Has the COVID-19 pandemic negatively impacted children's development? An assessment of the neurodevelopment of premature babies born during the pandemic.

Background: Pandemics, such as COVID-19, have the potential to adversely affect children's development due to a variety of negative factors at the level of children, families, and services. In this study the effect of the pandemic on the cognitive, language and motor development of premature babies who are among the most vulnerable group, were evaluated.

Methods: The study included 236 premature infants who were followed at Hacettepe University Department of Developmental Pediatrics.

Turkish families with juvenile motor neuron disease broaden the phenotypic spectrum of SPG11.

Objective: Identification of causative mutations in 3 consanguineous families (with 4 affected members) referred to our center with young-onset motor neuron disease and overlapping phenotypes resembling autosomal recessive juvenile amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ARJALS) and autosomal recessive hereditary spastic paraplegia (ARHSP).

Methods: Patients have a slowly progressive motor neuron disease with upper and lower motor neuron dysfunction. There is distal muscle weakness and atrophy associated with pyramidal signs.

The distinct genetic pattern of ALS in Turkey and novel mutations.

The frequency of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) mutations has been extensively investigated in several populations; however, a systematic analysis in Turkish cases has not been reported so far. In this study, we screened 477 ALS patients for mutations, including 116 familial ALS patients from 82 families and 361 sporadic ALS (sALS) cases. Patients were genotyped for C9orf72 (18.