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Motor Functioning (motor + functioning)
Selected AbstractsSchool-aged children after the end of successful treatment of non-central nervous system cancer: longitudinal assessment of health-related quality of life, anxiety and copingEUROPEAN JOURNAL OF CANCER CARE, Issue 4 2009H. MAURICE-STAM phd The aim of the study was to investigate: (1) health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and anxiety in school-aged cancer survivors during the first 4 years of continuous remission after the end of treatment; and (2) correlations of disease-related coping with HRQoL and anxiety. A total of 76 survivors aged 8,15 years completed questionnaires about HRQoL, anxiety and disease-related cognitive coping at one to five measurement occasions. Their HRQoL was compared with norm data, 2 months (n = 49) and 1 year (n = 41), 2 years (n = 41), 3 years (n = 42) and 4 years (n = 27) after treatment. Through longitudinal mixed models analyses it was investigated to what extent disease-related cognitive coping was associated with HRQoL and anxiety over time, independent of the impact of demographic and medical variables. Survivors reported worse Motor Functioning (HRQoL) 2 months after the end of treatment, but from 1 year after treatment they did no longer differ from the norm population. Lower levels of anxiety were associated with male gender, being more optimistic about the further course of the disease (predictive control) and less searching for information about the disease (interpretative control). Stronger reliance on the physician (vicarious control) was associated with better mental HRQoL. As a group, survivors regained good HRQoL from 1 year after treatment. Monitoring and screening survivors are necessary to be able to trace the survivors at risk of worse HRQoL. [source] Postneonatal mental and motor development of infants exposed in utero to opioid drugsINFANT MENTAL HEALTH JOURNAL, Issue 3 2001Sydney L. Hans We compared the mental and motor development of 33 infants from innercity, African American families whose mothers used opioid drugs during pregnancy with that of 45 infants from demographically comparable families where the mothers were not users of opioids. We found that during the first 2 years of life, the children exposed to opioid drugs showed poorer functioning on Bayley Scales mental and psychomotor development indices as well as on Infant Behavior Record ratings of mental and motor functioning. Although both groups of children performed in the normal range during infancy, both groups showed sharp declines in their developmental scores during the second year of life relative to norms. The poorer performance of the opioid-exposed group in mental development was related to social-environmental risk factors; in psychomotor development, to reduced birth weight. © 2001 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health. [source] Ethanol Acutely Modulates mGluR1-Dependent Long-Term Depression in CerebellumALCOHOLISM, Issue 7 2010Li-Da Su Background:, Acute and chronic ethanol exposure produces profound impairments in motor functioning. Individuals with lower sensitivity to the acute motor impairing effects of ethanol have an increased risk of developing alcohol dependence and abuse, and infants with subtle delays in motor coordination development may have an increased risk for subsequently developing alcoholism. Thus, understanding the mechanism by which ethanol disrupts motor functioning is very important. Methods:, Parasagittal slices of the cerebellar vermis (250 ,M thick) were prepared from P17 to 20 Sprague,Dawley rats. Whole-cell recordings of Purkinje cells were obtained with an Axopatch 200B amplifier. Parallel fiber-Purkinje cell synaptic currents were sampled at 1 kHz and digitized at 10 kHz, and synaptic long-term depression (LTD) was observed in either external or internal application of ethanol for comparison. Results:, We determined whether ethanol acutely affects parallel fiber LTD using whole-cell patch-clamp recordings from Purkinje cells. Application of ethanol both externally (50 mM) and internally (17 and 10 mM) significantly suppressed mGluR-mediate slow currents. Short-term external ethanol exposure (50 but not 17 mM) during tetanus blocked mGluR-dependent parallel fiber LTD. Furthermore, internal 17 and 10 mM ethanol completely inhibited this LTD. Conclusions:, The results of the current study demonstrate that ethanol acutely suppresses parallel fiber LTD and may influence the mGluR-mediated slow current intracellularly. This study, plus previous evidence by Carta and colleagues (2006) and Belmeguenai and colleagues (2008), suggests significant actions of ethanol on mGluR-mediated currents and its dependent plasticity in brain. [source] Pathogenesis of medulloblastoma and current treatment outlookMEDICINAL RESEARCH REVIEWS, Issue 6 2007Jaroslaw Jozwiak Abstract Medulloblastoma is the most common malignant tumor of the cerebellum in children, with a tendency to metastasize via CSF pathway. Survival rate varies depending on several factors, but is rather favorable, with radiotherapy as the treatment of choice. Irradiation of the craniospinal axis results, however, in severe neuropsychological and psychosocial impairments pertaining to memory, attention, motor functioning, language, and visuospatial abilities. Precise mechanisms underlying the formation of medulloblastoma are still unclear, but implication of at least three signaling molecules is postulated: insulin-like growth factor-I, WNT, and Sonic hedgehog. Thanks to increasing knowledge on the cellular mechanisms contributing to tumor formation, it is possible to propose new therapies that could replace radiotherapy or allow decreasing irradiation doses. The current review presents recent developments in medulloblastoma pathophysiology research and proposed inhibitors that could constitute good candidates for further pharmacological research. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Med Res Rev, 27, No. 6, 869,890, 2007 [source] Parsing brain activity associated with acupuncture treatment in Parkinson's diseases,MOVEMENT DISORDERS, Issue 12 2009Younbyoung Chae KMD Abstract Acupuncture, a common treatment modality within complementary and alternative medicine, has been widely used for Parkinson's disease (PD). Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we explored the neural mechanisms underlying the effect of specific and genuine acupuncture treatment on the motor function in patients with PD. Three fMRI scans were performed in random order in a block design, one for verum acupuncture (VA) treatment, another one for a covert placebo (CP), and the third one for an overt placebo (OP) at the motor function implicated acupoint GB34 on the left foot of 10 patients with PD. We calculated the contrast that subtracts the blood-oxygen-level dependent (BOLD) response for the acupuncture effect (VA vs. CP) and the placebo effect (CP vs. OP). We found a significant improvement in the motor function of the affected hand after acupuncture treatment. The putamen and the primary motor cortex were activated when patients with PD received the acupuncture treatment (VA vs. CP) and these activations correlated with individual enhanced motor function. Expectation towards acupuncture modality (CP vs. OP) elicited activation over the anterior cingulate gyrus, the superior frontal gyrus, and the superior temporal gyrus. These findings suggest that acupuncture treatment might facilitate improvement in the motor functioning of patients with PD via the basal ganglia-thalamocortical circuit. © 2009 Movement Disorder Society [source] Divergence of Fine and Gross Motor Skills in Prelingually Deaf Children: Implications for Cochlear Implantation,THE LARYNGOSCOPE, Issue 8 2006David L. Horn MD Abstract Objective: The objective of this study was to assess relations between fine and gross motor development and spoken language processing skills in pediatric cochlear implant users. Study Design: The authors conducted a retrospective analysis of longitudinal data. Methods: Prelingually deaf children who received a cochlear implant before age 5 and had no known developmental delay or cognitive impairment were included in the study. Fine and gross motor development were assessed before implantation using the Vineland Adaptive Behavioral Scales, a standardized parental report of adaptive behavior. Fine and gross motor scores reflected a given child's motor functioning with respect to a normative sample of typically developing, normal-hearing children. Relations between these preimplant scores and postimplant spoken language outcomes were assessed. Results: In general, gross motor scores were found to be positively related to chronologic age, whereas the opposite trend was observed for fine motor scores. Fine motor scores were more strongly correlated with postimplant expressive and receptive language scores than gross motor scores. Conclusions: Our findings suggest a disassociation between fine and gross motor development in prelingually deaf children: fine motor skills, in contrast to gross motor skills, tend to be delayed as the prelingually deaf children get older. These findings provide new knowledge about the links between motor and spoken language development and suggest that auditory deprivation may lead to atypical development of certain motor and language skills that share common cortical processing resources. [source] Long-term follow up of children exposed in utero to nifedipine or ritodrine for the management of preterm labourBJOG : AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF OBSTETRICS & GYNAECOLOGY, Issue 3 2006BA Houtzager Objective, To compare the long-term psychosocial and motor effects on children exposed in utero to nifedipine or ritodrine for the management of preterm labour. Design, Randomised controlled trial. Setting, Multicentre study in two university and one primary hospital in the Netherlands. Population, In the original trial, 185 women were randomised to either nifedipine (n= 95) or ritodrine (n= 90). Of the 185 liveborn children, 171 survived (92%), and of these 102 (61%) were followed up at age 9,12 years. Methods, Age-specific questionnaires were administered to the parent and teacher. Additional data were obtained from medical records. Main outcome measures, Questionnaires were used to assess the child's behavioural,emotional problems, quality of life (QoL), motor functioning, parenting distress and the child's education. Results, Of the 171 eligible families, 102 (61%) agreed to participate and completed the questionnaires. Response was equal in the ritodrine group (n= 54 of 83 surviving children, 65%) compared with the nifedipine group (n= 48 of 88 surviving children, 55%). After controlling for differing perinatal characteristics at birth, no significant differences between the groups were detected with respect to long-term behaviour,emotional outcome, QoL, education, motor functioning or parenting distress. Psychosocial outcome was slightly better in the nifedipine group. Conclusions, The results do not support any differential postnatal effect of the tocolytic agents ritodrine or nifedipine on the child's long-term psychosocial and motor functioning. The slightly better outcome of children randomised in the nifedipine group is most likely due to more favourable perinatal outcomes in this group. These results merit further investigation in a larger group of survivors. [source] Do parental ratings on cognition reflect neuropsychological outcome in congenital heart disease?ACTA PAEDIATRICA, Issue 1 2008Marijke Miatton Abstract Aim: To describe the parental view of the cognitive skills of their child with a surgically corrected congenital heart disease (CHD) and compare it to objectified cognitive measures in children with CHD 6,12 years postoperatively. Methods: Parents completed a questionnaire on several cognitive functions of their child. Children with CHD and healthy controls (n = 86, aged 8 years 8 months ± 1 year 6 months) underwent an abbreviated IQ-testing and a neurodevelopmental assessment. Results: Parents of the children with CHD more frequently indicated lower sustained attention (p < 0.05), lower divided attention (p < 0.001), more problems with memory and learning skills (p < 0.05), and deficient gross motor functioning (p < 0.01) compared to the parents of healthy controls. Intellectual and neuropsychological assessment revealed a lower estimated full-scale IQ (p < 0.01), worse sensorimotor functioning (p < 0.001), and lower performances on language (p < 0.001), attention/executive functioning (p < 0.05), and memory (p < 0.05) in the CHD-group. Several items of the questionnaire were significant predictors for worse neurodevelopmental outcome. Conclusion: Overall, the objective and subjective measures on cognitive functioning are in agreement and indicate the presence of neurocognitive deficits in children with CHD. This study endorses the accuracy and usefulness of a parental questionnaire to report on the cognitive functioning of the child and urges the investigation of neurocognitive functioning in children with CHD at follow-up. [source] | ||||||||||