Publications by authors named "Tracey M Stewart"

Background: Congenital Central Hypoventilation Syndrome (CCHS) has devastating consequences if not diagnosed promptly. Despite identification of the disease-defining gene PHOX2B and a facial phenotype, CCHS remains underdiagnosed. This study aimed to incorporate automated techniques on facial photos to screen for CCHS in a diverse pediatric cohort to improve early case identification and assess a facial phenotype-PHOX2B genotype relationship.

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Background: Children and young adults with congenital central hypoventilation syndrome (CCHS) are at risk of cognitive deficits. They experience autonomic dysfunction and chemoreceptor insensitivity measured during ventilatory and orthostatic challenges, but relationships between these features are undefined.

Research Question: Can a biomarker be identified from physiologic responses to ventilatory and orthostatic challenges that is related to neurocognitive outcomes in CCHS?

Study Design And Methods: This retrospective study included 25 children and young adults with CCHS tested over an inpatient stay.

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Congenital central hypoventilation syndrome (CCHS) is a rare autonomic disorder with altered regulation of breathing, heart rate (HR), and blood pressure (BP). Aberrant cerebral oxygenation in response to hypercapnia/hypoxia in CCHS raises the concern that altered cerebral autoregulation may contribute to CCHS-related, variably impaired neurodevelopment. To evaluate cerebral autoregulation in response to orthostatic challenge in CCHS cases versus controls.

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Unlabelled: Rapid-onset obesity with hypothalamic dysfunction, hypoventilation, and autonomic dysregulation (ROHHAD) is a rare cause of syndromic obesity with risk of cardiorespiratory arrest and neural crest tumor. No ROHHAD-specific genetic test exists at present. Rapid weight gain of 20-30 pounds, typically between ages 2-7 years in an otherwise healthy child, followed by multiple endocrine abnormalities herald the ROHHAD phenotype.

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The standard of clinical care in many pediatric and neonatal neurocritical care units involves continuous monitoring of cerebral hemodynamics using hard-wired devices that physically adhere to the skin and connect to base stations that commonly mount on an adjacent wall or stand. Risks of iatrogenic skin injuries associated with adhesives that bond such systems to the skin and entanglements of the patients and/or the healthcare professionals with the wires can impede clinical procedures and natural movements that are critical to the care, development, and recovery of pediatric patients. This paper presents a wireless, miniaturized, and mechanically soft, flexible device that supports measurements quantitatively comparable to existing clinical standards.

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Objective: To investigate neurocognitive deficits in children with Congenital Central Hypoventilation Syndrome (CCHS) by comparing them to their parents, since parents comprise a particularly suitable control group matched on disease-extrinsic factors that can influence neurocognitive functioning. We compared CCHS patients to their parents and to population norms, hypothesizing that they would obtain lower intelligence test scores than both groups. We also compared patient-parent differences against patient-normative differences, to determine whether the two analytic approaches would yield different results.

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Background: Congenital central hypoventilation syndrome (CCHS) is a rare neurocristopathy, which includes a control of breathing deficit and features of autonomic nervous system (ANS) dysregulation. In recognition of the fundamental role of the ANS in temperature regulation and rhythm and the lack of any prior characterization of circadian temperature rhythms in CCHS, we sought to explore peripheral and core temperatures and circadian patterning. We hypothesized that CCHS patients would exhibit lower peripheral skin temperatures (PST), variability, and circadian rhythmicity (vs.

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Hypoventilation is a defining feature of Rapid-onset Obesity with Hypothalamic dysfunction, Hypoventilation and Autonomic Dysregulation (ROHHAD), a rare respiratory and autonomic disorder. This chronic hypoventilation has been explained as the result of dysfunctional chemosensory control circuits, possibly affecting peripheral afferent input, central integration, or efferent motor control. However, chemosensory function has never been quantified in a cohort of ROHHAD patients.

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Congenital central hypoventilation syndrome (CCHS) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by life-threatening hypoventilation, possibly resulting from disruption of central chemosensory integration. However, animal models suggest the possibility of residual chemosensory function in the human disease. Cardioventilatory function in a large cohort with CCHS and verified paired-like homeobox 2B (PHOX2B) mutations was assessed to determine the extent and genotype dependence of any residual chemosensory function in these patients.

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Introduction: Congenital central hypoventilation syndrome (CCHS) is characterized by alveolar hypoventilation, autonomic nervous system (ANS) dysregulation (ANSD), and mutations in the paired-like homeobox 2B (PHOX2B) gene. ANSD in CCHS affects multiple systems and includes ophthalmologic abnormalities. We hypothesized that quantitative pupil measures, obtained using pupillometry, would vary between cases with CCHS and controls and within those with CCHS by PHOX2B genotype.

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