Longitudinal associations between conflict monitoring and emergent academic skills: An event‐related potentials study

Identifying the links between specific cognitive functions and emergent academic skills can help determine pathways to support both early academic performance and later academic achievement. Here, we investigated the longitudinal associations between a key aspect of cognitive control, conflict monitoring, and emergent academic skills from preschool through first grade, in a large sample of socioeconomically diverse children (N = 261). We recorded event‐related potentials (ERPs) during a Go/No‐Go task. The neural index of conflict monitoring, ΔN2, was defined as larger N2 mean amplitudes for No‐Go versus Go trials. ΔN2 was observed over the right hemisphere across time points and showed developmental stability. Cross‐lagged panel models revealed prospective links from ΔN2 to later math performance, but not reading performance. Specifically, larger ΔN2 at preschool predicted higher kindergarten math performance, and larger ΔN2 at kindergarten predicted higher first‐grade math performance, above and beyond the behavioral performance in the Go/No‐Go task. Early academic skills did not predict later ΔN2. These findings provided electrophysiological evidence for the contribution of conflict monitoring abilities to emergent math skills. In addition, our findings suggested that neural indices of cognitive control can provide additional information in predicting emergent math skills, above and beyond behavioral task performance.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/149228/1/dev21809.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/149228/2/dev21809_am.pd

Building an ecological momentary assessment smartphone app for 4- to 10-year-old children: A pilot study

Objective Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) minimizes recall burden and maximizes ecological validity and has emerged as a valuable tool to characterize individual differences, assess contextual associations, and document temporal associations. However, EMA has yet to be reliably utilized in young children, in part due to concerns about responder reliability and limited compliance. The present study addressed these concerns by building a developmentally appropriate EMA smartphone app and testing the app for feasibility and usability with young children ages 4–10 (N = 20; m age = 7.7, SD = 2.0). Methods To pilot test the app, children completed an 11-item survey about their mood and behavior twice a day for 14 days. Parents also completed brief surveys twice a day to allow for parent-child comparisons of responses. Finally, at the end of the two weeks, parents provided user feedback on the smartphone app. Results Results indicated a high response rate (nearly 90%) across child surveys and high agreement between parents and children ranging from 0.89–0.97. Conclusions Overall, findings suggest that this developmentally appropriate EMA smartphone app is a reliable and valid tool for collecting in-the-moment data from young children outside of a laboratory setting

Genetic correlation between amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and schizophrenia

A. Palotie on työryhmän Schizophrenia Working Grp Psychiat jäsen.We have previously shown higher-than-expected rates of schizophrenia in relatives of patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), suggesting an aetiological relationship between the diseases. Here, we investigate the genetic relationship between ALS and schizophrenia using genome-wide association study data from over 100,000 unique individuals. Using linkage disequilibrium score regression, we estimate the genetic correlation between ALS and schizophrenia to be 14.3% (7.05-21.6; P = 1 x 10(-4)) with schizophrenia polygenic risk scores explaining up to 0.12% of the variance in ALS (P = 8.4 x 10(-7)). A modest increase in comorbidity of ALS and schizophrenia is expected given these findings (odds ratio 1.08-1.26) but this would require very large studies to observe epidemiologically. We identify five potential novel ALS-associated loci using conditional false discovery rate analysis. It is likely that shared neurobiological mechanisms between these two disorders will engender novel hypotheses in future preclinical and clinical studies.Peer reviewe

Evaluating the Effects of SARS-CoV-2 Spike Mutation D614G on Transmissibility and Pathogenicity.

Global dispersal and increasing frequency of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein variant D614G are suggestive of a selective advantage but may also be due to a random founder effect. We investigate the hypothesis for positive selection of spike D614G in the United Kingdom using more than 25,000 whole genome SARS-CoV-2 sequences. Despite the availability of a large dataset, well represented by both spike 614 variants, not all approaches showed a conclusive signal of positive selection. Population genetic analysis indicates that 614G increases in frequency relative to 614D in a manner consistent with a selective advantage. We do not find any indication that patients infected with the spike 614G variant have higher COVID-19 mortality or clinical severity, but 614G is associated with higher viral load and younger age of patients. Significant differences in growth and size of 614G phylogenetic clusters indicate a need for continued study of this variant

Evaluating the Effects of SARS-CoV-2 Spike Mutation D614G on Transmissibility and Pathogenicity

Global dispersal and increasing frequency of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein variant D614G are suggestive of a selective advantage but may also be due to a random founder effect. We investigate the hypothesis for positive selection of spike D614G in the United Kingdom using more than 25,000 whole genome SARS-CoV-2 sequences. Despite the availability of a large dataset, well represented by both spike 614 variants, not all approaches showed a conclusive signal of positive selection. Population genetic analysis indicates that 614G increases in frequency relative to 614D in a manner consistent with a selective advantage. We do not find any indication that patients infected with the spike 614G variant have higher COVID-19 mortality or clinical severity, but 614G is associated with higher viral load and younger age of patients. Significant differences in growth and size of 614G phylogenetic clusters indicate a need for continued study of this variant

Genomic investigations of unexplained acute hepatitis in children

Since its first identification in Scotland, over 1,000 cases of unexplained paediatric hepatitis in children have been reported worldwide, including 278 cases in the UK1. Here we report an investigation of 38 cases, 66 age-matched immunocompetent controls and 21 immunocompromised comparator participants, using a combination of genomic, transcriptomic, proteomic and immunohistochemical methods. We detected high levels of adeno-associated virus 2 (AAV2) DNA in the liver, blood, plasma or stool from 27 of 28 cases. We found low levels of adenovirus (HAdV) and human herpesvirus 6B (HHV-6B) in 23 of 31 and 16 of 23, respectively, of the cases tested. By contrast, AAV2 was infrequently detected and at low titre in the blood or the liver from control children with HAdV, even when profoundly immunosuppressed. AAV2, HAdV and HHV-6 phylogeny excluded the emergence of novel strains in cases. Histological analyses of explanted livers showed enrichment for T cells and B lineage cells. Proteomic comparison of liver tissue from cases and healthy controls identified increased expression of HLA class 2, immunoglobulin variable regions and complement proteins. HAdV and AAV2 proteins were not detected in the livers. Instead, we identified AAV2 DNA complexes reflecting both HAdV-mediated and HHV-6B-mediated replication. We hypothesize that high levels of abnormal AAV2 replication products aided by HAdV and, in severe cases, HHV-6B may have triggered immune-mediated hepatic disease in genetically and immunologically predisposed children

Brain-behavior correlations during proposed transitions in the mother-child relationship : an examination of behavior and face-processing in six-month- olds and toddlers

The studies contained in this dissertation were conducted to examine potential connections between neurophysiological measures of face processing and behavioral responses to structured mother-child interactions in two ages that have been implicated as developmental transitions in both the face processing literature and the mother-child attachment literature. Chapter's I and II present data from a study that examined a relationship between 6-month-olds' responses to a series of separations and reunions with the mother and the same infant's event-related potential (ERP) responses to mother and stranger faces. In Chapter I, a composite measure of infant behavior was used as a general index of amount of proximity and interaction seeking behaviors. Chapter II extended this investigation to examine three specific behaviors that have been implicated as highly influential in the development of the mother-child relationship during the first year. Taken together, the results of these two chapters suggest that a general measure of amount of proximity seeking exhibited by infants was associated with larger ERP responses to the stranger's face. However, the specific behaviors examined in Chapter II correlated with the identity of the two faces in unique and specific ways, although distress during separations seemed to be particularly related to neural responses to the mother's face. Chapter III presents data from a study conducted with toddlers (28 to 40 months) using the same paradigm. Potential age-related changes in the neural correlates of processing the two faces were examined in this age range as well, as they have not been found in previous work. The findings presented in Chapter III indicated evidence of age-related change in processing faces in general, as well as the identity of the mother and stranger faces in this age range. In addition, related to the findings in Chapter III, toddler distress behaviors during separation were particularly related to neural responses to the mother's face. These results suggest an important relationship between the changing function of the mother-child relationship for the child and the child's neural responses to the mothe

Building an ecological momentary assessment smartphone app for 4- to 10-year-old children: A pilot study.

ObjectiveEcological momentary assessment (EMA) minimizes recall burden and maximizes ecological validity and has emerged as a valuable tool to characterize individual differences, assess contextual associations, and document temporal associations. However, EMA has yet to be reliably utilized in young children, in part due to concerns about responder reliability and limited compliance. The present study addressed these concerns by building a developmentally appropriate EMA smartphone app and testing the app for feasibility and usability with young children ages 4-10 (N = 20; m age = 7.7, SD = 2.0).MethodsTo pilot test the app, children completed an 11-item survey about their mood and behavior twice a day for 14 days. Parents also completed brief surveys twice a day to allow for parent-child comparisons of responses. Finally, at the end of the two weeks, parents provided user feedback on the smartphone app.ResultsResults indicated a high response rate (nearly 90%) across child surveys and high agreement between parents and children ranging from 0.89-0.97.ConclusionsOverall, findings suggest that this developmentally appropriate EMA smartphone app is a reliable and valid tool for collecting in-the-moment data from young children outside of a laboratory setting