Relationship between physical growth and motor development in the WHO Child Growth Standards

Aim: To examine relationships among physical growth indicators and ages of achievement of six gross motor milestones in the WHO Child Growth Standards population. Methods: Gross motor development assessments were performed longitudinally on the 816 children included in the WHO Child Growth Standards. Six milestones (sitting without support, hands-and-knees crawling, standing with assistance, walking with assistance, standing alone, walking alone) were assessed monthly from 4 until 12 mo of age and bimonthly thereafter until children could walk alone or reached 24 mo. Failure time models were used 1) to examine associations between specified ages of motor milestone achievement and attained growth z scores and 2) to quantify these relationships as delays or accelerations in ages of milestone achievement. Results: Statistically significant associations were noted between ages of achievement of sitting without support and attained weight-for-age, weight-for-length and BMI-for-age z scores. An increase of one unit z score in these indicators was associated with 3 to 6 d acceleration in the respective achievement age. Statistically significant associations also were noted between various milestone achievement ages and growth when 3- or 6-mo and birth length-for-age z scores were entered jointly in the failure time models. In these analyses, one unit z-score increase in length-for-age was associated with 1 to 3 d delay in the respective achievement age.
Conclusion: Sporadic, significant associations were observed between gross motor development and some physical growth indicators, but these were quantitatively of limited practical significance. These results suggest that, in healthy populations, the attainment of these six gross motor milestones is largely independent of variations in physical growth.     

Impact of neurocognitive function on academic difficulties in pediatric bipolar disorder: A clinical translation.

BACKGROUND: Previous research has demonstrated that academic and neuropsychological functions are compromised in pediatric bipolar disorder (PBD). Investigation of the degree to which neuropsychological deficits might contribute to those academic problems is needed to aid in the recognition and intervention for school achievement difficulties in PBD. METHODS: A sample of 55 children and adolescents with PBD with and without attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) (PBD group, n = 28; PBD+ADHD group, n = 27) were tested with a computerized neurocognitive battery and standardized neuropsychological tests. Age range of subjects was 7-17 years, with the mean age of 11.97 (3.18) years. Parents completed a structured questionnaire on school and academic functioning. RESULTS: Logistic regression analyses indicated that executive function, attention, working memory, and verbal memory scores were poorer in those with a history of reading/writing difficulties. A separate logistic regression analysis found that attentional dysfunction predicted math difficulties. These relationships between neuropsychological function and academic difficulties were not different in those with PBD+ADHD than in those with PBD alone. CONCLUSIONS: In PBD neuropsychological deficits in the areas of attention, working memory, and organization/problem solving skills all contribute to academic difficulties. Early identification and intervention for these difficulties might help prevent lower academic achievement in PBD.     

Framing the child at risk

Risk Assessment Reports are one form of accounting practice which delineate the space of risk considered in a child abuse neglect investigation. The paper analyses two Risk Assessment Reports, contrasting what is reported, what is directly observed and what is hypothesized and implied by child protection practitioners during the assessment of risk. From an analysis of these two reports (each 4 – 5 pages long), the paper identifies the rhetorical strategies and their realizations used by two practitioners in framing the child at risk. The paper problematizes the tension between the institutional need to constrain the exercise of professional judgement through Risk Assessment Models, and the extent to which practitioners actually localize the framing of risk to specific areas of investigation.     

早期干预对高危儿在婴儿早期发育的影响

目的：探讨早期干预对高危儿在婴儿早期发育的影响。方法：采用自行设计的一套早期干预方法通过指导家长对实验组实施，分别在3个月、6个月时进行格体生长和行为发育的评估，另设对照组进行比较。结果：实验组和对照组在体重、身长、头围方面均无统计学差异，但实验组的5个能区行为发育商均值都高于对照组，除3个月的语言能区外，其余均有统计学差异。结论：早期干预在婴儿早期就能促进高危儿的行为发育，但对促进高危儿的体格生长无明显效果。     

Wound Botulism Associated with Black Tar Heroin

The incidence of wound botulism is increasing and the epidemiology of the disease is changing. The majority of new cases are associated with injection drug use, in particular, the use of Mexican black tar heroin. This case report and discussion of wound botulism illustrate the following important points: Dysphagia, dysphonia, diplopia, and descending paralysis, in association with injection drug use, should alert the treating physician to the possibility of wound botulism. In such patients, the onset of respiratory failure may be sudden and without clinically obvious signs of respiratory weakness. For the reported patient, maximum inspiratory force measurements were the only reliable indicator of respiratory muscle weakness. This is a measurement not routinely performed in the ED, but may prove essential for patients with suspected wound botulism. To minimize the effect of the botulinum toxin and to decrease length of hospital stay, antitoxin administration and surgical wound debridement should be performed early.     

Notions of child health: mothers' accounts of health in their young babies

This paper is concerned with mothers’ understandings of child health in their young babies. To explore how child health is depicted, explained and contextualised by mothers, altogether 29 mothers in Stockholm and London were interviewed through the baby's first months about day-to-day experiences of the baby's health and well-being. The analysis of the mothers’ accounts reveals how the mothers, in the process of assessing health, try to ‘read’ the bodily signs and reactions in their babies. Some major themes emerge on how the mothers identify and characterise threats to the health of the baby; here described as threats of abnormalities, threats to the survival of the baby, threats to the thriving of the baby and threats from illnesses. Notions of child health are discussed in relation to the ‘bodily’ and the ‘social’, and how the embodied images of child health are intertwined with the mothers’ presentations of themselves as responsible for the health of their children and as ‘worthy’ parents.     

小儿心包积液28例临床分析

目的：探讨小儿心包积液的病因、分类及诊断。方法：病例回顾性分析。结果：28例中，化脓性心包积液4例，结缔组织疾病所致心包积液16例，肾病综合征所致心包答液4例，病毒性、肺吸虫性、幼年型粘液性水肿及肿瘤性心包积液各1例。治愈、好转25例，另3例，分别死于急性心包填塞，风湿性全心炎、心功能不全、呼衰、纵隔肿瘤广泛转移。结论：小儿心包积液，可由多种致病因素引起。其临床特点，对该病的诊治有重要意义。     

自拟消咳贴穴位贴敷治疗小儿反复呼吸道感染的临床研究

[目的 ]探讨自拟消咳贴穴位贴敷治疗小儿反复呼吸道感染 (RRI)的临床效果。 [方法 ]选择 15 0例RRI患儿 ,随机分为观察组和对照组 ,观察组在对因对症治疗基础上应用自拟消咳贴穴位贴敷 ,对照组采用对因对症治疗 ;另选 3 0例正常儿童 ,观察血浆内皮素 (ET -1)、一氧化氮 (NO)变化及临床疗效。 [结果 ]观察组治疗后血浆ET -1、NO含量明显下降 (P <0 .0 1) ,而对照组治疗前后则无统计学意义 ;观察组临床总有效率高于对照组 (P <0 .0 1) ,且每月发病次数及天数也明显降低。 [结论 ]应用自拟消咳贴穴位贴敷能有效地降低RRI患儿血浆ET -1、NO水平 ,从而提高临床疗效