Psychomotor development in very and extremely low-birth-weight preterm children: Could it be predicted by early motor milestones and perinatal complications?

Preterm-born children are at risk of slower psychomotor development. This risk may be associated with low birth weight and other perinatal factors and morbidities. We aimed to assess psychomotor development in school-aged preterm children, and to determine whether some early motor and perinatal variables could be related to and/or predict the later motor achievements.

Functional near-infrared spectroscopy in the neuropsychological assessment of spatial memory: A systematic review.

Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is a non-invasive optical imaging technique that employs near-infrared light to measure cortical brain oxygenation. The use of fNIRS has increased exponentially in recent years. Spatial memory is defined as the ability to learn and use spatial information.

Neuropsychological Development and New Criteria for Extrauterine Growth Restriction in Very Low-Birth-Weight Children.

Background: Controversy between short-term neonatal growth of very low birth-weight preterm (VLBW) and neurodevelopment may be affected by criteria changes of extrauterine growth restriction (EUGR).

Objective: to determine if new EUGR criteria imply modifications in the relationship between old criteria and results of neuropsychological tests in preterm children.

Patients And Methods: 87 VLBW at 5-7 years of age were studied.

Patients with Parkinson's Disease Show Alteration in their Visuospatial Abilities and in their Egocentric and Allocentric Spatial Orientation Measured by Card Placing Tests.

Background: Visuospatial skills are impaired in Parkinson's disease (PD). Other related skills exist, such as spatial orientation have been poorly studied. The egocentric (based on internal cues) and allocentric frameworks (based on external cues) are used in daily spatial orientation.

Spatial memory assessment reveals age-related differences in egocentric and allocentric memory performance.

Humans move through the environment to reach a place mainly using two strategies: egocentric, taking the viewer's position as a point of reference, and allocentric, employing external landmarks in order to create a mental map of the environment. Aging seems to be associated with a deterioration in these functions, and although participants are evaluated with both virtual and real-environment tasks, performance on these two strategies is not frequently compared. Our objective was to evaluate egocentric and allocentric spatial memory in young and older adult populations using three tasks performed in real environments that allow the perception of 3-D information present in our daily orientation and make it possible to analyse each strategy separately.

Egocentric and allocentric spatial memory in typically developed children: Is spatial memory associated with visuospatial skills, behavior, and cortisol?

Introduction: Spatial orientation relies mainly on two frameworks. The egocentric depends on our own position and point of view. The allocentric relies on remembering, recalling, and recognizing environmental stimuli called landmarks.

The association between perinatal and neonatal variables and neuropsychological development in very and extremely low-birth-weight preterm children at the beginning of primary school.

Preterm children with very low birth weight (<1,500 g) and extremely low birth weight (<1,000 g) have an increased risk of experiencing neuropsychological delays. The purpose of this study is to characterize the neuropsychological profile of very and extremely low birth weight preterm children and discover what maternal conditions, diseases, procedures, and alterations in preterm newborns could be related to their later neuropsychological development. Eighty-nine preterm children (aged from 5 to 7 years) were assessed on their intelligence quotient (IQ), executive function, memory, and visuospatial memory in a single session, using the RIST and NEPSY-II test.

Development of egocentric and allocentric spatial orientation abilities in children born preterm with very low birth weight.

Background: Very low birth weight preterm infants show neuropsychological alterations in functions such as memory or visuospatial skills, although certain related functions, such as spatial orientation, have not been studied.

Objectives: To compare children born preterm and at term between the ages of 5 and 7 years on egocentric and allocentric spatial orientation, and relate their performance to visuospatial skills, behavior, memory in daily environments, and perinatal risk factors.

Study Design: Observational cross-sectional study.

Spatial orientation assessment in preschool children: Egocentric and allocentric frameworks.

Spatial orientation is an important function in daily life because it allows us to reach a target place when moving through our environment, using self-centered (egocentric) or environmental information (allocentric). Compared to other cognitive functions, spatial orientation has been studied less in preschool ages. Some brain areas, such as the hippocampus and the temporal as well as the parietal and frontal cortices, are involved in spatial orientation.

[Quality of life of parents of school age children with a birth weight less than 1500 grams].

Introduction: The birth of a preterm child has a high family emotional cost. The aim of this study is to assess the quality of life of parents of children aged 5-7 years born prematurely (<1500g).

Participants And Methods: This is a cross-sectional study of a sample of parents of preterm infants admitted to a third level hospital in Spain between 2009 and 2011.

[Identification of behavioural and emotional problems in premature children in the primary care setting].

Objective: To demonstrate the usefulness, for use by the primary care pediatrician, of the BASC questionnaire (Behavior Assessment System for Children) for the early detection of psychological and behavioral problems in premature infants.

Design: Cross-sectional and descriptive study.

Setting: Primary care (Health Area IV of the Principado of Asturias) and Hospital Universitario Central de Asturias, Spain.