No abstract

Aims To describe the effects of vitamin A deficiency (VAD) on retinal function and the subsequent recovery following treatment in

Learning of a manipulative response was examined in 6-13-month-old well babies and in risk infants who, in the perinatal period, had experienced a range of respiratory interventions (low- and high-risk). 2 contingency conditions (contingent and yoked) were crossed with 2 locations of feedback (local and remote). Both well-baby and low-risk groups reliably discriminated between contingent and noncontingent feedback when it was presented locally, whereas high-risk babies failed to make this distinction in the conditioning phase. Risk status reliably predicted the learning performance. No response acquisition was obtained in the remote feedback condition. In extinction, the well-baby and low-risk groups decreased their responding, but the high-risk group showed an initial response burst. The findings are discussed in the context of risk-related differences in contingency awareness and frustrative nonreward. Overall, the results confirm that the effects of perinatal compromise involving respiratory complications influence infants' processing of contingency information during the first year of life.

Many drugs, including antibiotics, have been implicated in the aetiology of benign intracranial hypertension. We report the development of benign intracranial hypertension after the use of ciprofloxacin in a teenager with cystic fibrosis. (normal range 7-18). A diagnosis of benign intracranial hypertension was made. At that stage, erythromycin was substituted for ciprofloxacin, on the assumption that ciprofloxacin was the only recent change in treatment and therefore the likely cause of the problem. Two further lumbar punctures were performed which showed persistently raised cerebrospinal fluid pressures each treated with removal of 10 to 25 ml of fluid. There was subsequent symptomatic improvement with resolution of the cranial nerve palsy but with residual papilloedema. Further lumbar puncture three weeks later showed a pressure of 23 cm cerebrospinal fluid, which was treated with removal of a further 25 ml of fluid. There was further resolution of the papilloedema and the nerve palsy did not recur. 5a-Reductase deficiency is a well recognised but uncommon cause of male pseudohermaphrodit-

Response decrement and recovery to a novel visual stimulus was examined in 4-12-mth old infants. High (HR) and low (LR) perinatal risk groups were compared to well babies. For abstract stimuli, well babies showed response decrement and recovery to novelty; LR infants revealed some decrement, but no recovery; and the HR group failed to show either. Using face stimuli (Experiment 2) all groups showed decrement and recovery. Cluster analyses revealed that HR infants were more likely to be found in low information-gain clusters. Infants of lower GA who required perinatal respiratory intervention showed less efficient encoding and poorer discrimination of abstract stimuli.