Prenatal Organochlorine Exposure and Measures of Behavior in Infancy Using the Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale (NBAS)

Background: Previous literature suggests an association between organochlorines and behavioral measures in childhood, including inattention. Objective: This study was designed to assess whether prenatal organochlorine exposure is associated with measures of attention in early infancy. Methods: We investigated an association between cord serum polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and p,p′-dichlorodiphenyl dichloroethene (DDE) levels and measures of attention from the Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale (NBAS) in a cohort of 788 infants born 1993–1998 to mothers residing near a PCB-contaminated harbor and Superfund site in New Bedford, Massachusetts. Results: Medians (ranges) for the sum of four prevalent PCB congeners and DDE levels were 0.19 (0.01–4.41) and 0.30 (0–10.29) ng/g serum, respectively. For the 542 subjects with an NBAS exam at 2 weeks, we observed consistent inverse associations between cord serum PCB and DDE levels and NBAS measures of alertness, quality of alert responsiveness, cost of attention, and other potential attention-associated measures including self-quieting and motor maturity. For example, the decrement in quality of alert responsiveness score was −0.51 (95% confidence interval, −0.99 to −0.03) for the highest quartile of exposure to the sum of four prevalent PCB congeners compared with the lowest quartile. We found little evidence for an association with infant orientation, habituation, and regulation of state, assessed as summary cluster measures. Conclusions: Our findings provide evidence for an association between low-level prenatal PCB and DDE exposures and poor attention in early infancy. Further analyses will focus on whether organochlorine-associated decrements in attention and attention-related skills in infancy persist in later childhood

Metagenomic Comparison of Two Thiomicrospira Lineages Inhabiting Contrasting Deep-Sea Hydrothermal Environments

Background: The most widespread bacteria in oxic zones of carbonate chimneys at the serpentinite-hosted Lost City hydrothermal field, Mid-Atlantic Ridge, belong to the Thiomicrospira group of sulfur-oxidizing chemolithoautotrophs. It is unclear why Thiomicrospira-like organisms thrive in these chimneys considering that Lost City hydrothermal fluids are notably lacking in hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide. Methodology/Principal Findings: Here we describe metagenomic sequences obtained from a Lost City carbonate chimney that are highly similar to the genome of Thiomicrospira crunogena XCL-2, an isolate from a basalt-hosted hydrothermal vent in the Pacific Ocean. Even though T. crunogena and Lost City Thiomicrospira inhabit different types of hydrothermal systems in different oceans, their genomic contents are highly similar. For example, sequences encoding the sulfur oxidation and carbon fixation pathways (including a carbon concentration mechanism) of T. crunogena are also present in the Lost City metagenome. Comparative genomic analyses also revealed substantial genomic changes that must have occurred since the divergence of the two lineages, including large genomic rearrangements, gene fusion events, a prophage insertion, and transposase activity. Conclusions/Significance: Our results show significant genomic similarity between Thiomicrospira organisms inhabiting different kinds of hydrothermal systems in different oceans, suggesting that these organisms are widespread and highl

Positive evidence for neonatal imitation:A general response, adaptive engagement

The study employed four gestural models using frame-by-frame microanalytic methods, and followed how the behaviours unfolded over time. Forty-two human newborns (0-3 days) were examined for their imitation of tongue protrusion, 'head tilt with looking up', three-finger and two-finger gestures. The results showed that all three gesture groups were imitated. Results of the temporal analyses revealed an early and a later, second stage of responses. Later responses were characterized by a suppression of similar, but non-matching movements. Perinatal imitation is not a phenomenon served by a single underlying mechanism; it has at least two different stages. An early phase is followed by voluntary matching behaviour by the neonatal infant

Thermotomaculum hydrothermale gen. nov., sp. nov., a novel heterotrophic thermophile within the phylum Acidobacteria from a deep-sea hydrothermal vent chimney in the Southern Okinawa Trough

http://www.godac.jamstec.go.jp/darwin/cruise/natsushima/nt08-13/

Parent–Infant Room Sharing During the First Months of Life: Longitudinal Links With Behavior During Middle Childhood

Current recommendations encourage parent–infant room sharing for the first 6 months of life. This longitudinal study (N = 193) is the first to examine long-term relations of early room sharing with three domains of child behavior: sleep, behavior problems, and prosocial behavior. Information on room sharing was collected daily for infants’ first 6 months. At ages 6, 7, and 8 years, outcomes were assessed with maternal and teacher questionnaires and behavioral observations. Early room sharing was not related to sleep problems or behavior problems. Additionally, more weeks of room sharing were positively related to higher maternal ratings of child sleep quality and more prosocial behavior. In conclusion, early room sharing appears to be related to positive, but not negative, behavior outcomes in middle childhood.https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.1314

The compositional and evolutionary logic of metabolism

Metabolism displays striking and robust regularities in the forms of modularity and hierarchy, whose composition may be compactly described. This renders metabolic architecture comprehensible as a system, and suggests the order in which layers of that system emerged. Metabolism also serves as the foundation in other hierarchies, at least up to cellular integration including bioenergetics and molecular replication, and trophic ecology. The recapitulation of patterns first seen in metabolism, in these higher levels, suggests metabolism as a source of causation or constraint on many forms of organization in the biosphere. We identify as modules widely reused subsets of chemicals, reactions, or functions, each with a conserved internal structure. At the small molecule substrate level, module boundaries are generally associated with the most complex reaction mechanisms and the most conserved enzymes. Cofactors form a structurally and functionally distinctive control layer over the small-molecule substrate. Complex cofactors are often used at module boundaries of the substrate level, while simpler ones participate in widely used reactions. Cofactor functions thus act as "keys" that incorporate classes of organic reactions within biochemistry. The same modules that organize the compositional diversity of metabolism are argued to have governed long-term evolution. Early evolution of core metabolism, especially carbon-fixation, appears to have required few innovations among a small number of conserved modules, to produce adaptations to simple biogeochemical changes of environment. We demonstrate these features of metabolism at several levels of hierarchy, beginning with the small-molecule substrate and network architecture, continuing with cofactors and key conserved reactions, and culminating in the aggregation of multiple diverse physical and biochemical processes in cells.Comment: 56 pages, 28 figure

Mother-to-infant and father-to-infant initial emotional involvement

While infant attachment has been largely studied, parental attachment is still relatively unknown, especially when referred to fathers. However, it is mainly recognised that parents’ emotional involvement with the newborn contributes to the quality of the interaction and the care they provide. The aim of this study was to study mother-to-infant and father-to-infant initial emotional involvement; namely, differences between mothers and fathers and changes in mother’s emotions toward the neonate within the first days after delivery. The Bonding Scale, an extended Portuguese version of the ‘New Mother-to-Infant Bonding Scale’, was administered during the first two days after childbirth to a sample of 315 mothers and 141 fathers (n = 456), at the Júlio Dinis Maternity Hospital (Portugal). Most mothers and fathers show positive emotions and only a few of them showed negative emotions toward the infant. Maternal and paternal emotional involvement toward the newborn tend to be similar; nevertheless, fathers show less fear and better emotional involvement with the neonate, while mothers are sadder and show more emotions not related to bonding. During the first days following delivery, emotions not related to bonding, such as fear, seem to decrease in mothers.Bial Foundation - Grant 58/02.Human Development and Health Service of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation - Grant 48914

Infants’ behavioral and physiological profile and mother–infant interaction

This study aims to (a) identify and profile groups of infants according to their behavioral and physiological characteristics, considering their neurobehavioral organization, social withdrawal behavior, and endocrine reactivity to stress, and to (b) analyze group differences in the quality of mother–infant interaction. Ninety seven 8-week-old infants were examined using the Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale and the Alarm Distress Baby Scale. Cortisol levels were measured both before and after routine inoculation between 8 and 12 weeks. At 12 to 16 weeks mother–infant interaction was assessed using the Global Rating Scales of Mother–Infant Interaction. Three groups of infants were identified: (a) ‘‘withdrawn’’; (b) ‘‘extroverted’’; (c) ‘‘underaroused.’’ Differences between them were found regarding both infant and mother behaviors in the interaction and the overall quality of mother–infant interaction. The identification of behavioral and physiological profiles in infants is an important step in the study of developmental pathways