scholarly journals Docosahexaenoic Acid and Neurodevelopmental Outcomes of Term Infants

2016 ◽  
Vol 69 (Suppl. 1) ◽  
pp. 22-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suzanne Meldrum ◽  
Karen Simmer
Keyword(s):  
Docosahexaenoic Acid ◽  
Observational Studies ◽  
Chain Polyunsaturated Fatty Acid ◽  
Normal Brain ◽  
Healthy Children ◽  
Neurodevelopmental Outcomes ◽  
Term Infants ◽  
Lactating Women ◽  
Healthy Infants ◽  
Normal Brain Development

Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), a long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid, is essential for normal brain development. DHA is found predominantly in seafood, fish oil, breastmilk and supplemented formula. DHA intake in Western countries is often below recommendations. Observational studies have demonstrated an association between DHA intake in pregnancy and neurodevelopment of offspring but cannot fully adjust for confounding factors that influence child development. Randomised clinical trials of DHA supplementation during pregnancy and/or lactation, and of term infants, have not shown a consistent benefit nor harm on neurodevelopment of healthy children born at term. The evidence does not support DHA supplementation of healthy pregnant and lactating women, nor healthy infants.

scholarly journals Fecal S100A12 in Healthy Infants and Children

2013 ◽  
Vol 35 ◽  
pp. 295-299 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. S. Day ◽  
M. Ehn ◽  
R. B. Gearry ◽  
D. A. Lemberg ◽  
S. T. Leach
Keyword(s):  
Young Children ◽  
Elevated Level ◽  
Gastrointestinal Symptoms ◽  
Infants And Children ◽  
Healthy Children ◽  
Term Infants ◽  
Healthy Infants ◽  
Stool Samples ◽  
Serial Samples ◽  
In Infants And Children

Background and Aims. Fecal S100A12 is shown to be a useful noninvasive marker of gut inflammation. However, the studies to date have not characterised the patterns of expression in healthy young children. This study aimed to determine S100A12 levels in infants and children without symptoms of underlying gut disease.Methods. Stool samples were collected from healthy infants (<12 months) and children without gastrointestinal symptoms. Faecal S100A12 was measured by immunoassay.Results. Fifty-six children were recruited. Serial samples were obtained from seven term infants over the first 6 months of life. Single samples were obtained from 49 healthy children ranging from 0.16 to 13.8 years of age. Median S100A12 levels were 0.5 mg/kg (ranging from 0.39 to 25) in the healthy children, with high values (>10 mg/kg) in five infants only. There was no variation between gender. Median S100A12 levels in healthy infants remained below the established normal cut-off from birth to six months of age.Conclusion. S100A12 levels in well infants and children are almost exclusively lower than the standard cut-off. Transiently higher levels may be seen in early infancy. An elevated level of S100A12 in children older than 12 months of age is likely to represent organic gut disease.

scholarly journals Clinical Investigations: Somatosensory Evoked Potentials in Full-Term Neonates With Perinatal Asphyxia

Folia Medica ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 56 (2) ◽  
pp. 88-95 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ina E. Geneva ◽  
Maya B. Krasteva ◽  
Stefan S. Kostianev
Keyword(s):  
Evoked Potentials ◽  
Somatosensory Evoked Potentials ◽  
Amplitude Ratio ◽  
Perinatal Asphyxia ◽  
Nerve Fibers ◽  
Full Term ◽  
Healthy Children ◽  
Term Infants ◽  
Healthy Infants ◽  
Term Newborns

Abstract OBJECTIVE: To explore the capacity of somatosensory evoked potentials (SEP) to assess maturation processes in the development of the nervous system, and the characteristics of SEP in healthy full-term infants and full-term newborns with perinatal asphyxia and their follow up until the age of 14 months. MATERIALS AND METHODS: SEP were studied in 21 healthy full-term infants and 38 full-term newborns with perinatal asphyxia. The children with asphyxia were studied longitudinally until they were 14 months old. To assess the SEP we measured the latency of the P15, N20 and P25 components, the amplitude ratio N20/ P25 and inter-peak intervals P15-N20 and N20-P25. RESULTS: The component that was most typically always found in the SEP recordings of both healthy infants and those with perinatal asphyxia was N20. The mean latency values of P15, N20 and P25 were higher in the children with perinatal asphyxia (p ⋋ 0.001). The SEP amplitude was highly variable (CoV% = 76.6%). The latencies became shorter with age in asphyxia patients aged 0 to 14 months, the shortening being the greatest in the first trimester, while they showed no statistically significant differences in infants aged 6 to 12 months. CONCLUSIONS: SEPs in the neonatal period differ considerably from those of adults and older children in the morphology and longer potential latency, which can be accounted for by the incomplete myelination of nerve fibers. The changes in SEP latency in patients with HIE stages I and II follow the same pattern found in healthy children - latency became shorter with increasing age, which was most pronounced in the first 3 months. SEP latency was found to be correlated with height and age. No differences were found in the latency of potentials between healthy infants and infants with brain hemorrhage. Recording SEP is a sensitive method to assess the CNS in children with perinatal asphyxia and to monitor the maturation of the somatosensory pathway.

scholarly journals Four-Year Longitudinal Performance of a Population-Based Sample of Healthy Children on a Neuropsychological Battery: The NIH MRI Study of Normal Brain Development

2011 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 179-190 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deborah P. Waber ◽  
Peter W. Forbes ◽  
C. Robert Almli ◽  
Emily A. Blood ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Brain Development ◽  
Present Report ◽  
Neuropsychological Test ◽  
Population Based ◽  
Normal Brain ◽  
Healthy Children ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Neuropsychological Measures ◽  
Mri Study ◽  
Normal Brain Development

AbstractThe National Institutes of Health (NIH) Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) Study of Normal Brain Development is a landmark study in which structural and metabolic brain development and behavior are followed longitudinally from birth to young adulthood in a population-based sample of healthy children. Cross-sectional findings from the neuropsychological test battery have been previously described (Waber et al., 2007). The present report details 4-year longitudinal neuropsychological outcomes for those children who were aged 6 to 18 years at baseline (N = 383), of whom 219 (57.2%) completed all 3 visits. Primary observations were (1) individual children displayed considerable variation in scores across visits on the same measures; (2) income-related differences were more prominent in the longitudinal than in the cross-sectional data; (3) no association between cognitive and behavioral measures and body mass index; and (4) several measures showed practice effects, despite the 2-year interval between visits. These data offer an unparalleled opportunity to observe normative performance and change over time on a set of standard and commonly used neuropsychological measures in a population-based sample of healthy children. They thus provide important background for the use and interpretation of these instruments in both research settings and clinical practice. (JINS, 2012, 18, 179–190)

scholarly journals Cephalic Index in the First Three Years of Life: Study of Children with Normal Brain Development Based on Computed Tomography

2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wirginia Likus ◽  
Grzegorz Bajor ◽  
Katrzyna Gruszczyńska ◽  
Jan Baron ◽  
Jarosław Markowski ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Brain Development ◽  
Normal Brain ◽  
Cephalic Index ◽  
Life Study ◽  
Average Value ◽  
Healthy Infants ◽  
Index Value ◽  
Normal Brain Development ◽  
Axial Slice

Cephalic index is a highly useful method for planning surgical procedures, as well as assessing their effectiveness in correcting cranial deformations in children. There are relatively very few studies measuring cephalic index in healthy Caucasian young children. The aim of our study was to develop a classification of current cephalic index for healthy Caucasian children up to 3 years of age with normal brain development, using axial slice computer tomography performed with very thin slices (0.5 mm) resulting in more accurate measurements. 180 healthy infants (83 females and 97 males) were divided into 5 age categories: 0–3, 4–6, 7–12, 13–24, and 25–36 months. The average value of cephalic index in children up to 3 years of age amounted to 81.45 ± 7.06. The index value in case of children under 3 months was 80.19, 4 to 6 months was 81.45, 7 to 12 months was 83.15, in children under 2 years was 81.05, and in children under 3 years was 79.76. Mesocephaly is the dominating skull shape in children. In this study, we formulated a classification of current cephalic indices of children with normal brain development. Our date appears to be of utmost importance in anthropology, anatomy forensic medicine, and genetics.

scholarly journals Voxel-wise T2 relaxometry of Normal Pediatric Brain Development in 326 healthy infants and toddlers

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vladimir S. Fonov ◽  
Ilana R. Leppert ◽  
G. Bruce Pike ◽  
D. Louis Collins ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Brain Development ◽  
Region Of Interest ◽  
Image Data ◽  
Coordinate Space ◽  
Normal Brain ◽  
Healthy Children ◽  
Healthy Infants ◽  
Data Points ◽  
Multi Center Study ◽  
Age Range

AbstractQuantitative T2 data from an NIH-sponsored multi-center study of Normal Brain Development was used to perform automatic voxel-wise analysis of the changes in T2 evolution in the brain in healthy children within the age range from birth to 5 years. All data were non-linearly registered into a common coordinate space. The T2 parameters were estimated by 2 point fitting from the PD-weighted and T2-weighted image data, or by least-squares fitting of 4 data points when addition intermediate weighting images were available. The main result of this study is voxel-level map of monoexponential evolution of T2 in this age range indicating the delay (in months) and the rate (in 1/months) of development. The automatic maps are compared to manual region-of-interest based estimates of T2 evolution.

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