Aluminium incorporation into the brain of rat fetuses and sucklings.

Aluminium is highly neurotoxic and inhibits prenatal and postnatal development of the brain in humans and experimental animals. However, the incorporation of aluminium into the brain of fetuses and sucklings during gestation and lactation has not been well clarified because aluminium lacks a suitable isotope for a tracer experiment. In this study, we used 26Al (a radioisotope of aluminium with a half-life of 716,000 years) as a tracer, and measured 26Al incorporation into the brain of rat fetuses and sucklings by using accelerator mass spectrometry. 26Al (26AlCl3) was subcutaneously injected into pregnant rats and lactating rats. By day 21 of gestation, considerable amounts of the 26Al injected into the pregnant rats had been transferred to the brain and nuclear fraction (brain cell nuclei) of the rat fetuses. From day 5 to day 20 postpartum, the amounts of 26Al measured in the brain of suckling rats increased significantly. On day 20 postpartum, 26Al was found in the nuclear fraction isolated from the brain of suckling rats. It is concluded that 26Al subcutaneously injected into pregnant rats and/or lactating rats was incorporated into the brain and nuclear fraction (brain cell nuclei) of fetuses and sucklings through the transplacental passage and/or maternal milk.

[A clinical observation of cases which was suspected of congenital cholesteatoma].

Four cases which was suspected of congenital cholesteatoma were treated in the past 15 years. The age of the patients ranged from 4 to 17 years. In all cases, the cholesteatoma arose in the middle ear. In one case the cholesteatoma extended into the mastoid cavity. Tympanoplasty of colummella type III was indicated. Postoperative hearing gain was from 20 to 30dB. Although the incidence is low, otolaryngologists must be aware of congenital cholesteatoma when treating conductive hearing loss with a normal ear drum.

Global-local processing in preschool children.

The tendency of young children to attend to global and/or local levels of hierarchically structured patterns was examined using an orientation judgment task. 3- and 4-year-old children and adults were asked to judge which way an equilateral triangle was pointing under different contextual conditions. In Experiment 1, contextual variations included overall pattern orientation, configuration alignment type, presence or absence of an immediate frame of reference, and type of local element context. The results showed that, contrary to previous reports in the literature, young children, like adults, attend to both global and local levels of a pattern. Both pattern orientation and the introduction of contextual cues affected children's judgments, and the magnitude of that effect varied with the particular contextual cue present in the stimulus array. In Experiment 2, contextual variations included overall pattern orientation and presence or absence of an internal local level element. Consistent with the results of Experiment 1, young children's orientation judgements were influenced by the addition of local level factors.

[Psychological study of questionnaire relating to dentition and orthodontic treatment].

Concern of patients for dentition and receptivity of orthodontic treatment was studied by a general population questionnaire. Subjects (general population) consisted of elder elementary school boys and girls (157), junior high school (274) and high school students (90) and adults (45) in Tokushima, Kagawa and Kouchi prefectures. Twenty-three questions, previously selected from forty-seven using the Quantification III for orthodontic patients. Furthermore, ten questions were selected from these twenty-three using the same method and categorized into two groups. Each category was given a meaning. Five answers in each category were given marks: a positive answer was 'point one' and a negative one was 'point zero'. Mean points in each category were compared with eight groups according to age and sex. AIC (Akaike Information Criterion) was used for statistical analysis. The following results were obtained. 1. Two categories were independently identified. One had meaning in relation to concern for dentition and other had meaning in relation to receptivity of orthodontic treatment. 2. Orthodontic patients showed significantly higher points than general population for concern and receptivity. 3. Females in each group showed higher points for concern of dentition in general population, but males showed higher points for receptivity of orthodontic treatment. 4. Junior high school and high school students showed significantly lower points in two categories, in addition, males in this group showed lower points in these categories. 5. There were no significant differences between subjects in three prefectures. It is possible for general population to evaluate instructions or education methods for promoting interest in dentition by this study. Orthodontic patients will also be encouraged by the present study to receive orthodontic treatment.

Facilitative effects of labeling on preschool children's copying of simple geometric forms.

A total of 150 children between 2.5 and 5 yr. of age were tested on one of three conditions (one experimental and two control) of a copying task adapted from the 1982 Developmental Test of Visual Motor Integration of Beery. In the experimental condition, the geometric forms were labeled with the names of familiar objects. Analysis of scores indicated that introduction of verbal labels on the copying task facilitated preschool children's ability to reproduce geometric forms. The effect was consistent across the ages tested but was limited in that facilitation was observed only for those forms just beyond the child's demonstrated level of mastery. These results suggested that the verbal labels evoked a representational context which provided children with additional information necessary for accurate reproduction of the forms. Two alternative interpretations of this finding are discussed.

Spinal mobility in young children. A normative study.

The purpose of this study was to collect values of back mobility on healthy children between the ages of 5 and 9 years. Normative values of back mobility have not been established for children under 10 years of age. Measurements of anterior and lateral spinal flexion were obtained from 282 children, using a standard flexion measurement procedure. Intraclass correlation estimates of reliability ranged from .77 to .89, indicating acceptable agreement and stability across and within raters. Girls demonstrated greater mobility than boys in all three measurements. Post hoc trend analyses revealed consistent increases in left and right lateral flexion with increasing age. No linear trend existed for anterior flexion. Using these data, we developed normative values of back mobility for each sex and age grouping. These measures of back mobility will provide the clinician with an empirically validated comparison to help identify early restrictions in back mobility in children with juvenile arthritis and other pediatric populations who are at risk for restrictions in back mobility. Early identification may lead to better prevention and more timely and effective treatment programs.

Reliability of observational measures of the Movement Assessment of Infants.

This study was conducted to examine the reliability of the Movement Assessment of Infants (MAI), a recently published neuromotor assessment tool. Interobserver and test-retest reliability data were collected on 27 full-term and 26 preterm 4-month-old infants. Reliability coefficients (Pearson r) were calculated for both the total-risk scores and the section-risk scores on the MAI. The total-risk score was calculated by summing the questionable or abnormal ratings on each of the 65 test items. For each of the four sections of the test, tone, primitive reflexes, automatic reactions, and volitional movement, an individual section-risk score was computed in a similar manner. Fair reliability was demonstrated for the total-risk scores (interobserver: r = .72; test-retest: r = .76). Section-risk score coefficients yielded a wide range of values for both interobserver and test-retest reliabilities (poor to good reliability). These measures provide needed technical data for therapists using this test and will assist the authors of the MAI in their attempts to improve the clinical validity of this assessment tool.

Infant walkers and cerebral palsy.

We studied a 1-year-old infant with spastic cerebral palsy in its early stage. An infant walker was used by the mother to amuse the infant, but the walker was observed to produce a positive support reflex, perpetuating a primitive reflex that should fade during the first year of life. The walker also prevented the infant from practicing equilibrium reactions and protective responses that should be developing during this age. Positions assumed by the infant in the walker contribute to the development of common adverse sequelae of spastic cerebral palsy: heel cord contractures, sublocations and dislocations of the hips, and pronation contractures of the upper extremities.