Heart rate variability and cognitive functions in adolescents with complex congenital heart disease.

Background: Heart Rate Variability (HRV) originates from the interplay between parasympathetic/sympathetic inputs to the heart, thus serving as an indicator of Autonomic Nervous System regulation. Prior research indicates that decreased HRV, marked by reduced autonomic balance, is related to poorer cognitive performance. While the population with congenital heart disease (CHD) show changes in HRV linked with the heart defect, the association between HRV and cognitive functions in CHD remains unexplored.

Processing Speed Partially Mediates Executive Function Impairments in Adolescents with Congenital Heart Disease: Results from a Prospective Cohort Study.

Objective: To assess processing speed, fine motor function, attention, and executive function (EF) impairments in adolescents with complex congenital heart disease (CHD) who underwent open-heart surgery during infancy.

Study Design: We administered a comprehensive neuropsychological test battery evaluating 5 EF domains: working memory, inhibition, cognitive flexibility, fluency, and planning and primary neurodevelopmental processes (PNPs): processing speed, fine motor function, and attention. The sample included 100 adolescents with complex CHD from a previous University Children's Hospital Zurich study, with 104 healthy controls for comparison.

Stress Markers, Executive Functioning, and Resilience Among Early Adolescents With Complex Congenital Heart Disease.

Importance: Infants with complex congenital heart disease (cCHD) may experience prolonged and severe stress when undergoing open heart surgery. However, little is known about long-term stress and its role in neurodevelopmental impairments in this population.

Objective: To investigate potential differences between early adolescents aged 10 to 15 years with cCHD and healthy controls in physiological stress markers by hair analysis, executive function (EF) performance, and resilience.

Association of cerebellar volume with cognitive and motor function in adults with congenital heart disease.

Introduction: Patients with congenital heart disease (CHD) are at risk for cognitive and motor function impairments, brain injury, and smaller total brain volumes. The specific vulnerability of the cerebellum and its role in cognitive and motor functions in adults with congenital heart disease is not well defined.

Methods: Forty-three patients with CHD and 53 controls between 18 and 32 years underwent brain magnetic resonance imaging and cognitive, executive (EF), and motor function assessment.

Counting on random number generation: Uncovering mild executive dysfunction in congenital heart disease.

Congenital heart disease (CHD) is associated with various neurocognitive deficits, particularly targeting executive functions (EFs), of which random number generation (RNG) is one indicator. RNG has, however, never been investigated in CHD. We administered the Mental Dice Task (MDT) to 67 young adults with CHD and 55 healthy controls.

White matter microstructure and executive functions in congenital heart disease from childhood to adulthood: A pooled case-control study.

Congenital heart disease (CHD) patients are at risk for alterations in the cerebral white matter microstructure (WMM) throughout development. It is unclear whether the extent of WMM alterations changes with age, especially during adolescence when the WMM undergoes rapid maturation. We investigated differences in WMM between patients with CHD and healthy controls from childhood until early adulthood in a pooled sample of children, adolescents, and young adults.

Functional networks of working memory abilities in children with complex congenital heart disease: a sleep EEG study.

Working memory is frequently impaired in children with complex congenital heart disease (CHD), but little is known about the functional neuronal correlates. Sleep slow wave activity (SWA; 1-4.5 Hz EEG power) has previously been shown to reliably map neurofunctional networks of cognitive abilities in children with and without neurodevelopmental impairments.

Silicone Nanofilament Support Layers in an Open-Channel System for the Fast Reduction of -Nitrophenol.

Chemical vapor phase deposition was used to create hydrophobic nanostructured surfaces on glass slides. Subsequently, hydrophilic channels were created by sputtering a metal catalyst on the channels while masking the outside. The surface tension gradient between the hydrophilic surface in the channels and the outside hydrophobicity formed the open-channel system.

Somatic growth in children with congenital heart disease at 10 years of age: Risk factors and longitudinal growth.

Background: Children with congenital heart disease (CHD) are at risk of impaired growth.

Aims: To describe height, weight, head circumference (HC), and body mass index (BMI) at 10 years and identify risk factors for altered longitudinal growth in children with CHD.

Study Design: Growth parameters were evaluated from birth until 10 years using z-scores.

Brain volumes in adults with congenital heart disease correlate with executive function abilities.

Congenital heart disease is the most common birth defect, and patients are at risk for neurodevelopmental impairment and brain abnormalities. Yet, little is known about the link between brain volumes and cognitive function in adults with congenital heart disease. Forty-four patients and 53 controls between 18 and 32 years underwent brain magnetic resonance imaging and cognitive testing, assessed with an intelligence quotient and executive function global score.

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children with and without risk for neurodevelopmental impairments.

Aim: To examine how the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic impacts child well-being and family functioning, particularly among children at risk for neurodevelopmental impairments.

Methods: Families of 73 typically developing children, 54 children born very preterm (VPT) and 73 children with congenital heart disease (CHD) from two prospective cohort studies were assessed prior to (mean age: 10.4 [SD: 1.

Executive function and brain development in adolescents with severe congenital heart disease (Teen Heart Study): protocol of a prospective cohort study.

Introduction: Congenital heart disease (CHD) is the most frequent congenital malformation. With recent advances in medical care, the majority of patients with CHD survive into adulthood. As a result, interest has shifted towards the neurodevelopmental outcome of these patients, and particularly towards the early detection and treatment of developmental problems.

Cohort and Individual Neurodevelopmental Stability between 1 and 6 Years of Age in Children with Congenital Heart Disease.

Objective: To assess cohort and individual neurodevelopmental stability in children with congenital heart disease across childhood.

Study Design: The Reachout Study is a cohort study at the University Children's Hospital Zurich. Data from 148 children with congenital heart disease who underwent cardiopulmonary bypass surgery and 1-, 4-, and 6-year neurodevelopmental assessment were analyzed using mixed models.

Greater blood volume and Hb mass in obese women quantified by the carbon monoxide-rebreathing method affects interpretation of iron biomarkers and iron requirements.

Background/objective: Iron deficiency (ID) is common in overweight and obese individuals (OW/OB) but the mechanism is uncertain. Greater blood volume (BV) in OW/OB may increase hemoglobin (Hb) mass and iron requirements, and confound iron biomarkers by hemodilution. Quantification of BV/PV changes in OW/OB is challenging and a formula to estimate BV/PV based on anthropometric indices would be valuable.

White matter injury in term neonates with congenital heart diseases: Topology & comparison with preterm newborns.

Background: Neonates with congenital heart disease (CHD) are at high risk of punctate white matter injury (WMI) and impaired brain development. We hypothesized that WMI in CHD neonates occurs in a characteristic distribution that shares topology with preterm WMI and that lower birth gestational age (GA) is associated with larger WMI volume.

Objective: (1) To quantitatively assess the volume and location of WMI in CHD neonates across three centres.

Neurodevelopmental Profiles of Children with Congenital Heart Disease at School Age.

Objectives: To assess 6-year neurodevelopmental outcomes in a current cohort of children with congenital heart disease (CHD) who underwent cardiopulmonary bypass surgery (CPB), and to determine risk factors for adverse outcomes.

Study Design: Outcomes were examined in 233 prospectively enrolled children with CHD (including 64 with a recognized genetic disorder) who underwent CPB between 2004 and 2009. Follow-up assessment included standardized neurologic, motor, and cognitive tests.

Replicate Measurements of Haemoglobin Mass during a Single Day are Feasible and Precise.

Duplicate haemoglobin mass (Hb) measurements are recommended before and after altitude training sojourns to identify individual adaptations in athletes with a high level of certainty. Duplicate measurements reduce typical error (TE) and disclose measurement outliers, but are usually made on separate days, which is not a practical protocol for routine services in elite sport settings. The aim of this study was therefore to investigate whether it is safe (carboxyhaemoglobin<10%) to measure Hb twice on the same day and to compare TE with measurements made on separate days.

Ethical procedures and patient consent differ in Europe.

Background: Research ethics approvals, procedures and requirements for institutional research ethics committees vary considerably by country and by type of organisation.

Objective: To evaluate the requirements and procedures of research ethics committees, details of patient information and informed consent based on a multicentre European trial.

Design: Survey of European hospitals participating in the prospective observational study on chronic postsurgical pain (euCPSP) using electronic questionnaires.

Tapering for marathon and cardiac autonomic function.

The purpose of this study was to investigate changes in post-exercise heart rate recovery (HRR) and heart rate variability (HRV) during an overload-tapering paradigm in marathon runners and examine their relationship with running performance. 9 male runners followed a training program composed of 3 weeks of overload followed by 3 weeks of tapering (-33 ± 7%). Before and after overload and during tapering they performed an exhaustive running test (T(lim)).