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Research
Long-term outcomes of symptomatic optic pathway glioma: 32-year experience at a single Western Australian tertiary pediatric oncology centerOptic pathway gliomas (OPGs) are associated with significant risk of visual and endocrine morbidity, but data on long-term outcomes in symptomatic patients is sparse. This study reviews the clinical course, disease progression, survival outcomes and long-term sequelae in pediatric patients with symptomatic OPGs in our institution over three decades.
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Rett Syndrome Behaviour Questionnaire in Children and Adults With Rett Syndrome: Psychometric Characterization and Revised Factor StructureRett syndrome (RTT) is a severe neurodevelopmental disorder associated with multiple neurobehavioral abnormalities. The Rett Syndrome Behaviour Questionnaire (RSBQ) was developed for pediatric RTT observational studies. Because its application has expanded to adult and interventional studies, we evaluated the RSBQ's psychometric properties in six pediatric (n = 323) and five adult (n = 309) datasets.
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Motor problems in autism: Co-occurrence or feature?Motor features of autism have long been acknowledged by clinicians, researchers, and community stakeholders. Current DSM-5 and ICD-11 guidelines allow clinicians to assign a co-occurring diagnosis of developmental [motor] coordination disorder for autistic individuals with significant motor problems.
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Is sleep captured during a standard daytime EEG sufficient to diagnose Electrical Status Epilepticus in SleepElectrical Status epilepticus of sleep (SES) is an EEG pattern where there is significant activation of epileptiform activity in NREM sleep. A spike wave index (SWI) of > 80-85% is often labelled as typical SES. We aimed to explore if sleep during a standard daytime-EEG, as compared an overnight-EEG, was adequate to diagnose ESES.
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Intellectual disabilities and autism among children with congenital heart defects, Western Australia, 1983–2010Children with congenital heart defects (CHDs) are at higher risk of developing an intellectual disability. However, severity of intellectual disabilities among this group of children are largely unknown. Our objective was to determine the risk of intellectual disability (ID), ID severity, and autism among children with CHDs.
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Psychometric evaluation of clinician- and caregiver-reported clinical severity assessments for individuals with CDKL5 deficiency disorderThe CDKL5 Clinical Severity Assessment is a comprehensive, content-validated measurement tool capturing the diverse challenges of cyclin-dependent kinase-like 5 deficiency disorder, a genetically caused developmental epileptic encephalopathy. The CCSA is divided into clinician-reported and caregiver-reported assessments. The aim of this study was to evaluate the factor structure of these measures through confirmatory factor analysis and evaluate their validity and reliability.
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Use of privacy-preserving record linkage to examine the dispensing of pharmaceutical benefits scheme medicines to pregnant women in Western AustraliaMedications are commonly used during pregnancy to manage pre-existing conditions and conditions that arise during pregnancy. However, not all medications are safe to use in pregnancy. This study utilized privacy-preserving record linkage (PPRL) to examine medications dispensed under the national Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) to pregnant women in Western Australia (WA) overall and by medication safety category.
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Cause-Specific Secular Trends and Prevention Measures of Post-Neonatally Acquired Cerebral Palsy in Victoria and Western Australia 1975–2014: A Population-Based Observational StudyTo describe the timing and causes of post-neonatally acquired cerebral palsy (PNN-CP) and map the implementation of relevant preventive strategies against cause-specific temporal trends in prevalence.
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Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis: Early Irritability as a Transdiagnostic Neurodevelopmental Vulnerability to Later Mental Health ProblemsIrritability is a transdiagnostic indicator of child and adolescent internalizing and externalizing problems that is measurable from early life. The objective of this systematic review was to determine the strength of the association between irritability measured from 0 to 5 years and later internalizing and externalizing problems, to identify mediators and moderators of these relationships, and to explore whether the strength of the association varied according to irritability operationalization.
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Interobserver Agreement When Diagnosing Hypoventilation in Children With Neuromuscular DisordersNeuromuscular disorders can lead to nocturnal hypoventilation. Accurate diagnosis of hypoventilation is imperative to guide treatment decisions. This study determined interobserver agreement for a number of definitions of nocturnal hypoventilation in children and adolescents with neuromuscular disorders.