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Children (Basel, Switzerland) May 2024This study aimed to explore the effect of socioeconomic disadvantage accumulated in marginalised Roma communities (MRCs) on early childhood development and to assess the...
This study aimed to explore the effect of socioeconomic disadvantage accumulated in marginalised Roma communities (MRCs) on early childhood development and to assess the role of selected socioeconomic indicators in the association between belonging to MRCs vs. the majority and early childhood development. We obtained cross-sectional data from 232 mother-child dyads from MRCs and the majority population. The differences in early childhood development and background variables between the two groups were tested using chi-square and Mann-Whitney U tests. The moderated mediation was tested using PROCESS Macro in SPSS Model 14 on 5000 bootstrap samples. Statistically significant differences between children from MRCs and the majority were found in terms of maternal age, parental education, household equipment, as well as early childhood development. Household equipment moderated the indirect effect of being from MRCs vs. the majority on early childhood development through parental education. The indirect effect through parental education was high at a low household equipment level, reduced at an average level and non-significant at a high level of household equipment. Our study uncovered disparities in early childhood development between children from MRCs and the majority population. Parental education significantly influenced developmental outcomes, while household equipment mitigated its impact.
PubMed: 38929202
DOI: 10.3390/children11060622 -
Brain Sciences Jun 2024The present study explored whether, given the association of temporal alpha with fear circuitry (learning and conditioning), exposure to complex childhood trauma (CCT)...
The present study explored whether, given the association of temporal alpha with fear circuitry (learning and conditioning), exposure to complex childhood trauma (CCT) is reflected in the temporal-posterior alpha power in resting-state electroencephalography (EEG) in complex trauma-exposed adolescents in a sample of 25 adolescents and similar controls aged 12-17 years. Both trauma and psychopathology were screened or assessed, and resting-state EEG was recorded following a preregistered protocol for data collection. Temporal-posterior alpha power, corresponding to the T5 and T6 electrode locations (international 10-20 system), was extracted from resting-state EEG in both eyes-open and eyes-closed conditions. We found that in the eyes-open condition, temporal-posterior alpha was significantly lower in adolescents exposed to CCT relative to healthy controls, suggesting that childhood trauma exposure may have a measurable impact on alpha oscillatory patterns. Our study highlights the importance of considering potential neural markers, such as temporal-posterior alpha power, to understanding the long-term consequences of CCT exposure in developmental samples, with possible important clinical implications in guiding neuroregulation interventions.
PubMed: 38928584
DOI: 10.3390/brainsci14060584 -
Brain Sciences May 2024In non-clinical populations, facial features (eyes, nose, mouth) may vary in their contribution to face identity perception. Changes to whole faces are easier to detect...
In non-clinical populations, facial features (eyes, nose, mouth) may vary in their contribution to face identity perception. Changes to whole faces are easier to detect than changes to individual features, and eye changes are typically easier to detect than mouth changes, which in turn are easier to detect than nose changes. However, how this differs for people with face recognition difficulties (developmental prosopagnosia; DP) and for individuals with superior face recognition abilities (super-recognisers; SR) is not clear; although findings from previous studies have suggested differences, the nature of this difference is not understood. The aim of this study was to examine whether differences in the ability to detect feature changes in DPs and SRs were (a) quantitative, meaning that the pattern across feature changes remained the same but there was an overall upwards or downwards shift in performance, or (b) qualitative, meaning that the pattern across feature changes was different. Using a change detection task in which individual face features (eyes, nose, mouth) changed between sequentially presented faces, we found that while prosopagnosics showed a quantitative difference in performance with a downwards shift across all conditions, super-recognisers only showed qualitative differences: they were better able to detect when the face was the same and were marginally (but not non-significantly) worse at detecting when the eyes changed. Further, the only condition which distinguished between the three groups was the ability to identify when the same face was presented, with SRs being better than controls, and controls being better than DPs. Our findings suggest that, in feature-matching tasks, differences for DPs are due to them being overall worse at the task, while SRs use a qualitatively different strategy.
PubMed: 38928560
DOI: 10.3390/brainsci14060561 -
Brain Sciences May 2024Adults and infants form abstract categories of visual objects, but little is known about the development of global categorization. This study aims to characterize the...
Adults and infants form abstract categories of visual objects, but little is known about the development of global categorization. This study aims to characterize the development of very fast global categorization (living and non-living objects) and to determine whether and how low-level stimulus characteristics contribute to this response. Frequency tagging was used to characterize the development of global-level categorization in = 69 infants (4, 7, 11 months), = 22 children (5-6 years old), and = 20 young adults. Images were presented in an oddball paradigm, with a category change at every fifth position (AAAABAAAABA…). Strong and significant high-level categorization was observed in all age groups, with reduced responses for phase-scrambled control sequences (R = 0.34-0.73). No differences between the categorization of living and non-living targets were observed. These data demonstrate high-level visual categorization as living and non-living from four months to adulthood, providing converging evidence that humans are highly sensitive to broad categorical information from infancy onward.
PubMed: 38928541
DOI: 10.3390/brainsci14060541 -
Brain Sciences May 2024Childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) represents a significant diagnostic and therapeutic challenge within the field of clinical neuropsychology, characterized by its...
Childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) represents a significant diagnostic and therapeutic challenge within the field of clinical neuropsychology, characterized by its nuanced presentation and multifactorial nature. The aim of this study was to distil and synthesize the broad spectrum of research into a coherent model for the assessment and diagnosis of CAS. Through a mixed-method design, the quantitative phase analyzed 290 studies, unveiling 10 clusters: developmental apraxia, tabby talk, intellectual disabilities, underlying speech processes, breakpoint localization, speech characteristics, functional characteristics, clinical practice, and treatment outcome. The qualitative phase conducted a thematic analysis on the most cited and recent literature, identifying 10 categories: neurobiological markers, speech motor control, perceptual speech features, auditory processing, prosody and stress patterns, parent- and self-report measures, intervention response, motor learning and generalization, comorbidity analysis, and cultural and linguistic considerations. Integrating these findings, a descriptive and prescriptive model was developed, encapsulating the complexities of CAS and providing a structured approach for clinicians. This model advances the understanding of CAS and supports the development of targeted interventions. This study concludes with a call for evidence-based personalized treatment plans that account for the diverse neurobiological and cultural backgrounds of children with CAS. Its implications for practice include the integration of cutting-edge assessment tools that embrace the heterogeneity of CAS presentations, ensuring that interventions are as unique as the children they aim to support.
PubMed: 38928540
DOI: 10.3390/brainsci14060540 -
Brain Sciences May 2024In the present study, we aimed to investigate the neural dynamics of interference control using event-related potentials (ERPs) to reveal time course of interference...
In the present study, we aimed to investigate the neural dynamics of interference control using event-related potentials (ERPs) to reveal time course of interference control from the beginning to the end of young adulthood. Three groups of participants aged 19-21, 23-27 and 28-44 performed a Stroop task. The results revealed age differences in both accuracy and ERP amplitudes during all aspects of interreference control processing that reflect selective attention (P2), conflict monitoring (N2), conflict evaluation (P3) and interference control (N450). Both younger groups made more errors on incongruent trials compared to participants in their early 30s. The presence of higher P2 and N2 amplitudes, diminished P3 and again higher N450 amplitudes in participants in their early 20s points to a shortage of available resources for top-down control at this age. These results are in accordance with structural and functional studies that show that development of the frontoparietal network, which underlies interference control, continues after adolescence. While brain mechanisms are still developing, the use of accompanying cognitive abilities is still not optimal. The findings that change in neural dynamics and related performance continues into early adulthood challenge current models of cognitive development and call for new directions in developmental theorizing.
PubMed: 38928537
DOI: 10.3390/brainsci14060536 -
Stem Cell Research & Therapy Jun 2024Human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) and their differentiated cell types have a great potential for tissue repair and regeneration. While the primary focus of...
BACKGROUND
Human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) and their differentiated cell types have a great potential for tissue repair and regeneration. While the primary focus of using hiPSCs has historically been to regenerate damaged tissue, emerging studies have shown a more potent effect of hiPSC-derived paracrine factors on tissue regeneration. However, the precise contents of the transplanted hiPSC-derived cell secretome are ambiguous. This is mainly due to the lack of tools to distinguish cell-specific secretome from host-derived proteins in a complex tissue microenvironment in vivo.
METHODS
In this study, we present the generation and characterization of a novel hiPSC line, L274G-hiPSC, expressing the murine mutant methionyl-tRNA synthetase, L274GMmMetRS, which can be used for tracking the cell specific proteome via biorthogonal non-canonical amino acid tagging (BONCAT). We assessed the trilineage differentiation potential of the L274G-hiPSCs in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, we assessed the cell-specific proteome labelling in the L274G-hiPSC derived cardiomyocytes (L274G-hiPSC-CMs) in vitro following co-culture with wild type human umbilical vein derived endothelial cells and in vivo post transplantation in murine hearts.
RESULTS
We demonstrated that the L274G-hiPSCs exhibit typical hiPSC characteristics and that we can efficiently track the cell-specific proteome in their differentiated progenies belonging to the three germ lineages, including L274G-hiPSC-CMs. Finally, we demonstrated cell-specific BONCAT in transplanted L274G-hiPSC-CMs.
CONCLUSION
The novel L274G-hiPSC line can be used to study the cell-specific proteome of hiPSCs in vitro and in vivo, to delineate mechanisms underlying hiPSC-based cell therapies for a variety of regenerative medicine applications.
Topics: Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells; Humans; Proteome; Animals; Mice; Cell Differentiation; Myocytes, Cardiac; Amino Acids; Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells; Methionine-tRNA Ligase
PubMed: 38926849
DOI: 10.1186/s13287-024-03792-3 -
BMC Pediatrics Jun 2024The main cause of growth and development delays remains unknown, but it can occur as an interaction between genetic, environmental, and socio-economic factors.
BACKGROUND
The main cause of growth and development delays remains unknown, but it can occur as an interaction between genetic, environmental, and socio-economic factors.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of the study was to investigate the prevalence and social determinants of growth and developmental delays among children aged under five years in Qazvin, Iran.
METHODS
A cross-sectional study was conducted between January 2019 to December 2020 with participation of 1800 mothers with children aged 4-60 months who were referred to comprehensive health centers in Qazvin city, Iran. Structural and intermediate social determinants of health were assessed including: parents and children socio-demographic characteristics, families' living and economic status, parents' behavioral factors, household food security, mother's general health, and perceived social support. Children's growth was assessed based on their anthropometric assessment and their development was assessed using their age-specific Ages and Stages Questionnaire. Data were analyzed using univariable and multivariable logistic regression models using SPSS software version 24 and Stata version 14.
RESULTS
The prevalence of developmental problems in each domain were 4.28% for personal and social delay, 5.72% for gross motor delay, 6.5% for communication delay, 6.72% for fine motor delay, and 8% for problem-solving delay. The prevalence of weight growth delays was 13.56% and height growth delays was 4.66%. Communication, gross motor, and problem-solving delays were higher among children whose fathers' smoked cigarettes. Fine motor delays were lower among mothers with education status of high school diploma and university degree vs. the under diploma group. Personal and social delay was significantly higher among families with fair economic status and lower among children when their fathers were employed (vs. unemployed). Weight and height growth delays were higher among mothers who had experienced pregnancy complications and household food insecure families, respectively.
CONCLUSION
There are different predictors of growth and developmental delay problems among Iranian children aged under five years including fathers' smoking, families' economic status, and household food insecurity as well as history of mothers' pregnancy complications. The present study's findings can be used to screen for at-risk of growth and developmental delays among children and could help in designing and implementation of timely interventions.
Topics: Humans; Cross-Sectional Studies; Iran; Developmental Disabilities; Child, Preschool; Female; Prevalence; Infant; Male; Growth Disorders; Socioeconomic Factors; Social Determinants of Health; Child Development
PubMed: 38926691
DOI: 10.1186/s12887-024-04880-2 -
[Neurodevelopment and cerebral blood flow in children aged 2-6 years with autism spectrum disorder].Zhongguo Dang Dai Er Ke Za Zhi =... Jun 2024To investigate the neurodevelopmental characteristics of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), analyze the correlation between neurodevelopmental indicators and...
OBJECTIVES
To investigate the neurodevelopmental characteristics of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), analyze the correlation between neurodevelopmental indicators and cerebral blood flow (CBF), and explore the potential mechanisms of neurodevelopment in ASD children.
METHODS
A retrospective study was conducted on 145 children aged 2-6 years with newly-diagnosed ASD. Scores from the Gesell Developmental Diagnosis Scale and the Autism Behavior Checklist (ABC) and CBF results were collected to compare gender differences in the development of children with ASD and analyze the correlation between CBF and neurodevelopmental indicators.
RESULTS
Fine motor and personal-social development quotient in boys with ASD were lower than those in girls with ASD (<0.05). Gross motor development quotient in ASD children was negatively correlated with CBF in the left frontal lobe (=-0.200, =0.016), right frontal lobe (=-0.279, =0.001), left parietal lobe (=-0.208, =0.012), and right parietal lobe (=-0.187, =0.025). The total ABC score was positively correlated with CBF in the left amygdala (=0.295, <0.001).
CONCLUSIONS
Early intervention training should pay attention to gender and developmental structural characteristics for precise intervention in ASD children. CBF has the potential to become a biological marker for assessing the severity of ASD.
Topics: Humans; Male; Autism Spectrum Disorder; Female; Child, Preschool; Child; Cerebrovascular Circulation; Retrospective Studies; Child Development
PubMed: 38926376
DOI: 10.7499/j.issn.1008-8830.2401048 -
Nature Communications Jun 2024Synthetic biology allows us to reuse, repurpose, and reconfigure biological systems to address society's most pressing challenges. Developing biotechnologies in this way... (Review)
Review
Synthetic biology allows us to reuse, repurpose, and reconfigure biological systems to address society's most pressing challenges. Developing biotechnologies in this way requires integrating concepts across disciplines, posing challenges to educating students with diverse expertise. We created a framework for synthetic biology training that deconstructs biotechnologies across scales-molecular, circuit/network, cell/cell-free systems, biological communities, and societal-giving students a holistic toolkit to integrate cross-disciplinary concepts towards responsible innovation of successful biotechnologies. We present this framework, lessons learned, and inclusive teaching materials to allow its adaption to train the next generation of synthetic biologists.
Topics: Synthetic Biology; Humans; Biotechnology; Students
PubMed: 38926339
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-49626-x