The condition of hydrocephalus (HCP) and its secondary sequelae have been well documented. Previous reports have documented the impact of an enlarging ventricular system on the developing brain and neuropsychological consequences in HCP children. Furthermore, most children with shunted HCP have been reported to demonstrate poorer non-verbal intelligence quotient (IQ) scores relative to verbal I...

Nutrition is an important factor in mental development and, as a consequence, in cognitive performance. Malnutrition is reflected in children's weight, height and BMI curves. The present cross-sectional study aimed to evaluate the association between anthropometric indices and cognitive performance in 6746 school-aged children (aged 6-12 years) of four Southeast Asian countries: Indonesia; Mala...

OBJECTIVE This study evaluated the relationship between prenatal exposure to airborne polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and child intelligence. METHODS Children of nonsmoking black or Dominican-American women residing in New York City were monitored from in utero to 5 years of age, with determination of prenatal PAH exposure through personal air monitoring for the mothers during pregnan...

OBJECTIVE To examine the association between duration of breast milk feeding and cognitive ability at 7-8 years in a birth cohort of very low birthweight infants. DESIGN 280 survivors from a national birth cohort of 413 New Zealand very low birthweight infants born in 1986 were assessed at age 7-8 years on measures of verbal and performance intelligence quotient (IQ) using the WISC-R. At the ...

BACKGROUND A limited range of evidence suggests that children with specific language impairment (SLI) have difficulties with higher order thinking and reasoning skills (executive functioning, EF). This study involved a comprehensive investigation of EF in this population taking into account the contributions of age, nonverbal IQ and verbal ability. METHODS Ten separate measures of EF were ass...

PURPOSE Dysembryoplastic neuroepithelial tumors (DNTs) provide a unique model for studying the effects of seizures on cognitive development. Epilepsy and antiepileptic medications are prominent features in the lives and schooling of people who develop seizures in childhood. People with an adult onset share the same underlying brain pathology, but their childhood development is unaffected by sei...

This study investigates the genetic relationship among reading performance, IQ, verbal and visuospatial working memory (WM) and short-term memory (STM) in a sample of 112, 9-year-old twin pairs and their older siblings. The relationship between reading performance and the other traits was explained by a common genetic factor for reading performance, IQ, WM and STM and a genetic factor that only...

OBJECTIVE A prospective study was performed to assess the relationship between the appearance of cerebral MRI at term and the cognitive functioning at 9 years old in very preterm born infants. METHODS Seventy-six very preterm born infants (birth weight <1500 g or gestational age ≤32 weeks) obtained cerebral MRI at term-equivalent period, which was assessed by using established composite score...

BACKGROUND Associations between genotype and intellectual outcome in patients with phenylketonuria are complicated because intelligence is influenced by many variables, including environmental factors and other genetic determinants. Intellectual changes with age, both on and after relaxation of diet, vary within the patient population. This study aims to determine whether a significant associat...

IMPORTANCE Breastfeeding is known to have beneficial effects, but concern exists that breastfeeding during maternal antiepileptic drug (AED) therapy may be harmful. We previously noted no adverse effects of breastfeeding associated with AED use on IQ at age 3 years, but IQ at age 6 years is more predictive of school performance and adult abilities. OBJECTIVES To examine the effects of AED exp...