[Specialised short-term wards in nursing homes--the Trondheim model].

Background: The health sector faces major challenges as a consequence of the elderly constituting a growing proportion of the population. Doctors at all levels will need to acquire the skills needed for dealing with patients with multiple and complex conditions, and hospitals will need to be dynamic in dealing with patients with acute and curable diseases as well as with the elderly and chronically ill. There is a considerable professional gap between community care services and services offered by the general hospitals.

Acquisition of linguistic and cognitive skills by children with cleft palate.

This study compared the early cognitive and linguistic development of young children with cleft palate (N = 28) to that of noncleft children (N = 29). Measures included the Mental scale of the Bayley Scales of Infant Development, the Minnesota Child Development Inventory, Mean Length of Utterance, and words acquired by 24 months. Children with cleft palate, although well within the normal range, performed significantly below the children in the control group on the Mental Scale of the Bayley Scales of Infant Development, some subscales of the Minnesota Child Development Inventory, and words acquired by 24 months.

Comparison of the hearing histories of children with and without cleft palate.

Aggressive otologic management has been recommended for children with cleft palate because of the almost universal occurrence of otitis media with effusion (OME) in these children and the association of OME with hearing loss and possible language, cognitive, and academic delays. In this study, 28 children with cleft palate and 29 noncleft children were seen at 3-month intervals from 9 to 30 months to compare otologic treatment and management. Hearing and middle ear function were tested at each session; information on ventilation tube placement was obtained from medical records.

Bronchial responsiveness, eosinophilia, and short term exposure to air pollution.

The number of capillary blood eosinophils and the prevalence of bronchial hyperresponsiveness (BHR) were compared between schoolchildren living in a polluted area (Ardal) and unpolluted area (Laerdal). In Ardal there is an aluminium smelter emitting sulphur dioxide and fluoride to the environment. Daily measurements of these pollutants in ambient air were available.

Familial aggregation of phonological disorders: results from a 28-year follow-up.

This investigation is a follow-up to a longitudinal speech and educational outcome study involving approximately 400 normally developing children that was initiated in 1960. From this database, two groups of subjects (now aged 32-34), their spouses, and all of their offspring over the age of 3:0 (years:months) completed a battery of cognitive-linguistic and interview measures. One group (probands) consisted of 24 adults with a documented history of a moderate phonological-language disorder that persisted through at least the end of the first grade.