age children during lumbar puncture after being diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. To minimise their anxiety and pain during the procedure, it is important to collect information directly from these children. A descriptive qualitative research. Twenty-one school-age children with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia participated in semi-structured interviews at a Children's Hospital in China. Data were collected by an experienced and trained interviewer. Qualitative content analysis was chosen to describe experiences of children undergoing lumbar puncture. While undergoing lumbar puncture for the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, school-age Chinese children experienced complex psychological feelings (fear, tension, helplessness, sadness and anxiety). They also experienced physical discomfort. They had multipolar needs, such as information, communication, respect, self-actualisation, environment and equipment. This study identified important areas that must be closely monitored by healthcare staff, performing lumbar puncture on acute lymphoblastic leukaemia children. Thus, a successful and smooth procedure can be performed on these patients, and their quality of life can be improved. The experiences described in this study contribute to a better understanding of the needs of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia children undergoing lumbar puncture. They also provide valuable information to professional medical care staff that develops future nursing assessments. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  10. Hearing loss in children treated for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Seddon, James A; Thee, Stephanie; Jacobs, Kayleen; Ebrahim, Adam; Hesseling, Anneke C; Schaaf, H Simon

    2013-04-01

    The aminoglycosides and polypeptides are vital drugs for the management of multidrug-resistant (MDR) tuberculosis (TB). Both classes of drug cause hearing loss. We aimed to determine the extent of hearing loss in children treated for MDR-TB. In this retrospective study, children (Hearing was assessed and classified using audiometry and otoacoustic emissions. Ninety-four children were included (median age: 43 months). Of 93 tested, 28 (30%) were HIV-infected. Twenty-three (24%) children had hearing loss. Culture-confirmed, as opposed to presumed, diagnosis of TB was a risk factor for hearing loss (OR: 4.12; 95% CI: 1.13-15.0; p = 0.02). Seven of 11 (64%) children classified as having hearing loss using audiometry had progression of hearing loss after finishing the injectable drug. Hearing loss is common in children treated for MDR-TB. Alternative drugs are required for the treatment of paediatric MDR-TB. Copyright © 2012 The British Infection Association. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  11. Naps Enhance Executive Attention in Preschool-Aged Children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cremone, Amanda; McDermott, Jennifer M; Spencer, Rebecca M C

    2017-09-01

    Executive attention is impaired following sleep loss in school-aged children, adolescents, and adults. Whether naps improve attention relative to nap deprivation in preschool-aged children is unknown. The aim of this study was to compare executive attention in preschool children following a nap and an interval of wake. Sixty-nine children, 35-70 months of age, completed a Flanker task to assess executive attention following a nap and an equivalent interval of wake. Overall, accuracy was greater after the nap compared with the wake interval. Reaction time(s) did not differ between the nap and wake intervals. Results did not differ between children who napped consistently and those who napped inconsistently, suggesting that naps benefit executive attention of preschoolers regardless of nap habituality. These results indicate that naps enhance attention in preschool children. As executive attention supports executive functioning and learning, nap promotion may improve early education outcomes. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Pediatric Psychology. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com

  12. Accelerometry based assessment of gait parameters in children

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Faber, Herre; Hoeven, H. vd; Ipenburg, S. van; Lummel, Robert C. van R.C. van Rob C. Van R.C. van; Blockhuis, Nancy; Nienhuis, B.; Heikens, Sander S.C.; Brandes, Mirko; Zijlstra, Wiebren; Rosenbaum, Dieter; Terwee, C.B. Caroline B.; Slikke, R.M.A. van der Rienk M.A. vam der; Benink, Rob J. R.J.; Meijers, Wil G.H W.G.H.; de Vet, H.C.W. Henrica C W; Pitta, Fabio; Troosters, Thierry; Spruit, Martijn A.; Decramer, Marc; Gosselink, Rik; Thoumie, P.; Forward, M.J.; Plasschaert, F.S.; Burdorf, Lex; Windhorst, Judith; Beek, Allard J. van der; Molen, Henk F. van der; Swuste, Paul H.J.J.; Janssen, Maurice M.J.A.; Pas, Rianne; Aarts, Jos; Janssen-Potten, Yvonne; Vles, Johan; Pinxteren, S.A.T.v. Sjors van; Stokroos, R.J. Robert; Kingma, Herman; Pas, A.J.; Aarts, A.F.J.; Nabuurs, C.I.H.C.; Janssen, Y.; Mokkink, Lidwine B.; van der Slikke, Rienk M.A.; van Lummel, Rob C R.C.; Bouter, L.M. Lex M; de Vet, H.C.W. Henrica C W; de Witte, S.J.; Wetzels, L.; Probst, Vanessa S.; Peijl, I.D. van der; Vliet Vlieland, T.P.M.; Versteegh, M.I.M.; Lok, J.J.; Munneke, M.; Dion, R.A.E.; Bulthuis, Y.; Vollenbroek-Hutten, M.; Hermens, H.J.; Vendrig, L.; Roozenburg, B.; Wal, M. van der; Lisowski, A.E.; Murray, D.W.; Lisowski, L.A.; Creusen, H.; Witvrouw, E.; Victor, J.; Bellemans, J.; Rock, B.; Verdonk, R.; Spenkelink, C.D.; Hutten, M.M.R.; Greitemann, B.O.L.; Schillemans, P.F.; Meijer, O.G.; Dikkenberg, N. van den; Dieën, Jaap H van J.H. van; Pijls, B.; Wuisman, P.I.J.M.; Uiterwaal, M.; Dam, M.S. van; Kok, G.J.; Vogelaar, F.J.; Taminiau, A.H.M.; Derycke, P.; Vilella, P.; Loonbeek, S.; Schuffelers, K.; Jong, Z. de; Zwinderman, A.H.; Tijhuis, G.J.; Hazes, J.M.W.; Glerum, E.B.C.; Busser, H.J. J.; Ott, J.; Blank, R.; de Korte, W.G.; Veltink, Peter H. P.H.; Bussmann, Hans B.J.; de Vries, W.; Martens, W.I.J. Wim L.J.; Kerkhof, G. A.; Koelma, Frank; Franken, Henry M.; Kim, Tea-Woo; Kim, Yong-Wook; Abrahin, O.; Rodrigues, R. P.; Nascimento, V.C.; Silva-Grigoletto, M.E. Da; Sousa, E.C.; Marçal, A.C.; Van Remoortel, Hans; Raste, Yogini; Louvaris, Zafeiris; Giavedoni, Santiago; Burtin, Chris; Langer, Daniel; Wilson, Frederick; Rabinovich, Roberto; Vogiatzis, Ioannis; Hopkinson, Nicholas S; Schooten, Kimberley S.; Rispens, Sietse M; Elders, Petra J M; Lips, Paul; Pijnappels, Mirjam; Andersson, M.; Janson, C.; Emtner, M.; Sena, R.; Holt, Nicole E.; Percac-Lima, Sanja; Kurlinski, Laura A.; Thomas Julia, C.; Landry, Paige M.; Campbell, Braidie; Latham, Nancy; Ni, Pengsheng; Jette, Alan; Leveille, Suzanne G.; Bean, Johnathan F.; Bisi, Maria Cristina; Riva, Federico; Stagni, Rita; Altuğ, Filiz; Acar, Feridun; Acar, Göksemin; Cavlak, Uğur; Choi, Ho-Chun; Son, Ki Young; Cho, Belong; Park, Sang Min; Cho, Sung-Il

    2006-01-01

    The objective of this study was to examine if spatio-temporal gait parameters in healthy children can be determined from accelerations measured at the lower trunk as has been demonstrated in adults, previously. Twenty children aged 3-16 years, participated in a protocol that involved repeated walks

  13. Roentgen study of bone age in obese children

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Baldzhijski, A.; Totsev, N.; Petrova, Ch.

    1991-01-01

    The study included 100 children (50 boys and 50 girls) aged from 1 to 18 years with different degree of obesity, classified according to the scheme of Knyazev et al. The bone age was determined by a X-ray method including conventional X-ray study of the left hand at standard conditions. The H. Thiemann - I. Nittz Atlass (1986) was used as a test. It was established that the children with overweight had a change in the bone age which in most cases outstriped the calendar one. It was stated that the determination of the index 'bone age' remained to be a reliable method for studing the obesity effect on the growth and developing of the children' organism. 2 figs., 2 tabs., 12 refs

  14. School-age children development

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... such a reading disability Stressors, such as bullying Mental health issues, such as anxiety or depression If you suspect any of these in your child, talk to your child's teacher or health care provider. LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT Early school-age children should be able to use simple, ...

  15. Age-related changes in liver, kidney, and spleen stiffness in healthy children measured with acoustic radiation force impulse imaging

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lee, Mi-Jung, E-mail: mjl1213@yuhs.ac [Department of Radiology and Research Institute of Radiological Science, Severance Children' s Hospital, Yonsei University, College of Medicine, 50 Yonsei-ro, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul 120-752 (Korea, Republic of); Kim, Myung-Joon, E-mail: mjkim@yuhs.ac [Department of Radiology and Research Institute of Radiological Science, Severance Children' s Hospital, Yonsei University, College of Medicine, 50 Yonsei-ro, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul 120-752 (Korea, Republic of); Han, Kyung Hwa, E-mail: khhan@yuhs.ac [Biostatistics Collaboration Unit, Yonsei University, College of Medicine, 50 Yonsei-ro, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul 120-752 (Korea, Republic of); Yoon, Choon Sik, E-mail: yooncs58@yuhs.ac [Department of Radiology, Gangnam Severance Hospital, Yonsei University, College of Medicine, 211 Unjoo-ro, Gangnam-gu, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

    2013-06-15

    Objectives: To evaluate the feasibility and age-related changes of shear wave velocity (SWV) in normal livers, kidneys, and spleens of children using acoustic radiation force impulse (ARFI) imaging. Materials and methods: Healthy pediatric volunteers prospectively underwent abdominal ultrasonography and ARFI. The subjects were divided into three groups according to age: group 1: <5 years old; group 2: 5–10 years old; and group 3: >10 years old. The SWV was measured using a 4–9 MHz linear probe for group 1 and a 1–4 MHz convex probe for groups 2 and 3. Three valid SWV measurements were acquired for each organ. Results: Two hundred and two children (92 male, 110 female) with an average age of 8.1 years (±4.7) were included in this study and had a successful measurement rate of 97% (196/202). The mean SWVs were 1.12 m/s for the liver, 2.19 m/s for the right kidney, 2.33 m/s for the left kidney, and 2.25 m/s for the spleen. The SWVs for the right and left kidneys, and the spleen showed age-related changes in all children (p < 0.001). And the SWVs for the kidneys increased with age in group 1, and those for the liver changed with age in group 3. Conclusions: ARFI measurements are feasible for solid abdominal organs in children using high or low frequency probes. The mean ARFI SWV for the kidneys increased according to age in children less than 5 years of age and in the liver, it changed with age in children over 10.

  16. Aging Parents' Daily Support Exchanges With Adult Children Suffering Problems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huo, Meng; Graham, Jamie L; Kim, Kyungmin; Birditt, Kira S; Fingerman, Karen L

    2017-06-17

    When adult children incur life problems (e.g., divorce, job loss, health problems), aging parents generally report providing more frequent support and experiencing poorer well-being. Yet, it is unclear how adult children's problems may influence aging parents' daily support exchanges with these children or the parents' daily mood. Aging parents from the Family Exchanges Study Wave 2 (N = 207, Mage = 79.86) reported providing and receiving emotional support, practical support, and advice from each adult child each day for 7 days. Parents also rated daily positive and negative mood. Multilevel models showed that aging parents were more likely to provide emotional and practical support to adult children incurring life problems than children not suffering problems. Parents were also more likely to receive emotional support and advice from these children with problems. Further, parents reported less negative mood on days when providing practical support to children with problems. Examining daily support exchanges adds to our understanding of how children's problems influence parent-child ties in late life. Prior research suggests that children's problems upset parents. In this study, however, it appears that supporting adult children who suffer problems may alleviate aging parents' distress regarding such children. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  17. Proton MR spectroscopy in three children with Tay-Sachs disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aydin, Kubilay; Bakir, Baris; Tatli, Burak; Terzibasioglu, Ege; Ozmen, Meral

    2005-11-01

    Tay-Sachs disease is an inherited metabolic disease caused by the accumulation of GM(2) gangliosides in the central nervous system. Deficiency of hexosaminidase A leads to the accumulation of gangliosides in neurons, axons and glial cells. To present the cranial MRI and proton MR spectroscopy findings of children of Tay-Sachs disease. Three children aged 10, 20 and 21 months were examined. On T2-weighted MR images there were hyperintense signal changes in the basal ganglia and cerebral white matter. MR spectroscopy demonstrated an increase in myoinositol/creatine and choline/creatine ratios with a decrease in the N-acetyl aspartate/creatine ratio. The spectroscopy findings support demyelination, gliosis and neuronal loss in the neuropathological process of Tay-Sachs disease.

  18. Proton MR spectroscopy in three children with Tay-Sachs disease

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Aydin, Kubilay; Bakir, Baris; Terzibasioglu, Ege [Istanbul University, Neuroradiology Division, Department of Radiology, Istanbul (Turkey); Tatli, Burak; Ozmen, Meral [Istanbul University, Department of Paediatric Neurology, Istanbul (Turkey)

    2005-11-01

    Tay-Sachs disease is an inherited metabolic disease caused by the accumulation of GM{sub 2} gangliosides in the central nervous system. Deficiency of hexosaminidase A leads to the accumulation of gangliosides in neurons, axons and glial cells. To present the cranial MRI and proton MR spectroscopy findings of children of Tay-Sachs disease. Three children aged 10, 20 and 21 months were examined. On T2-weighted MR images there were hyperintense signal changes in the basal ganglia and cerebral white matter. MR spectroscopy demonstrated an increase in myoinositol/creatine and choline/creatine ratios with a decrease in the N-acetyl aspartate/creatine ratio. The spectroscopy findings support demyelination, gliosis and neuronal loss in the neuropathological process of Tay-Sachs disease. (orig.)

  19. Proton MR spectroscopy in three children with Tay-Sachs disease

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Aydin, Kubilay; Bakir, Baris; Terzibasioglu, Ege; Tatli, Burak; Ozmen, Meral

    2005-01-01

    Tay-Sachs disease is an inherited metabolic disease caused by the accumulation of GM 2 gangliosides in the central nervous system. Deficiency of hexosaminidase A leads to the accumulation of gangliosides in neurons, axons and glial cells. To present the cranial MRI and proton MR spectroscopy findings of children of Tay-Sachs disease. Three children aged 10, 20 and 21 months were examined. On T2-weighted MR images there were hyperintense signal changes in the basal ganglia and cerebral white matter. MR spectroscopy demonstrated an increase in myoinositol/creatine and choline/creatine ratios with a decrease in the N-acetyl aspartate/creatine ratio. The spectroscopy findings support demyelination, gliosis and neuronal loss in the neuropathological process of Tay-Sachs disease. (orig.)

  20. Is maternal nutrition knowledge more strongly associated with the diets of mothers or their school-aged children?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Williams, Lauren; Campbell, Karen; Abbott, Gavin; Crawford, David; Ball, Kylie

    2012-08-01

    Maternal nutrition knowledge has frequently been identified as an important target for nutrition promotion interventions. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether maternal nutrition knowledge is more strongly associated with the mother's own diet or that of her child. Cross-sectional multivariate linear regression with interactions analyses of survey data. Socio-economically disadvantaged neighbourhoods in Victoria, Australia. Five hundred and twenty-three mothers and their children who participated in the Resilience for Eating and Physical Activity Despite Inequality (READI) study, a cross-sectional survey study conducted in 2009 among women and their children residing in socio-economically disadvantaged neighbourhoods. In adjusted models, for three (vegetable, chocolate/lollies and soft drink consumption) out of the seven dietary outcomes assessed, there was a significant association between maternal nutrition knowledge and maternal diet, whereas for the children's diets none of the seven outcomes were associated with maternal nutrition knowledge. Statistical comparison of regression coefficients showed no difference between the maternal nutrition knowledge-maternal diet association and the maternal nutrition knowledge-child diet association. Promoting maternal nutrition knowledge may represent an important avenue for improving diet in mothers from socio-economically disadvantaged neighbourhoods, but more information is needed on how and when this knowledge is translated to benefits for their children's diet.

  1. TV parenting practices: is the same scale appropriate for parents of children of different ages?

    OpenAIRE

    Chen, Tzu-An; O?Connor, Teresia M; Hughes, Sheryl O; Frankel, Leslie; Baranowski, Janice; Mendoza, Jason A; Thompson, Debbe; Baranowski, Tom

    2013-01-01

    Purposes Use multidimensional polytomous item response modeling (MPIRM) to evaluate the psychometric properties of a television (TV) parenting practices (PP) instrument. Perform differential item functioning (DIF) analysis to test whether item parameter estimates differed across education, language, or age groups. Methods Secondary analyses of data from three studies that included 358 children between the ages of 3 and 12?years old in Houston, Texas. TV PP included 15 items with three subscal...

  2. Reflections on having children in the future--interviews with highly educated women and men without children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eriksson, Carola; Larsson, Margareta; Tydén, Tanja

    2012-08-01

    There is a trend to delay birth of the first child until the age at which female reproductive capacity has started to decrease. The aim of the present study was to explore how highly educated women and men reflected on future parenthood. Twenty-two women and 18 men, who had started their professional career, were subjected to individual qualitative semi-structured interviews with qualitative content analysis guiding the analysis. All informants, except for three women, planned to have children when some important prerequisites were fulfilled. Women and men reflected in much the same way, and prerequisites for parenthood were being of reasonable age and having a partner in the same phase of life. A reasonable age was considered in relation to reproductive capacity, and both women and men expressed awareness of the natural decline in fertility at higher ages. Good living conditions with stable finances were also important. Parenthood was perceived as a challenge and a sacrifice but also as enriching life. Reasons for having children included being part of the future and settling down to build their own family. Many concluded that there would never be a perfect time for having children. Highly educated women and men reflect on various factors when considering family planning. Being of reasonable age and having good living conditions, in particular a sound personal economy, were important. Given their goals, it is not surprising that many postpone parenthood until ages when female reproductive capacity is decreased.

  3. A New Approach for the Quantitative Evaluation of Drawings in Children with Learning Disabilities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Galli, Manuela; Vimercati, Sara Laura; Stella, Giacomo; Caiazzo, Giorgia; Norveti, Federica; Onnis, Francesca; Rigoldi, Chiara; Albertini, Giorgio

    2011-01-01

    A new method for a quantitative and objective description of drawing and for the quantification of drawing ability in children with learning disabilities (LD) is hereby presented. Twenty-four normally developing children (N) (age 10.6 [plus or minus] 0.5) and 18 children with learning disabilities (LD) (age 10.3 [plus or minus] 2.4) took part to…

  4. Wired at a young age: the effect of caffeine and technology on sleep duration and body mass index in school-aged children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Calamaro, Christina J; Yang, Kyeongra; Ratcliffe, Sarah; Chasens, Eileen R

    2012-01-01

    Two problems affecting school-aged children in the United States are inadequate sleep and an increased prevalence of obesity. The purpose of this study was to quantify media-related technology use and caffeine consumption in order to assess their potential effects on sleep duration and body mass index (BMI) in children. The study was a secondary analysis of children 6 to 10 years of age (N = 625) from the National Sleep Foundation's Sleep in America Poll. Regression analysis was used to assess the relationship between caffeine and technology use, sleep variables, and BMI, adjusting for age, race, gender, and general health. Almost 30% (29.5%) of the children consumed a daily caffeinated beverage, and 42.4% had a television in the bedroom. Children who drank caffeinated beverages had 15 fewer minutes of sleep per night than did children who did not drink such beverages (b = -0.27, p = .002). Children with three technology items in their bedroom received 45 fewer minutes of sleep than did children without these items in their bedroom (b = -0.75, p = .010). Having adjusted for variables, only drinking caffeinated beverages was associated with a BMI z score. The complex relationships between caffeine intake and the use of technology with shortened periods of sleep and increased BMI need further study. Future research should explore how these risk factors for shortened periods of sleep can be modified in this young population. Copyright © 2012. Published by Mosby, Inc.

  5. Use of Different Vegetable Products to Increase Preschool-Aged Children's Preference for and Intake of a Target Vegetable

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Wild, de Victoire W.T.; Graaf, de Kees; Jager, Gerry

    2017-01-01

    Background: Children's low vegetable consumption requires effective strategies to enhance preference for and intake of vegetables. Objective: The study compared three preparation practices for a target vegetable (spinach) on their effectiveness in increasing preschool-aged children's preference

  6. Attachment security and obesity in US preschool-aged children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anderson, Sarah E; Whitaker, Robert C

    2011-03-01

    To estimate the association between attachment security in children aged 24 months and their risk for obesity at 4½ years of age. Insecure attachment is associated with unhealthy physiologic and behavioral responses to stress, which could lead to development of obesity. Cohort study. National sample of US children born in 2001. Children and mothers participating in the 2003 and 2005-2006 waves of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort, conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics. Our analytic sample included 6650 children (76.0% of children assessed in both waves). Attachment security at 24 months was assessed by trained interviewers during observation in the child's home. Insecure attachment was defined as lowest quartile of attachment security, based on the security score from the Toddler Attachment Sort-45 Item. Obesity at 4½ years of age (sex-specific body mass index ≥95th percentile for age). The prevalence of obesity was 23.1% in children with insecure attachment and 16.6% in those with secure attachment. For children with insecure attachment, the odds of obesity were 1.30 (95% confidence interval, 1.05-1.62) times higher than for children with secure attachment after controlling for the quality of mother-child interaction during play, parenting practices related to obesity, maternal body mass index, and sociodemographic characteristics. Insecure attachment in early childhood may be a risk factor for obesity. Interventions to increase children's attachment security should examine the effects on children's weight.

  7. Incidence and prevalence of diabetes in children aged Fiji, 2001-2012.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ogle, Graham D; Morrison, Melinda K; Silink, Martin; Taito, Rigamoto S

    2016-05-01

    Determine the incidence and prevalence of diabetes in children Fiji. Data on all new cases from 2001 to 2012 was collected from the three paediatric diabetes services through the International Diabetes Federation Life for a Child Program. There was no formal secondary ascertainment source, however the medical community is small and all known cases are believed to be included. Forty-two children aged Fiji is very low. Furthermore, its occurrence is markedly more frequent in Indo-Fijians than in native Fijians. Type 2 and neonatal diabetes also occur. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  8. Peer Dynamics among Marquesan School-Aged Children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martini, Mary

    This research describes an observation study of 100 children, ages 9-13 years, on the island of 'Ua Pou, Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia. The children were in a French government boarding school in the main valley of the island. Complex, sophisticated group processes among the Marquesan children were observed. The role structures of the group…

  9. Swedish parents' activities together with their children and children's health: a study of children aged 2-17 years.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Berntsson, Leeni T; Ringsberg, Karin C

    2014-11-01

    Nordic children's health has declined. Studies show that parents' engagement in children's leisure-time activities might provide beneficial health outcomes for children. The aim of the present study was to examine the association between Swedish parents' activities together with their children, the parents' experiences of time pressure and their children's health. Data of 1461 Swedish children aged 2-17 years old that were collected in the NordChild study of 2011 were used. We analyzed physical health, diseases and disabilities, psychosomatic health and well-being, and the parents' experiences of time pressure; and we calculated the associations between parental activity together with the child and health indicators. Activities that were significantly and positively associated with children's health at ages 2-17 years of age were: playing and playing games; going to the cinema, theatre, and sporting events; reading books; playing musical instruments/singing; sports activities; watching TV/video/DVD. Playing video games or computer games, driving child to activities and going for walks were significantly and positively associated at age groups 7-12 years and 13-17 years. Activities that were negatively associated with health were: surfing/blogging on the Internet, going shopping and doing homework. Parents who were not experiencing time pressures had a higher level of activity together with their children. The parental experience of time pressure was associated with work time, with less homework activity and more symptoms in children. The family and home are important settings for the development of children's health we found eight parental activities together with their children that promoted the children's health parents' working time and their time pressure experiences affected their activities with their children there is a need for an increased focus on parental activities that are positively associated with children's health. © 2014 the Nordic Societies of

  10. Physical activity behaviors and influences among Chinese-American children aged 9-13 years: A qualitative study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Low physical activity is a major health issue among Chinese Americans. This study explored Chinese–American children's physical activity behaviors and influencing factors. Twenty-five children of Chinese or Taiwanese descent were interviewed to understand their favorite sports or physical activities...

  11. Study the Age of Hearing Loss Diagnosis and the Related Factors in a Group of School-Age Children in Baghch-e-Ban School of Hard of Hearing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mahnaz Ahmadi

    1996-04-01

    Full Text Available Background: Estimation of the age of hearing loss diagnosis in every society is recommended to be compared with standard criteria to establish common dirth in management and rehabilitation. This study was conducted in order to determine the age of hearing loss diagnosis with respect to common criteria in Baghche-Ban school of hard of hearing children in Tehran.Methods: In this retrospective cross-sectional study, 445 children in stages 2, 6 and 10 of Baghche-Ban school of hard of hearing participated. the research was performed by means of the three-stages questionaires that children filled with help of their parents.Results: The mean age of detection of hearing loss in both acquired and congenital hearing loss in children was 3.5 year-old. while the age in which hearing loss was doubted was 1.8 year-old. In another word the mean age of hearing loss detection decreased as the hearing loss increases(in moderate- profound hearing loss(P<0.01. Conclusion: among the refrence sources for refering children with hearing loss the least refering was related to physicians. Adversly the mean age of doubting and detection of hearing loss increased in children with family history of hearing loss.(P<0.01. Meanwhile no relationship was detected between the age of diagnosis of hearing loss and the number of deaf members in the family(P<0.02.

  12. The Age Peculiarities of 10 to 12 Year-Old School-children

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    B. B. Badmayeva

    2015-02-01

    Full Text Available The paper considers the problem of children’s development transformation from the standpoints of different authors. The changes in the age borders and childhood structure along with their causes are demonstrated. The childhood crisis is described, its place in the child’s development process identified. The author emphasizes the visible discord between the worlds of adults and children: being less involved in upbringing process nowadays, adults appear to be less exact in their attitude to children; their demands lack clearness and specificity. Both teachers and adults demonstrate helplessness and aloofness, which reflects in children’s consciousness and their attitude to adults, and results in the lost sense of responsibility, infantilism, egoism and moral emptiness of growing generation. The author carried out the comparative analysis of age peculiarities of middle class schoolchildren from comprehensive school. Three development stages were singled out for 10 to 12 year-olds: local caprices, rights understanding, and affirmative functional stage. The personality formation trends concerning the modern day school children are outlined, the external and internal factors determining this formation enumerated. The following influencing phenomena are mentioned, in particular: the essential socio-economic changes, fast spreading of mass-media and computer technologies, low level of parental motivation, replacement of the value-normative system (social anomie etc. The necessity of creating socio-pedagogic conditions relating to the age peculiarities of modern school children is substantiated. 

  13. The Age Peculiarities of 10 to 12 Year-Old School-children

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    B. B. Badmayeva

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available The paper considers the problem of children’s development transformation from the standpoints of different authors. The changes in the age borders and childhood structure along with their causes are demonstrated. The childhood crisis is described, its place in the child’s development process identified. The author emphasizes the visible discord between the worlds of adults and children: being less involved in upbringing process nowadays, adults appear to be less exact in their attitude to children; their demands lack clearness and specificity. Both teachers and adults demonstrate helplessness and aloofness, which reflects in children’s consciousness and their attitude to adults, and results in the lost sense of responsibility, infantilism, egoism and moral emptiness of growing generation. The author carried out the comparative analysis of age peculiarities of middle class schoolchildren from comprehensive school. Three development stages were singled out for 10 to 12 year-olds: local caprices, rights understanding, and affirmative functional stage. The personality formation trends concerning the modern day school children are outlined, the external and internal factors determining this formation enumerated. The following influencing phenomena are mentioned, in particular: the essential socio-economic changes, fast spreading of mass-media and computer technologies, low level of parental motivation, replacement of the value-normative system (social anomie etc. The necessity of creating socio-pedagogic conditions relating to the age peculiarities of modern school children is substantiated. 

  14. Similar Occurrence of Febrile Episodes Reported in Non-Atopic Children at Three to Five Years of Age after Prebiotics Supplemented Infant Formula.

    Science.gov (United States)

    van Stuijvenberg, Margriet; Stam, José; Grüber, Christoph; Mosca, Fabio; Arslanoglu, Sertac; Chirico, Gaetano; Braegger, Christian P; Riedler, Josef; Boehm, Günther; Sauer, Pieter J J

    2015-01-01

    This is a follow up study of a multicenter randomised placebo-controlled trial in seven centres in five West European countries. The RCT assessed the effect of infant formula supplemented with a mixture of prebiotics (with neutral short-chain and long-chain oligosaccharides and pectin-derived acidic oligosaccharides) during infancy in term-born children (n=1130). In the follow-up study 672 children (60% of the study population) participated: 232 (56%) from the prebiotics group (PG), 243 (58%) from the control group (CG), and 197 (66%) from the non-randomised breast-fed group (BG). The primary outcome was the occurrence of febrile episodes at three to five years of age prospectively documented by the parents: in the PG 1.17 (interquartile range 0.50-2.08) episodes per year versus 1.20 (0.52-2.57) in the CG; and 1.48 (0.65-2.60) in the BG. This specific prebiotics mixture given during infancy in healthy non-atopic subjects does not decrease febrile episodes and therefore seems not to prevent infection between their third and fifth birthday.

  15. Poverty, violence, and family disorganization: Three "Hydras" and their role in children's street movement in Bangladesh.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reza, Md Hasan

    2016-05-01

    The increasing number of children running away from home in Bangladesh is a major concern, and in need of critical attention. This yearlong study explores why children leave home with a sample of street children in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Purposive sampling from three locations in Dhaka yielded a sample of 75 homeless children aged 10-17. For each participant, a 60-90min in-depth qualitative interview was conducted multiple times. While the dominant explanations rely on poverty or abuse, the findings of this study reveal that the cause is actually three heads of a Hydra monster: poverty, abuse, and family disorganization and their interactions. It shows that the primary reasons for children breaking from their family are all interrelated. The findings from this study are likely to add knowledge regarding the issues and may lead to preventative interventions for street children and their families. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  16. [The Influence of the Functional State of Brain Regulatory Structures on the Programming, Selective Regulation and Control of Cognitive Activity in Children. Report I: Neuropsychological and EEG Analysis of Age-Related Changes in Brain Regulatory Functions in Children Aged 9-12 Years].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Semenova, A; Machinskaya, R I; Lomakin, D I

    2015-01-01

    Age-related changes in brain regulatory functions in children aged from 9 to 12 years with typical development were studied by means of neuropsychological and EEG analysis. The participants of the study were 107 children without learning difficulties and behavior deviations; they were devided into three groups (9-10, 10-11 and 11-12 years). The neuropsychological tests revealed nonlinear age-related changes in different executive brain functions. The group of 10-11-year-old children showed better results in programming, in- hibition of impulsive reactions and in the perception of socially relevant information than the group of 9-10- year-old children. At the same time, these children had more difficulties with selective activity regulation as compared with the younger group. The difficulties were mainly caused by switching from one element of the program to another and by retention of learned sequence of actions. These children also showed a lower level of motivation for task performance. The children aged 11-12 years had less difficulties with selective activity regulation; however, impulsive behavior was more frequent; these children also had a higher level of task performance motivation than in children aged 10-11 years. The analysis of resting state EEG revealed age-related differences in deviated EEG patterns associated with non-optimal functioning of fronto-thalamic system and hypothalamic structures. The incidence of these two types of EEG patterns was significantly higher in children aged 10-11 years as compared with children aged 9-10 years. The EEG of the groups of 10-11 and 11-12-years-old children did not show any significant differences.

  17. Skeletal age assessment in children using an open compact MRI system.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Terada, Yasuhiko; Kono, Saki; Tamada, Daiki; Uchiumi, Tomomi; Kose, Katsumi; Miyagi, Ryo; Yamabe, Eiko; Yoshioka, Hiroshi

    2013-06-01

    MRI may be a noninvasive and alternative tool for skeletal age assessment in children, although few studies have reported on this topic. In this article, skeletal age was assessed over a wide range of ages using an open, compact MRI optimized for the imaging of a child's hand and wrist, and its validity was evaluated. MR images and their three-dimensional segmentation visualized detailed skeletal features of each bone in the hand and wrist. Skeletal age was then independently scored from the MR images by two raters, according to the Tanner-Whitehouse Japan system. The skeletal age assessed by MR rating demonstrated a strong positive correlation with chronological age. The intrarater and inter-rater reproducibilities were significantly high. These results demonstrate the validity and reliability of skeletal age assessment using MRI. Copyright © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  18. Severe and uncomplicated falciparum malaria in children from three regions and three ethnic groups in Cameroon: prospective study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Achidi Eric A

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background To identify the factors that account for differences in clinical outcomes of malaria as well as its relationship with ethnicity, transmission intensity and parasite density. Methods A prospective study was conducted in nine health facilities in the Centre, Littoral and South West regions of Cameroon, and in three ethnic groups; the Bantu, Semi-Bantu and Foulbe. Children aged one month to 13 years, with diagnosis suggestive of malaria, were recruited and characterized using the WHO definition for severe and uncomplicated malaria. Malaria parasitaemia was determined by light microscopy, haematological analysis using an automated haematology analyser and glucose level by colorimetric technique. Results Of the febrile children screened, 971 of the febrile children screened fulfilled the inclusion criteria for specific malaria clinical phenotypes. Forty-nine (9.2% children had cerebral malaria, a feature that was similar across age groups, ethnicity and gender but lower (P P P = 0.009 and Foulbe (P = 0.026 counterparts in the Centre region. The overall study case fatality was 4.8 (47/755, with cerebral malaria being the only significant risk factor associated with death. Severe anaemia, though a common and major clinical presentation, was not significantly associated with risk of death. Conclusion About half of the acutely febrile children presented with severe malaria, the majority being cases of severe malaria anaemia, followed by respiratory distress and cerebral malaria. The latter two were less prevalent in the Centre region compared to the other regions. Cerebral malaria and hyperpyrexia were the only significant risk factors associated with death.

  19. Adaptation of a paradigm for examining the development of fear beliefs through the verbal information pathway in preschool-age children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rifkin, Lara S; Schofield, Casey A; Beard, Courtney; Armstrong, Thomas

    2016-12-01

    Verbal threat information has been shown to induce fear beliefs in school-age children (i.e. 6-12 years; for a review see Muris & Field, 2010). The current study adapted an existing paradigm (Field & Lawson, 2003) to examine the impact of verbal threat information on self-report and behavioral measures of fear in preschool-age children. Thirty children (aged 3-5) were provided with threat, positive, or no information about three novel Australian marsupials. There was a significant increase in fear belief for the animal associated with threat information compared to the animal associated with positive or no information. Verbal threat information did not impact behavioral avoidance in the complete sample; however, findings from an exploratory subgroup analysis excluding three-year-olds indicated that children demonstrated significant behavioral avoidance for the threat condition compared to the positive condition. These findings provide additional support for Rachman's theory of fear acquisition (1977, 1991) and suggest this paradigm may be used to examine the age at which verbal threat information becomes a relevant mode of fear acquisition for young children. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  20. BREASTFEEDING AND EARLY CHILDHOOD CARIES (ECC SEVERITY OF CHILDREN UNDER THREE YEARS OLD IN DKI JAKARTA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Risqa Rina Darwita

    2008-12-01

    Full Text Available The prevalence and severity of caries in children under three years old are constantly increasing. One of the cause is the increase consumption of cariogenic carbohydrate. Breast milk have buffer capacity that eventually able to prevent caries. The aims of this research are to discover the correlation between breastfeeding with the severity of Early Childhood Caries (ECC in children under three years old, to provide information on prevalence and severity of caries in children under three years, and to explain factors influencing the incidence of ECC. This research designed cross sectionally and conducted upon 565 children aged 12-38 months, selected using multistage cluster random sampling. The ECC prevalence of children under three years in DKI Jakarta is 52.7%, with average score of def-t 2.85. Bivariate analysis showed that, variables which correlate with the level of ECC are; the way to deliver (p=0,012, frequency (p=0,002, duration (p=0,002, salivary buffer capacity (p=0.013, habitual consumption of sugary diet (p=0.005, child’s dental hygiene behavior (p=0.002, and mother’s education (p=0.001. Multivariate analysis showed that ECC can be explained by these variables: age, mother’s education, the way to deliver and frequency of breast milk complements/replacement of consumtions, child’s brushing habit, plaque pH, and salivary buffer capacity. Resulting determination coefficient 32.1%. There is no significant correlation between breastfeeding and the level of Early Childhood Caries (ECC. The role of protective qualities of breastfeeding are not shown because of bias in obtaining data influence the incidence of caries.

  1. Three Broad Parental Feeding Styles and Young Children's Snack Intake

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boots, Samantha B.; Tiggemann, Marika; Corsini, Nadia

    2017-01-01

    Objective: The aim of this study was to identify broad overarching feeding styles that parents may use and their effects on pre-school-aged children's healthy and unhealthy snack intake. Design: Cross sectional study Methods: Mothers (n = 611) of children aged 2-7 years (mean age 3.9 years) completed an online survey assessing parent-feeding…

  2. Projective mapping with food stickers: A good tool for better understanding perception of fish in children of different ages

    OpenAIRE

    Daltoe, Marina Mitterer; Breda, Leandra Schuastz; Belusso, A.C.; Nogueira, Barbara Arruda; Rodrigues, Deyse Pegorini; Fiszman, Susana; Varela, Paula

    2017-01-01

    The objective of this study was to better understand the perception of fish products among school children of three different age groups, 5–6 years, 7–8 years and 9–0 years. In order to do so, we used Projective Mapping (PM) with food stickers and a word association task (WA). A total of 149 children from three public schools in the state of Parana, Brazil, have participated on this study. The age groups were interviewed (on 1–1 basis) by six monitors qualified to apply the sensory methods us...

  3. Interpreting Children's Rights Education: Three Perspectives and Three Roles for Teachers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jerome, Lee

    2016-01-01

    In this article, I argue that the world-view adopted by Children's Rights Education advocates influences the form of education they present. In the first part of the article, I discuss three perspectives: (1) the legalistic perspective, which sees Children's Rights Education as a matter of technical implementation; (2) the reformist-hermeneutic…

  4. Cognitive development in children with chronic protein energy malnutrition

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chandramouli B A

    2008-07-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Malnutrition is associated with both structural and functional pathology of the brain. A wide range of cognitive deficits has been reported in malnourished children. Effect of chronic protein energy malnutrition (PEM causing stunting and wasting in children could also affect the ongoing development of higher cognitive processes during childhood (>5 years of age. The present study examined the effect of stunted growth on the rate of development of cognitive processes using neuropsychological measures. Methods Twenty children identified as malnourished and twenty as adequately nourished in the age groups of 5–7 years and 8–10 years were examined. NIMHANS neuropsychological battery for children sensitive to the effects of brain dysfunction and age related improvement was employed. The battery consisted of tests of motor speed, attention, visuospatial ability, executive functions, comprehension and learning and memory Results Development of cognitive processes appeared to be governed by both age and nutritional status. Malnourished children performed poor on tests of attention, working memory, learning and memory and visuospatial ability except on the test of motor speed and coordination. Age related improvement was not observed on tests of design fluency, working memory, visual construction, learning and memory in malnourished children. However, age related improvement was observed on tests of attention, visual perception, and verbal comprehension in malnourished children even though the performance was deficient as compared to the performance level of adequately nourished children. Conclusion Chronic protein energy malnutrition (stunting affects the ongoing development of higher cognitive processes during childhood years rather than merely showing a generalized cognitive impairment. Stunting could result in slowing in the age related improvement in certain and not all higher order cognitive processes and may also result in

  5. Salt intake and eating habits of school-aged children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ohta, Yuko; Iwayama, Keiko; Suzuki, Hirotoshi; Sakata, Satoko; Hayashi, Shinichiro; Iwashima, Yoshio; Takata, Akira; Kawano, Yuhei

    2016-11-01

    Salt restriction is important for the prevention and treatment of hypertension; however, salt consumption is still high in Japan. Improvements in dietary habits, including salt reduction in childhood, may contribute to the prevention of hypertension. The aim of the present study was to investigate the salt intake of school-aged children and the relationship between their diet diary and actual salt intake. The subjects comprised 580 schoolchildren (471 elementary school pupils and 109 junior high school pupils) who wanted to evaluate their salt intake in Kuji, a northeast coastal area in Japan. We estimated salt intake using spot urine samples and a formula. Lifestyle was assessed using a questionnaire. We also evaluated the salt intake and the lifestyles of 440 parents. The estimated salt intakes of elementary school pupils, junior high school pupils and their parents were 7.1±1.5, 7.6±1.5 and 8.0±1.7 g per day, respectively. The proportion of lower-grade children who achieved the recommended salt intake was low. In the multivariate analysis, the estimated salt intake of school-aged children correlated with their age, estimated salt intake of their parents and the menu priorities of the household. The estimated salt intake of the parents was associated with female gender, obesity, age and the habitual consumption of bread and noodles. In conclusion, the estimated salt intake of school-aged children positively correlated with the estimated salt intake of their parents, and the proportion of lower-grade children who achieved the recommended salt intake was low. Guidance on salt restriction for children and their parents may reduce the salt intake of school-aged children.

  6. The development of multitasking in children aged 7-12years: Evidence from cross-sectional and longitudinal data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Tian-Xiao; Xie, Weizhen; Chen, Chu-Sheng; Altgassen, Mareike; Wang, Ya; Cheung, Eric F C; Chan, Raymond C K

    2017-09-01

    This study investigated the development of multitasking ability across childhood. A sample of 65 typically developing children aged 7, 9, and 11years completed two multitasking tests across three time points within a year. Cross-sectional and longitudinal data consistently indicated continuous linear growth in children's multitasking ability. By the age of 12years, children could effectively perform a simple multitasking scenario comprising six equally important tasks, although their ability to strategically organize assorted tasks with varied values and priorities in a complex multitasking setting had not reached proficiency yet. Cognitive functions underlying a complex multitasking scenario varied in their developmental trajectories. Retrospective memory developed continuously from 7 to 12years of age, suggesting its supporting role in the development of multitasking. Planning skills developed slowly and showed practice effects for older children but not for younger children. The ability to adhere to plans also developed slowly, and children of all age groups benefited from practice. This study offers a preliminary benchmark for future comparison with clinical populations and may help to inform the development of targeted interventions. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  7. Gender labelling of toys in children of preschool age

    OpenAIRE

    Knapeková, Lívia

    2016-01-01

    The bachelor thesis deals with preschool children's play in the context of gender. The theoretical part is divided into three main chapters. The first one is devoted to the essence of play and its function for the child, the second one describes the main areas of child development at preschool age and the last chapter is devoted mainly to gender socialization and role of play in it. The practical part has the form of semi- structured interviews, which aimed to find out the extent of gender de...

  8. Strengths and weaknesses in executive functioning in children with intellectual disability

    OpenAIRE

    Danielsson, H.; Henry, L.; Messer, D. J.; Ronnberg, J.

    2012-01-01

    Children with intellectual disability (ID) were given a comprehensive range of executive functioning measures, which systematically varied in terms of verbal and non-verbal demands. Their performance was compared to the performance of groups matched on mental age (MA) and chronological age (CA), respectively. Twenty-two children were included in each group. Children with ID performed on par with the MA group on switching, verbal executive-loaded working memory and most fluency tasks, but belo...

  9. Facial soft-tissue asymmetry in three-dimensional cone-beam computed tomography images of children with surgically corrected unilateral clefts.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Starbuck, John Marlow; Ghoneima, Ahmed; Kula, Katherine

    2014-03-01

    Cleft lip with or without cleft palate (CL/P) is a relatively common craniofacial malformation involving bony and soft-tissue disruptions of the nasolabial and dentoalveolar regions. The combination of CL/P and subsequent craniofacial surgeries to close the cleft and improve appearance of the cutaneous upper lip and nose can cause scarring and muscle pull, possibly resulting in soft-tissue depth asymmetries across the face. We tested the hypothesis that tissue depths in children with unilateral CL/P exhibit differences in symmetry across the sides of the face. Twenty-eight tissue depths were measured on cone-beam computed tomography images of children with unilateral CL/P (n = 55), aged 7 to 17 years, using Dolphin software (version 11.5). Significant differences in tissue depth symmetry were found around the cutaneous upper lip and nose in patients with unilateral CL/P.

  10. Sensorineural hearing loss in children.

    LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

    Wormald, R

    2010-02-01

    The objective of the study was to examine the aetiology of sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) in a paediatric population presenting to the National Centre of Medical Genetics. A retrospective chart review from 1998 to 2006. One hundred and twenty nine children were investigated for SNHL. The average age of diagnosis of hearing loss was 36 months. The degree of hearing loss was mild in 8 children, moderate in 33 children, severe in 31 children and profound in 57 children. Eighty-five children (66%) were diagnosed with a hereditary hearing loss, 11 (8%) children had an acquired hearing loss and no cause found in 33 (26%) children. This is the first report of the causes of hearing loss in Irish children. The mean age of diagnosis in our cohort is high and emphasises the need for a neonatal screening programme. There remains a number of children for whom the cause of hearing loss remains unknown.

  11. Body Awareness in Children with Mental Retardation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Simons, Johan; Dedroog, Inge

    2009-01-01

    The body awareness of 124 toddlers with mental retardation and of 124 children developing normally matched to them on age and gender was examined. Twenty-nine of the children with mental retardation were diagnosed as Down syndrome (DS). The "Pointing and Naming" Test of Berges and Lezine [Berges, J., & Lezine, I. (1978). "Test d'imitation de…

  12. Association between knowledge of caries preventive practices, preventive oral health habits of parents and children and caries experience in children resident in sub-urban Nigeria.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Folayan, Morenike O; Kolawole, Kikelomo A; Oyedele, Titus; Chukwumah, Nneka M; Chukumah, Nneka M; Onyejaka, Nneka; Agbaje, Hakeem; Oziegbe, Elizabeth O; Oshomoji, Olusegun V; Osho, Olusegun V

    2014-12-16

    The objectives of this study were to assess the association between children and parents' knowledge of caries preventive practices, the parents' caries preventive oral health behaviours and children's caries preventive oral health behaviour and caries experience. Three hundred and twenty four participants aged 8-12 years, 308 fathers and 318 mothers were recruited through a household survey conducted in Suburban Nigeria. A questionnaire was administered to generate information on fathers, mothers and children's knowledge of caries prevention measures and their oral health behaviour. Clinical examination was conducted on the children to determine their dmft/DMFT. Analysis was conducted to determine the predictors of the children's good oral health behaviour. The mothers' oral health behaviours were significant predictors of the children's oral health behaviours. Children who had good knowledge of caries prevention measures had significant increased odds of brushing their teeth twice daily or more. The children's caries prevalence was 13.9%, the mean dmft was 0.2 and the mean DMFT was 0.09. None of the dependent variables could predict the presence of caries in children. The study highlights the effect of maternal oral health behaviour on the oral health behaviour of children aged 8 years to 12 years in suburban Nigeria. A pilot study is needed to evaluate how enhanced maternal preventive oral health practices can improve the oral health preventive practices of children.

  13. Health status of the children in a high density town near Harare, Zimbabwe.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Watts, T E; Siziya, S

    1998-01-01

    To determine the health status of the children for conditions associated with poverty. Cross sectional. Households in Chitungwiza, a dormitory town of Harare, Zimbabwe. 181 children less than five years of age in 1990 and 162 in 1993. Nutritional status and illness experienced by children. A total of 191 (90.0%) mothers breast fed for more than a year. Thirty two (24.2%) children more than six months old in 1990 and 24 (18.9%) in 1993 were offered less than three meals a day. Illnesses were most common (90.9%) in children aged six to 11 months old and decreased after this. Diarrhoea and coughs accounted for most of this excess (87.9%). Coughs alone affected 33.8% of children of all ages. Knowledge of making rehydration sugar/salt solution was wrong in 23.9% of mothers. Appropriate immunization was given to 85% of children in 1993. Twenty one (14.9%) children in 1990 and 15(12.2%) in 1993 were under 80% weight for age. Thirteen (8.7%) children in 1990 and 16 (10.8%) in 1993 were stunted. Breast feeding was generally satisfactory but the number of meals offered to a fifth of the children aged more than six months was inadequate. Instructions for making rehydration sugar/salt solution, on composition and quantity to be given should be made easily available so that the rate of mothers with wrong knowledge of making the sugar salt solution could be decreased. Children of age six to 11 months need to be kept warm to avoid coughs and need to be brought up in hygienic conditions to avoid diarrhoea.

  14. A holistic approach to age estimation in refugee children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sypek, Scott A; Benson, Jill; Spanner, Kate A; Williams, Jan L

    2016-06-01

    Many refugee children arriving in Australia have an inaccurately documented date of birth (DOB). A medical assessment of a child's age is often requested when there is a concern that their documented DOB is incorrect. This study's aim was to assess the accuracy a holistic age assessment tool (AAT) in estimating the age of refugee children newly settled in Australia. A holistic AAT that combines medical and non-medical approaches was used to estimate the ages of 60 refugee children with a known DOB. The tool used four components to assess age: an oral narrative, developmental assessment, anthropometric measures and pubertal assessment. Assessors were blinded to the true age of the child. Correlation coefficients for the actual and estimated age were calculated for the tool overall and individual components. The correlation coefficient between the actual and estimated age from the AAT was very strong at 0.9802 (boys 0.9748, girls 0.9876). The oral narrative component of the tool performed best (R = 0.9603). Overall, 86.7% of age estimates were within 1 year of the true age. The range of differences was -1.43 to 3.92 years with a standard deviation of 0.77 years (9.24 months). The AAT is a holistic, simple and safe instrument that can be used to estimate age in refugee children with results comparable with radiological methods currently used. © 2016 Paediatrics and Child Health Division (The Royal Australasian College of Physicians).

  15. The relative age effect on anthropometric characteristics and motor performances in Turkish children aged between 8 and 12 years

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Haslofça Ercan

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available This study was carried out to investigate the effect of relative age on anthropometric properties and motor performance in Turkish children (girls n=423, boys n=601. Anthropometric measurement sites and techniques have been set out by the ISAK (International Society for the Advancement of Kinanthropometry. A group of tests involved in Eurofit Test Battery and other standard tests were used. For each age, the data of those who were born within the first three months and the last three months of the year were compared. The MedCalc Statistics Program was used for the differentiation and variation percentages between two periods were studied (p≤ 0.001, p= 0.05. Consequently effect of relative age was observed on anthropometric characteristics and motor performances of Turkish girls and boys between 8 and 12 years old. Researchers, trainers, families, sports managers and organizers are advised to consider Effect of Relative Age.

  16. DYNAMICS OF THE COMPELEX FORMS OF VISUAL PERCEPTION IN CHILDREN OF PRE-SCHOOL AGE (A NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL ANALYSIS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Neli VASILEVA

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available Introduction: Experimental data in preschool aged children proves the determining role of the auditory and visual processes for future reading skills, therefore the investigation of complex forms of visual perception in this age period is diagnostically important. Objectives: Basic aim of the research is assessment of the sensitive period for the non-verbal perceptive operations in pre-school aged children, and determination of subgroup with low results for non-verbal perception. Methods: The dynamics of the visual per-ception (visual gnosis in typically develop¬ing children were tested with an adapted version of the Poppelreuter-Ghent Test for figure-ground segregation. The total number of overlapping objects is 33, grouped accor¬ding to the level of difficulty. The children are given a group of objects separately in a following sequence and they should segregate and name the objects. Results: A number of 365 typically developing children without diagnosis of visual disorders and without corrected visus took part in the research. All children, aged 4, 5, and 6 from three different settlements attend state nursery schools and have Bulgarian as a mother tongue. A three-factor dispersion analysis was held to define the statistical significance of the independent factors age, gender and settlement. The research’s data define the 5 year olds as sensitive about the dynamics of the complex forms of visual perception, compared to the four year old children (pchildren (pchildren from the big town compared to the capital (pchildren at the age of six demonstrate a low rating

  17. Prevalence and characteristics of overweight and obesity in indigenous Australian children: A systematic review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dyer, Suzanne Marie; Gomersall, Judith Streak; Smithers, Lisa Gaye; Davy, Carol; Coleman, Dylan T; Street, Jackie Mary

    2017-05-03

    Evidence-based profiling of obesity and overweight in Indigenous Australian children has been poor. This study systematically reviewed evidence of the prevalence and patterns of obesity/overweight, with respect to gender, age, remoteness, and birth weight, in Indigenous Australian children, 0-18 years (PROSPERO CRD42014007626). Study quality and risk of bias were assessed. Twenty-five publications (21 studies) met inclusion criteria, with large variations in prevalence for obesity or overweight (11 to 54%) reported. A high degree of heterogeneity in study design was observed, few studies (6/21) were representative of the target population, and few appropriately recruited Indigenous children (8/21). Variability in study design, conduct, and small sample sizes mean that it is not possible to derive a single estimate for prevalence although two high-quality studies indicate at least one in four Indigenous Australian children are overweight or obese. Four of six studies reporting on gender, found overweight/obesity higher in girls and eight studies reporting on overweight/obesity by age suggest prevalence increases with age with one high quality large national study reporting total overweight/obesity as 22.4% of children aged 2-4 years, 27.5% of those aged 5-9, 38.5% aged 10-14, and 36.3% aged 15-17. Three of four studies, reporting obesity/overweight by region, found lower rates for children living in more remote areas than urban areas.

  18. Computer-aided bone age assessment for ethnically diverse older children using integrated fuzzy logic system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ma, Kevin; Moin, Paymann; Zhang, Aifeng; Liu, Brent

    2010-03-01

    Bone Age Assessment (BAA) of children is a clinical procedure frequently performed in pediatric radiology to evaluate the stage of skeletal maturation based on the left hand x-ray radiograph. The current BAA standard in the US is using the Greulich & Pyle (G&P) Hand Atlas, which was developed fifty years ago and was only based on Caucasian population from the Midwest US. To bring the BAA procedure up-to-date with today's population, a Digital Hand Atlas (DHA) consisting of 1400 hand images of normal children of different ethnicities, age, and gender. Based on the DHA and to solve inter- and intra-observer reading discrepancies, an automatic computer-aided bone age assessment system has been developed and tested in clinical environments. The algorithm utilizes features extracted from three regions of interests: phalanges, carpal, and radius. The features are aggregated into a fuzzy logic system, which outputs the calculated bone age. The previous BAA system only uses features from phalanges and carpal, thus BAA result for children over age of 15 is less accurate. In this project, the new radius features are incorporated into the overall BAA system. The bone age results, calculated from the new fuzzy logic system, are compared against radiologists' readings based on G&P atlas, and exhibits an improvement in reading accuracy for older children.

  19. Malaria Parasitemia in Children Aged less than 5 Years Presenting ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Fever is the commonest manifestation and Children aged less than 5 years are most vulnerable. An appraisal of this disease among these children is important to reducing the impact of the disease. Objective: To determine the prevalence and identify factors affecting malaria parasitemia in febrile children aged less than 5 ...

  20. [Child malnutrition in children under 5 years of age in Peru: trends and determinants].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sobrino, Manuel; Gutiérrez, César; Cunha, Antonio J; Dávila, Miguel; Alarcón, Jorge

    2014-02-01

    Analyze malnutrition and anemia trends in Peruvian children under 5 years of age and their association with determinants in the 2000-2011 period. Nutritional indicators for children under 5 years of age from the 2011 Demographic and Family Health Survey (ENDES), and their evolution based on data from the 2000, 2005, and 2008 ENDES, were analyzed. Chronic malnutrition (CM) (height/age ≤ 2 SD), acute malnutrition (AM), (height/weight ≤ 2 SD), and anemia trends were estimated. Associations were found with factors such as sex, age, area of residence (urban or rural), region of residence, mother's education, wealth quintile, availability of public water system, sewer availability, altitude, presence of other children in household, birth order, presence of diarrhea in previous 15 days, and presence of cough in previous 15 days. AM, CM, and anemia in Peruvian children under 5 years of age decreased from 2000-2011. This reduction was not uniform for the three conditions, with decreases of 1.1% to 0.4% recorded for AM, 31.6% to 19.6% for CM, and 50.4% to 30.7% for anemia. Although the factors analyzed were related to the prevalence of these three illnesses, calculation of the adjusted odds ratios showed significant differences for CM (mother's education, Sierra region, altitude greater than 2 500 m above sea level, presence of two or more children in household, and being the third or successive child) and anemia (child sex [higher in males], children under 2 years of age, Resto de costa region and Selva region, altitude greater than 2 500 m above sea level, availability of public water system, sewer availability, presence of two or more children in household, and presence of diarrhea within 15 days prior to the survey). For AM, differences were observed according to some factors but they were not significant in the adjusted model. In the 2000-2011 period, Peru achieved reduction of its CM, AM, and anemia rates. AM rates decreased to almost one-third, with overall

  1. Binocular versus standard occlusion or blurring treatment for unilateral amblyopia in children aged three to eight years.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tailor, Vijay; Bossi, Manuela; Bunce, Catey; Greenwood, John A; Dahlmann-Noor, Annegret

    2015-08-11

    Current treatments for amblyopia in children, occlusion and pharmacological blurring, have had limited success, with less than two-thirds of children achieving good visual acuity of at least 0.20 logMAR in the amblyopic eye, limited improvement of stereopsis, and poor compliance. A new treatment approach, based on the dichoptic presentation of movies or computer games (images presented separately to each eye), may yield better results, as it aims to balance the input of visual information from each eye to the brain. Compliance may also improve with these more child-friendly treatment procedures. To determine whether binocular treatments in children aged three to eight years with unilateral amblyopia result in better visual outcomes than conventional occlusion or pharmacological blurring treatment. We searched the Cochrane Eyes and Vision Group Trials Register (last date of searches: 14 April 2015), the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL; 2015, Issue 3), Ovid MEDLINE, Ovid MEDLINE In-Process and Other Non-Indexed Citations, Ovid MEDLINE Daily, Ovid OLDMEDLINE (January 1946 to April 2015), EMBASE (January 1980 to April 2015), the ISRCTN registry (www.isrctn.com/editAdvancedSearch), ClinicalTrials.gov (www.clinicaltrials.gov), and the World Health Organization (WHO) International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP) (www.who.int/ictrp/search/en). We did not use any date or language restrictions in the electronic searches for trials. Two review authors independently screened the results of the search in order to identify studies that met the inclusion criteria of the review: randomised controlled trials (RCTs) that enrolled participants between the ages of three and eight years old with unilateral amblyopia, defined as best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) worse than 0.200 logMAR in the amblyopic eye, and BCVA 0.200 logMAR or better in the fellow eye, in the presence of an amblyogenic risk factor such as anisometropia, strabismus, or both. Prior

  2. Exposure to violence and psychosocial adjustment among urban school-aged children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Purugganan, Oscar H; Stein, Ruth E K; Silver, Ellen Johnson; Benenson, Blanch S

    2003-12-01

    This study determines the relationship between psychosocial adjustment in school-aged children and one aspect of exposure to violence, the proximity of exposure, in terms of (1) "physical" proximity and (2) "emotional" proximity to the victims of violence. A convenience sample of 175 children aged 9 to 12 years from a primary care clinic of a large urban hospital were interviewed about their exposure to violence using the Children's Report of Exposure to Violence. Psychosocial adjustment was measured through maternal reports using the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and the Personal Adjustment and Role Skills Scale (PARS III). Children were categorized into three groups according to their closest proximity to exposure to violence ("victim" > "witness" > exposure through other people's "report") and two groups according to emotional proximity (victim was a "familiar person" or "stranger"). All children (23/175) who scored above the CBCL clinical cutoff (T score > 63) were witnesses or victims of violence. The CBCL total T scores (higher score = more maladjustment) showed that the "victims" group (mean 52.4) scored significantly higher than the "witness" group (mean 50.0) and "report" group (mean 47.4). The PARS III total scores (lower scores = more maladjustment) showed that the "victims" group (mean 87.5) scored significantly lower than the "witness" group (mean 93.1) and "report" group (mean 98.2). The relationship of the child to the victim was not associated with significantly different CBCL and PARS III scores. Children exposed to more proximal forms of violence as victims or witnesses exhibited more psychosocial maladjustment.

  3. Social development of children born very preterm: a systematic review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ritchie, Kirsten; Bora, Samudragupta; Woodward, Lianne J

    2015-10-01

    To review systematically studies examining the development of social competence in children born very preterm (VPT) (gestation skills. Twenty-three studies were included. Seven focused on social competence and another 16 examined social competence within a range of outcomes. Study quality was low. Limitations included reliance on single informant data, cross-sectional measurement, use of brief screening tools, absence of child or peer report, and no conceptual model. In terms of social adjustment, 16 out of 21 studies found children born VPT had more peer problems and social withdrawal. Findings of social performance were mixed, with some studies suggesting differences in prosocial behavior (4/14) and others not. Social skills were assessed in four studies and showed children born VPT had poorer skills than children born at term. Predictors of social competence included gestational age, neonatal brain abnormalities, and family socio-economic status. Children born VPT have poorer social competence. These difficulties emerge early and persist throughout childhood. © 2015 Mac Keith Press.

  4. Stressors of School-age Children With Allergic Diseases: A Qualitative Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Iio, Misa; Hamaguchi, Mana; Nagata, Mayumi; Yoshida, Koichi

    2018-05-08

    Most studies of stress in children with chronic diseases have been geared toward parents and caregivers have not considered allergic diseases together. This study aimed to identify the stressors associated with allergic diseases in Japanese school-age children. Stressors associated with allergic diseases of 11 school-age children (seven boys and four girls; age range: 9-12 years) were investigated using semi-structured interviews. In the qualitative thematic analysis of stressors about allergic diseases, two themes: allergic disease-specific stressors and common stressors in chronic diseases, and 12 categories were identified. A thematic map was applied to four domains of stressor: physiological factors, psychological factors, social factors, and environmental factors. The results showed that school-age children with allergic diseases have a variety of stressors. Future studies should aim to develop an allergic disease-specific stress management program with school-age children. In children with allergic diseases, not only is stress management in daily life important, but also stress management for disease-specific matters to control the symptoms and maintain mental health. Stress management should be supported for school-age children with allergic diseases. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  5. Support for Families: Working with Parents and Caregivers to Support Children from Birth to Three Years of Age.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hanssen, Elizabeth, Ed.; Zimanyi, Louise, Ed.

    2000-01-01

    This theme issue of Coordinators' Notebook focuses on how early childhood care and development (ECCD) programs world-wide can work with parents and caregivers to support children from birth to 3 years of age. Section 1 of the journal describes the needs of parents and families and the development of parent programs around the world. Section 2…

  6. From imitation to implementation: How two- and three-year-old children learn to enforce social norms.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hardecker, Susanne; Tomasello, Michael

    2017-06-01

    Young children enforce social norms from early on, but little research has examined how this enforcement behaviour emerges. This study investigated whether observing an adult's norm enforcement influences children's own enforcement of that norm compared with observing an action demonstration without enforcement. Additionally, children experienced enforcement either following their own (second-party) or a third-party's transgression (N = 120). Results revealed that observing enforcement increased two- and three-year-old children's protest against the sanctioned action regardless of second- or third-party context. However, only three-year-olds generalized their enforcement to a novel action not matching the norm, whereas two-year-olds only protested against the previously sanctioned action. Importantly, without any enforcement demonstration, two-year-olds rarely protested at all while three-year-olds did so quite frequently. Thus, providing an opportunity to imitate enforcement seems to give rise to enforcement behaviour in two-year-olds while three-year-olds already understand normative implications following a variety of cues and even apply norm enforcement without any demonstration of how to do it. Statement of contribution What is already known on this subject? Children conform to social norms from early in development. Young children from 2 to 3 years of age also enforce social norms on third parties. What does this study add? Observing enforcement by an adult increases two- and three-year-olds' protest against the sanctioned action. It does not matter whether children experienced enforcement on their own or a third party's action. Three-, but not two-year-olds, generalize their enforcement to novel actions that do not match the norm. © 2016 The British Psychological Society.

  7. Rational-Emotive Assessment of School-Aged Children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    DiGiuseppe, Raymond

    1990-01-01

    Focuses on assessment of emotions and irrational beliefs in Rational-Emotive Therapy with school-aged children. Argues that, for children to understand and agree to process of disputing irrational beliefs, practitioner first assesses individual child's emotional vocabulary, his/her understanding of relationship between disturbed emotion and…

  8. Do children with SLI use verbs to predict arguments and adjuncts: evidence from eye movements during listening.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Llorenç eAndreu

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Different psycholinguistic theories have suggested the importance of verb semantics in rapidly anticipating upcoming information during real-time sentence comprehension. To date, no study has examined if children use verbs to predict arguments and adjuncts in sentence comprehension using children with specific language impairment (SLI.Twenty-five children with SLI (aged 5 years and 3 months to 8 years and 2 months, twenty-five age-matched controls (aged 5 years and 3 months to 8 years and 2 months, twenty-five MLU-w controls (aged 3 years and 3 months to 7 years and 1 month, and 31 adults took part in the study. The eye movements of participants were monitored while they heard twenty-four sentences, such as El hombre lee con atención un cuento en la cama (translation: The man carefully reads a storybook in bed, in the presence of four depicted objects, one of which was the target (storybook, another, the competitor (bed, and another two, distracters (wardrobe and grape. The proportion of looks revealed that, when the meaning of the verb was retrieved, the upcoming argument and adjunct referents were rapidly anticipated. However, the proportion of looks at the theme, source/goal and instrument referents were significantly higher than the looks at the locatives. This pattern was found in adults as well as children with and without language impairment. The present results suggest that, in terms of sentence comprehension, the ability to understand verb information is not severely impaired in children with SLI.

  9. Reflections on having children in the future—interviews with highly educated women and men without children

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eriksson, Carola; Larsson, Margareta

    2012-01-01

    Background There is a trend to delay birth of the first child until the age at which female reproductive capacity has started to decrease. The aim of the present study was to explore how highly educated women and men reflected on future parenthood. Methods Twenty-two women and 18 men, who had started their professional career, were subjected to individual qualitative semi-structured interviews with qualitative content analysis guiding the analysis. Results All informants, except for three women, planned to have children when some important prerequisites were fulfilled. Women and men reflected in much the same way, and prerequisites for parenthood were being of reasonable age and having a partner in the same phase of life. A reasonable age was considered in relation to reproductive capacity, and both women and men expressed awareness of the natural decline in fertility at higher ages. Good living conditions with stable finances were also important. Parenthood was perceived as a challenge and a sacrifice but also as enriching life. Reasons for having children included being part of the future and settling down to build their own family. Many concluded that there would never be a perfect time for having children. Conclusion Highly educated women and men reflect on various factors when considering family planning. Being of reasonable age and having good living conditions, in particular a sound personal economy, were important. Given their goals, it is not surprising that many postpone parenthood until ages when female reproductive capacity is decreased. PMID:22300332

  10. Modern diagnostic method of microelementosis of school age children

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rasulov, S.K.

    2006-01-01

    standard sample IAEA NN and NN-1 (hair homogenate) as well as comparative method. Accuracy of analysis results of the applied method made up from 7 to 30% depended on concentration and nuclear-physical characteristics. Results and Discussion: Obtained results showed that microelemental contents in hairs and other liquids in children of school age somehow differed from that of in adults. So, contents of iron in children's hair are significantly higher (three times - 81.38±8.55 mkg/g). In erythrocytes of 22 examined sound children the contents of the iron equaled to 2964±52 mg/l, in saliva - 584 351.7 mg/l. In the study of Zn contents in blood of healthy children it was equal to 59 mkg/g, in formed elements of blood it was equal to 32.3 mkg/g which was much less than similar index in adults [3]. According to our data the contents of Zn in blood made up 39.25±4.30 mkg/g which was significantly low compared with similar index in adults (according to V.V.Nasolodin, 1987 the contents of zinc in plasma varies from 86 to 106 mkg/g). In 20 examined children the contents of Zn in erythrocytes equaled to 32.3±1.5 mkg/g. The contents of Zn in saliva of sound children of school age was 518.0±54.17 mkg/g and in urine 386±18.24 mkg/g. In practically sound school children of Zarafshan valley the contents of Zn in hair made up 182.9±6.6 mkg/g. It was established that the contents of Zn in sound school children of Zarafshan valley is in middle position amongst similar data referred in scientific articles [2]. The contents of Cu in hairs of practically sound school children in Zarafshan valley was 9.24±0.84 mkg/g which was low (two times) compared with adults. We found out that the contents of Cu in hairs of healthy school children in Zarafshan valley was lower compared with the data presented by other authors [2] and other regions respectively. A low content of Cu in hairs probably depends on the food-stuff ingredients and peculiarities of the natural condition in biogeochemical

  11. [Overweight in primary school-age children. Prevalence and risk factors].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Funk, M B; Bausback-Schomakers, S; Hanschmann, K M; Gerhards, B; Kuhn, K; Krackhardt, B

    2015-10-01

    Various studies show that pre-school age is a sensitive period for the development of overweight and obesity. During a longitudinal study between 2010 and 2013, the municipal health authority (city of Frankfurt) in cooperation with the university children's hospital investigated the development of weight in children aged 5 to 8. The weight and height of a collective of 5720 children were measured (2010/11). In addition, nutritional and exercise habits, as well as media consumption was documented for 4758 children through a questionnaire during the school enrolment procedure. The weight and height of 3481 children were measured again in the second grade (2012/13). Over a period of 24 months, the percentage of overweight (not obese) children increased from 7.5 to 9.4 % and that of obese children from 4.5 to 5.0 %. 164 of 2818 children with a normal initial weight (5.8 %) changed to percentile class overweight or obese. 79 of 260 children who were initially overweight, not obese (30 %), changed to the group of normal weight, but only 4 out of 156 obese children (3 %). Increased TV consumption (> 1 h per day), availability of their own television, lack of physical activity, and consumption of high-calorie drinks were risk factors for the development of overweight during the primary school age. 72 % of parents of overweight children and 22 % of obese children falsely classified their children as normal weight. Targeted education about the risk of obesity in the primary school age and offers for early intervention should be established in the healthcare services concerned.

  12. Treatment of type II and type III open tibia fractures in children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bartlett, C S; Weiner, L S; Yang, E C

    1997-07-01

    To determine whether severe open tibial fractures in children behave like similar fractures in adults. A combined retrospective and prospective review evaluated treatment protocol for type II and type III open tibial fractures in children over a ten-year period from 1984 to 1993. Twenty-three fractures were studied in children aged 3.5 to 14.5 (18 boys and 5 girls). There were six type II, eight type IIIA, and nine type IIIB fractures. Type I fractures were not included. Seven fractures were comminuted with significant butterfly fragments or segmental patterns. Treatment consisted of adequate debridement of soft tissues, closure of dead space, and stabilization with external fixation. Bone debridement only included contaminated devitalized bone or devitalized bone without soft tissue coverage. Bone that could be covered despite periosteal stripping was preserved. Clinical and roentgenographic examinations were used to determine time to union. All fractures in this series healed between eight and twenty-six weeks. Wound coverage included two flaps, three skin grafts, and two delayed primary closures. No bone grafts were required. There were no deep infections, growth arrests, or malunions. Follow-up has ranged from six months to four years. Open tibia fractures in children differ from similar fractures in adults in the following ways: soft tissues have excellent healing capacity, devitalized bone that is not contaminated or exposed can be saved and will become incorporated, and external fixation can be maintained until the fracture has healed. Periosteum in young children can form bone even in the face of bone loss.

  13. Parental Investment in Children with Chronic Disease: The Effect of Child's and Mother's Age

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sigal Tifferet

    2007-10-01

    Full Text Available Parents do not invest their resources in their children equally. Three factors which elicit differential parental investment are the parent's reproductive value, the child's reproductive value (RV, and the impact of the investment on the child (II. As the child matures, his RV increases while the II may decrease. This raises a question regarding the favored strategy of investment by child age. It was hypothesized that different categories of parental investment generate different age-based strategies. Emotional investment, such as maternal worrying for the child's health, was hypothesized to increase with the child's age, while direct care was hypothesized to decrease with the child's age. Both categories were hypothesized to increase with the mother's age at childbirth. 137 Israeli mothers of children with chronic neurological conditions reported levels of worrying for their child and levels of change in direct care. Maternal worrying about the child's health was positively associated with the child's age at diagnosis and the severity of his illness, and negatively associated with the time from diagnosis. An increase in direct care was positively associated with maternal age at childbirth and illness severity, and negatively associated with the time from diagnosis, and the duration of the marriage. Contrary to the hypothesis, the child's age had no effect on changes in direct care. It appears that in mothers of children with adverse neurological conditions, child and maternal age effect parental investment differently. While the child's age is related to maternal worrying about his health, the mother's age at childbirth is related to changes in direct care.

  14. Semantic organization in children with Cochlear Implants: Computational analysis of verbal fluency

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yoed Nissan Kenett

    2013-09-01

    Full Text Available Purpose: Cochlear implants (CIs enable children with severe and profound hearing impairments to perceive the sensation of sound sufficiently to permit oral language acquisition. So far, studies have focused mainly on technological improvements and general outcomes of implantation for speech perception and spoken language development. This study quantitatively explored the semantic networks of children with CIs in comparison to those of age-matched normal hearing (NH peers.Method: Twenty seven children with CIs and twenty seven age- and IQ-matched NH children ages 7-10 were tested on a timed animal verbal fluency task (Name as many animals as you can. The responses were analyzed using correlation and network methodologies. The structure of the animal category semantic networks for both groups were extracted and compared.Results: Children with CIs appeared to have a less-developed semantic lexicon structure compared to age-matched NH peers. The average shortest path length and the network diameter measures were larger for the NH group compared to the CIs group. This difference was consistent for the analysis of networks derived from animal names generated by each group (sample-matched correlation networks and for the networks derived from the common animal names generated by both groups (word-matched correlation networks.Conclusions: The main difference between the semantic networks of children with CIs and NH children lies in the network structure. The semantic network of children with CIs is under-developed compared to the semantic network of the age-matched NH children. We discuss the practical and clinical implications of our findings.

  15. Cerebral Palsy Symptoms in Children Decreased Following Massage Therapy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hernandez-Reif, Maria; Field, Tiffany; Largie, Shay; Diego, Miguel; Manigat, Natasha; Seoanes, Jacqueline; Bornstein, Joan

    2005-01-01

    Twenty young children (mean age = 32 months) with cerebral palsy (CP) recruited from early intervention programs received 30 minutes of massage or reading twice weekly for 12 weeks. The children receiving massage therapy showed fewer physical symptoms including reduced spasticity, less rigid muscle tone overall and in the arms, and improved fine…

  16. Modeling the developmental patterns of auditory evoked magnetic fields in children.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rupesh Kotecha

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: As magnetoencephalography (MEG is of increasing utility in the assessment of deficits and development delays in brain disorders in pediatrics, it becomes imperative to fully understand the functional development of the brain in children. METHODOLOGY: The present study was designed to characterize the developmental patterns of auditory evoked magnetic responses with respect to age and gender. Sixty children and twenty adults were studied with a 275-channel MEG system. CONCLUSIONS: Three main responses were identified at approximately 46 ms (M50, 71 ms (M70 and 106 ms (M100 in latency for children. The latencies of M70 and M100 shortened with age in both hemispheres; the latency of M50 shortened with age only in the right hemisphere. Analysis of developmental lateralization patterns in children showed that the latency of the right hemispheric evoked responses shortened faster than the corresponding left hemispheric responses. The latency of M70 in the right hemisphere highly correlated to the age of the child. The amplitudes of the M70 responses increased with age and reached their peaks in children 12-14 years of age, after which they decreased with age. The source estimates for the M50 and M70 responses indicated that they were generated in different subareas in the Heschl's gyrus in children, while not localizable in adults. Furthermore, gender also affected developmental patterns. The latency of M70 in the right hemisphere was proposed to be an index of auditory development in children, the modeling equation is 85.72-1.240xAge (yrs. Our results demonstrate that there is a clear developmental pattern in the auditory cortex and underscore the importance of M50 and M70 in the developing brain.

  17. A DRIED BLOOD SPOT METHOD TO EVALUATE CHOLINESTERASE ACTIVITY IN YOUNG CHILDREN

    Science.gov (United States)

    Field methods are needed to detect and monitor anticholinesterase pesticide exposure of young children. Twenty children, aged 11-18 months, living in an agricultural community along the US/Mexico border were enrolled in a pilot study investigating methods to detect pesticide expo...

  18. Determinants of activity-friendly neighborhoods for children: Results from the SPACE study

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Vries, S.I. de; Bakker, I.; Mechelen, W. van; Hopman-Rock, M.

    2007-01-01

    Purpose. To examine the association between children's physical activity and factors of the built environment. Design. Cross-sectional study. Setting. Ten neighborhoods in six cities in the Netherlands. Subjects. Four hundred twenty-two children (age range, 6-11 years; 49% male). Measures. Physical

  19. Teaching Literacy Skills to French Minimally Verbal School-Aged Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders with the Serious Game SEMA-TIC: An Exploratory Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Serret, Sylvie; Hun, Stéphanie; Thümmler, Susanne; Pierron, Prescillia; Santos, Andreia; Bourgeois, Jérémy; Askenazy, Florence

    2017-01-01

    Learning to read is very challenging for children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), but also very important, as it can give them access to new knowledge. This is even more challenging in minimally verbal children, who do not have the verbal abilities to learn through usual methods. To address the learning of literacy skills in French minimally verbal school-aged children with ASD, we designed the serious game SEMA-TIC, which relies on non-verbal cognitive skills and uses specific learning strategies adapted to the features of autistic individuals. This study investigated the usability of SEMA-TIC (in terms of adaptability, efficiency, and effectiveness) for the acquisition of literacy skills in French minimally verbal school-aged children with ASD. Twenty-five children with ASD and no functional language participated in the study. Children in the training group received the SEMA-TIC training over 23 weeks (on average), while no intervention was provided to children in the non-training group. Results indicated that SEMA-TIC presents a suitable usability, as all participants were able to play (adaptability), to complete the training (efficiency) and to acquire significant literacy skills (effectiveness). Indeed, the literacy skills in the training group significantly improved after the training, as measured by specific experimental tasks (alphabet knowledge, word reading, word-non-word discrimination, sentence reading and word segmentation; all p ≤ 0.001) compared to the non-training group. More importantly, 3 out of 12 children of the training group could be considered as word decoders at the end of the intervention, whereas no children of the non-training group became able to decode words efficiently. The present study thus brings preliminary evidence that French minimally verbal school-aged children with ASD are able to learn literacy skills through SEMA-TIC, a specific computerized intervention consisting in a serious game based on non-verbal cognitive

  20. Teaching Literacy Skills to French Minimally Verbal School-Aged Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders with the Serious Game SEMA-TIC: An Exploratory Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Serret, Sylvie; Hun, Stéphanie; Thümmler, Susanne; Pierron, Prescillia; Santos, Andreia; Bourgeois, Jérémy; Askenazy, Florence

    2017-01-01

    Learning to read is very challenging for children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), but also very important, as it can give them access to new knowledge. This is even more challenging in minimally verbal children, who do not have the verbal abilities to learn through usual methods. To address the learning of literacy skills in French minimally verbal school-aged children with ASD, we designed the serious game SEMA-TIC, which relies on non-verbal cognitive skills and uses specific learning strategies adapted to the features of autistic individuals. This study investigated the usability of SEMA-TIC (in terms of adaptability, efficiency, and effectiveness) for the acquisition of literacy skills in French minimally verbal school-aged children with ASD. Twenty-five children with ASD and no functional language participated in the study. Children in the training group received the SEMA-TIC training over 23 weeks (on average), while no intervention was provided to children in the non-training group. Results indicated that SEMA-TIC presents a suitable usability, as all participants were able to play (adaptability), to complete the training (efficiency) and to acquire significant literacy skills (effectiveness). Indeed, the literacy skills in the training group significantly improved after the training, as measured by specific experimental tasks (alphabet knowledge, word reading, word-non-word discrimination, sentence reading and word segmentation; all p ≤ 0.001) compared to the non-training group. More importantly, 3 out of 12 children of the training group could be considered as word decoders at the end of the intervention, whereas no children of the non-training group became able to decode words efficiently. The present study thus brings preliminary evidence that French minimally verbal school-aged children with ASD are able to learn literacy skills through SEMA-TIC, a specific computerized intervention consisting in a serious game based on non-verbal cognitive

  1. Teaching Literacy Skills to French Minimally Verbal School-Aged Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders with the Serious Game SEMA-TIC: An Exploratory Study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sylvie Serret

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available Learning to read is very challenging for children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD, but also very important, as it can give them access to new knowledge. This is even more challenging in minimally verbal children, who do not have the verbal abilities to learn through usual methods. To address the learning of literacy skills in French minimally verbal school-aged children with ASD, we designed the serious game SEMA-TIC, which relies on non-verbal cognitive skills and uses specific learning strategies adapted to the features of autistic individuals. This study investigated the usability of SEMA-TIC (in terms of adaptability, efficiency, and effectiveness for the acquisition of literacy skills in French minimally verbal school-aged children with ASD. Twenty-five children with ASD and no functional language participated in the study. Children in the training group received the SEMA-TIC training over 23 weeks (on average, while no intervention was provided to children in the non-training group. Results indicated that SEMA-TIC presents a suitable usability, as all participants were able to play (adaptability, to complete the training (efficiency and to acquire significant literacy skills (effectiveness. Indeed, the literacy skills in the training group significantly improved after the training, as measured by specific experimental tasks (alphabet knowledge, word reading, word-non-word discrimination, sentence reading and word segmentation; all p ≤ 0.001 compared to the non-training group. More importantly, 3 out of 12 children of the training group could be considered as word decoders at the end of the intervention, whereas no children of the non-training group became able to decode words efficiently. The present study thus brings preliminary evidence that French minimally verbal school-aged children with ASD are able to learn literacy skills through SEMA-TIC, a specific computerized intervention consisting in a serious game based on non

  2. Feasibility and validity of the structured attention module among economically disadvantaged preschool-age children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bush, Hillary H; Eisenhower, Abbey; Briggs-Gowan, Margaret; Carter, Alice S

    2015-01-01

    Rooted in the theory of attention put forth by Mirsky, Anthony, Duncan, Ahearn, and Kellam (1991), the Structured Attention Module (SAM) is a developmentally sensitive, computer-based performance task designed specifically to assess sustained selective attention among 3- to 6-year-old children. The current study addressed the feasibility and validity of the SAM among 64 economically disadvantaged preschool-age children (mean age = 58 months; 55% female); a population known to be at risk for attention problems and adverse math performance outcomes. Feasibility was demonstrated by high completion rates and strong associations between SAM performance and age. Principal Factor Analysis with rotation produced robust support for a three-factor model (Accuracy, Speed, and Endurance) of SAM performance, which largely corresponded with existing theorized models of selective and sustained attention. Construct validity was evidenced by positive correlations between SAM Composite scores and all three SAM factors and IQ, and between SAM Accuracy and sequential memory. Value-added predictive validity was not confirmed through main effects of SAM on math performance above and beyond age and IQ; however, significant interactions by child sex were observed: Accuracy and Endurance both interacted with child sex to predict math performance. In both cases, the SAM factors predicted math performance more strongly for girls than for boys. There were no overall sex differences in SAM performance. In sum, the current findings suggest that interindividual variation in sustained selective attention, and potentially other aspects of attention and executive function, among young, high-risk children can be captured validly with developmentally sensitive measures.

  3. Falls, cuts and burns in children 0-4 years of age: 2004 Pelotas (Brazil) birth cohort.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barcelos, Raquel Siqueira; Santos, Iná S; Matijasevich, Alicia; Barros, Aluísio J D; Barros, Fernando C; França, Giovanny Vinicius Araújo; Silva, Vera Lúcia Schmidt da

    2017-03-09

    Knowledge on the incidence of childhood accidents according to the child's stage of development is important for designing preventive programs targeting each age bracket. The aim of this study was to describe the incidence of falls, cuts, and burns in children up to four years of age according to family economic status and maternal age and schooling, in children from the 2004 Pelotas (Brazil) birth cohort. We calculated the incidence rates and incidence rates ratios for the 0-12, 12-24, and 24-48- months of age. Falls were the most frequently reported accidents in all the age brackets, followed by cuts and burns. Boys suffered more falls and cuts than girls in the first two years of life. In the second year of life, the incidence of falls and burns practically tripled, while cuts nearly doubled when compared to the first year, in both sexes. Burns were equally frequent in girls and boys in all three age brackets. The incidence of falls and cuts was higher in boys. In both sexes, having an adolescent mother was associated with falls and cuts in all three age brackets; low maternal schooling was associated with burns and cuts at 48 months; and low family socioeconomic status was associated with falls and cuts at 48 months.

  4. Standard bone-age of infant and children in Korea

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yeon, K. M.

    1996-01-01

    To evaluate the developmental status of children and adolescents, bone-age chart based on the radiograph of hand and wrist has been used in many countries. The bone-age reflects not only the functional status of various hormones but also the influence of chronic disease, and it has been used more widely than other indices such as height-weight-age table. As the standard bone-age chart has not been established in Korea, the foreign bone-age chart has been used radiographs in the clinics. To make Korean standard bone-age chart, we took the radiographs of the left hand in about 5400 children covering the whole country, and 3407 radiographs of 1830 boys and 1577 girls ranging from two months to 16 years of age were selected and analyzed for bone maturity scores by TW2-20 method. The range of age were divided into 27 groups, and the radiographs of 50th percentile score were chosen as the standard bone-ages for the median age of each group. The youngest and oldest chronological age which had the same TW2-20 score of the standard bone-age were decided as the range of variation from the median age. We hope that Korean standard bone-age chart be used as the radiological criteria in the evaluation of the developmental status in Korean children and adolescents

  5. Selected executive functions in children with ADHD in early school age

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aneta Rita Borkowska

    2010-09-01

    Full Text Available The study was aimed at finding out whether at the early school age the effectiveness of executive functions distinguishes children with ADHD from those of the control group. Besides, the aim was to check to what extent the use of diagnostic methods evaluating executive functions in children at the early school age is justified. The analysis comprised cognitive flexibility, sustained attention, interference control and planning ability. Those methods of neuropsychological evaluation were used which are mostly applied to characterize executive functions: Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, interference task based on the Stroop Interference Test, and tests of verbal fluency and Tower of London. The examined group consisted of 50 children aged 7-10: 25 children with hyperactivity of combined type and 25 children of the control group. Each group consisted of 23 boys and 2 girls. The average age in the criterial group was 8 years and 10 months (SD=10 months, whereas in the control group – 8 years and 6 months (SD=11 months. According to the obtained results, children with ADHD at early school age do not exhibit a wide spectrum of executive functions deficits, which is probably associated with immaturity of executive processes in all children of that age. The findings comprised only difficulties in inhibition of response, monitoring of activity, and ability of executive attention to intentional guidance of the mental effort depending on the task’s requirements. In investigations of children with ADHD at early school age the use of neuropsychological tests and trials designed for evaluation of executive functions is justified only in limited degree. They do not significantly distinguish between children with ADHD and children without this disorder, therefore the results may be mainly of descriptive, and not explanatory, value.

  6. Understanding Participation of Preschool-Age Children with Cerebral Palsy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chiarello, Lisa Ann; Palisano, Robert J.; Orlin, Margo N.; Chang, Hui-Ju; Begnoche, Denise; An, Mihee

    2012-01-01

    Participation in home, school, and community activities is a primary outcome of early intervention services for children with disabilities and their families. The objectives of this study were to (a) describe participation of preschool-age children with cerebral palsy (CP); (b) determine effects of sex, age, and gross motor function on intensity…

  7. A 10-year review of cannabis exposure in children under 3-years of age: do we need a more global approach?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Claudet, Isabelle; Le Breton, Mathilde; Bréhin, Camille; Franchitto, Nicolas

    2017-04-01

    Pediatricians working in an emergency environment are confronted with children admitted to emergency departments for intoxication on a daily basis. We carried out a retrospective cohort study of children admitted to a pediatric emergency department due to unintentional cannabis exposure over a 10-year period from 2004 to 2014. Twenty-nine children under the age of 3 were admitted with a positive cannabis urine test. Eighty-seven percent of intoxications occurred at the family home. Resin was the main form of ingested cannabis (69%). The mean age was 16.5 ± 5.2 months, and mean weight was 11.1 ± 2.1 Kg. Sixty percent of admissions occurred between 2012 and 2014. More severe presentations, based on Poisoning Severity Score, occurred over the past 2 years. Four children experienced seizures before admission. Ten children (34%) had a decreased level of consciousness (GCS cannabis consumption. This study supports the impression that accidental child poisonings with cannabis have been more serious than previously thought for 2 years. This observation may be explained by (1) the increased THC concentration in cannabis and (2) the widespread use in young adults, even after they become parents. Introducing an addiction team inside the PED could help to improve the care links with these parents. What is Known: • Cases of unintentional cannabis intoxication in children have been increasing for many years due to an increase of potency. What is New: • We highlight an increase in more severe presentations in children under the age of 3 occurring over the past 2 years, which will indicate the importance of assessing cannabis abuse in parents by a specialized addiction team.

  8. Effects of Divorce on Children of Different Ages: A Descriptive Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schwartz, Lita Linzer

    The impact of divorce on children seems to vary according to the child's age. Previous studies on the impact of divorce on children have generally focused on pre-schoolers and elementary-age children. Since more long-term marriages are ending in divorce, attention should also be given to adolescent and adult children of divorce. Subjects (N=26)…

  9. Development of the social brain from age three to twelve years.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Richardson, Hilary; Lisandrelli, Grace; Riobueno-Naylor, Alexa; Saxe, Rebecca

    2018-03-12

    Human adults recruit distinct networks of brain regions to think about the bodies and minds of others. This study characterizes the development of these networks, and tests for relationships between neural development and behavioral changes in reasoning about others' minds ('theory of mind', ToM). A large sample of children (n = 122, 3-12 years), and adults (n = 33), watched a short movie while undergoing fMRI. The movie highlights the characters' bodily sensations (often pain) and mental states (beliefs, desires, emotions), and is a feasible experiment for young children. Here we report three main findings: (1) ToM and pain networks are functionally distinct by age 3 years, (2) functional specialization increases throughout childhood, and (3) functional maturity of each network is related to increasingly anti-correlated responses between the networks. Furthermore, the most studied milestone in ToM development, passing explicit false-belief tasks, does not correspond to discontinuities in the development of the social brain.

  10. [Determining factors of overweight and obesity in children at school age in Peru].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mispireta, Monica L

    2012-01-01

    Obesity in children at school age is an increasing problem in Peru. It concentrates in urban areas, mainly in Lima where one out of three children is overweight. An initial study in 80 schools in Lima showed that the lack of physical activity would have a greater impact on overweight and obesity in school children than the amount of food intake. More detailed studies are required. In spite of the limited information available regarding its determining factors, it is necessary to implement culturally-sensitive measures to fight this problem as part of the current nutritional policies, and prevent the problem from spreading, making sure the sustainability of the health system is not affected.

  11. Self-reported depression and anxiety symptoms in school-aged Singaporean children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Magiati, Iliana; Ponniah, Kathryn; Ooi, Yoon Phaik; Chan, Yiong Huak; Fung, Daniel; Woo, Bernardine

    2015-03-01

    Few studies have examined anxiety and depression experiences of primary (middle) school-aged children from ethnically diverse backgrounds, and most have relied on parents or others as informants. The present study aimed to investigate self-reported anxiety and depression symptoms in Singaporean primary school-aged children. Age, gender, and ethnic differences and interactions were explored as well as similarities and differences between Singaporean children and US norms. A large representative community sample of 1655 8- to 12-year-old Singaporean children (Chinese, Malay, and Indian) completed the Multidimensional Anxiety Scale for Children (MASC) and the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI) as part of a larger epidemiological study of mental health in Singaporean children. Rates of clinically elevated symptoms of anxiety and depression were 9.3% and 16.9% on the MASC and the CDI, respectively. Separation and social anxieties were most common. Evidence of a gender difference in levels of emotional symptoms was most evident in Indian children, with girls reporting more symptoms than boys. The relationship between age and internalizing problems was weak. A substantial minority of primary school-aged Singaporean children reported elevated anxious and depressive symptoms. Better understanding of the factors that contribute to the development and maintenance of these problems can help the development of culture-specific interventions and facilitate the planning of community-tailored services and initiatives. Copyright © 2013 Wiley Publishing Asia Pty Ltd.

  12. Functional organization of the language network in three- and six-year-old children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vissiennon, Kodjo; Friederici, Angela D; Brauer, Jens; Wu, Chiao-Yi

    2017-04-01

    The organization of the language network undergoes continuous changes during development as children learn to understand sentences. In the present study, functional magnetic resonance imaging and behavioral measures were utilized to investigate functional activation and functional connectivity (FC) in three-year-old (3yo) and six-year-old (6yo) children during sentence comprehension. Transitive German sentences varying the word order (subject-initial and object-initial) with case marking were presented auditorily. We selected children who were capable of processing the subject-initial sentences above chance level accuracy from each age group to ensure that we were tapping real comprehension. Both age groups showed a main effect of word order in the left posterior superior temporal gyrus (pSTG), with greater activation for object-initial compared to subject-initial sentences. However, age differences were observed in the FC between left pSTG and the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG). The 6yo group showed stronger FC between the left pSTG and Brodmann area (BA) 44 of the left IFG compared to the 3yo group. For the 3yo group, in turn, the FC between left pSTG and left BA 45 was stronger than with left BA 44. Our study demonstrates that while task-related activation was comparable, the small behavioral differences between age groups were reflected in the underlying functional organization revealing the ongoing development of the neural language network. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

  13. Moderate Malnutrition in Children Aged 0-5 in the Republic of Macedonia

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Spiroski, Igor; Memeti, Shaban

    2014-01-01

    Full text: Background: Undernutrition indicates a lack of the necessary energy, macro or micronutrients in person’s dietary intake. FAO reported that one in seven people in the world do not get enough food to be healthy and lead an active life. The objective of our survey was to assess the prevalence of undernutrition among children aged 0-5 in Macedonia. Methods: Nationally representative household survey was conducted and data for 1376 children under the age of 5 was gathered. The survey included two samples, one for general population and separate one for Roma population living in Roma settlements. Roma children had higher prevalence of undernutrition in previous surveys. The data was gathered in the frames of UNICEF’s Multiple Indicator Cluster survey in 2011. WHO Child Growth Standards were used to assess the nutritional status. Results: Out of general sample children 4.9% were moderately stunted (between -3 and -2 z-scores of height-for-age index), 5.6% boys and 4.3% girls. The percentage of moderately stunted children was over three times higher in the poorest wealth quintile compared to the richest one (7.2% and 2.0% respectively). In general population of children 1.8% were moderately wasted (between -3 and -2 z-scores of weight-for-height index), 2.2% boys and 1.4% girls. Wasting was also 3 times more prevalent in children from the poorest households compared to the richest ones (3.5% and 0.6% respectively). As for the Roma children, 16.5% of them were moderately stunted (21.1% boys, 12% girls) and 4.5% moderately wasted (4.3% boys, 4.7% girls). Nearly 10 times more moderately stunted Roma children were present in the poorest wealth quintile compared to the richest one (28.7% and 3.5% respectively). Conclusions: The results of the survey indicate low prevalence of undernutrition in the general population of children under 5 years of age in Macedonia which is in acceptable ranges defined by the WHO (<20% for stunting, <5% for wasting). Results for the

  14. Effects of ABRACADBRA Instruction on Spelling in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bailey, Benjamin; Arciuli, Joanne; Stancliffe, Roger J.

    2017-01-01

    This study explored the effects of an evidence-based literacy program, ABRACADABRA, on the spelling abilities of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Twenty children with ASD aged 5-11 years were assigned to matched instruction and waitlist control groups. Children in the instruction group received 26 hrs of individualized, home-based…

  15. Malnutrition among Preschool-Aged Autistic Children in Oman

    Science.gov (United States)

    Al-Farsi, Yahya M.; Al-Sharbati, Marwan M.; Waly, Mostafa I.; Al-Farsi, Omar A.; Al Shafaee, Mohammed A.; Deth, Richard C.

    2011-01-01

    To assess prevalence of malnutrition indicators among preschool children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) a cross-sectional study was conducted among 128 Omani autistic children 3-5 years of age. Based on standardized z-scores, the overall prevalence of malnutrition was 9.2 per 100 preschool ASD children (95% CI 4.1, 11.6). The most common type…

  16. Three dimensional radiological imaging of normal lower-limb alignment in children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schlégl, Ádám Tibor; Szuper, Kinga; Somoskeöy, Szabolcs; Than, Péter

    2015-10-01

    Our study aimed at evaluating age- and gender-specific references describing lower-limb alignment in a large population of children using an accurate and reliable method (EOS 2D/3D). From our database, we selected 523 EOS records suitable for 3D modelling representing age groups between two and 16 years in which no relevant deviation influencing lower-limb biomechanics could be observed (the majority of the examined population had mild scoliosis). We performed reconstruction of both lower limbs, thus obtaining the value of the mechanical tibiofemoral angle (mTFA) and the femoral mechanical axis-femoral shaft angle (FM-FS) and calculated the anatomical tibiofemoral angle (aTFA) from previous parameters. Statistical analysis was carried out using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, Spearman correlation, regression analysis and Welch test. The aTFA reaches its maximum by the age of three years: 13.07° in boys and 10.73° in girls; it then varies ∼4.44° in both genders. By the age of three years, the mTFA reaches 8.04° in boys and 4.85° in girls; it starts to decrease to -1.47° in boys and 0.13° in girls. By the age of three years, FM-FS increases to 5.02° in boys, then fluctuates at ∼4.08°, while in girls, it increases to 5.87°, then fluctuates at ∼4.24°. The pattern found in this study confirms the results of previous publications investigating Caucasian populations; however, absolute values differ significantly in several cases.

  17. Nutritional status of children under the age five in Morocco

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    El Rjimati, Arbi; El Menchawy, Imane; Baddou, Issâd; El Kari, Khalid; El Haloui, Noureddine; Aguenaou, Hassan; Rabi, Baha

    2014-01-01

    Full text: Introduction: In Morocco we live nutritional, demographic and epidemiological transition. These transitions affect the nutritional status of the population, especially that of children under five years of age. They also play a guiding role in the development of strategies to be implemented to improve the situation. Aim: To describe the evolution of the nutritional status of children under five years in Morocco over the past ten years. Methods: Two national surveys were conducted in 2004 and 2011. One of the objectives of these surveys is to assess the nutritional status of children aged less than five years compared to WHO standards. Results: The surveys that included 5737 children under 5 years in 2004 and 7271 in 2011 showed according to WHO standards, at the national level , a prevalence of underweight of 3.1 % ( weight / age 2 SD) 2.6 % of which are obese (BMI for age > 3 SD), whereas the proportion of children with overweight and obesity was 10.4 % in 2004. Discussion/conclusions: These studies show that acute malnutrition almost disappeared in Morocco, however prevalence of stunting remains high, overweight and obesity among children less than five years increased in the country. (author)

  18. Food Insecurity and Violence in the Home: Investigating Exposure to Violence and Victimization Among Preschool-Aged Children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jackson, Dylan B; Lynch, Kellie R; Helton, Jesse J; Vaughn, Michael G

    2018-03-01

    Children experiencing or witnessing violence in the home are at risk of a number of cognitive, social, and behavioral challenges as they age. A handful of recent studies have suggested that food insecurity may be one factor associated with violence against children in the home. The present study uses data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort to explore the link between household food insecurity during the first three waves of data collection (i.e., the first few years of life) and witnessing or being the victim of violence in the home among very young children (~ age 4). The results suggest that the predicted probability of early childhood exposure to violence and/or victimization in the home is nearly 6 times more likely in persistently food-insecure households (i.e., households that are food insecure across all three waves) relative to food secure households. Limitations and avenues for future research are noted.

  19. Head Injuries in School-Age Children Who Play Golf

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reuter-Rice, Karin; Krebs, Madelyn; Eads, Julia K.

    2016-01-01

    Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is the leading cause of death and disability in children. We conducted a prospective study, which examined injury characteristics and outcomes of school-age children of 5.0-15.0 years (N = 10) who were admitted to hospital for a TBI. This study evaluated the role of age, gender, the Glasgow Coma Scale, mechanisms and…

  20. Assessment of gross motor skills and phenotype profile in children 9-11 years of age in survivors of acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leone, Mario; Viret, Pierre; Bui, Hung Tien; Laverdière, Caroline; Kalinova, Émilia; Comtois, Alain-Steve

    2014-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of a new gross motor skill test battery in acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) children who have been off therapy for at least 1 year and to assess its discriminatory power (discriminant analysis) from healthy children. Twenty children (10 males and 10 females) 9-11 years of age (median age = 10.6 years) were assessed by the UQAC-UQAM test battery and then compared to recent provincial norms. This pilot study was also an opportunity to validate this test battery as a reliable tool for clinical or research purposes in the area of chronic or disabling diseases in children. Eleven motor skill variables grouped into five factors have been measured (speed, agility, balance, coordination, and reaction time). Scores from 10 of the 11 motor skill tests showed significant differences when compared to the control group (P ≤ 0.05). Nearly 50% of patients obtained an average score below the 15th percentile. Furthermore, stepwise discriminant analysis allowed classifying successfully 88.4% of children in the correct group (ALL or Control). The normal development of GMS among children affected by ALL appears to have been compromised. The UQAC-UQAM test battery seems to be sensitive enough to quantify with precision the extent of the motor impairment in these children. The UQAC-UQAM test battery appears to be a useful tool to evaluate the extent to which ALL survivors are affected. Early motor intervention should be considered for those patients even during the treatment periods. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  1. [Impact factors analysis on child neglect of children aged 3-6 year-old in rural areas of China].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Fei; Pan, Jianping; Zhang, Songjie; Zhang, Hua; Wang, Weiqing; Tao, Fangbiao; Qin, Rui; Gu, Guixiong; Shi, Shuhua; Zhang, Jing; Du, Qiyun; Zhong, Zhaohui; Jiao, Feng; Wang, Huishan; Xu, Tao; Wang, Guixiang; Xi, Weiping; Pang, Songtao; Wang, Xin; Cao, Chunhong; Li, Min; Yang, Xiaomei

    2015-10-01

    To investigate the major influence factors of child neglect among rural areas children aged 3-6 years in China. According to multi-stage stratified cluster sampling, distribution characteristics and the level of economic development, we randomly sampled 10 provinces, 26 cities (8 capital cities, 16 prefecture-level cities and 2 municipalities) using lottery method. Depending on the different level of economic and cultural, we sampled one medium county from each city (municipalities sampled two counties), a total of 28 counties. All towns were divided into high, medium and low three levels in accordance with economic and cultural, each level sampled one town, each conty sampled three towns, a total of 84 towns were sampled. Each town sampled 40 children, including 20 boys and 20 girls (including each 10 children aged 3 to 6, half and half boys and girls). 4 096 rural children aged 3-6 years old were sampled and surveyed of China. Based on "the Neglect Norms for Children Aged 3 to 6 Years Old in Rural Areas of China" explored the risk factors of child neglect. SPSS 18. 0 for windows was employed for statistics analysis. Multifactorial analysis was conducted through multivariate Logistic Regression. The total neglected rate of the rural children aged 3 to 6 was 53.7% (2,047/3,810), and the total neglected degree was 44.42±7.57. The multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that, neglected risk of the boys was higher than the girls (OR=1.30, 95% CI: 1.13-1.49), neglected risk of children were higher, when their mothers were migrant workers (OR=2.18, 95% CI: 1.59-3.00); the lower educational level of mothers, the higher neglected risk of children, the children in families that mothers only received primary education or was uneducated were most likely to be neglected (OR=2.92, 95% CI: 1.91-4.47), the second was the families that mothers received primary education (OR=1.86, 95% CI: 1.29-2.69); the lower the household income, the easier to be neglected the children

  2. Comparative gait analysis between children with autism and age-matched controls: analysis with temporal-spatial and foot pressure variables

    OpenAIRE

    Lim, Bee-Oh; O?Sullivan, David; Choi, Bum-Gwon; Kim, Mi-Young

    2016-01-01

    [Purpose] The purpose of this study was to investigate the gait pattern of children with autism by using a gait analysis system. [Subjects] Thirty children were selected for this study: 15 with autism (age, 11.2 ? 2.8?years; weight, 48.1 ? 14.1?kg; height, 1.51 ? 0.11 m) and 15 healthy age-matched controls (age, 11.0 ? 2.9?years; weight, 43.6 ? 10?kg; height, 1.51 ? 0.011 m). [Methods] All participants walked three times on the GAITRite? system while their plantar pressure was being recorded....

  3. Self-Perception of Aging and Satisfaction With Children's Support.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cheng, Sheung-Tak

    2017-09-01

    Those with self-beliefs in negative aging may desire a stronger support network to buffer against potential threats and may hence see their current network as less than adequate. This study investigated whether negative self-perception of aging is associated with increased dissatisfaction with children's support. Six hundred and forty Chinese older adults with at least one child and a total of 2,108 adult children rated the degree of support received from each child individually and the degree to which it met their expectation. Additionally, the participants responded to measures of self-perception of aging (both positive and negative), neuroticism, instrumental activities of daily living, chronic illnesses, financial strain, and living status. The multilevel dataset was analyzed using mixed-effects regression. Individuals who had a more negative self-perception of aging, who were younger, who lived alone, and who had fewer children provided lower support satisfaction ratings after support received from children was controlled for. Positive self-perception of aging was unrelated to support satisfaction. Neuroticism did not account for the relationship between negative self-perception of aging and support satisfaction. A negative self-perception of aging may create vulnerability to intergenerational tension that puts older people at risk of adverse psychological and physical health outcomes. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  4. Individual differences in children's emotion understanding: Effects of age and language

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Pons, Francisco; Lawson, J.: Harris, P.; Rosnay, M. de

    2003-01-01

    Over the last two decades, it has been established that children's emotion understanding changes as they develop. Recent studies have also begun to address individual differences in children's emotion understanding. The first goal of this study was to examine the development of these individual...... differences across a wide age range with a test assessing nine different components of emotion understanding. The second goal was to examine the relation between language ability and individual differences in emotion understanding. Eighty children ranging in age from 4 to 11 years were tested. Children...... displayed a clear improvement with age in both their emotion understanding and language ability. In each age group, there were clear individual differences in emotion understanding and language ability. Age and language ability together explained 72% of emotion understanding variance; 20% of this variance...

  5. Brief Report: Human Figure Drawings by Children with Asperger's Syndrome

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lim, Hui Keow; Slaughter, Virginia

    2008-01-01

    Twenty-nine children with Asperger's syndrome and 28 typically developing children, matched on gender, chronological age and nonverbal IQ, were asked to produce a free drawing, then requested to draw a person, a house and a tree. The drawings were scored using standardized procedures for assessing accuracy, detail and complexity. There were no…

  6. Assessment of Hemispheric Dominance for Language at Three Ages.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tegano, Deborah Walker

    The purposes of this study were to assess the development of hemispheric dominance for language function among children of 4, 7, and 10 years of age and to determine whether age predicts hemispheric dominance. Within 2 weeks of the beginning of data collection, middle-class subjects selected from private nursery schools and elementary schools…

  7. Influence of spatial perception abilities on reading in school-age children

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Arnaud Saj

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Spatial perception abilities enable individuals to explore a visual field, to detect spatial position and to infer relationships between visual stimuli. Written words and text are conceptualized spatially along a horizontal mental line, but little is known about the way children develop these representations. The exact relationship between visuo-spatial perception and academic achievement has never been directly assessed. Therefore, our aim was to study the developmental trajectory of space perception abilities by assessing perceptual, attentional and memory components, the relationship between these abilities and reading achievement in school-age children. Forty-nine children aged between 6.5 and 11 years old were divided into four age groups and were assessed with visual bisection, visual search and visual memory location tasks. The results showed that the groups of older children, from the age of nine, improved significantly on the bisection and visual search tasks with respect to all visual fields, while the groups of younger children showed more errors in the left visual field (LVF. Performances on these tasks were correlated with reading level and age. Older children with a low reading score showed a LVF bias, similar to the youngest children. These results demonstrate how abnormal space perception might distort space representation and in turn affect reading and learning processes.

  8. The Preschool-Aged and School-Aged Children Present Different Odds of Mortality than Adults in Southern Taiwan: A Cross-Sectional Retrospective Analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peng, Shu-Hui; Huang, Chun-Ying; Hsu, Shiun-Yuan; Yang, Li-Hui; Hsieh, Ching-Hua

    2018-04-25

    Background : This study aimed to profile the epidemiology of injury among preschool-aged and school-aged children in comparison to those in adults. Methods : According to the Trauma Registry System of a level I trauma center, the medical data were retrieved from 938 preschool-aged children (aged less than seven years), 670 school-aged children (aged 7⁻12 years), and 16,800 adults (aged 20⁻64 years) between 1 January 2009 and 31 December 2016. Two-sided Pearson’s, chi-squared, and Fisher’s exact tests were used to compare categorical data. A one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with the Games-Howell post-hoc test was used to assess the differences in continuous variables among different groups of patients. The mortality outcomes of different subgroups were assessed by a multivariable regression model under the adjustment of sex, injury mechanisms, and injury severity. Results : InFsupppjury mechanisms in preschool-aged and school-aged children were remarkably different from that in adults; in preschool-aged children, burns were the most common cause of injury requiring hospitalization (37.4%), followed by falls (35.1%) and being struck by/against objects (11.6%). In school-aged children, injuries were most commonly sustained from falls (47.8%), followed by bicycle accidents (14%) and being struck by/against objects (12.5%). Compared to adults, there was no significant difference of the adjusted mortality of the preschool-aged children (AOR = 0.9; 95% CI 0.38⁻2.12; p = 0.792) but there were lower adjusted odds of mortality of the school-aged children (AOR = 0.4; 95% CI 0.10⁻0.85; p = 0.039). The school-aged children had lower odds of mortality than adults (OR, 0.2; 95% CI, 0.06⁻0.74; p = 0.012), but such lower odds of risk of mortality were not found in preschool-aged children (OR, 0.7; 95% CI, 0.29⁻1.81; p = 0.646). Conclusions : This study suggests that specific types of injuries from different injury mechanisms are predominant among preschool-aged

  9. Three times twenty by twenty-twenty

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Heller, W.

    2007-01-01

    Under the German presidency, the European Council adopted a program of climate protection and energy policy on March 9, 2007. It contains these 3 objectives: (1) By 2020, greenhouse gas emissions in the EU will be reduced by at least 20 percent from their 1990 level. (2) The share of renewable energies in primary energy consumption in the EU will be raised to 20 percent by 2020. (3) To enhance energy efficiency, energy consumption in the EU is to be reduced by 20 percent relative to the forecasts for 2020. The reason given by the European Council for the ambitious energy efficiency goal is its conviction that, in addition to the considerable increase in renewables, a major improvement in energy efficiency will enhance the security of energy supply, attenuate the forecast rise in energy prices, and diminish greenhouse gas emissions. Nuclear power is mentioned only in passing and as a topic for national decisionmaking, which is absolutely unsatisfactory in the light of what nuclear power currently is, and could go on, contributing to the security of supply, the climate protection, and reasonably priced electricity supply. On the whole, the package of energy and environmental policy measures devised by the European Council may be termed ambitious. (orig.)

  10. ‘Place’ as conceptual centre: a methodological focus on the bodily relations, movements and expressions of children up to three years of age in kindergarten

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Karin Hognestad

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of this article is to show how attention on ‘place’ can be productive in methodology concerning the bodily relations, movements and expressions of children up to three years of age who are enrolled in kindergarten. While research that has adopted a hermeneutic and phenomenological approach has contributed to important knowledge concerning young children, we propose re-thinking methodology that takes children’s bodily relations, movements and expressions into concern. Using ‘place’ as a lens, we show how power relations are interrupted and allow for alternative ways for the researcher to relate to data. Inspired by Somerville (2010, elements of place are situated at the centre of the research analysis. The three key elements of place that are put to work are as follows: our relationship to place is constituted in stories and other representations; place learning is local and embodied; and place is a contact zone for cultural contact. The paper is part of a research project which explores how place can be more explicit in educational practices to strengthen kindergarten as a learning arena. We seek to explore how place relations work and what they have the possibility of producing in the analyzing process.

  11. Neuropsychological findings associated with Panayiotopoulos syndrome in three children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hodges, Samantha L; Gabriel, Marsha T; Perry, M Scott

    2016-01-01

    Panayiotopoulos syndrome is a common idiopathic benign epilepsy that has a peak age of onset in early childhood. The syndrome is multifocal and shows significant electroencephalogram (EEG) variability, with occipital predominance. Although a benign syndrome often refers to the absence of neurological and neuropsychological deficits, the syndrome has recently been associated with cognitive impairments. Also, despite frequent occipital EEG abnormalities, research regarding the visual functioning of patients is less reported and often contradictory. The purpose of this study was to gain additional knowledge regarding the neurocognitive functioning of patients with Panayiotopoulos syndrome and specifically to address any visual processing deficits associated with the syndrome. Following diagnosis of the syndrome based on typical clinical and electrophysiological criteria, three patients, aged 5, 8, and 10years were referred by epileptologists for neuropsychological evaluation. Neuropsychological findings suggest that the patients had notable impairments on visual memory tasks, especially in comparison with verbal memory. Further, they demonstrated increased difficulty on picture memory suggesting difficulty retaining information from a crowded visual field. Two of the three patients showed weakness in visual processing speed, which may account for weaker retention of complex visual stimuli. Abilities involving attention were normal for all patients, suggesting that inattention is not responsible for these visual deficits. Academically, the patients were weak in numerical operations and spelling, which both rely partially on visual memory and may affect achievement in these areas. Overall, the results suggest that patients with Panayiotopoulos syndrome may have visual processing and visual memory problems that could potentially affect their academic capabilities. Identifying such difficulties may be helpful in creating educational and remedial assistance programs for

  12. Gender Differences in the Relationship between Attention Problems and Expressive Language and Emerging Academic Skills in Preschool-Aged Children

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zevenbergen, Andrea A.; Ryan, Meghan M.

    2010-01-01

    This study examined the relationship between attention problems and expressive language and academic readiness skills in preschool-aged children from middle-class families. Forty-three children (44% female) were assessed individually for expressive language skills and knowledge of basic academic concepts (e.g. colours, letters and numbers). The…

  13. The effect of age on physical fitness of deaf elementary school children

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hartman, Esther; Visscher, Chris; Houwen, Suzanne

    The aim of this study was to measure physical fitness of deaf Dutch elementary school children compared with hearing children and to investigate the influence of age on physical fitness. Deaf children were physically less fit than hearing children. Overall, physical fitness increased with age in

  14. Direction of single obstacle circumvention in middle-aged children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hackney, Amy L; Van Ruymbeke, Nicole; Bryden, Pamela J; Cinelli, Michael E

    2014-01-01

    When required to walk around a stationary object, adults use the location of the goal to set up their locomotor axis and obstacles presented along the locomotor axis will repel the individual towards the side that affords more space [1]. Research has yet to examine whether children can identify the locomotor axis and choose their paths accordingly. Therefore, the current study examined the factors that influence the direction in which children choose to deviate around a single obstacle and whether the presence or absence of a goal influences path selection and trajectory. Ten children (age: 7.1 years±0.8) walked along a 9 m path and avoided a single obstacle that was located in one of three locations (midline, 15 cm to the right or 15 cm to the left). On half the trials, an end-goal was visible from the start of the path while the other half of the trials had no visible goal. The results demonstrate that: (1) children are able to perceive and move towards more open space but are more variable when the end-goal is not visible; (2) children are capable of maintaining an elliptical-shaped protective envelope when avoiding a single obstacle regardless of whether or not the locomotor axis is established; and (3) although children are capable of choosing paths that afford the most space, the manner in which they arrive at their goal is not driven by factors similar to adults. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  15. Coverage of childhood vaccination among children aged 12-23 months, Tamil Nadu, 2015, India.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Murhekar, Manoj V; Kamaraj, P; Kanagasabai, K; Elavarasu, G; Rajasekar, T Daniel; Boopathi, K; Mehendale, Sanjay

    2017-03-01

    District-Level Household Survey-4 (DLHS-4) indicated that during 2012-2013, only 56 per cent of children aged 12-23 months in Tamil Nadu were fully vaccinated, which were lesser than those reported in earlier national surveys. We, therefore, conducted cluster surveys to estimate coverage of childhood vaccination in the State, and also to identify the factors associated with low coverage. Cross-sectional surveys were conducted in 15 strata [municipal corporation non-slum (n=1), municipal corporation slum (n=1), hilly (n=1), rural (n=6) and urban (n=6)]. From each stratum, 30 clusters were selected using probability proportional to the population size linear systematic sampling; seven children aged 12-23 months were selected from each cluster and their mothers/care-takers were interviewed to collect information about vaccination status of the child. A child was considered fully vaccinated if he/she received bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG), three doses of pentavalent, three doses of oral polio vaccine and one dose of measles vaccine, and appropriately vaccinated if all vaccine doses were given at right age and with right interval. Further, coverage of fully vaccinated children (FVC) as per vaccination cards or mothers' recall, validated coverage of FVC (V-FVC) among those having cards, and coverage of appropriately vaccinated children (AVC) were estimated using survey data analysis module with appropriate sampling weights. A total of 3150 children were surveyed, of them 2528 (80.3%) had vaccination card. The weighted coverage of FVC, V-FVC and AVC in the State was 79.9 per cent [95% confidence interval (CI): 78.2-81.5], 78.8 per cent (95% CI: 76.9-80.5) and 69.7 per cent (95% CI: 67.7-71.7), respectively. The coverage of individual vaccine ranged between 84 per cent (measles) and 99.8 per cent (BCG). About 12 per cent V-FVC were not vaccinated as per the vaccination schedule. The coverage of FVC in Tamil Nadu was high, with about 80 per cent children completing

  16. DYSPRAXIA AS A PSYCHOMOTOR DISORDER OF SCHOOL AGE CHILDREN

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Agata Nowak

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available Purpose: The purpose of the study was to define the epidemiology of dyspraxia among children from 6 to10 years’ age, attending grades I-III of primary schools in Wrocław, Poland. Material: the study was conducted among pupils of primary schools in Wrocław, Poland. The studied groups included 48 girls and 52 boys. The study employed Polish version of Questionnaire for the screening assessment of dyspraxia’s occurrence among children from 5 to 15 years’ age (DCDQ-PL, as well as the Coordination Test for Children (KTK. Results. After assessing the occurrence of dyspraxia among studied children, it was found out that this disorder is present in the studied group. The prevalence of dyspraxia depends on studied children’s gender; however, it is not related to their age. The results of tests, conducted with the DCDQ-PL and the KTK are consistent and confirm the observed inter-dependencies. Conclusions. Dyspraxia is a widespread psychomotor disorder, which can be diagnosed among children in the early school years. A diagnosis of a child’s development with respect to this disorder should constitute a constant element of work for teachers and educationists dealing with children at this stage of education.

  17. [Eating habits of children and adolescents with diabetes in Libreville (Gabon)].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vierin Nzame, Yolande; Baye, Eric; Mavoungou, Shirley; Moussavou, André

    2011-01-01

    the nutritional intake required for normal growth and development is similar among children with diabetes and healthy children. Nonetheless, for children with diabetes, food intake must also be correlated with their insulin treatment plan and level of physical activity. The objective of this work was to identify the eating habits of the children and adolescents followed in the National Diabetes Center in Libreville. this prospective survey was conducted from November 1, 2008, through January 30, 2009, at the National Diabetes Center of the Libreville Hospital Center. during the study period, 21 children and adolescents were treated at our center. The sex ratio was 1:1, and the mean age was 14.7 years. The mean body mass index (BMI) was 18.5 kg/m(2). Mean age at diagnosis was 9.6 years. All the children received insulin; two had two injections daily and the other 19 (90.4%), three a day. Three children never ate breakfast; 17 "often" drank some milk, and 18 ate some bread. Twenty children "often" ate a starch and chicken at lunch, five others "often" had vegetables then. Healthy planned snacks were not eaten by 57% of the subjects, although 24% reported "nibbling" between meals "sometimes". In addition to water, 67% of the patients drank diet Coke. few children complied with the diet strictly, because their families could not afford to buy all the recommended food. Effective access to appropriate local food is essential. All patients should discuss their preferred foods with the doctor or dietician, so that their insulin treatment can be adapted appropriately to the food.

  18. Enhancing Building, Conversation, and Learning through Caregiver-Child Interactions in a Children's Museum

    Science.gov (United States)

    Benjamin, Nora; Haden, Catherine A.; Wilkerson, Erin

    2010-01-01

    The authors adapted an experimental design to examine effects of instruction prior to entry into a children's museum exhibit on caregiver-child interactions and children's learning. One hundred twenty-one children (mean age = 6.6 years) and their caregivers were randomly assigned to 1 of 5 conditions that varied according to what, if any,…

  19. Monetary Incentive Effects on Event-Based Prospective Memory Three Months after Traumatic Brain Injury in Children

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pedroza, Claudia; Chapman, Sandra B.; Cook, Lori G.; Vásquez, Ana C.; Levin, Harvey S.

    2011-01-01

    Information regarding the remediation of event-based prospective memory (EB-PM) impairments following pediatric traumatic brain injury (TBI) is scarce. Addressing this, two levels of monetary incentives were used to improve EB-PM in children ages 7 to 16 years with orthopedic injuries (OI, n = 51), or moderate (n = 25), and severe (n = 39) TBI at approximately three months postinjury. The EB-PM task consisted of the child giving a specific verbal response to a verbal cue from the examiner while performing a battery of neuropsychological measures (ongoing task). Significant effects were found for Age-at-Test, Motivation Condition, Period, and Group. Within-group analyses indicated OI and moderate TBI groups performed significantly better under the high-versus low-incentive condition, but the severe TBI group demonstrated no significant improvement. These results indicate EB-PM can be significantly improved at three months postinjury in children with moderate, but not severe, TBI. PMID:21347945

  20. The Social Modulation of Imitation Fidelity in School-Age Children

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marsh, Lauren E.; Ropar, Danielle; Hamilton, Antonia F. de C.

    2014-01-01

    Children copy the actions of others with high fidelity, even when they are not causally relevant. This copying of visibly unnecessary actions is termed overimitation. Many competing theories propose mechanisms for overimitation behaviour. The present study examines these theories by studying the social factors that lead children to overimitate actions. Ninety-four children aged 5- to 8-years each completed five trials of an overimitation task. Each trial provided the opportunity to overimitate an action on familiar objects with minimal causal reasoning demands. Social cues (live or video demonstration) and eye contact from the demonstrator were manipulated. After the imitation, children's ratings of action rationality were collected. Substantial overimitation was seen which increased with age. In older children, overimitation was higher when watching a live demonstrator and when eye contact was absent. Actions rated as irrational were more likely to be imitated than those rated as rational. Children overimitated actions on familiar objects even when they rated those actions as irrational, suggesting that failure of causal reasoning cannot be driving overimitation. Our data support social explanations of overimitation and show that the influence of social factors increases with age over the 5- to 8-year-old age range. PMID:24465913

  1. The social modulation of imitation fidelity in school-age children.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lauren E Marsh

    Full Text Available Children copy the actions of others with high fidelity, even when they are not causally relevant. This copying of visibly unnecessary actions is termed overimitation. Many competing theories propose mechanisms for overimitation behaviour. The present study examines these theories by studying the social factors that lead children to overimitate actions. Ninety-four children aged 5- to 8-years each completed five trials of an overimitation task. Each trial provided the opportunity to overimitate an action on familiar objects with minimal causal reasoning demands. Social cues (live or video demonstration and eye contact from the demonstrator were manipulated. After the imitation, children's ratings of action rationality were collected. Substantial overimitation was seen which increased with age. In older children, overimitation was higher when watching a live demonstrator and when eye contact was absent. Actions rated as irrational were more likely to be imitated than those rated as rational. Children overimitated actions on familiar objects even when they rated those actions as irrational, suggesting that failure of causal reasoning cannot be driving overimitation. Our data support social explanations of overimitation and show that the influence of social factors increases with age over the 5- to 8-year-old age range.

  2. Leukemia cutis in three children: clinical and immunohistochemical studies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Koga, M; Furukawa, S

    1996-01-01

    We report 3 children with leukemia cutis observed at the initial diagnosis of systemic leukemia. Leukemia subtypes in the three children were congenital monocytic, acute undifferentiated, and acute monocytic, respectively. The patients were girls age 10 days, 14 years, and 11 months, respectively, at diagnosis. We describe the clinical features of the cases and the results of immunohistochemical studies on paraffin-embedded skin biopsy specimens. The skin lesions were tumors and areas of reddish purple erythema in the first child, pigmented erythema in the second, and bright red erythema in the first child, pigmented erythema in the second, and bright red erythema in the third. In the first two patients skin lesion biopsy specimens had dense leukemic infiltrates in the dermis with reactive T lymphocytes scattered among them. In the third patient, the infiltrating cells were almost all reactive T lymphocytes, with a few leukemic cells. A relationship between the leukemic-reactive cell ratio and the prognosis was suggested; dense leukemic cell infiltrates may be associated with a poor prognosis.

  3. [Measurement of the frontal and prefrontal lobe volumes in children with malnutrition by three dimensional magnetic resonance imaging scan].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kanemura, Hideaki; Aihara, Masao; Nakazawa, Shinpei

    2002-09-01

    To evaluate the effects of malnutrition in early life on the growth of the frontal and prefrontal lobes, we quantitatively measured the volumes of the frontal and prefrontal lobes by three dimensional (3-D) MRI in three children (1 year 2 months to 2 years 5 months) with malnutrition. The 3-D MRI data were acquired by the fast spoiled gradient recalled (SPGR) sequence using a 1.5T MR imager. The frontal and prefrontal lobe volumes were measured by the volume measurement function of the Workstation. The data obtained were compared with those of 16 normal subjects (13 children aged 5 months to 14 years, and 3 adults aged 27 to 39 years). The volumes of the frontal and prefrontal lobes in the subjects were smaller compared with age matched controls. The results suggest that malnutrition in early life affects the growth of the frontal and prefrontal lobes.

  4. Determinants Of Under Nutrition Among School Age Children In A ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Background: Malnutrition is a major public health concern affecting a significant number of school age children influencing their health, growth and development, and school academic performance. Objective: To establish the determinants of under nutrition among school age children between 6-12 years in a low-income ...

  5. Suicide in Elementary School-Aged Children and Early Adolescents.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sheftall, Arielle H; Asti, Lindsey; Horowitz, Lisa M; Felts, Adrienne; Fontanella, Cynthia A; Campo, John V; Bridge, Jeffrey A

    2016-10-01

    Suicide in elementary school-aged children is not well studied, despite a recent increase in the suicide rate among US black children. The objectives of this study were to describe characteristics and precipitating circumstances of suicide in elementary school-aged children relative to early adolescent decedents and identify potential within-group racial differences. We analyzed National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS) surveillance data capturing suicide deaths from 2003 to 2012 for 17 US states. Participants included all suicide decedents aged 5 to 14 years (N = 693). Age group comparisons (5-11 years and 12-14 years) were conducted by using the χ 2 test or Fisher's exact test, as appropriate. Compared with early adolescents who died by suicide, children who died by suicide were more commonly male, black, died by hanging/strangulation/suffocation, and died at home. Children who died by suicide more often experienced relationship problems with family members/friends (60.3% vs 46.0%; P = .02) and less often experienced boyfriend/girlfriend problems (0% vs 16.0%; P suicide note (7.7% vs 30.2%; P suicide decedents with known mental health problems (n = 210), childhood decedents more often experienced attention-deficit disorder with or without hyperactivity (59.3% vs 29.0%; P = .002) and less often experienced depression/dysthymia (33.3% vs 65.6%; P = .001) compared with early adolescent decedents. These findings raise questions about impulsive responding to psychosocial adversity in younger suicide decedents, and they suggest a need for both common and developmentally-specific suicide prevention strategies during the elementary school-aged and early adolescent years. Further research should investigate factors associated with the recent increase in suicide rates among black children. Copyright © 2016 by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

  6. Enamel defect of deciduous teeth in small gestational age children

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Willyanti S Syarif

    2010-06-01

    Full Text Available Background: Enamel defect could be caused by genetic and environmental factors in prenatal period. Meanwhile, prenatal malnutrition could also cause small gestational age (SGA. Small Gestational Age is the term used for a neonatal baby with birthweight below the -2SD normal value or 10th percentile on the intrauterine Lubchenco curve. This condition is due to intra-uterine growth restriction, and eventually ends up with several developmental defects of organs, including teeth. In fact, deciduous tooth development has a critical phase within this development period. Purpose: The aim of this study is not only to find out the incidence of enamel defect in SGA children, but also to know the percentage of SGA risk factor to develop enamel defect. Method: This was a epidemiology research with consecutive admission technique. It consisted of 153 SGA children aged 9–48 months. Next, the Ponderal index was used to assign SGA types, symmetrical or asymmetrical one-in this study 59 and 94 respectively. On the other hand, three hundred and ninety Appropriate for Gestational Age (AGA children aged 4–48 months were also included in the study as a control group. Enamel defect then was determined by intraoral examination, classified into hypoplasia and hypocalcifications. Chi-square test was finally used to determine the relative risk ratio between the SGA and the control AGA children. Result: The result of this research showed that incidence of enamel defect in SGA children was 86.92%, meanwhile, that in AGA children was 23.08%, 66.00% of which were commonly suffered from hypocalcification. With p<0.05 it is also known that SGA children has the risk of enamel defect with hypocalcification, about 79% higher than AGA children. Conclusion: It could be concluded that 79% of SGA children had the risk of deciduous tooth enamel defect with hypocalcification as the most.Latar belakang: Defek email dapat terjadi karena faktor genetik dan lingkungan sistemik yang

  7. Sleep architecture in school-aged children with primary snoring.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhu, Yin; Au, Chun-Ting; Lam, Hugh S; Chan, Ching-Ching K; Ho, Crover; Wing, Yun-Kwok; Li, Albert M

    2014-03-01

    We aimed to examine if sleep architecture was altered in school-aged children with primary snoring (PS). Children ages 6 to 13 years from 13 primary schools were randomly recruited. A validated obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) screening questionnaire was completed by their parents. Children at high risk for OSA and a randomly chosen low-risk group were invited to undergo overnight polysomnography (PSG) and clinical examination. Participants were classified into healthy controls, PS, mild OSA, and moderate to severe OSA (MS OSA) groups for comparison. A total of 619 participants underwent PSG (mean age, 10.0 ± 1.8 years; 396 (64.0%) boys; 524 (84.7%) prepubertal). For the cohort as a whole, there were no significant differences in measures of sleep architecture between PS and nonsnoring healthy controls. In the multiple regression model, percentage of nonrapid eye movement (NREM) stage 1 (N1) sleep had a significantly positive association, whereas percentage of slow-wave sleep (SWS) had a significantly negative association with sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) severity after controlling for age, gender, body mass index (BMI) z score, and pubertal status. In prepubertal children with PS, no significant disruption of sleep architecture was found. However, pubertal adolescent PS participants had significantly higher adjusted percentage of N1 sleep and wake after sleep onset (WASO) compared to healthy controls. PS did not exert significant adverse influences on normal sleep architecture in prepubertal school-aged children. Nevertheless, pubertal adolescents with PS had increased N1 sleep and WASO. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  8. Early Reading Development in Chinese-Speaking Children with Hearing Loss

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chan, Yi-Chih; Yang, You-Jhen

    2018-01-01

    This study aims to explore early reading comprehension in Chinese-speaking children with hearing loss (HL) by examining character recognition and linguistic comprehension. Twenty-five children with HL received three measures relevant to character reading: phonological awareness (PA), morphological awareness (MA), and character recognition; two…

  9. Age or experience? The influence of age at implantation and social and linguistic environment on language development in children with cochlear implants.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Szagun, Gisela; Stumper, Barbara

    2012-12-01

    The authors investigated the influence of social environmental variables and age at implantation on language development in children with cochlear implants. Participants were 25 children with cochlear implants and their parents. Age at implantation ranged from 6 months to 42 months ( M (age) = 20.4 months, SD = 22.0 months). Linguistic progress was assessed at 12, 18, 24, and 30 months after implantation. At each data point, language measures were based on parental questionnaire and 45-min spontaneous speech samples. Children's language and parents' child-directed language were analyzed. On all language measures, children displayed considerable vocabulary and grammatical growth over time. Although there was no overall effect of age at implantation, younger and older children had different growth patterns. Children implanted by age 24 months made the most marked progress earlier on, whereas children implanted thereafter did so later on. Higher levels of maternal education were associated with faster linguistic progress; age at implantation was not. Properties of maternal language input, mean length of utterance, and expansions were associated with children's linguistic progress independently of age at implantation. In children implanted within the sensitive period for language learning, children's home language environment contributes more crucially to their linguistic progress than does age at implantation.

  10. Associations between regional brain volumes at term-equivalent age and development at 2 years of age in preterm children

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lind, Annika; Parkkola, Riitta; Lehtonen, Liisa; Maunu, Jonna; Lapinleimu, Helena; Munck, Petriina; Haataja, Leena

    2011-01-01

    Altered brain volumes and associations between volumes and developmental outcomes have been reported in prematurely born children. To assess which regional brain volumes are different in very low birth weight (VLBW) children without neurodevelopmental impairments ([NDI] cerebral palsy, hearing loss, blindness and significantly delayed cognitive performance) compared with VLBW children with NDI, and to evaluate the association between regional brain volumes at term-equivalent age and cognitive development and neurological performance at a corrected age of 2 years. The study group consisted of a regional cohort of 164 VLBW children, divided into one group of children without NDI (n = 148) and one group of children with NDI (n = 16). Brain (MRI) was performed at term-equivalent age, from which brain volumes were manually analysed. Cognitive development was assessed with the Bayley Scales of Infant Development II (BSID-II), and neurological performance with the Hammersmith Infant Neurological Examination at the corrected age of 2 years. The volumes of total brain tissue, cerebrum, frontal lobes, basal ganglia and thalami, and cerebellum were significantly smaller, and the volume of the ventricles significantly larger, in the children with NDI than in those without NDI. Even in children without NDI, a smaller cerebellar volume was significantly correlated with poor neurological performance at 2 years of corrected age. Volumetric analysis at brain MRI can provide an additional parameter for early prediction of outcome in VLBW children. (orig.)

  11. Associations between regional brain volumes at term-equivalent age and development at 2 years of age in preterm children

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lind, Annika [Turku University Hospital, Department of Pediatrics, Turku (Finland); Aabo Akademi University, Department of Psychology, Turku (Finland); Parkkola, Riitta [University of Turku and Turku University Hospital, Department of Radiology and Turku PET Center, PO Box 52, Turku (Finland); Lehtonen, Liisa; Maunu, Jonna; Lapinleimu, Helena [University of Turku and Turku University Hospital, Department of Pediatrics, Turku (Finland); Munck, Petriina [Turku University Hospital, Department of Pediatrics, Turku (Finland); University of Turku, Department of Psychology, Turku (Finland); Haataja, Leena [University of Turku and Turku University Hospital, Department of Pediatric Neurology, Turku (Finland)

    2011-08-15

    Altered brain volumes and associations between volumes and developmental outcomes have been reported in prematurely born children. To assess which regional brain volumes are different in very low birth weight (VLBW) children without neurodevelopmental impairments ([NDI] cerebral palsy, hearing loss, blindness and significantly delayed cognitive performance) compared with VLBW children with NDI, and to evaluate the association between regional brain volumes at term-equivalent age and cognitive development and neurological performance at a corrected age of 2 years. The study group consisted of a regional cohort of 164 VLBW children, divided into one group of children without NDI (n = 148) and one group of children with NDI (n = 16). Brain (MRI) was performed at term-equivalent age, from which brain volumes were manually analysed. Cognitive development was assessed with the Bayley Scales of Infant Development II (BSID-II), and neurological performance with the Hammersmith Infant Neurological Examination at the corrected age of 2 years. The volumes of total brain tissue, cerebrum, frontal lobes, basal ganglia and thalami, and cerebellum were significantly smaller, and the volume of the ventricles significantly larger, in the children with NDI than in those without NDI. Even in children without NDI, a smaller cerebellar volume was significantly correlated with poor neurological performance at 2 years of corrected age. Volumetric analysis at brain MRI can provide an additional parameter for early prediction of outcome in VLBW children. (orig.)

  12. [Effect of obesity on pulmonary function in asthmatic children of different age groups].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Xiao-Wen; Huang, Ying; Wang, Jian; Zhang, Xue-Li; Liang, Fan-Mei; Luo, Rong

    2017-05-01

    To study the effect of obesity on pulmonary function in newly diagnosed asthmatic children of different age groups. Two hundred and ninety-four children with newly diagnosed asthma were classified into preschool-age (age (6 to 12.5 years) groups. They were then classified into obese, overweight, and normal-weight subgroups based on their body mass index (BMI). All the children underwent pulmonary function tests, including large airway function tests [forced vital capacity (FVC%) and forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1%)] and small airway function tests [maximal expiratory flow at 25% of vital capacity (MEF25%), maximal expiratory flow at 50% of vital capacity (MEF50%), and maximal expiratory flow at 75% of vital capacity (MEF75%)]. The school-age group showed lower FEV1%, MEF25%, and MEF50% than the preschool-age group (Page group had lower FEV1%, MEF25%, and MEF50% compared with their counterparts in the preschool-age group (Page group showed lower FVC% and MEF50% than those in the preschool-age group. However, all the pulmonary function parameters showed no significant differences between the obese children in the preschool-age and school-age groups. In the preschool-age group, FVC%, FEV1%, and MEF75% of the obese children were lower than those of the normal-weight children. In the school-age group, only FVC% and FEV1% showed differences between the obese and normal-weight children (Page in children with asthma, and the effect is more obvious in those of preschool age.

  13. Early diagnosis of thoracolumbar spine fractures in children. A prospective study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leroux, J; Vivier, P-H; Ould Slimane, M; Foulongne, E; Abu-Amara, S; Lechevallier, J; Griffet, J

    2013-02-01

    Early detection of spine fractures in children is difficult because the clinical examination does not always raise worrisome symptoms and the vertebrae are still cartilaginous, and consequently incompletely visualized on routine X-rays. Therefore, diagnosis is often delayed or missed. The search for a "breath arrest" sensation at the moment of the trauma improves early detection of thoracolumbar spine fractures in children. This was a prospective monocentric study including all children consulting at the paediatric emergency unit of a single university hospital with a thoracolumbar spine trauma between January 2008 and March 2009. All children had the same care. Pain was quantified when they arrived using the visual analog scale. Clinical examination searched for a "breath arrest" sensation at the moment of the trauma and noted the circumstances of the accident. X-rays and MRI were done in all cases. Fifty children were included with a mean age of 11.4 years. Trauma occurred during games or sports in 94% of the cases. They fell on the back in 72% cases. Twenty-three children (46%) had fractures on the MRI, with a mean number of four fractured vertebrae (range, 1-10). Twenty-one of them (91%) had a "breath arrest" sensation. Fractures were not visualized on X-rays in five cases (22%). Twenty-seven children had no fracture; 19 of them (70%) did not feel a "breath arrest". Fractures were suspected on X-rays in 15 cases (56%). The search for a "breath arrest" sensation at the moment of injury improves early detection of thoracolumbar spine fractures in children (Se=87%, Sp=67%, PPV=69%, NPV=86%). When no fracture is apparent on X-rays and no "breath arrest" sensation is expressed by the child, the clinician can be sure there is no fracture (Se=26%, Sp=100%, PPV=100%, NPV=53%). Level III. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

  14. False belief and semantic language development in children aged 2 to 4 years

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Milton Eduardo Bermúdez-Jaimes

    2010-02-01

    Full Text Available We intended to explore and characterize the relationships between the development of understanding childhood theories of mind and the semantic development of language. We used three versions of the false belief task,programmed with Flash, and the Early Language Development Battery in order to assess semantic abilities in 116 children aged two to four years. Significant differences among ages were found for task performance, and positive associations between social comprehension and language development were found in two tasks. Results were interpreted through the interaction proposal by Wellman (1994.

  15. Prospective thinking and decision making in primary school age children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lombardi, Elisabetta; Di Dio, Cinzia; Castelli, Ilaria; Massaro, Davide; Marchetti, Antonella

    2017-06-01

    In this study, we seek to widen our understanding of the developmental processes underlying bargaining behaviour in children addressing the concept of prospective thinking. We argue that the emergence of the capacity to think prospectively about future outcomes or behaviours in response to current actions is a required precedent to strategic decision making. To test this idea, we compared 6, 8 and 10 years old children's performance on three tasks: the ultimatum game assessing fairness/inequality aversion, the marshmallow task, an intertemporal choice task evaluating the ability to delay gratification, and the dictator game assessing altruism. The children's socio-demographic and cognitive variables were also evaluated. We hypothesized that development of strategic thinking in the ultimatum game is related to an increased ability to delay gratification - given that both tasks require looking at prospective benefits - and, crucially, not to altruism, which benefits from immediate selfless reward. Our results confirmed our hypothesis suggesting that increased strategic planning with age would also stem from the development of competencies like prospective thinking.

  16. Evaluation and management of juvenile recurrent parotitis in children from northern Greece

    Science.gov (United States)

    Papadopoulou-Alataki, E; Chatziavramidis, A; Vampertzi, O; Alataki, S; Konstantinidis, I

    2015-01-01

    Background: Juvenile Recurrent Parotitis (JRP) is a recurrent parotid inflammation of childhood.  The aim of our study was to investigate the clinical, laboratory and imaging profile of children with JRP as well as to estimate the impact of siadendoscopy as a therapeutic tool in the clinical outcome of JRP. Methods: Twenty-three children with JRP aged 3.5-16 years, were investigated. Twelve of them underwent sialendoscopy: seven aged 8 years under local anesthesia. Results: The age at onset ranged from 2-15 years while the number of episodes from 2-8 per year. The autoantibody profile was negative in all patients, suggesting no evidence for autoimmune diseases.  Antibody deficiency was found in two children. The imaging studies reveal an overall parotid swelling and intraparotid lymph nodes while microabscesses were present in 31% of the patients. Twelve patients who underwent sialendoscopy had a significant improvement in their clinical outcome; the mean episodes of JRP before sialendoscopy was 3.9/year and reduced to 0.4 at the post-intervention year. Conclusion: Sialendoscopy represents an alternative and promising perspective in the management of JRP. Hippokratia 2015; 19 (4): 356-359. PMID:27688702

  17. The Development of Associate Learning in School Age Children

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harel, Brian T.; Pietrzak, Robert H.; Snyder, Peter J.; Thomas, Elizabeth; Mayes, Linda C.; Maruff, Paul

    2014-01-01

    Associate learning is fundamental to the acquisition of knowledge and plays a critical role in the everyday functioning of the developing child, though the developmental course is still unclear. This study investigated the development of visual associate learning in 125 school age children using the Continuous Paired Associate Learning task. As hypothesized, younger children made more errors than older children across all memory loads and evidenced decreased learning efficiency as memory load increased. Results suggest that age-related differences in performance largely reflect continued development of executive function in the context of relatively developed memory processes. PMID:25014755

  18. The development of associate learning in school age children.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Brian T Harel

    Full Text Available Associate learning is fundamental to the acquisition of knowledge and plays a critical role in the everyday functioning of the developing child, though the developmental course is still unclear. This study investigated the development of visual associate learning in 125 school age children using the Continuous Paired Associate Learning task. As hypothesized, younger children made more errors than older children across all memory loads and evidenced decreased learning efficiency as memory load increased. Results suggest that age-related differences in performance largely reflect continued development of executive function in the context of relatively developed memory processes.

  19. Short- and Long-Term Effects of CBT-I in Groups for School-Age Children Suffering From Chronic Insomnia: The KiSS-Program.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schlarb, Angelika A; Bihlmaier, Isabel; Velten-Schurian, Kerstin; Poets, Christian F; Hautzinger, Martin

    2018-01-01

    This intervention study evaluates the short- and long-term effects of cognitive behavior therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) in groups for school-age children and their parents, named the KiSS-program. CBT-I was implemented in three sessions for children and three sessions for parents. All in all, 112 children with chronic childhood insomnia were randomly assigned to a wait-list (WL) control or treatment condition. According to subjective measures as well as objective wrist actigraphy, children in the CBT-I condition reported greater improvements in sleep behavior immediately after the treatment compared to the WL group. Improvements in sleep behavior after CBT-I persisted over the 3-, 6-, and 12-month follow-up assessments. The present study is the first randomized controlled trial that provides evidence for the long-term effectiveness of CBT-I in treating school-age children with chronic insomnia.

  20. Simplified and age-appropriate recommendations for added sugars in children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goran, M I; Riemer, S L; Alderete, T L

    2018-04-01

    Excess sugar intake increases risk for obesity and related comorbidities among children. The World Health Organization (WHO), American Heart Association (AHA) and the 2015 USDA dietary recommendations have proposed guidelines for added sugar intake to reduce risk for disease. WHO and USDA recommendations are presented as a percentage of daily calories from added sugar. This approach is not easily understood or translated to children, where energy needs increase with age. The AHA recommendation is based on a fixed value of 25 g of added sugar for all children 2-19 years of age. This approach does not take into account the different levels of intake across this wide age range. Due to these limitations, we adapted current recommendations for added sugars based on daily energy needs of children 2-19 years. We used those values to derive simple regression equations to predict grams or teaspoons of added sugars per day based on age that would be equivalent to 10% of daily energy needs. This proposed approach aligns with the changing nutritional needs of children and adolescents during growth. © 2017 World Obesity Federation.

  1. Assessing twenty-first century skills through a teacher created video game for high school biology students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Annetta, Leonard A.; Cheng, Meng-Tzu; Holmes, Shawn

    2010-07-01

    As twenty-first century skills become a greater focus in K-12 education, an infusion of technology that meets the needs of today's students is paramount. This study looks at the design and creation of a Multiplayer Educational Gaming Application (MEGA) for high school biology students. The quasi-experimental, qualitative design assessed the twenty-first century skills of digital age literacy, inventive thinking, high productivity, and effective communication techniques of the students exposed to a MEGA. Three factors, as they pertained to these skills, emerged from classroom observations. Interaction with the teacher, discussion with peers, and engagement/time-on-task while playing the MEGA suggested that students playing an educational video game exhibited all of the projected twenty-first century skills while being engrossed in the embedded science content.

  2. Australian "Play School": Viewing and Post-Viewing Behaviours in Young Children

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harrison, Cathie Anne; van Vliet, Helen Elizabeth; Anderson, Tracy

    2012-01-01

    Australian "Play School" is a children's television programme developed in collaboration with early childhood educators. It is screened free to air across Australia. Two hundred and twenty-four adult carers of young children aged 1-8 years completed an online survey via a link on the "Play School" website. The survey addressed…

  3. The nutritional status of school-aged children: why should we care?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Best, Cora; Neufingerl, Nicole; van Geel, Laura; van den Briel, Tina; Osendarp, Saskia

    2010-09-01

    The nutritional status of school-aged children impacts their health, cognition, and subsequently their educational achievement. The school is an opportune setting to provide health and nutrition services to disadvantaged children. Yet, school-aged children are not commonly included in health and nutrition surveys. An up-to-date overview of their nutritional status across the world is not available. To provide a summary of the recent data on the nutritional status of school-aged children in developing countries and countries in transition and identify issues of public health concern. A review of literature published from 2002 to 2009 on the nutritional status of children aged 6 to 12 years from Latin America, Africa, Asia, and the Eastern Mediterranean region was performed. Eligible studies determined the prevalence of micronutrient deficiencies or child under- and overnutrition using biochemical markers and internationally accepted growth references. A total of 369 studies from 76 different countries were included. The available data indicate that the nutritional status of school-aged children in the reviewed regions is considerably inadequate. Underweight and thinness were most prominent in populations from South-East Asia and Africa, whereas in Latin America the prevalence of underweight or thinness was generally below 10%. More than half of the studies on anemia reported moderate (> 20%) or severe (> 40%) prevalence of anemia. Prevalences of 20% to 30% were commonly reported for deficiencies of iron, iodine, zinc, and vitamin A. The prevalence of overweight was highest in Latin American countries (20% to 35%). In Africa, Asia, and the Eastern Mediterranean, the prevalence of overweight was generally below 15%. The available data indicate that malnutrition is a public health issue in school-aged children in developing countries and countries in transition. However, the available data, especially data on micronutrient status, are limited. These findings emphasize

  4. Nutritional Status and Cognitive Performance among Children Aged ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Without adequate nutrition, children cannot develop to their full physical and mental potentials. The nutritional status and the cognitive performance of 500 school children aged 5-12 years from urban and rural areas of Enugu State, Nigeria were evaluated. Anthropometric measurements of heights and weights were ...

  5. First experiences with application of gadolinium-DTPA in infants and small children under two years of age

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Maas, R.; Lausch, N.; Buecheler, E.; Grzyska, U.

    1991-01-01

    The use of Gadolinium-DTPA as a paramagnetic contrast agent in MRI with adults and juveniles concerning brain and spinal cord pathology is well proven since years. In the FRG it is only introduced for children over two years of age. Therefore this report deales with the experience in four infants and small children under the age of two. They all were suffering from neurological tumors and got additional diagnostic information in three cases. Clinical side-effects like urticaria, vomiting or convulsions had not been observed nor had pathologic changes of the biochemical parameters been noticed. (orig./GDG) [de

  6. Twenty-third water reactor safety information meeting. Volume 3, structural and seismic engineering, primary systems integrity, equipment operability and aging, ECCS strainer blockage research and regulatory issues

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Monteleone, S. [comp.] [Brookhaven National Lab., Upton, NY (United States)

    1996-03-01

    This three-volume report contains papers presented at the Twenty- Third Water Reactor Safety Information Meeting held at the Bethesda Marriott Hotel, Bethesda, Maryland, October 23-25, 1995. The papers are printed in the order of their presentation in each session and describe progress and results of programs in nuclear safety research conducted in this country and abroad. Foreign participation in the meeting included papers presented by researchers from France, Italy, Japan, Norway, Russia, Sweden, and Switzerland. This document, Volume 3, presents topics in Structural & Seismic Engineering, Primary Systems Integrity, Equipment Operability and Aging, and ECCS Strainer Blockage Research & Regulatory Issues. Individual papers have been cataloged separately.

  7. Twenty-third water reactor safety information meeting. Volume 3, structural and seismic engineering, primary systems integrity, equipment operability and aging, ECCS strainer blockage research and regulatory issues

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Monteleone, S.

    1996-03-01

    This three-volume report contains papers presented at the Twenty- Third Water Reactor Safety Information Meeting held at the Bethesda Marriott Hotel, Bethesda, Maryland, October 23-25, 1995. The papers are printed in the order of their presentation in each session and describe progress and results of programs in nuclear safety research conducted in this country and abroad. Foreign participation in the meeting included papers presented by researchers from France, Italy, Japan, Norway, Russia, Sweden, and Switzerland. This document, Volume 3, presents topics in Structural ampersand Seismic Engineering, Primary Systems Integrity, Equipment Operability and Aging, and ECCS Strainer Blockage Research ampersand Regulatory Issues. Individual papers have been cataloged separately

  8. Soil-transmitted helminths in pre-school-aged and school-aged children in an urban slum: a cross-sectional study of prevalence, distribution, and associated exposures.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Davis, Stephanie M; Worrell, Caitlin M; Wiegand, Ryan E; Odero, Kennedy O; Suchdev, Parminder S; Ruth, Laird J; Lopez, Gerard; Cosmas, Leonard; Neatherlin, John; Njenga, Sammy M; Montgomery, Joel M; Fox, LeAnne M

    2014-11-01

    Soil-transmitted helminths (STHs) are controlled by regular mass drug administration. Current practice targets school-age children (SAC) preferentially over pre-school age children (PSAC) and treats large areas as having uniform prevalence. We assessed infection prevalence in SAC and PSAC and spatial infection heterogeneity, using a cross-sectional study in two slum villages in Kibera, Nairobi. Nairobi has low reported STH prevalence. The SAC and PSAC were randomly selected from the International Emerging Infections Program's surveillance platform. Data included residence location and three stools tested by Kato-Katz for STHs. Prevalences among 692 analyzable children were any STH: PSAC 40.5%, SAC 40.7%; Ascaris: PSAC 24.1%, SAC 22.7%; Trichuris: PSAC 24.0%, SAC 28.8%; hookworm slums should be assessed separately in STH mapping. © The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.

  9. How Young Children Understand Electric Circuits: Prediction, Explanation and Exploration

    Science.gov (United States)

    Glauert, Esme Bridget

    2009-01-01

    This paper reports findings from a study of young children's views about electric circuits. Twenty-eight children aged 5 and 6 years were interviewed. They were shown examples of circuits and asked to predict whether they would work and explain why. They were then invited to try out some of the circuit examples or make circuits of their own…

  10. Exotropia in children with high hyperopia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kassem, Iris S; Rubin, Steven E; Kodsi, Sylvia R

    2012-01-01

    Purpose To describe the clinical characteristics, treatment, and subsequent clinical course of children with exotropia and high hyperopia. Methods The medical records of 26 patients seen between 1990 and 2009 who had an exotropia and ≥4.00 D of hyperopia were retrospectively reviewed. We analyzed the clinical characteristics, treatments and subsequent alignment outcomes. Results A total of 26 patients between the ages of 2.5 months and 9 years were included. Of these, 15 had associated medical conditions or developmental delay. Of 22 patients with measured visual acuities, 19 had amblyopia (10 unilateral, 9 bilateral). None of the patients demonstrated fine stereoacuity. Twenty-three exotropic children were treated with spectacles; 15 were fully corrected, 10 of whose exotropia improved; 8 received partial correction of their hyperopia, 3 of whose exotropia improved. Six patients who presented with large, poorly controlled exotropia and did not improve with spectacle correction required strabismus surgery. Conclusions Children with high hyperopia and exotropia are likely to have developmental delay or other systemic diseases, amblyopia, and poor stereopsis. Treatment of high hyperopia in exotropic children with their full cycloplegic refraction can result in excellent alignment. PMID:23084380

  11. Association of major dietary patterns with socioeconomic factors among rural school-aged children in Bijar, 2014

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Background: The identification of major dietary patterns using factor analysis can provide information about health status of children by obtaining an overall picture of the person's diet. The aim of this study was to determine major dietary patterns and to identify socioeconomic factors affecting them in school age children in rural areas of Bijar, Iran. Materials and Methods: In this cross sectional study, 255 rural school age children living rural areas of Bijar were selected by simple random sampling. Dietary intakes during the past year and assessment of socioeconomic information were examined. Dietary patterns were determined using factor analysis and their relation to socioeconomic factors was investigated. Results: Three major dietary patterns," traditional", "modern" and "mixed", were identified. After adjusting for age, sex, ethnic and energy intake, Age of mother (b= 0.03, CI=0.00_0.05 was positively associated and age of father (b= -0.03, CI=-0.05_-0.01, laboring Job for father (b= -0.24, CI=-0.44_-0.03 and higher education of parents (b= -0.20, CI=-0.35_-0.05 were negatively associated with traditional dietary pattern. In addition, higher education of parents (b= 0.27, CI=0.11_0.44 was positively associated and age of mother (b= -0.03, CI=-0.06_0.00 was negatively associated with mixed dietary pattern. Conclusion: Some socio-economic variables such as maternal age, parental education, parental occupation and economic conditions can have effect on major dietary patterns among rural children.

  12. Preschool-aged children's television viewing in child care settings.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Christakis, Dimitri A; Garrison, Michelle M

    2009-12-01

    The goal was to quantify television viewing in day care settings and to investigate the characteristics of programs that predict viewing. A telephone survey of licensed child care programs in Michigan, Washington, Florida, and Massachusetts was performed. The frequency and quantity of television viewing for infants, toddlers, and preschool-aged children were assessed. With the exception of infants, children in home-based child care programs were exposed to significantly more television on an average day than were children in center-based programs (infants: 0.2 vs 0 hours; toddlers: 1.6 vs 0.1 hours; preschool-aged children: 2.4 vs 0.4 hours). In a regression analysis of daily television time for preschool-aged children in child care, center-based programs were found to have an average of 1.84 fewer hours of television each day, controlling for the other covariates. Significant effect modification was found, in that the impact of home-based versus center-based child care programs differed somewhat depending on educational levels for staff members; having a 2- or 4-year college degree was associated with 1.41 fewer hours of television per day in home-based programs, but no impact of staff education on television use was observed in center-based programs. For many children, previous estimates of screen time significantly underestimated actual amounts. Pediatricians should council parents to minimize screen time in child care settings.

  13. Physical activity level of school children of age 10-13 years

    OpenAIRE

    Ronghe, Dr. Rashmi N; Gotmare, Dr. Neha A; Kawishwar, Dr. Shraddha

    2016-01-01

    Aim: To assess physical activity level of school children of age 10-13 years.Objectives: To assess and grade physical activity level in children of age 10-13 years using Physical Activity Questionnaire for Children (PAQ-C) classified into: Light Physical activity; Moderate Physical activity; Moderate to vigorous Physical activity and High Physical activity.Methodology: This is Questionnaire based survey study which was conducted on 100 school going children of 10-13 years who were present on ...

  14. Point-of-use fortification of foods with micronutrient powders containing iron in children of preschool and school-age.

    Science.gov (United States)

    De-Regil, Luz Maria; Jefferds, Maria Elena D; Peña-Rosas, Juan Pablo

    2017-11-23

    review authors independently assessed the eligibility of trials against the inclusion criteria, extracted data from included trials, assessed the risk of bias of the included trials and graded the quality of the evidence. We included 13 studies involving 5810 participants from Latin America, Africa and Asia. We excluded 38 studies and identified six ongoing/unpublished trials. All trials compared the provision of MNP for point-of-use fortification with no intervention or placebo. No trials compared the effects of MNP versus iron-containing supplements (as drops, tablets or syrup).The sample sizes in the included trials ranged from 90 to 2193 participants. Six trials included participants younger than 59 months of age only, four included only children aged 60 months or older, and three trials included children both younger and older than 59 months of age.MNPs contained from two to 18 vitamins and minerals. The iron doses varied from 2.5 mg to 30 mg of elemental iron. Four trials reported giving 10 mg of elemental iron as sodium iron ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (NaFeEDTA), chelated ferrous sulphate or microencapsulated ferrous fumarate. Three trials gave 12.5 mg of elemental iron as microencapsulated ferrous fumarate. Three trials gave 2.5 mg or 2.86 mg of elemental iron as NaFeEDTA. One trial gave 30 mg and one trial provided 14 mg of elemental iron as microencapsulated ferrous fumarate, while one trial gave 28 mg of iron as ferrous glycine phosphate.In comparison with receiving no intervention or a placebo, children receiving iron-containing MNP for point-of-use fortification of foods had lower risk of anaemia prevalence ratio (PR) 0.66, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.49 to 0.88, 10 trials, 2448 children; moderate-quality evidence) and iron deficiency (PR 0.35, 95% CI 0.27 to 0.47, 5 trials, 1364 children; moderate-quality evidence) and had higher haemoglobin (mean difference (MD) 3.37 g/L, 95% CI 0.94 to 5.80, 11 trials, 2746 children; low-quality evidence

  15. The Contribution of Executive Functions to Participation in School Activities of Children with High Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zingerevich, Chaya; Patricia D., LaVesser

    2009-01-01

    This study describes the contribution of executive functions to participation in school activities of children diagnosed with ASD ages 6-9 years while controlling for sensory processing. Twenty-four children, ages 73-112 months (S.D. = 11.4), diagnosed with high functioning ASD were assessed with the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test. Their teachers…

  16. Effect of Wii-intervention on balance of children with poor motor performance

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Mombarg, Remo; Jelsma, Dorothee; Hartman, Esther

    The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of training with the Wii-balance board on balance and balance-related skills of children with poor motor performance. Twenty-nine children (23 boys, 6 girls; aged 7-12 years) participated in this study and were randomly assigned to an

  17. Effect of Wii-intervention on balance of children with poor motor performance

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Mombarg, Remo; Jelsma, Dorothee; Hartman, Esther

    2013-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of training with the Wii-balance board on balance and balance-related skills of children with poor motor performance. Twenty-nine children (23 boys, 6 girls; aged 7–12 years) participated in this study and were randomly assigned to an

  18. Guelph Family Health Study's Home-Based Obesity Prevention Intervention Increases Fibre and Fruit Intake in Preschool-Aged Children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mirotta, Julia A; Darlington, Gerarda A; Buchholz, Andrea C; Haines, Jess; Ma, David W L; Duncan, Alison M

    2018-06-01

    The Guelph Family Health Study (GFHS) pilot was designed to examine the feasibility and effectiveness of a home-based obesity prevention intervention on health behaviours and obesity risk. The objective of this analysis was to determine the effect of the 6-month intervention on preschool-aged children's dietary intakes. Families with children aged 1.5-5 years old were randomized to receive one of the following: 4 home visits with a health educator as well as tailored emails and mailed incentives (4HV; n = 19 children); 2 home visits with a health educator as well as tailored emails and mailed incentives (2HV; n = 14 children); or general health advice through emails (control; n = 12 children). Three-day food records were completed by parents for their children before and after the 6-month intervention and analyzed for 3-day average intakes of energy, nutrients, and MyPlate food groups. After the 6-month intervention, the 4HV group had significantly higher fibre intake and the 4HV and 2HV groups had significantly higher fruit intake, both compared with the control group. This study provides support for a home-based intervention approach to improve the diet quality of preschool-aged children.

  19. Impact of micronutrients sprinkle on weight and height of children aged 6-36 months in Tonk district of Rajasthan state

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vijay Jyoti

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available Introduction: In India, multiple micronutrient deficiencies continue to be a major public health problem, especially for children below three years of age. It is a crucial period for the growth and development of children. There is lack of data from Rajasthan state on the effect of micronutrients supplementation on growth of children below three years of age. Aims & Objectives: To assess the impact of ICDS supplementary food with or without micronutrients sprinkles on weight and height of children aged 6-36 months in the Tonk district, Rajasthan state. Materials & Methods: The trial was conducted in the 15 Angan wadi centers, each from Tonk (rural and Malpura blocks of Tonk District in Rajasthan state. Children from both blocks were considered as experimental and control groups. Experimental (N=790 and Control groups (N=540 received ICDS supplementary food for six months with or without micronutrients sprinkles. Anthropometric measurements were taken using standard techniques. Results: At baseline, children with severe underweight, severe stunting and severe wasting in experimental group stood at 19.2%, 19.3%, 7.3%, respectively, which declined to 14.9%, 15.3% and 6.3%, after intervention. Significant difference was observed in the mean weights of post intervention children between experimental and control groups, whereas, there was no significant difference in mean heights. In experimental group, statistical significant difference was also noted in the mean weights and heights of children between pre and post intervention periods. Conclusion: Micronutrients sprinkles can be effective in reducing malnutrition amongst vulnerable population.

  20. Associations between regional brain volumes at term-equivalent age and development at 2 years of age in preterm children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lind, Annika; Parkkola, Riitta; Lehtonen, Liisa; Munck, Petriina; Maunu, Jonna; Lapinleimu, Helena; Haataja, Leena

    2011-08-01

    Altered brain volumes and associations between volumes and developmental outcomes have been reported in prematurely born children. To assess which regional brain volumes are different in very low birth weight (VLBW) children without neurodevelopmental impairments ([NDI] cerebral palsy, hearing loss, blindness and significantly delayed cognitive performance) compared with VLBW children with NDI, and to evaluate the association between regional brain volumes at term-equivalent age and cognitive development and neurological performance at a corrected age of 2 years. The study group consisted of a regional cohort of 164 VLBW children, divided into one group of children without NDI (n = 148) and one group of children with NDI (n = 16). Brain (MRI) was performed at term-equivalent age, from which brain volumes were manually analysed. Cognitive development was assessed with the Bayley Scales of Infant Development II (BSID-II), and neurological performance with the Hammersmith Infant Neurological Examination at the corrected age of 2 years. The volumes of total brain tissue, cerebrum, frontal lobes, basal ganglia and thalami, and cerebellum were significantly smaller, and the volume of the ventricles significantly larger, in the children with NDI than in those without NDI. Even in children without NDI, a smaller cerebellar volume was significantly correlated with poor neurological performance at 2 years of corrected age. Volumetric analysis at brain MRI can provide an additional parameter for early prediction of outcome in VLBW children.

  1. Preterm children have unfavorable motor, cognitive, and functional performance when compared to term children of preschool age.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maggi, Eliane F; Magalhães, Lívia C; Campos, Alexandre F; Bouzada, Maria Cândida F

    2014-01-01

    to compare the motor coordination, cognitive, and functional development of preterm and term children at the age of 4 years. this was a cross-sectional study of 124 four-year-old children, distributed in two different groups, according to gestational age and birth weight, paired by gender, age, and socioeconomic level. All children were evaluated by the Movement Assessment Battery for Children - second edition (MABC-2), the Pediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory (PEDI), and the Columbia Mental Maturity Scale (CMMS). preterm children had worse performance in all tests, and 29.1% of the preterm and 6.5% of term groups had scores on the MABC-2 indicative of motor coordination disorder (p=0.002). In the CMMS (p=0.034), the median of the standardized score for the preterm group was 99.0 (± 13.75) and 103.0 (± 12.25) for the term group; on the PEDI, preterm children showed more limited skill repertoire (p=0.001) and required more assistance from the caregiver (p=0.010) than term children. this study reinforced the evidence that preterm children from different socioeconomic backgrounds are more likely to have motor, cognitive, and functional development impairment, detectable before school age, than their term peers. Copyright © 2014 Sociedade Brasileira de Pediatria. Published by Elsevier Editora Ltda. All rights reserved.

  2. Comorbidity in school-aged children with autism disorder

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    余明

    2013-01-01

    Objective To investigate the occurrence of comorbidity in school-aged children with autism disorder.Methods Sixty-two outpatients in Peking University Institute of Mental Health,aged 6 to 16 years old,meeting the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental

  3. Something for Everyone: Benefits of Mixed-Age Grouping for Children, Parents, and Teachers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Theilheimer, Rachel

    1993-01-01

    Discusses the benefits of mixed-age grouping for children's social and cognitive development and reservations parents sometimes have about mixed-age groupings. Also discusses issues that teachers need to consider when implementing mixed-age groups: children's personal care routines; furnishings; children's language, motor, creative, and social…

  4. A Comparison of Multi-Age and Homogeneous Age Grouping in Early Childhood Centers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Freedman, Paula

    Studies from several countries are described in this review of literature pertinent to assigning day care children to multi-age or homogeneous age groups. Three issues are discussed in this regard: (1) What difference does it make how one groups children? The answer is that a profound difference to children, staff, and parents may occur in terms…

  5. Ages and Stages Questionnaire used to measure cognitive deficit in children born extremely preterm

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Klamer, Anja; Lando, Ane; Pinborg, Anja

    2005-01-01

    AIM: To validate the Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ) and to measure average cognitive deficit in children born extremely preterm. METHODS: Parents of 30 term children aged 36-42 mo completed the ASQ and the children underwent the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scales of Intelligence--Revised.......AIM: To validate the Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ) and to measure average cognitive deficit in children born extremely preterm. METHODS: Parents of 30 term children aged 36-42 mo completed the ASQ and the children underwent the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scales of Intelligence...

  6. Three treatments for bilingual children with primary language impairment: Examining cross-linguistic and cross-domain effects

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ebert, Kerry Danahy; Kohnert, Kathryn; Pham, Giang; Disher, Jill Rentmeester; Payesteh, Bita

    2014-01-01

    Purpose This study examines the absolute and relative effects of three different treatment programs for school-aged bilingual children with primary or specific language impairment (PLI). It serves to expand the evidence base on which service providers can base treatment decisions. It also explores hypothesized relations between languages and cognition in bilinguals with PLI. Method Fifty-nine school-aged Spanish-English bilingual children with PLI were assigned to receive nonlinguistic cognitive processing, English, bilingual (Spanish-English), or deferred treatment. Participants in each of the three active treatments received treatment administered by nationally certified speech-language pathologists. Pre- and post-treatment assessments measured change in nonlinguistic cognitive processing, English, and Spanish skills, and analyses examined change within and across both treatment groups and skill domains. Results All active treatment groups made significant pre- to post-treatment improvement on multiple outcome measures. There were fewer significant changes in Spanish than in English across groups. Between group comparisons indicate that the active treatment groups generally outperformed the deferred treatment control, reaching statistical significance for two tasks. Conclusions Results provide insight into cross-language transfer in bilingual children and advance understanding of the general PLI profile with respect to relationships between basic cognitive processing and higher level language skills. PMID:23900032

  7. Age and Cultural Differences in Self-Perceptions of Mastery Motivation and Competence in American, Chinese, and Hungarian School Age Children

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Krisztian Jozsa

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available We examined age differences in self-perceptions of five dimensions of mastery motivation and also of competence in American, Chinese, and Hungarian children and teens. Participants included 200 Americans, 1,465 Chinese, and 8,175 Hungarians from 7 to 19 years of age. The Dimensions of Mastery Questionnaire provides comparable data across these different cultures as indicated by very similar factor structures and reasonably good internal consistency reliabilities for the scales. Across all three cultures, there was the expected decline from primary to secondary school in total persistence and the four instrumental mastery motivation scales, except for social persistence with adults in the American sample. Mastery pleasure did not decline in the American and Chinese samples but declined in the Hungarian sample. Self-perceived competence did not decline significantly in the American sample or in the Hungarian sample from age 11 to 17; however, competence self-ratings declined in the Chinese sample. The three cultures were compared at 11 and 16. Although there were some significant differences, small effect sizes indicated that the level of motivation was similar for each culture at each age. The other literature provides clues about why the declines occur in all three cultures and why there are some differences among cultures.

  8. Growth curve analyses of the relationship between early maternal age and children's mathematics and reading performance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Torres, D Diego

    2015-03-01

    Regarding the methods used to examine the early maternal age-child academic outcomes relationship, the extant literature has tended to examine change using statistical analyses that fail to appreciate that individuals vary in their rates of growth. Of the one study I have been able to find that employs a true growth model to estimate this relationship, the authors only controlled for characteristics of the maternal household after family formation; confounding background factors of mothers that might select them into early childbearing, a possible source of bias, were ignored. The authors' findings nonetheless suggested an inverse relationship between early maternal age, i.e., a first birth between the ages of 13 and 17, and Canadian adolescents' mean math performance at age 10. Early maternal age was not related to the linear slope of age. To elucidate whether the early maternal age-child academic outcomes association, treated in a growth context, is consistent with this finding, the present study built on it using US data and explored children's mathematics and reading trajectories from age 5 on. Its unique contribution is that it further explicitly controlled for maternal background factors and employed a three-level growth model with repeated measures of children nested within their mothers. Though the strength of the relationship varied between mean initial academic performance and mean academic growth, results confirmed that early maternal age was negatively related to children's mathematics and reading achievement, net of post-teen first birth child-specific and maternal household factors. Once maternal background factors were included, there was no statistically significant relationship between early maternal age and either children's mean initial mathematics and reading scores or their mean mathematics and reading growth. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  9. Children's Choice Strategies: The Effects of Age and Task Demands

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bereby-Meyer, Yoella; Assor, Avi; Katz, Idit

    2004-01-01

    Two experiments examined the effect of age and cognitive demands on children's choice strategies. Children aged 8-9 and 12-13 years were asked to choose among either two or four products that differed in several attributes of varying importance to them. Choice tasks were designed to differentiate between the lexicographic and the equal-weighting…

  10. Risk factors of severe pneumonia among children aged 2-59 months ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Introduction Globally, pneumonia is the leading cause of death in children under the age of 5 years. In Kenya, it is the second leading cause of mortality, accounting for greater than 30,000 deaths in this age group annually. This study sought to identify risk factors for severe pneumonia in children under the age of five years.

  11. Developmental precursors of young school-age children's hostile attribution bias.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Choe, Daniel Ewon; Lane, Jonathan D; Grabell, Adam S; Olson, Sheryl L

    2013-12-01

    This prospective longitudinal study provides evidence of preschool-age precursors of hostile attribution bias in young school-age children, a topic that has received little empirical attention. We examined multiple risk domains, including laboratory and observational assessments of children's social-cognition, general cognitive functioning, effortful control, and peer aggression. Preschoolers (N = 231) with a more advanced theory-of-mind, better emotion understanding, and higher IQ made fewer hostile attributions of intent in the early school years. Further exploration of these significant predictors revealed that only certain components of these capacities (i.e., nonstereotypical emotion understanding, false-belief explanation, and verbal IQ) were robust predictors of a hostile attribution bias in young school-age children and were especially strong predictors among children with more advanced effortful control. These relations were prospective in nature-the effects of preschool variables persisted after accounting for similar variables at school age. We conclude by discussing the implications of our findings for future research and prevention. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved.

  12. Factors associated with bed and room sharing in Chinese school-aged children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, S; Jin, X; Yan, C; Wu, S; Jiang, F; Shen, X

    2009-03-01

    Co-sleeping (bed or room sharing) has potential implications for children's development. Previous studies showed that co-sleeping was more prevalent in non-Western countries than in Western countries, which demonstrated that co-sleeping was marked with ethnic and socio-cultural background characteristics. The purpose of this study was to survey the prevalence of bed and room sharing and to examine related factors among school-aged children in an Asian country - China. A cross-sectional questionnaire survey was conducted in 10 districts of Shanghai, China from November to December 2005. A total of 4108 elementary school children, 49.2% boys and 50.8% girls with a mean age of 8.79 years, participated. Parent-administered questionnaires were used to collect information about children's sleeping arrangements and socio-demographic characteristics. The prevalence of routine bed sharing, room sharing and sleeping alone in Chinese school-aged children was 21.0%, 19.1% and 47.7%, respectively. Bed and room sharing didn't show significant gender difference but gradually decreased with increasing age. Multivariate logistic regression identified those factors associated with bed and room sharing: younger age, large family, children without their own bedroom and parents' approval of a co-sleeping arrangement. Co-sleeping arrangement was a common practice in Chinese school-aged children. Associated factors were characterized by intrinsic socio-cultural values and socio-economic status in China.

  13. Prenatal and early life influences on epigenetic age in children

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Simpkin, Andrew J; Hemani, Gibran; Suderman, Matthew

    2016-01-01

    age for these samples. AA was defined as the residuals from regressing epigenetic age on actual age. AA was tested for associations with cross-sectional clinical variables in children. We identified associations between AA and sex, birth weight, birth by caesarean section and several maternal......). In children, epigenetic AA measures are associated with several clinically relevant variables, and early life exposures appear to be associated with changes in AA during adolescence. Further research into epigenetic aging, including the use of causal inference methods, is required to better our understanding......DNA methylation-based biomarkers of aging are highly correlated with actual age. Departures of methylation-estimated age from actual age can be used to define epigenetic measures of child development or age acceleration (AA) in adults. Very little is known about genetic or environmental...

  14. Predictors of Intrusive Sexual Behaviors in Preschool-Aged Children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, Tyler J; Lindsey, Rebecca A; Bohora, Som; Silovsky, Jane F

    2018-04-10

    Intrusive sexual behaviors (ISBs) are a specific type of problematic sexual behavior characterized by the invasive nature of the acts (e.g., touching others' private parts, attempting intercourse; Friedrich, 1997). The limited amount of research on ISBs has focused on sexual abuse history as the primary predictor. However, Friedrich, Davies, Feher, and Wright (2003) found that ISBs in children up to age 12 were related to four broad conceptual factors: (a) exposure to sexual content, (b) exposure to violent behavior, (c) family adversity, and (d) child vulnerabilities. The current study sought to replicate Friedrich's study using a clinical sample of 217 preschool-aged children (ages two to six). Results supported variables from within the child vulnerabilities construct (externalizing behaviors, β EXT  = 0.032, p = 0.001), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) criteria met (β PTSD  = 0.177, p = 0.02), and an inverse relationship with ageAGE  = -0.206, p = 0.024). These results highlight the importance of considering childhood behavioral patterns and reactivity to traumatic events as correlates of ISBs in young children.

  15. Prevalence of Parasomnia in School aged Children in Tehran

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Morteza Naserbakht

    2011-06-01

    Full Text Available "nObjectives: Parasomnias can create sleep disruption; in this article we assessed parasomnias in school-aged children in Tehran. "nMethods: In spring 2005, a total of 6000 sleep questionnaires were distributed to school-aged children in 5 districts of Tehran (Iran. A modified Pediatrics sleep questionnaire with 34 questions was used. "nResults: Parasomnias varied from 0.5% to 5.7% among the subjects as follows: 2.7% sleep talking, 0.5% sleepwalking, 5.7% bruxism, 2.3% enuresis, and nightmare 4%. A group of children showed parasomnias occasionally- this was 13.1% for sleep talking, 1.4% for sleepwalking, 10.6% for bruxism, 3.1% for enuresis and 18.4% for nightmares. "nConclusion: A high proportion of children starting school suffer from sleep problems. In many cases this is a temporary, developmentally related phenomenon, but in 6% of the children the disorder is more serious and may be connected with various stress factors and further behavioral disturbances.

  16. School-age children's fears, anxiety, and human figure drawings.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carroll, M K; Ryan-Wenger, N A

    1999-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to identify the fears of school-age children and determine the relationship between fear and anxiety. A descriptive, correlational, secondary analysis study was conducted using a convenience sample of 90 children between the ages of 8 and 12 years. Each child was instructed to complete the Revised Children's Anxiety Scale and then answer questions from a structured interview. On completion, each child was instructed to draw a human figure drawing. Frequency charts and correlational statistics were used to analyze the data. Findings indicated that the most significant fears of the boys were in the categories of animals, safety, school, and supernatural phenomena, whereas girls were more fearful of natural phenomena. High correlations existed between anxiety scores and the number of fears and emotional indicators on human figure drawings. Because human figure drawings are reliable tools for assessing anxiety and fears in children, practitioners should incorporate these drawings as part of their routine assessments of fearful children.

  17. Fat Imaging via Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) in Young Children (Ages 1-4 Years) without Sedation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shearrer, Grace E; House, Benjamin T; Gallas, Michelle C; Luci, Jeffrey J; Davis, Jaimie N

    2016-01-01

    This pilot study developed techniques to perform Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) of specific fat deposition in 18 children (age 18 months to 4 years). The children engaged in a series of practice tests to become acclimated to the scanner noises, reduce claustrophobia, and rehearse holding still for a set time. The practice tests assessed if the child could remain still for two minutes while watching a video, first while lying on a blanket, second, on the blanket with headphones, and third, in the mock scanner. The children who passed the three practice tests were then scanned with a 3T Siemens Skyra magnet. Abdominal fat distribution (region of interest (ROI) from the top of the ileac crest to the bottom of the ribcage) volume was measured using 2-point DIXON technique. This region was chosen to give an indication of the body composition around the liver. Twelve out of eighteen participants successfully completed the actual MRI scan. Chi-squared test showed no significant difference between male and female pass-fail rates. The median age of completed scans was 36 months, whereas the median age for children unable to complete a scan was 28 months. The average total trunk fat was 240.9±85.2mL and the average total VAT was 37.7±25.9mLand liver fat was not quantifiable due to physiological motion. Several strategies (modeling, videos, and incentives) were identified to improve pediatric imaging in different age ranges. Using an age-specific and tailored protocol, we were able to successfully use MRI for fat imaging in a majority of young children. Development of such protocols enables researchers to better understand the etiology of fat deposition in young children, which can be used to aid in the prevention and treatment of adiposity.

  18. Fat Imaging via Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI in Young Children (Ages 1-4 Years without Sedation.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Grace E Shearrer

    Full Text Available This pilot study developed techniques to perform Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI of specific fat deposition in 18 children (age 18 months to 4 years.The children engaged in a series of practice tests to become acclimated to the scanner noises, reduce claustrophobia, and rehearse holding still for a set time. The practice tests assessed if the child could remain still for two minutes while watching a video, first while lying on a blanket, second, on the blanket with headphones, and third, in the mock scanner. The children who passed the three practice tests were then scanned with a 3T Siemens Skyra magnet. Abdominal fat distribution (region of interest (ROI from the top of the ileac crest to the bottom of the ribcage volume was measured using 2-point DIXON technique. This region was chosen to give an indication of the body composition around the liver.Twelve out of eighteen participants successfully completed the actual MRI scan. Chi-squared test showed no significant difference between male and female pass-fail rates. The median age of completed scans was 36 months, whereas the median age for children unable to complete a scan was 28 months. The average total trunk fat was 240.9±85.2mL and the average total VAT was 37.7±25.9mLand liver fat was not quantifiable due to physiological motion. Several strategies (modeling, videos, and incentives were identified to improve pediatric imaging in different age ranges.Using an age-specific and tailored protocol, we were able to successfully use MRI for fat imaging in a majority of young children. Development of such protocols enables researchers to better understand the etiology of fat deposition in young children, which can be used to aid in the prevention and treatment of adiposity.

  19. Rainforest Depiction in Children's Resources

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dove, Jane

    2011-01-01

    This article analyses how rainforests are portrayed in children's resources. Twenty books and 12 websites on rainforests, designed for pupils aged between 9 and 14 years, were examined to determine the types and range of animals depicted and how plant life in general is portrayed. The most commonly depicted animal was the orang-utan and other…

  20. [Sleep duration among school-age children in Hungary and Romania].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sólyom, Réka; Lendvai, Zsófia; Pásti, Krisztina; Szeifert, Lilla; Szabó, J Attila

    2013-10-06

    Children's sleep duration is decreasing in the last decade. Despite of the well known negative consequences, there are no data on children's sleep duration in Hungary and Romania. The aim of the authors was to assess sleep duration of school-age children in Hungary and Romania. A self-edited questionnaire was used for the study. 2446 children were enrolled. All elementary and secondary schools in a Hungarian city, and one elementary and secondary school in a Romanian city took part in the study. Mean sleep duration was 8.3 ± 1.2 hours on weekdays. There was a significant difference between the two countries (Hungary vs. Romania, 8.5 ± 1.2 hours vs. 7.8 ± 0.9 hours, p = 0.001). Age correlated with sleep duration on weekdays (r= -0.605, p = 0.001), but not during weekend. This is the first study on children's sleep duration in Hungary and Romania. The difference between countries may be due to the difference in mean age or cultural and/or geographical differences.

  1. Age and sex-specific relationships between phthalate exposures and obesity in Chinese children at puberty.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yunhui Zhang

    Full Text Available To examine the age and sex-specific associations of urine levels of six mono-phthalates with body size and fat distribution in Chinese children at puberty.Four hundred and ninety-three school-aged children (247 boys, 246 girls were recruited. Obesity related anthropometric indices were measured and body fat proportion (BF% was calculated. Spot urine samples were collected and phthalate monoesters were detected by an API 2000 electrospray triple quadrupole mass spectrometer (ESI-MS/MS. Associations between phthalate exposure and overweight/obesity measures and their trends were examined by multiple linear regression and Logistic regression analyses, respectively.Di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP metabolites and monobutyl phthalate (MBP were found to be the most detectable chemicals. In 8-10 years (yrs group, concentrations of MEHP and MBP were significantly higher in girls than those in boys. However, concentrations of all phthalate monoesters, except for MEP and MEHP, in 11-13 yrs boys were significantly higher than those in girls. After adjusting for confounders including puberty onset, urinary concentrations of MBP and sum of low molecular-weight phthalate metabolites (∑LMP were positively associated with boys' obesity in a concentration-effect manner, while concentrations of MEHP, MEHHP and sum of DEHP metabolites (∑MEHP were negatively associated with girls' obesity. Associations between phthalate exposure levels and BMI z-score changes were age- and sex-specific in school-age children.There are age and sex-specific concentration-effect associations between phthalate exposure and fat distribution in Chinese children. Urinary phthalate levels in 11-13 yrs boys were about 30 percent higher than those in girls, and ∑MEHP levels in younger boys (10 yrs. Associations were positive for MBP and ∑LMP with both BMI z-score and fat distribution in boys >10 years of age, and negative for ∑MEHP with fat distribution in girls <10 years of age.

  2. [Study on feeding behavior in school children aged 11-13 years from Barcelona].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Castells Cuixart, M; Capdevila Prim, C; Girbau Solà, T; Rodríguez Caba, C

    2006-01-01

    To know the family environment, living habits and social characteristics in 11-13 years-old school children. A descriptive transversal study performed in 65 schools of Barcelona during the second three-month, involving 2354 school children aged 11-13 interviewed by 73 pharmacists. The questionnaire has thirty-nine questions referring to family structure, eating and drinking habits, preferences, life style parameters such as physical activity and television viewing. The survey revealed a family unit of two children and their parents was the most common. Only a 12% of the children surveyed lived with their grandparents. Furthermore, the findings revealed a low family presence during the three main meals on the working days, which increased on weekends, 26% on breakfast, 44% on lunch and 11% on dinner. A 24% had breakfast alone and the 46% ate what they wanted. About the afternoon snack, the 25% alone and the 55% what they wanted. A 60% never or practically never participated in decision making, when buying food. A 70% reported they did other activities while eating. Concretely, a 40, 39 and 59% of the children reported they had breakfast, lunch and dinner while watching television. The consumption frequency of trinkets, soft drinks and television viewing were lower for the children from private compared to public schools. This study show that food choice at shopping was mainly done by the parents, however, children had an important role in making decisions of what food they eat and the activities they do while eating. Therefore, pharmacists could have a potential role to intervene in the nutritional education to parents and children.

  3. The problem of carcinogenesis in children born to parents who have received an elevated dose of ionzing radiation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vogel, F.

    1992-01-01

    The paper discusses the problem under the following three aspects: (1) Today, there is evidence of only a very few tumors developed by children to have been induced by genetic defects in some cases, as e.g. the retinoblastoma or the Wilms' tumor. The data available to date on the causes of leukemia in childhood do not suffice to make a statement. (2) Investigations among children engendered by A-bomb survivors from Hiroshima and Nagasaki after the bombing do not reveal an increase in the incidence of malignant disease up to the age of twenty. (3) The studies carried out by Gardner et al. among children of parents working in the Sellafield plant do not allow, upon critical review, to draw unambiguous conclusions. (orig.) [de

  4. Prevalence and risk factors for poor nutritional status among children in the Kilimanjaro region of Tanzania.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abubakar, Amina; Uriyo, Jacqueline; Msuya, Sia E; Swai, Mark; Stray-Pedersen, Babill

    2012-10-05

    The current study investigated the prevalence and risk factors for poor nutritional status among children less than 36 months of age in the Kilimanjaro region of Tanzania. Using a cross sectional study design, children and their caregivers were recruited into the study. Anthropometric measures were taken based on established protocol while a standard questionnaire was utilized to collect socio-demographic data. A finger-prick blood sample was collected from all the children and haemoglobin (Hb) concentration analyzed using a HemoCue photometer (HemoCue AB, Angelholm, Sweden). Four hundred and twenty three (423) children (214 females) took part in this study. Participating children were aged between 1–35 months (mean = 13.04, SD = 7.70). We observed high rates of stunting (44.2%) and underweight (19.1%). Nearly 70% (n = 295) of the sample was anaemic (Hb education, and child's age were found to independently predict stunting; whereas concerns over child's growth and development, and distance to water source were found to uniquely predict being underweight. Maternal education was the only factor related to the child's anaemia. The current study further emphasizes the need to implement context relevant interventions to combat malnutrition in this region of Tanzania and other similar settings.

  5. Predictors of dental rehabilitation in children aged 3-12 years.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gopinath, Vellore Kannan; Awad, Manal A

    2015-01-01

    The aim of this study was to evaluate the proportion of completed treatments and to study the factors affecting the full mouth dental rehabilitation in pediatric patients treated by undergraduate students at the College of Dental Medicine Teaching Clinics, University of Sharjah. A retrospective study was conducted on 270 children aged less than 12 years (mean age 7.6, SD 2.04). Comprehensive dental rehabilitation reports of child patients that were completed by final year dental undergraduate students from the year 2009 to 2011 were reviewed. Data on complete history, oral examination, dental charting, and treatment plan were collected from pediatric dentistry case sheet. Dental caries was charted using WHO 1997 criteria. Dental treatment needs and completion of dental care delivered to children involved in this study were assessed using DMFT/deft scores. Percentages of treatment provided included completed restorations (94%) and space management (84%) in primary dentition, whereas 98% of restoration and 94% of required sealants were completed in permanent dentition. The percentage of completed dental treatment including sealant placement was 61%. Age of the child and the number of decayed teeth present before the start of the treatment significantly correlated with the children in the incomplete treatment category (P dental care was provided in a holistic approach to the children attending College of Dental Medicine training clinics. Age of the child and the number of decayed teeth were the factors affecting dental rehabilitation in children aged 3-12 years.

  6. Epigenetic age analysis of children who seem to evade aging.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Walker, Richard F; Liu, Jia Sophie; Peters, Brock A; Ritz, Beate R; Wu, Timothy; Ophoff, Roel A; Horvath, Steve

    2015-05-01

    We previously reported the unusual case of a teenage girl stricken with multifocal developmental dysfunctions whose physical development was dramatically delayed resulting in her appearing to be a toddler or at best a preschooler, even unto the occasion of her death at the age of 20 years. Her life-long physician felt that the disorder was unique in the world and that future treatments for age-related diseases might emerge from its study. The objectives of our research were to determine if other such cases exist, and if so, whether aging is actually slowed. Of seven children characterized by dramatically slow developmental rates, five also had associated disorders displayed by the first case. All of the identified subjects were female. To objectively measure the age of blood tissue from these subjects, we used a highly accurate biomarker of aging known as "epigenetic clock" based on DNA methylation levels. No statistically significant differences in chronological and epigenetic ages were detected in any of the newly discovered cases.

  7. Gestures in Prelinguistic Turkish Children with Autism, Down Syndrome, and Typically Developing Children

    Science.gov (United States)

    Toret, Gokhan; Acarlar, Funda

    2011-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to examine gesture use in Turkish children with autism, Down syndrome, and typically developing children. Participants included 30 children in three groups: Ten children with Down syndrome, ten children with autism between 24-60 months of age, and ten typically developing children between 12-18 months of age.…

  8. Infliximab therapy in pediatric patients 7 years of age and younger.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kelsen, Judith R; Grossman, Andrew B; Pauly-Hubbard, Helen; Gupta, Kernika; Baldassano, Robert N; Mamula, Petar

    2014-12-01

    Infliximab (IFX) is efficacious for induction and maintenance of remission in pediatric patients with moderate-to-severe inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). It has, however, not been studied in patients 7 years old and younger. Our aim was to characterize efficacy and safety of IFX therapy in this cohort. This was a retrospective study of patients with IBD ages 7 years and younger, treated with IFX between 1999 and 2011. Medical records were reviewed for age of diagnosis, disease phenotype, therapy, surgery, IFX infusion dates, dose, and intervals. Outcome measures included physician global assessment, corticosteroid requirement, and adverse events. Thirty-three children (ages 2.4-7 years) were included. Twenty patients had Crohn disease, 4 had ulcerative colitis, and 9 had indeterminate colitis. Maintenance of IFX therapy at 1, 2, and 3 years was 36%, 18%, and 12%, respectively. Patients of age 5 years and younger had the lowest rates of maintenance of therapy at 25% at year 1, and 10% at years 2 and 3 combined. Nine percent of all of the patients demonstrated response measured by the physician global assessment and were steroid free at 1 year. There were 8 infusion reactions. There were no malignancies, serious infections, or deaths. IFX demonstrated a modest response rate and a low steroid-sparing effect in patients with IBD 7 years old and younger. Although this is a limited study, there appears to be a trend for decreased sustained efficacy with IFX in this age group, particularly in children 5 years old and younger, when compared with the previously published literature in older children.

  9. Pediatric sports injuries: an age comparison of children versus adolescents.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stracciolini, Andrea; Casciano, Rebecca; Levey Friedman, Hilary; Meehan, William P; Micheli, Lyle J

    2013-08-01

    Significant knowledge deficits exist regarding sports injuries in the young child. Children continue to engage in physically demanding, organized sports to a greater extent despite the lack of physical readiness, predisposing themselves to injury. To evaluate sports injuries sustained in very young children (5-12 years) versus their older counterparts (13-17 years) with regard to the type and location of injuries, severity, and diagnosis. Cross-sectional study; Level of evidence, 3. A retrospective chart review was performed on a 5% random probability sample (final N = 2133) of 5- to 17-year-old patients treated for sports injuries in the Division of Sports Medicine at a large, academic pediatric medical center between 2000 and 2009. Using descriptive statistics, correlates of injuries by age group, injury type, and body area are shown. Five- to 12-year-old patients differed in key ways from older patients. Children in this category sustained injuries that were more often traumatic in nature and more commonly of the upper extremity. Older patients (13-17 years) were more likely to be treated for injuries to the chest, hip/pelvis, and spine. A greater proportion of the older children were treated for overuse injuries, as compared with their younger counterparts (54.4% vs. 49.2%, respectively), and a much larger proportion of these injuries were classified as soft tissue injuries as opposed to bony injuries (37.9% vs. 26.1%, respectively). Injury diagnosis differed between the 2 age groups. The 13- to 17-year age group sustained more anterior cruciate ligament injuries, meniscal tears, and spondylolysis, while younger children were diagnosed with fractures, including physeal fractures, apophysitis, and osteochondritis dissecans. The 5- to 12-year-old patients treated for spine injuries were disproportionately female (75.8%); most of these injuries were overuse (78.8%) and bony (60.6%); over one third of the youngest children were diagnosed with spondylolysis. Surgery

  10. Development of allocentric spatial memory abilities in children from 18 months to 5 years of age.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ribordy, Farfalla; Jabès, Adeline; Banta Lavenex, Pamela; Lavenex, Pierre

    2013-02-01

    Episodic memories for autobiographical events that happen in unique spatiotemporal contexts are central to defining who we are. Yet, before 2 years of age, children are unable to form or store episodic memories for recall later in life, a phenomenon known as infantile amnesia. Here, we studied the development of allocentric spatial memory, a fundamental component of episodic memory, in two versions of a real-world memory task requiring 18 month- to 5-year-old children to search for rewards hidden beneath cups distributed in an open-field arena. Whereas children 25-42-months-old were not capable of discriminating three reward locations among 18 possible locations in absence of local cues marking these locations, children older than 43 months found the reward locations reliably. These results support previous findings suggesting that allocentric spatial memory, if present, is only rudimentary in children under 3.5 years of age. However, when tested with only one reward location among four possible locations, children 25-39-months-old found the reward reliably in absence of local cues, whereas 18-23-month-olds did not. Our findings thus show that the ability to form a basic allocentric representation of the environment is present by 2 years of age, and its emergence coincides temporally with the offset of infantile amnesia. However, the ability of children to distinguish and remember closely related spatial locations improves from 2 to 3.5 years of age, a developmental period marked by persistent deficits in long-term episodic memory known as childhood amnesia. These findings support the hypothesis that the differential maturation of distinct hippocampal circuits contributes to the emergence of specific memory processes during early childhood. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  11. A Developmental Examination of the Psychometric Properties and Predictive Utility of a Revised Psychological Self-Concept Measure for Preschool-Aged Children

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jia, Rongfang; Lang, Sarah N.; Schoppe-Sullivan, Sarah J.

    2015-01-01

    Accurate assessment of psychological self-concept in early childhood relies on the development of psychometrically sound instruments. From a developmental perspective, the current study revised an existing measure of young children's psychological self-concepts, the Child Self-View Questionnaire (CSVQ, Eder, 1990), and examined its psychometric properties using a sample of preschool-aged children assessed at approximately 4 years old with a follow-up at age 5 (N = 111). The item compositions of lower-order dimensions were revised, leading to improved internal consistency. Factor Analysis revealed three latent psychological self-concept factors (i.e., Sociability, Control, and Assurance) from the lower-order dimensions. Measurement invariance by gender was supported for Sociability and Assurance, not for Control. Test-retest reliability was supported by stability of the psychological self-concept measurement model during the preschool years, although some evidence of increasing differentiation was obtained. Validity of children's scores on the three latent psychological self-concept factors was tested by investigating their concurrent associations with teacher-reported behavioral adjustment on the Social Competence and Behavior Evaluation Scale – Short Form (SCBE-SF, LaFreniere & Dumas, 1996). Children who perceived themselves as higher in Sociability at 5 years old displayed less internalizing behavior and more social competence; boys who perceived themselves as higher in Control at age 4 exhibited lower externalizing behavior; children higher in Assurance had greater social competence at age 4, but displayed more externalizing behavior at age 5. Implications relevant to the utility of the revised psychological self-concept measure are discussed. PMID:26098231

  12. Perception of audio-visual speech synchrony in Spanish-speaking children with and without specific language impairment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pons, Ferran; Andreu, Llorenç; Sanz-Torrent, Monica; Buil-Legaz, Lucía; Lewkowicz, David J

    2013-06-01

    Speech perception involves the integration of auditory and visual articulatory information, and thus requires the perception of temporal synchrony between this information. There is evidence that children with specific language impairment (SLI) have difficulty with auditory speech perception but it is not known if this is also true for the integration of auditory and visual speech. Twenty Spanish-speaking children with SLI, twenty typically developing age-matched Spanish-speaking children, and twenty Spanish-speaking children matched for MLU-w participated in an eye-tracking study to investigate the perception of audiovisual speech synchrony. Results revealed that children with typical language development perceived an audiovisual asynchrony of 666 ms regardless of whether the auditory or visual speech attribute led the other one. Children with SLI only detected the 666 ms asynchrony when the auditory component preceded [corrected] the visual component. None of the groups perceived an audiovisual asynchrony of 366 ms. These results suggest that the difficulty of speech processing by children with SLI would also involve difficulties in integrating auditory and visual aspects of speech perception.

  13. Parenting very low birth weight children at school age: maternal stress and coping.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Singer, Lynn T; Fulton, Sarah; Kirchner, H Lester; Eisengart, Sheri; Lewis, Barbara; Short, Elizabeth; Min, Meeyoung O; Kercsmar, Carolyn; Baley, Jill E

    2007-11-01

    To compare severity and determinants of stress and coping in mothers of 8-year-old very low birth weight (VLBW) and term children varying in medical and developmental risk. Three groups of mothers/infants were prospectively compared in a longitudinal study from birth to 8 years (110 high-risk VLBW, 80 low-risk VLBW, and 112 term). Maternal psychological distress, coping, parenting/marital stress, child health, and family impact were measured in the children at age 8 years. Mothers of VLBW children differed from term mothers, reporting less consensus with partners, more concern for their children's health, less parent-child conflict, and fewer years of education attained. Mothers of high-risk VLBW children experienced the greatest family and personal strains and used less denial and disengagement coping. The groups exhibited no differences in the sense of parenting competence, divorce rate, parenting/marital satisfaction, family cohesion, and psychological distress symptoms. Multiple birth, low socioeconomic status, and lower child IQ added to maternal stress. VLBW birth has long-term negative and positive impacts on maternal/family outcomes related to the infant's medical risk.

  14. Estimation of Correlation between Chronological Age, Skeletal Age and Dental Age in Children- A Cross-sectional Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Macha, Madhulika; Lamba, Bharti; Avula, Jogendra Sai Sankar; Muthineni, Sridhar; Margana, Pratap Gowd Jai Shankar; Chitoori, Prasad

    2017-09-01

    In the modern era, identification and determination of age is imperative for diversity of reasons that include disputed birth records, premature delivery, legal issues and for validation of birth certificate for school admissions, adoption, marriage, job and immigration. Several growth assessment parameters like bone age, dental age and the combination of both have been applied for different population with variable outcomes. It has been well documented that the chronological age does not necessarily correlate with the maturational status of a child. Hence, efforts were made to determine a child's developmental age by using dental age (calcification of teeth) and skeletal age (skeletal maturation). The present study was aimed to correlate the chronological age, dental age and skeletal age in children from Southeastern region of Andhra Pradesh, India. Out of the total 900 screened children, only 100 subjects between age groups of 6-14 years with a mean age of 11.3±2.63 for males and 10.77±2.24 for females were selected for the study. Dental age was calculated by Demirjian method and skeletal age by modified Middle Phalanx of left hand third finger (MP3) method. Pearson's and Spearman's correlation tests were done to estimate the correlation between chronological, dental and skeletal ages among study population. There was a significant positive correlation between chronological age, dental age and all stages of MP3 among males. Similar results were observed in females, except for a non-significant moderate correlation between chronological age and dental age in the H stage of the MP3 region. The results of the present study revealed correlation with statistical significance (p<0.05) between chronological, dental and skeletal ages among all the subjects (48 males and 52 females) and females attained maturity earlier than males in the present study population.

  15. COMPUTER EYE SYNDROME IN CHILDREN AGED 3 TO 6 YEARS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Krasina P. Valcheva

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available Purpose: To detect visual disturbances, major symptoms and relationship between them in children between the ages of 3 and 6 years, who spend some time in front of a computer. Material/Methods: In the present study 2823 children attending 23 kindergartens in the city of Pleven, were given inquiry cards. Those with completed questionnaires were examined for visual acuity and convergence. In cases with low vision the children were invited for a detailed eye examination in the Eye Clinic at the University Hospital "Dr George Stranski" - Pleven. Results: A total of 2332 children responded and were examined (1174 girls and 1158 boys. The age of children is from 3 to 6 years. We found 303 children with subjective complaints in a close work, 163 with low vision and 18 with impaired convergence. Regarding the duration of stay in front of a computer – 159 children stay over 3 hours a day in front of video display, 1228 children spend about 1 hour a day in front of a computer and 945 children do not play on a computer. Conclusion: Nowadays more and more children use computers for recreational purposes at home. From our study it became clear that preschool children overuse their stay in front of computer.

  16. Parenting clinically anxious versus healthy control children aged 4-12 years

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van der Sluis, C.M.; van Steensel, F.J.A.; Bögels, S.M.

    2015-01-01

    This study investigated whether parenting behaviors differed between parents of 68 clinically anxious children and 106 healthy control children aged 4-12 years. The effects of parent gender, child gender and child age on parenting were explored. Mothers and fathers completed a questionnaire to

  17. Sleep Hygiene and Melatonin Treatment for Children and Adolescents with ADHD and Initial Insomnia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weiss, Margaret D.; Wasdell, Michael B.; Bomben, Melissa M.; Rea, Kathleen J.; Freeman, Roger D.

    2006-01-01

    Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of sleep hygiene and melatonin treatment for initial insomnia in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Method: Twenty-seven stimulant-treated children (6-14 years of age) with ADHD and initial insomnia (greater than 60 minutes) received sleep hygiene intervention. Nonresponders were…

  18. Kidney growth in 717 healthy children aged 0-18 months

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schmidt, Ida M; Main, Katharina M; Damgaard, Ida N

    2004-01-01

    Kidney size is an important parameter in the evaluation of children with renal disease. However, reference materials for kidney size in healthy children have been limited beyond the neonatal period. We performed a longitudinal cohort study of 717 healthy children born at term with normal birth...... weight. Kidney size and shape were determined by ultrasonography and related to gender, age, and body size (weight, length, body surface area, skinfold thickness) at 0, 3, and 18 months of age. Gender-differentiated reference charts were established. Boys had significantly larger kidney volumes than...... girls ( Page. The best single predictor of gender-differentiated kidney volume was weight. Relative kidney volume changed with increasing age and height in a two-phase pattern: an initial...

  19. How Applicable Are "Ages and Stages Questionnaires" for Use with Turkish Children?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kapci, Emine Gul; Kucuker, Sevgi; Uslu, Runa I.

    2010-01-01

    The majority of eligible children cannot access early intervention services in Turkey, often because they are not assessed. The authors adapted the "Ages and Stages Questionnaires" (ASQ) for Turkish children ages 3 to 72 months. Study participants consisted of 375 children who were classified as at risk for developmental delays, 564…

  20. Discriminative capacity of bronchodilator response measured with three different lung function techniques in asthmatic and healthy children aged 2 to 5 years

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielsen, K G; Bisgaard, H

    2001-01-01

    as compared with placebo in healthy control subjects. Lung function improved to a significantly greater extent in asthmatic children than in control subjects as reflected by all methods. sRaw provided the best discriminative power of such a bronchodilator response, with a sensitivity of 66% and specificity......The primary aim of this study was to quantify and compare bronchodilator responsiveness in healthy and asthmatic children aged 2 to 5 yr. The secondary aim of the study was to compare discriminative capacity (i.e., sensitivity, specificity, and predictive values of the reversibility test......) as measured with the impulse oscillation technique were assessed before and 20 min after inhalation of terbutaline from a pressurized metered-dose inhaler via a metal spacer by 92 children (37 healthy controls and 55 asthmatic subjects). The study of healthy children followed a randomized, double...

  1. Humor and Competence in School-aged Children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Masten, Ann S.

    1986-01-01

    Measures humor appreciation (including mirth, subjective ratings, and response sets), comprehension, and production in children between the ages of 10 and 14. Relates humor to several areas of competence manifested at school. (HOD)

  2. Tone perception in Mandarin-speaking school age children with otitis media with effusion.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ting Cai

    Full Text Available The present study explored tone perception ability in school age Mandarin-speaking children with otitis media with effusion (OME in noisy listening environments. The study investigated the interaction effects of noise, tone type, age, and hearing status on monaural tone perception, and assessed the application of a hierarchical clustering algorithm for profiling hearing impairment in children with OME.Forty-one children with normal hearing and normal middle ear status and 84 children with OME with or without hearing loss participated in this study. The children with OME were further divided into two subgroups based on their severity and pattern of hearing loss using a hierarchical clustering algorithm. Monaural tone recognition was measured using a picture-identification test format incorporating six sets of monosyllabic words conveying four lexical tones under speech spectrum noise, with the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR conditions ranging from -9 to -21 dB.Linear correlation indicated tone recognition thresholds of children with OME were significantly correlated with age and pure tone hearing thresholds at every frequency tested. Children with hearing thresholds less affected by OME performed similarly to their peers with normal hearing. Tone recognition thresholds of children with auditory status more affected by OME were significantly inferior to those of children with normal hearing or with minor hearing loss. Younger children demonstrated poorer tone recognition performance than older children with OME. A mixed design repeated-measure ANCOVA showed significant main effects of listening condition, hearing status, and tone type on tone recognition. Contrast comparisons revealed that tone recognition scores were significantly better under -12 dB SNR than under -15 dB SNR conditions and tone recognition scores were significantly worse under -18 dB SNR than those obtained under -15 dB SNR conditions. Tone 1 was the easiest tone to identify and

  3. Tone perception in Mandarin-speaking school age children with otitis media with effusion.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cai, Ting; McPherson, Bradley; Li, Caiwei; Yang, Feng

    2017-01-01

    The present study explored tone perception ability in school age Mandarin-speaking children with otitis media with effusion (OME) in noisy listening environments. The study investigated the interaction effects of noise, tone type, age, and hearing status on monaural tone perception, and assessed the application of a hierarchical clustering algorithm for profiling hearing impairment in children with OME. Forty-one children with normal hearing and normal middle ear status and 84 children with OME with or without hearing loss participated in this study. The children with OME were further divided into two subgroups based on their severity and pattern of hearing loss using a hierarchical clustering algorithm. Monaural tone recognition was measured using a picture-identification test format incorporating six sets of monosyllabic words conveying four lexical tones under speech spectrum noise, with the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) conditions ranging from -9 to -21 dB. Linear correlation indicated tone recognition thresholds of children with OME were significantly correlated with age and pure tone hearing thresholds at every frequency tested. Children with hearing thresholds less affected by OME performed similarly to their peers with normal hearing. Tone recognition thresholds of children with auditory status more affected by OME were significantly inferior to those of children with normal hearing or with minor hearing loss. Younger children demonstrated poorer tone recognition performance than older children with OME. A mixed design repeated-measure ANCOVA showed significant main effects of listening condition, hearing status, and tone type on tone recognition. Contrast comparisons revealed that tone recognition scores were significantly better under -12 dB SNR than under -15 dB SNR conditions and tone recognition scores were significantly worse under -18 dB SNR than those obtained under -15 dB SNR conditions. Tone 1 was the easiest tone to identify and Tone 3 was the most

  4. Inter-individual differences in how presentation modality affects verbal learning performance in children aged 5 to 16

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Meijs, Celeste; Hurks, Petra P M; Wassenberg, Renske; Feron, Frans J M; Jolles, Jelle

    2016-01-01

    This study examines inter-individual differences in how presentation modality affects verbal learning performance. Children aged 5 to 16 performed a verbal learning test within one of three presentation modalities: pictorial, auditory, or textual. The results indicated that a beneficial effect of

  5. Social Information Processing in Elementary-School Aged Children with ADHD: Medication Effects and Comparisons with Typical Children

    Science.gov (United States)

    King, Sara; Waschbusch, Daniel A.; Pelham, William E., Jr.; Frankland, Bradley W.; Andrade, Brendan F.; Jacques, Sophie; Corkum, Penny V.

    2009-01-01

    Examined social information processing (SIP) in medicated and unmedicated children with ADHD and in controls. Participants were 75 children (56 boys, 19 girls) aged 6-12 years, including 41 children with ADHD and 34 controls. Children were randomized into medication conditions such that 20 children with ADHD participated after receiving placebo…

  6. Predictive value of age of walking for later motor performance in children with mental retardation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kokubun, M; Haishi, K; Okuzumi, H; Hosobuchi, T; Koike, T

    1996-12-01

    The purpose of the present study was to clarify the predictive value of age of walking for later motor performance in children with mental retardation. While paying due attention to other factors, our investigation focused on the relationship between a subject's age of walking, and his or her subsequent beam-walking performance. The subjects were 85 children with mental retardation with an average age of 13 years and 3 months. Beam-walking performance was measured by a procedure developed by the authors. Five low beams (5 cm) which varied in width (12.5, 10, 7.5, 5 and 2.5 cm) were employed. The performance of subjects was scored from zero to five points according to the width of the beam that they were able to walk without falling off. From the results of multiple regression analysis, three independent variables were found to be significantly related to beam-walking performance. The age of walking was the most basic variable: partial correlation coefficient (PCC) = -45; standardized partial regression coefficient (SPRC) = -0.41. The next variable in importance was walking duration (PCC = 0.38; SPRC = 0.31). The autism variable also contributed significantly (PCC = 0.28; SPRC = 0.22). Therefore, within the age range used in the present study, the age of walking in children with mental retardation was thought to have sufficient predictive value, even when the variables which might have possibly affected their subsequent performance were taken into consideration; the earlier the age of walking, the better the beam-walking performance.

  7. [Immunization coverage of children aged 0 to 5 years in Libreville (Gabon)].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ategbo, Simon; Ngoungou, Edgard Brice; Koko, Jean; Vierin, Yolande; Zang Ndong, Carine Eyi; Moussavou Mouyama, André

    2010-01-01

    The strategies recently implemented in Gabon have been effective in improving immunization coverage. These include, in particular, the integration of the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) in primary health care centers, the integration of immunization outside of EPI, immunization by peripheral health centers according to pre-set advanced strategies, and awareness and catch-up campaigns. This descriptive, cross-sectional survey was conducted from 1 October 2007 through 30 January 2008, throughout public- and private-sector health care centers in the town of Libreville. In the public sector, where health care is free, the study took place at the largest health facility in the country, the Hospital Center of Libreville (HCL), at Estuary Mélen Hospital (on the outskirts of Libreville), at Nkembo Hospital, which houses the EPI offices, and the 5 Maternal and Child Health centers (MCH) where vaccine monitoring is done. Monitoring in the private sector covered only the three largest clinics, where vaccine monitoring is done, all of which agreed to participate. After obtaining informed consent from the parents or guardian accompanying the child, a semi-structured interview according to a standardised questionnaire was conducted to collect socioeconomic and demographic data, including age, sex, recruitment site, place of residence, number of siblings, parental origin, ethnicity of head of household, type of family (couple or single parent), mother's age, level of education, employment and socio-economic status, as determined by the head of household's monthly income (in three categories: 1) low income, at or below the minimum wage, set at 80 000 FCFA (120 euros); 2) average income, from more than 80 000 FCFA to 300 000 FCFA (458 euros); and 3) high income over 300 000 FCFA. After the interview, the child's vaccination booklet was carefully examined to identify the types of antigen, number of doses administered, age at vaccination, and the regularity of the

  8. Oral penicillin prescribing for children in the UK: a comparison with BNF for Children age-band recommendations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Saxena, Sonia; Ismael, Zareen; Murray, Macey L; Barker, Charlotte; Wong, Ian CK; Sharland, Mike; Long, Paul F

    2014-01-01

    Background The British National Formulary for Children (BNFC) recommends dosing oral penicillins according to age-bands, weight-bands, or weight-based calculations. Because of the rising prevalence of childhood obesity, age-band-based prescribing could lead to subtherapeutic dosing. Aim To investigate actual oral penicillin prescribing by GPs in the UK with reference to the current BNFC age-band recommendations. Design and setting Descriptive analysis of UK prescriptions in the 2010 IMS Disease-Analyzer database (IMS-DA). Method A detailed database analysis was undertaken of oral penicillin prescriptions for 0–18 year olds from the 2010 IMS-DA. The prescription analysis included all available data on formulation, strength (mg), prescription quantity unit, package size, prescribed quantity, and volume. Results Considering amoxicillin alone, no infants (aged penicillins for children in UK primary care, with very few children being prescribed the current national recommended doses. There is an urgent need to review dosing guidelines, in relation to the weights of children today. PMID:24686886

  9. Health and relationships with leisure time activities in Swedish children aged 2-17 years.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Berntsson, Leeni T; Ringsberg, Karin C

    2014-09-01

    Three cross-sectional time series studies, randomised and stratified for age and gender, were performed on children aged 2-17, studying their health and well-being. The studies were performed in the Nordic countries in 1984, 1996 and 2011. Long-term illness (LTI) and psychosomatic complaints (PSC) increased during the period. Data were collected from mailed questionnaires. Data of 1461 Swedish children from 2011 were used and compared with data from 1984 and 1996. Relationships between the health indicators (the absence of LTI, 13 diagnoses, the absence of PSC, six symptoms, six items of well-being) and 12 activities were analysed. A total of 83.2% of the children were healthy and 16.8% had at least one LTI, boys 19.1% and girls 14.5%. PSC increased from 18.6% in 1996 to 23.1% in 2011. The distribution was higher in girls. Girls were more active than boys during leisure time. 'Reading books', 'visiting friends', 'listening to music' and 'activity in organisations' were related to an absence of PSC, LTI and well-being. 'Surfing/blogging on the Internet' was negatively related to LTI, PSC and well-being. Multiple regression showed that that 'visits or is visited by friends' was related with a low probability for LTI and also with a high probability for well-being. In the logistic regression analyses, the following variables were seen as promoting health most: 'visits or is visited by friends' and 'is active in organizations' for children aged 2-17 years, especially for boys and well-being. The health of Swedish children declined between 1984 and 2011. Positive relationships were found between some activities and health as well as other activities related to ill health. The results suggest an increased focus on the activities that have positive relationships with health in order to promote health among children. © 2013 Nordic College of Caring Science.

  10. Comparison of Nutritional Status Among, Flood Affected and Unaffected School Aged Children

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mohsin, S.N.; Aasim, M.; Ghous, R.; Fatima, M.

    2017-01-01

    Background: Natural disasters like floods affect large human populations by not only displacing them temporarily but also poses nutritional issues to women and children. Objectives: To determine the long term effects of floods, on the nutritional status of school going children in Pakistan. Study design, settings and duration: A cross sectional study which was conducted in public schools of district Nowshera which is a large district of province Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan from February 2012 to March 2014. Subjects and Methods: A total of 353 children aged 6-14 years were enrolled. There were 190 children from flood affected areas and 163 controls from unaffected areas. Using height, weight, age and gender, malnutrition indicators like acute malnutrition, chronic malnutrition and underweight were calculated to evaluate effect of flood on these children after 20 months of the calamity. Weight for age (WAZ) was used to measure underweight, height for age (HAZ) to measure stunted growth, and weight for height (WHZ) to measure wasting or acute malnutrition. The malnutrition indicators which were positively associated with floods were further evaluated for associated factors. Results The frequency of acute malnutrition or wasting (WHZ) among flood affected children was 23.7 percent as compared to 16.5 percent among unaffected children while the frequency of underweight (WAZ) in flood affected areas was 42.1 percent as against 36.8 percent in unaffected areas (both were not significant). The frequency of chronic malnutrition or stunting (AZ) was 35.8 percent in affected and 27.6 percent in unaffected children (p< 0.041) and was the only positively associated indicator with exposure to floods. Factors associated with chronic malnutrition were age of the child, maternal education, history of fever, administration of de-worming medication and diarrhea. Conclusion: Floods had a long term effect on nutritional status of school aged children as shown by chronic malnutrition

  11. Formative research to develop a community-based intervention for chronic disease prevention in Guatemalan school-age children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Letona, Paola; Ramirez-Zea, Manuel; Caballero, Benjamin; Gittelsohn, Joel

    2014-01-31

    Noncommunicable diseases (NCD) are the most common causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide, even in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). Recent trends in health promotion emphasize community-based interventions as an important strategy for improving health outcomes. The aim of this study was to conduct formative research regarding the perceptions of NCD risk factors, their influencing factors, and community resources available to aid the development and implementation of a community-based intervention with school-age children. Focus group discussions (n = 18), home visits (n = 30), and individual semi-structured interviews (n = 26) were conducted in three urban communities in Guatemala with school-age children (10-12 years of age), teachers, parents, and local community members (i.e., school principals, school food kiosk vendors, religious leaders, authority representatives). All focus groups and interviews were transcribed verbatim for thematic analysis. Children, parents, and teachers have general knowledge about modifiable risk factors. Adults worried more about tobacco use, as compared to unhealthy diet and physical inactivity in children. Participants identified features at the intrapersonal (e.g., negative emotional state), interpersonal (e.g., peers as role models), and organizational and community levels (e.g., high levels of crime) that influence these risk factors in children. School committees, religious leaders, and government programs and activities were among the positive community resources identified. These findings should help researchers in Guatemala and similar LMIC to develop community-based interventions for NCD prevention in school-age children that are effective, feasible, and culturally acceptable.

  12. The Prevalence of Reading Difficulties among Children in Scholar Age

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maria Rosita Cecilia

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available The study investigates the prevalence of reading difficulties among children in scholar age and analyses the socio-demographic characteristics of learners who presented reading difficulties in central Italy. A sample of 623 students 7-11 aged, was assessed with the Italian MT standardized tests. Information on gender, age, handedness, and other socio-demographic variables were also gathered. The study showed that 11% of learners presented poor comprehension skills. The reading speed difficulties were more common than the reading correctness problems: about 7% of children vs 1% were dyslexics due to slow reading. There were no significant differences regarding gender, age. However, dominant hand and the school location seemed to affect the speed difficulties and the comprehension problems. The analyses showed that attending a school located in a rural area was statistically associated with the reading difficulties. Left-handed children were more likely to be slow decoders and/or poor comprehenders. These findings may be used in the early diagnosis of poor readers. These difficulties often have a chronic progression with substantial psychosocial limitations and psychological stress, so children with reading difficulties should be identified as early as possible.

  13. Health maintenance in school-aged children: Part II. Counseling recommendations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Riley, Margaret; Locke, Amy B; Skye, Eric P

    2011-03-15

    School-aged children (kindergarten through early adolescence) are establishing patterns of behavior that may last a lifetime; therefore, it is important to counsel these patients about healthy lifestyle practices during well-child examinations. Children and families should be advised to eat a diet high in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, low-fat or nonfat dairy products, beans, fish, and lean meats, while limiting sugar, fast food, and highly processed foods. Children should engage in at least 60 minutes per day of moderate to vigorous physical activity, and screen time (e.g., television, computer, video games) should be limited to no more than one to two hours of quality programming daily. Most school-aged children require 11 hours of sleep per night. Decreased sleep is associated with behavioral issues, decreased concentration at school, and obesity. Children should brush their teeth twice per day with a toothpaste containing fluoride. Unintentional injury is the leading cause of death in this age group in the United States, and families should be counseled on traffic, water, sports, and firearm safety. Because high-risk behaviors may start in early adolescence, many experts recommend screening for tobacco, alcohol, and drug use beginning at 11 years of age. Sexually active adolescents should be counseled on protecting against sexually transmitted infections, and should be screened for these infections if indicated.

  14. DRAWING SKILLS IN CHILDREN WITH NEURODEVELOPMENTAL DELAY AGED 2-5 YEARS.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morović, Maja Lang; Matijević, Valentina; Divljaković, Kristina; Kraljević, Marija; Dimić, Zdenka

    2015-06-01

    In typically developing children, drawing development occurs in stages from uncontrolled strokes to complex drawing. In this study, we examined drawing development in children with neurodevelopmental delay (NDD). In order to do so, we observed the influence of age, intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) and gender on the development of drawing skills. The sample consisted of 52 children with NDD, aged 2 years and 6 months to 5 years. All children were hospitalized for multidisciplinary team monitoring and developmental support. The evaluation of drawing development was administered by giving each child a blank A4 paper and the instruction to draw anything they wanted. All of the drawings were scored satisfactory or unsatisfactory. Descriptive statistics was employed on all relevant data to show results in frequencies and percentages. In order to determine differences between groups, the χ2-test was administered. The results showed greatest difference in drawing in children aged from 3 years to 3 years and 11 months. Children with lower IVH had better drawing scores than children with higher IVH levels. According to gender dissimilarities, a difference was found showing girls to have better drawing skills than boys. All study results pointed to the importance of early rehabilitation and continuous structured work with children with NDD.

  15. Friendships and social interactions of school-aged children with migraine.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vannatta, K; Getzoff, E A; Gilman, D K; Noll, R B; Gerhardt, C A; Powers, S W; Hershey, A D

    2008-07-01

    We set out to evaluate the friendships and social behaviour of school-aged children with migraine. Concern exists regarding the impact of paediatric migraine on daily activities and quality of life. We hypothesized that children with migraine would have fewer friends and be identified as more socially sensitive and isolated than comparison peers. Sixty-nine children with migraine participated in a school-based study of social functioning. A comparison sample without migraine included classmates matched for gender, race and age. Children with migraine had fewer friends at school; however, this effect was limited to those in elementary school. Behavioural difficulties were not found. Middle-school students with migraine were identified by peers as displaying higher levels of leadership and popularity than comparison peers. Concern may be warranted about the social functioning of pre-adolescent children with migraine; however, older children with migraine may function as well as or better than their peers.

  16. Structural and Dialectal Characteristics of the Fictional and Personal Narratives of School-age African American Children

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mills, Monique T.; Watkins, Ruth V.; Washington, Julie A.

    2014-01-01

    Purpose To report preliminary comparisons of developing structural characteristics associated with fictional and personal narratives in school-age African American children. Method Forty-three children, grades two through five, generated a fictional and a personal narrative in response to a wordless-book elicitation task and a story-prompt task, respectively. Narratives produced in these two contexts were characterized for macrostructure, microstructure, and dialect density. Differences across narrative type and grade level were examined. Results Statistically significant differences between the two types of narratives were found for both macrostructure and microstructure but not for dialect density. There were no grade-related differences in macrostructure, microstructure, or dialect density. Conclusion The results demonstrate the complementary role of fictional and personal narratives for describing young children's narrative skills. Use of both types of narrative tasks and descriptions of both macrostructure and macrostructure may be particularly useful for characterizing the narrative abilities of young school-age African American children, for whom culture-fair methods are scarce. Further study of additional dialect groups is warranted. PMID:23633645

  17. Impact of adiposity, age, sex and maternal feeding practices on eating in the absence of hunger and caloric compensation in preschool children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Remy, E; Issanchou, S; Chabanet, C; Boggio, V; Nicklaus, S

    2015-06-01

    Between the ages of 3 and 5 years, children may become less responsive to internal cues of satiation and more responsive to external cues, which may induce overeating and lead to weight gain. This study aimed to compare eating in the absence of hunger (EAH) and caloric compensation in 3- to 6-year-old children, and to relate the measurements with children's adiposity, age, sex and maternal feeding practices. According to a within-subject three sequential condition design, food intake in children (n=236) was measured at lunch during three sessions, once a week. The same meal (565 kcal) was offered at each session. The first session (control) was only composed of the meal. Thirty minutes before the second meal, children were offered an energy preload (137 kcal; caloric compensation condition). Ten minutes after the third meal, children were exposed to a post-meal snack (430 kcal; EAH condition). Individual caloric compensation score (COMPX) and EAH score were calculated. Maternal characteristics were measured by questionnaire. Child anthropometrics were measured by a medical doctor. On average, children compensated 52±4% of the energy preload and ate 24±1% of the energy provided by their meal in the absence of hunger. COMPX and EAH score were not correlated and did not vary with children's adiposity or age. EAH score was higher in boys (P=0.006). Maternal use of food as reward was associated with higher EAH score (P=0.01) but greater COMPX (P=0.005). As early as the age of 3 years children did not fully compensate the energy brought by a snack and ate in the absence of hunger. Parents should be advised to avoid these situations where overeating may occur and to limit the use of food as reward.

  18. Tube thoracostomy: Primary management option for empyema thoracis in children

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rajendra K Ghritlaharey

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Aim: The aim of this study was to review our experience with tube thoracostomy in the management of empyema thoracis in children. Patients and Methods: This retrospective study included 46 children (26 boys and 20 girls who were admitted and managed for empyema thoracis, between January 1, 2010 and December 31, 2010 at the author′s department of paediatric surgery. Results: During the last 12 months, 46 children aged below 12 years were treated for empyema thoracis: Five (10.86% were infants, 22 (47.82% were 1 to 5 years and 19 (41.30% were 6 to 12 years of age. All the patients presented with complaints of cough, fever and breathlessness of variable durations. Twenty three (50% children had history of pneumonia and treatment prior to development of empyema. Thirty five (76.08% children had right-sided and 11 (23.91% had left-sided empyema. Thirty nine (84.78% children were successfully treated with tube thoracostomy, systemic antibiotics and other supportive measures. Seven (15.21% children failed to respond with above and needed decortications. Most commonly isolated bacteria were Pseudomonas (n = 12 and Staphylococcus aureus (n = 7. The average length of hospital stay in patients with tube thoracostomy was 15.35 days, and in patients who needed decortications was 16.28 days following thoracotomy. There was no mortality amongst above treated children. Conclusions: Majority of children with empyema thoracis are manageable with tube thoracostomy, antibiotics, physiotherapy and other supportive treatment. Few of them who fail to above measures need more aggressive management.

  19. Increased risk of asthma in overweight children born large for gestational age.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pinto, L A; Guerra, S; Anto, J M; Postma, D; Koppelman, G H; de Jongste, J C; Gehring, U; Smit, H A; Wijga, A H

    2017-08-01

    Being born large for gestational age (LGA) is a marker of increased growth velocity in fetal life and a risk factor for childhood overweight. Both being born LGA and childhood overweight may influence the development of asthma, although the role of overweight in the association between LGA and childhood asthma is unclear. Importantly, recent studies have suggested that the association between overweight and asthma may be related to non-allergic pathways. If this also applies to the association between LGA and asthma, the association between being born LGA and asthma may be different for atopic and non-atopic children. We investigated the association of being LGA with the prevalence of asthma at age 8 in atopic and non-atopic children and the role of overweight in this association. Complete data on asthma, anthropometry and atopy at age of 8 years, and potential confounders were available for 1608 participants of the PIAMA birth cohort. Odds ratios for the association between LGA and asthma in atopic and non-atopic children were estimated by logistic regression analysis adjusting for potential confounders. Overweight was assessed as a potential modifier of the association between LGA and asthma. Being born LGA was not significantly associated with asthma at age of 8 in atopic and non-atopic children. However, overweight at age of 8 years modified the association between asthma at age of 8 and LGA. In non-atopic children, children who were born LGA and were overweight at age of 8 years had a significantly increased odds of asthma compared to non-LGA, non-overweight children (adj OR 7.04; 95% CI 2.2-24). We observed that non-atopic children born LGA, who were overweight by 8 years have an increased risk of asthma. If confirmed, these findings suggest that non-atopic children born LGA may be identified early in life as a high-risk group for asthma. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  20. Mental states and activities in Danish narratives: children with autism and children with language impairment

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Engberg-Pedersen, Elisabeth; Christensen, Rikke Vang

    2017-01-01

    This study focuses on the relationship between content elements and mental-state language in narratives from twenty-seven children with autism (ASD), twelve children with language impairment (LI), and thirty typically developing children (TD). The groups did not differ on chronological age...... (;–;) and non-verbal cognitive skills, and the groups with ASD and TD did not differ on language measures. The children with ASD and LI had fewer content elements of the storyline than the TD children. Compared with the TD children, the children with ASD used fewer subordinate clauses about the characters......’ thoughts, and preferred talking about mental states as reported speech, especially in the form of direct speech. The children with LI did not differ from the TD children on these measures. The results are discussed in the context of difficulties with socio-cognition in children with ASD and of language...

  1. Ear-related problems among children attending the paediatric and ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    2006-08-31

    Aug 31, 2006 ... Results: Three thousand and twenty-one children were seen during the study period. Out of these, 248 children (8.2%) pre- sented with ear-related problems. Chronic otitis media (30.5%), acute otitis media (29.9%), cerumen auris (11.3%), otitis ex- terna(10.1%), hearing impairment (7.3%) and foreign body ...

  2. INCIDENCE OF STUTTERING IN SCHOOL-AGE CHILDREN WITH DOWN SYNDROME

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nevzeta SALIHOVIĆ

    2012-03-01

    Full Text Available The main purpose of this study was to examine the incidence (frequency and stuttering severity in the school-age children with Down syndrome. The sample was consisted of 37 school-age children with Down syndrome, both male and female. The study was conducted in the following institutions: Institute of Special Education and Rehabilitation for Children with Intellectual Disabilities "Mjedenica"; Centre for Education, Training and Employment of Mentally Retarded Children, Children with Autism and Cerebral palsy "Vladimir Nazor" in Sarajevo; Primary School of Special Education „Zenica“; Primary school "Kovačići" Sarajevo; "Association of United Civic Actions – DUGA" in Sarajevo; and The Association "Be my friend" in Ilijaš. All of the subjects were individually examined. The results showed that 13,51 % of the children with Down syndrome stuttered, and the total result of stuttering severity indicates a moderate stuttering. These results show that children with Down syndrome should be enrolled intensively in speech therapy in order to help them overcome their stuttering, to facilitate their everyday communication and to teach them how to cope with stuttering.

  3. Movement-related neuromagnetic fields in preschool age children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cheyne, Douglas; Jobst, Cecilia; Tesan, Graciela; Crain, Stephen; Johnson, Blake

    2014-09-01

    We examined sensorimotor brain activity associated with voluntary movements in preschool children using a customized pediatric magnetoencephalographic system. A videogame-like task was used to generate self-initiated right or left index finger movements in 17 healthy right-handed subjects (8 females, ages 3.2-4.8 years). We successfully identified spatiotemporal patterns of movement-related brain activity in 15/17 children using beamformer source analysis and surrogate MRI spatial normalization. Readiness fields in the contralateral sensorimotor cortex began ∼0.5 s prior to movement onset (motor field, MF), followed by transient movement-evoked fields (MEFs), similar to that observed during self-paced movements in adults, but slightly delayed and with inverted source polarities. We also observed modulation of mu (8-12 Hz) and beta (15-30 Hz) oscillations in sensorimotor cortex with movement, but with different timing and a stronger frequency band coupling compared to that observed in adults. Adult-like high-frequency (70-80 Hz) gamma bursts were detected at movement onset. All children showed activation of the right superior temporal gyrus that was independent of the side of movement, a response that has not been reported in adults. These results provide new insights into the development of movement-related brain function, for an age group in which no previous data exist. The results show that children under 5 years of age have markedly different patterns of movement-related brain activity in comparison to older children and adults, and indicate that significant maturational changes occur in the sensorimotor system between the preschool years and later childhood. Copyright © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  4. [Food promotion and food preferences in Chilean school age children from different socioeconomic levels].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Olivares, Sonia; Lera, Lydia; Mardones, María Angélica; Araneda, Jacqueline; Bustos, Nelly; Olivares, María Antonieta; Colque, María Ester

    2011-06-01

    To determine the attitude towards marketing of food and beverages a sample of 1,048 school children ages 8 to 13 from three cities of Chile (north, center and south of the country) were interviewed. The instrument applied was a validated questionnaire used in previous studies. A descriptive analysis of the variables was performed and differences were determined by region, socioeconomic level (SEL) and gender using Chi2 test. Differences per SEL were higher in Santiago. A greater proportion of school children of medium-low SEL watched more than 2 hours of TV during weekdays and weekends (p food and beverage commercials was greater in medium-low SEL in Santiago (66%) (p foods at supermarkets, on the streets, shopping centers and on the Internet. The preferred commercials were those for beverages, chocolates, ice-creams and cereals. Most common foods taken from home to school were cookies, fruits and yogurt. Most of the children had money available to buy food and the products more frequently preferred were cookies, sweets, French fries, beverages with sugar, chocolates, ice-creams and hot-dogs. marketing of food and beverages is recognized and remembered by school age children, influencing what they buy and consume regularly at school.

  5. Enuresis: Epidemiological study in Moroccan children

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bourquia, A.; Chihabeddine, K.

    2002-01-01

    Enuresis is a common symptom that leads to significant psychosocialsequalae. In this study we analyzed three surveys in three different urbanand suburban regions in Morocco in order to evaluate the epidemiologicalcharacteristics and profiles of the young patients who had enuresis and theattitudes of their parents towards this problem. There were 1520 children andadolescents in this analysis whose age ranged between 5 and 15 years. Theywere attending various outpatient surgical and medical clinics when theirparents were asked to answer a pre-prepared questionnaire. The prevalence ofenuresis was 35% with preponderance of males (54%). The cause could not bedefined (primary) in 91.5% of the patients with enuresis. There were familialfactors associated with enuresis that included history of enuresis in theparents or siblings in 56% of the cases and coercion attitude of the parentsin 23%. Enuresis was associated with impediment of learning in 23%andchastisement of children in 85.4% of the cases. Twenty-three percent ofpatients also had chronic disorders. The parents were concerned mostly whenthe children approached puberty or when enuresis was secondary to anotherproblem. Spontaneous improvement was the rule by adolescence, hence only 8.7%sought medical advice for enuresis. Treatment was conventional in 67% of thecases and confined to restriction of fluids and food items in 73% of thetreated patients. We conclude that enuresis is apparently higher in Moroccanchildren compared to reports in other countries. However, enuresis was notconsidered a major medical problem of concern to parents who rarely soughtmedical advice for it. (author)

  6. Impact of the DSM-V Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Criteria for Diagnosing Children With High IQ.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thongseiratch, Therdpong; Worachotekamjorn, Juthamas

    2016-10-01

    This study compared the number of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) cases defined by Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM)-IV versus DSM-V criterion in children who have learning or behavioral problems with high IQ. The medical records of children ≤15 years of age who presented with learning or behavioral problems and underwent a Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC)-III IQ test at the Pediatric Outpatient Clinic unit between 2010 and 2015 were reviewed. Information on DSM-IV and DSM-V criteria for ADHD were derived from computer-based medical records. Twenty-eight children who had learning or behavioral problems were identified to have a full-scale IQ ≥120. Sixteen of these high-IQ children met the DSM-IV criteria diagnosis for ADHD. Applying the extension of the age-of-onset criterion from 7 to 12 years in DSM-V led to an increase of three cases, all of which were the inattentive type ADHD. Including the pervasive developmental disorder criterion led to an increase of one case. The total number of ADHD cases also increased from 16 to 20 in this group. The data supported the hypothesis that applying the extension of the age-of-onset ADHD criterion and enabling the diagnosis of children with pervasive developmental disorders will increase the number of ADHD diagnoses among children with high IQ. © The Author(s) 2016.

  7. Children with cochlear implants: cognitive skills, adaptive behaviors, social and emotional skills.

    Science.gov (United States)

    De Giacomo, Andrea; Craig, Francesco; D'Elia, Alessandra; Giagnotti, Francesca; Matera, Emilia; Quaranta, Nicola

    2013-12-01

    The aim of this study is to examine cognitive skills, adaptive behavior, social and emotional skills in deaf children with cochlear implant (CI) compared to normal hearing children. The study included twenty children affected by profound hearing loss implanted with a CI compared to 20 healthy children matched to chronological age and gender. Results of this study indicated that 55% of children with CI showed a score in the normal range of nonverbal intelligence (IQ > 84), 40% in the borderline range (71 differences were found after comparison with normal hearing children.Children with CI reported more abnormalities in emotional symptoms (p = .018) and peer problems(p = .037) than children with normal hearing. Age of CI was negatively correlated with IQ (p = .002),positively correlated with emotional symptoms (p = .04) and with peer problems (p = .02). CI has a positive effect on the lives of deaf children, especially if it is implanted in much earlier ages.

  8. Group-based parent-training programmes for improving emotional and behavioural adjustment in children from birth to three years old.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barlow, Jane; Smailagic, Nadja; Ferriter, Michael; Bennett, Cathy; Jones, Hannah

    2010-03-17

    Emotional and behavioural problems in children are common. Research suggests that parenting has an important role to play in helping children to become well-adjusted, and that the first few months and years are especially important. Parenting programmes may have a role to play in improving the emotional and behavioural adjustment of infants and toddlers. This review is applicable to parents and carers of children up to three years eleven months although some studies included children up to five years old. To:a) establish whether group-based parenting programmes are effective in improving the emotional and behavioural adjustment of children three years of age or less (i.e. maximum mean age of 3 years 11 months); b) assess the role of parenting programmes in the primary prevention of emotional and behavioural problems. We searched CENTRAL, MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Sociofile, Social Science Citation Index, ASSIA, National Research Register (NRR) and ERIC. The searches were originally run in 2000 and then updated in 2007/8. Randomised controlled trials of group-based parenting programmes that had used at least one standardised instrument to measure emotional and behavioural adjustment. The results for each outcome in each study have been presented, with 95% confidence intervals. Where appropriate the results have been combined in a meta-analysis using a random-effects model. Eight studies were included in the review. There were sufficient data from six studies to combine the results in a meta-analysis for parent-reports and from three studies to combine the results for independent assessments of children's behaviour post-intervention. There was in addition, sufficient information from three studies to conduct a meta-analysis of both parent-report and independent follow-up data. Both parent-report (SMD -0.25; CI -0.45 to -0.06), and independent observations (SMD -0.54; CI -0.84 to -0.23) of children's behaviour produce significant results favouring the

  9. A qualitative study of the aspirations and challenges of low-income mothers in feeding their preschool-aged children

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Herman Allison N

    2012-11-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The prevalence of obesity among preschool-aged children has increased, especially among those in low-income households. Two promising behavioral targets for preventing obesity include limiting children’s portion sizes and their intake of foods high in solid fats and/or added sugars, but these approaches have not been studied in low-income preschoolers in the home setting. The purpose of this study was to understand the contextual factors that might influence how low-income mothers felt about addressing these behavioral targets and mothers’ aspirations in feeding their children. Methods We recruited 32 English-speaking women in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania who were eligible for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and who were the biologic mothers of children 36 to 66 months of age. Each mother participated in 1 of 7 focus groups and completed a brief socio-demographic questionnaire. Focus group questions centered on eating occasions, foods and drinks consumed in the home, and portion sizes. Each focus group lasted 90 minutes and was digitally recorded and transcribed verbatim. Three authors independently identified key themes and supporting quotations. Themes were condensed and modified through discussion among all authors. Results Thirty-one mothers identified themselves as black, 15 had a high school education or less, and 22 lived with another adult. Six themes emerged, with three about aspirations mothers held in feeding their children and three about challenges to achieving these aspirations. Mothers’ aspirations were to: 1 prevent hyperactivity and tooth decay by limiting children’s sugar intake, 2 use feeding to teach their children life lessons about limit setting and structure, and 3 be responsive to children during mealtimes to guide decisions about portions. Especially around setting limits with sweets and snacks, mothers faced the challenges of: 1 being nagged by children’s food requests, 2 being

  10. Physical and Clinical Evaluation of Hip Spica Cast applied with Three-slab Technique using Fibreglass Material

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bitar KM

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available Introduction: Hip spica casting is an important component of treatment for developmental dysplasia of the hip (DDH and popular treatment method for femur fractures in children. Breakage at the hip region is a relatively common problem of this cast. We have developed a three-slab technique of hip spica application using fibreglass as the cast material. The purpose of this review was to evaluate the physical durability of the spica cast and skin complications with its use. Methodology: A retrospective review of children with various conditions requiring hip spica immobilisation which was applied using our method. Study duration was from 1st of January 2014 until 31st December 2015. Our main outcomes were cast breakage and skin complications. For children with hip instability, the first cast would be changed after one month, and the second cast about two months later. Results: Twenty-one children were included, with an average age of 2.2 years. The most common indication for spica immobilisation was developmental dysplasia of the hip. One child had skin irritation after spica application. No spica breakage was noted. Conclusion: This study showed that the three-slab method of hip spica cast application using fibreglass material was durable and safe with low risk of skin complications.

  11. The relation of age to the severity of Type I diabetes in children

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Suliman H Al-Fifi

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available Objective: To study the relationship between the age and severity of Type 1 diabetes in children 0 - 5 years and more than 5 years of age admitted to Aseer Central Hospital, Southwestern Saudi Arabia over a 7-year period. Materials and Methods: A retrospective review of children less than 13 years of age with Type 1 diabetes admitted to the Pediatric Department, between 1st January 2000 to 31st December 2006. Results: A total of 181 children with Type1 diabetes were admitted to the hospital during this period. Of these, 27.6% were children 5 years or less, while 72.4% were more than 5 years of age. The duration of symptoms was longer in younger children compared to older patients. Diabetic ketoacidosis was present in 31.4% of the younger children, and in 15.3% of the children more than 5 years old. Hospital stay was also longer in children less than 5 years of age. Most significant differences were in the younger children′s group and affected the biochemical test results. Conclusion: The present study showed that more younger children present to the hospital late, and in a state of diabetic ketoacidosis compared to older patients. Efforts should be directed at improving the knowledge and skills of the primary health care personnel to be able to diagnose and refer these cases earlier.

  12. Age at implantation and auditory memory in cochlear implanted children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mikic, B; Miric, D; Nikolic-Mikic, M; Ostojic, S; Asanovic, M

    2014-05-01

    Early cochlear implantation, before the age of 3 years, provides the best outcome regarding listening, speech, cognition an memory due to maximal central nervous system plasticity. Intensive postoperative training improves not only auditory performance and language, but affects auditory memory as well. The aim of this study was to discover if the age at implantation affects auditory memory function in cochlear implanted children. A total of 50 cochlear implanted children aged 4 to 8 years were enrolled in this study: early implanted (1-3y) n = 27 and late implanted (4-6y) n = 23. Two types of memory tests were used: Immediate Verbal Memory Test and Forward and Backward Digit Span Test. Early implanted children performed better on both verbal and numeric tasks of auditory memory. The difference was statistically significant, especially on the complex tasks. Early cochlear implantation, before the age of 3 years, significantly improve auditory memory and contribute to better cognitive and education outcomes.

  13. Wilson's disease: an analysis of 28 Brazilian children

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rodolpho Truffa Kleine

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available OBJECTIVES: Clinical-laboratory and evolutionary analysis of twenty-eight patients with Wilson's disease. METHODS: Twenty-eight children (twelve females and sixteen males with Wilson's disease were evaluated retrospectively between 1987 and 2009, with a follow-up of 72 months (1 - 240 months. The clinical, laboratory, and histologic features at diagnosis were recorded at the end of the study. RESULTS: The median age at diagnosis was 11 years (2 - 18 years. Twelve patients were asymptomatic, seven had hepatitis symptoms, five had raised aminotransferase levels, three had hepatomegaly associated with neurological disorders, one had fulminant hepatitis with hemolytic anemia, and six patients presented with a Kayser-Fleischer ring. A histological analysis revealed that six children had chronic hepatitis, seven had cirrhosis, two had steatosis, one had portal fibrosis, and one had massive necrosis. The treatment consisted of D-penicillamine associated with pyridoxine for 26 patients. Adverse effects were observed in the other two patients: one presented with uncontrollable vomiting and the other demonstrated elastosis perforans serpiginosa. At the end of the study, all 26 treated patients were asymptomatic. Twenty-four of the patients were treated with D-penicillamine and pyridoxine, and two were treated with trientine and zinc sulfate. A liver transplant was performed in one patient with fulminant hepatitis, but the final patient died 48 hours after admission to the intensive care unit. CONCLUSIONS: Family screenings associated with early treatment are important in preventing Wilson's disease symptoms and potentially fatal disease progression. The study suggests that Wilson's disease must be ruled out in children older than two years presenting with abnormal levels of hepatic enzymes because of the heterogeneity of symptoms and the encouraging treatment results obtained so far.

  14. Language Characteristics of Preschool Children with Hearing Loss in Tehran, Iran

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dr. Younes Lotfi

    2010-06-01

    Full Text Available Background and Aim: Hearing impairment affects all aspect of individual life, specially language and communication skills. When hearing impairment is congenital or occurs early in life, the child’s ability to learn optimally through audition, will be affected. The aim of this study was to evaluate linguistic skills of preschool hearing impaired children and compare these skills with normal peers.Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was performed on 38 preschool hearing impaired children that the main handicap was severe to profound hearing loss with ability to communicate orally and 28 normal children with the same cultural and social context. Twenty four non linguistic variables including age, gender, the age of entrance of preschool center, number of hearing aids, etc. were obtained by filling a questionnaire and fifteen linguistics variables including number of utterance, morphemes, correct utterance, noun phrase, ambiguous utterance, correct sentences, compound sentences, etc. were collected by some part of TOLD-P-3 test and three complementary questions. Then we compared the data from two groups.Results: There were significant differences between number of utterance, number of correct mean length utterance, number of well-formed sentences in normal and hearing impaired group (p0.05.Conclusion: This study showed a severe deficit in linguistic skills in preschool hearing impaired children.

  15. Executive and intellectual functioning in school-aged children with specific language impairment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kuusisto, Marika A; Nieminen, Pirkko E; Helminen, Mika T; Kleemola, Leenamaija

    2017-03-01

    Earlier research and clinical practice show that specific language impairment (SLI) is often associated with nonverbal cognitive deficits and weakened skills in executive functions (EFs). Executive deficits may have a remarkable influence on a child's everyday activities in the home and school environments. However, research information is still limited on EFs in school-aged children with SLI, mostly conducted among English- and Dutch-speaking children. To study whether there are differences in EFs between Finnish-speaking children with SLI and typically developing (TD) peers at school age. EFs are compared between the groups with and without controlling for nonverbal intelligence. Parents and teachers of children with SLI (n = 22) and age- and gender-matched TD peers (n = 22) completed The Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Functions (BRIEF). The mean age of the children was 8,2 years. BRIEF ratings of parents and teachers were compared between the children with SLI and with TD peers by paired analysis using conditional logistic regression models with and without controlling for nonverbal IQ. Intellectual functioning was assessed with the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children. Children with SLI had weaker scores in all parent and teacher BRIEF scales compared with TD peers. Statistically significant differences between the groups were found in BRIEF scales Shift, Emotional Control, Initiate, Working Memory, Plan/Organize and Monitor. Differences between the groups were statistically significant also in intellectual functioning. On BRIEF scales some group differences remained statistically significant after controlling for nonverbal IQ. This study provides additional evidence that also Finnish-speaking school-aged children with SLI are at risk of having deficits in EFs in daily life. EFs have been proposed to have an impact on developmental outcomes later in life. In clinical practice it is important to pay attention to EFs in school-aged children with SLI

  16. Balance in children born prematurely currently aged 6–7

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dziuba Ewa

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Study aim: Premature birth is one of the major problems of obstetrics, leading to numerous complications that are associated with prematurity, for instance balance disorders. The aim of the study was to assess the impact of premature birth on the ability to maintain balance in children commencing their school education. Material and methods: The study included children aged 6-7 years. The study group consisted of 59 children (31 girls and 28 boys, mean age 6.38 ± SD 0.73 born prematurely between 24 and 35 weeks of gestation. The control group consisted of 61 children (28 girls and 33 boys, mean age 6.42 ± 0.58 born at term. The research utilized standardized test tools - one-leg open-eyed and closed-eyed standing test, one-leg jumping test - and an original questionnaire survey. Results: The children born at term achieved better results in the majority of tests. The comparison of girls and boys born pre­maturely and at term showed no statistically significant difference between them in terms of dynamic balance, static balance or total balance control. The comparison of the tests performed on the right and left lower limb in prematurely born children showed no statistically significant differences. Conclusion: Premature birth affects the ability to maintain body balance. The results of the study indicate the need to develop coordination skills that shape body balance in prematurely born children.

  17. Communication Profile of Primary School-Aged Children with Foetal Growth Restriction

    Science.gov (United States)

    Partanen, Lea Aulikki; Olsén, Päivi; Mäkikallio, Kaarin; Korkalainen, Noora; Heikkinen, Hanna; Heikkinen, Minna; Yliherva, Anneli

    2017-01-01

    Foetal growth restriction is associated with problems in neurocognitive development. In the present study, prospectively collected cohorts of foetal growth restricted (FGR) and appropriate for gestational age grown (AGA) children were examined at early school-age by using the Children's Communication Checklist-2 (CCC-2) to test the hypothesis that…

  18. Sedentary lifestyle and passive leisure in Czech school-aged children

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zdeněk Hamřík

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Sedentary behaviour and an insufficient level of physical activity in children are the key factors leading to physically inactive behaviour in adulthood associated with the growing prevalence of mass non-communicable diseases in the population of the Czech Republic. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to analyze sedentary lifestyle, focusing on passive leisure (time spent watching television and using computer in school-aged children in the Czech Republic. METHODS: To determine the time spent watching television and using computer, data of a randomly selected set of 11 to 15 year old elementary school children in the Czech Republic (n = 4425 was used. Research data collection was conducted within an international research project Health Behaviour in School Aged Children in June 2010. For statistical processing of results and identification of differences between various age groups of girls and boys, logistic regression analysis in SPSS Statistics 20 programme was used. RESULTS: More than 55% of girls and 60% of boys spend over 2 hours a day in a working week in front of the TV, DVD, video; most of the time was recorded for 13 year old respondents. While playing games on the PC or Playstation occupies more than 2 hours per day for more than a half of boys, for girls more typical is "chatting", "surfing the Internet" or "e-mailing". With age, the proportion of children who spend 2 or more hours a day using computer increases. CONCLUSIONS: The problem of an increasing level of sedentary behaviour in children in their leisure should be addressed together with interventions aimed at increasing the levels of physical activity in children in the national, regional and local policies to encourage physical activity and health in the Czech Republic.

  19. Factors Related to Overweight in Kindergarten School Children

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    Helwiah Umniyati

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available Obesity has become a significant public health problem of the twenty first century. An increasing number of preschool children are becoming overweight. Although many risk factors have been identified for school-age children, less is known about this young age group. This study was aimed to determine factors associated with overweight among preschool children. Study design was a cross sectional survey. Sample in this study was 90 children aged 3–6 years old in Bina Putik Kindergarten School in Cempaka Putih District (total sampling. The prevalence of overweight and obesity in this sample were 24.4% and 13.3% respectively. There were significant relationships between overweight and some variables using chi-square test such as: age of the children, having overweight parents, nutritional knowledge of the mother, duration of breast feeding, frequency of fast food consumption (p5 years old. It could be concluded that mother’s knowledge on nutrition played an important role in preventing overweight children. Suggested recommendation in order to prevent overweight since childhood was by increasing mother’s knowledge through optimizing relevant programs in the Puskesmas.

  20. Relative efficacy of weekly and two differing doses of daily iron-folate supplementation in improving hemoglobin in mild and moderately anemic children between 3 and 5 years of age: a cluster randomized trial.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kapil, U; Sachdev, H P S; Dwivedi, S N; Pandey, R M; Upadhyay, A D; Sareen, N

    2013-04-01

    In India, 75% of children hemoglobin response with two dosages of daily (20 mg iron and 100 μg folic acid, or 40 mg iron and 200 μg folic acid) and weekly (40 mg iron and 200 μg folic acid) IFA supplementation in children of 3-5 years of age with mild or moderate anemia (hemoglobin 7-10 g/dl). Community-based cluster randomized control trial in nine adjoining Anganwadi Centers. Four hundred twenty six enrolled participants received directly supervised IFA tablet supplementation as per the above three groups. After 100 days, the number of available subjects in the NNACP daily dose (A), daily dose doubled (B) and weekly dose (C) groups were 112, 114 and 110, respectively. Hemoglobin was estimated at baseline, 50 and 100 days by the Cynmeth hemoglobin method. At 50 days, there were no differences between the three groups, but at 100 days, adjusted hemoglobin was lowered with weekly supplementation. The mean (95% confidence interval) hemoglobin (g/dl) differences were: (i) A-B: -0.05 (-0.17, 0.05), (ii) A-C: -0.38 (-0.50, -0.27) and (iii) B-C: -0.33, (-0.45, -0.21). Anemia reduction was 18.8%, 18.4% and 10.9%, respectively, in the three groups. Directly supervised IFA supplementation at the NNACP or double dose is equally efficacious but superior to weekly regimen.

  1. A study on the development of normal mandible in children by skeletal scintigraphy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gao Yiming; Qiu Weiliu; Shen Guofang; Tang Yousheng; Tian Weijia; Wang Hui; Feng Guowei; Pu Mingfang

    2000-01-01

    Objective: To study the developmental characters of the normal mandible in growing children. Methods: Twenty growing children undergoing skeletal scintigraphic study for isolated bone disease other than bones of the head and neck at hospital and turned out with normal results finally were studied. The 99 Tc m -MDP uptakes in the mandibular condyle, ramus, body and the fourth lumbar vertebra in these cases were quantitated and a ratio of the uptake in the three mandibular regions to that in the fourth lumbar vertebra was obtained. Results: The analysis results showed that the 99 Tc m -MDP uptake ratios of the three mandibular regions decreased in linear fashion with age increasing and leveled off after age of 20. The regression equations are: the mandibular condyle, Y-circumflex = -0.052 2X + 1.792 8; the mandibular ramus, Y-circumflex = -0.015 1X + 0.766 7; the mandibular body, Y-circumflex = -0.014 2X + 0.741 0. There was no significant difference of the 99 Tc m -MDP uptake ratio between the two sides of the mandible and between the male and female. Conclusion: The results suggest that the ideal time to undergo orthognathic surgery should be at the age of 20 or so if the circumstance of the deformity is not quite clear

  2. Neonatal pain-related stress, functional cortical activity and visual-perceptual abilities in school-age children born at extremely low gestational age.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Doesburg, Sam M; Chau, Cecil M; Cheung, Teresa P L; Moiseev, Alexander; Ribary, Urs; Herdman, Anthony T; Miller, Steven P; Cepeda, Ivan L; Synnes, Anne; Grunau, Ruth E

    2013-10-01

    Children born very prematurely (pain-related stress during neonatal intensive care has been proposed to contribute to altered neurocognitive development in these children. Due to critical periods in the development of thalamocortical systems, the immature brain of infants born at extremely low gestational age (ELGA; pain. In a cohort of school-age children followed since birth we assessed relations between functional brain activity measured using magnetoencephalogragy (MEG), visual-perceptual abilities and cumulative neonatal pain. We demonstrated alterations in the spectral structure of spontaneous cortical oscillatory activity in ELGA children at school-age. Cumulative neonatal pain-related stress was associated with changes in background cortical rhythmicity in these children, and these alterations in spontaneous brain oscillations were negatively correlated with visual-perceptual abilities at school-age, and were not driven by potentially confounding neonatal variables. These findings provide the first evidence linking neonatal pain-related stress, the development of functional brain activity, and school-age cognitive outcome in these vulnerable children. Copyright © 2013 International Association for the Study of Pain. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  3. Brief Report: Improvements in the Behavior of Children with Autism Following Massage Therapy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Escalona, Angelica; Field, Tiffany; Singer-Strunck, Ruth; Cullen, Christy; Hartshorn, Kristen

    2001-01-01

    Twenty children with autism, ages 3 to 6 years, received either massage therapy or reading attention by their parents for 15 minutes daily for one month. Evaluation suggested that children in the massage group exhibited less stereotypic behavior and showed more on-task and social relatedness behavior during play observations at school, and they…

  4. [Optimal energy supply in different age groups of critically ill children on mechanical ventilation].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, X H; Ji, J; Qian, S Y

    2018-01-02

    Objective: To analyze the resting energy expenditure and optimal energy supply in different age groups of critically ill children on mechanical ventilation in pediatric intensive care unit (PICU). Methods: Patients on mechanical ventilation hospitalized in PICU of Beijing Children's Hospital from March 2015 to March 2016 were enrolled prospectively. Resting energy expenditure of patients was calculated by US Med Graphic company critical care management (CCM) energy metabolism test system after mechanical ventilation. Patients were divided into three groups:10 years. The relationship between the measured and predictive resting energy expenditure was analyzed with correlation analysis; while the metabolism status and the optimal energy supply in different age groups were analyzed with chi square test and variance analysis. Results: A total of 102 patients were enrolled, the measured resting energy expenditure all correlated with predictive resting energy expenditure in different age groups (10 years ( r= 0.5, P= 0.0) ) . A total of 40 cases in group, including: 14 cases of low metabolism (35%), 14 cases of normal metabolism (35%), and 12 cases of high metabolism (30%); 45 cases in 3-10 years group, including: 22 cases of low metabolism (49%), 19 cases of normal metabolism (42%), 4 cases of high metabolism (9%); 17 cases in > 10 years group, including: 12 cases of low metabolism (71%), 4 cases of normal metabolism (23%), 1 case of high metabolism (6%). Metabolism status showed significant differences between different age groups ( χ (2)=11.30, P age groups ( F= 46.57, Pgroup, (184±53) kJ/ (kg⋅d) in 3-10 years group, and (120±30) kJ/ (kg⋅d) in > 10 years group. Conclusion: The resting energy metabolism of the critically ill children on mechanical ventilation is negatively related to the age. The actual energy requirement should be calculated according to different ages.

  5. [Suicide attempts of 48 children aged 6-12 years].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Berthod, C; Giraud, C; Gansel, Y; Fourneret, P; Desombre, H

    2013-12-01

    Research is limited on suicide attempts in children under 13 years of age. The objective of this study was to provide an in-depth description of this population. The present study is both retrospective and descriptive. Data were collected retrospectively from a file containing the causes for hospitalization of each child admitted into the Department of Child Psychiatry at the hôpital Femme-Mère-Enfant (hospices civils de Lyon). We included all patients under 13 years of age who were hospitalized for a suicide attempt between 2008 and 2011. The methods used to collect the medical records consisted in using a form made up of four major parts: suicide attempts, social environment, medical history, and therapy. The 26 girls and 22 boys included had a mean age of 11.52 years. The boys were younger than the girls (P=0.047) and their parents were usually separated (P=0.034). The boys used more violent means to commit suicide in comparison to the girls (P=0.048). On average, children using violent means were younger (P=0.013). Boys underwent more psychotherapy (P=0.027) and were prescribed more psychotropic medication in comparison to girls (P=0.051). Adjustment disorders (37.5%) and depression (27%) were the two main diagnoses for hospitalization. They were hospitalized on average (±standard deviation) 9.6 days (±10 days). Psychotherapy was organized when leaving the hospital (98%) with legal measures (8.3%), change of residence (12.5%), and prescription of psychotropic drugs (37.5%). None had physical complications. In children under 13 years of age, attempted suicide was more frequent in girls than boys. However, the sample included 18 girls and nine boys who were 12 years old (sex ratio of 12-year-olds, 0.5). There were more boys (16 boys/eight girls) in the children under 12 (sex ratio of 8- to 11-year-olds, 1.6). Children under 11 used more violent means (P=0.01). The literature also reports that more violent means lead to a greater risk of death by suicide

  6. Epidemiology and management of head injury in paediatric age group in North-Eastern Nigeria

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    J Y Chinda

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Background: Paediatric head injury (HI is the single most common cause of death and permanent disability in children world over, and this is increasingly becoming worrisome in our society because of increased risks and proneness to road traffic accidents on our highways and streets. The study set to determine causes and management of HI among children in our society. Patients and Methods: A retrospective review of all children aged 0-15 years with traumatic head injury (THIs who were managed at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital between July, 2006 and August, 2008. Results: A total of 45 children with THIs presented to the casualty unit of the hospital; 30 (66.7% were boys and 15 (33.3% were girls. Three (6.7% children were less than 1 year of age, 21 (46.7% were between 1 years and 6 years while 16 (35.6% and 5 (11.0% were aged 7-11 years and 12-15 years respectively. Thirty six (80.0% of the children were pedestrians, 6 (13.4% fell from a height, while 2 (4.4% and 1 (2.2% were as a result of home accident and assault, respectively. Twenty one patients (46.7% had mild HI, while 53.3% had moderate to severe category. Forty one (91.1% of children were managed as in-patients, mostly (95.1% by conservative non-operative management, while 4 (8.9% were treated on the out-patient basis. The mortality rate was 17.8%. Conclusion: H1 among children is of a great concern, because of its incremental magnitude, due to increasing child labour and interstate religious discipleship among children, with attendant high mortality and permanent disabilities. Necessary laws and legislations should be formulated and implemented with organized campaigns and public enlightenment to prevent and mitigate this menace.

  7. Physical fitness percentile charts for children aged 6-10 from Portugal.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roriz De Oliveira, M S; Seabra, A; Freitas, D; Eisenmann, J C; Maia, J

    2014-12-01

    The present study aims (1) to provide reference percentile charts for the following measures of Physical Fitness (PF): the sit-and-reach, handgrip, standing long jump, 50 yards' dash, 4x10m shuttle run and 1-mile run/walk tests in children aged 6 to 10 years, and (2) to compare the performance of the Portuguese children with their age- and sex peers. A total of 3804 Portuguese children (1985 boys and 1819 girls) aged 6-10 years old participated in this study. The sample was stratified from 20 public elementary schools and children were randomly selected in each school. Charts were separately built for each sex using the LMS method. Boys showed better results than girls in handgrip, standing long jump, 50 yards' dash, 4x10 m shuttle run and 1-mile run/walk, while girls are better performers than boys in sit-and-reach. Age- and gender- percentiles for a set of physical fitness tests for 6-10 year old (primary school) Portuguese children have been established. Boys showed greater overall PF than girls, except in the flexibility test, in which girls performed better. The reported normative values provide ample opportunities to accurately detect individual changes during childhood. These reference values are especially important in healthcare and educational settings, and can be added to the worldwide literature on physical fitness values in children.

  8. Maternal identification of dental caries lesions in their children aged 1-3 years.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fernandes, I B; Sá-Pinto, A C; Silva Marques, L; Ramos-Jorge, J; Ramos-Jorge, M L

    2017-06-01

    To analyse the maternal identification of different stages of dental caries in children aged 1-3 years. A cross-sectional study was conducted with 274 children and their mothers. The mothers answered a questionnaire on the occurrence of dental caries in their children and completed questions addressing their demographic/socio-economic status. The oral examination of the children was performed using the International Caries Detection and Assessment System. Descriptive, Chi square test and Poisson regression statistical analyses were performed. The prevalence of initial and established/severe dental caries lesions by age were: 1 year (23.2 and 24.2%), 2 years (17.9 and 55.7%) and 3 years (23.3 and 60.3%) respectively. Significant associations between clinical examinations and the mothers' reports were observed among children aged 1 year old who had initial stage caries lesions (p = 0.006) and in children aged 1, 2 and 3 years old who had established/severe stage caries lesions (p dental caries both at initial (PR 4.01, 95% CI 1.35-11.94) and established/severe stages (PR 9.14, 95% CI 2.49-33.56) in children aged 1 year old. In children aged 2 and 3 years, this identification was more evident in the established/severe stage (2 years, PR 2.98, 95% CI 1.42-6.26; 3 years, PR 2.75, 95% CI 1.09-6.93). Mothers of children aged 1 year old identified dental caries at initial and established/severe stages. Mothers of children aged 2 and 3 years identified dental caries only at established/severe stages.

  9. Correlation analysis of electronic products with myopia in preschool and school aged children

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Li-Li Sun

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available AIM: To explore the influence of electronic products on myopia in preschool and school aged children, and the development regularities of myopia, to formulate reasonable guidelines for using eyes healthily, and lay a solid foundation for the prevention and control work. METHODS: This retrospective analysis enrolled 900 3~12 years old children from outpatients department, and all of them were established individualized archives, recording: uncorrected visual acuity, optometry, slit lamp, ophthalmoscopy, strabismus inspection results; recording eye usage condition on TVs, computers, mobile phones, iPad, homework, extra-curricular books. Statistical analyze the refractive status of each age group, the use of electronic products of different age groups and their correlation with refractive status. RESULTS: The number of preschool children with normal uncorrected visual acuity was more than that of early school-age children, and the difference was statistically significant(PP>0.05; the number of children aged 7~12(early school aged childrenwith myopia was more than that of children aged 3~6(preschool childrenand the difference was statistically significant(PCONCLUSION: For preschool children, it is necessary to conduct early screening, health guidance, the establishment of personalized medical records and one-to-one personalized guidance; it is also needed to avoid the arduous learning task with the stacking usage of eyes, to fight for myopia and to control the development of myopia. Therefore, to reduce the use of electronic products has become a topic worthy of further study.

  10. Carbohydrate absorption from one serving of fruit juice in young children: age and carbohydrate composition effects.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nobigrot, T; Chasalow, F I; Lifshitz, F

    1997-04-01

    To test the hypotheses that: the efficiency of carbohydrate absorption in childhood increases with age, and decreased carbohydrate absorption occurs more frequently with juices containing more fructose than glucose and/or sorbitol than with juices which contain equal amounts of fructose and glucose and are sorbitol-free. One hundred and four healthy children were recruited from the Ambulatory Center at Maimonides Children's Center. They were assigned to one of three age groups: approximately 1, 3 and 5 years of age. Each child received one age-specific dose (by randomization) of one of four juices: a) pear juice which contains fructose in excess to glucose and a large amount of sorbitol; b) apple juice which is similar to pear juice in its fructose to glucose ratio but contains four times less sorbitol than pear juice; c) white grape juice or d) purple grape juice both of which contain equal amounts of fructose and glucose and are sorbitol-free. Breath hydrogen excretion (BH2) was utilized as the index of carbohydrate absorption. It was measured in fasting children and at 30-minute intervals for 3 hours after drinking the single serving of juice. Multiple breath hydrogen related parameters were quantified and results were expressed as: BH2 peak, area under the curve, and degree of carbohydrate malabsorption. After the test, parents completed a questionnaire and recorded signs and symptoms of intestinal malabsorption for 24 hours. Pear juice related BH2 levels were significantly higher among children 1 and 3 years of age as compared to the levels achieved after the other juices. Apple juice related BH2 levels were significantly higher only among the youngest age group of children. There was no significant difference in carbohydrate absorption among the 5 year old children regardless of the juice consumed. Incomplete carbohydrate absorption (BH2 peak above 20 ppm) occurred more frequently after pear juice consumption (84%) than after apple juice (41%) or grape juice

  11. Mood Symptoms and Emotional Responsiveness to Threat in School-Aged Children

    Science.gov (United States)

    Borelli, Jessica L.; Sbarra, David A.; Crowley, Michael J.; Mayes, Linda C.

    2011-01-01

    Clinical accounts of depression underscore its relation to negative emotional experiences; yet few empirical studies examine emotional experiences in adults with depression, with even less work on depression and emotion in children. Using a nonclinical sample of school-aged children (n = 89) ages 8 to 12, this study evaluated whether greater mood…

  12. Riboflavin in cyclic vomiting syndrome: efficacy in three children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martinez-Esteve Melnikova, Anastasia; Schäppi, Michela G; Korff, Christian

    2016-01-01

    Cyclic vomiting syndrome is an episodic disorder considered to be a migraine variant. Riboflavin is efficient in the prophylactic treatment of migraines in adults. We describe the effectiveness and tolerance of riboflavin treatment in three children with cyclic vomiting syndrome. All of them fulfilled the diagnosis criteria for cyclic vomiting syndrome. They received prophylactic monotherapy with riboflavin for at least 12 months. Excellent response and tolerability was observed. Based on clinical observation in three cases, riboflavin may be an effective and safe prophylactic treatment for children with cyclic vomiting syndrome. CVS is one of the "childhood periodic syndromes" classified as a migraine subtype by the International Headache Society. Riboflavin is currently used as a prophylactic treatment in patients with migraine. Riboflavin may be an effective and safe prophylactic treatment for children with CVS. Increasing doses of riboflavin and long periods of prophylaxis may be needed in some children..

  13. Intermittent iron supplementation for improving nutrition and development in children under 12 years of age

    Science.gov (United States)

    De-Regil, Luz Maria; Jefferds, Maria Elena D; Sylvetsky, Allison C; Dowswell, Therese

    2015-01-01

    Background Approximately 600 million children of preschool and school age are anaemic worldwide. It is estimated that half of the cases are due to iron deficiency. Consequences of iron deficiency anaemia during childhood include growth retardation, reduced school achievement, impaired motor and cognitive development, and increased morbidity and mortality. The provision of daily iron supplements is a widely used strategy for improving iron status in children but its effectiveness has been limited due to its side effects, which can include nausea, constipation or staining of the teeth. As a consequence, intermittent iron supplementation (one, two or three times a week on nonconsecutive days) has been proposed as an effective and safer alternative to daily supplementation. Objectives To assess the effects of intermittent iron supplementation, alone or in combination with other vitamins and minerals, on nutritional and developmental outcomes in children from birth to 12 years of age compared with a placebo, no intervention or daily supplementation. Search methods We searched the following databases on 24 May 2011: CENTRAL (2011, Issue 2), MEDLINE (1948 to May week 2, 2011), EMBASE (1980 to 2011 Week 20), CINAHL (1937 to current), POPLINE (all available years) and WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP). On 29 June 2011 we searched all available years in the following databases: SCIELO, LILACS, IBECS and IMBIOMED. We also contacted relevant organisations (on 3 July 2011) to identify ongoing and unpublished studies. Selection criteria Randomised and quasi-randomised trials with either individual or cluster randomisation. Participants were children under the age of 12 years at the time of intervention with no specific health problems. The intervention assessed was intermittent iron supplementation compared with a placebo, no intervention or daily supplementation. Data collection and analysis Two authors independently assessed the eligibility of studies

  14. Joint Laxity in Preschool Children Born Preterm.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Romeo, Domenico M; Velli, Chiara; Lucibello, Simona; Ferrantini, Gloria; Leo, Giuseppina; Brogna, Claudia; Cota, Francesco; Ricci, Daniela; Gallini, Francesca; Romagnoli, Costantino; Vento, Giovanni; Mercuri, Eugenio

    2018-06-01

    To evaluate the prevalence of joint laxity in children born preterm assessed in the first 2 years, the relationship between joint laxity and motor performance at preschool age, and possible changes over time in a subgroup of children followed longitudinally. The revised scale of Beighton Score was used to evaluate joint laxity in a population of 132 preschool children born preterm between 24 and 32 weeks of gestational age. All were assessed for joint laxity between 12 and 24 months of age. Children also performed the Movement Assessment Battery for Children-Second Edition between the age of 3 years and 6 months and 4 years; the age at onset of independent walking also was recorded. The total Beighton Score ranged between 0 and 8. Twenty percent of the cohort showed joint laxity. No differences related to sex or gestational age were observed. Children born preterm with joint laxity achieved later independent walking and achieved lower scores on Movement Assessment Battery for Children-Second Edition than those without joint laxity. In 76 children born preterm, an assessment for joint laxity was repeated once between 25 and 36 months and again after >36 months. No statistically significant difference was observed between the 3 assessments. The Beighton Score can be used to assess generalized joint laxity in children born preterm. As the presence of joint laxity influenced motor competences, the possibility to early identify these infants in the first 2 years is of interest to benefit from early intervention and potentially improve gross motor skills and coordination. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  15. Toilet refusal syndrome in preschool children: do different subtypes exist?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Niemczyk, Justine; Equit, Monika; El Khatib, Diana; von Gontard, Alexander

    2014-03-01

    Toilet refusal syndrome (TRS) is a common, benign disorder in toddlers defined by the use of diapers and refusal of toilet for defaecation, but has not been described systematically in preschool children yet. The aim of the study was to analyse and identify possible subgroups of TRS. Retrospective analysis of all of the consecutive children with TRS presented as outpatients in a clinic for elimination disorders. Patients had received a detailed paediatric and child psychiatric assessment, including the Child Behavior Checklist questionnaire. Three typical case vignettes are presented of TRS with constipation, oppositional defiant disorder, and sibling rivalry. Twenty-five children (10 boys) with a mean age of 5.2 (3.4-7.3) years were included-representing 2.5% of all of the children (n = 1001) presented. They had high rates of constipation (60%) and elimination disorders (24%-44%). Child psychiatric International Classification of Diseases-10th Edition disorders were common (40%) and heterogeneous, with significantly more boys affected, but no differences between children with and without constipation. This study shows that TRS occurs also in older preschool (and even school) children. At this later age, it is associated with constipation and behavioural disorders. The case vignettes show differences in therapy and may represent different subgroups of TRS. TRS is associated with constipation, elimination disorders, and psychiatric disorders. Owing to this variety of comorbid disorders, different therapeutic approaches are needed. A general screening for behavioural symptoms is recommended.

  16. The Influence of Children's Gender and Age on Children's Use of Digital Media at Home

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kucirkova, Natalia; Littleton, Karen; Kyparissiadis, Antonios

    2018-01-01

    This study is the first to systematically investigate the influence of child gender and age, on parents' perceptions of UK children's digital media use at home. It provides an in-depth exploration of how children's age and gender influence the balance between children's use of digital and non-digital media at home. The data draw on 709 parents'…

  17. Insulin resistance in obese pre-pubertal children: Relation to body ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Secondary outcome is to determine the frequency of the metabolic syndrome components. Subjects and methods: Twenty-three pre-pubertal obese children were ... oral glucose tolerance testing (OGTT) and DXA scan for body composition.

  18. Heart rates in hospitalized children by age and body temperature.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Daymont, Carrie; Bonafide, Christopher P; Brady, Patrick W

    2015-05-01

    Heart rate (HR) is frequently used by clinicians in the hospital to assess a patient's severity of illness and make treatment decisions. We sought to develop percentiles that characterize the relationship of expected HR by age and body temperature in hospitalized children and to compare these percentiles with published references in both primary care and emergency department (ED) settings. Vital sign data were extracted from electronic health records of inpatients temperature measurement pairs from each admission. Measurements from 60% of patients were used to derive the percentile curves, with the remainder used for validation. We compared our upper percentiles with published references in primary care and ED settings. We used 60,863 observations to derive the percentiles. Overall, an increase in body temperature of 1°C was associated with an increase of ∼ 10 beats per minute in HR, although there were variations across age and temperature ranges. For infants and young children, our upper percentiles were lower than in primary care and ED settings. For school-age children, our upper percentiles were higher. We characterized expected HR by age and body temperature in hospitalized children. These percentiles differed from references in primary care and ED settings. Additional research is needed to evaluate the performance of these percentiles for the identification of children who would benefit from further evaluation or intervention for tachycardia. Copyright © 2015 by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

  19. PACER Performance of Children Aged 11-14 With Attention-Deficit Hyperactive Disorder.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martinson, Timothy; Butterfield, Stephen A; Mason, Craig A; Tu, Shihfen; Lehnhard, Robert A; Nightingale, Christopher J

    2018-05-01

    The purposes of this study were to examine the performance on the progressive aerobic cardiovascular endurance run (PACER) test in children with and without attention-deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD) over the course of a school year, and also to investigate the possible influence of age, sex, school sport participation, and body mass index on results. Utilizing a repeated measures design, 892 middle school children aged 11-14 years (mean = 12.25, SD = 0.94) including 55 children with ADHD participated. While controlling for age, sex, sports participation, and body mass index, children were tested on the PACER 3 times during the school year. Procedures specified in the FITNESSGRAM test manual were explicitly followed. Hierarchical linear modeling was applied to analyze the data. Children with ADHD performed 8.6 fewer laps at intercept (baseline), than did healthy children without ADHD (t 878  = -6.20, P < .001). However, no significant differences emerged for time (slope). In addition, no significant interactions were found for ADHD with age, sex, sports participation, or body mass index. A diagnosis of ADHD, independent of selected predictor variables, explained lower PACER performance.

  20. The etiological structure of diseases in frequently ill children depending on age

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A. S. Levina

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The urgency of the problem of frequently ill children is associated with a significant number of patients who can be assigned to this category. Objective: to present the nosological and etiological structure of diseases in frequently ill children depending on age.Subjects and methods. 243 children aged 1 to 17 years with recurrent respiratory infections were followed up. The children were examined using routine clinical, laboratory, and instrumental examinations. The etiological diagnosisincluded bacteriological examination of the upperrespiratory tract microflora; determination of IgM and IgG antibodies against Chlamydophila pneumoniae, Mycoplasma pneumoniae, Epstein–Barr virus(EBV, and cytomegalovirus(CMV in blood by enzyme immunoassay and that of Chlamydia and Mycoplasma DNA in pharyngealswabs and that of CMV, EBV and human herpesvirustype 6 DNA in blood by polymerase chain reaction.Results. Recurrentrespiratory diseases were found to be associated with herpesvirusinfection in 75% of the children aged 1 to 6 years, with Streptococcus, Mycoplasma, and Chlamydia infections in 16, 10, and 4% of those aged 3 to 6 years, respectively, and to be accompanied by abnormal lymphoid tissue proliferation in 84% of the children aged 3 to 6 years, with the abundant growth of bacterial opportunistic pathogensin one half of the patients. Despite the continuing importance of infectious agents(herpesviruses and streptococci in 29 and 20%, respectively, the chronically ill school-aged children displayed a high incidence of somatic diseases: chronic tonsillitis (43% and chronic sinusitis (14% in children aged older than 12 years and allergic rhinitis (23% in those aged 7 to 17 years. The symptoms of autonomic vascular dystonia were observed in 21% of the patients; cardiac arrhythmias were diagnosed in 14%. 

  1. The Fears, Phobias and Anxieties of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders and Down Syndrome: Comparisons with Developmentally and Chronologically Age Matched Children

    Science.gov (United States)

    Evans, David W.; Canavera, Kristin; Kleinpeter, F. Lee; Maccubbin, Elise; Taga, Ken

    2005-01-01

    This study compared the fears and behavior problems of 25 children with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD), 43 children with Down syndrome (DS), 45 mental age (MA) matched children, and 37 chronologically age (CA) matched children. Children's fears, phobias, anxieties and behavioral problems were assessed using parent reports. Significant…

  2. Three-dimensional cine MRI in free-breathing infants and children with congenital heart disease

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Seeger, Achim; Fenchel, Michael C.; Kramer, Ulrich; Bretschneider, Christiane; Doering, Joerg; Claussen, Claus D.; Miller, Stephan [University of Tuebingen (Germany). Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology; Greil, Gerald F. [St. Thomas Hospital, Division of Imaging Sciences, King' s College London (United Kingdom); Martirosian, Petros [University of Tuebingen, Section of Experimental Radiology, Tuebingen (Germany); Sieverding, Ludger [University of Tuebingen, Department of Pediatric Cardiology, Tuebingen (Germany)

    2009-12-15

    Patients with congenital heart disease frequently have complex cardiac and vascular malformations requiring detailed non-invasive diagnostic evaluation including functional parameters. To evaluate the morphological and functional information provided by a novel 3-D cine steady-state free-precession (SSFP) sequence. Twenty consecutive children (mean age 2.2 years, nine boys) were examined using a 1.5-T MR system including 2-D cine gradient-recalled-echo sequences, static 3-D SSFP and 3-D cine SSFP sequences. Measurement of ventricular structures and volumes showed close agreement between the 3-D cine SSFP sequence and the 2-D cine gradient-recalled-echo and static 3-D SSFP sequences (left ventricular volumes mean difference 1.0-1.9 ml and 8.8-11.4%, respectively; right ventricular volumes 1.7-2.1 ml and 9.9-16.9%, respectively). No systematic bias was observed. 3-D cine MRI provides anatomic as well as functional information with sufficient spatial and temporal resolution in free-breathing infants with congenital heart disease. (orig.)

  3. Three-dimensional cine MRI in free-breathing infants and children with congenital heart disease

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Seeger, Achim; Fenchel, Michael C.; Kramer, Ulrich; Bretschneider, Christiane; Doering, Joerg; Claussen, Claus D.; Miller, Stephan; Martirosian, Petros; Sieverding, Ludger

    2009-01-01

    Patients with congenital heart disease frequently have complex cardiac and vascular malformations requiring detailed non-invasive diagnostic evaluation including functional parameters. To evaluate the morphological and functional information provided by a novel 3-D cine steady-state free-precession (SSFP) sequence. Twenty consecutive children (mean age 2.2 years, nine boys) were examined using a 1.5-T MR system including 2-D cine gradient-recalled-echo sequences, static 3-D SSFP and 3-D cine SSFP sequences. Measurement of ventricular structures and volumes showed close agreement between the 3-D cine SSFP sequence and the 2-D cine gradient-recalled-echo and static 3-D SSFP sequences (left ventricular volumes mean difference 1.0-1.9 ml and 8.8-11.4%, respectively; right ventricular volumes 1.7-2.1 ml and 9.9-16.9%, respectively). No systematic bias was observed. 3-D cine MRI provides anatomic as well as functional information with sufficient spatial and temporal resolution in free-breathing infants with congenital heart disease. (orig.)

  4. Upper arm fat and muscle in stunted and non-stunted children aged 0-24 months

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    Bagus Winandi Arundito

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Background The prevalence of stunting in Indonesia is high, with particularly negative impacts on health during childhood as well as adolescence. Stunting impacts the health of children as well as adults, especially with  regards to future obesity. Therefore, evaluating body composition of stunted children before 2 years of age is necessary. Objective To compare upper arm fat and muscle measurements in stunted and non-stunted children aged 0-24 months of age. Methods We analyzed secondary data of the Division of Nutrition and Metabolic Disease, Department of Child Health, Universitas Gadjah Mada Medical School, Yogyakarta which were collected using cluster random sampling from the Yogyakarta Special Province. We compared upper arm fat area (UFA, including the upper arm fat area estimate (UFE and the upper arm fat percentage (UFP, as well as upper arm muscle area (UMA and upper arm muscle area estimate (UME, among stunted and non-stunted children aged 0-24 months. Results We analyzed 2,195 children. The prevalence of stunting was 354/2,195 (16.1%. The UFA, UFE, and UFP among stunted children were significantly lower compared to non-stunted children aged 7-12 months [UFA: 4.48 vs. 5.05 cm2 (P <0.001, respectively; UFE: 4.88 vs. 5.55 cm2 (P <0.001, respectively; and UFP: 30.82 vs. 32.58% (P = 0.03, respectively]. The UMA in children aged 7-12 months was also significantly lower in stunted than in non-stunted children [11.31 vs. 11.79 cm2 (P = 0.02, respectively], as well as in children aged 13-24 months [11.05 vs. 11.75 cm2 (P <0.001, respectively]. In addition, the UME in children aged 13-24 months was significantly lower in stunted compared to non-stunted children [10.50 vs. 11.18 cm2 (P <0.001, respectively]. Conclusion The UFA in children aged 7-12 months is smaller in stunted than in non-stunted children, whereas UMA in children aged 7-12 months and 13-24 months was smaller in stunted compared to non-stunted children.

  5. IDENTITY FORMATION AMONG PRIMARY SCHOOL-AGED CHILDREN IN DYSFUNCTIONAL FAMILIES

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    V. G. Bulygina

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Primary school age is a stage of significant personal changes of a child, including the identity formation as a result of a major restructuring of the system of relations of the child within the family. Background: The aim is to study the influence of a dysfunctional family system on the identity formation of primary school-aged children. Methods: There were examined seven-year-old children, secondary school pupils from families with signs of dysfunctionality (n =42. To assess interfamilial relations there were used proprietary methodologies and standardized tests diagnosing a role structure of the family, emotional sphere of children, peculiarities of the child identification with family members, signs of the family dysfunctionality. Results: It is revealed that the process of identity formation in primary school-aged children in dysfunctional families is characterized by expressed difficulties in identifying himself with family members. In 33% of cases the low hierarchical position and the typical female role characteristics are ascribed to father. To the contrary, the male social role position in 47% of cases is attributed to mother. The ambivalence of the child’s self-relation and his relation to family members is revealed. Therewith, 38% of girls’ profiles coincide either with the set of characteristics of fathers, or equally with sets of characteristics of both parents. The negative emotional state is diagnosed in 62% of children. Conclusion: It is established that in dysfunctional families the interfamilial relations and role structure have specific features, negatively influencing on the child development and the formation of his personality.Key words: children, primary school age, dysfunctional family, identity formation.

  6. School-Age Children Talk about Chess: Does Knowledge Drive Syntactic Complexity?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nippold, Marilyn A.

    2009-01-01

    Purpose: This study examined language productivity and syntactic complexity in school-age children in relation to their knowledge of the topic of discussion--the game of chess. Method: Children (N = 32; mean age = 10;11 [years;months]) who played chess volunteered to be interviewed by an adult examiner who had little or no experience playing…

  7. Narrative performance of gifted African American school-aged children from low-income backgrounds.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mills, Monique T

    2015-02-01

    This study investigated classroom differences in the narrative performance of school-age African American English (AAE)-speaking children in gifted and general education classrooms. Forty-three children, Grades 2-5, each generated fictional narratives in response to the book Frog, Where Are You? (Mayer, 1969). Differences in performance on traditional narrative measures (total number of communication units [C-units], number of different words, and mean length of utterance in words) and on AAE production (dialect density measure) between children in gifted and general education classrooms were examined. There were no classroom-based differences in total number of C-units, number of different words, and mean length of utterance in words. Children in gifted education classrooms produced narratives with lower dialect density than did children in general educated classrooms. Direct logistic regression assessed whether narrative dialect density measure scores offered additional information about giftedness beyond scores on the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Fourth Edition (Dunn & Dunn, 2007), a standard measure of language ability. Results indicated that a model with only Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Fourth Edition scores best discriminated children in the 2 classrooms. African American children across gifted and general education classrooms produce fictional narratives of similar length, lexical diversity, and syntax complexity. However, African American children in gifted education classrooms may produce lower rates of AAE and perform better on standard measures of vocabulary than those in general education classrooms.

  8. Postoperative pain management experiences among school-aged children: a qualitative study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sng, Qian Wen; Taylor, Beverley; Liam, Joanne Lw; Klainin-Yobas, Piyanee; Wang, Wenru; He, Hong-Gu

    2013-04-01

    To explore postoperative pain management experiences among school-aged children. Ineffective postoperative pain management among children has been commonly reported. School-aged children are able to evaluate how their pain is managed and what their preferred strategies are. Most studies in pain management have adopted quantitative methods and have overlooked children's pain management experiences. This is a qualitative study using face-to-face interviews. Data were collected from 15 school-aged children admitted to a tertiary hospital in Singapore by in-depth interviews conducted between November 2010 and January 2011. Data were analysed by thematic analysis. Five themes were identified: children's self-directed actions to relieve their postoperative pain (e.g. using cognitive-behavioural methods of distraction and imagery, physical method of positioning, sleeping and drinking, seeking other people's help by informing parents and crying and using pain medications); children's perceptions of actions parents take for their postoperative pain relief (assessing pain, administering pain medications, using various cognitive-behavioural, physical methods and emotional support strategies, assisting in activities and alerting health professionals); children's perception of actions nurses take for their postoperative pain relief (administering medication, using cognitive-behavioural methods, emotional support strategies and helping with activities of daily living) and suggestions for parents (using distraction and presence) and nurses (administering medications, distraction and positioning) for their postoperative pain relief improvement. This study contributed to the existing knowledge about children's postoperative pain management based on their own experiences. Children, their parents and nurses used various strategies, including pain medication and non-pharmacological methods, especially distraction, for children's postoperative pain relief. This study provides evidence

  9. Anemia and associated factors among school-age children in Cape ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Anemia is a problem affecting a large group of school children in sub-Saharan Africa, contributing to morbidity in this region. In Cape Verde the magnitude of anemia in school-age children is unknown. The study aimed to assess the prevalence of anemia and associated factors among children in Cape Verde. The data are ...

  10. Age and Electromyographic Frequency Alterations during Walking in Children with Cerebral Palsy

    OpenAIRE

    Lauer, Richard T.; Pierce, Samuel R.; Tucker, Carole A.; Barbe, Mary F.; Prosser, Laura A.

    2009-01-01

    The use of surface electromyography (sEMG) recorded during ambulation has provided valuable insight into motor development and changes with age in the pediatric population. However, no studies have reported sEMG differences with age in the children with cerebral palsy (CP). In this study, data from 50 children were divided retrospectively into four groups, representing either an older (above the age of 7 years) or younger (below the age of 7 years) age group with either typical development (T...

  11. Nutritional status and associated factors among children less than five years of age in tehsil Zarghoon town, District Quetta, Baluchistan

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Achakzai, P.; Khan, R.

    2016-01-01

    Background: Globally, more than one-third of mortalities in children under five years of age are attributable to malnutrition. The prevalence of malnourished children in Pakistan is inclining. A knowledge gap exists due to availability of limited literature about the nutritional status of children in rural Baluchistan. Therefore, this study assessed the magnitude and factors associated with nutritional status of children of less than five years of age in Tehsil Zarghoon Town of District Quetta. Methods: A community based cross-sectional study was conducted in two rural union councils of Tehsil Zarghoon Town of District Quetta, selected randomly. An existing questionnaire was modified and three research assistants were hired to collect data from 104 children, selected systematically. Data analysis was done using SPSS-20 and World Health Organization (WHO) Anthro software. Results: Results showed that the proportion of stunting and wasting in children comprising the study population was 48.1% and 9.7% respectively. A significant association was demonstrated between stunting and wasting and socio-demographic characteristics, child health characteristics and maternal health characteristics. Conclusion: It was concluded that the nutritional status of children under five years of age in Tehsil Zarghoon Town of district Quetta was unsatisfactory. Thus, community mobilization and incorporation of nutrition related activities in primary health care are recommended. (author)

  12. VOCABULARY PROBLEMS OF THE LIGHTLY MENTALLY RETARDED SCHOOL AGED CHILDREN

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    Vesna KOSTIC

    2000-06-01

    Full Text Available The main research objectives are the problems in the vocabulary of school aged, lightly mentally retarded children. Results of the research indicate which are the most important factors that have impact of the vocabulary and language competence of these persons. The research variables are: sex, IQ, chronological age and school age. Comics-like stories were used as an examination instrument in this research. Their interpretation is helpful in determining the vocabulary level of every single examine. At the end of the research some suggestions are presented, whose goal is to enrich children's vocabulary.

  13. Environmental Awareness of Children Aged 6—10 Years from the Standpoint of Dialectical Thinking

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    Lidskaya E.V.,

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available The article presents results of an empirical research of cognitive, affective (emotional and behavioral components of ecological consciousness in 323 children of preschool and primary school age (6—10 years.It was found that preschool age children underestimate the impact of nature on man, but at the same time overestimate the human impact on nature. Children of this age attributed greater importance to being emotionally close with nature than children of primary school age. When choosing between the industrial, social or natural environment, children of both age groups give preference to the natural environment, leaving the industrial one the least preferred. The outcomes of this research were used to analyze the development of dialectical thinking (actions of transformation and association in children of these age groups. As it was revealed, dialectical thinking in children of preschool age is predominantly visual. In primary school children, the visual form is replaced by conceptual and symbolic thinking, although still in an underdeveloped form. The article concludes that the first two years of school education have little influence on the development of dialectical thinking in the part that concerns actions of transformation.

  14. Change of Femoral Anteversion Angle in Children With Intoeing Gait Measured by Three-Dimensional Computed Tomography Reconstruction: One-Year Follow-Up Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kong, Minsik; Jo, Hongsik; Lee, Chang Han; Chun, Se-Woong; Yoon, Chulho; Shin, Heesuk

    2018-02-01

    To evaluate femoral anteversion angle (FAA) change in children with intoeing gait depending on age, gender, and initial FAA using three-dimensional computed tomography (3D-CT). The 3D-CT data acquired between 2006 and 2016 were retrospectively reviewed. Children 4 to 10 years of age with symptomatic intoeing gait with follow-up interval of at least 1 year without active treatment were enrolled. Subjects were divided into three groups based on age: group 1 (≥4 and FAAs were measured using 3D-CT. Mean changes in FAAs were calculated and compared. A total of 200 lower limbs of 100 children (48 males and 52 females, mean age of 6.1±1.6 years) were included. The mean follow-up period was 18.0±5.4 months. Average initial and follow-up FAA in children with intoeing gait was 31.1°±7.8° and 28.9°±8.2°, respectively. The initial FAA of group 1 was largest (33.5°±7.7°). Follow-up FAA of group 1 was significantly reduced to 28.7°±9.2° (p=0.000). FAA changes in groups 1, 2, and 3 were -6.5°±5.8°, -6.4°±5.1°, and -5.3°±4.0°, respectively. These changes of FAA were not significantly (p=0.355) different among the three age groups. However, FAA changes were higher (p=0.012) in females than those in males. In addition, FAA changes showed difference depending on initial FAA. When initial FAA was smaller than 30°, mean FAA change was -5.6°±4.9°. When initial FAA was more than 30°, mean FAA change was -6.8°±5.4° (p=0.019). FAA initial in children with intoeing gait was the greatest in age group 1 (4-6 years). This group also showed significant FAA decrease at follow-up. FAA changes were greater when the child was a female, younger, and had greater initial FAA.

  15. Parental Predictors of Children's Shame and Guilt at Age 6 in a Multimethod, Longitudinal Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parisette-Sparks, Alyssa; Bufferd, Sara J; Klein, Daniel N

    2017-01-01

    Shame and guilt are self-conscious emotions that begin to develop early in life and are associated with various forms of psychopathology. However, little is known about the factors that contribute to these emotions in young children. Specifically, no longitudinal studies to date have examined a range of parent factors that shape the expression of children's shame and guilt. The current multimethod, longitudinal study sought to determine whether parenting style, parental psychopathology, and parents' marital satisfaction assessed when children were age 3 predict expressions of shame and guilt in children at age 6. A large community sample of families (N = 446; 87.4% Caucasian) with 3-year-old children (45.7% female) was recruited through commercial mailing lists. Parent variables were assessed when children were age 3 with mother- and father-report questionnaires and a diagnostic interview. Children's expressions of shame and guilt were observed in the laboratory at age 6. Fathers', but not mothers', history of depression and permissive parenting assessed when children were age 3 predicted children's expressions of shame and guilt when children were age 6; parents' marital dissatisfaction also predicted children's shame and guilt. These findings suggest that parents, and fathers in particular, contribute to expressions of self-conscious emotions in children. These data on emotional development may be useful for better characterizing the risk and developmental pathways of psychopathology.

  16. Computerized Memory Training Leads to Sustained Improvement in Visuospatial Short-Term Memory Skills in Children with Down Syndrome

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bennett, Stephanie J.; Holmes, Joni; Buckley, Sue

    2013-01-01

    This study evaluated the impact of a computerized visuospatial memory training intervention on the memory and behavioral skills of children with Down syndrome. Teaching assistants were trained to support the delivery of a computerized intervention program to individual children over a 10-16 week period in school. Twenty-one children aged 7-12…

  17. Height for age z score and cognitive function are associated with Academic performance among school children aged 8-11 years old.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Haile, Demewoz; Nigatu, Dabere; Gashaw, Ketema; Demelash, Habtamu

    2016-01-01

    Academic achievement of school age children can be affected by several factors such as nutritional status, demographics, and socioeconomic factors. Though evidence about the magnitude of malnutrition is well established in Ethiopia, there is a paucity of evidence about the association of nutritional status with academic performance among the nation's school age children. Hence, this study aimed to determine how nutritional status and cognitive function are associated with academic performance of school children in Goba town, South East Ethiopia. An institution based cross-sectional study was conducted among 131 school age students from primary schools in Goba town enrolled during the 2013/2014 academic year. The nutritional status of students was assessed by anthropometric measurement, while the cognitive assessment was measured by the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (KABC-II) and Ravens colored progressive matrices (Raven's CPM) tests. The academic performance of the school children was measured by collecting the preceding semester academic result from the school record. Descriptive statistics, bivariate and multivariable linear regression were used in the statistical analysis. This study found a statistically significant positive association between all cognitive test scores and average academic performance except for number recall (p = 0.12) and hand movements (p = 0.08). The correlation between all cognitive test scores and mathematics score was found positive and statistically significant (p academic subjects among school age children (ß = 0.53; 95 % CI: 0.11-0.95). A single unit change of age resulted 3.23 unit change in average score of all academic subjects among school age children (ß = 3.23; 95 % CI: 1.20-5.27). Nutritional status (height for age Z score) and wealth could be modifiable factors to improve academic performance of school age children. Moreover, interventions to improve nutrition for mothers and children may be

  18. Development of a Dietary Index to Assess Overall Diet Quality for Chinese School-Aged Children: The Chinese Children Dietary Index.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cheng, Guo; Duan, Ruonan; Kranz, Sibylle; Libuda, Lars; Zhang, Lishi

    2016-04-01

    A composite measure of diet quality is preferable to an index of nutrients, food groups, or health-promoting behaviors in dietary assessment. However, to date, such a tool for Chinese children is lacking. Based on the current Chinese Dietary Guidelines and Dietary Reference Intakes, a dietary index for Chinese school-aged children, the Chinese Children Dietary Index was developed to assess overall diet quality among children in South China. Dietary data were recorded using 24-hour recalls among 1,719 children aged 7 to 15 years between March and June 2013. Inactivity data and sociodemographic information were also collected. The Chinese Children Dietary Index included 16 components, which incorporated nutrients, foods/food groups, and health-promoting behaviors. The range of possible Chinese Children Dietary Index scores was 0 to 160, with a higher score indicating better diet quality. Pearson/Spearman correlation was used to assess relative validity using correlations between total Chinese Children Dietary Index score and age, body mass index (BMI; calculated as kg/m(2)), inactivity, whole-grain intake, frequency of fried-foods intake, nutrient adequacy ratios for energy intake and 12 nutrients not included in the Chinese Children Dietary Index, and the mean adequacy ratio. Finally, a stepwise multiple regression analysis was performed to indicate the factors correlated with Chinese Children Dietary Index. Mean Chinese Children Dietary Index score of this sample was 88.1 points (range=34.2 to 137.8), the Chinese Children Dietary Index score of girls was higher than that of boys and decreased with higher age. Children with higher Chinese Children Dietary Index had lower body mass index and spent less time being inactive. Positive associations were observed between Chinese Children Dietary Index and the majority of nutrient adequacy ratios and the mean adequacy ratio. Age, paternal educational level, and family size were correlated with Chinese Children Dietary

  19. The ego under observation : childpsychiatric study of 40 three year old low birthweight children and 40 three year old full term and normal birthweight children

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    D.M.J. De Raeymaecker (Dirk)

    1981-01-01

    textabstractThis comparative child-psychiatric study of a group of three-year-old children of low birth weight and a control group of full-term children had its origins in the co-operation which exists between the department of paediatrics and the department of child psychiatry in Sophia Children's

  20. Footwear suitability in Turkish preschool-aged children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yurt, Yasin; Sener, Gul; Yakut, Yavuz

    2014-06-01

    Unsuitable footwear worn in childhood may cause some foot problems by interfering normal development of foot. To compare footwear suitability rate of indoor and outdoor footwear at all points in preschool children and investigate factors which could affect footwear suitability. A cross-sectional survey study. A total of 1000 healthy preschool children (4-6 years old) participated in this study. Indoor and outdoor footwear of children were evaluated through Turkish version of Footwear Assessment Score. Effect of factors like age, sex, number of siblings, educational and occupational situation of parents, and behavior of school management about selecting footwear was investigated. Children got better footwear score for outdoor than indoor ones (p footwear score for both indoor and outdoor ones than girls (p footwear score was found in favor of children who were going to schools that gave guidance about selecting footwear for both indoor and outdoor in comparison to children going to other schools (p footwear for their children. Performing education programs and investigation of their effect with comprehensive follow-up studies in future is essential. This study reflects footwear habits of Turkish preschool children and factors affecting this issue. Results may give way to education programs about suitable footwear worn in childhood for healthy foot development. © The International Society for Prosthetics and Orthotics 2013.

  1. Epidemiological and clinical features of rotavirus among children younger than 5 years of age hospitalized with acute gastroenteritis in Northern Italy

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    Montrasio Giovanni

    2010-07-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Rotavirus is the major cause of acute gastroenteritis and severe dehydrating diarrhea in young children. Methods To estimate the proportion of hospital admissions for rotavirus acute gastroenteritis and identify the circulating G and P genotypes among children under five years of age, we conducted a prospective observational study from January to December 2008, recruiting children consecutively admitted to six hospitals in Milan and nearby towns in northern Italy. Typing was done on stool samples by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction amplification. Results Of the 521 stool samples from children with acute gastroenteritis, 34.9% (95%CI, 30.8 to 39.2% were rotavirus-positive. Two thirds (67.6% were under two years of age, and 13.2% were under six months. The predominant G type was G1 (40.7%, followed by G9 (22.5%, G2 (13.2%, G3 (5.5%, G4 (3.8% and G10 (1.6%. Twenty-one (11.7% mixed-G infections were identified: G1+G10 (8.8%; G1+G9 (1.6%; and G2+G10 (1.2%. Only P[8] (67.6% and P[4] (12.6% types were P genotyped. The predominant single G/P combination was G1P[8] (39.7%, followed by G9P[8] (25.3%, G2P[4] (14.3%, and G3P[8] (4.1%. All G-mixed types combined with P[8]. Conclusions These findings show an high prevalence of rotavirus infections among children admitted to hospital for acute gastroenteritis caused by different rotavirus strains circulating in the area studied.

  2. Internet use and psychosocial health of school aged children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Işik, Betül; Ayaz Alkaya, Sultan

    2017-09-01

    This study was carried out to determine the internet use and psychosocial health of school aged children. Children in grades 4-7 and their parents were invited to participate. The study group consisted of 737 children. Data were collected using a descriptive form and Pediatric Symptom Checklist-17. Majority of children used internet, one of each five children had psychosocial problem risk. Risk of psychosocial problem was higher in males, children who have 'not working father', use internet 5 years and over, use internet for 3h and over per day. These results suggest that families should be informed about associations between internet use and psychosocial problems that measures should be taken for providing controlled internet use for children. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  3. Trajectories of child externalizing problems between ages 3 and 10 years: Contributions of children's early effortful control, theory of mind, and parenting experiences.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Olson, Sheryl L; Choe, Daniel Ewon; Sameroff, Arnold J

    2017-10-01

    Preventing problem behavior requires an understanding of earlier factors that are amenable to intervention. The main goals of our prospective longitudinal study were to trace trajectories of child externalizing behavior between ages 3 and 10 years, and to identify patterns of developmentally significant child and parenting risk factors that differentiated pathways of problem behavior. Participants were 218 3-year-old boys and girls who were reassessed following the transition to kindergarten (age 5-6 years) and during the late school-age years (age 10). Mothers contributed ratings of children's externalizing behavior at all three time points. Children's self-regulation abilities and theory of mind were assessed during a laboratory visit, and parenting risk (frequent corporal punishment and low maternal warmth) was assessed using interview-based and questionnaire measures. Four developmental trajectories of externalizing behavior yielded the best balance of parsimony and fit with our longitudinal data and latent class growth analysis. Most young children followed a pathway marked by relatively low levels of symptoms that continued to decrease across the school-age years. Atypical trajectories marked chronically high, increasing, and decreasing levels of externalizing problems across early and middle childhood. Three-year-old children with low levels of effortful control were far more likely to show the chronic pattern of elevated externalizing problems than changing or low patterns. Early parental corporal punishment and maternal warmth, respectively, differentiated preschoolers who showed increasing and decreasing patterns of problem behavior compared to the majority of children. The fact that children's poor effortful regulation skills predicted chronic early onset problems reinforces the need for early childhood screening and intervention services.

  4. Physical Status and Feeding Behavior of Children with Autism.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Attlee, Amita; Kassem, Hanin; Hashim, Mona; Obaid, Reyad Shaker

    2015-08-01

    To assess the physical status and feeding behavior among children with autism. Twenty three autistic children aged 5-16 y enrolled in Sharjah Autism Center were studied. A questionnaire was administered to the parents of these children. Demographic information; gastrointestinal symptoms; mealtime behavior through Brief Assessment of Mealtime Behavior Inventory, Food Preference Inventory; and nutrient intake through a 3 day food record were collected. Physical status was determined in terms of height, weight and body mass index. Male-female ratio of autism in the sample was 3.6:1. Twelve children were obese and another 5 were overweight. Mealtime behavior revealed that 69.6 % of the children never/rarely cried/screamed during mealtimes, turned their face or body away from food (52 %), or expelled food (61 %) that he/she has eaten. Food Preference Inventory showed food refusal of 59.1 ± 20.6 % for combined food groups in autistic children. Specifically, higher preference was found for starches (55.8 %) and least for protein (32.6 %). A 3 day food record revealed that their diets were repetitive with limited variety and evidence of nutrient inadequacy. Comparatively higher enrolment of males with autism was found and three-fourth of the total children had difficulty in maintaining normal weight. Mealtime behavior concerns were displayed occasionally including rigidity in mealtime routines, unwillingness to try new foods and not being able to be seated until the meal was finished. High rates of food rejection, notably protein and limited variety resulting into nutrient inadequacy were evident.

  5. Association of malodorous urine with urinary tract infection in children aged 1 to 36 months.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gauthier, Marie; Gouin, Serge; Phan, Véronique; Gravel, Jocelyn

    2012-05-01

    To determine whether parental reporting of malodorous urine is associated with urinary tract infection (UTI) in children. We conducted a prospective consecutive cohort study in the emergency department of a pediatric hospital from July 31, 2009 to April 30, 2011. All children aged between 1 and 36 months for whom a urine culture was prescribed for suspected UTI (ie, unexplained fever, irritability, or vomiting) were assessed for eligibility. A standardized questionnaire was administered to the parents by a research assistant. The primary outcome measure was a UTI. Three hundred ninety-six children were initially enrolled, but 65 were excluded a posteriori either because a urine culture, although prescribed, was not done (11), was collected by bag (39), and/or showed gross contamination (25). Therefore, 331 children were included in the final analysis. Their median age was 12 months (range, 1-36). Criteria for UTI were fulfilled in 51 (15%). A malodorous urine was reported by parents in 57% of children with UTI and in 32% of children without UTI. On logistic regression, malodorous urine was associated with UTI (odds ratio 2.83, 95% confidence interval: 1.54-5.20). This association remained statistically significant when adjusted for gender and the presence of vesicoureteral reflux (odds ratio 2.73, 95% confidence interval: 1.46-5.08). Parental reporting of malodorous urine increases the probability of UTI among young children being evaluated for suspected UTI. However, this association is not strong enough to definitely rule in or out a diagnosis of UTI.

  6. Preschool-Aged Children's Understanding of Gratitude: Relations with Emotion and Mental State Knowledge

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nelson, Jackie A.; de Lucca Freitas, Lia Beatriz; O'Brien, Marion; Calkins, Susan D.; Leerkes, Esther M.; Marcovitch, Stuart

    2013-01-01

    Developmental precursors to children's early understanding of gratitude were examined. A diverse group of 263 children was tested for emotion and mental state knowledge at ages 3 and 4, and their understanding of gratitude was measured at age 5. Children varied widely in their understanding of gratitude, but most understood some aspects of…

  7. Effect of robotic-assisted three-dimensional repetitive motion to improve hand motor function and control in children with handwriting deficits: a nonrandomized phase 2 device trial.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Palsbo, Susan E; Hood-Szivek, Pamela

    2012-01-01

    We explored the efficacy of robotic technology in improving handwriting in children with impaired motor skills. Eighteen participants had impairments arising from cerebral palsy (CP), autism spectrum disorder (ASD), attention deficit disorder (ADD), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), or other disorders. The intervention was robotic-guided three-dimensional repetitive motion in 15-20 daily sessions of 25-30 min each over 4-8 wk. Fine motor control improved for the children with learning disabilities and those ages 9 or older but not for those with CP or under age 9. All children with ASD or ADHD referred for slow writing speed were able to increase speed while maintaining legibility. Three-dimensional, robot-assisted, repetitive motion training improved handwriting fluidity in children with mild to moderate fine motor deficits associated with ASD or ADHD within 10 hr of training. This dosage may not be sufficient for children with CP. Copyright © 2012 by the American Occupational Therapy Association, Inc.

  8. Prevalence of dental fear and its causes using three measurement scales among children in New Delhi.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rajwar, Anju Singh; Goswami, Mridula

    2017-01-01

    There is a great need for identifying fearful children, who often present problems in patient management, thus affecting the quality of dental care rendered to them. This study is unique in the way that dental fear was assessed through three fear scales as research has suggested the use of more than one scale because each scale has its own restrictions and is open to criticism. The aim of this study was to evaluate dental fear and anxiety (DFA) among children aged 3-14 years using three fear measurement scales. The study was conducted on children (3-14 years) who visited the Department of Pedodontics and Preventive Dentistry at Maulana Azad Institute of Dental Sciences, New Delhi. The DFA levels were measured using three fear measurement scales, i.e., facial image scale (FIS), dental fear scale (DFS), and children's fear survey schedule-dental subscale (CFSS-DS). The dental behavior was estimated using the Frankl's behavior rating scale (FBRS). The prevalence of dental fear according to FIS was 14.3%, according to DFS was 22.6%, and according to CFSS-DS was 7.4%. In assessment of the behavior of children in the clinics through FBRS, it was observed that he maximum number of respondents (69.8%) showed Frankl's Rating 3 i.e. positive. In the DFS and CFSS-DS, the factor which caused most fear was "feeling the needle injected" and "injections," respectively. Assessment of dental fear is an extremely useful tool for the dental practitioner, who can use it to customize the behavioral treatment and management for child patients.

  9. Tone, rhythm, and timbre perception in school-age children using cochlear implants and hearing aids.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Innes-Brown, Hamish; Marozeau, Jeremy P; Storey, Christine M; Blamey, Peter J

    2013-10-01

    Children with hearing impairments, especially those using hearing devices such as the cochlear implant (CI) or hearing aid (HA), are sometimes not encouraged to attend music classes, as they or their parents and teachers may be unsure whether the child can perform basic musical tasks. The objective of the current study was to provide a baseline for the performance of children using CIs and HAs on standardized tests of rhythm and pitch perception as well as an instrument timbre identification task. An additional aim was to determine the effect of structured music training on these measures during the course of a school year. The Intermediate Measures of Music Audiation (IMMA) Tonal and Rhythmic subtests were administered four times, with 6 wk between tests. All children in the study were also enrolled in "Music Club" teaching sessions. Measures were compared between groups and across the four testing sessions. Twenty children from a single school in Melbourne, Australia, were recruited. Eleven (four girls) had impaired hearing, including six with a unilateral CI or CI and HA together (two girls) and five with bilateral HAs (two girls). Nine were normally hearing, selected to match the age and gender of the hearing-impaired children. Ages ranged from 9-13 yr. All children participated in a weekly Music Club--a 45 min session of musical activities based around vocal play and the integration of aural, visual, and kinesthetic modes of learning. Audiological data were collected from clinical files. IMMA scores were converted to percentile ranks using published norms. Between-group differences were tested using repeated-measures analysis of variance, and between-session differences were tested using a linear mixed model. Linear regression was used to model the effect of hearing loss on the test scores. In the first session, normally hearing children had a mean percentile rank of ∼50 in both the Tonal and Rhythmic subtests of the IMMA. Children using CIs showed trends

  10. Laparoscopic cholecystectomy for biliary dyskinesia in children provides durable symptom relief.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Haricharan, Ramanath N; Proklova, Lyudmila V; Aprahamian, Charles J; Morgan, Traci L; Harmon, Carroll M; Barnhart, Douglas C; Saeed, Shehzad A

    2008-06-01

    The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of laparoscopic cholecystectomy in children with biliary dyskinesia. Reports of children with an abnormal cholecystokinin (CCK)-stimulated HIDA scan between January 2001 and July 2006 who underwent laparoscopic cholecystectomy were reviewed. Postoperatively, a 23-item Likert scale, symptom questionnaire was administered to parents. Sixty-four children with chronic abdominal pain and no gallstones on ultrasound had an abnormal CCK-HIDA scan. Twenty-three children (median age, 14 years; 16 girls), with mean (SD) ejection fraction of 17% (8), underwent laparoscopic cholecystectomy and were further analyzed. Preoperatively, these children had right upper quadrant/epigastric pain (78%), nausea (52%), vomiting (43%), and generalized abdominal pain (22%) lasting for a median of 3 months (range, 1 month to 2.5 years). Median postoperative follow-up was 2.7 years. Sixteen (70%) parents completed the questionnaire. Of those who responded, 63% indicated that their children had no abdominal pain, 87% had no vomiting, and 69% had no nausea in the month preceding the questionnaire. Overall, 67% of parents indicated that their children's symptoms were completely relieved after cholecystectomy, whereas 7% indicated that the symptoms were not relieved. Laparoscopic cholecystectomy is effective in providing both short-term and long-term improvement of symptoms in children with biliary dyskinesia.

  11. Factors associated with medication adherence in school-aged children with asthma

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Amy H.Y. Chan

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available Adherence to preventive asthma treatment is poor, particularly in children, yet the factors associated with adherence in this age group are not well understood. Adherence was monitored electronically over 6 months in school-aged children who attended a regional emergency department in New Zealand for an asthma exacerbation and were prescribed twice-daily inhaled corticosteroids. Participants completed questionnaires including assessment of family demographics, asthma responsibility and learning style. Multivariable analysis of factors associated with adherence was conducted. 101 children (mean (range age 8.9 (6–15 years, 51% male participated. Median (interquartile range preventer adherence was 30% (17–48% of prescribed. Four explanatory factors were identified: female sex (+12% adherence, Asian ethnicity (+19% adherence, living in a smaller household (−3.0% adherence per person in the household, and younger age at diagnosis (+2.7% for every younger year of diagnosis (all p<0.02. In school-aged children attending the emergency department for asthma, males and non-Asian ethnic groups were at high risk for poor inhaled corticosteroid adherence and may benefit most from intervention. Four factors explained a small proportion of adherence behaviour indicating the difficulty in identifying adherence barriers. Further research is recommended in other similar populations.

  12. The roles of gender, age and cognitive development in children's pedestrian route selection.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barton, B K; Ulrich, T; Lyday, B

    2012-03-01

    Thousands of American children under the age of 10 years are injured annually as pedestrians. Despite the scope of this public health problem, knowledge about behavioural control and developmental factors involved in the aetiology of child pedestrian safety is limited. The present study examined the roles of gender, age and two aspects of cognitive development (visual search and efficiency of processing) in children's safe pedestrian route selection. Measures of cognitive functioning (visual search and efficiency) and selections of risky pedestrian routes were collected from 65 children aged 5-9 years. Boys, younger children and those with less developed cognitive functioning selected riskier pedestrian routes. Cognitive functioning also subsumed age as a predictor of risky route selections. Our findings suggest developmental differences, specifically less developed cognitive functioning, play important roles in children's pedestrian decision making. Directions for future examination are discussed. © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

  13. Long QT in children with congenital deafness: a brief report

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Naseraldin Akbari Asbagh

    2013-08-01

    Full Text Available Background: Long QT syndromes (LQT are genetic abnormalities of ventricular repo-larization, with an estimated incidence of about one per 10000 births. It is characterized by prolongation of the QT interval in electrocardiogram (EKG and associated with a high risk for syncope and sudden death in patients. Type of this syndrome is association with congenital deafness. Our objective was to evaluate QT interval in children with congenital deafness.Methods: For 219 patients referred to Imam Khomeini Hospital audiometric clinic in 2011, questionnaire were completed. A total of 23 congenitally deaf children were incl-uded. All patients’ examinations were done by a pediatric cardiologist. Electrocardio-gram is conducted in all children (23 patients with sever and deep congenital deafness. Then the QT interval was measured based on Bazett’s formula. Echocardiography was also performed in these children to assess left ventricular function and the presence of mitral valve prolapse.Results: The overall patients were two hundred and nineteen children. A total of twenty three congenitally deaf children were included and electrocardiogram was obtained. Three children had obviously prolonged QTc (0.48±0.02 second. The median age of them was 6.1±5 year, the median weight was 18±11.3 kilogram and the median of QT interval was 0.48±0.02 second.Conclusion: The QT interval obtained 0.48±0.02 second. In the present study we found prolonged QT in congenital deafness, thus we recommend to evaluate the electrocardio-gram of children with congenital deafness.

  14. Safety and efficacy of levetiracetam for the treatment of partial onset seizures in children from one month of age

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cormier J

    2013-02-01

    Full Text Available Justine Cormier, Catherine J ChuMassachusetts General Hospital, Department of Neurology, Programs in Child Neurology and Neurophysiology, Boston, MA, USAAbstract: Epilepsy is a common neurological disorder in the pediatric population, affecting up to one percent of children, and for which the mainstay of treatment is anticonvulsant medication. Despite the frequent use of anticonvulsant drugs, remarkably little is known about the safety and efficacy of most of these medications in the pediatric epilepsy population. Of 34 anticonvulsants currently approved for use by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA, only 13 have been approved for use in children. Although infants and young children are disproportionately affected by epilepsy, there are currently only three anticonvulsant medications that have been specifically evaluated and approved for use in children younger than 2 years of age. In 2012, the FDA approved levetiracetam as an adjunctive treatment for partial onset seizures in infants and children from one month of age. Here we review the available data on levetiracetam in the pediatric epilepsy population. We first discuss the pharmacological profile of levetiracetam, including its mechanism of action, formulations and dosing, and pharmacokinetics in children. We then review the available efficacy, safety, and tolerability data in children from one month of age with partial onset seizures. We conclude that the current data leading to the approval of levetiracetam for use in infants and children with partial onset seizures is encouraging, although more work needs to be done before definitive conclusions can be drawn about the efficacy of levetiracetam across different pediatric age groups.Keywords: levetiracetam, anticonvulsant drug, partial seizures, pediatric epilepsy

  15. Effect of weaning period on nutritional status children

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shamim, S.; Naz, F.; Jamalvi, S.W.; Ali, S.

    2006-01-01

    To determine the effect of age of introduction and the type of weaning foods used, on the nutritional status of children under three years of age. Three hundred and fifty-nine children under 3 years were included in the study. Based on the age of commencement of weaning, the children were categorized as children weaned at appropriate and inappropriate age. For the type of weaning foods, the children were grouped into two categories based on the nature of food items. Children for whom weaning was started at the recommended age of 4-6 months were found to be significantly less malnourished on anthropometric measurements as compared to the other set in which weaning was started at an earlier or later age. Significant statistical difference was noted in the children weaned on nutritious home-made items compared to children having commercial foods. (author)

  16. Associations of maternal employment and three-generation families with pre-school children's overweight and obesity in Japan.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Watanabe, E; Lee, J S; Kawakubo, K

    2011-07-01

    Maternal employment has been shown to be associated with childhood overweight and obesity (Ow/Ob), but the presence of family members who care for children in place of the mothers might influence children's Ow/Ob and lifestyles. The influence of maternal employment on children's Ow/Ob should be examined together with the presence of caregivers such as grandparents. The effects of maternal employment and the presence of grandparents on lifestyles and Ow/Ob in Japanese pre-school children were investigated. Cross-sectional study on 2114 children aged 3-6 years who attended all childcare facilities in a city and primary caregivers was conducted. Children's weight and height, family environments (family members, maternal employment, single parent, number of siblings and parental Ow/Ob) and lifestyles (dietary, physical activity and sleeping habits) were surveyed using a self-administered questionnaire. Ow/Ob was defined by the International Obesity Task Force cut-offs. The eligible participants were 1765 children. The prevalence of Ow/Ob was 8.4% in boys and 9.9% in girls. Maternal employment was associated positively with irregular mealtimes, unfixed snacking times, bedtime after 10 p.m. and nighttime sleep duration of less than 10 h, whereas three-generation families were associated negatively with irregular mealtimes after adjustment for children's characteristics and family environments. Irregular mealtimes (OR (95% CI); 2.03 (1.36, 3.06)) and nighttime sleep duration of less than 10 h (1.96 (1.28, 3.01)) were associated with increased risks of being Ow/Ob. Both maternal employment and three-generation families were significantly associated with children's Ow/Ob. However, three-generation families maintained a significant association (1.59 (1.08, 2.35)) after adjustment for maternal employment. These study results suggest that the grandparents who care for pre-school children in place of mothers are more likely to contribute to childhood Ow/Ob than maternal

  17. Clinical Characteristics and Low Vision Rehabilitation Methods for Partially Sighted School-Age Children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Özen Tunay, Zuhal; Çalışkan, Deniz; İdil, Aysun; Öztuna, Derya

    2016-04-01

    To determine the clinical features and the distribution of diagnosis in partially sighted school-age children, to report the chosen low vision rehabilitation methods and to emphasize the importance of low vision rehabilitation. The study included 150 partially sighted children between the ages of 6 and 18 years. The distribution of diagnosis, accompanying ocular findings, visual acuity of the children both for near and distance with and without low vision devices, and the methods of low vision rehabilitation (for distance and for near) were determined. The demographic characteristics of the children and the parental consanguinity were recorded. The mean age of children was 10.6 years and the median age was 10 years; 88 (58.7%) of them were male and 62 (41.3%) of them were female. According to distribution of diagnoses among the children, the most frequent diagnosis was hereditary fundus dystrophies (36%) followed by cortical visual impairment (18%). The most frequently used rehabilitation methods were: telescopic lenses (91.3%) for distance vision; magnifiers (38.7%) and telemicroscopic systems (26.0%) for near vision. A significant improvement in visual acuity both for distance and near vision were determined with low vision aids. A significant improvement in visual acuity can be achieved both for distance and near vision with low vision rehabilitation in partially sighted school-age children. It is important for ophthalmologists and pediatricians to guide parents and children to low vision rehabilitation.

  18. Development of Daily Activities in School-Age Children with Cerebral Palsy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smits, Dirk-Wouter; Ketelaar, Marjolijn; Gorter, Jan Willem; van Schie, Petra; Dallmeijer, Annet; Jongmans, Marian; Lindeman, Eline

    2011-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to describe the course of capabilities in self-care, mobility, and social function in school-age children with cerebral palsy (CP) and to investigate associations with CP-, child-, and family-characteristics. A clinic-based sample of children with CP (n = 116; 76 males, 40 females; mean age 6 y 3 mo, SD 12 mo) was…

  19. Validation of a food quantification picture book targeting children of 0-10 years of age for pan-European and national dietary surveys.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Trolle, Ellen; Vandevijvere, Stefanie; Ruprich, Jiří; Ege, Majken; Dofková, Marcela; de Boer, Evelien; Ocké, Marga

    2013-12-01

    The aim of the present study was to validate thirty-eight picture series of six pictures each developed within the PANCAKE (Pilot study for the Assessment of Nutrient intake and food Consumption Among Kids in Europe) project for portion size estimation of foods consumed by infants, toddlers and children for future pan-European and national dietary surveys. Identical validation sessions were conducted in three European countries. In each country, forty-five foods were evaluated; thirty-eight foods were the same as the depicted foods, and seven foods were different, but meant to be quantified by the use of one of the thirty-eight picture series. Each single picture within a picture series was evaluated six times by means of predefined portions. Therefore, thirty-six pre-weighed portions of each food were evaluated by convenience samples of parents having children aged from 3 months to 10 years. The percentages of participants choosing the correct picture, the picture adjacent to the correct picture or a distant picture were calculated, and the performance of individual pictures within the series was assessed. For twenty foods, the picture series performed acceptably (mean difference between the estimated portion number and the served portion number less than 0.4 (SD picture series were acceptable for inclusion in the PANCAKE picture book. However, the picture series of baby food, salads and cakes either can only be used for foods that are very similar to those depicted or need to be substituted by another quantification tool.

  20. Comparação do desempenho funcional de crianças portadoras de síndrome de Down e crianças com desenvolvimento normal aos 2 e 5 anos de idade Comparison of functional performance among children with Down syndrome and children with age-appropriate development at 2 and 5 years of age

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marisa Cotta Mancini

    2003-06-01

    with DS with 5 years of age; 3 normal children with 2 years of age; 4 normal children with 5 years of age. Children were evaluated with the functional test PEDI, which quantifies children's performance (skills and independence in three domains: self-care, mobility and social function. Two-way ANOVA was used to compare group means and to test interaction effects age x pathology. Pre-planned contrast analyses were used to identify the significant bivariate comparisons. RESULTS: Main factors (age and pathology were significant in the three domains of skills and independence performances. The interaction factor age x pathology was significant in self-care and mobility skills, as well as in children's independence in mobility and social function. Contrast analyses showed that at two years of age, normal children's performance is superior to DS's children in all three domains of functional skills and independence. However, at five years of age, significant group differences were only observed in the domains of self-care and social function skills, and independence. CONCLUSION: Results show the areas of performance where the delay presented by DS children was functionally manifested, at two and five years of age. Data indicate that the observed group differences were influenced by age, keeping themselves changeable across the development.

  1. Parenting clinically anxious versus healthy control children aged 4-12 years.

    Science.gov (United States)

    van der Sluis, C M; van Steensel, F J A; Bögels, S M

    2015-05-01

    This study investigated whether parenting behaviors differed between parents of 68 clinically anxious children and 106 healthy control children aged 4-12 years. The effects of parent gender, child gender and child age on parenting were explored. Mothers and fathers completed a questionnaire to assess parenting behaviors in for children hypothetically anxious situations. Results showed that parents of clinically anxious children reported more anxiety-enhancing parenting (reinforcement of dependency and punishment) as well as more positive parenting (positive reinforcement). For the clinical sample, fathers reported using more modeling/reassurance than mothers, and parents reported using more force with their 4-7-year-olds than with their 8-12-year-olds. No interaction effects were found for child gender with child anxiety status on parenting. Results indicate that for intervention, it is important to measure parenting behaviors, and to take into account father and mother differences and the age of the child. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  2. Neurological outcome in school-age children after in utero exposure to coumarins

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Wesseling, J; Van Driel, D; Smrkovsky, M; Van der Veer, E; Geven-Boere, LM; Sauer, PJJ; Touwen, BCL

    The effect of prenatal exposure to coumarins (acenocoumarol, phenprocoumon) on neurological outcome was assessed in a cohort of 306 children aged 7-15 years. Findings were compared with those in a non-exposed cohort of 267 children, matched for sex, age, and demographic region. We used a

  3. Functional outcome at school age of children born with gastroschisis

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Lap, Chiara C M M; Bolhuis, Sandra W; Van Braeckel, Koenraad J. A.; Reijneveld, Sijmen A.; Manten, Gwendolyn T. R.; Bos, Arend F.; Hulscher, Jan

    Objective: We aimed to determine motor, cognitive and behavioural outcomes of school aged children born with gastroschisis compared to matched controls. Study design: We compared outcomes of 16 children born with gastroschisis treated at the University Medical Center Groningen, the Netherlands,

  4. Emotional Understanding and Color-Emotion Associations in Children Aged 7-8 Years

    OpenAIRE

    Pope, Debbie J.; Butler, Hannah; Qualter, Pamela

    2012-01-01

    An understanding of the development of emotional knowledge can help us determine how children perceive and interpret their surroundings and color-emotion associations are one measure of the expression of a child’s emotional interpretations. Emotional understanding and color-emotion associations were examined in a sample of UK school children, aged 7-8 years. Forty primary school children (mean age = 7.38; SD = 0.49) were administered color assessment and emotional understanding tasks, and...

  5. Comparing Auditory Noise Treatment with Stimulant Medication on Cognitive Task Performance in Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: Results from a Pilot Study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Göran B W Söderlund

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available Background: Recent research has shown that acoustic white noise (80 dB can improve task performance in people with attention deficits and/or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD. This is attributed to the phenomenon of stochastic resonance in which a certain amount of noise can improve performance in a brain that is not working at its optimum. We compare here the effect of noise exposure with the effect of stimulant medication on cognitive task performance in ADHD. The aim of the present study was to compare the effects of auditory noise exposure with stimulant medication for ADHD children on a cognitive test battery. A group of typically developed children (TDC took the same tests as a comparison.Methods: Twenty children with ADHD of combined or inattentive subtypes and twenty typically developed children matched for age and gender performed three different tests (word recall, spanboard and n-back task during exposure to white noise (80 dB and in a silent condition. The ADHD children were tested with and without central stimulant medication.Results: In the spanboard- and the word recall tasks, but not in the 2-back task, white noise exposure led to significant improvements for both non-medicated and medicated ADHD children. No significant effects of medication were found on any of the three tasks.Conclusion: This pilot study shows that exposure to white noise resulted in a task improvement that was larger than the one with stimulant medication thus opening up the possibility of using auditory noise as an alternative, non-pharmacological treatment of cognitive ADHD symptoms.

  6. Impact of normal weight obesity on fundamental motor skills in pre-school children aged 3 to 6 years.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Musalek, Martin; Kokstejn, Jakub; Papez, Pavel; Scheffler, Christiane; Mumm, Rebekka; Czernitzki, Anna-Franziska; Koziel, Slawomir

    2017-09-01

    Normal weight obesity is defined as having excessive body fat, but normal BMI. Even though previous research revealed that excessive body fat in children inhibited their physical activity and decreased motor performance, there has been only little evidence about motor performance of normal weight obese children. This study aims to establish whether normal weight obese pre-school children aged 3-6 years will have a significantly worse level of fundamental motor skills compared to normal weight non-obese counterparts. The research sample consisted of 152 pre-schoolers selected from a specific district of Prague, the Czech Republic. According to values from four skinfolds: triceps, subscapula, suprailiaca, calf, and BMI three categories of children aged 3-6 years were determined: A) normal weight obese n = 51; B) normal weight non-obese n = 52; C) overweight and obese n = 49. The Movement Assessment Battery for Children (MABC-2) was used for the assessment of fundamental motor skills. Normal weight obese children had significantly higher amount of adipose tissue p < 0.001 than normal weight non-obese children but the same average BMI. Moreover, normal weight obese children did not have significantly less amount of subcutaneous fat on triceps and calf compared to their overweight and obese peers. In majority of MABC-2 tests, normal weight obese pre-schoolers showed the poorest performance. Moreover, normal weight obese children had significantly worse total standard score = 38.82 compared to normal weight non-obese peers = 52.27; p < 0.05. In addition, normal weight obese children had a more than three times higher frequency OR = 3.69 CI95% (1.10; 12.35) of severe motor deficit performance ≤ 5 th centile of the MABC-2 norm. These findings are strongly alarming since indices like BMI are not able to identify normal weight obese individual. We recommend verifying real portion of normal weight obese children as they are probably in higher risk of health and motor

  7. Determination of permanent premolars eruption ages among public school children in Lahore, Pakistan

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jokhio, A.L.; Soomro, S.H.; Khuhawar, S.R.

    2015-01-01

    Objective: To determine mean eruption age, range and sequence of permanent maxillary and mandibular premolars in public schools of Lahore, Pakistan so as to provide a reference for planning orthodontic treatment and in pediatric dentistry. Methodology: This is a cross sectional study consisting of multistage random sampling and included 4000 children, with ages in between 9-14 years of different public schools in Lahore. Participants were examined and tooth numbering was noted by two-digit system of FDI (Federation Dentaire Internationale). Emergence was divided into three stages depending on eruption level. SPSS version 18 was used for statistical analysis. Results: Out of 4000 children, 1960 were boys and 2031 were girls. In both genders maxillary premolars erupted before mandibular counterparts. All premolars erupted earlier in females than the males. The sequence of emergence for both genders was P1, P2 in upper as well as in lower arch. Conclusion: Eruption of premolar in females was earlier than males but delayed in both genders while compared with Western standard. (author)

  8. Cross Syndrome Comparison of Sleep Problems in Children with Down Syndrome and Williams Syndrome

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ashworth, Anna; Hill, Catherine M.; Karmiloff-Smith, Annette; Dimitriou, Dagmara

    2013-01-01

    Based on previous findings of frequent sleep problems in children with Down syndrome (DS) and Williams syndrome (WS), the present study aimed to expand our knowledge by using parent report and actigraphy to define sleep problems more precisely in these groups. Twenty-two school-aged children with DS, 24 with WS and 52 typically developing (TD)…

  9. Age-related changes in the temporal dynamics of executive control: A study in 5- and 6-year-old children

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Joanna eLucenet

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available Based on the Dual Mechanisms of Control theory (Braver, Gray & Burgess, 2007, this study conducted in 5- and 6-year-olds, tested for a possible shift between two modes of control, proactive vs. reactive, which differ in the way goal information is retrieved and maintained in working memory. To this end, we developed a children-adapted version of the AX-Continuous-Performance Task (AX-CPT. Twenty-nine 5-year-olds and twenty-eight 6-year-olds performed the task in both low and high working-memory load conditions (corresponding respectively to a short and a long cue-probe delay. Analyses suggested that a qualitative change in the mode of control occurs within the 5-year-old group. However, quantitative, more graded changes were also observed both within the 5-year-olds, and between 5 and 6 years of age. These graded changes demonstrated an increasing efficiency in proactive control with age. The increase in working memory load did not impact the type of dynamics of control, but had a detrimental effect on sensitivity to cue information. These findings highlight that the development of the temporal dynamics of control can be characterized by a shift from reactive to proactive control together with a more protracted and gradual improvement in the efficiency of proactive control. Moreover, the question of whether the observed shift in the mode of control is task dependant is debated.

  10. Linguistic constraints on children's overt marking of BE by dialect and age.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roy, Joseph; Oetting, Janna B; Moland, Christy Wynn

    2013-06-01

    Overt marking of BE in nonmainstream adult dialects of English is influenced by a number of linguistic constraints, including the structure's person, number, tense, contractibility, and grammatical function. In the current study, the authors examined the effects of these constraints on overt marking of BE in children as a function of their nonmainstream English dialect and age. The data were language samples from 62 children, ages 4-6 years; 24 children spoke African American English (AAE), and 38 spoke Southern White English (SWE). Analyses included analysis of variance and logistic regression. Rates of overt marking varied by the children's dialect but not their age. Although the person, number, tense, and grammatical function of BE influenced the children's rates of marking, the nature and magnitude of the influence differed by the children's dialect. For AAE-speaking children, contractibility also influenced their marking of BE. Consistent with the adult literature, the current study showed that AAE- and SWE-speaking children marked BE in ways that differed from each other and from what has been documented for child speakers of Mainstream American English. These findings show stability in the use of BE in AAE and SWE that spans different generations and different dialect communities.

  11. Strategic Leader Competencies for the Twenty-First Century

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Becker, Bradley A

    2007-01-01

    ...: interpersonal skills, conceptual skills, and technical skills. From these three primary strategic leadership skills, there is a list of twenty-one competencies that a strategic leader should posses...

  12. The fears, phobias and anxieties of children with autism spectrum disorders and Down syndrome: comparisons with developmentally and chronologically age matched children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Evans, David W; Canavera, Kristin; Kleinpeter, F Lee; Maccubbin, Elise; Taga, Ken

    2005-01-01

    This study compared the fears and behavior problems of 25 children with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD), 43 children with Down syndrome (DS), 45 mental age (MA) matched children, and 37 chronologically age (CA) matched children. Children's fears, phobias, anxieties and behavioral problems were assessed using parent reports. Significant differences emerged across the diagnostic groups on a variety of fears. Children with ASD were reported to have more situation phobias and medical fears, but fewer fears of harm/injury compared to all other groups. The groups also differed in terms of the pattern of correlations between fears, phobias, anxieties and behavior problems. For children with ASD, fears, phobias and anxieties were closely related to problem behaviors, whereas fears, phobias, and anxieties were less related to behavioral symptoms for the other groups of subjects. Such findings suggest that children with ASD exhibit a distinct profile of fear and anxiety compared to other mental age and chronologically age-matched children, and these fears are related to the symptoms associated with ASD.

  13. Motor Skills in Children Aged 7-10 Years, Diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder

    Science.gov (United States)

    Whyatt, Caroline P.; Craig, Cathy M.

    2012-01-01

    This study used the Movement Assessment Battery for Children (M-ABC2) to assess motor skills in children aged 7-10 years with autism (n = 18) in comparison to two groups of age-matched typically developing children; a receptive vocabulary matched group (n = 19) and a nonverbal IQ matched group (n = 22). The results supported previous work, as…

  14. Impact of sociodemographic factors on cognitive function in school-aged HIV-infected Nigerian children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boyede, Gbemisola O; Lesi, Foluso Ea; Ezeaka, Veronica C; Umeh, Charles S

    2013-01-01

    In this study, we sought to evaluate the influence of sociodemographic factors, ie, age, sex, socioeconomic status, maternal education, and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) status, on cognitive performance in school-aged HIV-infected Nigerian children. Sixty-nine HIV-positive children aged 6-15 years were matched with 69 HIV-negative control children for age and sex. The children were subdivided for the purpose of analysis into two cognitive developmental stages using Piaget's staging, ie, the concrete operational stage (6-11 years) and the formal operational stage (12-15 years). All participants underwent cognitive assessment using Raven's Standard Progressive Matrices (RPM). Sociodemographic data for the study participants, ie, age, sex, socioeconomic status, and level of maternal education, were obtained using a study proforma. Logistic regression analyses were used to determine associations of HIV status and sociodemographic characteristics with RPM cognitive scores. The overall mean RPM score for the HIV-positive children was 18.2 ± 9.8 (range 8.0-47.0) which was significantly lower than the score of 27.2 ± 13.8 (range 8.0-52.0) for the HIV-negative children (P < 0.001). On RPM grading, 56.5% of the HIV-positive children had cognitive performance at below average to intellectually defective range. Below average RPM scores were found to be significantly associated with younger age (6-11 years), positive HIV status, lower socioeconomic status, and low level of maternal education. Younger age, poor socioeconomic status, and low level of maternal education were factors apart from HIV infection that were significantly associated with low cognitive function in school-aged HIV-infected Nigerian children.

  15. Study of audiovestibular dysfunction in children with systemic lupus erythematosus.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gad, Ghada Ibrahim; Mohamed, Somaia Tawfik; Awwad, Khaled Salah; Mohamed, Rehab Fetoh

    2013-09-01

    Inner ear dysfunction in systemic lupus erythematosis patients has been reported but audiovestibular involvement is not well documented especially in pediatrics. This study was designed to evaluate silent audiovestibular dysfunction among SLE children. Case control study examined in allergy and immunology clinic; pediatrics hospital and audiovestibular clinic; Ain Shams University from January 2009 to December 2010. Thirty-five systemic lupus erythematosus children (diagnosed according to American College of Rheumatology); age group 8-16 years, were randomly selected. Five of them were excluded due to one or more exclusion criteria (previous otitis media, stroke, lupus cerebritis, meningitis or encephalitis, audiovestibular symptom). Ten of them refused enrollment or could not complete full battery. Seventeen females and three males, mean age 12.9 ± 2.6 years, completed the study. Control group included 20 normal subjects, age and sex matched. Full clinical assessment, basic audiological evaluation and vestibular testing (videonystagmography VNG and computerized dynamic posturography CDP) were conducted for children included in the study. Five systemic lupus erythematosus patients had sensorineural hearing loss strongly associated with +ve antiphospholipid antibody and two had conductive hearing loss. Two children in control group had conductive hearing loss (p=0.05). Abnormal VNG findings was significantly higher among systemic lupus erythematosus children (40%) compared to controls (0%) and associated with +ve antiphospholipid antibodies (χ(2)=10, p=0.002, Fisher exact test=0.003). Twenty-five percentage of systemic lupus erythematosus children had abnormal CDP findings reflecting impaired balance function associated with positive antiphospholipid antibodies showing significant statistical difference compared to controls (0% affection) (χ(2)=5.7, p=0.017, Fisher exact test=0.047). Silent audiovestibular dysfunction is prevalent among systemic lupus

  16. Childhood Fears, Neurobehavioral Functioning and Behavior Problems in School-Age Children

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kushnir, Jonathan; Sadeh, Avi

    2010-01-01

    The objective is to examine underlying associations between childhood fears, behavior problems and neurobehavioral functioning (NBF) in school-age children. Healthy, regular school children (N = 135), from second, fourth and sixth grade classes were assessed. Data regarding children's fears and behavioral problems were obtained with the Revised…

  17. Influence of parents and friends on children's and adolescents' food intake and food selection.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Salvy, Sarah-Jeanne; Elmo, Alison; Nitecki, Lauren A; Kluczynski, Melissa A; Roemmich, James N

    2011-01-01

    The influence of parents versus friends on youths' eating behavior has not been directly compared, and little is known about the developmental effects of social influences on their eating behavior. The objective was to compare the effects of mothers and friends on children's and adolescents' energy intake from sandwiches and from healthy and unhealthy snacks and dessert foods. Twenty-three children (ages 5-7 y) and 27 adolescents (ages 13-15 y) ate a meal with their mother on one occasion and with a same-sex friend on another occasion. Male and female children consumed less energy from unhealthy snacks when in the presence of their mothers than when in the company of their friends. Conversely, female adolescents consumed less energy from unhealthy snacks and more energy from healthy snacks when they were with their friends than when with their mothers. Food selection is differentially influenced by the source of social influence and the age and sex of the child. Parents may act as an inhibitory influence on unhealthy eating for younger children. Adolescent girls may try to convey a good impression of healthy eating when eating with same-sex friends, but the eating habits of teenage boys are not as influenced by the social context. This trial is registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT00875576.

  18. Major Depressive Disorder Among Preadolescent Canadian Children: Rare Disorder or Rarely Detected?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Korczak, Daphne J; Ofner, Marianna; LeBlanc, John; Wong, Sam; Feldman, Mark; Parkin, Patricia C

    2017-03-01

    Despite agreement that preadult onset of depression is associated with greater illness severity, and that children can meet the diagnostic criteria for major depressive disorder (MDD), few studies have examined the presentation of MDD among young children. This is the first nationwide study of MDD among preadolescent children in Canada. Pediatrician members (2500) of a Canadian pediatric surveillance network were surveyed monthly over 3 years to report new cases of MDD among 5- to 12-year-olds. Survey response and questionnaire completion rates were 80% and 85%, respectively. Symptom presentation and duration, impairment, medical and psychiatric history, and management were reported. Twenty-nine new cases of MDD were identified by pediatricians. Of these, 23 (79%) experienced symptoms for >6 months before presentation with global functional impairment. Parental depression or anxiety, commonly maternal, was present in 21 cases (72%). Twenty-two children (76%) reported suicidal ideation; 6 (21%) had attempted suicide. Twenty-three children (79%) were treated with medication. Thirteen children (45%) were treated with 2 or more medications. Children with MDD frequently had a parental history of mood disorders, experienced long-standing symptom presence, high symptom burden and functional impairment prior to presentation; and commonly treatment with polypharmacy. Copyright © 2016 Academic Pediatric Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  19. Changes in children's sleep domains between 2 and 3 years of age: the Ulm SPATZ Health Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Braig, Stefanie; Urschitz, Michael S; Rothenbacher, Dietrich; Genuneit, Jon

    2017-08-01

    There is growing interest in the link between sleep habits and child health but reference values specific to toddlers as well as longitudinal data on sleep are scarce. We aimed to describe parent-reported child sleep habits and their intra-individual changes in two- to three-year-olds using data from a regional birth cohort study. In the Ulm SPATZ Health Study, a birth cohort study conducted at Ulm, Southern Germany, with baseline examination from April 2012 to May 2013, the German version of the Children's Sleep Habits Questionnaire (CSHQ-DE) was used longitudinally at follow-ups at two and three years (N = 615 children). Descriptive statistics including intra-individual differences between three- and two-year scores were reported, the latter using the sign test. The sample-averaged total and subscale CSHQ scores differed only slightly between two and three years (max. Cohen's d = 0.39). Intra-individual comparisons of the CSHQ subscales or single items revealed congruent but also opposing changes in items belonging to the same subscale. Whereas items on bedtime resistance generally improved, sleep duration shortened with older age. With regard to sleep anxiety, we found worsening in the item 'Afraid of sleeping in the dark' in about one-fifth of our children whereas other items on this CSHQ subscale showed an opposing trend with age. A similar opposing trend was detected within the subscale on night wakings. Our data provide initial descriptive information on sleep habits in toddlers. The high intra-individual changes, partly in opposing directions which may be masked by aggregation, indicate a need for age- and item-specific analyses. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  20. Children of the closet: a measurement of the anxiety and self-esteem of children raised by a non-disclosed homosexual or bisexual parent.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Murray, Paul D; McClintock, Karen

    2005-01-01

    This research examined whether a parent's non-disclosure of his or her homosexual or bisexual orientation within the family unit negatively affects self-esteem and anxiety in children, as measured in adulthood. Thirty-six subjects indicated that they had not known of their parent's sexual orientation until an average age of sixteen for the children of lesbian or bisexual mothers, and twenty-two for the children of gay or bisexual fathers. This group's scores on the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, the Marlowe Crowne Social Desirabilty Scale and the State-Trait Anxiety Scale were compared to scores obtained by sixty-three participants who did not have a homosexual/bisexual parent. The number of years a secretive environment surrounded the child was measured, as were participants' attitudes about the secret sexual identity. Although the study did not find that adults previously raised with a closeted parent had significantly higher levels of anxiety or lower levels of self-esteem, results indicated that those who had been raised as children with non-disclosed lesbian mothers showed a significantly higher level of self-esteem than participants with heterosexual parents. Implications of the findings for the targeted population are discussed.