Introduction: Current research suggests that pediatric stroke is associated with a reduction in intellectual functioning. However, less is known about academic achievement and the contribution of specific executive functions to math and literacy in this population. The current study investigates behavioral ratings of executive functioning and their relationship to math and spelling performance in children with a history of unilateral arterial ischemic stroke.
Method: Thirty-two pediatric patients with stroke (Mage = 9.5 ± 2.7 years) and 32 demographically equivalent, healthy controls were tested on standardized measures of arithmetic, spelling, and intelligence. Executive functioning data were collected via standardized parent questionnaire.
Results: Relative to controls, stroke participants demonstrated significantly poorer functioning in math, spelling, metacognition, and behavioral-regulation. Pencil and paper arithmetic was particularly challenging for the stroke group, with 40% of patients reaching levels of clinical impairment. Hierarchical regression in stroke participants further revealed that metacognition was a robust predictor of academic deficits. Stroke occurring in later childhood and affecting cortical and subcortical brain regions also presented as potential clinical risk factors.
Conclusions: Children with stroke were especially vulnerable to math achievement deficits. Metacognition made a substantial contribution to academic achievement abilities among stroke patients, and results underscore the importance of early metacognitive skills in the completion of schoolwork. Results also emphasize that pediatric stroke patients are a heterogeneous group with regard to functioning and that there is value in examining standard score distributions of clinical participant samples. 相似文献
Melatonin, the main hormone produced by the pineal gland, is secreted in a circadian manner (24‐hr period), and its oscillation influences several circadian biological rhythms, such as the regulation of clock genes expression (chronobiotic effect) and the modulation of several endocrine functions in peripheral tissues. Assuming that the circadian synchronization of clock genes can play a role in the regulation of energy metabolism and it is influenced by melatonin, our study was designed to assess possible alterations as a consequence of melatonin absence on the circadian expression of clock genes in the epididymal adipose tissue of male Wistar rats and the possible metabolic repercussions to this tissue. Our data show that pinealectomy indeed has impacts on molecular events: it abolishes the daily pattern of the expression of Clock, Per2, and Cry1 clock genes and Pparγ expression, significantly increases the amplitude of daily expression of Rev‐erbα, and affects the pattern of and impairs adipokine production, leading to a decrease in leptin levels. However, regarding some metabolic aspects of adipocyte functions, such as its ability to synthesize triacylglycerols from glucose along 24 hr, was not compromised by pinealectomy, although the daily profile of the lipogenic enzymes expression (ATP‐citrate lyase, malic enzyme, fatty acid synthase, and glucose‐6‐phosphate dehydrogenase) was abolished in pinealectomized animals. 相似文献
In the United States there has been a large increase in participation in lacrosse for both males and females. The purpose of this study was to analyze the number of head injuries, injury rates (calculated using the reported number of participants) and types of head injuries that are seen in emergency departments in the United States.
Methods
We compared injuries between male and female lacrosse participants. This was a retrospective study using a publicly available database produced by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission and information about lacrosse participation from US Lacrosse.
Results
A linear regression was performed and showed a positive correlation between number of head injuries to males and time from 2002 to 2010 (R2?=?0.823; p?=?0.001). While the number of injuries to the head in female lacrosse participants was not significant. There was a negative correlation between the number of head injuries to males from 2010 to 2016 (R2?=?0.800; p?=?0.007), but again, there was no significance for female injury count (R2?=?0.417; p?=?0.117). Other significant differences between head injuries in males and females included the mechanism of injury and the type of injury recorded.
Conclusion
The most recent data from 2010 to 2016, suggest that both males and females have had a decrease in injury rate. However the total number of female head injuries is not significantly decreasing and as the sport continues to grow there will likely be more total head injuries and visits to the emergency department. 相似文献
The outbreaks of rabies in humans transmitted by Desmodus rotundus in 2004 and 2005,
in the northeast of the Brazilian State of Para, eastern Amazon basin, made this a
priority area for studies on this zoonosis. Given this, the present study provides
data on this phenomenon in an urban context, in order to assess the possible
circulation of the classic rabies virus (RABV) among bat species in Capanema, a town
in the Amazon basin. Bats were collected, in 2011, with mist nets during the wet and
dry seasons. Samples of brain tissue and blood were collected for virological and
serological survey, respectively. None of the 153 brain tissue samples analyzed
tested positive for RABV infection, but 50.34% (95% CI: 45.67-55.01%) of the serum
samples analyzed were seropositive. Artibeus planirostris was the most common
species, with a high percentage of seropositive individuals (52.46%, 95% CI: 52.31
52.60%). Statistically, equal proportions of seropositive results were obtained in
the rainy and dry seasons (c2 = 0.057, d.f. = 1, p = 0.88). Significantly
higher proportions of males (55.96%, 95% CI: 48.96-62.96%) and adults (52.37%, 95%
CI: 47.35-57.39%) were seropositive. While none of the brain tissue samples tested
positive for infection, the high proportion of seropositive specimens indicates that
RABV may be widespread in this urban area. 相似文献
For patients who receive a liver transplant (LTX) for alcoholic liver disease (ALD), investigators are focusing beyond survival to determine specific alcohol use outcomes. Studies suggest the use of alcohol ranges from 8 to 22% for the first post-transplant year with cumulative rates reaching 30 to 40% by 5 years following transplantation. Yet while investigators are interested in determining specific rates of alcohol use and predictors of use, only three studies since 1990 have been prospective. In 1998, we began a prospective study of post-LTX alcohol consumption in ALD recipients using multiple repeated measures of alcohol use. After 5 years of follow-up, we found that 22% had used any alcohol by the first year and 42% had a drink by 5 years. By 5 years, 26% drank at a heavier use (binge) pattern and 20% drank in a frequent pattern. In a univariate model, predictors of alcohol use included pre-transplant length of sobriety, a diagnosis of alcohol dependence, a history of other substance use, and prior alcohol rehabilitation. 相似文献
The value of maternal C-reactive protein (CRP) levels as predictors of fetal and maternal infective morbidity and fetal mortality was assessed prospectively over a 6-month period in all cases of premature rupture of the fetal membranes or suspected premature labour. Statistical analysis of results showed that CRP at a level of 1.32 mg/dl is a sensitive marker of infective morbidity in mother and neonate. Furthermore, there was a significant association between raised CRP levels and low-birth-weight babies, suggesting that intra-uterine infection is a major cause of prematurity in the study population. 相似文献
Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a disease of the small vessels in which there is a substantial increase in pulmonary vascular resistance leading to right ventricle failure and death. Invasive haemodynamic evaluation is mandatory not only for diagnosis confirmation but also to address prognosis and eligibility for the use of calcium-channel blockers through an acute vasodilator challenge. Noninvasive surrogate response markers to the acute vasodilator test have been sought. In the present study, the relationship between pulmonary artery distensibility, assessed using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and response to acute vasodilator tests was investigated. In total, 19 patients diagnosed with idiopathic PAH without any specific treatment were evaluated. Within a 48-h window after pulmonary artery catheterisation, patients underwent cardiac MRI. Cardiac index, calculated after the determination (invasively and noninvasively) of cardiac output, showed excellent correlation, as did right atrial pressure and right ventricle ejection fraction. Pulmonary artery distensibility was significantly higher in responders. A receiver operating characteristic curve analysis has shown that 10% distensibility was able to differentiate responders from nonresponders with 100% sensitivity and 56% specificity. The present findings suggest that magnetic resonance imaging and pulmonary artery distensibility may be useful noninvasive tools for the evaluation of patients with pulmonary hypertension. 相似文献