One of the most remarkable successes of epidemiology was the demonstration in the late twentieth century that spina bifida and anencephaly-two of the most common and severe birth defects-are caused primarily by folate deficiency. This article reviews the descriptive epidemiological studies that began when we did not have a clue about etiology. The paper tells the success story of the trials tha...

The families of 207 index patients treated for spinal dysraphism at The Hospital for Sick Children were studied to discover whether the condition was aetiologically related to the classical neural tube malformation--spina bifida cystica and anencephaly. The index patients had all had a tethered conus medullaris and one or more of a variety of anomalies of the spinal cord, vertebrae, or skin ove...

The health care needs of children with spina bifida are complex. They need specialists, generalists, and an integrated system to deliver this complex care and to align and inform all the providers. Most research in spina bifida has been focused on narrow medical outcomes; it has been noncollaborative, based on small samples of convenience, with no comparison groups, and without consistent stand...

The aim of this study was to determine whether open lumbosacral spina bifida results from an abnormality of neural folding (primary neurulation) or medullary cord canalisation (secondary neurulation). Homozygous curly tail (ct) mouse embryos were studied as a model system for human neural tube defects. The rostral end of the spina bifida was found to lie at the level of somites 27 to 32 in over...

BACKGROUND Spina bifida is a complex neuroembryological disorder resulting from incomplete closure of the posterior neural tube. Morbidity in the different fields of motor and cognitive neurodevelopment is variable in nature and severity, and often hard to predict. AIMS The current study investigates the relationship between cognitive functioning, fine motor performance and motor quality in c...

The results of the British Medical Research Council's randomized controlled trial proved that folic acid can prevent spina bifida and anencephaly. The trial provided critical scientific data upon which to base public health policy for preventing folic acid-preventable spina bifida and anencephaly. Within weeks of publication of the results, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the ...

OBJECTIVE To examine the prevalence of depressive symptoms in adults with spina bifida and identify contributing factors for depressive symptomatology. METHOD Retrospective Cohort Study. Data collection was conducted at a regional adult spina bifida clinic. A total of 190 charts from adult patients with spina bifida were included. The main outcome measures were the Beck Depression Inventory-I...

The purpose of this study was to determine whether the structure of children's self-concept, as rated by children themselves on the Self-Perception Profile for Children (SPPC; Harter, 1985), and the structure of children's competence, as rated by their parents on the Rating Scale of Child's Actual Behavior (PRS) and teachers on the Rating Scale of Child's Actual Behavior (TRS; Harter, 1985), ar...

A total of 24 subjects with diagnosis of spina bifida, 24 subjects (females, n= 12), ages 17 to 72 years, participated in a one-time arm ergometry exercise stress test. The aim of this study was to investigate the construct and concurrent validity of two rating of perceived exertion scales, the Borg 6-20 Scale and a newly designed WHEEL Scale in adolescents and adults with spina bifida. The res...

OBJECTIVES To establish whether surgery can improve the neuropsychological functioning of young adult patients with spina bifida and apparent clinically arrested hydrocephalus showing abnormal intracranial pressure. METHODS Twenty three young adults with spina bifida and assumed arrested hydrocephalus (diagnosed as active or compensated by continuous intracranial pressure monitoring) underwen...