Leveraging Limited Resources Through Cross-Jurisdictional Sharing: Influences on Breastfeeding Rates.

Background: Cross-jurisdictional sharing is gaining traction as an option for increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of public health services in local health departments.

Research Aim: Assess whether breastfeeding initiation among participants in the changed with the addition of a trained breastfeeding specialist funded by cross-jurisdictional integration.

Methods: A longitudinal retrospective comparative difference in difference design using state-based program data, pre- and post-integration was undertaken.

Visuo-spatial and linguistic abilities in a twin with Williams syndrome.

The present study reports a case of dizygotic twins, one boy with Williams syndrome (WS) and one typically developing girl, and compares their neuropsychological profiles. The goal of the present authors was to verify whether the child with WS displayed a cognitive profile which is unique to the syndrome. Several tests designed to assess visuo-perceptual, visuo-motor, linguistic and memory abilities were administered to both children when they were 10.

Linguistic abilities in Italian children with Williams syndrome.

Recent studies on subjects with Williams syndrome (WS) have revealed a particular facility for language, rarely observed in other mental retarded populations, inspiring much belief in the independence of language from cognition. Lexical and morphosyntactic abilities of 17 Italian WS individuals, between 4.10 and 15.

Memory abilities in children with Williams syndrome.

Williams syndrome (WS) is a rare genetic condition characterised by intellectual disability, typical facial dysmorphology and several medical anomalies. A specific neuropsychological profile with a dissociation between language (relatively preserved) and visuo-spatial abilities (more seriously impaired) has been hypothesised in these children. Memory abilities of these patients have not been adequately investigated, although they may substantially contribute to better understanding their neuropsychological profile.

Short-term memory in children with Williams syndrome: a reduced contribution of lexical--semantic knowledge to word span.

Williams syndrome (WS) is a genetic syndrome of abnormal neurodevelopment, characterised by a specific linguistic pattern. Comparing performances of WS subjects with those of normal children in a word span task, we found that WS subjects revealed normal phonological similarity and length effects but a reduced frequency effect. Our results suggest comparable phonological encoding mechanisms in WS and normal controls and, at the same time, it provides evidence for an impaired access to lexical-semantic knowledge in WS subjects.