Long-term outcome and rehabilitation needs after acquired brain injury in children and adolescents - an evaluation in a Swedish cohort.

Unlabelled: Children with acquired brain injury (ABI) are at risk of developing cognitive, physical, or emotional impairments that affect their daily lives at home, school, and in society.

Purpose: To explore this, we used the Swedish version of the Child and Family Follow-up Survey (CFFS-SWE) to describe the participation of 39 children (aged 5-17 years) who had sustained ABIs.

Materials And Methods: We assessed their participation using the CFFS-SWE at three points: upon discharge from the acute hospital, six months post-discharge, and between one and four years after discharge.

Somatostatin receptor expression and mTOR pathway activation in glioneuronal tumours of childhood.

Purpose: To investigate the expression of somatostatin receptors (SSTRs) and markers of mTOR pathway in paediatric glioneuronal tumours and correlate these findings with tumour type, BRAFV600E mutational status and clinical characteristics such as tumour location, seizure frequency and duration, and age.

Method: 37 children and adolescents with a neuropathological diagnosis of glioneuronal tumour were identified over a 22-year period. Immunohistochemical analyses for SSTRs type 1, 2A, 3, 5 and ezrin-radixin-moesin (ERM) and phosphorylated S6 (pS6), which are indicators of mTOR pathway activation, were performed in tumour specimens from 33 patients and evaluated using the immunoreactive score (IRS).

Cognition, health-related quality of life, and mood in children and young adults diagnosed with a glioneuronal tumor in childhood.

Aims: The aim of this study was to investigate long-term cognitive outcome, health-related quality of life (HRQoL), and psychiatric symptoms in children and young adults diagnosed with a glioneuronal tumor in childhood.

Methods: Twenty-eight children and adolescents (0-17.99years) with a minimum postoperative follow-up time of five years were eligible for the study; four persons declined participation.

Glioneuronal tumors in childhood - Before and after surgery. A long-term follow-up study.

Aim: To give a detailed description of the long-term outcome of a cohort of children with glioneuronal tumors regarding pre- and postsurgical factors, including "dual" and "double" pathology, seizure freedom, and psychosocial outcome.

Methods: During a fifteen-year period (1995-2009), all patients (age 0-17.99years) with a glioneuronal brain tumor diagnosed and treated at Uppsala University Children's Hospital were identified from the National Brain Tumor Registry and the National Epilepsy Surgery Registry.

Clinical characteristics and late effects in CNS tumours of childhood: Do not forget long term follow-up of the low grade tumours.

Aim: To investigate clinical characteristics and late effects of CNS tumours in childhood with a special focus on low-grade tumours, especially low-grade astrocytoma and glioneuronal tumours.

Methods: A retrospective population based study was performed at Uppsala University Children's Hospital, a tertiary referral centre for children with CNS tumours. Patients were identified from the National Brain Tumour Registry and the National Epilepsy Surgery Registry.

Gaze-based assistive technology in daily activities in children with severe physical impairments-An intervention study.

Objective: To establish the impact of a gaze-based assistive technology (AT) intervention on activity repertoire, autonomous use, and goal attainment in children with severe physical impairments, and to examine parents' satisfaction with the gaze-based AT and with services related to the gaze-based AT intervention.

Methods: Non-experimental multiple case study with before, after, and follow-up design. Ten children with severe physical impairments without speaking ability (aged 1-15 years) participated in gaze-based AT intervention for 9-10 months, during which period the gaze-based AT was implemented in daily activities.

Increased perinatal intracranial pressure and brainstem dysfunction predict early puberty in boys with myelomeningocele.

Background: Children with myelomeningocele (MMC) run an increased risk of developing early or precocious puberty (E/PP).

Aim:   To identify risk factors for E/PP in boys with MMC.

Methods: Boys born between 1970 and 1992, treated for MMC at the University Children's Hospital, Uppsala, were identified.

The influence of ICT on the activity patterns of children with physical disabilities outside school.

Aim: To investigate the outside school activity patterns of children with physical disabilities, and specifically their information and communication technology (ICT) usage compared with that of non-disabled children. In addition, the aim was to investigate the children's opinions on computer use and the associations between their use of the Internet and their interaction with peers.

Methods: Questionnaire on activities outside school, answered by 215 children and youths with physical disabilities, mean age 12 years 10 months, attending mainstream schools.

Intrarater and interrater reliability of Myotonometer measurements of muscle tone in children.

The aim of this study was to investigate reliability of Myotonometer measurements, by assessing muscle tone in muscle rectus femoris in children with cerebral palsy and children without disabilities. Differences in muscle tone between groups and conditions, contracted or relaxed, were also investigated. A total of 15 children with cerebral palsy and 15 children without disabilities participated.

Neuropsychologic and motor function in small-for-gestation preschoolers.

The aim of this study was to evaluate neuropsychologic and motor performance in term small-for-gestation preschool children. A patient-based sample of 311 5-year-old children with birth weights less than the fifteenth percentile for gestation was compared with a random sample of 321 appropriate-for-gestation control subjects. The main assessment tools were subscales from the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence Revised, subscales from the Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities, tests of manual dexterity and figure copying, and the Peabody Developmental Motor Scales.

Force measurements of postural sway and rapid arm lift in seated children with and without MMC.

Objective: The aim was to investigate the horizontal ground reaction forces of seated postural sway and rapid arm lift in children with and without myelomeningocele. BACKGROUND; It is unclear whether children with myelomeningocele have limited control of body posture entirely caused by the impairment in the legs or also by other dysfunction.

Methods: 11 children with myelomeningocele, 10-13 years, and 20 children without physical impairment were investigated.

Behavior in term, small for gestational age preschoolers.

Aims: To evaluate whether being born small for gestational age (SGA) was associated with an increased frequency of preschool behavioral problems.

Study Design: Follow-up study at 5 years of age.

Subjects: A population based cohort of 318 term infants who were SGA, defined as having a birthweight less than the 15th percentile for gestational age, and without major handicap such as cerebral palsy or mental retardation, and a random control sample of 307 appropriate for gestational age (AGA) infants.

Cognitive development of term small for gestational age children at five years of age.

Aim: To assess the relative significance for cognitive development of small for gestational age, parental demographic factors, and factors related to the child rearing environment.

Methods: IQ of a population based cohort of 338 term infants who were small for gestational age (SGA) and without major handicap, and a random control sample of 335 appropriate for gestational age (AGA) infants were compared at 5 years of age.

Results: The mean non-verbal IQ was four points lower, while the mean verbal IQ was three points lower for the children in the SGA group.

Routine ultrasound screening in pregnancy and the children's subsequent neurologic development.

Objective: To test the null hypothesis of no association between ultrasound exposure in early fetal life and impaired neurologic development in childhood.

Methods: Study of children age 8-9 years whose mothers participated in a randomized controlled trial of ultrasound screening during pregnancy in Sweden during 1985-1987. Of 4637 eligible singletons, 3265 (70%) were studied through a questionnaire to their mothers.

Small-for-gestational-age (SGA) infants born at term: growth and development during the first year of life.

Background: The purpose was to compare growth patterns and psychomotor development of healthy small-for-gestational-age (SGA) and non-SGA infants, and identify factors predictive of outcome at 13 months of age.

Method: A total of 265 SGA infants and 329 non-SGA controls were identified from a multicenter cohort of 5722 para 1 and 2 women who had been followed during pregnancy. The infants were examined at 2 days and at 13 months of age.

Body proportions and early neonatal morbidity in small-for-gestational-age infants of successive births.

Background: We wanted to examine if infants who were small for gestational age (SGA) at term had increased perinatal mortality or morbidity compared to non-SGA infants, and if this could be related to the infant's body proportions, or to whether the mother previously had delivered a low-birthweight infant ("repeater") or not ("non-repeater").

Methods: From a cohort of 5722 para 1 and para 2 women, we compared perinatal mortality in 541 SGA (birthweight < 10th percentile) and 4737 non-SGA infants. From the same cohort, early neonatal morbidity was studied in 368 SGA and 462 control infants without congenital malformations.

Maternal child-rearing attitudes, IQ, and socioeconomic status as related to cognitive abilities of five-year-old children.

The effects of maternal child-rearing attitudes, as measured by the Child Rearing Practices Report, on 5-yr.-old children's Verbal IQ and Performance IQ were investigated in a Scandinavian sample of 108 boys and 126 girls. The maternal child-rearing attitude of Restrictiveness, as defined by scores on the Report, showed negative relations to the cognitive measures.

Increased perinatal intracranial pressure and prediction of early puberty in girls with myelomeningocele.

An increased risk of developing precocious puberty has been reported in children with myelomeningocele. In order to evaluate this further and to study factors associated with early or precocious puberty the medical records of all girls with myelomeningocele, born from 1970 onwards (n = 64), who were admitted to our unit were reviewed. Early/precocious puberty (E/PP) was defined as breast development or pubic hair corresponding to Tanner stage 2 before the age of 9.

Morbidity during the first year of life in small for gestational age infants.

Postneonatal morbidity during infancy was studied in 284 small for gestational age (SGA) and 359 non-SGA term infants. None of these babies had congenital malformations and they were born to para 1 and para 2 mothers. SGA infants had an increased risk (OR: 1.

Hyperkalemic periodic paralysis caused by recurring mutation in the adult muscle sodium channel alpha-subunit gene.

Linkage studies and mutation analysis were performed in two Swedish families with hyperkalemic periodic paralysis (HYPP), an autosomal dominant inherited disorder characterized by episodic muscle weakness associated with increasing or high levels of serum potassium. The gene for HYPP is the gene encoding the alpha-subunit of the sodium channel of adult human skeletal muscle (SCN4A). SCN4A has been localized on chromosome 17 q closely linked to the human growth hormone gene.

Neurological dysfunction above cele level in children with spina bifida cystica: a prospective study to three years.

The aim of this study was to characterize the neurological dysfunction above the cele level in children with spina bifida cystica. 22 neonates were investigated prospectively to a median age of three years. Before primary closure of the spinal malformation and at three and 18 months of age, MRI and inspection of vocal cord function were performed.