Sport participation moderates association between bullying and depressive symptoms in Italian adolescents.

Background: A high rate of bullying episodes has been reported in Italian schools, as well as its association with psychopathology in adolescents. However, information regarding moderators of this interaction are still lacking. This study explored whether gender, exercise frequency, and sport participation exerted a protective effect on the association between bullying and depressive symptoms in Italian students.

Tubulin Polymerization Promoting Protein (TPPP) gene methylation and corpus callosum measures in maltreated children.

The goal of the current study was to evaluate the impact of Tubulin Polymerization Promoting Protein (TPPP) methylation on structural and fractional anisotropy (FA) corpus callosum (CC) measures. TPPP is involved in the development of white matter tracts in the brain and was implicated in stress-related psychiatric disorders in an unbiased whole epigenome methylation study. The cohort included 63 participants (11.

Social supports moderate the effects of child adversity on neural correlates of threat processing.

Background: Child abuse and other forms of adversity are associated with alterations in threat processing and emotion regulation brain circuits.

Objective: The goal of the current investigation is to determine if the availability of positive social support can ameliorate the negative impact of adversity on these brain systems.

Participants And Setting: Subjects included 55 children ages 7-16 (X = 11.

A multi-method and multi-informant approach to assessing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in children.

Trauma exposure is highly prevalent among children globally, and is associated with elevated rates of PTSD. The goal of this study was to systematically evaluate the effects of multiple informants and multiple screening measures on the identification of specific PTSD symptoms and rates of PTSD diagnoses. Participants in this study included 350 maltreated children from two cohorts, one recruited from Connecticut ( = 130), and the other from Vermont ( = 220).

Risk factors that predict longitudinal patterns of substantiated and unsubstantiated maltreatment reports.

Background: Substantiated and unsubstantiated reports of maltreatment are associated with similar risk of emotional and behavioral problems. However, substantiation status often determines service provision.

Objective: We examined substantiated and unsubstantiated reports to identify patterns of recurrence over a five-year period and identified family risk factors that predicted recurrence patterns.

Adverse Childhood Experiences, Epigenetic Measures, and Obesity in Youth.

Objective: To determine if measures of adverse childhood experiences and DNA methylation relate to indices of obesity in youth.

Study Design: Participants were derived from a cohort of 321 8 to 15-year-old children recruited for an investigation examining risk and resilience and psychiatric outcomes in maltreated children. Assessments of obesity were collected as an add-on for a subset of 234 participants (56% female; 52% maltreated).

Methylation in OTX2 and related genes, maltreatment, and depression in children.

Through unbiased transcriptomics and multiple molecular tools, transient downregulation of the Orthodenticle homeobox 2 (OTX2) gene was recently causatively associated with the development of depressive-like behaviors in a mouse model of early life stress. The analyses presented in this manuscript test the translational applicability of these findings by examining peripheral markers of methylation of OTX2 and OTX2-regulated genes in relation to measures of depression and resting-state functional connectivity data collected as part of a larger study examining risk and resilience in maltreated children. The sample included 157 children between the ages of 8 and 15 years (χ = 11.

Impaired memory consolidation in children with obstructive sleep disordered breathing.

Memory consolidation is stabilized and even enhanced by sleep (and particularly by 12-15 Hz sleep spindles in NREM stage 2 sleep) in healthy children but it is unclear what happens to these processes when sleep is disturbed by obstructive sleep disordered breathing. This cross-sectional study investigates differences in declarative memory consolidation among children with primary snoring (PS) and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) compared to controls. We further investigate whether memory consolidation group differences are associated with NREM stage 2 (N2) sigma (12-15 Hz) or NREM slow oscillation (0.

Sleep Dependent Memory Consolidation in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Study Objectives: Examine the role of sleep in the consolidation of declarative memory in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Design: Case-control study.

Setting: Home-based study with sleep and wake conditions.