Key Flow Processes on Wards.

Objective: The aim of the study is to test a new nurse movement route analysis (NMRA) method for measuring nurses' traffic volume between rooms on wards.

Background: The World Health Organization calls for urgent investment in nurses. On the other hand, the challenges in the availability, direct care activity, and staffing of registered nurses make increasing the quality of care by process improvement a central objective for nursing.

Mortality in individuals with childhood ADHD or subthreshold symptoms - a prospective perinatal risk cohort study over 40 years.

Background: Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is associated with negative life outcomes and recent studies have linked it to increased mortality. These studies have examined nationwide registers or clinic-referred samples and mostly included participants up until the age of 30. No studies have investigated mortality associated with subthreshold levels of ADHD symptoms.

Moderate alcohol use is associated with decreased brain volume in early middle age in both sexes.

The aim was to examine cross-sectional association between moderate alcohol consumption and total brain volume in a cohort of participants in early middle-age, unconfounded by age-related neuronal change. 353 participants aged 39 to 45 years reported on their alcohol consumption using the AUDIT-C measure. Participants with alcohol abuse were excluded.

ADHD and subthreshold symptoms in childhood and life outcomes at 40 years in a prospective birth-risk cohort.

We investigated ADHD symptoms and life outcomes in adulthood and their association with childhood ADHD and subthreshold symptoms in a prospectively followed cohort with perinatal risks. We identified participants with childhood ADHD (cADHD, n = 37), subthreshold symptoms defined as attention problems (cAP, n = 64), and no ADHD or cAP (Non-cAP, n = 217). We compared the groups and a control group with no perinatal risks (n = 64) on self-reported ADHD symptoms, executive dysfunction, and life outcomes in adulthood.

Traffic and Criminal Behavior of Adults with Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity with a Prospective Follow-Up from Birth to the Age of 40 Years.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate whether individuals with attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) followed up to age 40 have a higher mortality, more involvement in criminal behavior, increased traffic accidents, and frequency or registered violations against traffic rules or whether they have been more frequently victims to crimes.

Methods: The ADHD cohort (N = 122) born in 1971-1974 was isolated at the age of 9 years from the base cohort of 865 children who had known risk factors at birth and were still alive at the age of 5 years. Ninety-four healthy individuals born during the same years served as control subjects.

A Prospective 30-Year Follow-Up of ADHD Associated With Perinatal Risks.

Objective: Longitudinal follow-up of ADHD suggests a poorer outcome in those affected. Studies extending to 30 years however are rare. We investigated the adult outcome of ADHD associated with perinatal risks (PRs), treated non-pharmacologically.

Attrition in a 30-year follow-up of a perinatal birth risk cohort: factors change with age.

Background. Attrition is a major cause of potential bias in longitudinal studies and clinical trials. Attrition rate above 20% raises concern of the reliability of the results.

Adult neurobehavioral outcome of hyperbilirubinemia in full term neonates-a 30 year prospective follow-up study.

Background. Neonatal hyperbilirubinemia (HB) may cause severe neurological damage, but serious consequences are effectively controlled by phototherapy and blood exchange transfusion. HB is still a serious health problem in economically compromised parts of the world.

The Perinatal Adverse events and Special Trends in Cognitive Trajectory (PLASTICITY) - pre-protocol for a prospective longitudinal follow-up cohort study.

Prospective follow-up studies on long term effects of pre- and perinatal adverse conditions in adulthood are rare. We will continue to follow the prospective cohort of initially 1196 subjects with predefined at-delivery risk factors out of 22,359 consecutive deliveries during 1971-74 at a single maternity hospital. The risk cohort and 93 controls have been followed up with a comprehensive clinical program at 5, 9, and 16 years of age and by questionnaire at the age of 30 years.

The occurrence of inattention, hyperactivity, impulsivity and coexisting symptoms in a population study of 471 6-8-year old children based on the FTF (Five to Fifteen) questionnaire.

Objective: To study the usefulness of a new parent questionnaire and to evaluate the prevalence of inattention, hyperactivity, impulsivity and co-existing problems in a group of 6-8-year-old children.

Method: A questionnaire comprising 179 three-score-items including the DSM-IV diagnostic symptom criteria on AD/HD and questions on motor function, executive functions, perception, memory, language and speech, learning, social skills and psychiatric problems was used (5-15 questionnaire, FTF). The answers given by parents of 6-8-year-old children in a community in Finland are presented.

Cry characteristics of 172 healthy 1-to 7-day-old infants.

A total of 1,836 cry signals from 172 healthy babies, 1-7 days old, were analysed with sound spectrography. The mean values for the 8-15 cries from each infant were calculated and used for the statistical analyses. The mean duration of the cry signals was 1.

Newborn infants' cry after heel-prick: analysis with sound spectrogram.

The aim of the study was to test the hypothesis that a newborn infant's cry can be used in conjunction with an instrument to measure pain. Crying due to pain was analysed after a heel-prick stimulus. In a prospective, descriptive study, 50 healthy newborn infants were subjected to a heel-prick for phenylketonuria screening.

Phonation in the newborn, infant cry.

Sound spectrographic studies have shown that the crying of newborn infants has a fundamental frequency of about 400-600 cycles per second, and mostly a slightly rising-falling melody contour. In sick infants, and especially those with diseases affecting the central nervous system, abnormal cry characteristics occur. The fundamental frequency has been increased, and the melody contour is unstable.

Two-year group treatment for children with learning difficulties: assessing effects of treatment duration and pretreatment characteristics.

The results of a 2-year treatment study of children with learning problems are reported. During the first treatment year, half of the children participated in a multifaceted neurocognitive treatment and the other half in a treatment that provided supervision of school tasks and peer group support. During the second treatment year, all children participated in the neurocognitive treatment.

Comparing efficacies of neurocognitive treatment and homework assistance programs for children with learning difficulties.

The purpose of the study was to analyze the relative efficacies of two treatments for children with learning difficulties. The first treatment consisted of multiple training components targeting specific cognitive and behavioral factors; the second treatment provided emotional support and supervision of school tasks. The participants were 94 Chilean schoolchildren (6 to 11 years of age).

Crying in separated and non-separated newborns: sound spectrographic analysis.

During the first 1-2 h after birth crying occurs during separation from the mother and stops on reunion. In rats, such "separation distress calls" have distinct phonetic properties. We examined this early crying by sound spectrography in 29 healthy, full-term, vaginally delivered babies, randomly assigned either to be kept in a cot or to be placed in body contact with the mother during the 90 min following birth.

[Why babies cry?].

Babies usually cry almost two hours a day, and about 15 per cent of them cry for more than three hours a day. Excessive crying is most common during the first three to four months of life, after which the frequency of crying decreases. For some parents their baby's crying is a problem, while other consider it a normal phenomenon and do not become irritated.

Crying, feeding and sleeping patterns in 1 to 12-month-old infants.

The crying, feeding and sleeping patterns of 270 infants 0-12 months old were studied using a 24-hour schedule included in a questionnaire given to mothers visiting four well-baby clinics in Finland in 1987-88. Of these infants 78 were under 3, 84 were 3-5, 65 were 6-8 and 43 were over 9 months old. The results showed that the infants less than 3 months old slept on average 15.

Prediction of early school-age problems by a preschool neurodevelopmental examination of children at risk neonatally.

A group of 350 children who had had neonatal developmental risk-factors were assessed at the age of five years with a neurodevelopmental examination. At nine years they were assessed again for neuropaediatric, motor, psycholinguistic, cognitive and school-achievement problems. (Children with major handicaps were excluded).

Neonatal risk factors and later neurodevelopmental disturbances.

Background factors of developmental outcome in a group of 386 neonatal 'at-risk' infants and 107 controls were examined in a prospective nine-year follow-up study. Dichotomized outcome variables were computed for each of the assessments; neurodevelopmental, motor, psycholinguistic, cognitive and school progress. In the study group, 17 to 29 per cent were found to have significant problems, compared with 10 to 17 per cent of the control group.

Neurodevelopmental significance of minor and major congenital anomalies in neonatal high risk children.

Minor and major congenital anomalies were studied in 395 neonatal risk children and 107 normal school children at the age of nine in the context of follow-up of the risk children. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the impact of early prenatal disturbances on the long term prognosis. Minor physical anomalies (MPA) were scored by a weighted scoring system modified from that of Waldrop and Halverson.

Ten-year follow-up of adolescent dyslexics.

A follow-up study of 26 dyslexics with an age range from 20 to 28 years revealed that reading and writing problems were essentially unchanged from the time of diagnosis 7-10 years earlier. The intellectual capacity of all subjects was normal. One of the ten who finished high school had started university studies.