| 1. |
- Domellöf, Erik, 1970-, et al.
(författare)
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Relations Among Upper-Limb Movement Organization and Cognitive Function at School Age in Children Born Preterm
- 2013
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Ingår i: Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics. - : Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. - 0196-206X .- 1536-7312. ; 34:5, s. 344-352
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Objective: To explore relations between aspects of upper-body spatiotemporal movement organization and intelligence in children born preterm at school age.Methods: Three-dimensional (3D) kinematic recordings of arm and head movements during a unimanual precision task were related to performance on the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, 4th edition, in a sample of 32 children born preterm (gestational age, mean: 31.5 weeks [range: 22-35 weeks]; birth weight, mean: 1699 g [range: 404-2962 g]) at 6 years to 8 years with no diagnosed cognitive, sensory, or motor impairments compared with 40 age-matched control children born fullterm.Results: In the children born preterm, upper-limb movement duration and segmentation of movement trajectories were significantly associated with full-scale intelligence quotient independent of gestational age (GA) and sex. These effects pertained to the preferred side, characterized by more effective movement organization being linked with increased intelligence scores. The same relations were not seen in the controls. Within the children born preterm, a significant effect of GA was also found for some aspects of upper-limb movement organization. Full-scale intelligence quotient was within normal limits for both groups but significantly lower in the preterm (mean: 94.5 [range: 72-120]) compared with the fullterm (mean: 101.7 [range: 76-119]) born children.Conclusions: The findings demonstrate that, independent of GA, the spatiotemporal organization of upper-limb movements is partly associated with cognitive performance in children born preterm.
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| 2. |
- Dahlström, Carolin, et al.
(författare)
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Uni- and bimanual goal-directed arm movement organization in children at 6-9 years : Effects of a preterm birth
- 2014
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Ingår i: Congress Programme. 1st Clinical Movement Analysis Word Conference. ; , s. 110-110
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- INTRODUCTION and AIMPsychomotor deficits are more commonly reported among children born preterm (PT) than those born full-term (FT). Further, evidence exists for more covert motor problems in children born preterm at school age [1]. Such findings may be associated with a more immature spatiotemporal model of movements and lower cognitive functioning in children born PT than FT [2]. The main aim of this study was to investigate the effects of gestational age (GA) on uni- and bimanual goal-directed arm movement organization and on cognitive functioning in children at school age.PATIENTS/MATERIALS and METHODSParticipants consisted of 88 children between 6-9 years of age (M = 7.7 years; 40 PT, 19 girls; 48 FT, 22 girls) without known developmental delays or deviations. Children born PT were divided into two subgroups: moderately PT (M-PT), 34-36 weeks’ gestation (GW), and very PT (V-PT), < 34 GW. Movement kinematics were examined during performance of a goal-directed task, where the participants pushed three buttons in a sequential order in two different directions (vertical or horizontal) with either the right or left hand (unimanual) and with both hands simultaneously (bimanual). Movements were recorded by a 6-camera movement registration system (240Hz, ProReflex) and the number of movement units (MUs) was derived from head, shoulders, elbow, and wrist movement velocity profiles. Cognitive function in terms of verbal IQ (VIQ) and full scale IQ (FSIQ) was measured by the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, 4th edition (WISC-IV).RESULTSOverall, a significant difference between the groups regarding number of MUs and FSIQ was found. In general, children born V-PT showed more MUs compared with the FT and M-PT group. Regardless of group, a significant higher amount of MUs was found in the bimanual condition than in the unimanual, and during horizontal movement performance in comparison with vertical. Furthermore, GA was significant negatively correlated with number of MUs for right and left wrist and right elbow, and also with FSIQ.DISCUSSION and CONCLUSIONSThese findings suggest that lower GAs are associated with both more segmented goal-directed arm movements as well as with lower general cognitive ability. During the more demanding tasks, i.e. bimanual and horizontal movements, this association became particularly evident, where the children born V-PT exhibited the greatest difficulties. Thus, this indicate immature spatio-temporal movement organization as a long-lasting effect of risk factors associated with a preterm birth, specifically for children born V-PT, that may be related to lower cognitive function. Further, limitations in kinematic degrees of freedom, leading to restricted amounts of solutions when solving a motor task, may also partly explain these findings.REFERENCES[1] Bracewell, M. & Marlow, N. (2002). Patterns of motor disability in very preterm children. Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews, 8(4), 241-248.[2] Domellöf, E., Johansson, A-M., Farooqi, A., Domellöf M. & Rönnqvist, L. (2013). Relations among upper-limb movement organization and cognitive function at school age in children born preterm. Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics, 34(5), 344-352.
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| 3. |
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| 4. |
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| 5. |
- Domellöf, Erik, 1970-, et al.
(författare)
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Goal-directed arm movements in children with fetal alcohol syndrome : a kinematic approach
- 2011
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Ingår i: European Journal of Neurology. - : Wiley. - 1351-5101 .- 1468-1331. ; 18:2, s. 312-320
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Although many studies have documented deficits in general motor functioning in children with fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS), few have employed detailed measurements to explore the specific nature of such disabilities. This pilot study explores whether three-dimensional (3D) kinematic analysis may generate increased knowledge of the effect of intrauterine alcohol exposure on motor control processes by detecting atypical upper-limb movement pattern specificity in children with FAS relative to typically developing (TD) children. Methods: Left and right arm and head movements during a sequential unimanual goal-directed precision task in a sample of children with FAS and in TD children were registered by an optoelectronic tracking system (ProReflex, Qualisys Inc.). Results: Children with FAS demonstrated evidently poorer task performance compared with TD children. Additionally, analyses of arm movement kinematics revealed atypical spatio-temporal organization in the children with FAS. In general, they exhibited longer arm movement trajectories at both the proximal and distal level, faster velocities at the proximal level but slower at the distal level, and more segmented distal movements. Children with FAS also showed atypically augmented and fast head movements during the task performance. Conclusions: Findings indicate neuromotor deficits and developmental delay in goaldirected arm movements because of prenatal alcohol exposure. It is suggested that 3D kinematic analysis is a valid technique for furthering the understanding of motor control processes in children with FAS/fetal alcohol spectrum disorders. A combination with relevant neuroimaging techniques in future studies would enable a more clear-cut interpretation of how atypical movement patterns relate to underlying brain abnormalities.
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| 6. |
- Domellöf, Erik, 1970-, et al.
(författare)
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Handedness in preterm born children : a systematic review and a meta-analysis
- 2011
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Ingår i: Neuropsychologia. - : Elsevier. - 0028-3932 .- 1873-3514. ; 49:9, s. 2299-2310
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- It has been proposed that left and/or non-right handedness (NRH) is over-represented in children with a history of preterm birth because such births are associated with a greater incidence of insult to the brain. We report an approximate two-fold increase in left and/or non-right handedness based on a systematic search of the literature from 1980 to September 2010 for English-language articles reporting handedness status in preterm children compared with fullterm controls either as a main focus of the study or as a secondary finding. In total, thirty articles met the inclusion criteria. However, there was a great variation between the included studies in terms of objectives, population characteristics, sample size and methodologies used. While the majority of studies reported a higher incidence of NRH in preterm than fullterm children, this was not a consistent finding. A quality assessment was made to explore the differences in overall study quality and handedness assessment methodology between studies. A random-effects model meta-analysis was then performed to estimate the accumulated effect of preterm birth on handedness (18 studies; 1947 cases and 8170 controls). Preterm children displayed a significantly higher occurrence of NRH than fullterm children (odds ratio [OR]: 2.12; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.59–2.78). Sources of heterogeneity were investigated by supplementary meta-analyses considering studies with high or low overall and handedness assessment quality. Publication bias was assessed by Egger’s test of the intercept and Duvall and Tweedie’s trim-and-fill method. The outcomes of these procedures did not jeopardize the overall finding of reliably increased OR for NRH in preterm children. The present review suggests that a preterm birth is indeed associated with a greater than two-fold likelihood of NRH. Several studies also explored the relationship between handedness and neuropsychological functioning (cognition mainly) with an array of methods. Although not without disagreement, this association was found to be concordant. Studying handedness in preterm children, therefore, is a potentially important index of hemispheric organization and cognitive and sensory–motor functions following neurodevelopmental disturbance.
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| 7. |
- Domellöf, Erik, 1970-, et al.
(författare)
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Relations between cognitive performance and movement organization in preterm children at 6 to 8 years old
- 2011
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Ingår i: Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology, 53 (Suppl. s3). - : Wiley-Blackwell. - 0012-1622. ; , s. 45-45
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Objectives: To explore the relations between cognitive performance and spatio-temporal organization of upper-body movements in preterm children at school age compared with full-term peers.Background: Neuromotor disabilities and lowered cognitive performance are frequently reported in school-aged preterm children. A few studies have also reported associations between intelligence and motor skill outcomes in this population as assessed by standardized test batteries. At present, however, there is no knowledge of how measures of intelligence relate to more refined measurements of movement quality in preterm children.Design/Method: In the present study, performance on the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, 4th edition (WISC-IV) was related to optoelectronic registrations (ProReflex, Qualisys Inc.) of arm movement performance during a unimanual precision task in a sample of preterm children at 6 to 8 years (n=31) compared with typically developing full-term children (n=36).Results: A significant group effect was revealed for Fullscale IQ, indicating poorer overall performance on the WISC-IV by preterm (mean 95.1) than full-term (mean 103.5) participants. The same pattern was apparent for both the Verbal and Performance indexes and the majority of the sub-tests. Correlation analyses were performed to test the associations between cognitive performance and spatiotemporal movement parameters. Several findings emerged from this procedure and will be presented, including significant relations between Full-scale IQ and movement segmentation at both the proximal and distal level in preterm but not full-term participants.Conclusions: Measures of WISC-IV appear significantly associated with kinematic outcome measures in schoolaged preterm children in terms of better cognitive performance being linked with better movement organization. The same associations were not seen in the age- and sexmatched full-term group. This type of investigation adds to the understanding of relations between cognitive and motor performance in the context of movement organization, coordination, and control depending on birth history.
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| 8. |
- Ferronato, Priscilla A. M., et al.
(författare)
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Early influence of auditory stimuli on upper-limb movements in young human infants : an overview
- 2014
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Ingår i: Frontiers in Psychology. - : Progressive Frontiers Press. - 1664-1078. ; 5:1043
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Given that the auditory system is rather well developed at the end of the third trimester of pregnancy, it is likely that couplings between acoustics and motor activity can be integrated as early as at the beginning of postnatal life. The aim of the present mini-review was to summarize and discuss studies on earlyauditory-motor integration, focusing particularly on upper-limb movements (one of the most crucial means to interact with the environment) in association with auditory stimuli, to develop further understanding of their significance with regard to early infant development. Many studies have investigated the relationship between various infant behaviors (e.g., sucking, visual fixation,head turning) and auditory stimuli, and established that human infants can beobserved displaying couplings between action and environmental sensory stimulation already from just after birth, clearly indicating a propensity forintentional behavior. Surprisingly few studies, however, have investigated the associations between upper-limb movements and different auditory stimuli in newborns and young infants, infants born at risk for developmental disorders/delays in particular. Findings from studies of early auditory-motor interaction support that the developing integration of sensory and motor systems is a fundamental part of the process guiding the development of goal-directed action in infancy, of great importance for continued motor, perceptual, and cognitive development. At-risk infants (e.g., those bornpreterm) may display increasing central auditory processing disorders,negatively affecting early sensory-motor integration, and resulting inlong-term consequences on gesturing, language development, and social communication. Consequently, there is a need for more studies on such implications.
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| 9. |
- Johansson, Anna-Maria, 1981-, et al.
(författare)
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Associations between motor skills, cognitive function and birth immaturitly in school-aged children born preterm
- 2013
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- OBJECTIVES: Within the framework of an ongoing longitudinal study, relations between motor skills and cognitive function in 7-8-year-old preterm born children were investigated.BACKGROUND: Motor and cognitive problems have been suggested to be the two major sequalea of a preterm birth. Global and selective deficit of neuromotor and executive functions have been found within this group of children at school age. However, few studies haveinvestigated the associations between motor skills andcognitive function in relation toweeks of gestation (GW) and birth weight (BW).DESIGN/METHOD: Children (n = 18) born between 25-34 GW performed the Movement-ABC 2 (M-ABC 2) and Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-IV (WISC-IV). Scaled scores from M-ABC 2 (hand function, ball handling skills, static- and dynamic balance, total score) were correlated with indexes derived from the WISC-IV (verbal comprehension, perceptual reasoning, working memory, processing speed, full scale intelligence quotient [FSIQ]), GW and BW.RESULTS: The majority of children had mild to moderate general motor impairments (n = 10) where hand function was most affected (n = 15). FSIQ was somewhat below the norm (M = 95) where working memory (WM) was most impaired (M = 87). Further, associations between motor skills (apart from balance) and processing speed was shown, FSIQ was related to GW, and BW to WM, perceptual reasoning and FSIQ. Most of the associations remained even when excluding two children with a diagnosis of hemiplegic cerebral palsy.CONCLUSIONS: No direct relationships between GW/BW and motor skills were shown. However, the associations found suggest that cognitive function may be a mediating factor between birth status and motor skills. Other analytical methods requiring larger study samples are needed to verify such causality.
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| 10. |
- Johansson, Anna-Maria, 1981-, et al.
(författare)
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Short- and long-term effects of timing training in young people with cerebral palsy : a kinematic approach
- 2010
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Ingår i: Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology, 52 (Suppl. 4) Brussles, Belgium May 27-29, 2010. - : Wiley Online library. ; , s. 23-24
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Interactive Metronomea (IM) is a multi-modal integration training method based on rhythmic activation of movements in synchronization with a tone where error feedback is provided via auditory and visual cues. However, there is a need for detailed evaluations of this method to verify functional improvements inCP.Here we explored individual effects of IM in five young individuals with cerebral palsy (CP) of different severity. IM training consisted of a 4-week (12 sessions) individually customised program including bilateral and unilateral movements of upper- and lower-extremities. To establish short- and long-term effects, goal-directed upper-limb movements were examined by using a six optoelectronic camera system (240Hz, ProReflex, Qualisys Inc.) at three time points, before and at two following occasions (post-test I; post-test II) after IM training. At post-test I, timing ability was improved in the majority of participants. Kinematic analyses revealed shorter total task durations for all but one individual. Reduced segmentation ofmovements and increased velocity, especially on the more distal parts of the upper extremities, were also observed. No effects were evident on cumulative distance, primarily indicating training effects on temporal movement properties. At post-test II, 6 months after post-test I, most of the participantsmaintained their improved timing ability. The observed changes in kinematic properties suggests that timing training is promising for improving motor control in young individuals with CP. Further studies involving larger samples are required to corroborate and extend the present findings, particularly regarding the neural mechanisms involved in mediating motor improvements following IMtraining.
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| 11. |
- Johansson, Anna-Maria, 1981-, et al.
(författare)
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Spatio-temporal aspects of upper-limb goal-directed movements and relations to perinatal factors in preterm 4-year-old children
- 2011
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Ingår i: Abstracts of the Europeans Academy of Childhood Disability. - : Wiley-Blackwell. ; , s. 37-37
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Objectives: This ongoing quasi-longitudinal study is aimed at the investigation of spatio-temporal properties of goaldirected upper limb movements in 4-year-old children born preterm, compared to age- and sex-matched children born at term. Further, relations between movement quality, in terms of coordination and control, and perinatal factors are of interest.Background: Several studies have shown substantial and persistent motor dysfunction in children born preterm, with no known neurological impairment, at school age. Few studies have, however, investigated parameters related to movement control and coordination and their possible perinatal associations with detailed measurement methods in children at 4 years of age.Design/Method: Performances with the left and right armhand during a unimanual continuous sequential precision task were registered by a 6-camera optoelectronic tracking system (240 Hz, ProReflex, Qualisys Inc.). Information with regard to spatial and temporal parameters of the movement trajectories was extracted.Results: Preliminary results from analyses of kinematic data show longer duration and more spatio-temporal segmentations of the movement trajectory in the preterm group compared to their peers. Analyses of associations between kinematic outcome data and perinatal factors will further be investigated.Conclusions: These results indicate that the 4-year-old children born preterm, as compared to term born controls, have affected neuromotor function as indicated by kinematic properties related to coordination and control. Further analyses will reveal whether these findings are associated with specific perinatal factors.
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| 12. |
- Rönnqvist, Louise, 1957-, et al.
(författare)
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Kinematic analysis of sequential goal-directed movements in at-risk, preterm born children
- 2013
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Ingår i: 22nd Annual Meeting of European Society for Movement Analysis in Adult and Children (ESMAC). - Glasgow, Scotland. ; , s. 53-
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- INTRODUCTION and AIM: The aim of this study was to conduct kinematic analyses of sequential upper-limb movements in order to isolate different kinematic parameters that might explain the sensory-motor-functional deficits and delays commonly observed in children born preterm (PT). Quantitative analyses of reaching movements in PT infants [1] have revealed some promising results in characterizing the influence of a premature birth on movement control. Also, recent findings from studies using kinematic measurements on children with mild and moderate hemiplegic cerebral palsy [2, 3] show that kinematic measurements are valuable for making distinctions between even minor movement coordination problems and for identification of sensory-motor impairments. Nevertheless, there is still limited knowledge of how a preterm birth may effect long-term neuromotor development and few have investigated such effects by means of kinematics. PATIENTS/MATERIALS and METHODS: This kinematic study is part of a more comprehensive, longitudinal project with the goal of exploring the relationship between brain development/deviation and sensory-motor performance in children born PT. Participants consist of 148 children aged between 4–8 years; sixty-eight PT (<35 weeks’ gestation age (GA), range, 22-35, M = 31.7, SD = 3.4; 30 girls) with no diagnosed impairments, and eighty age matched children born full-term (FT) without medical problems (M age at testing = 6.7, SD = 1.8; 36 girls). The children performed goal-directed unimanual upper-limb task with respective hand, where small beads were picked by use of pincer-grip and threaded onto a rod sequentially. The children were informed to pick and thread as many beads as possible, one bead at the time, during a pre-set recording time of 30 seconds. The upper-limb movements were recorded by a six camera optoelectronic system (ProReflex, Qualisys Inc., Gothenburg, Sweden). The 3D data (extracted from head-, shoulder-, elbow- and wrist-markers) were further analysed by use of customized MATLAB scripts. To analyse possible effect of GA the PT children were divided into two sub-groups: moderately preterm (M-PT) = GA 33-35, n = 35 and very preterm (V-PT) = GA <32+6, n = 30. RESULTS: The kinematic outcomes analysed by MANOVAs, with side (preferred/ non-preferred) and group (FT, M-PT and V-PT) as categorical predictors, indicating significant group differences in most of the kinematic parameters investigated (e.g., movement duration, 3D distance and segmentation). Differences were mainly evident in the group classified as V-PT compared with M-PT and FT children. Significant correlations between children’s testing age and their kinematic outcomes were also shown within all groups (FT, M-PT and V-PT). These relations were characterized by decreased movement duration, 3D distance and movement segmentation with age. DISCUSSION and CONCLUSIONS: Investigating kinematic outcome parameters of upper-limb goal-directed movements confirms that a PT birth, especially a very PT birth, seems to have a long-term effect on children’s motor functions. In the present study, this was shown by means of less proficient spatiotemporal organization during sequentially performed goal-directed movements in the children born PT in comparison to the FT children. In conclusion, the kinematic movement registrations/analysis offers a reliable, non-invasive method to detect even subtle neuromotor developmental delay and/or abnormality. Thus, the method provides a unique possibility to investigate a number of crucial issues in relation to cerebral abnormalities and sensory-motor development in at-risk children.REFERENCES[1] Fallang, B., Saugstad, O. D., Grogaard, J., & Hadders-Algra, M. (2003). Kinematic quality of reaching movements in preterm infants. Pediatric Research, 53, 836-842.[2] Domellöf, E., Rösblad, B., & Rönnqvist, L. (2009). Impairment severity selectively affects the control of proximal and distal components of reaching movements in children with hemiplegic cerebral palsy. Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology, 51, 807-816.[3] Rönnqvist, L., & Rösblad, B. (2007). Kinematic analysis on unimanual reaching and grasping movements in children with hemiplegic cerebral palsy. Clinical Biomechanics, 22, 165-175.
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| 14. |
- Rönnqvist, Louise, 1957-, et al.
(författare)
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Neuromotor and cognitive functions in 4-9-years-old children born prematurely
- 2011
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Ingår i: Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology. - 0012-1622 .- 1469-8749. ; 53:Suppl. s3, s. 33-34
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- OBJECTIVE: To identifying developmental differences in neurologically based functioning in preterm born children compared with typically developing, fullterm born children. BACKGROUND: Resent follow-up studies of children born prematurely, even in those without identified neuropathology, have consistently found poorer neuromotor and cognitive skills at school age; thus, at least from group level comparisons. Still, our knowledge is limited in how a preterm birth may effects later behavioural outcomes. DESIGN/METHODS: In the first phase of this ongoing, cross-sectional and quasi-longitudinal study, motor functions, laterality and cognitive functions have been investigated in 4-9-years-old children born prematurely (N= 70, Mean GW=31), and in comparison to age matched fullterm born children (N=78). Additionally, brain imaging (MRI) data was collected on both fullterm and preterm born children at the age of 7-9-years. Kinematic movement registrations and additional behaviour measurements in combination with high resolution, structural 3Tesla MRI scans was used to investigate a number of expected crucial issues and associations between neuromotor, cognitive and structural organisations in both the preterm and the full term born children. RESULTS: Preliminary outcomes indicating subtitle, but still overall differences in most of the kinematic parameters analysed from arm, hand, and head movements (e.g., movement durations, smoothes, segmentation, velocity profile), and with less lateralized sensory-motor performance in the preterm born children at the age of 4- and 7-9-years in comparison to fullterm born children. In addition, the kinematic outcomes were associated with the cognitive performance in the preterm born children. These results are suggesting that both neuromotor and cognitive functions are less efficient in preterm born children. These behavioural outcomes will further be investigated in relation to the outcomes from the MRI investigations. CONCLUSIONS: The outcome from the first analysis underscores the need for further refine investigations and follow-ups, even on an individual level, for the majority of preterm born children.
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| 15. |
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| 16. |
- Sandlund, Marlene, et al.
(författare)
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Training of goal directed arm movements with motion interactive video games in children with cerebral palsy : a kinematic evaluation
- 2014
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Ingår i: Developmental Neurorehabilitation. - : Informa Healthcare. - 1751-8423 .- 1751-8431. ; 17:5, s. 318-326
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Objective: The main aim of this study was to evaluate the quality of goal-directed arm movements in 15 children with cerebral palsy (CP) following four weeks of home-based training with motion interactive video games. A further aim was to investigate the applicability and characteristics of kinematic parameters in a virtual context in comparison to a physical context.Method: Kinematics and kinetics were captured while the children performed arm movements directed towards both virtual and physical targets.Results: The children’s movement precision improved, their centre of pressure paths decreased, as did the variability in maximal shoulder angles when reaching for virtual objects. Transfer to a situation with physical targets was mainly indicated by increased movement smoothness.Conclusion: Training with motion interactive games seems to improve arm motor control in children with CP. The results highlight the importance of considering both the context and the task itself when investigating kinematic parameters.
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