Early infant behavioural correlates of social skills in adolescents.

BACKGROUND: Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder typically diagnosed after the second year of life; however, differences in brain structure and function associated with ASD have been ascertained in early infancy. Identifying behavioural markers of ASD risk in early infancy has the potential to facilitate early detection and intervention. OBJECTIVES: We examined associations between infant behaviour and adolescent behaviours associated with ASD. METHODS: Analyses leveraged data available on 370 participants from the New Bedford Cohort, a sociodemographically diverse prospective birth cohort of children born from 1993 to 1998 to mothers residing near the New Bedford Harbor Superfund site in Massachusetts. Longitudinal assessments were used to examine the associations between behaviours when children were approximately 2 weeks old (measured by the Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale [NBAS]), and subsequent maladaptive behaviours associated with ASD at approximately 15 years old [measured by the Behavior Assessment System for Children, 2nd Edition-Teacher Rating Scale (BASC-2 TRS) scores which are standardised to a mean (SD) of 50 (10)]. RESULTS: Poorer performance on select individual items and cluster scales of the NBAS was associated with an increase in behaviours associated with ASD in adolescents. Associations were strongest for neonatal measures of self-regulation, response to auditory input, and autonomic nervous system regulation. For example, in covariate-adjusted models, infants with Regulation of State NBAS cluster scores in the lowest tertile (poorest performance) compared to infants with scores in the higher two tertiles had adolescent BASC-2 TRS Developmental Social Disorders T-scores that were 2.9 points higher (95% CI: 0.8, 4.9), indicating more behaviours associated with ASD. CONCLUSION: The NBAS is an established and accessible instrument that assesses a broad range of behaviours in very young infants, and may be a useful tool for newborn assessments of developmental risk, including risk of ASD-associated behaviours.

Using tele-education to train civilian physicians in an area of active conflict: certifying Iraqi physicians in Pediatric Advanced Life Support from the United States.

Years of violence have resulted in a lack of trained health care providers in Iraq. To address this need, International Medical Corps has implemented a national emergency care program for the country. As part of this program, we implemented via tele-education the country's first civilian course in Pediatric Advanced Life Support.

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in postsecondary students.

A PubMed review was conducted for papers reporting on attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in postsecondary students. The review was performed in order to determine the prevalence and symptomatology of ADHD in postsecondary students, to examine its effects on academic achievement, and discuss appropriate management. The prevalence of ADHD symptoms among postsecondary students ranges from 2% to 12%. Students with ADHD have lower grade point averages and are more likely to withdraw from courses, to indulge in risky behaviors, and to have other psychiatric comorbidities than their non-ADHD peers. Ensuring that students with ADHD receive appropriate support requires documented evidence of impairment to academic and day-to-day functioning. In adults with ADHD, stimulants improve concentration and attention, although improved academic productivity remains to be demonstrated. ADHD negatively impacts academic performance in students and increases the likelihood of drug and alcohol problems. Affected students may therefore benefit from disability support services, academic accommodations, and pharmacological treatment.

Measurement and prediction of motor proficiency in children using Bayley infant scales and the Bruininks-Oseretsky test.

A sample of 76 Irish girls and boys of about 9 years of age, for whom neonatal (birthweight, Apgar and Neonatal Behavioural Assessment Scale) and infancy measures (Bayley Infant Scales at 18 months) were available, were administered the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency (BOTMP). The main focus of this paper is on a longitudinal analysis of the relationships between the neonatal and infancy measures and the BOTMP administered at about 9 years. However, since the literature expresses some doubts about the basis of the division of the BOTMP subtests into fine motor and gross motor groups and about the meaningfulness of the overall battery score, an initial statistical analysis was undertaken to examine these construct validity issues with this sample of children. This analysis indicated that the division of subtests into fine motor and gross motor skills groups, as formulated by the BOTMP, is not supported. The longitudinal analysis, therefore, focused mainly on subtest scores and provided some evidence of a degree of continuity in measured motor proficiency between birth, 18 months and the prepubertal period. Continuity was more evident for female children.