Girl Connection, October, 2011

A monthly newsletter for Iowa Commission on the Status of Women; Early On-Set of Puberty: More Important Than You Think

Girl Connection, December, 2011

A monthly newsletter for Iowa Commission on the Status of Women; Early On-Set of Puberty: More Important Than You Think

Girl Connection, February 2012

A monthly newsletter for Iowa Commission on the Status of Women; Early On-Set of Puberty: More Important Than You Think

Girl Connection, April 2012

A monthly newsletter for Iowa Commission on the Status of Women; Early On-Set of Puberty: More Important Than You Think

Girl Connection, June 2012

A monthly newsletter for Iowa Commission on the Status of Women; Early On-Set of Puberty: More Important Than You Think

Girl Connection, October 2012

A monthly newsletter for Iowa Commission on the Status of Women; Early On-Set of Puberty: More Important Than You Think

Failure to thrive in a girl born into a family affected by familial dysalbuminemic hyperthyroxinemia

Autosomal dominant familial dysalbuminemic hyperthyroxinemia (FDH)is characterized by modified human serum albumin (HSA) inducing asubstantially higher affinity for thyroxine (T4). Histidin or prolinsubstitution on residue R218 produces localized conformationalchanges of HSA creating additional room for T4 binding, leadingto 14-20 fold normal total T4 (TT4) levels. Affected individuals areconsidered euthyroid. Our patient is an 18 months-old swiss girl bornto a mother known for the rare R218P mutation in the HSA gene.She presented with severe failure to thrive (height -2.92 SD, weight-3.6 SD), habitual hip dislocation without anatomical anomaly, latefontanelle closing and protruding ears. Psychomotor development isslightly retarded. Thyroid function testing confirmed extremely high TT4(1446.0 nmol/l) levels, which are similar to her brother's values (1534.4nmol/l and 1757.6 nmol/l respectively). Free T4 seems slightly elevated(26 pmol/l), probably due to methodological reasons. TSH (0.92 mU/l),free T3 (4.4 pmol/l) and thyroxin binding globulin (32 mg/l) are withinthe normal range. Her two half-brothers, affected by the samemutation, are now 18.7 (P1) and 16.6 (P2) years old and wereoriginally described by S. Pannain et al. in 2000. Both werecharacterized by growth retardation (-2.1 and -2.2 SD) before the ageof 4 years. P1 has reached a normal adult height (-0.4 SD) and P2has caught up to normal growth (-0.68 SD) with moderate bonematuration delay. Pubertal development and anterior pituitary functionare adequate. Primary growth and developmental retardation in thefirst years of life with adequate catch-up seem to be a distinctcharacteristic in FDH with R218P mutation. Hip dislocation is typicallyseen in other situations associated to thyroid disorders, like Downsyndrome. These findings might be explained by altered early thyroidhormone utilization in children with FDH.

Dyslexia in a French-Spanish bilingual girl: behavioural and neural modulations following a visual attention span intervention.

We report the case study of a French-Spanish bilingual dyslexic girl, MP, who exhibited a severe visual attention (VA) span deficit but preserved phonological skills. Behavioural investigation showed a severe reduction of reading speed for both single items (words and pseudo-words) and texts in the two languages. However, performance was more affected in French than in Spanish. MP was administered an intensive VA span intervention programme. Pre-post intervention comparison revealed a positive effect of intervention on her VA span abilities. The intervention further transferred to reading. It primarily resulted in faster identification of the regular and irregular words in French. The effect of intervention was rather modest in Spanish that only showed a tendency for faster word reading. Text reading improved in the two languages with a stronger effect in French but pseudo-word reading did not improve in either French or Spanish. The overall results suggest that VA span intervention may primarily enhance the fast global reading procedure, with stronger effects in French than in Spanish. MP underwent two fMRI sessions to explore her brain activations before and after VA span training. Prior to the intervention, fMRI assessment showed that the striate and extrastriate visual cortices alone were activated but none of the regions typically involved in VA span. Post-training fMRI revealed increased activation of the superior and inferior parietal cortices. Comparison of pre- and post-training activations revealed significant activation increase of the superior parietal lobes (BA 7) bilaterally. Thus, we show that a specific VA span intervention not only modulates reading performance but further results in increased brain activity within the superior parietal lobes known to housing VA span abilities. Furthermore, positive effects of VA span intervention on reading suggest that the ability to process multiple visual elements simultaneously is one cause of successful reading acquisition.

Scouting for and managing the alfalfa weevil, 1982

Includes vital information on the Alfalfa Weevil including description, life cycle, damage that it does to alfalfa, how to find and identify and the recommended controls and management of the insect pest

Girl Connection newsletters (Iowa Commission on the Status of Women)

The Girl Connection newsletter was published from 2000 to 2011.

Scouting for and managing the alfalfa weevil, 1986

Includes vital information on the Alfalfa Weevil including description, life cycle, damage that it does to alfalfa, how to find and identify and the recommended controls and management of the insect pest

Anterior uveitis and cataract after rubella vaccination: a case report of a 12-month-old girl.

Many reports associating uveitis after vaccination have been reported, including 2 cases after measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine. We report the case of a 12-month-old girl who developed a unilateral anterior uveitis with rubeosis and cataract 3 months after an MMR vaccination at 9 months of age. Aqueous humor analysis showed the presence of more rubella-specific immunoglobulin G in the affected eye than in the unaffected one. This is the second report showing an association between MMR vaccine and anterior uveitis and the first supported by the presence of intraocular rubella antibodies.