The visually inattentive preterm infant.

A retrospective study was made of 16 premature infants who were visually inattentive despite normal eye findings and a lack of factors predisposing them to cerebral blindness. A comparison of this study group with other premature infants who were visually attentive revealed a much greater incidence of upper motor neuron disease and mental retardation in the study infants.

Intellectual and perceptual-motor performance of children receiving prolonged home total parenteral nutrition.

Intellectual and perceptual-motor functioning was studied in 12 children receiving prolonged home total parenteral nutrition. Children were between the ages of 4 years 2 months and 7 years 9 months. Average duration of total parenteral nutrition was 52.25 months (SD 15.55) with an average onset of 10.67 months (SD 8.99). Total parenteral nutrition was begun for eight of the children prior to or at approximately their first birthdate. Intelligence was assessed with the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence or the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children--Revised. Perceptual-motor functioning was measured by the Beery Buktenica Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration. All children functioned within the average range of intelligence, but the majority of children evidenced some deficits in perceptual-motor performance. This was particularly true for the older children (greater than or equal to 6 years). Home total parenteral nutrition onset and duration were unrelated to outcome. Medical complications, unrelated to home total parenteral nutrition, requiring lengthy and frequent hospitalizations were highly related to nonverbal intelligence and to perceptual-motor functioning. Although unrelated to perceptual-motor deficits, social class was highly associated with verbal and nonverbal intelligence.

The medical and psychosocial impact of comprehensive care on adolescent pregnancy and parenthood.

To assess the medical and psychosocial effects of services provided by a comprehensive adolescent pregnancy and parenthood program, 125 adolescents who received care from a comprehensive program were compared with 135 adolescents who received care from community health providers. Few differences were found in pregnancy outcome measures. At 12 and 26 months after delivery, however, the intervention group scored significantly better on composite measures encompassing medical, psychosocial, and parenting events than did the comparison group, even after accounting for possible confounding factors. This suggests that comprehensive care has little effect on pregnancy outcomes for those adolescents who are already receiving prenatal and nutritional services, but does have a significant effect on events occurring during the first and second postpartum years.

Somatic growth and developmental functioning in children receiving prolonged home total parenteral nutrition.

Growth and psychomotor development in nine infants receiving prolonged home total parenteral nutrition (TPN) were studied longitudinally from infancy to 3 years of age. Although these children had received TPN for, on average, 79% of their lives, normalization of somatic growth occurred by 2 years of age in all of them. Three children maintained average or above average levels of developmental performance over the 3-year study period. Another four children had initially delayed development but average or above average developmental scores by 18 months. In two children the rate of development gradually slowed without obvious cause, so that by 3 years they functioned in the below average to mildly retarded range.

Prescribed fire: effects on water quality and forest nutrient cycling.

Prescribed fire, a practice applied annually to about 10(6) hectares of forests in the southeastern United States, had limited effects on soils, nutrient cycling, and hydrologic systems of a coastal plain pine forest. Hydrologic fluxes of nitrogen, phosphorus, sulfur, and basic cations, from burned pine litter to ground and stream waters, are not likely to have appreciable impacts on water quality in the Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain.

Carbon cycling in a loblolly pine plantation.

The carbon cycle of a loblolly pine plantation in North Carolina was examined during its 12th through 16th years from planting. Net primary production during the study period averaged 2056 g C m-2 year-1. With autotrophic respiration equal to 2068 g C, the calculated gross production was 4124 g C m-2 year-1. Heterotrophic respiration of 694 g C m-2 year-1 resulted in net ecosystem production of 1362 g C m-2 year-1. In carbon cycle comparisons between forest ecosystems, autotrophic respiration rates were found to be closely coupled to regional temperature.