Major brain injuries at term continue to influence DTI parameters in adolescents born very preterm: a 13-year follow-up study.

Background: Major brain injuries in structural brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at term affect concurrent diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) parameters in very preterm infants. White matter is known to gradually maturate along with increasing gestational age, which is characterized by increasing fractional anisotropy (FA) and decreasing mean diffusivity (MD).

Purpose: To study the difference between DTI parameters at term and 13 years in adolescents born very preterm with and without major pathologies in structural brain MRI at term.

HBM4EU feasibility studies: Lessons learned in combining health and human biomonitoring studies.

Background: The European Human Biomonitoring Initiative (HBM4EU) is a joint program evaluating humans' exposure to several environmental substances and their potential health effects. One of the main objectives of HBM4EU is to make use of human biomonitoring (HBM) to assess human exposure to chemicals in Europe to better understand the associated health impacts and to improve chemical risk assessment. In parallel to HBM studies, health examination surveys (HESs), nutrition/dietary surveys, and disease specific health surveys are conducted in many European countries.

Peripapillary retinal nerve fibre layer thickness and macular ganglion cell layer volume in association with motor and cognitive outcomes in 11-year-old children born very preterm.

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to study the association between retinal parameters and motor and cognitive outcomes in children born very preterm.

Methods: This study is part of a prospective cohort study of very preterm infants (birth weight ≤ 1500 grams/gestational age < 32 weeks). At 11 years of age, the ophthalmological assessment included a retinal optical coherence tomography (OCT) examination of the peripapillary retinal nerve fibre layer (PRNFL) and the macular ganglion cell layer (GCL).

Performance in Hand Coordination Tasks and Concurrent Functional MRI Findings in 13-Year-Olds Born Very Preterm.

Background: Fine motor and coordination problems are frequently reported among adolescents born preterm. We aimed to assess performance in hand coordination tasks and to compare concurrent brain activation between adolescents born very preterm and at term at 13 years.

Methods: A total of 34 right-handed adolescents born very preterm (gestational age less than 32 weeks/birth weight ≤1500 grams) and 37 controls born at term during 2003 to 2006 in Turku University Hospital, Finland, were recruited.

Hammersmith Infant Neurological Examination and long-term cognitive outcome in children born very preterm.

Aim: To study the association between the Hammersmith Infant Neurological Examination (HINE) at age 2 years and neurocognition at age 11 years in children born very preterm. We hypothesized that the HINE at 2 years would be associated with neurocognition, that is, neurological, motor, and cognitive outcomes at 11 years.

Method: A total of 174 children (mean gestational age 29.

Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging during Visual Perception Tasks in Adolescents Born Prematurely.

Objectives: Impairments in visual perception are among the most common developmental difficulties related to being born prematurely, and they are often accompanied by problems in other developmental domains. Neural activation in participants born prematurely and full-term during tasks that assess several areas of visual perception has not been studied. To better understand the neural substrates of the visual perceptual impairments, we compared behavioral performance and brain activations during visual perception tasks in adolescents born very preterm (birth weight ≤1500 g or gestational age <32 weeks) and full-term.

Preterm children's developmental coordination disorder, cognition and quality of life: a prospective cohort study.

Objective: To evaluate the rate of developmental coordination disorder (DCD) and its correlation to cognition and self-experienced health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in children born very preterm.

Design: Prospective follow-up study.

Setting: Regional population of children born very preterm in Turku University Hospital, Finland, in 2001-2006.

Diffusion tensor imaging is associated with motor outcomes of very preterm born children at 11 years of age.

Aim: Very preterm children born <32 weeks of gestation are at risk for motor difficulties such as cerebral palsy and developmental coordination disorder. This study explores the association between diffusion tensor imaging metrics at term and motor outcomes at 11 years of age.

Methods: A cohort of 37 very preterm infants (mean gestational age 29 4/7, SD 2 0/7) born in 2004-2006 in Turku University Hospital underwent diffusion tensor imaging at term.