Neglect in acute stroke is an important predictor of poor functional recovery. Residual neglect, which could be compensated in the follow-up tests, may nevertheless restrict patients' real-life activities and hobbies.

No abstract

Aims-To test the hypothesis that a vitamin D dose of 200 IU/kg, maximum 400 IU/day, given to preterm infants will maintain normal vitamin D status and will result in as high a bone mineral density as that attained with the recommended dose of 960 IU/day. Methods-Thirty nine infants of fewer than 33 weeks of gestational age were randomly allocated to receive vitamin D 200 IU/kg of body weight/day up to a maximum of 400 IU/day or 960 IU/day until 3 months old. Vitamin D metabolites, bone mineral content and density were determined by dual energy x-ray absorptiometry, and plasma ionised calcium, plasma alkaline phosphatase, and intact parahormone measurements were used to evaluate outcomes. Results-The 25 hydroxy vitamin D concentrations tended to be higher in infants receiving 960 IU/day, but the diVerences did not reach significance at any age. There was no diVerence between the infants receiving low or high vitamin D dose in bone mineral content nor in bone mineral density at 3 and 6 months corrected age, even after taking potential risk factors into account. Conclusions-A vitamin D dose of 200 IU/kg of body weight/day up to a maximum of 400 IU/day maintains normal vitamin D status and as good a bone mineral accretion as the previously recommended higher dose of 960 IU/day. Vitamin D is a potent hormone which aVects organs other than bone and should not be given in excess to preterm infants.

A combination of the criteria "serum total alkaline phosphatase activity above 900 IU/l" and "serum inorganic phosphate concentrations below 1.8 mmol/l" yielded a sensitivity of 100% at a specificity of 70%. This was the best available screening method for low bone mineral density in preterms.