Cortisol Administration Normalizes Aberrant Functional Connectivity in Women with Depression

Previous resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) research has identified aberrant connectivity in several large brain networks in depression, including the default mode (DMN), frontoparietal (FPN), and salience networks (SN). Connectivity of these networks is also related to depressive symptom severity and is affected by cortisol levels. To our knowledge, this is the first study to investigate the effects of acute cortisol administration on rsFC of DMN, FPN, and SN in individuals varying in depression history and severity. We collected resting-state fMRI scans for 74 women with and without a history of depressive disorder after administration of cortisol and placebo using a double-blind, crossover design. We conducted seed-based rsFC with seed regions from the DMN, FPN, and SN to examine the relationship between rsFC changes in these networks after cortisol, with depression history group predicting changes in rsFC after cortisol vs. placebo. To investigate rsFC changes in DMN, FPN, and SN due to the administration of cortisol as a function of depression severity we assessed the relationship between Beck Depression Inventory-II scores and rsFC changes in the networks of interest after cortisol vs. placebo administration for the entire sample. Results revealed that those with a history of depression exhibited increased connectivity between the left amygdala of the SN and left medial temporal gyrus of the DMN regardless of treatment. Further, we found that those who received cortisol had increased connectivity between the anterior insula of the SN and regions within the SN and DMN. Lastly, we found an interaction between depression symptom severity and rsFC between the PCC of the DMN and the right cerebellum of the SN, with greater depression symptoms associated with increased rsFC of the PCC and cerebellum. These findings are the first to show that women with greater depression severity may be more likely to normalize aberrant connectivity of DMN and SN regions after acute cortisol administration. Our results could help inform clinical treatments for depression that naturally increase endogenous cortisol levels and efficiency of glucocorticoid receptors, such as long-term daily exercise. Overall, these findings contribute to the literature on the neurobiological effects of exogenous cortisol in depression

The Relationship Between Phonemic Decoding Ability and Recall Accuracy and Reaction Time

The present study examines the relationship between phonemic decoding ability and recall accuracy and reaction time in orthographically consistent and inconsistent tasks. We measured phonemic decoding ability via the Test of Word Reading Efficiency, second edition (TOWRE-II) assessment tool. The phonemic decoding task required participants to read as many non-words that are made up of different phonemes (e.g. ip, ta, ko, luddy, dord) as possible within a forty-five second window. When the reading task was complete, participants were presented with a word sequence of orthographic consistency (e.g. best, rest, test, nest, vest) or inconsistency (e.g. bone, hone, done, tone, zone), followed by a distraction task and a memory task. Here, we hypothesized that participants with higher scores on the phonemic decoding task will have higher accuracy scores in the memory task as well as potentially lower reaction times. The results of this research showed no significant correlation between phonemic decoding ability and recall accuracy and reaction time in orthographically consistent and inconsistent tasks for words in the third and fourth position of the word sequences. This research has the potential to guide future investigations into the relationship between phonemic decoding and orthographic consistencies and inconsistencies

Stress, Resilience, and Impulsivity

Stress is a phenomenon that everyone will experience. Stress that is unmanageable can become chronic, which is linked to various negative psychological effects (Le Fevre, Matheny, & Kolt, 2003). Although stress research often focuses on the negative long-term effects, there are times where individuals develop a trait known as resilience. Resilient individuals eventually learn how to buffer the negative effects of stress (Cicchetti, 2010), and researchers have begun investigating the positive effects of resilience on stress (Cicchetti, 2010; Kermott, Johnson, Sood, R., Jenkins, & Sood, A., 2019). Currently, few studies have been conducted to identify any additional traits that may impact the relationship between stress and resilience. However, there is some evidence that impulsivity may be a prevalent trait that affects the dynamic between stress and resilience. Typically, stressed individuals exhibit higher levels of impulsivity (Moustafa, Tindle, Frydecka, & Misiak, 2017). In turn, this may affect one’s level of resilience. The present study aims to focus on the relationship between stress (current and chronic) and resilience, as well as the moderating effect of impulsivity on that relationship. It was predicted that there would be a relationship between stress and resilience and that impulsivity would have a moderating effect on the relationship. UMSL students (n=81) completed various questionnaires to determine their stress, resilience, and impulsivity levels. We found that chronic stress was not a significant predictor of resilience (R2 = .52, F(1,79) = .40, p \u3e .05), but that current stress was a significant predictor (R2= .15, F(1,79) = 13.4, p \u3c .001). For this presentation, we decided to only run one moderation with the significant results. We found that impulsivity was not a significant moderator between current stress and resilience (B = -.02, p \u3e .05). Although we did not find a significant relationship within the moderation, there is still some value in investigating traits that influence stress and resilience. Understanding potential factors that may impact resilience may help researchers identify appropriate methods for increasing resilience in vulnerable populations

The Relationship Between Resilience, Stress & PTSD

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is characterized by intrusive thoughts or memories of the traumatic event that hinder daily life activities of individuals with a PTSD diagnosis. Stress exposure has further been shown to exacerbate PTSD symptoms. Given that resilience has been shown to buffer levels of stress, the current study investigated whether resilience may moderate the relationship between stress and PTSD symptoms. Eighty-one participants over the age of 18 were recruited from the University of Missouri-Saint Louis and St. Louis community. Participants completed 3 self-report measures of resilience, exposure to stressful life events (e.g., Have you ever been in a car accident before?), and PTSD symptoms. In support our first hypothesis, we found that stress exposure was associated with greater PTSD symptoms (b = 2.08, t(77) = 5.02, p \u3c .001). However, resilience did not moderate the relationship between stress exposure and PTSD symptoms (B = -0.01, p = .68). Future studies may examine the influence of medications on PTSD, chronic stress, and resilience

The Emergence of Spanking Among a Representative Sample of Children Under 2 Years of Age in North Carolina

Spanking is common in the United States but less common in many European countries in which it has been outlawed. Being spanked has been associated with child abuse victimization, poor self-esteem, impaired parent–child relationships, and child and adult mental health, substance abuse, and behavioral consequences. Being spanked as a child has also been shown to increase the likelihood of abusing one's own children or spouse as an adult. Spanking of very young children less than two is almost never recommended even among experts that consider spanking as reasonable in some circumstances. Using a cross-sectional anonymous telephone survey, we describe spanking rates among a representative sample of North Carolina mothers of children less than 2 years old and the association of spanking with demographic characteristics. A substantial proportion of mothers admit to spanking their very young children. The rate of spanking in the last year among all maternal respondents was 30%. Over 5% of the mothers of 3-month olds reported spanking. Over 70% of the mothers of 23-month olds reported spanking. Increased spanking was associated with higher age of the child and lower maternal age. With every month of age, a child had 27% increased odds of being spanked. Early spanking has been shown to be associated with poor cognitive development in early childhood. Further, early trauma has been shown to have significant effects on the early developing brain. It is therefore critical that health and human services professionals address the risk of corporal punishment as a method of discipline early in the life of the child. The spanking of very young children may be an appropriate locus for policy and legislative debates regarding corporal punishment

ISPCAN Child Abuse Screening Tools Retrospective version (ICAST-R): Delphi study and field testing in seven countries

Objectives: To gain consensus among an ethnically and linguistically diverse group of international child protection experts on the structure and content of a new survey tool for retrospective measurement of child abuse, and to determine the performance of the instrument through an international field trial with young adults. Methods: The questionnaire was developed through focus group discussions with international experts, and then subjected to a Delphi study in two waves to determine the perceived importance and translatability of items. The resultant questionnaire was translated into six languages and field tested in seven countries with convenient samples of young adults aged 18–26 years (N = 842). Results: Child maltreatment experts from 28 countries provided input to questionnaire development. Satisfactory agreement on draft item inclusion and exclusion and the translatability of items was gained. The tool includes 15 primary questions about potentially abusive physical, sexual and emotional events, with follow-up questions about perpetrator characteristics, frequency of acts and periods in childhood when the recalled abuse occurred. The field test revealed lifetime prevalence per item usually exceeded 10% (11/15 items; range 2.1–49.5%). Internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha) was moderate to high for each of three item sub-sets (between .61 and .82) and the rates of missing data were low (less than 1.5% for 14 of 15 items). The great majority of respondents nominated either peer and/or adult perpetrators (between 82.3% and 98.2% depending upon the item), and among these, child/adolescent peers and non-family adults (including teachers for emotional and physical acts) were nominated often. Conclusions: The ICAST-R is based on consensus from international experts, translates clearly and has satisfactory properties for adoption as a survey tool to estimate prevalence and describe perpetrators and other contextual aspects of child abuse. Practice implications: This tool can be utilized in a broad range of cultures and languages and may contribute to improved research practice. Although the core items are limited to just 15 acts of maltreatment, if these behaviorally specific questions are adopted as key indicators and incorporated into comprehensive local, national or regional surveys, eventually there should be greater comparability in survey estimates

Effectiveness of a Statewide Abusive Head Trauma Prevention Program in North Carolina

Abusive head trauma (AHT) is a serious condition, with an incidence of approximately 30 cases per 100 000 person-years in the first year of life

Introduction to the development of the ISPCAN child abuse screening tools

The World Report on Children and Violence, (Pinheiro, 2006) was produced at the request of the UN Secretary General and the UN General Assembly. This report recommended improvement in research on child abuse. ISPCAN representatives took this charge and developed 3 new instruments. We describe this background and introduce three new measures designed to assess the incidence and prevalence of child abuse and neglect

Has This Prepubertal Girl Been Sexually Abused?

Context The legal and social sequelae of interpreting genital findings as indicative of sexual abuse are significant. While the absence of genital trauma does not rule out sexual abuse, the physical examination can identify genital findings compatible with sexual abuse. Objectives To determine the diagnostic utility of the genital examination in prepubertal girls for identifying nonacute sexual abuse. Data Sources Published articles (1966-October 2008) that appeared in the MEDLINE database and were indexed under the search terms of child abuse, sexual or child abuse and either physical examination; genitalia; female, diagnosis; or sensitivity and specificity; and bibliographies of retrieved articles and textbooks. Study Selection Three of the authors independently reviewed titles of articles obtained from MEDLINE and selected articles for full-text review. Data Extraction Two authors independently abstracted data to calculate sensitivity, specificity, and likelihood ratios for the diagnosis of nonacute genital trauma caused by sexual abuse in prepubertal girls. Results Data were not pooled due to study heterogeneity. The presence of vaginal discharge (positive likelihood ratio, 2.7; 95% confidence interval, 1.2-6.0) indicates an increased likelihood of sexual abuse. In the posterior hymen, hymenal transections, deep notches, and perforations prompt concerns for genital trauma from sexual abuse, but the sensitivity is unknown. Without a history of genital trauma from sexual abuse, the majority of prepubertal girls will not have a hymenal transection (specificity close to 100%). Conclusions Vaginal discharge as well as posterior hymenal transections, deep notches, and perforations raise the suspicion for sexual abuse in a prepubertal girl, but the findings do not independently confirm the diagnosis. Given the broad 95% confidence intervals around the likelihood ratios for the presence of findings along with the low or unknown sensitivity of all physical examination findings evaluated, the physical examination cannot independently confirm or exclude nonacute sexual abuse as the cause of genital trauma in prepubertal girls

Has This Prepubertal Girl Been Sexually Abused?

Context The legal and social sequelae of interpreting genital findings as indicative of sexual abuse are significant. While the absence of genital trauma does not rule out sexual abuse, the physical examination can identify genital findings compatible with sexual abuse. Objectives To determine the diagnostic utility of the genital examination in prepubertal girls for identifying nonacute sexual abuse. Data Sources Published articles (1966-October 2008) that appeared in the MEDLINE database and were indexed under the search terms of child abuse, sexual or child abuse and either physical examination; genitalia; female, diagnosis; or sensitivity and specificity; and bibliographies of retrieved articles and textbooks. Study Selection Three of the authors independently reviewed titles of articles obtained from MEDLINE and selected articles for full-text review. Data Extraction Two authors independently abstracted data to calculate sensitivity, specificity, and likelihood ratios for the diagnosis of nonacute genital trauma caused by sexual abuse in prepubertal girls. Results Data were not pooled due to study heterogeneity. The presence of vaginal discharge (positive likelihood ratio, 2.7; 95% confidence interval, 1.2-6.0) indicates an increased likelihood of sexual abuse. In the posterior hymen, hymenal transections, deep notches, and perforations prompt concerns for genital trauma from sexual abuse, but the sensitivity is unknown. Without a history of genital trauma from sexual abuse, the majority of prepubertal girls will not have a hymenal transection (specificity close to 100%). Conclusions Vaginal discharge as well as posterior hymenal transections, deep notches, and perforations raise the suspicion for sexual abuse in a prepubertal girl, but the findings do not independently confirm the diagnosis. Given the broad 95% confidence intervals around the likelihood ratios for the presence of findings along with the low or unknown sensitivity of all physical examination findings evaluated, the physical examination cannot independently confirm or exclude nonacute sexual abuse as the cause of genital trauma in prepubertal girls