Functional characterization of plantar pressure patterns in gait of typically developing children using dynamic pedobarography.

Background: Abnormal foot posture is a common complaint presented in pediatric and pediatric orthopedic clinics. Functional, objective assessment of foot posture, with the potential for early identification of pathologic foot deformities, has, however, been lacking to date. While quantifying functional and regional impulses via dynamic pedobarography can improve the clinical assessment of children's feet, normative values have not yet been reported or characterized.

The Development Impacts of COVID-19 at Home and Abroad: Politics and Implications of Government Action.

What is COVID-19's impact on development? What lessons can be drawn from development studies regarding the effects of and recovery from COVID-19? The unprecedented scale and scope of government interventions carry implications at all levels: global, national, and local. In this introduction, our team of Editors underline the importance of systematic substantive study to further knowledge acquisition, and rigorous global-, national-, or context-specific evaluation to inform evidence-based policymaking. The 12 articles summarised here capture these values and sense of "high quality".

Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy in a patient with systemic lupus erythematosus: Clues to early diagnosis.

A case of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) occurring on low dose immunosuppression for systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and Sjogren's syndrome (SS) is presented. Neurologic changes in patients with SLE or SS should not be assumed to be a disease manifestation. Importantly, serious opportunistic infections such as PML can occur in minimally immunosuppressed rheumatic patients.

Functional, impulse-based quantification of plantar pressure patterns in typical adult gait.

Background: Dynamic pedobarography is used to measure the change in plantar pressure distribution during gait. Clinical methods of pedobarographic analysis lack, however, a standardized, functional segmentation or require costly motion capture technology and expertise. Furthermore, while commonly used pedobarographic measures are mostly based on peak pressures, progressive foot deformities also depend on the duration the pressure is applied, which can be quantified via impulse measures.

Decreased Levels of Nasal Nitric Oxide in Children With Midline Neuroanatomical Anomalies: A Possible Connection Between Ciliary Dysfunction and Isolated Nervous System Defects.

Objectives: Given the involvement of cilia in midline neurodevelopment, we set to determine whether children with midline neuroanatomical defects have increased prevalence of ciliary dysfunction, using nasal nitric oxide measurement, a screening test for primary ciliary dyskinesia.

Study Design: We measured the nasal nitric oxide levels of 26 children ages 6-17, with congenital midline central nervous system defects, who are otherwise healthy. We evaluated the effect of variables including: age, gender, and anomaly (brain, spinal cord, or combined) on our measurements.