Early life factors and white matter microstructure in children with overweight and obesity: The ActiveBrains project

This study was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (DEP2013-47540, DEP2016-79512-R, and DEP2017-91544-EXP), the European Regional Development Fund, the European Commission (No 667302) and the Alicia Koplowitz Foundation. This study was partially funded by the UGR Research and Knowledge Transfer Fund (PPIT) 2016, Excellence Actions Programme. Units of Scientific Excellence; Scientific Unit of Excellence on Exercise and Health (UCEES) and by the Regional Government of Andalusia, Regional Ministry of Economy, Knowledge, Entreprises and University and European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), ref. SOMM17/6107/UGR. In addition, this study was further supported by the SAMID III network, RETICS, funded by the PN IthornDthornI 2017-2021 (Spain). Additional funding was obtained from the Andalusian Operational Programme supported with European Regional Development Funds (ERDF in English, FEDER in Spanish, project ref: B-CTS-355-UGR18). PS-U is supported by a grant from ANID/BECAS Chile/72180543. IE-C is supported by the Spanish Ministries of Economy and Competitiveness (RTI2018-095284-J-100), and Science and Innovation (RYC2019-027287-I). JV-R is supported by a grant from the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (FJCI-2017-33396). Funding for open access charge: Universidad de Granada/CBUA. We would like to thank all the families participating in the ActiveBrains. We are grateful to Ms. Ana Yara Postigo-Fuentes for her assistance with the English language. We also acknowledge everyone who helped with the data collection and all of the members involved in the fieldwork for their effort, enthusiasm, and support. This work is part of Ph.D. Thesis conducted in the Biomedicine Doctoral Studies of the University of Granada, Spain.Background & aims: Exposure to a suboptimal environment during the fetal and early infancy period's results in long-term consequences for brain morphology and function. We investigated the associations of early life factors such as anthropometric neonatal data (i.e., birth length, birth weight and birth head circumference) and breastfeeding practices (i.e., exclusive and any breastfeeding) with white matter (WM) microstructure, and ii) we tested whether WM tracts related to early life factors are associated with academic performance in children with overweight/obesity. Methods: 96 overweight/obese children (10.03 +/- 1.16 years; 38.7% girls) were included from the ActiveBrains Project. WM microstructure indicators used were fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD), derived from Diffusion Tensor Imaging. Academic performance was evaluated with the Battery III Woodcock-Munoz Tests of Achievement. Regression models were used to examine the associations of the early life factors with tract-specific FA and MD, as well as its association with academic performance. Results: Head circumference at birth was positively associated with FA of the inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus tract (0.441; p = 0.005), as well as negatively associated with MD of the cingulate gyrus part of cingulum (-0.470; p = 0.006), corticospinal (-0.457; p = 0.005) and superior thalamic radiation tract (-0.476; p = 0.001). Association of birth weight, birth length and exclusive breastfeeding with WM microstructure did not remain significant after false discovery rate correction. None tract related to birth head circumference was associated with academic performance (all p > 0.05). Conclusions: Our results highlighted the importance of the perinatal growth in WM microstructure later in life, although its possible academic implications remain inconclusive.Spanish Government DEP2013-47540 DEP2016-79512-R DEP2017-91544-EXPEuropean Commission European Commission European Commission Joint Research Centre 667302Alicia Koplowitz FoundationUGR Research and Knowledge Transfer Fund (PPIT) 2016, Excellence Actions ProgrammeEuropean Commission SOMM17/6107/UGRSAMID III network, RETICS - PN I+D+I 2017-2021 (Spain)Andalusian Operational Programme - European Regional Development Funds B-CTS-355-UGR18ANID/BECAS Chile 72180543Spanish Government RTI2018-095284-J-100 FJCI-2017-33396 RYC2019-027287-

The impact of prematurity on visual attention: how Gestational Age influences disengagement in toddlerhood.

Preterm birth, an early birth before the pregnancy is completed, is a very common condition that affect almost the 10 % of all live births. Together with the burden that this condition brings to families and health systems, it significantly impacts the neurodevelopment, leading to an increased risk for long-term difficulties in cognition and behavior. Prematurity represents a biological vulnerability for the development of neural and cognitive system and research should focus on finding early markers that could predict some of the adverse consequences associated with prematurity. That is why in the present work we investigated attentional capacities, which represent a good early marker of atypical neurodevelopment. With my final dissertation I intend to empirically support that gestational age at birth is an early key predictor of differences in attentional performance observed later along development. To pursue this aim, the study that we conducted and that I will here report explored the impact of gestational age on visual attention, in particular on orienting capacities, in a sample of late preterm and full-term toddlers. We administered a Gap-Overlap task to a group of 35 toddlers at 16 months born between the 34 and 41 weeks of gestation. Their performance was measured in terms of rapidity to orient attention to the target and number of failures to disengage from the center of the screen; then we analyzed how gestational age, taken as a continuous variable, could impact on attentional task performance. What we found was that orienting capacities varied depending on gestational age; specifically, the results associated lower gestational ages with less rapidity to orient visual attention and worst endogenous control of attention. Our findings supported the need to further investigate early attentional development also in the population of late prematurity, because these early difficulties could have a detrimental impact on later cognitive and behavioral development.Preterm birth, an early birth before the pregnancy is completed, is a very common condition that affect almost the 10 % of all live births. Together with the burden that this condition brings to families and health systems, it significantly impacts the neurodevelopment, leading to an increased risk for long-term difficulties in cognition and behavior. Prematurity represents a biological vulnerability for the development of neural and cognitive system and research should focus on finding early markers that could predict some of the adverse consequences associated with prematurity. That is why in the present work we investigated attentional capacities, which represent a good early marker of atypical neurodevelopment. With my final dissertation I intend to empirically support that gestational age at birth is an early key predictor of differences in attentional performance observed later along development. To pursue this aim, the study that we conducted and that I will here report explored the impact of gestational age on visual attention, in particular on orienting capacities, in a sample of late preterm and full-term toddlers. We administered a Gap-Overlap task to a group of 35 toddlers at 16 months born between the 34 and 41 weeks of gestation. Their performance was measured in terms of rapidity to orient attention to the target and number of failures to disengage from the center of the screen; then we analyzed how gestational age, taken as a continuous variable, could impact on attentional task performance. What we found was that orienting capacities varied depending on gestational age; specifically, the results associated lower gestational ages with less rapidity to orient visual attention and worst endogenous control of attention. Our findings supported the need to further investigate early attentional development also in the population of late prematurity, because these early difficulties could have a detrimental impact on later cognitive and behavioral development

Handbook of Life Course Health Development

Health development science; Developmental origins of chronic illnesses; Community; Diabetes; Autism; Obesity; Nutrition; Health disparities across the lifespan; Fetal programmin

ACCURATELY DIAGNOSING AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER AMONG A COMORBID POPULATION

Two of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD), are diagnosed in early childhood. The two disorders share similar impairments across domains, are highly comorbid, and have many overlapping symptoms. Studies have shown that among this comorbid population, children receive an ASD diagnosis a few years after their initial ADHD diagnosis, which leads to many negative consequences, including a delay in treatment. The focus in this study was on the early indicators of ASD that are present prior to the age of 3 years in order to educate others on these symptoms. In an effort to help professions better understand ASD symptoms, a checklist was created using information gathered from internet-based databases as well as published questionnaires with a focus on the symptoms of ADHD, ASD, and comorbid ADHD and ASD. The checklist contains early indicators and impairments found across the domains of language functioning, social functioning, emotional functioning, motor functioning, restrictive and repetitive behaviors, and general behaviors. Future studies would benefit from more extensive research regarding early indicators of the comorbid diagnosis of ASD and ADHD