Survey of the Use of Massage for Children with Cerebral Palsy

Background: Conventional medicine and complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) are merging into the broader field of “integrative medicine.” Massage is no longer considered complementary or alternative in some conventional medical circles today. Purpose: We aimed to determine the prevalence of massage use among children with cerebral palsy (CP) in the Pacific Northwest in the United States, the reasons that massage is being used, and the limits of recruitment for a future randomized controlled trial. Methods: This study, the first step in a three-stage research plan, was conducted at the Neurodevelopmental and Neurology clinics at Seattle Children’s Hospital, a tertiary pediatric hospital that provides service to patients primarily from Washington, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho. As a feasibility study (stage one), it precedes a planned pilot study (stage two), and subsequently, a full-scale randomized controlled trial (stage three) of whether massage can improve the health of children with CP. The study subjects—104 families with a child with CP ranging in age from 17 months to 21 years—were surveyed by the principal investigator and a research assistant in exam rooms at the hospital. Results: In the families surveyed, 80% of the children had received massage at some point. Massage was currently being used in 51%, and trained professionals were providing the massage in 23%. Most families use massage for musculoskeletal relaxation, to improve quality of life, and to help their children sleep. Lower maternal income was associated with relatives as compared with professional massage therapists providing the massage. Massage therapy use by the mother and more severe CP were significantly associated with current use of massage for the child. Conclusions: Most children with CP in the Pacific Northwest have used massage. Most parents surveyed believe that massage is helpful to their child. Additional research is needed to determine whether massage should be routinely recommended for children with CP

Towards the establishment of program evaluation system in Japanese higher education : learning from the quality code adopted in the United Kingdom

Despite global trends in quality assurance emphasizing degree-specific learning outcomes, Japanese higher education has yet to develop an effective evaluation system at the degree-program level. Recent Japanese educational policies strongly suggest the need for ensuring program-level learning outcomes and corresponding evaluation systems. As such, this paper explores how to establish sound program evaluation processes in Japanese higher education by identifying an international example and examining its essential components. Firstly, this paper analyzes recent policy trends with survey results related to quality assurance systems in Japanese higher education. It explores the development and implementation of program-level evaluation practices, internal quality enhancement processes and external quality assurance mechanisms. Secondly, it will refer to the quality assurance systems adopted by higher education in the United Kingdom and discuss its key elements. The parallels between the recent reforms and the policies implemented by the United Kingdom suggest potential comparative value that could be a useful reference for the enhancement of the Japanese system. This transnational analysis will also elucidate the benefits and challenges of articulating program-level internal and external quality assurance frameworks. Lastly, this paper draws on the specific case of England to illustrate how a program evaluation framework could further the enhancement efforts of the Japanese system

Neurodevelopmental problems in maltreated children referred with indiscriminate friendliness

We aimed to explore the extent of neurodevelopmental difficulties in severely maltreated adopted children. We recruited 34 adopted children, referred with symptoms of indiscriminate friendliness and a history of severe maltreatment in their early childhood and 32 typically developing comparison children without such a history, living in biological families. All 66 children, aged 5–12 years, underwent a detailed neuropsychiatric assessment. The overwhelming majority of the adopted/indiscriminately friendly group had a range of psychiatric diagnoses, including Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD) and one third exhibited the disorganised pattern of attachment. The mean IQ was 15 points lower than the comparison group and the majority of the adopted group had suspected language disorder and/or delay. Our findings show that school-aged adopted children with a history of severe maltreatment can have very complex and sometimes disabling neuropsychiatric prob

Effect of an immune challenge and two feed supplements on broiler chicken individual breast muscle protein synthesis rate

Optimization of broiler chicken breast muscle protein accretion is key for the efficient production of poultry meat, whose demand is steadily increasing. In a context where antimicrobial growth promoters use is being restricted, it is important to find alternatives as well as to characterize the effect of immunological stress on broiler chicken's growth. Despite its importance, research on broiler chicken muscle protein dynamics has mostly been limited to the study of mixed protein turnover. The present study aims to characterize the effect of a bacterial challenge and the feed supplementation of citrus and cucumber extracts on broiler chicken individual breast muscle proteins fractional synthesis rates (FSR) using a recently developed dynamic proteomics pipeline. Twenty-one day-old broiler chickens were administered a single 2H2O dose before being culled at different timepoints. A total of 60 breast muscle protein extracts from five experimental groups (Unchallenged, Challenged, Control Diet, Diet 1 and Diet 2) were analysed using a DDA proteomics approach. Proteomics data was filtered in order to reliably calculate multiple proteins FSR making use of a newly developed bioinformatics pipeline. Broiler breast muscle proteins FSR uniformly decreased following a bacterial challenge, this change was judged significant for 15 individual proteins, the two major functional clusters identified as well as for mixed breast muscle protein. Citrus or cucumber extract feed supplementation did not show any effect on the breast muscle protein FSR of immunologically challenged broilers. The present study has identified potential predictive markers of breast muscle growth and provided new information on broiler chicken breast muscle protein synthesis which could be essential for improving the efficiency of broiler chicken meat production. SIGNIFICANCE: The present study constitutes the first dynamic proteomics study conducted in a farm animal species which has characterized FSR in a large number of proteins, establishing a precedent for biomarker discovery and assessment of health and growth status. Moreover, it has been evidenced that the decrease in broiler chicken breast muscle protein following an immune challenge is a coordinated event which seems to be the main cause of the decreased growth observed in these animals.</p

Measuring the impact of dietary supplementation with citrus or cucumber extract on chicken gut microbiota using 16s rRNA gene sequencing

This study investigated the effects of dietary supplements, citrus (CTS) and cucumber (CMB), on the jejunum and cecum microbiota of 14- and 28-days old broiler chickens to evaluate their impact on the gut health and assess their role as alternatives to antibiotic growth promoters (ABGPs). 16SrRNA gene sequencing revealed the overall bacterial microbiota composition was significantly affected by the gut site (p?&lt;?0.001) but not by either of the dietary supplements, CTS and CMB, at both 14 and 28 days of age. However, as a result of Linear discriminant analysis (LDA) effect size (LEfSE), CTS dietary supplements significantly increased the counts of Lactobacillus (p?&lt;?0.01) and decreased the counts of Enterococcus (p?&lt;?0.01) and Clostridium (p?&lt;?0.05) in the jejunum, whereas the counts of Blautia were increased (p?&lt;?0.01) and Enterococcus were decreased (p?&lt;?0.05) in the cecum at both ages. Only minor CMB effects were identified in the cecum and non in the jejunum. The use of CTS dietary supplements has been shown to be associated to the reduction of potentially pathogenic bacteria (Enterococcus and Clostridium) and to the growth of beneficial bacteria (Lactobacillus and Blautia) which are known to have positive effects on chicken health in terms of nutrients absorption, stimulation and production of short chain fatty acids (SCFAs). Therefore, this study suggests that the use of a CTS supplemented diet could promote gut health while no clear advantages have been identified with the use of CMB as a dietary supplement

A population-based matched cohort study of major congenital anomalies following COVID-19 vaccination and SARS-CoV-2 infection

Evidence on associations between COVID-19 vaccination or SARS-CoV-2 infection and the risk of congenital anomalies is limited. Here we report a national, population-based, matched cohort study using linked electronic health records from Scotland (May 2020-April 2022) to estimate the association between COVID-19 vaccination and, separately, SARS-CoV-2 infection between six weeks pre-conception and 19 weeks and six days gestation and the risk of [1] any major congenital anomaly and [2] any non-genetic major congenital anomaly. Mothers vaccinated in this pregnancy exposure period mostly received an mRNA vaccine (73.7% Pfizer-BioNTech BNT162b2 and 7.9% Moderna mRNA-1273). Of the 6731 babies whose mothers were vaccinated in the pregnancy exposure period, 153 had any anomaly and 120 had a non-genetic anomaly. Primary analyses find no association between any vaccination and any anomaly (adjusted Odds Ratio [aOR] = 1.01, 95% Confidence Interval [CI] = 0.83-1.24) or non-genetic anomalies (aOR = 1.00, 95% CI = 0.81-1.22). Primary analyses also find no association between SARS-CoV-2 infection and any anomaly (aOR = 1.02, 95% CI = 0.66-1.60) or non-genetic anomalies (aOR = 0.94, 95% CI = 0.57-1.54). Findings are robust to sensitivity analyses. These data provide reassurance on the safety of vaccination, in particular mRNA vaccines, just before or in early pregnancy

Intervention to enhance skilled arm and hand movements after stroke: A feasibility study using a new virtual reality system

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Rehabilitation programs designed to develop skill in upper extremity (UE) function after stroke require progressive practice that engage and challenge the learner. Virtual realty (VR) provides a unique environment where the presentation of stimuli can be controlled systematically for optimal challenge by adapting task difficulty as performance improves. We describe four VR tasks that were developed and tested to improve arm and hand movement skills for individuals with hemiparesis.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Two participants with chronic post-stroke paresis and different levels of motor severity attended 12 training sessions lasting 1 to 2 hours each over a 3-week period. Behavior measures and questionnaires were administered pre-, mid-, and post-training.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Both participants improved VR task performance across sessions. The less impaired participant averaged more time on task, practiced a greater number of blocks per session, and progressed at a faster rate over sessions than the more impaired participant. Impairment level did not change but both participants improved functional ability after training. The less impaired participant increased the number of blocks moved on the Box & Blocks test while the more impaired participant achieved 4 more items on the Functional Test of the Hemiparetic UE.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Two participants with differing motor severity were able to engage in VR based practice and improve performance over 12 training sessions. We were able to successfully provide individualized, progressive practice based on each participant's level of movement ability and rate of performance improvement.</p

A population-based matched cohort study of early pregnancy outcomes following COVID-19 vaccination and SARS-CoV-2 infection

Our thanks to the EAVE II Patient Advisory Group and Sands charity for their support. COPS is a sub-study of EAVE II, which is funded by the Medical Research Council (MR/R008345/1) with the support of BREATHE—The Health Data Research Hub for Respiratory Health [MC_PC_19004], which is funded through the UK Research and Innovation Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund and delivered through Health Data Research UK. Additional support has been provided through Public Health Scotland and Scottish Government DG Health and Social Care and the Data and Connectivity National Core Study, led by Health Data Research UK in partnership with the Office for National Statistics and funded by UK Research and Innovation. COPS has received additional funding from Tommy’s charity. S.J.S. is funded by a Wellcome Trust Clinical Career Development Fellowship (209560/Z/17/Z). S.V.K. acknowledges funding from an NRS Senior Clinical Fellowship (SCAF/15/02), the Medical Research Council (MC_UU_00022/2) and the Scottish Government Chief Scientist Office (SPHSU17). K.B. is funded by a Wellcome Senior Research Fellowship (220283/Z/20/Z).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

A population-based matched cohort study of major congenital anomalies following COVID-19 vaccination and SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Evidence on associations between COVID-19 vaccination or SARS-CoV-2 infection and the risk of congenital anomalies is limited. Here we report a national, population-based, matched cohort study using linked electronic health records from Scotland (May 2020-April 2022) to estimate the association between COVID-19 vaccination and, separately, SARS-CoV-2 infection between six weeks pre-conception and 19 weeks and six days gestation and the risk of [1] any major congenital anomaly and [2] any non-genetic major congenital anomaly. Mothers vaccinated in this pregnancy exposure period mostly received an mRNA vaccine (73.7% Pfizer-BioNTech BNT162b2 and 7.9% Moderna mRNA-1273). Of the 6731 babies whose mothers were vaccinated in the pregnancy exposure period, 153 had any anomaly and 120 had a non-genetic anomaly. Primary analyses find no association between any vaccination and any anomaly (adjusted Odds Ratio [aOR] = 1.01, 95% Confidence Interval [CI] = 0.83-1.24) or non-genetic anomalies (aOR = 1.00, 95% CI = 0.81-1.22). Primary analyses also find no association between SARS-CoV-2 infection and any anomaly (aOR = 1.02, 95% CI = 0.66-1.60) or non-genetic anomalies (aOR = 0.94, 95% CI = 0.57-1.54). Findings are robust to sensitivity analyses. These data provide reassurance on the safety of vaccination, in particular mRNA vaccines, just before or in early pregnancy