User:Sarah1124/sandbox

Article Evaluation I evaluated the article on Premature Birth. One observation that I had while reading the article was that it contained information that matched with what we had learned in the pediatrics course lecture. The article did contain very up to date information including statistics regarding the earliest survivable date of delivery which is currently 23 weeks due to improvements in technology. One critique I would have after reading this article is that some information is repeated in multiple sections of the article. One instance in which I found this is, the same statistics regarding long term disability of children that are born prematurely were presented in both the prognosis section as well as the section on specific risks for the preterm neonate. I thought the statistics were relevant and accurate, however it seemed a bit redundant and unnecessary to have the same statistics in multiple places in the article. The sources cited in this article appeared to be both reputable and current. Examples of sources used in the article include the National Institute of Health and the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. Although the Wikipedia article did present much of the same information we discussed in class, it did delve much deeper into the causes of premature birth and methods to prevent premature birth from occurring.

User:cushmank/sandbox

User:wacomer/sandbox

I will be making changes to the article on Rett syndrome and I plan to expand on the treatment section of the article by talking about physical therapy interventions for Rett Syndrome. I also plan to make additions to other sections of the paper by updating them so the information reflects the most up to date research as a large portion of the citations used in this article are from 1980-2006.

Editing of Rett syndrome article
Rett syndrome (RTT) is a rare genetic postnatal neurological disorder of the grey matter of the brain that almost exclusively affects females with an incidence of 1 in 10,000 live births. This disease has an equal rate of occurrence among all racial and ethnic groups. The clinical features include loss of normal movement and coordination as well as smaller than normal head size (microcephaly) due to slowed brain growth. Rett syndrome is characterized by the loss of skills that a child previously had such as the ability to crawl or communicate. Repetitive stereotyped hand movements, such as wringing and/or repeatedly putting hands into the mouth, are also noted. The most rapid decline in symptoms occurs between the ages of one and four. After this period of rapid decline in skills they previously possessed specifically spoken language and hand skills, neurological symptoms will stabilize and the individual will most often survive into adulthood. Although early estimates were grim, survival rates at age 45 are currently above 70%. People with Rett syndrome are prone to gastrointestinal disorders and up to 80% have seizures. They typically have no verbal skills, and some affected individuals will lose the ability to walk while others will never be able to walk. Scoliosis, growth failure, respiratory problems and constipation are very common and can be problematic. The signs of this disorder are most easily confused with those of Angelman syndrome, cerebral palsy and autism as these disorders share many signs and symptoms in common with Rett syndrome including communication difficulties, ataxia and apraxia as well as many autism- like symptoms.

Dr. Andreas Rett, a neurodevelopmental pediatrician in Vienna was the first person to describe Rett syndrome in the 1960s. This research, however, was written in German which was not widely read by other pediatric medical doctors. Dr. Bengt Hagberg, a Swedish pediatric neurologist, and colleagues later published a 1983 English article in Annals of Neurology about Rett syndrome. This article became widely read and sparked further research into the syndrome. While the disorder was identified scientifically, and could be reliably diagnosed, the causes remained unknown for decades. Huda Zoghbi demonstrated in 1999 that mutations in the gene MECP2 cause Rett syndrome.

Prior to the discovery of a genetic cause, Rett syndrome had been arbitrarily designated as a pervasive developmental disorder by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), together with the autism spectrum disorders. Some argued against this conclusive assignment because RTT resembles non-autistic disorders such as fragile X syndrome, tuberous sclerosis, or Down syndrome that exhibit autistic features coincidentally. After research proved the molecular mechanism, in 2013 the DSM-5 removed the syndrome altogether from classification as a mental disorder.

Bibliography for Rett Syndrome

Anderson, A., Wong, K., Jacoby, P., Downs, J. & Leonard, H. (2014). Twenty years of surveillance in Rett syndrome: what does this tell us?. Orphaned Journal of Rare Diseases, 9: 87.

Lotan, M. & Hanks, S. (2006). Physical therapy intervention for individuals with Rett syndrome. The Scientific World Journal, 6, 1314-1338. DOI: 10.1100/tsw.2006.187.

Feldman, D., Banerjee, A. & Sur, M. (2016). Developmental dynamics of Rett syndrome. Journal of Neural Plasticity, 2016. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2016/6154080

Isaias, I.U., Dipaola, M., Michigan, M., Marzegan, A., Volkmann, J., Rodocanachi Roidi, M. L., Frigo, C. A. & Cavallari, P. (2014). Gait initiation in children with Rett syndrome. PLoS ONE, 9. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0092736
 * 1) Rett sydrome, Mayo Clinic. Retrieved 10-12-2017.
 * 2) Tarquinio, D.C., Hou, W., Neul, J.L., Kaufmann, W. E., Glaze, D.G., Motil, K.J., Skinner, S.A., Lee, H.S. & Percy, A.K. (2015). The changing face of survival in Rett syndrome and MECP2 related disorders. Journal of Pediatric Neurology, 53, 402-411. DOI: 10.1016/j.pediatrneurol.2015.06.003
 * 3) Rett syndrome-NORD (National Organization for Rare Disorders). NORD (National Organization for Rare Disorders). Retrieved on 2017-10-12.
 * 4) The History of Rett Syndrome. rettsyndrome.org. Retrieved on 2017-10-12