The Athletic Skills Track: Age- and gender-related normative values of a motor skills test for 4- to 12-year-old children

Objectives

The aim of the presented study is to provide age- and gender-related normative values and MQ values for a motor skills test, the Athletic Skills Track, among 4- to 12-year-old children.

Dental age assessment (DAA): a study of a Caucasian population at the 13 year threshold

The purpose of this study was to develop a Reference Data Set for Dental Age Assessment at the 13 year old threshold in Caucasian children.

Patients, Materials and Methods

The Reference Data Set comprised 5187 re-used Dental Panoramic Tomographs (DPTs) between the ages of 11-15 years, from both the Eastman Dental Hospital and King’s College Dental Hospital archives. Tooth Development Stages were recorded for the left maxillary and mandibular teeth and all four permanent third molars (Demirjian et al., 1973, Demirjian 1978). A separate Study Sample of DPTs, comprising 50 males and 50 females aged between 10 and 16 years was collected to test the accuracy of the method. Summary Data was generated for the individual Tooth Development Stages which consisted of the number (n-tds), mean (x), standard deviation (sd) and the standard error (se). By using the mathematical techniques of meta-analysis, this data was used to estimate the age of each subject in the Study Sample. The estimated Dental Age derived was compared to the gold standard of Chronological Age.

Results

The mean difference between the Chronological Age and Dental Age was determined to be −0.1 years (−1.2 months) for males and 0.05 years (−0.6 months) for females.

Conclusion

Dental Age was reliably estimated at the 13 year threshold.     

A call to improve the validity of criterion-based content analysis (CBCA): Results from a field-based study including 60 children's statements of sexual abuse

The growing awareness of sexually-abused children has led to a major shift: previously considered untrustworthy, children are now regarded as competent in providing medico-legal evidence. Professionals undertaking the challenging task of assessing the child's credibility need to rely upon approved evaluation methods. The Criteria-Based Content Analysis is a tool developed to assess the truthfulness of a child's verbal statement. This field-based study explores its validity and its limitations.Three independent experts rated the verbatim statements of 60 real-life alleged victims of sexual abuse. The CBCA scoring and final assessment of credibility were linked to the outcomes: confirmed or unconfirmed allegation of sexual abuse.Inter-rater reliability coefficient was 0.74. The average overall accuracy rate corresponding to confirmed and unconfirmed cases was 75%. Among the confirmed allegations, the accuracy rate reached 90%, whereas the probability of discriminating the true negative cases within the unconfirmed cases was lower than chance level. Of all the 19 criteria, items 6 “Reproduction of conversation” and 12 “Accounts of subjective mental state” were the strongest predictors of genuine accounts. A significant association between age and CBCA scores was noted, the effect of age on CBCA scores was strongest in the unconfirmed cases.Although some may argue that the validity of the CBCA is reasonably acceptable, results from this field study are less convincing. Increasing the diagnostic accuracy of the CBCA by adding new criteria, so as to raise the percentage of correct classifications in the confirmed accounts as well as in the unconfirmed accounts, would represent a major improvement.     

Complementary information from magnetic resonance imaging and (18)F-fluoromisonidazole positron emission tomography in the assessment of the response to an antiangiogenic treatment in a rat brain tumor model

Introduction

No direct proof has been brought to light in a link between hypoxic changes in glioma models and the effects of antiangiogenic treatments. Here, we assessed the sensitivity of the detection of hypoxia through the use of ¹⁸F-fluoromisonidazole positron emission tomography ([¹⁸F]-FMISO PET) in response to the evolution of the tumor and its vasculature.

Methods

Orthotopic glioma tumors were induced in rats after implantation of C6 or 9L cells. Sunitinib was administered from day (D) 17 to D24. At D17 and D24, multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging was performed to characterize tumor growth and vasculature. Hypoxia was assessed by [¹⁸F]-FMISO PET.

Results

We showed that brain hypoxic volumes are related to glioma volume and its vasculature and that an antiangiogenic treatment, leading to an increase in cerebral blood volume and a decrease in vessel permeability, is accompanied by a decrease in the degree of hypoxia.

Conclusions

We propose that [¹⁸F]-FMISO PET and multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging are pertinent complementary tools in the evaluation of the effects of an antiangiogenic treatment in glioma.