Exploring the link between parents’ differentiation of self and children’s externalizing behavior problems: the mediating role of need-supportive vs. need-frustrating parenting practices

ObjectiveExternalizing behavior problems (EBPs) are common in children, with significant long-term impact on the child and family members. Parents, particularly mothers, of children with EBPs often experience heightened emotional distress. One crucial factor affecting parents’ ability to manage this distress is their level of differentiation-of-self (DOS). Differentiated parents are more likely to engage in practices that meet their child’s psychological needs, thus supporting the self-determination theory principles vital for a child’s well-being. This study examined the impact of parental DOS on parenting practices and subsequently on the child’s EBPs, exploring possible differences between mothers and fathers.MethodsThirty-two mother–father dyads with children aged 6–14, diagnosed with EBPs participated. Parents completed the Differentiation of Self Inventory–Short Form, the Revised Parents as a Social Context Questionnaire, and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire to assess parental DOS, practices, and child’s EBPs, respectively. Adjusted parallel mediation models examined the mediating role of parental practices in the relationship between parental DOS and a child’s EBPs.ResultsWhile no direct link between parental DOS and child’s symptoms was found, a complete mediation model indicated need-frustrating practices mediating between parental DOS and a child’s EBPs, for both mothers and fathers. Additionally, fathers’ need-supportive practices, but not mothers’, were negatively associated with the child’s symptoms.DiscussionThese findings highlight the interaction between parental traits, need-frustrating practices, and a child’s psychopathology. Notably, fathers’ supportive behaviors emerged as potential protective factors against child’s EBPs, suggesting promising directions for future research and interventions targeting fathers

Ability and disability in autism spectrum disorder:a systematic literature review employing the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health-Children and Youth version

Objective: This study is the first in a series of four empirical investigations to develop International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) Core Sets for Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The objective was to use a systematic review approach to identify, number, and link functional ability and disability concepts used in the scientific ASD literature to the nomenclature of the ICF-CY (Children and Youth version of the ICF, covering the life span). Methods: Systematic searches on outcome studies of ASD were carried out in Medline/PubMed, PsycINFO, ERIC and Cinahl, and relevant functional ability and disability concepts extracted from the included studies. These concepts were then linked to the ICF-CY by two independent researchers using a standardized linking procedure. New concepts were extracted from the studies until saturation of identified ICF-CY categories was reached. Results: Seventy-one studies were included in the final analysis and 2475 meaningful concepts con tained in these studies were linked to 146 ICF-CY categories. Of these, 99 categories were considered most relevant to ASD (i.e., identified in at least 5% of the studies), of which 63 were related to Activities and Participation, 28 were related to Body functions, and 8 were related to Environmental factors. The five most frequently identified categories were basic interpersonal interactions (51%), emotional functions (49%), complex interpersonal interactions (48%), attention functions (44%), and mental functions of language (44%). Conclusion: The broad variety of ICF-CY categories identified in this study reflects the heterogeneity of functional differences found in ASD—both with respect to disability and exceptionality—and underlines the potential value of the ICF-CY as a framework to capture an individual's functioning in all dimensions of life. The current results in combination with three additional preparatory studies (expert survey, focus groups, and clinical study) will provide the scientific basis for defining the ICF Core Sets for ASD for multipurpose use in basic and applied research and every day clinical practice of ASD. Autism Res 2015, 8: 782–794. © 2015 The Authors Autism Research published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of International Society for Autism Research

LabKey Server: An open source platform for scientific data integration, analysis and collaboration

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Broad-based collaborations are becoming increasingly common among disease researchers. For example, the Global HIV Enterprise has united cross-disciplinary consortia to speed progress towards HIV vaccines through coordinated research across the boundaries of institutions, continents and specialties. New, end-to-end software tools for data and specimen management are necessary to achieve the ambitious goals of such alliances. These tools must enable researchers to organize and integrate heterogeneous data early in the discovery process, standardize processes, gain new insights into pooled data and collaborate securely.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>To meet these needs, we enhanced the LabKey Server platform, formerly known as CPAS. This freely available, open source software is maintained by professional engineers who use commercially proven practices for software development and maintenance. Recent enhancements support: (i) Submitting specimens requests across collaborating organizations (ii) Graphically defining new experimental data types, metadata and wizards for data collection (iii) Transitioning experimental results from a multiplicity of spreadsheets to custom tables in a shared database (iv) Securely organizing, integrating, analyzing, visualizing and sharing diverse data types, from clinical records to specimens to complex assays (v) Interacting dynamically with external data sources (vi) Tracking study participants and cohorts over time (vii) Developing custom interfaces using client libraries (viii) Authoring custom visualizations in a built-in R scripting environment.</p> <p>Diverse research organizations have adopted and adapted LabKey Server, including consortia within the Global HIV Enterprise. Atlas is an installation of LabKey Server that has been tailored to serve these consortia. It is in production use and demonstrates the core capabilities of LabKey Server. Atlas now has over 2,800 active user accounts originating from approximately 36 countries and 350 organizations. It tracks roughly 27,000 assay runs, 860,000 specimen vials and 1,300,000 vial transfers.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Sharing data, analysis tools and infrastructure can speed the efforts of large research consortia by enhancing efficiency and enabling new insights. The Atlas installation of LabKey Server demonstrates the utility of the LabKey platform for collaborative research. Stable, supported builds of LabKey Server are freely available for download at <url>http://www.labkey.org</url>. Documentation and source code are available under the Apache License 2.0.</p

Meta-Analysis of the Alzheimer\u27s Disease Human Brain Transcriptome and Functional Dissection in Mouse Models.

We present a consensus atlas of the human brain transcriptome in Alzheimer\u27s disease (AD), based on meta-analysis of differential gene expression in 2,114 postmortem samples. We discover 30 brain coexpression modules from seven regions as the major source of AD transcriptional perturbations. We next examine overlap with 251 brain differentially expressed gene sets from mouse models of AD and other neurodegenerative disorders. Human-mouse overlaps highlight responses to amyloid versus tau pathology and reveal age- and sex-dependent expression signatures for disease progression. Human coexpression modules enriched for neuronal and/or microglial genes broadly overlap with mouse models of AD, Huntington\u27s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and aging. Other human coexpression modules, including those implicated in proteostasis, are not activated in AD models but rather following other, unexpected genetic manipulations. Our results comprise a cross-species resource, highlighting transcriptional networks altered by human brain pathophysiology and identifying correspondences with mouse models for AD preclinical studies