Psychosocial and educational outcomes of weight faltering in infancy in ALSPAC

OBJECTIVES: To investigate whether infants with weight faltering have impaired psychosocial and educational outcomes in later childhood. DESIGN: Follow-up of infants with weight faltering in a large UK cohort study. SETTING: The Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC). PARTICIPANTS: 11 534 term infants from ALSPAC with complete weight records. Weight gain (conditional on initial weight) was calculated for three periods: from birth to 8 weeks, 8 weeks to 9 months, and birth to 9 months. Cases of weight faltering were defined as those infants with a conditional weight gain below the 5th centile, and these were compared with the rest of the cohort as the control group. OUTCOMES: Between 6 and 11 years, social, emotional and behavioural development was measured by direct assessment of the children and parental and teacher report. Educational outcomes included Standardised Assessment Test results at 7 and 11 years and Special Educational Needs status at age 11. RESULTS: Differences seen on univariate analysis in attention, non-verbal accuracy, educational attainment and special educational needs became non-significant after adjustment for confounding. Children with weight faltering in infancy did not differ from controls on any measures of self-esteem, peer relationships, experience of bullying, social cognition, antisocial activities, anxiety, depression or behavioural problems. CONCLUSIONS: Weight faltering in early infancy was associated with poorer educational outcomes in later childhood, but these associations were explained by confounding. The subsequent psychosocial development of infants with slow weight gain was not different from that of their peers

Two Layer Digital RAAM

We present modifications to Recursive Auto-Associative Memory which increase its robustness and storage capacity. This is done by introducing an extra layer to the compressor and reconstructor networks, employing integer rather than realvalued representations, pre-conditioning the weights and presetting the representations to be compatible with them, and using a quick-prop modification. Initial studies have shown this method to be reliable for data sets with up to three hundred subtrees

The Civil War Diary of John A. Blair

Although the Civil War Diary of John A. Blair does not shed new light on the cataclysmic events of the war, it, however, contributes a picture emanating from scenes of troubled times in the life and times in the United States. The diary reflects impressions felt by this Southern officer in his 30th year, of actions in an area and in a period upon which the eyes of the world were focused, and which historians have long attempted to understand. His viewpoints are those of a patriotic Southern soldier who saw righteousness in the cause of the Confederacy and shared a determination that they must succeed. It was recorded for his own satisfaction. The man emerges in the expression of a sense of humor, the emotions from fear and despair felt by a soldier, and the happiness experienced when at home on leave and while visiting in the home of his fiancee. Some of the hardships endured by all the soldiers are revealed

Corrosion behavior of zircaloy

Zirconium base alloys are widely used in water cooled nuclear reactors where their high cost is offset by their low neutron cross section and relatively good resistance to corrosion in water. Although the amount of corrosion is quite small, an accurate estimate of the amount to be expected is required for good reactor design. \u27This estimate is made by extrapolating available data to the expected life of the reactor. For valid approximations it is necessary to know the form of this corrosion rate curve

Use of Friction Stir Processing and Friction Stir Welding For Nitinol Medical Devices

Metallic materials may be joined utilizing a friction stir processing technique. The friction stir processing technique utilizes a shaped, rotating tool to move material from one side of the joint to be welded to the other without liquefying the base material

Role of bradykinin in virus-induced airway inflammation

Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease of the airways and viral infections account for the majority of exacerbations and may play a role in its pathogenesis. Bradykinin levels are increased in the lungs of asthmatics and inhaled bradykinin produces bronchoconstriction in asthmatic but not in normal patients. In this study, guinea-pigs were inoculated with parainfluenza and influenza virus to establish airways inflammation and hyperreactivity. The role of bradykinin in the parainfluenza model was examined by using the tissue kallikrein inhibitor, FE999024, and the bradykinin B2 receptor antagonist, MEN16132. Firstly, the effects of bradykinin inhalation in conscious guinea-pigs were characterized by using inhibitors of its breakdown and selective antagonists. Inhaled bradykinin produced a bronchoconstriction only after treatment with the inhibitors of angiotensin converting enzyme and/or neutral endopeptidase, captopril and phosphoramidon respectively. Inhaled bradykinin also increased inflammatory cell influx to the lungs when its breakdown was inhibited with both drugs. Cell influx and bronchoconstriction were blocked by the B2 receptor antagonists icatibant and MEN16132. These responses were therefore B2 receptor-mediated. In ovalbumin sensitized guinea-pigs, inhaled ovalbumin produced early and late asthmatic responses, inflammatory cell influx and airway hyperreactivity to histamine. These were inhibited by dexamethasone. Bradykinin caused bronchoconstriction without using metabolism inhibitors, indicating airways hyperreactivity to bradykinin. Parainfluenza-3 and influenza caused inflammatory cell influx and airways hyperreactivity to histamine. These were inhibited by FE999024, MEN16132 and dexamethasone. Parainfluenza-3 virus inoculated into sensitized guinea-pigs exacerbated the response to inhaled ovalbumin, with a prolonged bronchconstriction replacing early and late phases. This was resistant to dexamethasone. This study supports a role for bradykinin in virus-induced lung inflammation and the use of inhibitors of bradykinin for potential treatment of airway inflammation.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo