Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the characteristics of the rate and perceptual judgment of diadochokinesis (DDK) in typically developing children and adults.Methods: Participants were typically developing children aged 2;6 to 9;11 and normal adults. For DDK tasks, they were asked to repeat [p*a], [t*a], [k*a], [p*at*a], and [p*at*ak*a] accurately and quickly with one breath. The number of repetitions per second was measured as DDK rate for each stimuli. The perceptual judgment of DDK were also performed in terms of regularity, rate, and accuracy using a three-point scale.Results: Children showed increases in the number of repetitions per second for all the DDK tasks with age. However, all the children groups between ages 2;6 and 9:11 exhibited significantly slower DDK rates than adults. In the perceptual judgment of DDK tasks, accuracy, rate, and consistency of sequential motion rates using [p*at*a] and [p*at*ak*a] showed statistically significant differences across age groups. Children demonstrated similar accuracy of SMR tasks with adults after age 6;0.Conclusion: This study showed developmental patterns of speech motor skills based on rate, accuracy, and consistency of DDK tasks. This study provides references for assessing speech motor skills related to children with speech difficulties.

In patients with intraoperative massive bleeding, the effects of fluid and blood volume on postoperative pulmonary edema are uncertain. Patients with intraoperative massive bleeding who had undergone a non-cardiac surgery in five hospitals were enrolled in this study. We evaluated the association of postoperative pulmonary edema risk and intra- and post-operatively administered fluid and blood volumes in patients with intraoperative massive bleeding. In total, 2090 patients were included in the postoperative pulmonary edema analysis, and 300 patients developed pulmonary edema within 72 h of the surgery. The postoperative pulmonary edema with hypoxemia analysis included 1660 patients, and the condition occurred in 161 patients. An increase in the amount of red blood cells transfused per hour after surgery increased the risk of pulmonary edema (hazard ratio: 1.03; 95% confidence interval: 1.01–1.05) p = 0.013) and the risk of pulmonary edema with hypoxemia (hazard ratio: 1.04; 95% confidence interval: 1.01–1.07; p = 0.024). An increase in the red blood cells transfused per hour after surgery increased the risk of developing pulmonary edema. This increase can be considered as a risk factor for pulmonary edema.

This study aims to examine the articulatory accuracy and variability according to word familiarity and phoneme difficulty in children with speech sound disorders (SSD) and typically developing children. Methods: The participants were 10 children with SSD and 14 typically developing children aged from 2 years 6 months to 2 years 11 months. The 20 target words were selected according to word familiarity and phoneme difficulty. Each child was asked to produce each target word three times and the percentage of correct phonemes and variability scores were obtained. Results: The results showed that articulatory accuracy of children with SSD was significantly lower and their articulatory variability was significantly higher than those of typically developing children. There was no significant difference in articulatory accuracy according to word familiarity, but there was a significant difference in articulatory variability. Significant differences were found in articulatory accuracy as well as variability according to phoneme difficulty. Conclusion: This study suggested that phoneme difficulty affects articulatory variability in children with and without SSD aged 2:6-2:11. The articulatory variability and the related significant factors were discussed from the perspective of normal and delayed/abnormal speech acquisition processes. The study has useful implications for diagnosis and intervention for young children with SSD below 3 years old.