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27 Assessing Differences in Academic Achievement Among a National Sample of Children with Epilepsy Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic
- Brandon Almy, Lauren Scimeca, David Marshall, Brittany L. Nordhaus, Erin Fedak Romanowski, Nancy McNamara, Elise Hodges, Madison M. Berl, Alyssa Ailion, Donald J. Bearden, Katrina Boyer, Crystal M. Cooper, Amanda M. Decrow, Priscilla H. Duong, Patricia Espe-Pfeifer, Marsha Gabriel, Jennifer I. Koop, Kelly A. McNally, Andrew Molnar, Emily Olsen, Kim E. Ono, Kristina E. Patrick, Brianna Paul, Jonathan Romain, Leigh N. Sepeta, Rebecca L.H. Stilp, Greta N. Wilkening, Mike Zaccariello, Frank Zelko
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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. 28-29
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Objective:
The COVID-19 pandemic significantly disrupted schools and learning formats. Children with epilepsy are at-risk for generalized academic difficulties. We investigated the potential impact of COVID-19 on learning in those with epilepsy by comparing achievement on well-established academic measures among school-age children with epilepsy referred prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and those referred during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Participants and Methods:This study included 466 children [52% male, predominately White (76%), MAge=10.75 years] enrolled in the Pediatric Epilepsy Research Consortium Epilepsy (PERC) Surgery database project who were referred for surgery and seen for neuropsychological testing. Patients were divided into two groups based on a proxy measure of pandemic timing completed by PERC research staff at each site (i.e., “were there any changes to typical in-person administration [of the evaluation] due to COVID?”). 31% of the sample (N = 144) were identified as having testing during the pandemic (i.e., “yes” response), while 69% were identified as having testing done pre-pandemic (i.e., “no” response). Of the 31% who answered yes, 99% of administration changes pertained to in-person testing or other changes, with 1% indicating remote testing. Academic achievement was assessed by performance measures (i.e., word reading, reading comprehension, spelling, math calculations, and math word problems) across several different tests. T-tests compared the two groups on each academic domain. Subsequent analyses examined potential differences in academic achievement among age cohorts that approximately matched grade level [i.e., grade school (ages 5-10), middle school (ages 11-14), and high school (ages 15-18)].
Results:No significant differences were found between children who underwent an evaluation before the pandemic compared to those assessed during the pandemic based on age norms across academic achievement subtests (all p’s > .34). Similarly, there were no significant differences among age cohorts. The average performance for each age cohort generally fell in the low average range across academic skills. Performance inconsistently varied between age cohorts. The youngest cohort (ages 5-10) scored lower than the other cohorts for sight-word reading, whereas this cohort scored higher than the middle cohort (ages 11-14) for math word problems and reading comprehension. There were no significant differences between the two pandemic groups on demographic variables, intellectual functioning, or epilepsy variables (i.e., age of onset, number of seizure medications, seizure frequency).
Conclusions:Academic functioning was generally equivalent between children with epilepsy who underwent academic testing as part of a pre-surgical evaluation prior to the pandemic compared to those who received testing during the pandemic. Additionally, academic functioning did not significantly differ between age cohorts. Children with epilepsy may have entered the pandemic with effective academic supports and/or were accustomed to school disruptions given their seizure history. Replication is needed as findings are based on a proxy measure of pandemic timing and the extent to which children experienced in-person, remote, and hybrid learning is unknown. Children tested a year into the pandemic, after receiving instruction through varying educational methods, may score differently than those tested earlier. Future research can address these gaps. Although it is encouraging that academic functioning was not disproportionately impacted during the pandemic in this sample, children with epilepsy are at-risk for generalized academic difficulties and continued monitoring of academic functioning is necessary.
26 The Importance of Executive Functioning for Academic Achievement Among a National Sample of Children with Epilepsy
- Brandon Almy, David Marshall, Brittany L. Nordhaus, Erin Fedak Romanowski, Nancy McNamara, Elise Hodges, Madison M. Berl, Alyssa Ailion, Donald J. Bearden, Katrina Boyer, Crystal M. Cooper, Amanda M. Decrow, Priscilla H. Duong, Patricia Espe-Pfeifer, Marsha Gabriel, Jennifer I. Koop, Kelly A. McNally, Andrew Molnar, Emily Olsen, Kim E. Ono, Kristina E. Patrick, Brianna Paul, Jonathan Romain, Leigh N. Sepeta, Rebecca L.H. Stilp, Greta N. Wilkening, Mike Zaccariello, Frank Zelko
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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. 26-27
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Objective:
Children with epilepsy are at greater risk of lower academic achievement than their typically developing peers (Reilly and Neville, 2015). Demographic, social, and neuropsychological factors, such as executive functioning (EF), mediate this relation. While research emphasizes the importance of EF skills for academic achievement among typically developing children (e.g., Best et al., 2011; Spiegel et al., 2021) less is known among children with epilepsy (Ng et al., 2020). The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of EF skills on academic achievement in a nationwide sample of children with epilepsy.
Participants and Methods:Participants included 427 children with epilepsy (52% male; MAge= 10.71), enrolled in the Pediatric Epilepsy Research Consortium (PERC) Epilepsy Surgery Database who had been referred for surgery and underwent neuropsychological testing. Academic achievement was assessed by performance measures (word reading, reading comprehension, spelling, and calculation and word-based mathematics) and parent-rating measures (Adaptive Behavior Assessment System (ABAS) Functional Academics and Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) School Performance). EF was assessed by verbal fluency measures, sequencing, and planning measures from the Delis Kaplan Executive Function System (DKEFS), NEPSY, and Tower of London test. Rating-based measures of EF included the 'Attention Problems’ subscale from the CBCL and 'Cognitive Regulation’ index from the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF-2). Partial correlations assessed associations between EF predictors and academic achievement, controlling for fullscale IQ (FSIQ; A composite across intelligence tests). Significant predictors of each academic skill or rating were entered into a two-step regression that included FSIQ, demographics, and seizure variables (age of onset, current medications) in the first step with EF predictors in the second step.
Results:Although zero-order correlations were significant between EF predictors and academic achievement (.29 < r’s < .63 for performance; -.63 < r’s < -.50 for rating measures), partial correlations controlling for FSIQ showed fewer significant relations. For performance-based EF, only letter fluency (DKEFS Letter Fluency) and cognitive flexibility (DKEFS Trails Condition 4) demonstrated significant associations with performance-based academic achievement (r’s > .29). Regression models for performance-based academic achievement indicated that letter fluency (ß = .22, p = .017) and CBCL attention problems (ß = -.21, p =.002) were significant predictors of sight-word reading. Only letter fluency (ß = .23, p =.006) was significant for math calculation. CBCL Attention Problems were a significant predictor of spelling performance (ß = -.21, p = .009) and reading comprehension (ß = -.18, p =.039). CBCL Attention Problems (ß = -.38, p <.001 for ABAS; ß = -.34, p =.002 for CBCL School) and BRIEF-2 Cognitive Regulation difficulties (ß = -.46, p < .001 for ABAS; ß = -.46, p =.013 for CBCL School) were significant predictors of parent-rated ABAS Functional Academics and CBCL School Performance.
Conclusions:Among a national pediatric epilepsy dataset, performance-based and ratings-based measures of EF predicted performance academic achievement, whereas only ratings-based EF predicted parent-rated academic achievement, due at least in part to shared method variance. These findings suggest that interventions that increase cognitive regulation, reduce symptoms of attention dysfunction, and promote self-generative, flexible thinking, may promote academic achievement among children with epilepsy.
Dietary cholesterol, heart disease risk and cognitive dissonance
- Donald J. McNamara
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- Proceedings of the Nutrition Society / Volume 73 / Issue 2 / May 2014
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 09 January 2014, pp. 161-166
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In the 1960s, the thesis that dietary cholesterol contributes to blood cholesterol and heart disease risk was a rational conclusion based on the available science at that time. Fifty years later the research evidence no longer supports this hypothesis yet changing the dietary recommendation to limit dietary cholesterol has been a slow and at times contentious process. The preponderance of the clinical and epidemiological data accumulated since the original dietary cholesterol restrictions were formulated indicate that: (1) dietary cholesterol has a small effect on the plasma cholesterol levels with an increase in the cholesterol content of the LDL particle and an increase in HDL cholesterol, with little effect on the LDL:HDL ratio, a significant indicator of heart disease risk, and (2) the lack of a significant relationship between cholesterol intake and heart disease incidence reported from numerous epidemiological surveys. Over the last decade, many countries and health promotion groups have modified their dietary recommendations to reflect the current evidence and to address a now recognised negative consequence of ineffective dietary cholesterol restrictions (such as inadequate choline intake). In contrast, health promotion groups in some countries appear to suffer from cognitive dissonance and continue to promote an outdated and potentially hazardous dietary recommendation based on an invalidated hypothesis. This review evaluates the evidence for and against dietary cholesterol restrictions and the potential consequences of such restrictions.
Olive oil and rapeseed oil differ in their effect on plasma low-density lipoprotein metabolism in the guinea-pig
- Maria Luz Fernandez, Anthony E. Soscia, Gwo-Shing Sun, Mark Tosca, Donald J. McNamara, Bruce E. McDonald
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- British Journal of Nutrition / Volume 76 / Issue 6 / December 1996
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 09 March 2007, pp. 869-880
- Print publication:
- December 1996
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The effects of olive oil and rapeseed oil, two different high-o1eic-acid oils, on plasma LDL and hepatic cholesterol metabolism were compared in guinea-pigs. Animals were fed on semipurified diet containing 150 g fat/kg as either olive oil (OL), rapeseed oil plus 100 g palm oil/kg (C-P) or olive oil plus 350 g safflowerseed oil/kg (OL-S). Olive oil was enriched with safllowerseed oil (OL-S diet) to increase linoleic acid and to decrease palmitic acid concentrations, in order to evaluate whether differences in plasma LDL concentrations were due to intrinsic effects of the specific oil (rapeseed or olive oil) or to differences in the content of specific fatty acids. No differences due to dietary fat source were found in plasma total and HDL-cholesterol levels or in LDL composition. Plasma LDL-cholesterol levels were lower on the C-P diet than the OL diet (P < 0·05) while plasma LDL-cholesterol levels in animals fed on the OL-S diet were not significantly different from either dietary group (P > 0·05). The number of hepatic apo B/E (LDL) receptors was on average 25% higher in animals fed on the C-P diet compared with those fed on diets containing olive oil. Likewise, cardiac muscle lipoprotein lipase (EC 3.1.1.34) activity was significantly higher in the C-P group than in the OL and OL-S dietary groups. Dietary fat source had no effect on hepatic cholesterol levels or 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl (HMG) CoA reductase (EC 1.1.1.34) activity. The results indicate that olive oil and rapeseed oil, both rich sources of monoumaturated fatty acids, differ in their effect on LDL metabolism in the guinea-pig.