Validation of an Early Language Milestone Scale in a High-Risk Population

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1982 ◽  
Vol 70 (5) ◽  
pp. 677-683 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Coplan ◽  
John R. Gleason ◽  
Rita Ryan ◽  
Michael G. Burke ◽  
Margaret L. Williams

Detailed language evaluations were obtained by interviewing the parents of 191 healthy children aged 0 to 3 years, and by testing the children themselves. From these data, normative values were derived for 41 language milestones in the first 36 months of life. These values were used to construct the Early Language Milestone Scale (ELM Scale), a brief language assessment tool suitable for use by general pediatricians. Physician use of the ELM Scale in a population of 119 children considered at high risk for the presence of developmental disability yielded 97% sensitivity and 93% specificity for the ELM Scale as a detector of developmentally delayed children, when compared with more formal developmental measures as applied by a clinical psychologist or speech pathologist. Early language milestones are a sensitive indicator of developmental integrity; delayed achievement of early language milestones strongly suggests the presence of a significant underlying developmental disability. The ELM Scale may be adopted as a valid measure of developmental status among children considered at high risk for the presence of developmental disabilities.

Stroke ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 48 (suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
George Howard ◽  
Leslie A McClure ◽  
Claudia S Moy ◽  
Dawn O Kleindorfer ◽  
D. L Long ◽  
...  

Introduction: The ability to identify a stroke/TIA-free population at high risk for stroke is important for risk assessment in the general population, and also a critical step to make a primary stroke prevention trial feasible. The standard for risk stratification is the Framingham Stroke Risk Score (FSRS); however, its use requires a clinic visit for blood pressure and ECG assessment, and laboratory measurement of glucose levels. The feasibility of a primary prevention trial would be greatly enhanced by a brief interview, potentially conducted over the telephone or web, to identify a high-risk population. Methods: A general population sample consisting of 23,983 REGARDS participants aged 45+ who reported being stroke and TIA free at baseline was characterized on 11 self-reported characteristics: age, race, sex, self-reported diagnosis of medical conditions (hypertension, diabetes, atrial fibrillation, and myocardial infarction), smoking, previous stroke symptoms, self-reported general health, and education. Participants were followed for incident stroke, with associations assessed by proportional hazards. Results: Over an average follow-up of 8.2 years, 564 incident strokes occurred. The self-reported characteristics were strongly related to stroke risk (see table), and proved marginally more predictive of stroke risk (c-statistic = 0.7268; 95% CI: 0.7078 - 0.7459) than the FSRS (c-statistic = 0.7222; 95% CI: 0.7025 - 0.7419). The annual stroke risk was 1.4% (95% CI: 1.2 - 1.7) for those in the highest decile of the telephone risk score. The Spearman correlation between the FSRS and the REGARDS telephone risk score was 0.848 (95% CI: 0.844 - 0.851). Discussion: The REGARDS Telephone Stroke Risk Score can be calculated using data collected over the telephone, at a web site, or in person. It can identify a population at high risk for stroke as well as the FSRS clinic-based assessment can, making it an efficient stroke risk assessment tool.


2002 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 233-234 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leda BASSIT ◽  
Kioko TAKEI ◽  
Sumie HOSHINO-SHIMIZU ◽  
Anna S. NISHIYA ◽  
Ester C. SABINO ◽  
...  

The prevalence of TT virus (TTV) infection was investigated by Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) in low- (blood donors and healthy children/adolescents) and high-risk (hemophiliacs) groups from São Paulo, Brazil. Primers based on the untranslated region (UTR) of the viral genome proved to be much more ubiquitous, leading to much higher frequencies for both groups ( > or = 81%) than the earlier N22-PCR directed to the open reading frame 1 (blood donors, 5.5%, and hemophiliacs, 42.3%). The UTR-PCR also revealed an interesting profile for healthy children/adolescents: very high prevalence at the early years and significant decrease in male teenagers. The N22-PCR, in turn, demonstrated higher frequency in hemophiliacs treated with fresh blood products (58%), than in those treated with virus-inactivated clotting factors (9.4%) and blood donors (5.5%).


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gobi Hariyanayagam ◽  
Sera Selvanthan Sundram Gunasekaran ◽  
Shargunan Selvanthan Gunasekaran ◽  
Nur Syafina Insyirah Zaimi ◽  
Nor Amirah Abdul Halim

BACKGROUND In late December 2019, an outbreak of a novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19; previously known as 2019-nCoV) was epidemiologically linked to seafood and wet animal market in Wuhan, Hubei, China. This event has instigated negative stigma among the general population to view the wet market as a high-risk location for potential transmission of coronavirus. OBJECTIVE This study investigated the prevalence of facemask use among general population visiting the wet market as well as factors contributing to unacceptable facemask practice. Setting The visitors to a district wet market selling range of live or freshly slaughtered animals during COVID-19 pandemic outbreak was observed for facemask practice. METHODS All Individuals visiting the market were observed for the type, category and practice of wearing facemas. Subjects were categorized into two groups of acceptable and unacceptable facemask practice. The Pearson chi-square was used to test for differences in investigated variables in the univariate setting and Binary Logistic regression model was used in the multivariate setting. Main outcome measure Prevalence, acceptance practice and odds ratio of unacceptance of facemask use. RESULTS Among 1697 individuals included in the final analysis, 1687 (99.7%) was observed wearing facemask with 1338 (78.8%) using medical-grade facemask. Among them, 1615 (95.7%) individuals facemask practice was acceptable while the reaming 72 (4.3%) individuals were observed with unacceptable facemask practice. Individuals using medical-grade facemask and high-risk age group are 6.4 times (OR=6.40; 95% CI, 2.00-20.43; p=.002) and 2.06 times practice (OR=2.06; 95% CI, 1.08-3.94; p=.028) more likely to have unacceptable facemask practice respectively. CONCLUSIONS High saturation of facemask among the general population is an adequate indicator of public hygiene measures strategy which can help to mitigate the COVID-19 epidemic impact. Alarmingly, the unacceptable facemask practice among high-risk population raises the need for a targeted approach by healthcare authorities to ensure satisfactory facemask use.


2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-24
Author(s):  
Wei Hao Kok ◽  
Andrea Ban Yu-Lin ◽  
Shamsul Azhar Shah ◽  
Faisal Abdul Hamid

Background: Lung cancer is the second most common cause of cancer-related death and the third most common cancer in Malaysia. The rising prevalence of lung cancer suggests the need to consider disease screening for early detection, especially in the high-risk population, as it offers the best chance of cure. Objectives: The study aims to determine the willingness of high-risk respondents to participate in a lung cancer screening programme if made available to them, and to determine their attitude towards lung cancer screening and explore factors that might affect participation in a screening programme. Method: This is a cross-sectional, descriptive study over 6 months conducted in adult patients attending medical clinics in Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre (UKMMC) using face-to-face administered questionnaires. Results: In total 180 respondents were analysed. There were 177 (98.3%) males. Mean age was 59.8 ± 9.1 years. Of the respondents, 138 (76.7%) had poor knowledge about cancer screening. Former smokers comprised 119 (66.1%) of the participants, and 61 (33.9%) were current smokers. In total, 141 (78.3%) respondents indicated willingness to participate in a lung cancer screening programme. Out of this group, 68 (48.2%) respondents were unwilling to pay for the procedure. Only 18 (12.8%) were unwilling to undergo lung cancer treatment if detected early. Conclusions: Awareness about general cancer screening is low. Our study showed that when informed of their high-risk status, respondents were willing to participate in lung cancer screening. There should be more health programmes to promote and raise awareness about lung cancer.


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Maitri Kalra ◽  
Yan Tong ◽  
David R. Jones ◽  
Tom Walsh ◽  
Michael A. Danso ◽  
...  

AbstractPatients with triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) who have residual disease after neoadjuvant therapy have a high risk of recurrence. We tested the impact of DNA-damaging chemotherapy alone or with PARP inhibition in this high-risk population. Patients with TNBC or deleterious BRCA mutation (TNBC/BRCAmut) who had >2 cm of invasive disease in the breast or persistent lymph node (LN) involvement after neoadjuvant therapy were assigned 1:1 to cisplatin alone or with rucaparib. Germline mutations were identified with BROCA analysis. The primary endpoint was 2-year disease-free survival (DFS) with 80% power to detect an HR 0.5. From Feb 2010 to May 2013, 128 patients were enrolled. Median tumor size at surgery was 1.9 cm (0–11.5 cm) with 1 (0–38) involved LN; median Residual Cancer Burden (RCB) score was 2.6. Six patients had known deleterious BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations at study entry, but BROCA identified deleterious mutations in 22% of patients with available samples. Toxicity was similar in both arms. Despite frequent dose reductions (21% of patients) and delays (43.8% of patients), 73% of patients completed planned cisplatin. Rucaparib exposure was limited with median concentration 275 (82–4694) ng/mL post-infusion on day 3. The addition of rucaparib to cisplatin did not increase 2-year DFS (54.2% cisplatin vs. 64.1% cisplatin + rucaparib; P = 0.29). In the high-risk post preoperative TNBC/BRCAmut setting, the addition of low-dose rucaparib did not improve 2-year DFS or increase the toxicity of cisplatin. Genetic testing was underutilized in this high-risk population.


Author(s):  
Federico Marin ◽  
Simone Fezzi ◽  
Alessia Gambaro ◽  
Francesco Ederle ◽  
Gianluca Castaldi ◽  
...  

Abstract Aims To evaluate the safety and efficacy of catheter-based radiofrequency renal sympathetic denervation (RSD) in a daily practice population of patients with uncontrolled resistant hypertension, on top of medical therapy. Methods Consecutive unselected patients with uncontrolled resistant hypertension undergoing RSD were enrolled. Office and ambulatory blood pressure (BP) measurements were collected at baseline and 3, 6 and 12 months after RSD. Efficacy was assessed even in patients with an estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) below 45 mL/min/1.73 m2. Patients were defined as responders if systolic BP decreased by at least 5 mmHg at ambulatory BP or by 10 mmHg at office BP at their last follow-up visit. Results Forty patients with multiple comorbidities underwent RSD from 2012 to 2019. Baseline office and ambulatory BP was 159.0/84.9 ± 26.2/14.9 mmHg and 155.2/86.5 ± 20.9/14.0 mmHg, respectively. At 12-month follow up a significant reduction in office and ambulatory systolic BP, respectively by − 19.7 ± 27.1 mmHg and by − 13.9 ± 23.6 mmHg, was observed. BP reduction at 12-month follow-up among patients with eGFR < 45 mL/min was similar to that obtained in patients with higher eGFR. Twenty-nine patients (74.4%) were responders. Combined hypertension, higher ambulatory systolic BP and lower E/E’ at baseline emerged as predictors of successful RSD at univariate analysis. No major complications were observed and renal function (was stable up to 12 months), even in patients with the lowest eGFR values at baseline. Conclusion RSD is safe and feasible in patients with uncontrolled resistant hypertension on top of medical therapy, even in a high-risk CKD population with multiple comorbidities, with a significant reduction in systolic BP and a trend towards a reduction in diastolic BP lasting up to 12 months. Graphic abstract


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Sonnweber ◽  
Eva-Maria Schneider ◽  
Manfred Nairz ◽  
Igor Theurl ◽  
Günter Weiss ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Risk stratification is essential to assess mortality risk and guide treatment in patients with precapillary pulmonary hypertension (PH). We herein compared the accuracy of different currently used PH risk stratification tools and evaluated the significance of particular risk parameters. Methods We conducted a retrospective longitudinal observational cohort study evaluating seven different risk assessment approaches according to the current PH guidelines. A comprehensive assessment including multi-parametric risk stratification was performed at baseline and 4 yearly follow-up time-points. Multi-step Cox hazard analysis was used to analyse and refine risk prediction. Results Various available risk models effectively predicted mortality in patients with precapillary pulmonary hypertension. Right-heart catheter parameters were not essential for risk prediction. Contrary, non-invasive follow-up re-evaluations significantly improved the accuracy of risk estimations. A lack of accuracy of various risk models was found in the intermediate- and high-risk classes. For these patients, an additional evaluation step including assessment of age and right atrium area improved risk prediction significantly. Discussion Currently used abbreviated versions of the ESC/ERS risk assessment tool, as well as the REVEAL 2.0 and REVEAL Lite 2 based risk stratification, lack accuracy to predict mortality in intermediate- and high-risk precapillary pulmonary hypertension patients. An expanded non-invasive evaluation improves mortality risk prediction in these individuals.


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