PubMed Health⌕ Search

SEARCH · PubMed Health

Results for “Neurodevelopment”

Explore indexed PubMed citations for clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health research. Read source abstracts and follow each citation to its original PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 163 records · Page 9Linked to original sources
PubMed2005

Effects of maternal docosahexaenoic acid intake on visual function and neurodevelopment in breastfed term infants.

BACKGROUND: Normal brain and visual development is thought to require exogenous docosahexaenoic acid (DHA; 22:6n-3) intake, but the amount needed is debatable. Because the supplementation of breastfeeding mothers with DHA increases the DHA content of their infants' plasma lipids, we hypothesized that it might also improve brain or visual function in the infants. OBJECTIVE: The objective was to determine the effect of DHA supplementation of breastfeeding mothers on neurodevelopmental status and visual function in the recipient infant. DESIGN: Breastfeeding women received capsules containing either a high-DHA algal oil ( approximately 200 mg DHA/d) or a vegetable oil (no DHA) for 4 mo after delivery. Outcome variables included the fatty acid pattern of maternal plasma phospholipid and milk lipids 4 mo postpartum, the fatty acid pattern of plasma phospholipids and visual function in infants at 4 and 8 mo of age, and neurodevelopmental indexes of the infants at 12 and 30 mo of age. RESULTS: Milk lipid and infant plasma phospholipid DHA contents of the supplemented and control groups were approximately 75% and approximately 35% higher, respectively, at 4 mo postpartum. However, neither the neurodevelopmental indexes of the infants at 12 mo of age nor the visual function at 4 or 8 mo of age differed significantly between groups. In contrast, the Bayley Psychomotor Development Index, but not the Mental Development Index, of the supplemented group was higher (P < 0.01) at 30 mo of age. CONCLUSION: DHA supplementation of breastfeeding mothers results in higher infant plasma phospholipid DHA contents during supplementation and a higher Bayley Psychomotor Development Index at 30 mo of age but results in no other advantages either at or before this age.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Neurodevelopment in infants and preschool children with congenital hypothyroidism: etiological and treatment factors affecting outcome.

Studied global intelligence and specific abilities of children from 1 to 5 years old, 108 with congenital hypothyroidism (CH) diagnosed by newborn screening and 71 sibling controls. Intelligence levels of the CH group were within the normal range but differed significantly from controls at age 5. CH demonstrated a language deficit at age 3, which diminished with age, as well as significantly poorer visuospatial and verbal skills at age 5. Children with absent thyroid glands or evidence of hypothyroidism in utero were outperformed by other CH children in most ability areas from 1 year on. Different components of ability were correlated with specific factors reflecting timing or duration of thyroid hormone deficiency, suggesting unique critical periods of thyroid hormone sensitivity for different specific cognitive abilities and their neural substrates. It is concluded that even though screened CH children are markedly improved by neonatal diagnosis, they are still at risk for subtle irreversible deficits, which depend on factors such as type, age at onset, and duration of disease.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1993

31P nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy: neurodevelopment and schizophrenia.

A number of studies have demonstrated alterations in the structure and function of the frontolimbic system in some schizophrenic patients. Recent in vivo phosphorus-31 nuclear magnetic resonance studies of the dorsal prefrontal cortex in neuroleptic-naive, first-episode schizophrenic patients and matched controls have shown evidence of alterations in membrane phospholipid and energy metabolism. The membrane alterations observed in the schizophrenic patients are compatible with either premature aging or altered timing and exaggeration of regressive events occurring during normal brain development. These molecular changes may precede onset of clinical symptoms and brain structural changes in schizophrenia and suggest fresh approaches to the pathogenesis and treatment of this illness.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

The effects of early and late preterm birth on brainstem and middle-latency auditory evoked responses in children with normal neurodevelopment.

In preterm and term infants, brainstem and middle latency auditory evoked responses (ABR and MLR) were obtained at 40 and 52 weeks conceptional age (CA) and at 5 years of age. A neurological and neuropsychological evaluation was performed at 5 years of age. To study the effect of preterm birth on the maturation of the ABR and MLR, the preterm infants were divided into early and late preterm groups. Only children with a normal neurodevelopmental outcome at 5 years of age were entered into the study. For ABR, the late preterm group showed significantly longer mean latencies IIc, III, V, and Vc when compared with the term group at 52 weeks CA. There was a trend to longer ABR latencies I in the early preterm group compared with the term group. At 52 weeks CA, the late preterm group showed longer mean interpeak latencies III-I and V-I when compared with the term as well as the early preterm group. At 5 years, the late preterm group showed significantly longer mean ABR latencies IIc and III when compared to the early preterm group. For MLR, the early preterm group showed significantly longer mean latencies of MLR component PO when compared with the term group at 40 weeks CA. At 52 weeks, the late preterm group also had longer mean MLR latencies P0 than the term group. At 5 years of age, the term group showed higher mean peak-to-peak amplitudes Na-P0 than the early as well as the late preterm group. To a large extent, the ABR results support the hypothesis that middle ear effusions in combination with retarded myelination of the central auditory pathway are responsible for the ABR differences found between term and preterm infants with a normal neurodevelopmental outcome at 5 years of age. The longer latencies and interpeak latencies found in late preterm infants when compared with early preterm infants might be explained by an augmented vulnerability of the auditory pathway between 30 and 34 weeks CA. The MLR differences found between term and preterm infants might be explained by a difference in the maturation of primary and nonprimary MLR components.

Auditory Cortex↗
PubMed1998

The clinical stigmata of aberrant neurodevelopment in schizophrenia.

The neurodevelopmental hypothesis of schizophrenia is currently a primary etiopathological model for schizophrenia. Its tenets derive from observations of epidemiological, postmortem, and brain imaging evidence of neurodevelopmental deviance. Clinical stigmata of neurodevelopmental arrest include the presence of obstetric complications, minor physical anomalies, abnormal dermatoglyphics, and childhood neuromotor precursors of adult schizophrenic illness. The relative importance of these stigmata and their relationship to brain imaging findings in schizophrenia are discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

Timing of perinatal human immunodeficiency virus type 1 infection and rate of neurodevelopment. The Women and Infant Transmission Study Group.

BACKGROUND: Identifying HIV-1-infected children who are at greatest risk for disease-related morbidities is critical for optimal therapeutic as well as preventive care. Several factors have been implicated in HIV-1 disease onset and severity, including maternal and infant host characteristics, viral phenotype and timing of HIV-1 infection. Early HIV-1 culture positivity, i.e. intrauterine infection, has been associated with poor immunologic, virologic and clinical outcomes in children of HIV-infected women. However, a direct effect of timing of infection on neurodevelopmental outcome in infancy has not yet been identified. METHODS: Serial neurodevelopmental assessments were performed with 114 infants vertically infected with HIV-1 in a multicenter natural history, longitudinal study. Median mental and motor scores were compared at three time points. Longitudinal regression analyses were used to evaluate the neurodevelopmental functioning of children with early positive cultures and those with late positive cultures. RESULTS: Early infected infants scored significantly lower than late infected infants by 24 months of age and beyond on both mental (P = 0.05) and motor (P = 0.03) measures. Early HIV-1 infection was associated with a decline in estimated motor scores of 1 standard score point per month compared with 0.28 point in the late infected group (P < 0.02). Estimated mental scores of the early infected group declined 0.72 point/ month, whereas the average decline of the late infected group was 0.30 point/month (P < 0.13). CONCLUSION: Early HIV-1 infection increases a child's risk for poor neurodevelopmental functioning within the first 30 months of life.

Child Development↗
PubMed2001

Neurodevelopment in children with single-suture craniosynostosis and plagiocephaly without synostosis.

The objective of this study was to determine whether children with nonsyndromic craniosynostosis and plagiocephaly without synostosis demonstrated cognitive and psychomotor delays when compared with a standardized population sample. This was the initial assessment of a larger prospective study, which involved 21 subjects with nonsyndromic craniosynostosis (mean age, 10.9 months) and 42 subjects with plagiocephaly without synostosis (mean age, 8.4 months). Each child was assessed using the Bayley Scales of Infant Development-II (BSID-II) for cognitive and psychomotor development before therapeutic intervention (surgery for craniosynostosis and molding-helmet therapy for plagiocephaly without synostosis). The distribution of the scores was divided into four groups: accelerated, normal, mild delay, and significant delay. The distributions of the mental developmental index (MDI) and the psychomotor developmental index (PDI) were then compared with a standardized Bayley's age-matched population, using Fisher's exact chi-square test. Within the craniosynostosis group, the PDI scores were significantly different from the standardized distribution (p < 0.001). With regard to the PDI scores, 0 percent of the subjects in the craniosynostosis group were accelerated, 43 percent were normal, 48 percent had mild delay, and 9 percent had significant delay. In contrast, the MDI scores were not statistically different (p = 0.08). Within the group with plagiocephaly without synostosis, both the PDI and MDI scores were significantly different from the normal curve distribution (p < 0.001). With regard to the PDI scores, 0 percent of the subjects in the group with plagiocephaly without synostosis were accelerated, 67 percent were normal, 20 percent had mild delay, and 13 percent had significant delay. With regard to the MDI scores, 0 percent of the subjects in this group were accelerated, 83 percent were normal, 8 percent had mild delay and 9 percent had significant delay. This study indicates that before any intervention, subjects with single-suture syndromic craniosynostosis and plagiocephaly without synostosis demonstrate delays in cognitive and psychomotor development. Continued postintervention assessments are needed to determine whether these developmental delays can be ameliorated with treatment.

Child Development↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Hypothesized deficiency of guanine-based purines may contribute to abnormalities of neurodevelopment, neuromodulation, and neurotransmission in Lesch-Nyhan syndrome.

The Lesch-Nyhan syndrome is a devastating sex-linked recessive disorder resulting from almost complete deficiency of the activity of hypoxanthine phosphoribosyltransferase (HPRT). The enzyme deficiency results in an inability to synthesize the nucleotides guanosine monophosphate and inosine monophosphate from the purine bases guanine and hypoxanthine, respectively, via the "salvage" pathway and an accelerated biosynthesis of these purines via the de novo pathway. The syndrome is characterized by neurologic manifestations, including the very dramatic symptom of compulsive self-mutilation. The neurologic manifestations may result, at least in part, from a mixture of neurodevelopmental (eg, a failure to "arborize" dopaminergic synaptic terminals) and neurotransmitter (eg, disruption of GABA and glutamate receptor-mediated neurotransmission) consequences. HPRT deficiency results in elevated extracellular levels of hypoxanthine, which can bind to the benzodiazepine agonist recognition site on the GABA(A) receptor complex, and the possibility of diminished levels of guanine-based purines in discrete "pools" involved in synaptic transmission. In addition to their critical roles in metabolism, gene replication and expression, and signal transduction, guanine-based purines may be important regulators of the synaptic availability of L-glutamate. Guanine-based purines may also have important trophic functions in the CNS. The investigation of the Lesch-Nyhan syndrome may serve to clarify these and other important neurotransmitter, neuromodulatory, and neurotrophic roles that guanine-based purines play in the central nervous system, especially the developing brain. A widespread and general deficiency of guanine-based purines would lead to impaired transduction of a variety of signals that depend on GTP-protein-coupled second messenger systems. This is less likely in view of a prominent localized pathologic effect of HPRT deficiency on presynaptic dopaminergic projections to the striatum. A possible more circumscribed effect of a deficiency of guanine-based purines could be interference with modulation of glutamatergic neurotransmission. Guanosine has been shown to be an important modulator of glutamatergic neurotransmission, promoting glial reuptake of L-glutamate. A deficiency of guanosine could lead to dysregulated glutamatergic neurotransmission, including possible excitotoxic damage. Unfortunately, although the biochemical lesion has been known for quite some time (ie, HPRT deficiency), therapeutically beneficial interventions for these affected children and adults have not yet emerged based on this elucidation. Conceivably, guanosine or its analogues and excitatory amino acid receptor antagonists could participate in the pharmacotherapy of this devastating disorder.

Animals↗
PubMed2005

Abnormal neurodevelopment, neurosignaling and behaviour in Npas3-deficient mice.

Npas3 is a member of the bHLH-PAS superfamily of transcription factors that is expressed broadly in the developing neuroepithelium. To study the function of this gene, mice deficient in Npas3 were generated and characterized. Npas3-/- mice were growth-retarded and exhibited developmental brain abnormalities that included a reduction in size of the anterior hippocampus, hypoplasia of the corpus callosum and enlargement of the ventricles. A number of behavioural abnormalities were identified in Npas3-/- mice including locomotor hyperactivity, subtle gait defects, impairment of prepulse inhibition of acoustic startle, deficit in recognition memory and altered anxiety-related responses. Characterization of neurosignaling pathways using several pharmacological agents revealed dysfunctional glutamate, dopamine and serotonin neurotransmitter signaling. Consistent with these findings, we identified a significant alteration in cortical PSD-95 expression, a PDZ-containing protein that has been shown to be involved in postsynaptic signal transduction. Together, our observations indicate an important role for Npas3 in controlling normal brain development and neurosignaling pathways.

Animals↗
PubMed1988

In utero exposure to organic solvents and human neurodevelopment.

Recent reports of growth and mental retardation in infants whose mothers abused solvent-containing substances, and of an association between central nervous system malformations and solvent exposure, have suggested that in utero exposure to organic solvents may have a profound effect on the development of the human brain. The present investigation compared the neurobehavioral development of 41 children whose mothers worked with organic solvents during pregnancy with a group of matched, unexposed children. The children were compared on a variety of measures, including the McCarthy Scales of General Abilities, growth (weight, height and head circumference) and mother's report of developmental milestones, behavior and personality. Potential confounders were controlled for in multiple regression analyses. Despite adequate power, no differences could be found between the two groups on any of the measures of neurobehavioral development or growth. This study suggests that in utero exposure to relatively low levels of organic solvent is not associated with adverse neurodevelopmental outcome.

Brain↗
PubMed1989

Cerebral blood-flow velocity during the first week of life of preterm infants and neurodevelopment at two years.

Disturbances in perinatal cerebral perfusion appear to be associated with unfavourable neurodevelopmental outcome. Using transcutaneous Doppler technique, the authors investigated cerebral blood-flow velocity patterns in the anterior cerebral artery (ACA) of an intensive care-unit population of preterm infants during the first week of life. The results were correlated with neurodevelopmental outcome at two years of age. Children with major disability at two years of age had significantly higher pulsatility index (PI) values, mainly increased peak systolic flow velocity (PSFV), compared with children with normal or more favourable outcome. End diastolic flow velocity and area under the velocity curve values of the ACA did not differ between the groups, indicating that cerebrovascular resistance and cerebral blood-flow were not different. It is thought that the higher PI and PSFV values were caused by increased compliance of the vascular bed supplied by the ACA, possibly induced by congestion and oedema of the periventricular white-matter due to ischaemic lesions, which also cause periventricular leukomalacia.

Blood Flow Velocity↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Community health nursing assessment of neurodevelopment in high-risk infants.

All infants discharged from designated perinatal center neonatal intensive care units in Illinois are referred for follow-up home visits by community health nurses. These visits provide parental support, teaching, and anticipatory guidance plus physical and developmental assessment of the infant. The maternal and child nursing consultants who coordinate this follow-up program are frequently called upon to assist the community health nurses in physical/developmental assessment techniques. The neurodevelopmental component of the assessment, including areas of alertness, tone, head circumference, vision and hearing screening, plus primitive reflexes, is described.

Attention↗
PubMed1996

Transient dystonia in non-handicapped low-birthweight infants and later neurodevelopment.

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the long-term prognostic significance of transient increase in muscle tone during infancy (dystonia) in very low-birthweight (VLBW) infants without cerebral palsy. Motor (Peabody Developmental Motor Scales), cognitive (Wechsler Preschool and Primary scale of Intelligence) and behavioural (Personality Inventory for Children, Yale Children's Inventory) development was assessed at 5 years of age. In a population-based sample of 50 VLBW children, transient dystonia was present in 14. In explorative analyses, transient dystonia was associated with low 1 min Apgar scores, neonatal bacterial infection, and lack of breast-milk in the neonatal period. Cognitive, neuromotor and behavioural development at 5 years of age was comparable in those with and without transient dystonia, although there was a statistically non-significant tendency towards more neuromotor problems in the dystonic children.

Apgar Score↗