Parenting Behaviors and Parental self-efficacy: A comparative study of parents of children with intellectual disabilities and typically developing children.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the parenting behaviors and parental self-efficacy of parents of typically developing and child with an intellectual disability, considering their children's groups of with or without intellectual disability and other relevant variables. The study involved 1194 parents with children aged 3-6 years, of whom 521 parents had children with intellectual disabilities and the remaining 673 parents had typically developing children.

Method: The data collection instruments used in this study were the Parental Behavior Scale Short Form and Parental Efficacy Scale.

Increasing Vocabulary and Listening Comprehension During Adapted Shared Reading: An Intervention for Preschoolers with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Purpose: This study examined the improvement in vocabulary and listening skills of children with ASD through adapted shared reading. It also investigated the generalisation effect of this increase to new books and social validity.

Methods: A multiple probe across participants design was used to investigate the effect of ASR (adapted shared reading) on the vocabulary and listening comprehension skills of young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Probing Neuropeptide Volume Transmission In Vivo by Simultaneous Near-Infrared Light-Triggered Release and Optical Sensing.

Neuropeptides are abundant signaling molecules in the central nervous system. Yet remarkably little is known about their spatiotemporal spread and biological activity. Here, we developed an integrated optical approach using Plasmonic nAnovesicles and cell-based neurotransmitter fluorescent engineered reporter (CNiFER), or PACE, to probe neuropeptide signaling in the mouse neocortex.

An Efficient Platform for Astrocyte Differentiation from Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells.

Growing evidence implicates the importance of glia, particularly astrocytes, in neurological and psychiatric diseases. Here, we describe a rapid and robust method for the differentiation of highly pure populations of replicative astrocytes from human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs), via a neural progenitor cell (NPC) intermediate. We evaluated this protocol across 42 NPC lines (derived from 30 individuals).

Dynamic role of the tether helix in PIP-dependent gating of a G protein-gated potassium channel.

G protein-gated inwardly rectifying potassium (GIRK) channels control neuronal excitability in the brain and are implicated in several different neurological diseases. The anionic phospholipid phosphatidylinositol 4,5 bisphosphate (PIP) is an essential cofactor for GIRK channel gating, but the precise mechanism by which PIP opens GIRK channels remains poorly understood. Previous structural studies have revealed several highly conserved, positively charged residues in the "tether helix" (C-linker) that interact with the negatively charged PIP However, these crystal structures of neuronal GIRK channels in complex with PIP provide only snapshots of PIP's interaction with the channel and thus lack details about the gating transitions triggered by PIP binding.

Construction of Cell-based Neurotransmitter Fluorescent Engineered Reporters (CNiFERs) for Optical Detection of Neurotransmitters In Vivo.

Cell-based neurotransmitter fluorescent engineered reporters (CNiFERs) provide a new tool for neuroscientists to optically detect the release of neurotransmitters in the brain in vivo. A specific CNiFER is created from a human embryonic kidney cell that stably expresses a specific G protein-coupled receptor, which couples to Gq/11 G proteins, and a FRET-based Ca(2+)-detector, TN-XXL. Activation of the receptor leads to an increase in the FRET signal.

Right-but not left-paw use in female rats provides advantage in forced swim tests.

Left- and right-pawed adult female Wistar rats were subjected to forced swimming on two consecutive days. Compared to the right-pawed group, left- pawed rats displayed significantly increased immobility from the first to the second swim test and remained significantly more immobile in the second swim test. Both groups performed similarly in spatial learning in the Morris water maze suggesting that left- pawed rats are differentially and specifically susceptible to depressogenic treatment.