Browsing by Author "Donald, Kirsten Ann Mary"

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    Intellectual and behavioural functioning in boys with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy : neuropsychological testing and correlation with genotype
    (2008) Donald, Kirsten Ann Mary; Wilmshurst, Jo; Thomas, Kevin
    The spectrum of central nervous system manifestations of DMD is less well described than its musculoskeletal aspects. Although international studies have reported intellectual function ranging from above-average to severe intellectual disability, they have consistently found the average full-scale IQ of affected boys to be reduced by approximately one standard deviation. Fewer reports are available for DMD boys in the pre-school age group. There is also limited data on the behavioural profile of boys with this condition. No material on these aspects of DMD in South African children has been published to date. This pilot case control study aimed to determine the neurocognitive and behavioural phenotype of a cohort of South African children with a confirmed diagnosis of Duchenne muscular dystrophy as compared to the profile of a matched control cohort of children.
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    Multimodal neuroimaging and early neurobehavioural and developmental correlates of alcohol and methamphetamine exposed infants in Cape Town
    (2015) Donald, Kirsten Ann Mary; Stein, Dan J; Narr, Katherine L; Riley, Edward P
    Alcohol use and alcohol use disorders contribute a significant proportion of the burden of disease in low, middle, and high-income countries. As a result, fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) represent one of the most common preventable causes of intellectual disability globally. Understanding the core brain areas of susceptibility to prenatal alcohol as they manifest in early life is key to developing strategies for early focused identification and intervention. This thesis explored the relative impact of prenatal alcohol exposure on the brain in infants as measured by multimodal brain imaging and the relationship of these findings to early neurobehavioral and developmental status. The specific aims the thesis addressed included leveraging structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS) and resting sate functional MRI (rs-fMRI) scans in approximately 100 infants (50 alcohol exposed and a matched number of control, unexposed babies) at 2-4 weeks of age, to assess group differences in early brain development. Correlations between multimodal neuroimaging measures and neonatal neurobehavioral assessments and associations between early structural imaging findings and later infant developmental, as measured by the Bayley III assessment at 6 months, were further explored in the same group of infants. These studies addressed the hypothesis that maternal alcohol use in pregnancy would result in quantitative MRI abnormalities demonstrable at 2-4weeks of age and that these changes would correlate with early indicators of neurobehavior and development. Chapter 1 presents the rationale and outline of the thesis. The burden of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) is described in the context of different resource settings around the world with detailed reference to South Africa. Chapter 2 presents a published systematic literature review of published studies of MRI in children and adolescents with prenatal alcohol exposure. Chapter 3 provides an overall description of the methods and context for this study. Although the results chapters each include a focused methods section, the word restrictions of journal articles did not allow for adequate contextual detail for the project as a whole.