The synthesis of S100 protein increases toward the end of the exponential phase of growth of clonal rat glial cells C6 in monolayer culture. Moreover the synthesis of this protein can be increased by treatment of C6 cells with the lectin succinylated concanavalin A (succinyl ConA). In order to study the relationship between these two inductions of S100 protein we have isolated a cell line resistant to ConA from a population of C6 cells. The resistant cells (C6-ConAR) have less succinyl ConA receptors than C6 cells. In contrast to C6 cells, the synthesis of S100 protein does not increase in C6-ConAR cells after treatment with succinyl ConA. However in both cell types the synthesis of S100 protein increases toward the end of the exponential phase of growth. These results suggest firstly that the induction of S100 protein in C6 cells by succinyl ConA is mediated by an interaction of the lectin with its membrane receptors and secondly that the initial steps in the induction of S100 protein by the lectin are different from the initial steps in the induction of this protein which occurs toward the end of the exponential phase of growth in monolayer culture.

Animals↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Prevalence and natural history of primary speech and language delay: findings from a systematic review of the literature.

The prevalence and the natural history of primary speech and language delays were two of four domains covered in a systematic review of the literature related to screening for speech and language delay carried out for the NHS in the UK. The structure and process of the full literature review is introduced and criteria for inclusion in the two domains are specified. The resulting data set gave 16 prevalence estimates generated from 21 publications and 12 natural history studies generated from 18 publications. Results are summarized for six subdivisions of primary speech and language delays: (1) speech and/or language, (2) language only, (3) speech only, (4) expression with comprehension, (5) expression only and (6) comprehension only. Combination of the data suggests that both concurrent and predictive case definition can be problematic. Prediction improves if language is taken independently of speech and if expressive and receptive language are taken together. The results are discussed in terms of the need to develop a model of prevalence based on risk of subsequent difficulties.

Child↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Early Years Centres for pre-school children with primary language difficulties: what do they cost, and are they cost-effective?

BACKGROUND: High levels of early language difficulties raise practical issues about the efficient and effective means of meeting children's needs. Persistent language difficulties place significant financial pressures on health and education services. This has led to large investment in intervention in the early years; yet, little is known about the actual and relative costs of early years provision. AIMS: To profile the different costs incurred by two Early Years Centres (EYCs) partially funded by the charity I CAN and children receiving what might be termed 'routine' NHS speech therapy to provide an analysis of cost efficiency and equity. METHODS & PROCEDURES: Costings for service provision for 91 children (mean age 2;9) were collected. The activity of staff at each site and the cost of staff allocated to services were computed. Data on other resources were also collected. OUTCOMES & RESULTS: The cost per child per session was on average 12 pounds. Despite the longer course of intervention in the first centre (10 compared with 6 weeks), the cost of the course per child was of the same order (245 pounds compared with 253 pounds). The annual cost of the early years provision per child was higher relative to the costs of the NHS provision, 645 pounds compared with 181 pounds in one EYC (A) and 462 pounds compared with 173 pounds in the other (B). When the cost of standard nursery provision was factored in, the difference in annual costs was rather less, with 5298 pounds for the early years provision (EYC A) relative to 4276 pounds in the comparison group. By contrast, the annual cost of early provision rises to 5926 pounds relative to 8861 pounds in the comparison group (EYC B). CONCLUSIONS: The cost of the EYCs is relatively low and given the positive outcomes reported in the study of which this economic evaluation is a part, there is a good case for saying that they represent an efficient use of resources. The strengths and limitations of the economic evaluation are considered and the need for long-term evaluations is highlighted.

Child Health Services↗

PubMedDate not supplied

It's not just the pigs...a comment on the RDLS III.

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Child↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Early language screening in City and Hackney: work in progress.

The paper describes the initial stages in the development of a screening instrument designed to identify children with impaired language development at the age of 2 1/2 years. The pilot study comprised 40 children seen for routine developmental surveillance at one of the Community Health Centres in City and Hackney District Health Authority. The screen was found to be both sufficiently sensitive and sufficiently specific to warrant further investigation. The discussion highlights a number of pertinent issues which have arisen from the study and which the authors consider to be of relevance to others considering the development of equivalent procedures.

Child, Preschool↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Do 'minority' groups have special needs? Speech therapy and the Chasidic Jewish community in north London.

The paper addresses the issue of whether a paediatric speech therapy service can offer an adequately sensitive service to a specific community, notably the Chasidic Jewish community of north London. Fifteen parents of Jewish children were compared with 20 parents of non-Jewish children attending the same speech therapy clinic. A questionnaire was administered to both groups. The results indicate that the groups differed in the extent to which they required therapy in their own language, the Jewish group being less concerned than the non-Jewish group. The groups did not differ in the extent to which they would object to therapists on the grounds of sex or religion. When a test of significance was used, a number of differences were identified in relation to specific responses. The results are discussed in terms of the need for a culturally sensitized service.

Child↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Early language screening in city and Hackney: the concurrent validity of a measure designed for use with 2 1/2-year-olds.

This paper reports data relating to the development of a screening test for language impairment in 2 1/2-year-old children. The screening test itself has previously been described. The results of a pilot study and a larger community study are reported. In all, 34 children were included in the pilot study and 1015 in the community study. The reference test selected was the Reynell Developmental Language Scales and the cut-off adopted 1.5 standard deviations below the mean for either the expressive or the receptive scale of the test concerned. The pass mark on the screening test was ascertained using receiver operating characteristics (ROC). The validity is reported given the cut-off identified. The specificity, sensitivity and both positive and negative predictive abilities are reported for both the pilot and the subsequent study. The application of the test is discussed in the context of the current debate about early identification.

Child, Preschool↗

PubMedDate not supplied

The implications of different approaches to evaluating intervention: evidence from the study of language delay/disorder.

There is a pressure to both identify and expand the evidence base with regard to the treatment of speech and language disorders in children, as there is in other areas of speech and language therapy. This paper addresses two sources of evidence, a systematic review and meta-analysis of early language interventions and the monitoring of an early language target for socially disadvantaged children in Sure Start programmes in England. There is a growing number of efficacy studies in the field of speech and language disorders in children. For example, in a recent review for the Cochrane Collaboration in the UK 36 articles reporting a total of 33 different trials. Twenty-five of these articles provided sufficient information for use in a series of meta-analyses. The results indicate that speech and language therapy may be effective for children with phonological or expressive vocabulary difficulties. There is mixed evidence concerning the effectiveness of intervention for children with expressive syntax difficulties and little evidence available considering the effectiveness of intervention for children with receptive language difficulties. No significant differences were found between interventions administered by trained parents and clinicians. A number of gaps in the evidence base are identified. But such reviews are essentially retrospective and, while the results may be interesting for practitioners, they do not provide the whole picture. The paper then turns to a very different data set and the role of population monitoring, an approach to assessing the value of interventions which has not hitherto been used in any area of speech and language therapy. The data are derived from a year-on-year monitoring of the language output of 2-year-olds in Sure Start programmes in England. This is a programme funded by central government in the UK to reduce the impact of social disadvantage on children, parents and their communities. The practice and policy implications of these two different sources of information are considered. Who is the consumer of such information and what can they do with it once they have it?

Child↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Meeting the challenge of change.

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Canada↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Wanting a say.

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Humans↗