Smoking during Pregnancy Affects Speech-Processing Ability in Newborn Infants

BACKGROUND: Tobacco smoking during pregnancy is known to adversely affect development of the central nervous system in babies of smoking mothers by restricting utero–placental blood flow and the amount of oxygen available to the fetus. Behavioral data associate maternal smoking with lower verbal scores and poorer performance on specific language/auditory tests. OBJECTIVES: In the current study we examined the effects of maternal smoking during pregnancy on newborns’ speech processing ability as measured by event-related potentials (ERPs). METHOD: High-density ERPs were recorded within 48 hr of birth in healthy newborn infants of smoking (n = 8) and nonsmoking (n = 8) mothers. Participating infants were matched on sex, gestational age, birth weight, Apgar scores, mother’s education, and family income. Smoking during pregnancy was determined by parental self-report and medical records. ERPs were recorded in response to six consonant–vowel syllables presented in random order with equal probability. RESULTS: Brainwaves of babies of nonsmoking mothers were characterized by typical hemisphere asymmetries, with larger amplitudes over the left hemisphere, especially over temporal regions. Further, infants of nonsmokers discriminated among a greater number of syllables whereas the newborns of smokers began the discrimination process at least 150 msec later and differentiated among fewer stimuli. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicate that prenatal exposure to tobacco smoke in otherwise healthy babies is linked with significant changes in brain physiology associated with basic perceptual skills that could place the infant at risk for later developmental problems

Smoking during Pregnancy Affects Speech-Processing Ability in Newborn Infants

BACKGROUND: Tobacco smoking during pregnancy is known to adversely affect development of the central nervous system in babies of smoking mothers by restricting utero–placental blood flow and the amount of oxygen available to the fetus. Behavioral data associate maternal smoking with lower verbal scores and poorer performance on specific language/auditory tests. OBJECTIVES: In the current study we examined the effects of maternal smoking during pregnancy on newborns’ speech processing ability as measured by event-related potentials (ERPs). METHOD: High-density ERPs were recorded within 48 hr of birth in healthy newborn infants of smoking (n = 8) and nonsmoking (n = 8) mothers. Participating infants were matched on sex, gestational age, birth weight, Apgar scores, mother’s education, and family income. Smoking during pregnancy was determined by parental self-report and medical records. ERPs were recorded in response to six consonant–vowel syllables presented in random order with equal probability. RESULTS: Brainwaves of babies of nonsmoking mothers were characterized by typical hemisphere asymmetries, with larger amplitudes over the left hemisphere, especially over temporal regions. Further, infants of nonsmokers discriminated among a greater number of syllables whereas the newborns of smokers began the discrimination process at least 150 msec later and differentiated among fewer stimuli. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicate that prenatal exposure to tobacco smoke in otherwise healthy babies is linked with significant changes in brain physiology associated with basic perceptual skills that could place the infant at risk for later developmental problems

Online Divorce Education: Learning from Participants Who Want More

Divorce education is designed for divorcing parents with minor children, and in a growing number of states, participation has become court-mandated to finalize a divorce. To increase accessibility, some states have adopted brief, online formats for divorce education programming. Evaluations are encouraging; however, less is known about how opinions on course length relate to participants’ views on the benefits of their participation. This study analyzed qualitative data from parents (n = 41) who thought their mandated divorce education course was too short. Results indicate that participants thought the course increased their knowledge of divorce-related matters. They also suggested improvements related to course content priorities. These findings may inform Extension specialists, family life practitioners, and program planners working to improve the delivery of online divorce education programs

Examining associations between classroom environment and processes and early mathematics performance from pre-kindergarten to kindergarten.

One benefit of the No Child Left Behind legislation (2001) has been the increasing attention on the importance of the skills learned in the pre-kindergarten period for later academic achievement. There is a growing awareness that mathematics skills in kindergarten and beyond are influenced by the formal and informal mathematics skills acquired in the pre-kindergarten classroom. In recent years, a body of research has emerged pointing to the contributions to children’s learning from pre-kindergarten program quality as indexed by structure and process elements in the classroom. Results from this study point to three major findings. First, the growth of mathematics skills from pre-kindergarten to kindergarten for the full sample varied between classes but was not significantly associated with the elements of the classroom environment selected for study. Second, classroom elements were differentially related to growth of mathematics scores depending on children’s scores at pre-kindergarten entry. Third, overall differences between high- and low-performing children at pre-kindergarten entry are evident in their growth through kindergarten

Public Response to Community Mitigation Measures for Pandemic Influenza

Results from a national survey indicated that most persons would follow public health officials’ guidelines

Publishing and sharing multi-dimensional image data with OMERO

Imaging data are used in the life and biomedical sciences to measure the molecular and structural composition and dynamics of cells, tissues, and organisms. Datasets range in size from megabytes to terabytes and usually contain a combination of binary pixel data and metadata that describe the acquisition process and any derived results. The OMERO image data management platform allows users to securely share image datasets according to specific permissions levels: data can be held privately, shared with a set of colleagues, or made available via a public URL. Users control access by assigning data to specific Groups with defined membership and access rights. OMERO’s Permission system supports simple data sharing in a lab, collaborative data analysis, and even teaching environments. OMERO software is open source and released by the OME Consortium at www.openmicroscopy.org

Nuclear Localization of Huntingtin mRNA Is Specific to Cells of Neuronal Origin

Huntington\u27s disease (HD) is a monogenic neurodegenerative disorder representing an ideal candidate for gene silencing with oligonucleotide therapeutics (i.e., antisense oligonucleotides [ASOs] and small interfering RNAs [siRNAs]). Using an ultra-sensitive branched fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) method, we show that approximately 50% of wild-type HTT mRNA localizes to the nucleus and that its nuclear localization is observed only in neuronal cells. In mouse brain sections, we detect Htt mRNA predominantly in neurons, with a wide range of Htt foci observed per cell. We further show that siRNAs and ASOs efficiently eliminate cytoplasmic HTT mRNA and HTT protein, but only ASOs induce a partial but significant reduction of nuclear HTT mRNA. We speculate that, like other mRNAs, HTT mRNA subcellular localization might play a role in important neuronal regulatory mechanisms

Quantitative fatty acid signature analysis reveals a high level of dietary specialization in killer whales across the North Atlantic

Quantifying the diet composition of apex marine predators such as killer whales (Orcinus orca) is critical to assessing their food web impacts. Yet, with few exceptions, the feeding ecology of these apex predators remains poorly understood. Here, we use our newly validated quantitative fatty acid signature analysis (QFASA) approach on nearly 200 killer whales and over 900 potential prey to model their diets across the 5000 km span of the North Atlantic. Diet estimates show that killer whales mainly consume other whales in the western North Atlantic (Canadian Arctic, Eastern Canada), seals in the mid-North Atlantic (Greenland), and fish in the eastern North Atlantic (Iceland, Faroe Islands, Norway). Nonetheless, diet estimates also varied widely among individuals within most regions. This level of inter-individual feeding variation should be considered for future ecological studies focusing on killer whales in the North Atlantic and other oceans. These estimates reveal remarkable population- and individual-level variation in the trophic ecology of these killer whales, which can help to assess how their predation impacts community and ecosystem dynamics in changing North Atlantic marine ecosystems. This new approach provides researchers with an invaluable tool to study the feeding ecology of oceanic top predators

Smoking during Pregnancy Affects Speech-Processing Ability in Newborn Infants

BACKGROUND: Tobacco smoking during pregnancy is known to adversely affect development of the central nervous system in babies of smoking mothers by restricting utero–placental blood flow and the amount of oxygen available to the fetus. Behavioral data associate maternal smoking with lower verbal scores and poorer performance on specific language/auditory tests. OBJECTIVES: In the current study we examined the effects of maternal smoking during pregnancy on newborns’ speech processing ability as measured by event-related potentials (ERPs). METHOD: High-density ERPs were recorded within 48 hr of birth in healthy newborn infants of smoking (n = 8) and nonsmoking (n = 8) mothers. Participating infants were matched on sex, gestational age, birth weight, Apgar scores, mother’s education, and family income. Smoking during pregnancy was determined by parental self-report and medical records. ERPs were recorded in response to six consonant–vowel syllables presented in random order with equal probability. RESULTS: Brainwaves of babies of nonsmoking mothers were characterized by typical hemisphere asymmetries, with larger amplitudes over the left hemisphere, especially over temporal regions. Further, infants of nonsmokers discriminated among a greater number of syllables whereas the newborns of smokers began the discrimination process at least 150 msec later and differentiated among fewer stimuli. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicate that prenatal exposure to tobacco smoke in otherwise healthy babies is linked with significant changes in brain physiology associated with basic perceptual skills that could place the infant at risk for later developmental problems

Epidemics and the Politics of Knowledge: Contested Narratives in Egypt's H1N1 Response

This article explores the politics of knowledge involved in understanding and responding to epidemics in an era of global health governance and biosecurity. It develops and applies an approach focused on how multiple, competing narratives about epidemics are constructed, mobilised and interact, and selectively justify pathways of intervention and response. A detailed ethnographic case study of national and local responses to H1N1 influenza, so-called ‘swine flu’, in Egypt reveals how global narratives were reworked by powerful actors in a particular political context, suppressing and delegitimizing the alternative narratives of the Zabaleen (Coptic Christian) people whose lives and livelihoods centred on raising pigs and working with them to control urban waste. The case study illustrates important ways in which geographies and politics of blame around epidemics emerge and are justified, their political contexts and consequences, and how they may feed back to shape the dynamics of disease itself.ESR