Cognition and bimanual performance in children with unilateral cerebral palsy: Protocol for a multicentre, cross-sectional study

© 2018 The Author(s). Background: Motor outcomes of children with unilateral cerebral palsy are clearly documented and well understood, yet few studies describe the cognitive functioning in this population, and the associations between the two is poorly understood. Using two hands together in daily life involves complex motor and cognitive processes. Impairment in either domain may contribute to difficulties with bimanual performance. Research is yet to derive whether, and how, cognition affects a child's ability to use their two hands to perform bimanual tasks. Methods/Design: This study will use a prospective, cross-sectional multi-centre observational design. Children (aged 6-12 years) with unilateral cerebral palsy will be recruited from one of five Australian treatment centres. We will examine associations between cognition, bimanual performance and brain neuropathology (lesion type and severity) in a sample of 131 children. The primary outcomes are: Motor - the Assisting Hand Assessment; Cognitive - Executive Function; and Brain - lesion location on structural MRI. Secondary data collected will include: Motor - Box and Blocks, ABILHAND- Kids, Sword Test; Cognitive - standard neuropsychological measures of intelligence. We will use generalized linear modelling and structural equation modelling techniques to investigate relationships between bimanual performance, executive function and brain lesion location. Discussion: This large multi-centre study will examine how cognition affects bimanual performance in children with unilateral cerebral palsy. First, it is anticipated that distinct relationships between bimanual performance and cognition (executive function) will be identified. Second, it is anticipated that interrelationships between bimanual performance and cognition will be associated with common underlying neuropathology. Findings have the potential to improve the specificity of existing upper limb interventions by providing more targeted treatments and influence the development of novel methods to improve both cognitive and motor outcomes in children with unilateral cerebral palsy

Motor imagery training for children with developmental coordination disorder: Study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

Contains fulltext : 151535.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)Background: Previous studies have shown that the predictive control of movements is impaired in children with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD), most likely due to a deficit in the internal modeling of movements. Motor imagery paradigms have been used to test this internal modeling deficit. The aim of the present study is to examine whether a training focused on the mental imagery of motor skills, can help to improve the motor abilities of children with DCD. Methods/Design: A pre-post design will be used to examine the motor performance, motor imagery and motor planning abilities before and after a training of 9 weeks. Two groups will be included in this study (1) one receiving motor imagery (MI) training focused on the forward modeling of purposive actions, (2) one receiving Cognitive Orientation to daily Occupational Performance (CO-OP) training focused on identifying effective cognitive strategies that will increase motor competence. MI training will be given with the use of instruction videos of the motor skill that will be trained. Both groups will participate in 9 individual sessions of 45 min (once a week) with a paediatric physical or occupational therapist, added with homework sessions. Inclusion criteria are: (1) aged 7–12 years, (2) meeting the DSM-V criteria for DCD (motor performance substantially low (score on the m-ABC ≤ 16th percentile) and motor problems that interfere with daily life (DCDQ, and request for help at a paediatric physical or occupational therapist)). Exclusion criteria are IQ < 70 and other medical conditions causing the motor impairment. Discussion: The results of this study will help to make treatment protocols for children with DCD more evidence-based. This study will increase our knowledge about the efficacy of both the MI training and CO-OP training, and both children with DCD and therapists will benefit from this knowledge.9 p

Intraoperative ICG plasma disappearance rate helps to predict absence of early postoperative complications after orthotopic liver transplantation

<p>Early postoperative complications after orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) are a common problem in intensive care medicine. Adequate assessment of initial graft function remains difficult, however, plasma disaperance rate of indocyanine green (PDRICG) may have an additional diagnostic and prognostic value in this setting. We retrospectively evaluated the ability of intraoperative PDRICG values to predict absence of early postoperative complications in 62 subjects. PDRICG was measured non-invasively by pulse dye densitometry during surgery and was correlated with initial graft function. At the end of surgery, PDRICG was higher in patients without complications: 24.9 % min(-1) (n = 40) versus 21.0 % min(-1), (n = 22; p = 0.034). An area under the ROC curve (AUROC) for PDRICG was 0.70, while the AUROC for pH, lactate and PT at ICU admission were 0.53, 0.50 and 0.46, respectively. The AUROC of serum bilirubin and PT at postoperative day 5 were 0.68 and 0.49, respectively. The optimal cut-off PDRICG value for predicting absence of development early postoperative complications was determined to be 23.5 % min(-1) with 72.4 % sensitivity and 71.0 % specificity. Intraoperative point-of-care PDRICG measurement during OLT already predicts absence of early postoperative complications, better and earlier than clinically used laboratory parameters.</p>

Gene expression and the evolution of phenotypic diversity in social wasps

© 2007 Hoffman and Goodisman; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1741-7007/5/23DOI: 10.1186/1741-7007-5-23Background: Organisms are capable of developing different phenotypes by altering the genes they express. This phenotypic plasticity provides a means for species to respond effectively to environmental conditions. One of the most dramatic examples of phenotypic plasticity occurs in the highly social hymenopteran insects (ants, social bees, and social wasps), where distinct castes and sexes all arise from the same genes. To elucidate how variation in patterns of gene expression affects phenotypic variation, we conducted a study to simultaneously address the influence of developmental stage, sex, and caste on patterns of gene expression in Vespula wasps. Furthermore, we compared the patterns found in this species to those found in other taxa in order to investigate how variation in gene expression leads to phenotypic evolution. Results: We constructed 11 different cDNA libraries derived from various developmental stages and castes of Vespula squamosa. Comparisons of overall expression patterns indicated that geneexpression differences distinguishing developmental stages were greater than expression differences differentiating sex or caste. Furthermore, we determined that certain sets of genes showed similar patterns of expression in the same phenotypic forms of different species. Specifically, larvae upregulated genes related to metabolism and genes possessing structural activity. Surprisingly, our data indicated that at least a few specific gene functions and at least one specific gene family are important components of caste differentiation across social insect taxa. Conclusion: Despite research on various aspects of development originating from model systems, growth in understanding how development is related to phenotypic diversity relies on a growing literature of contrasting studies in non-model systems. In this study, we found that comparisons of patterns of gene expression with model systems highlighted areas of conserved and convergent developmental evolution across diverse taxa. Indeed, conserved biological functions across species implicated key functions related to how phenotypes are built. Finally, overall differences between social insect taxa suggest that the independent evolution of caste arose via distinct developmental trajectories