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8 Effects of Birthweight and Home Environment on Cognitive Executive Functions at Preschool-Age of VLBW / ELBW Preterm Children with Normal Early Development
- Peng-Chen Chen, Nai-Wen Guo, Yuen-Ki Mo, Wen-Han Chou, Ching-Lun Tsai, June-Hui Huang, Wen-Hao Chang
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- Journal:
- Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society / Volume 29 / Issue s1 / November 2023
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 21 December 2023, pp. 618-619
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Objective:
Preterm children with very low birthweight (VLBW) / extremely low birthweight (ELBW) with normal early development had been found poorer executive functions (EFs) at preschool-age (Ni, Huang & Guo, 2011). The previous study found that the risks of deficits in EFs at preschool-age of preterm children can be attenuated by more supportive home environment (Taylor & Clark, 2016). However, former studies didn't investigate the effect of birthweight and home environment on cognitive EFs of preterm children simultaneously, especially those with normal early development. The present study aims to investigate the predictive effect of birthweight and home environment on the cognitive EFs of VLBW / ELBW preterm children.
Participants and Methods:The preterm children were recruited from the Premature Baby Foundation of Taiwan. Inclusion criteria were their scores of Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development, second or third edition at 12 and 24 months, and Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence, Revised Edition at 5 years old were higher than 70. Exclusion criteria were visual impairment, hearing impairment, and cerebral palsy. There was a total of 287 preterm children with age 6 recruited in the present study. Preterm children were then divided into VLBW group (n=202, birthweight between 1001-1500g) and ELBW group (n=85, birthweight less than 1000g). The typical children included 89 term-born healthy and typically developing children with age 6, who were recruited from comparable social status families in the community. Four types of cognitive EFs including 22 indicators were assessed. Inhibition ability including 8 indicators was assessed through Comprehensive Nonverbal Attention Test Battery (CNAT), cognitive flexibility including 6 indicators was assessed through Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), working memory including 2 indicators was assessed through Digit Span Subtest of Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-IV (WISC-IV) and Knox's Cube Test (KCT), planning ability including 6 indicators was assessed through Tower of London (ToL). The home environment was assessed through Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment (HOME), Revised edition. Data were analyzed with Stepwise Regression.
Results:Results showed that the regression model with birthweight significantly predicted 83.3% of planning ability indicators, 83.3% of cognitive flexibility indicators, and 50% of working memory indicators. Among indicators mentioned above, birthweight has been found the greatest predictive effect on summation-of score of ToL (R2=.04, p<.001). The regression model with HOME significantly predicted 66.7% of planning ability indicators, 16.7% of cognitive flexibility indicators, and 12.5% of inhibition ability indicators. Among the indicators mentioned above, HOME has been found the greatest predictive effect on rule-1 of ToL (R2=.027, p=.001). The regression model with birthweight and HOME significantly predicted 50% of planning ability indicators. Among indicators mentioned above, the regression model has been found the greatest predictive effect on summation-of-score of ToL (R2=.061, p<.001).
Conclusions:Both birthweight and home environment have been found significantly predicted different types of cognitive EFs at preschool-age of VLBW / ELBW preterm children with normal early development. Though the home environment doesn't have such a great predictive effect as birthweight is, both birthweight and home environment are significant predictors of planning ability.
Neuropsychiatric symptoms in Parkinson’s disease: association with caregiver distress and disease severity
- Wan-Chen Tsai, Hui-Chen Lin, Chiung-Chih Chang, Wen-Neng Chang, Chih-Cheng Huang, Kuei-Yueh Cheng, Hung-Chen Wang, Wei-Che Lin, Sheng-Yuan Hsiao, Yun-Ru Lai, Cheng-Hsien Lu, Nai-Wen Tsai
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- Journal:
- International Psychogeriatrics / Volume 32 / Issue 6 / June 2020
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 24 October 2019, pp. 733-739
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Objectives:
The condition of caregivers is important to the quality of care received by people with Parkinson’s disease (PD), especially at the late disease stages. This study addresses the distress placed on caregivers by participants’ neuropsychiatric symptoms at different stages of PD in Taiwan
Methods:This prospective study enrolled 108 people with PD. All participants were examined with the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS), Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI), Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), Cognitive Abilities Screening Instrument (CASI), and Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) scale. Caregiver distress was measured using the Neuropsychiatric Inventory Caregiver Distress Scale (NPI-D). Statistical analysis was used to explore the PD-related factors that contribute to caregiver distress.
Results:The mean follow-up interval in the 108 PD participants were 24.0 ± 10.2 months with no participant lost to follow-up due to death. NPI-distress (the sum of NPI caregiver distress scale across the 12 domains of the NPI) was positively correlated with NPI-sum (the total score across the 12 domains of the NPI) (r = 0.787, p < 0.001), CDR (r = 0.403, p < 0.001), UPRDS (r = 0.276, p = 0.004), and disease duration (r = 0.246, p = 0.002), but negatively correlated with CASI (r = −0.237, p = 0.043) and MMSE (r = −0.281, p < 0.001). Multiple linear regression analysis showed that only NPI-sum and disease duration were independently correlated with NPI-distress.
Conclusion:The disease duration and NPI-sum are independent predictors of caregiver distress in Taiwanese populations with PD. Early detection and reduction of neuropsychiatric symptoms in people with PD can help decrease caregiver distress.
Toxicity tolerance of oyster embryos to selected cryoprotectants
- Nai-Hsien Chao, Chi-Ping Chiang, Hui-Wen Hsu, Chia-Tzao Tsai, Ta-Te Lin
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- Journal:
- Aquatic Living Resources / Volume 7 / Issue 2 / April 1994
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 15 April 1994, pp. 99-104
- Print publication:
- April 1994
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With the aim of establishing cryopreservation protocols for oyster (Crassostrea gigas) embryos, toxicity of single or combined cryoprotectants to oyster embryos was investigated. In experiments on the toxicity tolerance of oyster embryos, four conventional cryoprotectants, namely, acetamide (A), dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), ethylene glycol (EG) and propylene glycol (PG), with concentrations from 1 to 5 M were used to test the toxicity tolerance of oyster embryos at eight different developemental stages. On a molar-equivalent basis, DMSO appeared to be less toxic to PG, EG and acetamide in general. Oyster embryos were tolerant to low concentrations of all cryoprotectants tested in the range from 1 M to 2 M for all developmental stages. Early stage embryos were more vulnerable to high concentration (4 M and 5 M) cryoprotectants tested than late stage embryos. Experiments were subsequently performed to study the combined effects of DMSO and acetamide adding trehalose or glucose in reducing toxicity to 4 hour oyster embryos. The use of trehalose or glucose reduced toxicity of high cryoprotectant concentrations. Survival was higher when DMSO was combined with acetamide than when using DMSO or acetamide alone at high concentration (5 M). By adding trehalose to combined 5 M DMSO and acetamide (total concentration) an average survival rate of 67 ± 7% was obtained in contrast to 8 ± 5% or 2 ± 1% survival when testing with 5 M DMSO or 5 M acetamide, respectively.