Biomedical subjects

Barbara S Kisilevsky

Publications and source records attributed to Barbara S Kisilevsky.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Auditory processing deficits in growth restricted fetuses affect later language development.

An increased risk for language deficits in infants born growth restricted has been reported in follow-up studies for more than 20 years, suggesting a relation between fetal auditory system development and later language learning. Work with animal models indicate that there are at least two ways in which growth restriction could affect the development of auditory perception in human fetuses: a delay in myelination or conduction and an increase in sensorineural threshold. Systematic study of auditory function in growth restricted human fetuses has not been reported. However, results of studies employing low-risk fetuses delivering as healthy full-term infants demonstrate that, by late gestation, the fetus can hear, sound properties modulate behavior, and sensory information is available from both inside (e.g., maternal vascular) and outside (e.g., noise, voices, music) of the maternal body. These data provide substantive evidence that the auditory system is functioning and that environmental sounds are available for shaping neural networks and laying the foundation for language acquisition before birth. We hypothesize that fetal growth restriction affects auditory system development, resulting in atypical auditory information processing in growth restricted fetuses compared to healthy, appropriately-grown-for-gestational-age fetuses. Speech perception that lays the foundation for later language competence will differ in growth restricted compared to normally grown fetuses and be associated with later language abilities.

Child↗

PubMed2005

Gender differences in functional capacity following myocardial infarction: an exploratory study.

This study examined functional capacity and hemodynamic responses to exercise in men and women during early recovery after myocardial infarction (MI). Participants were tested at hospital discharge and six weeks following discharge. At each testing time, they completed the Beck Depression Inventory and a symptom-limited graded exercise test (SL-GXT). Functional capacity, expressed in metabolic equivalents (METs), was estimated from performance on the SL-GXT. Hemodynamic response measures included heart rate (HR), systolic blood pressure (SBP). and rate-pressure product (RPP). Both men and women demonstrated significant increases in functional capacity from discharge to six weeks later although the levels were lower for women (M = 2.8 METs) than men (M = 7.3 METs). This indicates a need for gender-sensitive counselling for unsupervised exercise rehabilitation during early recovery following MI.

Activities of Daily Living↗

PubMed2003

Effects of experience on fetal voice recognition.

The ability of human fetuses to recognize their own mother's voice was examined. Sixty term fetuses were assigned to one of two conditions during which they were exposed to a tape recording of their mother or a female stranger reading a passage. Voice stimuli were delivered through a loudspeaker held approximately 10 cm above the maternal abdomen and played at an average of 95 dB SPL. Each condition consisted of three 2-min periods: no stimulus, voice (mother or stranger), and no stimulus. Fetal heart rate increased in response to the mother's voice and decreased in response to the stranger's; both responses were sustained for 4 min. The finding of differential behavior in response to a familiar versus a novel voice provides evidence that experience influences fetal voice processing. It supports an epigenetic model of speech perception, presuming an interaction between genetic expression of neural development and species-specific experience.

Arousal↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Comparison of fetal behavior in low- and high-risk pregnancies.

Meta-analyses were conducted on archival data of human fetal behavior to identify differential behavior among high-risk fetuses in pregnancies complicated by threatened preterm delivery, maternal hypertension or diabetes compared with low-risk fetuses in uneventful pregnancies, delivering as healthy, full-term infants. Data for a total of 493 fetuses (260 high risk, 233 low risk) from 23 weeks' gestation to term who participated in a study using a standardized protocol including observations of spontaneous and auditory-induced behavior were retrieved from our laboratory database. There were no differences in spontaneous behaviors when scored using clinical criteria for the nonstress test and biophysical profile; however, there were differences in the magnitude of the behaviors measured in the tests. Developmental differences were observed between those threatening to deliver early and the fetuses of hypertensive and diabetic mothers. The latter two groups differed little from one another but differed from low-risk fetuses in their response to auditory stimulation. We concluded that differences in behavior among high-risk groups suggest that atypical fetal behaviors may represent adaptation to condition specific insult rather than a generalized response to insult per se. The finding that high-risk fetuses showed atypical responses to auditory stimuli indicates a need to examine the relation between fetal auditory function and later language acquisition.

Acoustic Stimulation↗