Phonological Awareness as the Foundation of Reading Acquisition in Students Reading in Transparent Orthography.

Phonological skills have been found to be strongly related to early reading and writing development. Accordingly, the aim of this study was to examine the extent to which the development of phonological awareness facilitates reading acquisition in students learning to read a transparent orthography. Our research included 689 primary school students in first through third grade (Mean age 101.59 months, SD = 12,690). The assessment tools used to conduct this research include the Phonological Awareness Test and the Gray Oral Reading Test. According to the results from the present study, 13.7% of students have reading difficulties. Students with reading difficulties obtained low scores in phonological awareness within each subscale compared to students who do not have reading difficulties (p < 0.01). Components of phonological awareness which did not singled out as strongly related to early reading success include Phoneme Segmentation, Initial Phoneme Identification, and Syllable Merging. Thus, understanding the nature of the relationship between phonological awareness and reading should help effective program design that will be aimed at eliminating delayed development in children's phonological awareness while they are still in preschool.

Tongue mobility in patients with cerebral palsy.

BACKGROUND/AIM: In children with cerebral palsy speech is a big problem. Speech of these children is more or less understandable, depending on the degree of reduced mobility of articulatory organs. Reduced mobility is affected by inability to control facial grimacing and poor muscle strength when performing targeted movements. The aim of this study was to determine the mobility of tongue in patients with cerebral palsy. METHODS: The study included a sample of 34 children--patients with cerebral palsy who had been treated in the Special Hospital for the Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Neurology in Belgrade. The patients were divided according to the determined diagnosis into two groups: Quadriparesis spastica (n = 11) and Morbus Little (n = 16). The children, aged 8-12 years, had preserved intelectual abilities, and all of them had preserved hearing. The study was conducted during the period from January to September 2009. The functional state of articulatory organs in both groups was tested by the C-test that examines the anatomic structure and mobility of the articulatory organs. RESULTS: Our research showed that both groups of the patients had impaired functional state of the tongue - the most mobile articulatory organ. Also, the research showed that the functional state of the tongue was worse in children diagnosed with Quadriparesis spastica. A statistically significant correlation between the diagnosis and the functional state of the tongue, the tongue test performance and the retention of the tongue in a given position was found (r = 0.594, p < 0.005; r = 0.816, p < 0.01 and r = 0.738, p < 0.001, respectively). CONCLUSION: A large percentage of children with cerebral palsy were not able to establish control over the position of articulatory organs, especially the tongue, and its retention in a given position, all of which affect the quality of speech.

[Prognostic factors of mortality in elderly with community acquired pneumonia].

BACKGROUND/AIM: Community acquired pneumonia in elderly has specific clinical aspect and higher mortality in relation to younger patients. According to specific pneumonia severity assessment on admission and its importance in proper prediction of clinical course and outcome, the aim of this study was defining prognostic factors of mortality. METHODS: This study included 240 patients aged > or = 65 years with community acquired pneumonia. On admission, demographic characteristics, underlying diseases, physical symptoms and findings, laboratory values, chest radiography and oxygen blood saturation (SaO2) were analyzed. Multivariate analysis was used to identify characteristic prognostic factors which showed a statistical significance in relation to mortality. RESULTS: Altered mental status, respiratory frequency > or = 23/min and the presence of bilateral pneumonic infiltrates were defined as the most important prognostic factors of mortality (p < 0.001). These factors displayed 57.89% sensitivity, 100% specificity and 93.33% accuracy. CONCLUSION: The presence of identified characteristic prognostic factors on admission pointed out an adverse clinical course and outcome of community acquired pneumonia in elderly. Age and sex were not significantly associated with mortality.

[Antioxidant enzymes and lipid peroxidation products in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis].

INTRODUCTION: A lot of studies have dealt with the oxidative stress in pulmonary diseases, and some of them with tuberculosis as well. The aim of this study was to examine the antioxidant enzyme level (superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase, catalase) and the lipid peroxidation products in patients with tuberculosis. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Forty patients with tuberculosis were included in the study. The examined parameters were measured before and three weeks after the beginning of the antituberculosis treatment (group I). The control group included 40 healthy persons (group II). RESULTS: The superoxide dismutase level was significantly lower in group I in both measurements (p < 0.001 and p < 0.01) in relation to group II, but there were no significant changes in its level during the therapy. During the treatment, the glutation peroxidase level significantly increased (p < 0.05), and in relation to group II, its level was significantly lower in both measurements in group I (p < 0.001 and p < 0.001). The catalase level significantly increased during the treatment, but there was no significant difference in relation to group II level. There was no significant difference in relation to the lipid peroxidase products between the groups. DISCUSSION: Our study group had reduced antioxidant enzyme level and some of them showed significant improvement during the treatment. The lipid peroxidase product level was stable. CONCLUSION: In patients with tuberculosis the antioxidative status is lower and its level and possible development of the oxidative stress depend on the disease severity.

Difficulties in establishing a timely diagnosis of pulmonary artery sarcoma misdiagnosed as chronic thrombo-embolic pulmonary disease: a case report.

INTRODUCTION: Pulmonary artery sarcomas are rare neoplasms that are often confused with chronic thrombo-embolic disease, as both can have similar clinical and imaging presentation. CASE PRESENTATION: In this report, we present a case of a 50-year-old man initially diagnosed with chronic thrombo-embolic pulmonary disease, but who was later found to have pulmonary artery sarcoma with poor survival prognosis. We review the clinical and imaging characteristics of the two diseases and discuss the difficulties in establishing a timely diagnosis. CONCLUSION: Similar clinical features and imaging presentation of pulmonary artery sarcoma and chronic thrombo-embolic pulmonary disease make definitive diagnosis difficult. This case report also illustrates and emphasizes that in any case with no predisposition factors for embolism, no evidence of deep venous thrombosis and pulmonary emboli, and inadequate relief of symptoms with anticoagulation, an alternative diagnosis of pulmonary artery sarcoma should be considered. If pulmonary artery sarcoma is diagnosed late in the course of the disease, there is usually a poor survival outcome.