A prospective longitudinal study of perceived infant outcomes at 18-24 months: Neural and psychological correlates of parental thoughts and actions assessed during the first month postpartum

The first postpartum months constitute a critical period for parents to establish an emotional bond with their infants. Neural responses to infant-related stimuli have been associated with parental sensitivity. However, the associations among these neural responses, parenting, and later infant outcomes for mothers and fathers are unknown. In the current longitudinal study, we investigated the relationships between parental thoughts/actions and neural activation in mothers and fathers in the neonatal period with infant outcomes at the toddler stage. At the first month postpartum, mothers (n=21) and fathers (n=19) underwent a neuroimaging session during which they listened to their own and unfamiliar baby’s cry. Parenting-related thoughts/behaviors were assessed by interview twice at the first month and 3-4 months postpartum and infants’ socioemotional outcomes were reported by mothers and fathers at 18-24 months postpartum. In mothers, higher levels of anxious thoughts/actions about parenting at the first month postpartum, but not at 3-4 months postpartum, were associated with infant’s low socioemotional competencies at 18-24 months. Anxious thoughts/actions were also associated with heightened responses in the motor cortex and reduced responses in the substantia nigra to own infant cry sounds. On the other hand, in fathers, higher levels of positive perception of being a parent at the first month postpartum, but not at 3-4 months postpartum, were associated with higher infant socioemotional competencies at 18-24 months. Positive thoughts were associated with heightened responses in the auditory cortex and caudate to own infant cry sounds. The current study provides evidence that parental thoughts are related to concurrent neural responses to their infants at the first month postpartum as well as their infant’s future socioemotional outcome at 18-24 months. Parent differences suggest that anxious thoughts in mothers and positive thoughts in fathers may be the targets for parenting-focused interventions very early postpartum

The influence of emotional priming on the neural substrates of memory: a prospective fMRI study using portrait art stimuli

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The Influence of Breastfeeding and the Infant’s Social Environment on Neuroplasticity and Brain Development: The First 1000 Days

There is substantial evidence that breastfeeding and an enriched environment provide significant contributions to the infant’s brain development. In the past 2 decades, there have been overwhelming data on the benefits of breastfeeding for 1 year and longer and its association with higher intelligence in later life. There is clear and convincing evidence from a number of disciplines, neuroscience, genetics, animal experiments and magnetic imaging techniques that indicate breastfeeding results in optimal brain development and higher IQ in later life. Magnetic imaging studies of infants, children and adolescents have provided significant evidence that the higher IQ in later life in breastfed infants is associated with larger brain size and higher degree of myelination of the white matter. Furthermore, observational studies of infants have provided clear evidence that breastfeeding and mother-baby sensory interaction result in significant cognitive and behavioral development of breastfed as compared to formula fed infants. Large-scale longitudinal studies of infants’ development have shown clear and convincing evidence of higher intelligence in children who were breastfed during infancy, and that the higher IQ persists through adulthood. In this communication, we provide evidence that breastfeeding and an enriched environment result in accelerated developmental potentials in the first 1000 days last a life time. The first 1000 days last the rest of our lives

Origins of neonatal intensive care in the UK

Chaired by Professor Robert Boyd, this seminar reviewed the development and changes in care of the newborn in the UK over the past 50 years. Advances in techniques were described, such as mechanical ventilation, total parenteral nutrition and continuous monitoring of vital signs, to care for ill or vulnerable newborn infants. Diagnostic techniques that were developed and introduced in the 1970s and early 1980s were discussed, such as ultrasound imaging, magnetic resonance spectroscopy and imaging and near infrared spectroscopy, for the non-invasive investigation of the brain, as well as the setting up of neonatal intensive care units. Witnesses include: Professor Eva Alberman, Dr Herbert Barrie, Professor Richard Cooke, Dr Beryl Corner, Dr Pamela Davies, Professor John Davis, Professor David Delpy, Professor Victor and Dr Lilly Dubowitz, the late Professor Harold Gamsu, Professor David Harvey, Professor Colin Normand, Professor Tom Oppé, Professor Osmund Reynolds, Dr Jean Smellie, Professor Maureen Young and nurses, including Miss Anthea Blake, Miss Caroline Dux and Miss Mae Nugent. Introduction by Professor Peter Dunn, viii, 84pp, 1 chart, glossary, subject and name index

Forensic and clinical diagnosis in shaken baby syndrome , between child abuse and iatrogenic abuse

“Shaken baby syndrome” in child abuse cases is a challenge for pediatrician and forensic experts, often a diagnosis of exclusion, with overwhelming moral and legal implications. Diagnosis is based on: subdural bleeding, rupture of retinal vessels, traumatic diffuse axonal injury with diffuse brain encephalopathy in the absence of external traumatic injuries and anamnesis data of an accidentally head injury. Microscopic findings in diffuse axonal injuries were initially considered as a specific traumatic effect due to unrestricted movement and accelerated rotation of the head. Immunohistochemistry of beta amyloid protein precursor is gold standard method for identifying pathological diffuse axonal lesions, which is however non-specific in brain trauma. In the diagnosis of this syndrome pediatricians and forensic examiners must take into account the particularities of each case, avoiding scientific speculation, to intuit controversies and always be familiar with the differential diagnosis