Testing Of Children Research Articles

Normative Scores and Test-Retest Reliability of Neck Strength, Endurance, and Proprioception Tests in Children and Adolescents

OBJECTIVE: To determine normative scores, test-retest reliability, and minimal detectable change for the neck flexor endurance test (NFET), craniocervical flexion test (CCFT), and joint position error test (JPET) in children. DESIGN: Cross-sectional. METHODS: Two hundred typically developing children (10-15 years) were recruited. Participants were screened for cervical spine instability using the alar and transverse ligament tests prior to administering the NFET, CCFT, and JPET. Testing was performed twice on the same day, 6 hours apart. RESULTS: For the younger age group, average NFET scores were as follows: females = 9.1 seconds, males = 10.1 seconds. Mean CCFT scores decreased with an increase in pressure (22 millimeters of mercury [mmHg]: females = 6.1 seconds [1], males = 6.8 seconds [1]; 30 mmHg: females = 4.07 seconds [1.1], males = 4.1 seconds [0.9]). For the CCFT, reliability reduced as pressure increased. The JPET had moderate reliability (ICC2, k = 0.4-0.63) with the highest error in right rotation (females = 14.1 cm [5], males = 13.4 cm [4.7]). The NFET had excellent reliability (ICC2, k = 0.96 [0.94-0.97], P<.001). CONCLUSION: The normative scores presented serve as a reference standard for future studies and for systematic screening and head and neck injury prevention. JOSPT Open 2024;2(4):348-353. Epub 20 May 2024. doi:10.2519/josptopen.2024.1135

Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing In Children With Primary Ciliary Dyskinesia And Healthy Controls

Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing In Children With Primary Ciliary Dyskinesia And Healthy Controls

In Reply: Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing in Children With Long COVID: A Case-controlled Study.

In Reply: Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing in Children With Long COVID: A Case-controlled Study.

"Track style" children's fundamental movement skills test: construction and verification of an efficient evaluation system.

This study aimed to develop an efficient tool for assessing children's fundamental motor skills, the "Track style" Children's Fundamental Movement Skills Test (TCFMST), based on theories of motor development integrated with Chinese cultural context and physical education teaching situations. Starting from a literature analysis, the study selected items from existing fundamental movement skill (FMS) assessments, textbooks, physical education and health standards, and children's movement guidelines to construct a pool of test items. Subsequently, the items were screened and optimized using the Delphi method. Finally, the feasibility, discrimination, difficulty, reliability, and validity of the constructed test were examined using testing methods. The TCFMST includes three dimensions: locomotive skills, body control skills, and manipulative skills, with a total of 10 items. The difficulty and discrimination of each item are appropriate; the correlation coefficients for retest reliability range from 0.789 to 0.943 (p < 0.01). The results of exploratory factor analysis indicate that the common factors align with the hypothesized three dimensions, indicating good structural validity of the test. The concurrent validity results show a correlation coefficient of -0.510 (p < 0.01) between the TCFMST and the total score of TGMD-3, indicating a moderate correlation between the two tests. The TCFMST developed in this study has good difficulty, discrimination, reliability, and validity. It also features strong operability, a short duration, and high interest. It can serve as an important tool for monitoring children's fundamental motor skill levels.

Analyzing the Joint Association of Early-life Ambient Cadmium and Elevated Blood Lead on Children's Test Scores Using Linked Data

Analyzing the Joint Association of Early-life Ambient Cadmium and Elevated Blood Lead on Children's Test Scores Using Linked Data

Brazilian Guideline for Exercise Testing in Children and Adolescents - 2024.

Classes de Recomendação Classe I: Condições para as quais há evidências conclusivas e, na sua falta, consenso geral de que o procedimento é seguro e útil/eficaz. Classe II: Condições para as quais há evidências conflitantes e/ou divergência de opinião sobre a segurança e utilidade/eficácia do procedimento. Classe IIa: Peso ou evidência/opinião a favor do procedimento. A maioria aprova. Classe IIb: Segurança e utilidade/eficácia menos estabelecidas, havendo opiniões divergentes. Classe III: Condições para as quais há evidências e/ou consenso de que o procedimento não é útil/eficaz e, em alguns casos, pode ser prejudicial. Níveis de Evidência Nível A: Dados obtidos a partir de múltiplos estudos randomizados de bom porte, concordantes e/ou de metanálise robusta de estudos randomizados. Nível B: Dados obtidos a partir de metanálise menos robusta, a partir de um único estudo randomizado e/ou de estudos observacionais. Nível C: Dados obtidos de opiniões consensuais de especialistas.

Effect of Pitch Discrimination-Based Rehabilitation on Diagnostic Indices of Dichotic Digit Test, monaural Selective Auditory Attention Test, and Pitch Pattern Test in Children Suspected of Auditory Processing Disorder with Pitch Discrimination Deficits

Effect of Pitch Discrimination-Based Rehabilitation on Diagnostic Indices of Dichotic Digit Test, monaural Selective Auditory Attention Test, and Pitch Pattern Test in Children Suspected of Auditory Processing Disorder with Pitch Discrimination Deficits

Association Between Serum Ferritin Level and Liver Function Tests in Children with Beta-Thalassemia (Thalassemia Center of Kut Hospital, Iraq)

Background: Thalassemia represents a heterogeneous autosomal recessive hereditary anemia.Ferritin is a 450 KDa soluble protein. It can be found in all of the body's cells, but it's particularly abundant in marrow macrophages, spleen, and liver.Objective: In patients with β thalassemia major and β thalassemia Intermedia, serum ferritin levels are measured, and their correlation with bilirubin levels, liver enzymes AST (aspartate transaminase) and ALT (alanine transaminase), in beta-thalassemia major and β thalassemia Intermedia.Patients and Methods: A cross-section study that involved 90 patientsincluded 50 Thalassemia Major (TM) and 40 Thalassemia intermediate(TI). Patients who were randomly chosen for this study would be gathered from the Kut Hospital Thalassemia Center. Every patient's are kid, aged 5 to 17, regardless of gender. Abbott C4000 Architect Additionally, the TSB, ALT, AST, and serum ferritin were determined using the Cobas c 111 analyzer.Results: The studies include both genders 52.9% of the females had B-thalassemia major and 47.1% had β-thalassemia intermediate, whereas 57.1% of the men had βTM and 42.9% had βTI. There were 37.8% of females and 62.2% of males in the sample.Patients with severe thalassemia exhibited a statistically significant increase in the mean± SD of serum ferritin (4016.54 ± 2500.81 ng/ml) compared to the mean ± SD of β-thalassemia intermedia (1629.48 ± 1235.33 ng/ml), with a p-value of 0.000. Patients with major β-thalassemia had a mean TSB level that was statistically significantly lower (1.32 ± 0.69 mg/dl) than the mean level of β-thalassemia intermedia (2.10 ± 0.86 mg/dl), with a p-value of 0.000. In the B-thalassemia major group, serum hepcidin did not exhibit a statistically significant association with serum ferritin (r=-0.04), while in the B-thalassemia intermedia group, serum ferritin exhibited a statistically significant moderate negative correlation with TSB (r=-0.38), p-value. 0.01.Conclusions: Ferritin levels may be useful in thalassemia syndrome diagnosis and prognosis determination.

Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing in Children and Adolescents with Repaired Tetralogy of Fallot: Mechanisms of Exercise Intolerance and Clinical Implications

Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing in Children and Adolescents with Repaired Tetralogy of Fallot: Mechanisms of Exercise Intolerance and Clinical Implications

School Participation Questionnaire (SPQ): Italian Translation, Cultural Adaptation, and Pilot Testing in Children with Neurodevelopmental Disorders.

According to leading occupational therapy models, the environment appears to be a key element in fostering occupational performance and participation. There is an emerging need to identify an instrument that can assess these aspects in the school environment. Currently, there are no rating scales in Italy for the school participation of children with neurodevelopmental disorders. For this reason, this study aims to culturally adapt and translate the School Participation Questionnaire (SPQ) to Italian and to pilot test the translated Italian version on children with neurodevelopmental disorders. The original scale was translated from English to Italian using the guidelines "Translation and Cultural Adaptation of Patient Reported Outcomes Measures-Principles of Good Practice". The psychometric properties analyzed were the following: content validity, construct validity, cross-cultural validity, and internal consistency. Construct validity was assessed using the Italian version of the Sensory Processing Measure (SPM). The Italian version of the SPQ was administered to 22 children. The mean ± SD of the score was 9.32 ± 1.36; Cronbach's α was 0.935 (p < 0.01). The Pearson's correlation coefficient with the SPM scores was -0.622 (p < 0.01). This pilot testing study for the validation of the Italian version of the SPQ showed good validity and reliability results. Thanks to this study, it would be possible to further analyze the tool for the evaluation of the environment and school participation of children with neurodevelopmental disorders, in particular autism spectrum disorder. It is a quick and easy instrument that focuses on the environment as an active variable in the child's occupational performance.

A Comparative Study of Complete Blood Count (CBC) Tests in Children with COVID-19 in the Fifth Peak Compared to Other Peaks: A Cross-Sectional Study

A Comparative Study of Complete Blood Count (CBC) Tests in Children with COVID-19 in the Fifth Peak Compared to Other Peaks: A Cross-Sectional Study

Maternal thyroid function in early pregnancy and offspring school performance and neurodevelopmental disorders.

Thyroid hormones are critical for neural development, and during the first trimester of pregnancy the fetus relies fully on maternal thyroid hormone production. To investigate the associations between maternal thyroid hormone levels in the first trimester with the child's school performance, risk of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). From the Copenhagen Primary Care Laboratory Pregnancy Database information on first trimester TSH and fT4 measurements in mothers of children born in 2000-2014 were linked with information on the child's standardized test scores in school, ADHD (patient record diagnoses and medication) and ASD (patient record diagnoses) until end of 2018. Associations of TSH and fT4 with the outcomes were individually assessed by linear mixed models and Cox regression models. The analyses were stratified by preexisting maternal thyroid disorders. TSH measurements were available for 17,909 mother-child dyads. Among those with children born in 2000-2009, 6,126 had a standardized school test score and were analyzed for the association between maternal thyroid hormone levels and child's school performance, and no support for an association was found. The association between thyroid hormone levels and child's risk of ADHD and ASD were analyzed for the 17,909 dyads and with no support for an association between thyroid hormone levels and these neurodevelopmental disorders. Stratification by preexisting maternal thyroid disorders did not affect the results. We found no evidence for associations between first trimester maternal thyroid hormone levels and child's school performance, or risk of ADHD or ASD.

Effects of Obesity and Sex on Ventilatory Constraints during a Cardiopulmonary Exercise Test in Children.

Ventilatory constraints are common during exercise in children, but the effects of obesity and sex are unclear. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of obesity and sex on ventilatory constraints (i.e., expiratory flow limitation (EFL) and dynamic hyperinflation) during a maximal exercise test in children. Thirty-four 8- to 12-yr-old children without obesity (18 females) and 54 with obesity (23 females) completed pulmonary function testing and maximal cardiopulmonary exercise tests. EFL was calculated as the overlap between tidal flow-volume loops during exercise and maximal expiratory flow-volume loops. Dynamic hyperinflation was calculated as the change in inspiratory capacity from rest to exercise. Maximal minute ventilation was not different between children with and without obesity. Average end-inspiratory lung volumes (EILV) and end-expiratory lung volumes (EELV) were significantly lower during exercise in children with obesity (EILV: 68.8% ± 0.7% TLC; EELV: 41.2% ± 0.5% TLC) compared with children without obesity (EILV: 73.7% ± 0.8% TLC; EELV: 44.8% ± 0.6% TLC; P < 0.001). Throughout exercise, children with obesity experienced more EFL and dynamic hyperinflation compared with those without obesity ( P < 0.001). Also, males experienced more EFL and dynamic hyperinflation throughout exercise compared with females ( P < 0.001). At maximal exercise, the prevalence of EFL was similar in males with and without obesity; however, the prevalence of EFL in females was significantly different, with 57% of females with obesity experiencing EFL compared with 17% of females without obesity ( P < 0.05). At maximal exercise, 44% of children with obesity experienced dynamic hyperinflation compared with 12% of children without obesity ( P = 0.002). Obesity in children increases the risk of developing mechanical ventilatory constraints such as dynamic hyperinflation and EFL. Sex differences were apparent with males experiencing more ventilatory constraints compared with females.

Design and Validation of a Computational Thinking Test for Children in the First Grades of Elementary Education

Computational thinking (CT) has garnered significant interest in both computer science and education sciences as it delineates a set of skills that emerge during the problem-solving process. Consequently, numerous assessment instruments aimed at measuring CT have been developed in the recent years. However, a scarce part of the existing CT measurement instruments has been dedicated to early school ages, and few have undergone rigorous validation or reliability testing. Therefore, this work introduces a new instrument for measuring CT in the early grades of elementary education: the Computational Thinking Test for Children (CTTC). To this end, in this work, we provide the design and validation of the CTTC, which is constructed around spatial, sequential, and logical thinking and encompasses abstraction, decomposition, pattern recognition, and coding items organized in five question blocks. The validation and standardization process employs the Kuder–Richardson statistic (KR-20) and expert judgment using V-Aiken for consistency. Additionally, item difficulty indices were utilized to gauge the difficulty level of each question in the CTTC. The study concludes that the CTTC demonstrates consistency and suitability for children in the first cycle of primary education (encompassing the first to third grades).

Importance of Genetic Testing in Children With Generalized Epilepsy

Importance of Genetic Testing in Children With Generalized Epilepsy

Creativity in Health Communication to Promote Blood Lead Testing in Children.

Low rates of blood lead level screening among young children persist as a public health issue in the United States, including in Texas where levels remain below the national average. This article describes a multiyear, multipartner initiative aimed at increasing screening rates through a creative, community-informed social media campaign. Interviews with parents, providers, and state health department staff revealed a common perception that lead poisoning was a relic of the past. Using these insights, the team developed humorous social media messaging comparing extinct animals to lead poisoning to capture attention and change attitudes about lead's current relevance. The "#GetLeadCheckedTexas" campaign ran on state health department channels during National Lead Poisoning Prevention Week in October 2020. Colorful graphics depicted extinct creatures like dinosaurs along with their babies, playing on childhood enthusiasm for such animals while evoking protective feelings in parents. Messaging highlighted lead's dangers for young children and encouraged viewers to discuss testing with providers. Website analytics showed the campaign drove substantial increases in page views for lead screening resources, particularly among providers. While originally designed with a parent audience in mind, the campaign seemed to resonate more with providers, likely due to timing during an awareness week and use of official health department channels. The initiative demonstrates the value of creative communications approaches employed in traditional advertising to raise awareness and promote public health priorities. Audience research, thoughtful use of humor, and designing human-focused messaging helped cut through information clutter and drive engagement with an important childhood health issue.

Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing in Children With Long COVID: A Case-controlled Study.

Cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) is a noninvasive and nonexpensive diagnostic tool, that provides a comprehensive evaluation of the pulmonary, cardiovascular, and skeletal muscle systems' integrated reactions to exercise. CPET has been extensively used in adults with Long COVID (LC), while the evidence about its role in children with this condition is scarce. Prospective, case-controlled observational study. Children with LC and a control group of healthy children underwent CPET. CPET findings were compared within the 2 groups, and within the LC groups according to main clusters of persisting symptoms. Sixty-one children with LC and 29 healthy controls were included. Overall, 90.2% of LC patients (55 of 61) had a pathologic test vs 10.3% (3/29) of the healthy control. Children with LC presented a statistically significant higher probability of having abnormal values of peak VO2 ( P = 0.001), AT% pred ( P <0.001), VO2/HR % ( P = 0.03), VO2 work slope ( P = 0.002), VE/VCO2 slope ( P = 0.01). The mean VO2 peak was 30.17 (±6.85) in LC and 34.37 (±6.55) in healthy patients ( P = 0.007). Compared with healthy controls, children with LC have objective impaired functional capacity (expressed by a low VO2 peak), signs of deconditioning and cardiogenic inefficiency when assessed with CPET. As such, CPET should be routinely used in clinical practice to objectify and phenotype the functional limitations of children with LC, and to follow-up them.

Парасоциальные отношения в цифровом обучении: анализ экспериментального случая

&lt;p&gt;Social media has become integral to education and learning because it provides a platform for access to information and resources beyond traditional classroom settings, enabling students to expand their knowledge and skills in a more interactive and personalized manner. The relationships that are formed with on-screen characters or personas (parasocial relationships) can improve understanding of the material and engagement with media content. The current study aimed to investigate the impact of parasocial relationships on a child's learning ability and test performance. The experiment, conducted as an exploratory case study with a typically developing 10-year-old child, included a parasocial condition with prior exposure to personal TikTok content of some educational video creators and other creators presented as novel (control); control conditions were further split into visible and non-visible video presenters. Performance was assessed using tests specialized by the subject and knowledge category, and an interview on the parasocial relationship was administered. The findings demonstrate that performance correlated with the presenter ratings obtained through the interview and not with the amount of previous exposure to the content created by the presenter.&lt;/p&gt;

Retrieval Practice and Word Learning by Children With Developmental Language Disorder: Does Expanding Retrieval Provide Additional Benefit?

The word learning of preschool-age children with developmental language disorder (DLD) is improved when spaced retrieval practice is incorporated into the learning sessions. In this preregistered study, we compared two types of spacing-an expanding retrieval practice schedule and an equally spaced schedule-to determine if one of these approaches yields better word learning outcomes for the children. Fourteen children with DLD aged 4-5 years and 14 same-age children with typical language development (TD) learned eight novel nouns over two sessions. Spacing for half of the novel words was expanded gradually during learning; for the remaining novel words, greater spacing remained at the same level throughout learning. Immediately after the second session and 1 week later, the children's recall of the words was tested. The children with TD recalled more novel words than the children with DLD, although this difference could be accounted for by differences in the children's standardized receptive vocabulary test scores. The two groups were similar in their ability to retain the words over 1 week. Initially, the shorter spacing in the expanding schedule resulted in greater retrieval success than the corresponding (longer spaced) retrieval trials in the equally spaced schedule. These early shorter spaced trials also seemed to benefit retrieval of the trials with greater spacing that immediately followed. However, as the learning period progressed, the accuracy levels for the two conditions converged and were likewise similar during final testing. We need a greater understanding of how and when short spacing can be helpful to children's word learning, with the recognition that early gains might give a misleading picture of the benefits that short spacing can provide to longer term retention. https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.25537696.

Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Blood Lead Testing in Children in the United States.

The study objective was to evaluate the impact of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic on pediatric blood lead testing in the United States. Clinical laboratory pediatric (ages <6 years) blood lead level (BLL) tests performed by Quest Diagnostics, January 2019-March 2022, were analyzed. Patients were categorized by age, by sex, and, through matching by ZIP code with US Census data, for race, ethnicity, pre-1950 housing, and poverty estimates. Over 2.8 million results from children (<6 years old) from all 50 states and the District of Columbia were included. Compared to March-May 2019, BLL testing was lower by 53.6% in March-May 2020 and lower by 14.6% in March-May 2021. Testing rebounded more for children in predominantly White non-Hispanic communities and among children living in communities, based on ZIP codes, with the least pre-1950 housing stock and lowest poverty rates. The proportion of children with BLL at or above the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reference values of 3.5 and 5.0 µg/dL fell by 19% and 24%, respectively, in 2021 versus 2019. In conclusion, pediatric BLL testing has rebounded from sharp declines during the early pandemic period but unevenly. Declines in the proportion of children with elevated BLL should be interpreted with caution, as testing rebounds were less robust among communities with the highest risk of lead poisoning, notably communities with the oldest housing stock and higher poverty rates. More public health efforts are needed to address lead toxicity throughout the United States, especially in communities that did not experience a full rebound subsequent to the early COVID-19 pandemic period.