Oscillatory entrainment to our early social or physical environment and the emergence of volitional control

An individual’s early interactions with their environment are thought to be largely passive; through the early years, the capacity for volitional control develops. Here, we consider: how is the emergence of volitional control characterised by changes in the entrainment observed between internal activity (behaviour, physiology and brain activity) and the sights and sounds in our everyday environment (physical and social)? We differentiate between contingent responsiveness (entrainment driven by evoked responses to external events) and oscillatory entrainment (driven by internal oscillators becoming temporally aligned with external oscillators). We conclude that ample evidence suggests that children show behavioural, physiological and neural entrainment to their physical and social environment, irrespective of volitional attention control; however, evidence for oscillatory entrainment beyond contingent responsiveness is currently lacking. Evidence for how oscillatory entrainment changes over developmental time is also lacking. Finally, we suggest a mechanism through which periodic environmental rhythms might facilitate both sensory processing and the development of volitional control even in the absence of oscillatory entrainment

XI Jornades d'innovació en l'etapa d'Educació Infantil. Presència. Entramat de converses

Recull dels textos, fotografies i enllaç als vídeos dels resultats de les XI Jornades d'innovació en l'Etapa d'Educació Infantil, celebrades al Campus de la UAB l'octubre de 2012Us presentem aquest llibre que vol ser una síntesi de les XI Jornades d'Educació Infantil de l'ICE de la UAB, celebrades a Bellaterra el mes d'octubre de 2012. I dic una síntesi perquè el que aquí hi trobareu són les conferències que es van realitzar de manera brillant per part dels seu ponents, les converses que vam compartir i les filmacions que de nou i de manera generosa els i les mestres dels centres van aportar per deixar constància de la tasca educativa en el seu dia a dia. El que no es pot transmetre, en forma escrita, és la riquesa del contacte humà, de les relacions que entre els i les participants es van establir i les ganes de compartir les inquietuds professionals de tots plegats. Quan es van celebrar aquestes Jornades semblava impossible de superar l'impacte que ens havien deixat feia dos anys les X Jornades pel nombre de participants i per l'abast estatal que amb motiu de la commemoració, ens vam atrevir a plantejar. És cert que aquesta onzena edició va tornar a ubicar-se en l'entorn proper i en les instal·lacions habituals, però la riquesa de les aportacions va estar a la mateixa alçada, i inclús en algun cas superior, a les edicions anteriors, deixant constància del bon fer dels i de les professionals d'aquesta etapa sigui quin sigui el cicle on desenvolupin la seva tasca pedagògica. Voldria fer un esment especial a la fidelitat de les persones que ja s'han fet seva aquesta activitat formativa i que per a nosaltres és sempre el motor d'estímul per continuar. Durant les deu edicions anteriors hem anat buscant maneres diferents perquè els i les assistents poguessin participar de manera activa en el desenvolupament de les mateixes. En aquesta ocasió estem especialment satisfets del resultat i les valoracions obtinguts amb les converses, una nova modalitat per presentar i compartir coneixement. També hem procurat que la informació i les aportacions que es presenten arribin als centres educatius de la manera més clara i estimulant possible. Per això les filmacions van ser un nou format per poder compartir experiències. I des d'aquesta presentació vull fer palès l'agraïment que des de la Institució tenim a totes aquelles persones que fan possible que les Jornades es realitzin. D'una manera molt destacada cal tenir present la tasca que al respecte ve realitzant des de fa més de 20 l'Equip ICE de la UAB d'Educació Infantil que, recollint totes les sensibilitats dels qui el componen, encerten en les propostes dels continguts a tractar. D'altra banda de tot el Personal d'Administració i Serveis que amb la seva tasca, permeten que l'organització i la logística quedin assegurades, vetllant perquè tothom que hi participa pugui fer-ho de manera més plàcida possible. Esperem doncs que les aportacions que aquest llibre recull us serveixin per poder reflexionar sobre la pràctica quotidiana, les necessitats que tenen els infants i les famílies d'avui i a construir respostes a les qüestions que el dia a dia de l'escola ens planteja

Anàlisi de l’hospitalització dels nadons amb gran prematuritat

Prematuritat; Mortalitat hospitalària; Nivell de riscPrematurity; Hospital mortality; Level of riskPrematuridad; Mortalidad hospitalaria; Nivel de riesgoL’objectiu d’aquest treball és descriure el fenomen de la gran prematuritat a Catalunya: conèixer la incidència i la distribució dels nadons amb gran prematuritat (NGP) entre hospitals i entre territoris, descriure les hospitalitzacions segons el nivell de risc i la mortalitat, així com la utilització de recursos.The purpose of this study is to describe the phenomenon of preterm birth in Catalonia: to know the incidence and distribution of premature babies in hospitals and regions, to describe hospitalizations according to the level of risk and mortality, and the use of resources.El objetivo de este trabajo es describir el fenómeno de la gran prematuridad en Cataluña: conocer la incidencia y la distribución de los bebés con gran prematuridad (NGP) entre hospitales y entre territorios, describir las hospitalizaciones según el nivel de riesgo y la mortalidad, así como la utilización de recursos

The Role of Iron in Brain Development: A Systematic Review.

One-third of children falter in cognitive development by pre-school age. Iron plays an important role in many neurodevelopmental processes, and animal studies suggest that iron sufficiency in pregnancy and infancy is particularly important for neurodevelopment. However, it is not clear whether iron deficiency directly impacts developmental outcomes, and, if so, whether impact differs by timing of exposure or developmental domain. We searched four databases for studies on iron deficiency or iron supplementation in pregnancy, or at 0-6 months, 6-24 months, or 2-4 years of age. All studies included neurodevelopmental assessments in infants or children up to 4 years old. We then qualitatively synthesized the literature. There was no clear relationship between iron status and developmental outcomes across any of the time windows or domains included. We identified a large quantity of low-quality studies, significant heterogeneity in study design and a lack of research focused on pregnancy and early infancy. In summary, despite good mechanistic evidence for the role of iron in brain development, evidence for the impact of iron deficiency or iron supplementation on early development is inconsistent. Further high-quality research is needed, particularly within pregnancy and early infancy, which has previously been neglected

Form-function relationship in the amplitude and frequency modulations of infant - directed speech: A predictive processing perspective

Infants prefer infant-directed speech (IDS) over adult-directed speech (ADS). IDS is thought to serve specific functions compared to ADS: - Attracting infant attention to the speech signal - Conveying clear opportunities for easier word segmentation. Two independent domains of complexity that are embedded in the speech stream: - Amplitude complexity: Lower amplitude complexity associates with greater ease in identifying word boundaries ​ - ​Frequency complexity: Higher fre q uency complexity associates with more attention eliciting speech attention by inducing uncertaint

Cognitive control in infancy: attentional predictors using a tablet-based measure

Cognitive control is a predictor of later-life outcomes and may underpin higher order executive processes. The present study examines the development of early cognitive control during the first 24-months. We evaluated a tablet-based assessment of cognitive control among infants aged 18- and 24-months. We also examined concurrent and longitudinal associations between attentional disengagement, general cognitive skills and cognitive control. Participants (N=60, 30 female) completed the tablet-task at 18- and 24-months of age. Attentional disengagement and general cognitive development were assessed at 5-, 8-, 12-, 18- and 24-months using an eye-tracking measure and the Mullen Scales of Early Learning (MSEL), respectively. The cognitive control task demonstrated good internal consistency, sensitivity to age-related change in performance and stable individual differences. No associations were found between infant cognitive control and MSEL scores longitudinally or concurrently. The eye-tracking task revealed that slower attentional disengagement at 8-months, but faster disengagement at 18-months, predicted higher cognitive control scores at 24-months. This task may represent a useful tool for measuring emergent cognitive control. The multifaceted relationship between attention and infant cognitive control suggests that the rapid development of the attentional system in infancy results in distinct attentional skills, at different ages, being relevant for cognitive control development

Comparison of Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains of clinical and nonclinical origin by molecular typing and determination of putative virulence traits

Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains of clinical and nonclinical origin were compared by pulse field gel electrophoresis. Complete separation between strains of clinical origin and food strains by their chromosome length polymorphism was not obtained even though there was a tendency for the clinical and food strains to cluster separately. All the investigated strains, except for one food strain, were able to grow at temperatures ≥37 °C but not at 42 °C. Great strain variations were observed in pseudohyphal growth and invasiveness, but the characters were not linked to strains of clinical origin. The adhesion capacities of the yeast strains to a human intestinal epithelial cell line (Caco-2) in response to different nutritional availabilities were determined, as were the effects of the strains on the transepithelial electrical resistance (TER) across polarized monolayers of Caco-2 cells. The yeast strains displayed very low adhesion capacities to Caco-2 cells (0.6–6.2%), and no significant difference was observed between the strains of clinical and nonclinical origin. Both S. cerevisiae strains of clinical and non-clinical origin increased the TER of polarized monolayers of Caco-2 cells. Based on the results obtained in this study, no specific virulence factor was found that clearly separated the strains of clinical origin from the strains of nonclinical origin. On the contrary, all investigated strains of S. cerevisiae were found to strengthen the epithelial barrier function