Uno studio longitudinale all'inizio della scuola dell'infanzia per l'individuazione dei bambini a rischio di difficoltà matematica

La valutazione precoce delle abilità cognitive alla base dell’apprendimento matematico rappresenta uno strumento funzionale all’individuazione dei bambini a rischio di difficoltà. Muovendosi in quest’ottica, il presente studio longitudinale, condotto nell’arco del primo anno della scuola dell’infanzia, ha l’obiettivo di indagare il ruolo di alcuni precursori cognitivi dominio-generali (Memoria di Lavoro verbale e visuo-spaziale e attenzione selettiva) e dominio-specifici (conteggio, riconoscimento di cifre e acuità dell’Approximate Number System) sia nel predire la competenza matematica sia nell’identificare i bambini a rischio in un campione di 153 partecipanti. I risultati, che rivelano un contributo significativo di abilità sia generali sia specifiche, sono discussi in termini di implicazioni cliniche

Neonatal brain dynamic functional connectivity in term and preterm infants and its association with early childhood neurodevelopment

Brain dynamic functional connectivity characterises transient connections between brain regions. Features of brain dynamics have been linked to emotion and cognition in adult individuals, and atypical patterns have been associated with neurodevelopmental conditions such as autism. Although reliable functional brain networks have been consistently identified in neonates, little is known about the early development of dynamic functional connectivity. In this study we characterise dynamic functional connectivity with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in the first few weeks of postnatal life in term-born (n = 324) and preterm-born (n = 66) individuals. We show that a dynamic landscape of brain connectivity is already established by the time of birth in the human brain, characterised by six transient states of neonatal functional connectivity with changing dynamics through the neonatal period. The pattern of dynamic connectivity is atypical in preterm-born infants, and associated with atypical social, sensory, and repetitive behaviours measured by the Quantitative Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (Q-CHAT) scores at 18 months of age.</p

Unstable Maternal Environment, Separation Anxiety, and Heightened CO2 Sensitivity Induced by Gene-by-Environment Interplay

Background: In man, many different events implying childhood separation from caregivers/unstable parental environment are associated with heightened risk for panic disorder in adulthood. Twin data show that the occurrence of such events in childhood contributes to explaining the covariation between separation anxiety disorder, panic, and the related psychobiological trait of CO2 hypersensitivity. We hypothesized that early interference with infant-mother interaction could moderate the interspecific trait of response to CO2 through genetic control of sensitivity to the environment. Methodology: Having spent the first 24 hours after birth with their biological mother, outbred NMRI mice were crossfostered to adoptive mothers for the following 4 post-natal days. They were successively compared to normally-reared individuals for: number of ultrasonic vocalizations during isolation, respiratory physiology responses to normal air (20%O2), CO2-enriched air (6% CO2), hypoxic air (10%O2), and avoidance of CO2-enriched environments. Results: Cross-fostered pups showed significantly more ultrasonic vocalizations, more pronounced hyperventilatory responses (larger tidal volume and minute volume increments) to CO2-enriched air and heightened aversion towards CO2- enriched environments, than normally-reared individuals. Enhanced tidal volume increment response to 6%CO2 was present at 16–20, and 75–90 postnatal days, implying the trait’s stability. Quantitative genetic analyses of unrelated individuals, sibs and half-sibs, showed that the genetic variance for tidal volume increment during 6%CO2 breathing was significantly higher (Bartlett x = 8.3, p = 0.004) among the cross-fostered than the normally-reared individuals, yielding heritability of 0.37 and 0.21 respectively. These results support a stress-diathesis model whereby the genetic influences underlying the response to 6%CO2 increase their contribution in the presence of an environmental adversity. Maternal grooming/licking behaviour, and corticosterone basal levels were similar among cross-fostered and normally-reared individuals. Conclusions: A mechanism of gene-by-environment interplay connects this form of early perturbation of infant-mother interaction, heightened CO2 sensitivity and anxiety. Some no

The Developing Human Connectome Project Neonatal Data Release

The Developing Human Connectome Project has created a large open science resource which provides researchers with data for investigating typical and atypical brain development across the perinatal period. It has collected 1228 multimodal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) brain datasets from 1173 fetal and/or neonatal participants, together with collateral demographic, clinical, family, neurocognitive and genomic data from 1173 participants, together with collateral demographic, clinical, family, neurocognitive and genomic data. All subjects were studied in utero and/or soon after birth on a single MRI scanner using specially developed scanning sequences which included novel motion-tolerant imaging methods. Imaging data are complemented by rich demographic, clinical, neurodevelopmental, and genomic information. The project is now releasing a large set of neonatal data; fetal data will be described and released separately. This release includes scans from 783 infants of whom: 583 were healthy infants born at term; as well as preterm infants; and infants at high risk of atypical neurocognitive development. Many infants were imaged more than once to provide longitudinal data, and the total number of datasets being released is 887. We now describe the dHCP image acquisition and processing protocols, summarize the available imaging and collateral data, and provide information on how the data can be accessed

Early Childhood Temperamental Trajectories following Very Preterm Birth and Their Association with Parenting Style

Childhood temperament is an early characteristic shaping later life adjustment. However, little is currently known about the stability of early temperament and its susceptibility to the environment in children born very preterm (VPT; &lt;33 weeks' gestation). Here, we investigated infant-to-childhood temperamental trajectories, and their interaction with parental practices, in VPT children. Maternal reports of infant temperament were collected in 190 infants (mean age: 11.27 months; range 9-18 months) enrolled in the longitudinal Evaluation of Preterm Imaging (ePrime; Eudra: CT 2009-011602-42) study, using the ePrime questionnaire on infant temperament. At 4-7 years of age, further assessments of child temperament (Children's Behavior Questionnaire-Very Short Form) and parenting style (Arnold's Parenting Scale) were conducted. Results showed that more difficult temperament in infancy was associated with increased Negative Affectivity in childhood, regardless of parenting practices. This lends support to the stability of early temperamental traits reflecting negative emotionality. In contrast, a lax parenting style moderated the relationship between easy infant temperament and Negative Affectivity at 4-7 years, such that an easier infant temperament was increasingly associated with higher childhood Negative Affectivity scores as parental laxness increased. These results highlight a potential vulnerability of VPT infants considered by their mothers to be easy to handle, as they may be more susceptible to the effects of suboptimal parenting in childhood

Associations between neonatal brain structure, the home environment and childhood outcomes following very preterm birth

Background: Very preterm birth is associated with an increased risk of childhood psychopathology and cognitive deficits. However, the extent to which these developmental problems associated with preterm birth are amenable to environmental factors or determined by neurobiology at birth remains unclear. Methods: We derived neonatal brain structural covariance networks using non-negative matrix factorization in 384 very preterm infants (median gestational age [range], 30.29 [23.57–32.86] weeks) who underwent magnetic resonance imaging at term-equivalent age (median postmenstrual age, 42.57 [37.86–44.86] weeks). Principal component analysis was performed on 32 behavioral and cognitive measures assessed at preschool age (n = 206; median age, 4.65 [4.19–7.17] years) to identify components of childhood psychopathology and cognition. The Cognitively Stimulating Parenting Scale assessed the level of cognitively stimulating experiences available to the child at home. Results: Cognitively stimulating parenting was associated with reduced expression of a component reflecting developmental psychopathology and executive dysfunction consistent with the preterm phenotype (inattention-hyperactivity, autism spectrum behaviors, and lower executive function scores). In contrast, a component reflecting better general cognitive abilities was associated with larger neonatal gray matter volume in regions centered on key nodes of the salience network, but not with cognitively stimulating parenting. Conclusions: Our results suggest that while neonatal brain structure likely influences cognitive abilities in very preterm children, the severity of behavioral symptoms that are typically observed in these children is sensitive to a cognitively stimulating home environment. Very preterm children may derive meaningful mental health benefits from access to cognitively stimulating experiences during childhood

Neonatal white matter microstructure and emotional development during the preschool years in children who were born very preterm

Children born very preterm (<33 weeks of gestation) are at a higher risk of developing socio-emotional difficulties compared with those born at term. In this longitudinal study, we tested the hypothesis that diffusion characteristics of white matter (WM) tracts implicated in socio-emotional processing assessed in the neonatal period are associated with socio-emotional development in 151 very preterm children previously enrolled into the Evaluation of Preterm Imaging study (EudraCT 2009-011602-42). All children underwent diffusion tensor imaging at term-equivalent age and fractional anisotropy (FA) was quantified in the uncinate fasciculus (UF), inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus (IFOF), inferior longitudinal fasciculus (ILF), and superior longitudinal fasciculus (SLF). Children’s socio-emotional development was evaluated at preschool age (median = 4.63 years). Exploratory factor analysis conducted on the outcome variables revealed a three-factor structure, with latent constructs summarized as: “emotion moderation,” “social function,” and “empathy.” Results of linear regression analyses, adjusting for full-scale IQ and clinical and socio-demographic variables, showed an association between lower FA in the right UF and higher “emotion moderation” scores (β = −0.280; p < 0.001), which was mainly driven by negative affectivity scores (β = −0.281; p = 0.001). Results further showed an association between higher full-scale IQ and better social functioning (β = −0.334, p < 0.001). Girls had higher empathy scores than boys (β = −0.341, p = 0.006). These findings suggest that early alterations of diffusion characteristics of the UF could represent a biological substrate underlying the link between very preterm birth and emotional dysregulation in childhood and beyond

Neurodevelopmental Outcomes following Intrauterine Growth Restriction and Very Preterm Birth

Objectives To evaluate whether intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) adds further neurodevelopmental risk to that posed by very preterm birth alone in terms of alterations in brain growth and poorer toddlerhood outcomes.Study design Participants were 314 infants of very preterm birth enrolled in the Evaluation of Preterm Imaging Study (e-Prime) who were subsequently followed up in toddlerhood. IUGR was identified postnatally from discharge records (n = 49) and defined according to prenatal evaluation of growth restriction confirmed by birth weight &lt;10th percentile for gestational age and/or alterations in fetal Doppler. Appropriate for gestational age (AGA; n = 265) was defined as birth weight &gt;10th percentile for gestational age at delivery. Infants underwent magnetic resonance imaging at term-equivalent age (median = 42 weeks); T2-weighted images were obtained for voxelwise gray matter volumes. Follow-up assessments were conducted at corrected median age of 22 months using the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development III and the Modified-Checklist for Autism in Toddlers.Results Infants of very preterm birth with IUGR displayed a relative volumetric decrease in gray matter in limbic regions and a relative increase in frontoinsular, temporal-parietal, and frontal areas compared with peers of very preterm birth who were AGA. At follow-up, toddlers born very preterm with IUGR had significantly lower cognitive (effect size = 0.42) and motor (effect size = 0.41) scores and were more likely to have a positive Modified-Checklist for Autism in Toddlers screening for autism (OR = 2.12) compared with peers of very preterm birth who were AGA.Conclusions IUGR might confer a neurodevelopmental risk that is greater than that posed by very preterm alone, in terms of both alterations in brain growth and poorer toddlerhood outcomes

Attentional development is altered in toddlers with congenital heart disease

Publication status: PublishedFunder: FP7 Ideas: European Research Council; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100011199; Grant(s): FP7/20072013AbstractBackgroundCongenital Heart Disease (CHD) is the most common congenital abnormality. Survival rates are over 90%, however infants with CHD remain at high risk of attention and executive function impairments. These abilities are difficult to assess in toddlers because clinical assessments rely on language abilities which are commonly delayed in CHD. Our aim was to characterise visual attention in toddlers with CHD compared to controls and identify associations with parent‐rated effortful control.MethodsThirty toddlers with CHD (19 male, median (IQR) age at assessment 22.2 (22–23.1) months) and 66 controls from the developing human connectome project (36 male, age at assessment 22 (21.5–23.8) months) using eye‐tracking tasks designed to assess multiple components of visual attention. Analyses of co‐variance and regressions were used to identify differences between groups and relationships between gaze behaviours and parent‐rated effortful control.ResultsToddlers with CHD were less accurate when switching behaviours (set‐shifting) [median (IQR) 79%, (28–100)] compared to controls [100% (86–100), pFDR = 0.032], with worse accuracy associated with lower parent‐rated effortful control in CHD but not controls (interaction pFDR = 0.028). Reaction times were slower during selective [CHD 1243 ms (986–1786), controls 1065 ms (0851–1397), pFDR&lt;0.001] and exogenous attention tasks [CHD 312 ms (279–358), control 289 (249–331), (pFDR = 0.032) and endogenous attention was less mature (prolonged looks at facial stimuli CHD 670 ms (518–885), control 500 ms (250–625), (pFDR = 0.006). These results were unrelated to differences in cognition or socioeconomic status. In contrast, the allocation of attentional resources was preserved in CHD.ConclusionsWe identified a profile of altered attention and early executive functioning development in CHD. Eye‐tracking may provide clinically feasible, early objective measures of attention and executive function development in CHD.</jats:sec