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Aim: To develop a short version of the original Hammersmith Infant Neurological Examination (HINE) to be used as a screening tool (Brief‐HINE) and to establish if the short examination maintains good accuracy and predictive power for detecting infants with cerebral palsy (CP). Method: Eleven items were selected from the original HINE ('visual response'; 'trunk posture'; 'movement quantity'; 'movement quality'; 'scarf sign'; 'hip adductor angles'; 'popliteal angle'; 'pull to sit'; 'lateral tilting'; 'forward parachute reaction'; 'tendon reflexes') identifying those items previously found to be more predictive of CP in both low‐ and high‐risk infants. In order to establish the sensitivity of the new module, the selected items were applied to existing data, previously obtained using the full HINE at 3, 6, 9, and 12 months, in 228 infants with typical development at 2 years and in 82 infants who developed CP. Results: Brief‐HINE scores showed good sensitivity and specificity, at each age of assessment, for detecting infants with CP. At 3 months, a score of less than 22 was associated with CP with a sensitivity of 0.88 and a specificity of 0.92; at 6, 9, and 12 months, the cut‐off scores were less than 25 (sensitivity 0.93; specificity 0.87), less than 27 (sensitivity 0.95; specificity 0.81), and less than 27 (sensitivity 1; specificity 0.86) respectively. The presence of more than one warning sign, or items that are not optimal for the age of assessment, imply the need for a full examination reassessment. Interpretation: These findings support the validity of the Brief‐HINE as a routine screening method and the possibility of its use in clinical practice. This original article is commented by Hewawitharana and Phillips on pages 1117–1118 of this issue. This original article is linked to letter to the editor by Fehlings et al. on pages 1255–1257 of this issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sex differences have been reported in children with cerebral palsy (CP), with males having a higher risk of developing CP, but it is not entirely clear whether sex may also affect the severity of motor impairment. The aim of the present study was to critically review the existing literature on sex influence on neuromotor outcome in children with CP. The published papers confirm that CP occurs more frequently in males than in females. Within different types of CP or individual level of impairment, however, there was limited evidence that sex also had an effect on their performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and joint hypermobility (JH) are considered two different etiological and clinical entities that most often appear in childhood. Despite growing increased research showing a co-occurrence for both conditions, a link between them is rarely established in clinical settings, and the relationship between ASD and JH has not so far been completely investigated in all age groups of ASD children. This preliminary study examined a cohort of 67 non-syndromic ASD children aged 2–18 years (sex ratio M:F = 12:1) showing different degrees of cognitive impairment and autism severity, using the Beighton scale and its revised version. A total of 63% of ASD patients aged 2–4 years and 73% of ASD patients aged ≥5 years presented significant scores of hypermobility. No significant correlation was found comparing total laxity score and cognitive assessments and severity of autistic symptomatology (p > 0.05). The results suggest that JH could be considered as a clinical characteristic of ASD patients and it needs to be assessed in order to schedule a better rehabilitation program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An aspect correlated with climate change is certainly represented by the alternation of severe floods and relevant drought periods. Moreover, there is evidence that changes in climate and land cover are inducing changes in stream channel cross-sections, altering local channel capacity. A direct consequence of a significant change in the local channel capacity is that the relationship between the amount of water flowing at a given point in a river or stream (usually at gauging stations) and the corresponding stage in that section, known as a stage–discharge relationship or rating curve, is changed. The key messages deriving from the present work are: (a) the more frequent and extreme the floods become, the more rapid the changes in the stream channel cross-section become, (b) from an operational point of view, the collection and processing of field measurements of the stage and corresponding discharge at a given section in order to quickly and frequently update the rating curve becomes a priority. It is, therefore, necessary to define a control system for acquiring hydrological data capable of keeping river levels and discharges under control to support flood early warnings and water management. The proposed stage–discharge management system is used by the Civil Protection Service of the Marche Region (east-central Italy) for the monitoring of river runoff in the regional watersheds. The Civil Protection Service staff performs stage–discharge field measurements using water level sensors and recorders (e.g., staff gauges, submersible pressure transducers, ultrasound and radar sensors) and a current meter, acoustic doppler velocimeter, acoustic doppler current profilers, portable mobile radar profiler and salt dilution method equipment, respectively. Power functions are fitted to the stage–discharge field data. Furthermore, extrapolation is performed to cover the full range of flow measurements; in general, extrapolation is not an easy task because of sharp changes in the stream cross-section geometry for very high or very low stages. In the present work, we also focused attention on the application problems that occur in practice and the need for frequent updating. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assessing and improving walking abilities is considered one of the most important functional goals of physical therapy in children with cerebral palsy. However, there is still a gap in knowledge regarding the efficacy of treatment targeting the walking capacity of children with CP, as well as their responsiveness to the treatment. The 6 min walk test (6MWT) is a reliable tool to measure this function in children with CP, although less has been known about its potential efficacy to assess changes in the walking abilities associated with interventions. The aim of the present narrative review is to increase the amount of knowledge regarding the use of the 6MWT as a reliable measure to evaluate the effect of interventions on walking capacity in children with CP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Perinatal stroke is related to possible differences in predisposing factors and outcomes between acutely and retrospectively diagnosed cases. In most cases, there are different risk factors and infections that could play an important role. Thus far, different clinical manifestations have been reported in children presenting with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), ranging from asymptomatic status to severe disease sustained by an immune-mediated inflammatory response. SARS-CoV-2 has been associated with severe neurological diseases including seizures and encephalitis in both adults and children. However, there are still few reports regarding the possible relation between SARS-CoV-2 infection of mothers during pregnancy and the neurologic outcome of the newborns. We described the case of a newborn diagnosed with a perinatal stroke, born at 35 weeks of gestation from a mother presenting with SARS- CoV-2 infection during the last months of pregnancy. We also added a brief review of the literature with similar cases. Close monitoring and early intervention in young children born to infected mothers would be highly recommended for the potential neurodevelopmental risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The specification of EU Floods Directive 2007/60/EC for flood data collection were successfully implemented in the FloodCat catalogue, owned by the Italian National Civil Protection Department (reference: FloodCat manual). This web-GIS platform guarantees consistency of flood data collection at national level taking into account each flood event, its phenomena and specific damage classified in categories and sub-categories. It includes consequences on Human health, Environment, Cultural heritage and Economic activity.Regions are in charge of populating FloodCat with recent and historical loss data. Here it is reported the implementation of FloodCat in Marche Region. Loss data requested by FloodCat are collected by different offices in relation of the affected sector. The main data sources are: the flood event reports (regional civil protection), the georeferred flooded areas (basin or district authority), the damage data collected following the civil protection ordinances in case of national emergency declaration, data collected by the regional agriculture service following the state of natural calamity. These last two sources provide statistics regarding the economic cost of damages as the estimate allows to have access to public national funds. This information is relevant for FloodCat as disaster databases usually lack on economic loss data.A methodology was defined in order to make a homogeneous data record and to adapt historical data already collected to FloodCat requested database fields. It consists on correlating the meteorological event with the Unit of Management and flood phenomena to basin or sub-basin, damage to municipality. The data were recorded taking into account three elevation bands: mountainous, hilly and coastal in order to analyse the different flood mechanisms depending on territory's altitude. Standard Operating Procedures for the information flow in case of emergencies was constructed to optimize data collection from different sources for the national platform requirement.The data of Marche Region consist on ten ordinances and need recognition after emergencies in case of severe weather, starting from 2002, thirty-four flood event reports of minor events and the delimited flooded area of the event of May 2014. For each event metadata information was stored as required in the INSPIRE Directive.The statistics on regional flood data show which are the most affected elevation bands, the most affected category for each elevation band, and the most affected municipalities in terms of economic losses on environment, economic activities trade, industry, crafts and building sectors, economic activities tourist-recreational sector, cultural and landscape heritage, private buildings and goods, communication and transport infrastructures, technological and service infrastructures, hydraulic works, population/human health and public interest structures/services. The statistics are also made in terms of units affected for selected categories/sub-categories (number of persons, means of transport, civil buildings etc.). Temporal histograms shows which are the years and the flood events with the highest economic losses. The percentage of affected municipalities are also described. Spatial distribution maps were produced showing the most impacted areas. Once set and regularly populated, this loss/damage database can drive interventions for risk mitigation and decision making processes at regional and national level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]