Medical Research - Premature Babies and Children
Neural Plasticity and Recovery after Brain Injury.
Plasticity refers to the brain's ability to be moulded and shaped by experience, it’s capacity to learn and remember, the ability to re-organise and recover after injury.
By studying recent research papers and asking questions, we hope to find out whether anymore can be done in terms of early therapy, in order to help premature children recover from brain injury.
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Neural Plasticity and Cognitive Development
Joan Stiles
Department of Cognitive Science
University of California, San Diego
Headline:
A Simplified Guide to Brain Plasticity: Learning and Memory
Brain Plasticity: An Overview - Facts About Neuroplasticity
Developmental Plasticity: Synaptic Pruning - Plasticity of Learning and Memory - Injury-induced Plasticity: Plasticity and Brain Repair
Model Helps Researchers 'See' Brain Development; Could Facilitate Early Detection Of Autism
Source: ScienceDaily (Apr. 13, 2007)
New... Children's Memory Problems - MANY CHILDREN RECEIVE LATE DIAGNOSIS
In the study, researchers used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to measure the volume of the hippocampus in three different groups of children: those who had been diagnosed with developmental amnesia (DA) a group who had been born prematurely with a very low birth weight (LBW) and a control group. The researchers found that the DA and LBW groups had smaller hippocampi.............
Birth before 26 weeks of gestation is associated with a high prevalence of neurologic and developmental disabilities in the infant during the first two years of life.
The aim of this study was to develop a simple reproducible method for the measurement of apparent diffusion coefficient values in the white matter of preterm infants using diffusion-weighted imaging to test the hypothesis that elevated mean apparent diffusion coefficient values are associated with lower developmental quotient scores at 2 years’ corrected age.
Danish researchers found babies born at between 34 and 36 weeks were 70% more likely to develop attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Children born at less than 34 weeks were three times more likely to have ADHD.
NEWSLETTER Follow-up Study of Premature Babies Born at UCH
In 1979 work beganon a follow-up study of babies born prematurely under the overall supervision of Professor Robin Murray and Dr Ann Stewart. A team of specialist paediatricians and psychologists followed up all premature and highrisk babies admitted to the neonatal unit at University College Hospital. To date over 1,500 children have taken part in the project and it is now arguably the most detailed long term study of premature babies to be carried out anywhere in the world.
Susan Gathercole is a cognitive psychologist who has been engaged in research on human memory over the past 25 years.
Brain Delay Clues in Children Born Prematurely and Long Term Outcomes
Dr David Edwards and Professor Neil Marlow. BBC Article.
Everyday Memory and Cognitive Ability in Children Born Very Prematurely
Josie Briscoe & Susan E. Gathercole - University of Bristol, U.K.
Neil Marlow - University of Nottingham, U.K.
In light of recent reports of episodic memory difficulties linked to early childhood hypoxia (Isaacs et al., 2000; Vargha-Khadem et al., 1997), preliminary findings of everyday memory function are reported for 20 children born at or before 32 weeks gestation, compared to 20 children born at term. Memory skills were assessed using the Rivermead Behavioural Memory Test for Children (Wilson, Ivani-Chalian, & Aldrich, 1991) at 5 years of age. Everyday memory problems were not found to be a general feature of children born prematurely, and performance was closely linked to receptive language ability but not general cognitive ability in both groups of children. Three children in the preterm group did obtain scores in the impaired range of the RBMT, and in two of these children memory impairment could not be predicted from their receptive language ability. This suggests an increased risk of everyday memory difficulties in populations of preterm children that may be enhanced in further studies by sampling children with greater risk of hypoxic insult.
Two Studies: Diffusion Tensor MRI of the Preterm Brain - 2006/07 Imperial College London
Theme Leader: Professor David Edwards
This is the first time that the thalamic corticotopic map has been observed in children in vivo. The ability to visualise and quantify connections between thalamus and cortex offers the exciting possibility of studying normal development and aberrant neural connectivity in infants, and may further our understanding of the aetiology of the cognitive deficits associated with preterm birth. © Imperial College London
Premature Babies - Typical Ongoing Problems
"In general with disabilities, setting realistic goals within the confines of the disability and striving for and being encouraged to reach those goals is often enough for many to become productive and happy people".
Physical problems: chronic morbidity - Neurodevelopmental problems - Behavioural, emotional, and educational implications - Adaptability... Copyright © 1999 - 2004 The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
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