Fidgety Movements Assessment Accuracy Survey in Japan.

To investigate the accuracy of fidgety movements (FMs) assessment in Japanese assessors. Sixty specialists participated in the first survey. Of the participants, 18 were assessors certified by the GMs basic-training course. The surveys were composed of FMs assessment of 20 video clips. The correct assessment rates (CARs) were investigated. The survey videos were judged into three types: normal (F + +, F +), abnormal (AF) and absent (F + -, F -). After the first survey, each participant performed a self-learning exercise using clips of the first survey. The follow-up survey was conducted three months after the first survey. The median CAR of the first survey was 65% in certified assessors and 50% in noncertified assessors. The median CARs of certified assessors were significantly higher than that of noncertified assessors for all clips and for normal FMs and AF clips (p < 0.01). After 3 months of self-learning exercise the CARs in each judgement type improved in 28 follow-up survey participants. Their median CAR improved from 60% in the first survey to 84% in the follow-up survey. To practise general movements assessment (GMA), course certification is required. The self-learning exercise with the confirmed judgement FMs clips may be effective for improving the ability of FMs judgement.

Prenatal exposure to organohalogen compounds and children's mental and motor development at 18 and 30 months of age.

BACKGROUND: Organohalogen compounds (OHCs), i.e. polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs, are wide-spread environmental pollutants known to be neurotoxic for the developing brain. The hydroxylated metabolites of PCBs, OH-PCBs, might be even more toxic due to their structure and interference with thyroid hormone metabolism. We found that prenatal exposure to OH-PCBs was associated with thyroid hormone metabolism at toddler age. Little, however, is known about the neurotoxicity of OH-PCBs in humans. OBJECTIVES: To determine whether prenatal background exposure to OHCs has an effect on mental and motor development in children at the age of 18 and 30 months. METHODS: One hundred and eighty-one healthy mother-infant pairs were included in this observational study performed in the Netherlands. We measured maternal pregnancy levels of PCB-153 and three OH-PCBs. In one part of the cohort we measured another nine PCBs and three OH-PCBs and in the other part we measured five brominated diphenyl ethers (BDEs), dichloro-diphenyldichloroethylene (p,p'-DDE), pentachlorophenol (PCP), and hexabromocyclododecane (HBCDD). We used the mental development index (MDI) and the motor development index (PDI) of the Bayley Scales of Infant Development II (BSID-II) to assess children's mental and motor development (mean = 100; delayed score <85). RESULTS: Higher prenatal PCB-153 levels were associated with a delayed MDI score at 18 months. None of the other compounds were associated with a delayed score, but several associations were found between OHC levels and BSID-II scores. The sum of all six OH-PCBs and three individual OH-PCBs, 4-OH-PCB-107, 3-OH-PCB-153, and 4'-OH-PCB-172, correlated positively with MDI at 30 months. The compound 3'-OH-PCB-138 showed a similar trend. A higher 4-OH-PCB-187 was associated with a lower MDI at 18 months. We found a similar trend for higher BDE-99. Higher BDE levels were associated with higher PDI at 18 months. The levels of p,p'-DDE-, PCP, and HBCDD were not associated with BSID-II scores at 18 months. CONCLUSIONS: Higher prenatal levels of PCB-153 were associated with a delayed MDI score at 18 months. None of the other compounds were associated with a delayed score, but several associations were found between OHC levels and BSID-II scores. Prenatal OH-PCBs were positively associated with mental development at 30 months, whereas one OH-PCB was negatively associated at 18 months. BDE levels were positively associated with psychomotor development. Prenatal p,p'-DDE, PCP, and HBCDD levels were not associated with neurodevelopment at 18 months.