Health-related quality of life of adults with spinal muscular atrophy: insights from a nationwide patient registry in Germany.

Purpose: Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is a rare, autosomal-recessive disease characterized by progressive muscular atrophy and weakness resulting in substantial disability and short life expectancy. The objective of this cross-sectional study was to assess health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of adults with SMA in Germany in the era of disease-modifying therapy.

Methods: Adults with SMA were recruited via the German national TREAT-NMD SMA patient registry.

Child temperament as a longitudinal predictor of mother-adolescent interaction quality: are effects independent of child and maternal mental health?

Adaptive parent-child interaction plays a major role in healthy child development. Caregiver mental health problems can negatively impact parent-child interaction. In turn, interactional quality is often studied as a predictor of child outcome.

Self-Reported Health-Related Quality of Life of Children with Spinal Muscular Atrophy: Preliminary Insights from a Nationwide Patient Registry in Germany.

Background: Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is a rare, severely debilitating neuromuscular disease characterized by a wide spectrum of progressive muscular atrophy and weakness.

Objectives: The objective of this pilot study was to estimate self-assessed health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of children with SMA.

Methods: Children with SMA were recruited via the German national TREAT-NMD SMA patient registry and asked to self-complete the following rating-scales: KIDSCREEN-27, KINDL, the PedsQL 3.

Prenatal stress and child externalizing behavior: effects of maternal perceived stress and cortisol are moderated by child sex.

Background: Externalizing behavior problems are related to social maladjustment. Evidence indicates associations between prenatal stress and child behavioral outcomes. It remains unclear how psychological distress vs.

Areas of improvement in the medical care of SMA: evidence from a nationwide patient registry in Germany.

Background: Management and treatment of spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) has changed in recent years due to the introduction of novel transformative and potentially curative therapies resulting in the emergence of new disease phenotypes. Yet, little is known about the uptake and impact of these therapies in real-world clinical practice. The objective of this study was to describe current motor function, need of assistive devices, and therapeutic and supportive interventions provided by the healthcare system, as well as the socioeconomic situation of children and adults with different SMA phenotypes in Germany.

Child versus adolescent borderline personality disorder traits: Frequency, psychosocial correlates, and observed mother-child interactions.

Research has established the diagnostic validity of borderline personality disorder (BPD) in adolescence. The roots of BPD often lie in childhood; however, significantly less is known about the presence and correlates of BPD traits in school-age children and whether these are comparable with those observed in adolescents. Trained psychologists administered the Childhood Interview for Borderline Personality Disorder in a cohort of 14-year-old adolescents ( = 76) and a cohort of 9-year-old children ( = 70).

Dissociation Links Maternal History Of Childhood Abuse To Impaired parenting.

The present study investigated dissociation as a predictor of parenting and a potential mediator in the relationship between early life maltreatment (ELM) and impaired parenting. Mothers reporting moderate to severe sexual and/or physical abuse (assessed with the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire) formed the maltreatment group (n = 58; MG) and were compared to a non-maltreated comparison group (n = 61; CG) 5 months (T1) and 12 months (T2) postpartum. Dissociative symptoms were assessed with the Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES) at T1.

Early Parenting Stress Links Obstetric Complications and Child Psychopathology in Middle Childhood in an At-Risk Sample.

Objective: Obstetric complications (OCs) are adverse events during pregnancy, birth, or immediately after birth. Evidence on cumulative OC and longitudinal associations with child psychopathology is sparse. Prospective studies testing mediating pathways such as parenting stress are needed.

Maternal bonding impairment predicts personality disorder features in adolescence: The moderating role of child temperament and sex.

Research has shown associations between adverse parenting experiences and (borderline) personality disorder ([B]PD). A biopsychosocial model suggests that child characteristics and the environment interact in the development of symptoms. However, prospective data in this aspect are limited.

Neural processing of the own child's facial emotions in mothers with a history of early life maltreatment.

Early life maltreatment (ELM) has long-lasting effects on social interaction. When interacting with their own child, women with ELM often report difficulties in parenting and show reduced maternal sensitivity. Sensitive maternal behavior requires the recognition of the child's emotional state depicted in its facial emotions.

The maternal brain in women with a history of early-life maltreatment: an imagination-based fMRI study of conflictual versus pleasant interactions with children.

Background: Early-life maltreatment has severe consequences for the affected individual, and it has an impact on the next generation. To improve understanding of the intergenerational effects of abuse, we investigated the consequences of early-life maltreatment on maternal sensitivity and associated brain mechanisms during mother-child interactions.

Methods: In total, 47 mothers (22 with a history of physical and/or sexual childhood abuse and 25 without, all without current mental disorders) took part in a standardized real-life interaction with their 7- to 11-year-old child (not abused) and a subsequent functional imaging script-driven imagery task.

The effect of a maternal history of childhood abuse on adrenocortical attunement in mothers and their toddlers.

We investigated circadian mother-child adrenocortical attunement in the context of a maternal history of childhood abuse (HoA). Mothers were screened after birth using the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire. Women reporting moderate or severe abuse formed the HoA group (n = 37; HoAG) and were compared with a non-maltreated comparison group (n = 45; CG).

Prenatal stress and infant affective reactivity at five months of age.

Background: prospective studies concerning prenatal stress and its outcome on children's emotional development postulated a potential influence of prenatal hormonal levels or emotional stressors on child development [1-3]. In a retrospective study, an influence of maternal emotional stress on infant affective reactivity was found [4].

Aims: this study was conducted in order to confirm these findings in a prospective study design.

Prenatal stress: course and interrelation of emotional and physiological stress measures.

Background: Prenatal stress is known to be a potential risk factor for cognitive, behavioural and motor development that even last until adolescence. A consensus of how 'prenatal stress' can be measured, in which trimester of pregnancy women should be studied and whether subjective feelings of being stressed are associated with a hormonal response is still lacking. To close this gap, a prospective longitudinal study was conducted in pregnant women.

History of childhood abuse is accompanied by increased dissociation in young mothers five months postnatally.

Background: Dissociation has been recognized as a relevant factor within the context of traumatization. Since childhood maltreatment as well as child birth can be regarded as a potential trauma, this study examined dissociation in a sample of 58 young mothers with a history of abuse in comparison to a control group.

Methods: All women with newborn children were contacted by mail and presented with the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire.

Emotional availability in a sample of mothers with a history of abuse.

Maternal history of abuse has been proposed as a risk factor for child maltreatment, but the background of this "cycle of abuse" is as yet poorly understood. As a contribution toward a deeper understanding of this phenomenon, this study analyzed whether emotional availability is altered by maternal experiences of physical or sexual abuse during their upbringing. Mothers were contacted by mail and presented with the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire.

Vacuum extraction and autonomic balance in human infants.

The impact of delivery mode on the cardiac autonomic balance was studied in a sample of 101 full term appropriate for gestational age (AGA) human infants. Cardiac autonomic balance was measured by assessing basic heart rate, and two indicators of vagal tone, the Root Mean Square of Successive Differences (RMSSD) and Standard Deviation of NN-intervals (SDNN) as two different measures of short-term heart rate variability at 2, 6, and 16 weeks postnatal age. Sixty-seven infants were delivered spontaneously, 29 by cesarean section and five by vacuum extraction.

Association of behavioral inhibition with hair pigmentation in a European sample.

Behavioral inhibition, a temperamental trait signalling a predisposition to childhood and adolescent anxiety disorders, is slightly more frequent in America among Caucasian children having blue irises. This paper examines a community sample of 101 German toddlers assessed for behavioral inhibition in a standardized laboratory procedure. Hair pigmentation was found to be significantly associated with behavioral inhibition in the sense that blond children exhibited higher fear scores.

Interactive regulation of affect in postpartum depressed mothers and their infants: an overview.

Specific patterns of interaction emerging in the first months of life are related to processes regulating mutual affects in the mother-child dyad. Particularly important for the dyad are the matching and interactive repair processes. The interaction between postpartum depressed mothers and their children is characterized by a lack of responsiveness, by passivity or intrusiveness, withdrawal and avoidance, as well as a low level of positive expression of affect.