A POSSIBLE ROLE OF HEPCIDIN IN INTESTINAL INFLAMMATION.

Background: Hepcidin's main function is to control iron availability to hematopoiesis. However, it has been shown that hepcidin may have an additional role in intestinal inflammation, as intestinal cells and leukocytes increase the production in experimental colitis and Crohn's disease.

Objective: Using an HT-29 cell as a model, we investigated the role of hepcidin in intestinal inflammation.

Independent Contributions of Callous-Unemotional Behaviors and Quantitative Autistic Traits to Aggression in Early Childhood.

Objective: Callous-unemotional (CU) behaviors and quantitative autistic traits (QATs), heritable domains implicated in social development, are both associated with reduced prosocial behavior and increased aggression at their clinical extremes. However, they are hypothesized to contribute to aggression through separate mechanisms. This study tested whether CU behaviors and QATs exhibited distinct profiles of heritable influences as well as independent contributions to early childhood aggression in a general population sample with enhanced sensitivity to clarify these relationships.

Restoring Decency to the Care of Undomiciled Foster Youth.

In April 2023, a distinguished panel of scientists, advocates, and child health policy experts convened by the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) issued a report entitled, "Why Foster Children Are Sleeping in Offices and What We Can Do About It." It concluded that the 2018 Family First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA), which was intended to protect children and adolescents from hazards of institutional care, precipitated a cascade of unintended consequences resulting in large numbers of foster children and adolescents with higher levels of need living in a range of inappropriate settings, including child welfare offices, emergency rooms, hotels, and homeless shelters. Across the United States, FFPSA resulted in severe shortages of placement options for undomiciled foster youth, which were precipitated by constraints in the following: (1) resources, (2) qualifications for reimbursement eligibility, and (3) numbers of beds (by broad extension of the institutions for mental disease [IMD] exclusion in Medicaid restricting bed capacity to 16) for congregate care settings that could otherwise be providing compassionate, qualified, appropriate care to this vulnerable population.

Mapping neural correlates of biological motion perception in autistic children using high-density diffuse optical tomography.

Background: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD), a neurodevelopmental disorder defined by social communication deficits plus repetitive behaviors and restricted interests, currently affects 1/36 children in the general population. Recent advances in functional brain imaging show promise to provide useful biomarkers of ASD diagnostic likelihood, behavioral trait severity, and even response to therapeutic intervention. However, current gold-standard neuroimaging methods (e.