Global topology of human connectome is insensitive to early life environments - A prospective longitudinal study of the general population.

The widely acknowledged detrimental impact of early adversity on child development has driven efforts to understand the underlying mechanisms that may mediate these effects within the developing brain. Recent efforts have begun to move beyond associating adversity with the morphology of individual brain regions towards determining if and how adversity might shape their interconnectivity. However, whether adversity effects a global shift in the organisation of whole-brain networks remains unclear.

The adaptive stochasticity hypothesis: Modeling equifinality, multifinality, and adaptation to adversity.

Neural phenotypes are the result of probabilistic developmental processes. This means that stochasticity is an intrinsic aspect of the brain as it self-organizes over a protracted period. In other words, while both genomic and environmental factors shape the developing nervous system, another significant-though often neglected-contributor is the randomness introduced by probability distributions.

Early adversity changes the economic conditions of mouse structural brain network organization.

Early adversity can change educational, cognitive, and mental health outcomes. However, the neural processes through which early adversity exerts these effects remain largely unknown. We used generative network modeling of the mouse connectome to test whether unpredictable postnatal stress shifts the constraints that govern the organization of the structural connectome.

Congenital anomalies associated with oil and gas development and resource extraction: a population-based retrospective cohort study in Texas.

Background: Oil and gas extraction-related activities produce air and water pollution that contains known and suspected teratogens. To date, health impacts of in utero exposure to these activities is largely unknown.

Objective: We investigated associations between in utero exposure to oil and gas extraction activity in Texas, one of the highest producers of oil and gas, and congenital anomalies.

Testing Deprivation and Threat: A Preregistered Network Analysis of the Dimensions of Early Adversity.

Despite abundant evidence of the detrimental effects of childhood adversity, its nature and underlying mechanisms remain contested. One influential theory, the , proposes deprivation and threat as distinct dimensions of early experience. In this preregistered analysis of data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), we used a network and clustering approach to assess the dimensionality of relationships between childhood adversity and adolescent cognition and emotional functioning, and we used recursive partitioning to identify timing effects.

Associations between residential proximity to oil and gas extraction and hypertensive conditions during pregnancy: a difference-in-differences analysis in Texas, 1996-2009.

Background: Oil and gas extraction produces air pollutants that are associated with increased risks of hypertension. To date, no study has examined residential proximity to oil and gas extraction and hypertensive conditions during pregnancy. This study quantifies associations between residential proximity to oil and gas development on gestational hypertension and eclampsia.

Sex differences in associations between birth characteristics and childhood cancers: a five-state registry-linkage study.

Background: There is a well-recognized male excess in childhood cancer incidence; however, it is unclear whether there is etiologic heterogeneity by sex when defined by epidemiologic risk factors.

Methods: Using a 5-state registry-linkage study (cases n = 16,411; controls n = 69,816), we estimated sex-stratified odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) between birth and demographic characteristics for 16 pediatric cancers. Evidence of statistical interaction (p-interaction < 0.

Associations between Residential Proximity to Oil and Gas Drilling and Term Birth Weight and Small-for-Gestational-Age Infants in Texas: A Difference-in-Differences Analysis.

Background: Oil and natural gas extraction may produce environmental pollution at levels that affect reproductive health of nearby populations. Available studies have primarily focused on unconventional gas drilling and have not accounted for local population changes that can coincide with drilling activity.

Objective: Our study sought to examine associations between residential proximity to oil and gas drilling and adverse term birth outcomes using a difference-in-differences study design.

The Role of Affectionate Caregiver Touch in Early Neurodevelopment and Parent-Infant Interactional Synchrony.

Though rarely included in studies of parent-infant interactions, affectionate touch plays a unique and vital role in infant development. Previous studies in human and rodent models have established that early and consistent affectionate touch from a caregiver confers wide-ranging and holistic benefits for infant psychosocial and neurophysiological development. We begin with an introduction to the neurophysiological pathways for the positive effects of touch.

Assessing the effectiveness of vehicle emission regulations on improving perinatal health: a population-based accountability study.

Background: Since the 1990s, extensive regulations to reduce traffic-related air pollution (TRAP) have been implemented, yet the effectiveness of these regulations has not been assessed with respect to improving infant health. In this study, we evaluate how infant health risks associated with maternal residences near highways during pregnancy have changed over time.

Methods: We created a population-based retrospective birth cohort with geocoded residential addresses in Texan metropolitan areas from 1996 through 2009 (n = 2 259 411).

Association Between Birth Defects and Cancer Risk Among Children and Adolescents in a Population-Based Assessment of 10 Million Live Births.

Importance: Birth defects affect approximately 1 in 33 children. Some birth defects are known to be strongly associated with childhood cancer (eg, trisomy 21 and acute leukemia). However, comprehensive evaluations of childhood cancer risk in those with birth defects have been limited in previous studies by insufficient sample sizes.

Parental Age and Risk of Infant Leukaemia: A Pooled Analysis.

Background: Infant leukaemia (IL) is extremely rare with fewer than 150 cases occurring each year in the United States. Little is known about its causes. However, recent evidence supports a role of de novo mutations in IL aetiology.

Associations between multiple green space measures and birth weight across two US cities.

Introduction: Several measures of green space exposure have been used in epidemiological research, but their relevance to health, and representation of exposure pathways, remains unclear. Here we examine the relationships between multiple urban green space metrics and associations with term birth weight across two diverse US cities.

Methods: We used Vital Statistics data to create a birth cohort from 2005 to 2009 in the cities of Portland, Oregon (n = 90,265) and Austin, Texas (n = 88,807).

Childhood cancer risk in those with chromosomal and non-chromosomal congenital anomalies in Washington State: 1984-2013.

Background: The presence of a congenital anomaly is associated with increased childhood cancer risk, likely due to large effects of Down syndrome and chromosomal anomalies for leukemia. Less is known about associations with presence of non-chromosomal anomalies.

Methods: Records of children diagnosed with cancer at <20 years of age during 1984-2013 in Washington State cancer registries were linked to their birth certificates (N = 4,105).

Accuracy of the detection of binding events using 3D single particle tracking.

Background: Nanoparticles can be used as markers to track the position of biomolecules, such as single proteins, inside living cells. The activity of a protein can sometimes be inferred from changes in the mobility of the attached particle. Mean Square Displacement analysis is the most common method to obtain mobility information from trajectories of tracked particles, such as the diffusion coefficient .

Evaluation of maternal health and labor and delivery conditions as risk factors for childhood leukemias in children with Down syndrome.

Children with Down syndrome (DS) have a remarkably high risk of developing leukemia during childhood; the mechanisms driving that risk are not well understood, and no clear prevention strategies exist. We conducted a nested case-control study in a Texas DS birth cohort to investigate possible links between maternal health, labor/delivery conditions, and leukemia risk. For most of the factors studied there was no evidence of an increased risk of total leukemias, or the subtypes acute lymphoid or acute myeloid leukemia.

Associations between residential greenness and birth outcomes across Texas.

Background: The amount of greenness around mothers' residences has been associated with positive birth outcomes; however, findings are inconclusive. Here we examine residential greenness and birth outcomes in a population-based birth cohort in Texas, a state with large regional variation in greenness levels, several distinct cities, and a diverse population.

Methods: We used Vital Statistics data to create a birth cohort (n=3,026,603) in Texas from 2000 to 2009.

In vivo contaminant partitioning to silicone implants: Implications for use in biomonitoring and body burden.

Silicone polymers are used for a wide array of applications from passive samplers in environmental studies, to implants used in human augmentation and reconstruction. If silicone sequesters toxicants throughout implantation, it may represent a history of exposure and potentially reduce the body burden of toxicants influencing the risk of adverse health outcomes such as breast cancer. Objectives of this research included identifying a wide variety of toxicants in human silicone implants, and measuring the in vivo absorption of contaminants into silicone and surrounding tissue in an animal model.

Infant birthweight and risk of childhood cancer: international population-based case control studies of 40 000 cases.

Background: High birthweight is an established risk factor for childhood leukaemia. Its association with other childhood cancers is less clear, with studies hampered by low case numbers.

Methods: We used two large independent datasets to explore risk associations between birthweight and all subtypes of childhood cancer.

Are children with birth defects at higher risk of childhood cancers?

Birth defects may influence the risk of childhood cancer development through a variety of mechanisms. The rarity of both birth defects and childhood cancers makes it challenging to study these associations, particularly for the very rare instances of each. To address this limitation, the authors conducted a record linkage-based cohort study among Texas children born between 1996 and 2005.

Birth characteristics and childhood carcinomas.

Background: Carcinomas in children are rare and have not been well studied.

Methods: We conducted a population-based case-control study and examined associations between birth characteristics and childhood carcinomas diagnosed from 28 days to 14 years during 1980-2004 using pooled data from five states (NY, WA, MN, TX, and CA) that linked their birth and cancer registries. The pooled data set contained 57,966 controls and 475 carcinoma cases, including 159 thyroid and 126 malignant melanoma cases.

Birth order and risk of childhood cancer: a pooled analysis from five US States.

The causes of childhood cancers are largely unknown. Birth order has been used as a proxy for prenatal and postnatal exposures, such as frequency of infections and in utero hormone exposures. We investigated the association between birth order and childhood cancers in a pooled case-control dataset.