[Notes on anti-staphylococcic immunity in premature infants with staphylococcia; antistaphylolysin behavior].
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Neuromotor behavior was studied in 63 children at a mean age of 7 years. They were born at a gestational age less than 32 weeks and/or birthweight under 1500 g and were categorized according to their medical history in conformance with the Neonatal Medical Index (from category I to V, from few to serious complications). We included only children considered at high risk as categorized in III to V. The neuromotor behavior study focuses on different subcategories, such as hand function, quality of walking, posture, passive muscle tone, coordination, and diadochokinesia. Hand preference and/or lateralization, the presence of associated movements, and/or asymmetry were noted, as was school performance. Then gender, gestational age, birthweight, and dysmaturity were investigated as confounding factors. The outcome at 7 years was correlated with the Neonatal Medical Index and the neonatal brain ultrasonography classification. None of the children scored 100% on the combined subcategories. Nineteen children (30%) had an overall score between 75 and 99%. Significant relationships between all different subcategories were found. Lack of hand preference, poor lateralization, and male gender were related to poor overall outcome. Poor motor control was correlated to special schooling and education below age level. The Neonatal Medical Index proved to have a significant influence on total outcome and the subcategories at the age of 7 years, with the worst outcome in children formerly classified in category V. Neuromotor behavior at 7 years of age was not related to birthweight, gestational age, dysmaturity, and neonatal brain ultrasonography classification only.
Predictive nursing as a health care strategy is not entirely new. What is new and emerging are means of sharpening our assessments of the events and conditions that support health, as well as specific models engaging the individual in assessing and altering or maintaining his position on the health continuum. This study has been shared with the readers to provide an encouraging direction toward new modes of health care delivery. We believe it is the most encouraging strategy for assisting families in promoting optimal health of infants from a very early point in the infant's life. The assessment techniques discussed in this paper relate to methods of identifying individual behavior patterns of newborn infants, behavioral interaction patterns of parents and infants during the early months and years of life, and the parents' perception of the infant. All of these measures are now being tested by the Nursing Child Assessment Project staff and will result in a systematic format of screening and assessing infants and families "at risk". With current knowledge, astoundingly correct predictions about cognitive development and achievement at school age of groups of children can be made with information about the mother's levels of education and the events of the perinatal periods. The measures discussed in this article concerning the infants' behavior, parent-child interaction, and the parents' perception of the child are factors which will go beyond our present ability to identify potential problems early. Predictive nursing of the infant and young child is our eventual goal. This means going a step beyond the current level of practice by beginning to systematically identify the proneness of individuals to good or bad health outcomes--specifically, the proneness of children to have developmental delays or problems--and to then provide a meaningful type of intervention before the developmental problem occurs.
Infant rat pups were exposed to a novel odor (orange or cedar) while they received tactile stimulation (stroking of the body) or were presented with odor or stroking alone. The effects of these treatments were assessed on pups' performance in a huddling test (Experiment 1 and 2) and an independent feeding test (Experiment 3). During these tests, only pups that had received the simultaneous presentation of the odor and stroking exhibited an increase in huddling and feeding. The increase in these behaviors was dependent on the presence of the conditioned odor during testing.
Previous studies of macaques have failed to show a relationship between female reproductive condition and infant-directed behavior. This has led to the view that maternal responsiveness in nonhuman primates is independent from hormonal variables and is mainly regulated by social and experiential factors. The present study reports longitudinal data on interactions between group-living adult pigtail macaque females and other females' infants less than 12 weeks of age during the 6 weeks prior to conception, the 24 weeks of pregnancy, and the first 12 weeks of lactation. These periods represent different hormonal conditions in the reproductive cycle. Infant-directed behavior increased in frequency during early and middle pregnancy, decreased around the time of parturition, and increased again during lactation. The frequency of infant-directed behavior also increased significantly in the 2 weeks after infant loss during lactation. These results are in accord with recent evidence in New World monkeys indicating that maternal responsiveness in nonhuman primates develops during pregnancy and it is probably hormonally regulated.
The primary purpose of the present study was to analyze quantitatively the vestibular evoked Moro response, and the symmetry of the movement pattern involved, as the traditional descriptions bring about. Another aim was to determine the segmental movements involved and determine whether the components of the Moro response are dependent on changes in the infant's behavioral state. Another question concerns whether the form of these movements changed over repeated trials on the same day, or from the first to the fifth day after birth. Vestibular evoked Moro responses of 52 neonates, 1-5 days of age, elicited in different behavior states (State 1-5), were examined and quantitatively analyzed. The response was evoked by a predefined, rapid, downward, vertical body motion, without any dorsiflexion of the infant's head. Optoelectronic device (SELSPOT II) were used to monitor the arm/hand movement patterns involved in the response. The three-dimensional movement pattern in space, duration, velocity, latency, and the acceleration of both arms/hands were analyzed in relation to the infant's behavioral state. The response movements were structured into phases of abduction/extension, adduction/flexion and the extension/flexion of the fingers. The vestibular stimulation used was found to be sufficient for eliciting an adequate Moro response. The segmental movement pattern of the Moro response was found to be sensitive to the infant's behavioral state at the time when the response was elicited. This was found in the movement pattern, duration, latency, and the velocity of the response. The response was found to be asymmetrical, in 82% of the infants it was found to be a predominant shorter onset latency of the right arm, in 12% the opposite was found. These findings suggest that there is a fundamental, spinal asymmetry involved in the Moro response which is subject to supraspinal influences emanating from the vestibulospinal system. No differences were found between 1 and 5 days of age for any of the scoring categories, and no differences were found within groups over six successive trials.
This study examines the communicative role of crying by assessing the ability of infants to indicate different degrees of distress in different social circumstances. Behaviors of mother-infant pairs were observed in the home for 7-h periods when the infants were 2, 3, 4, and 5 wk old; and three weekly observations were made when the infants were 1 yr old. A Cry Responsiveness Index (CRI) was derived to quantify the degree to which a baby cried differentially during each observation. This statistic showed significant individual differences. The CRI scores were correlated with maternal measures during the early weeks and negatively correlated with "mother ignore" at one year. The CRI scores were unrelated to the total amount of crying. The results indicate that responsive infants have responsive mothers--or conversely, that responsive mothers have responsive infants. Thus, cry responsiveness is not a function of infant behavior alone but is inherently an expression of the dynamics of the mother-infant interactional system.
The quality of general movements (GMs) was assessed repeatedly during the first postnatal months in a mixed group of 52 children at either low or high risk for neurodevelopmental disorders. In addition, all children were reexamined at 4 to 9 years. The follow-up assessment consisted of a neurological examination and an evaluation of behaviour by means of parental questionnaires. The quality of GMs changed frequently, to stabilize in the final phase. The final GM phase is that of the so-called fidgety GMs which occurs between 2 and 4 months postterm. The quality of the fidgety GMs predicted outcome very well. Definitely abnormal GMs were associated with a high risk for the development of cerebral palsy, whereas mildly abnormal GMs were associated with the development of minor neurological dysfunction, attention-deficit-hyperactivity disorder, and aggressive behaviour.
Style of child feeding may be an important determinant of child nutrition and health outcomes. Responsive feeding refers to the level and kind of interaction between caregiver and child that lead to a positive feeding experience, adequate dietary intake, and enhanced developmental opportunities. Responsive feeding behaviors may include active physical help and verbalization during feeding, role-playing, persistence, and positive feeding strategies. The aim of this study was to investigate styles of feeding among Vietnamese children 12 or 17 months of age from a rural province in northern Viet Nam. Forty child/mother pairs were videotaped during two, two-hour feeding episodes. Caregiver and child behaviors were coded at the level of the "intended bite" as observed through the videotape analysis of feeding episodes to assess caregiver behavior and the child's interest and acceptance of food. We found it feasible to use videotape and the modified coding and analysis scheme, originally developed for work in Peru, in Viet Nam. In Viet Nam, caregivers provided physical help to eat nearly all of the time for the younger children, and about 70% of the time among 17 month olds. Caregivers verbalized during only 30% of intended bites, and only half of these verbalizations were responsive in tone or words. Positive caregiver behaviors were significantly associated with higher child acceptance of food, while non-responsive feeding behaviors were associated with child rejection of food. Future analyses of this data set will evaluate the degree to which an integrated nutrition program positively modified caretaker behaviors. More research is needed to demonstrate the relationships among the promotion of responsive feeding behaviors, acceptance of food, and improved nutrition and health status of children.
Differences in the attachment behavior of 18-month-old full-time, part-time, and non-day-care infants from intact middle-class homes were compared. Mothers of the day-care infants had made arrangements to return to work before their infants' birth, and all the infants had been placed in day-care homes before 9 months of age. The study involved 2 sessions: a home observation and the strange-situation procedure in a laboratory setting. The home-observation and rating scale scores of maternal behaviors directed at the child yielded few group differences. More full-time day-care children (but not part-time children) were found to display avoidance of the mother during the final reunion episode of the strange-situation procedure than did non-day-care children. The length of the daily separation appears to be an important determinant of day-care effects on infant-mother attachment.
The responses of 18 Down syndrome infants in a modified "strange" situation were recorded. The results indicated that these infants were aware of the exits and entrances of both mother and stranger. They cried and showed non-crying distress significantly more when their mothers were absent and showed awareness of the focal point of the room by looking at the door more in appropriate experimental episodes. They also showed increased looking at mother and physical contact on reunion with her. Concluded that the behavior Down syndrome infants is qualitatively similar to nonretarded children and that they indicate their levels of social awareness in these experimental situations.
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OBJECTIVES: To determine whether early psychosocial intervention with low birth weight term (LBW-T) infants improved cognition and behavior and to compare LBW-T with normal birth weight (NBW) infants. STUDY DESIGN: A randomized controlled trial was carried out in Kingston, Jamaica, with 140 LBW-T infants (weight<2500 g). The intervention comprised weekly home visits by paraprofessionals for the first 8 weeks of life aimed at improving maternal-child interaction. LBW-T and 94 matched NBW (weight 2500 to 4000 g) infants were recruited from the main maternity hospital. Main outcome measures were problem solving (2 means-end tests: cover and support) and 4 behavior ratings at 7 months. Analyses used were the t test for intervention effects and multiple regression to compare LBW and NBW infants. RESULTS: LBW-T intervened infants had higher scores than LBW-T control infants on the cover test (P<.05) and were more cooperative (P<.01) and happy (P<.05). LBW-T control infants had poorer scores on both the cover (P<.001) and support tests (P<.01), vocalized less (P<.02), and were less cooperative (P<.001), happy (P<.02), and active (P<.02) than NBW infants. LBW-T intervened infants had lower scores than NBW infants only on the support test (P<.05). CONCLUSIONS: Early low-cost intervention can improve cognition and behavior of LBW-T infants in developing countries.
The authors refer their results obtained with brainstem-evoked response audiometry (BSERA) and behavioral audiometry in a group of 270 children (aged from 6 months to 12 years) divided into subjects with (group A) and without (group B) reliable audiograms. In group A an agreement between the two methods was found in 77% of cases and a serious discrepancy in 5%. In group B an agreement was found only in 34% of cases, while a serious discrepancy was found in 20% of the children. BSERA was useful because many diagnostic mistakes were avoided. The authors think that BSERA is a reliable technique, as their data show, but in at least 4 cases they found that BSERA gave a hearing level much higher than that obtained with behavioral audiometry or that observed in the children's responses to everyday sounds. Since click gives only partial information of the tonal field and because it is possible to make technical mistakes, the authors believe that BSERA must not be used as the only diagnostic test but that it should be part of a test battery which includes, at least, behavioral audiometry and impedance audiometry.
Low birth weight infants are at increased risk for behavioral and emotional problems. The Infant Health and Development Program was designed to evaluate the efficacy of intense pediatric and family support on reducing developmental and behavioral problems in low birth weight, premature infants. The major findings of this and other studies are presented in this article.
Patterns of visual interaction in mother-infant dyadic behavior have been reported for human and nonhuman primates, including age and gender differences among rhesus macaques. Such findings are tested with data from two developmental periods (Weeks 1-8 and 21-36) on Japanese macaque mother-infant visual behavior. Rates for look, infant facial-fixation, and eye contact are greater during the first period than in the second. In Weeks 1-8, infants interact visually with their mother significantly more than with any other kinship class. This pattern continues in the second period, with the exception of eye contact for female infants, and with relatively more attention to nonmatrilineal animals. In Weeks 1-8, all instances of eye contact between mothers and their female, but not male, infants are initiated by the mother. In Weeks 21-36, male, but not female, infants direct significantly more looks to their mother than they receive from her.
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Studies indicate that infants in our culture are exposed to significant amounts of TV, often as a baby-sitting strategy by busy caretakers. The question arises whether TV viewing merely presents infants with a salient collection of moving patterns or whether they will readily pick up information depicted in this 2-D representation and incorporate it into their own behavior. Can infants "understand" the content of television enough to govern their real-world behavior accordingly? One way to explore this question is to present a model via television for infants to imitate. Infants' ability to imitate TV models was explored at 2 ages, 14 and 24 months, under conditions of immediate and deferred imitation. In deferred imitation, infants were exposed to a TV depiction of an adult manipulating a novel toy in a particular way but were not presented with the real toy until the next day. The results showed significant imitation at both ages, and furthermore showed that even the youngest group imitated after the 24-hour delay. The finding of deferred imitation of TV models has social and policy implications, because it suggests that TV viewing in the home could potentially affect infant behavior and development more than heretofore contemplated. The results also add to a growing body of literature on prelinguistic representational capacities. They do so in the dual sense of showing that infants can relate 2-D representations to their own actions on real objects in 3-D space, and moreover that the information picked up through TV can be internally represented over lengthy delays before it is used to guide the real-world action.