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Research has shown that cochlear implants give rise to improvements in speech recognition and production in children with profound hearing loss but very few studies have explored mathematical abilities in these children. The current study compared the mathematical abilities of 24 children with cochlear implants (mean age 10 years 1 month) to a control group of 22 hearing children (mean age 9 years 8 months). The math questions were categorized into questions that tapped into arithmetic or geometrical reasoning. It was predicted that the cochlear implant group would perform below the hearing group on the arithmetic questions but not the geometrical reasoning questions. Unexpectedly, the results showed that the cochlear implant group performed significantly below the hearing group on both types of math questions, but that this difference was mediated by language skill as assessed by vocabulary knowledge. The clinical implications of these results and possible future research results are considered.

Background Mobile apps have shown considerable promise for reducing alcohol consumption among problem drinkers, but like many mobile health apps, they frequently report low utilization, which is an important limitation, as research suggests that effectiveness is related to higher utilization. Interactive chatbots have the ability to provide a conversational interface with users and may be more engaging and result in higher utilization and effectiveness, but there is limited research into this possibility. Objective This study aimed to develop a chatbot alcohol intervention based on an empirically supported app (Step Away) for reducing drinking and to conduct a pilot trial of the 2 interventions. Included participants met the criteria for hazardous drinking and were interested in reducing alcohol consumption. The study assessed utilization patterns and alcohol outcomes across the 2 technology conditions, and a waitlist control group. Methods Participants were recruited using Facebook advertisements. Those who met the criteria for hazardous consumption and expressed an interest in changing their drinking habits were randomly assigned to three conditions: the Step Away app, Step Away chatbot, and waitlist control condition. Participants were assessed on the web using the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test, Adapted for Use in the United States, Readiness to Change Questionnaire, Short Inventory of Problems-Revised, and Timeline Followback at baseline and at 12 weeks follow-up. Results A total of 150 participants who completed the baseline and follow-up assessments were included in the final analysis. ANOVA results indicated that participants in the 3 conditions changed their drinking from baseline to follow-up, with large effect sizes noted (ie, η2=0.34 for change in drinks per day across conditions). However, the differences between groups were not significant across the alcohol outcome variables. The only significant difference between conditions was in the readiness to change variable, with the bot group showing the greatest improvement in readiness (F2,147=5.6; P=.004; η2=0.07). The results suggested that the app group used the app for a longer duration (mean 50.71, SD 49.02 days) than the bot group (mean 27.16, SD 30.54 days; P=.02). Use of the interventions was shown to predict reduced drinking in a multiple regression analysis (β=.25, 95% CI 0.00-0.01; P=.04). Conclusions Results indicated that all groups in this study reduced their drinking considerably from baseline to the 12-week follow-up, but no differences were found in the alcohol outcome variables between the groups, possibly because of a combination of small sample size and methodological issues. The app group reported greater use and slightly higher usability scores than the bot group, but the bot group demonstrated improved readiness to change scores over the app group. The strengths and limitations of the app and bot interventions as well as directions for future research are discussed. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04447794; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04447794

We studied the prevalence, disability and outcome of medically unexplained neurological symptoms (MUNS) in children/adolescents admitted to a tertiary pediatric neurology centre, within the framework of WHO's international classification of functioning disability and health. Of the 652 admissions over 2007?2009, 82 episodes of admissions (12.6%) in 52 (35 females; median age 13; range 6?17 yr) documented to have MUNS original cohort (OC) were studied; of which 25 (49%) were re-evaluated using questionnaires after a minimum of 2 yr following their discharge follow-up cohort (FC). The predominant manifestations in OC were loss of neurological function n = 27, paroxysmal events n = 14, pain syndrome n = 4, others n = 7. The majority of the FC (21/25; 84%) had ongoing neurological symptoms, of which it remained the same pattern in four, became worse (two) and improved (five). Four expressed new, additional symptoms. Among the OC, 29(56 %) had impaired mobility and 25 (48%) had poor school attendances. Among the FC, eight of the 14 (58%) with impaired mobility showed good improvement, whereas none with good mobility deteriorated. Similarly, 11/15 (73%) with poor school attendances showed improvement with attendances to full time education or employment. In the OC, utilization of resources was high. In the FC, no alternative neurological (or psychiatric) diagnosis was, given in any. Over half of adolescents and families expressed that their experience to multi-disciplinary team assessment was helpful. Despite persistence of symptoms in the majority, our two-year outcome data from the studied cohort shows improvement in daily activities and participation in two-thirds.