Parent Perspectives: Part 2-Considerations for the Transition Home Post-NICU Discharge.

This paper is part two of a series of papers written by the mothers of Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) graduates. The companion paper, "", considers all aspects of the NICU experience and provides recommendations for interventions and improvements from a life-course perspective while families are in the NICU. In part two, the focus is the transition home post-NICU stay.

Parent Perspectives: Part 1-Considerations for Changing the NICU Culture.

While publications that aim to reflect the parent perspective are increasingly common in the medical literature, few are authored by parents in their own words. As mothers with lived and professional experience in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), we believe this perspective is vital to improving health outcomes. We are writing from a life course health development framework that regards health as an active process that develops over time with the integration of physical, social, emotional, and relational components.

The impact of COVID-19 on psychiatric clinical encounters among low-income racially-diverse children.

Background: There is a lack of longitudinal data to examine the impact of COVID-19 on all types of clinical encounters among United States, underrepresented BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of color), children. This study aims to examine the changes in all the outpatient clinical encounters during the pandemic compared to the baseline, with particular attention to psychiatric encounters and diagnoses.

Method: This study analyzed 3-year (January 2019 to December 2021) longitudinal clinical encounter data from 3,394 children in the Boston Birth Cohort, a US urban, predominantly low-income, Black and Hispanic children.

The Autism Intervention Research Network on Physical Health (AIR-P) Research Agenda.

Objectives: In the United States, autistic individuals experience disproportionate physical and mental health challenges relative to non-autistic individuals, including higher rates of co-occurring and chronic conditions and lower physical, social, and psychological health-related quality of life. The Autism Intervention Research Network on Physical Health (AIR-P) is an interdisciplinary, multicenter research network for scientific collaboration and infrastructure that aims to increase the life expectancy and quality of life for autistic individuals, with a focus on underserved or vulnerable populations. The current paper describes the development of the AIR-P Research Agenda.

COVID-19 and Children's Well-Being: A Rapid Research Agenda.

Purpose: Understanding the full impact of COVID-19 on U.S. children, families, and communities is critical to (a) document the scope of the problem, (b) identify solutions to mitigate harm, and (c) build more resilient response systems.

A prospective cohort study on the intersectionality of obesity, chronic disease, social factors, and incident risk of COVID-19 in US low-income minority middle-age mothers.

Objective: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has disproportionally affected communities of color. We aimed to determine what factors are associated with COVID-19 testing and test positivity in an underrepresented, understudied, and underreported (U3) population of mothers.

Methods: This study included 2996 middle-aged mothers of the Boston Birth Cohort (a sample of predominantly urban, low-income, Black and Hispanic mothers) who were enrolled shortly after they gave birth and followed onward at the Boston Medical Center.

Prevalence and Social and Built Environmental Determinants of Maternal Prepregnancy Obesity in 68 Major Metropolitan Cities of the United States, 2013-2016.

Objective: Maternal prepregnancy obesity is related to increased maternal morbidity and mortality and poor birth outcomes. However, prevalence and risk factors for prepregnancy obesity in US cities are not known. This study examines the prevalence and social and environmental determinants of maternal prepregnancy obesity (BMI ≥30), overweight/obesity (BMI ≥25), and severe obesity (BMI ≥40) in the 68 largest metropolitan cities of the United States.

Maternal and Child Health Bureau's Autism Research Program.

Objectives: To provide an overview and quantitatively demonstrate the reach of the Health Resources and Services Administration's Maternal and Child Health Bureau autism research program.

Methods: We reviewed program reports and internal data from 59 autism research grantees. The US federal Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee's strategic plan questions were used as a framework to highlight the contributions of the autism research program in advancing the field.

In utero exposure to mercury and childhood overweight or obesity: counteracting effect of maternal folate status.

Background: Low-dose mercury (Hg) exposure has been associated with cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and obesity in adults, but it is unknown the metabolic consequence of in utero Hg exposure. This study aimed to investigate the association between in utero Hg exposure and child overweight or obesity (OWO) and to explore if adequate maternal folate can mitigate Hg toxicity.

Methods: This prospective study included 1442 mother-child pairs recruited at birth and followed up to age 15 years.

Association Between Maternal Exposure to Lead, Maternal Folate Status, and Intergenerational Risk of Childhood Overweight and Obesity.

Importance: The first pediatric lead screening typically occurs at 1-year well-child care visits. However, data on the extent of maternal lead exposure and its long-term consequences for child health are lacking.

Objective: To investigate the associations between maternal red blood cell (RBC) lead levels and intergenerational risk of overweight or obesity (OWO) and whether adequate maternal folate status is associated with a reduction in OWO risk.

Prenatal Risk Factors and Perinatal and Postnatal Outcomes Associated With Maternal Opioid Exposure in an Urban, Low-Income, Multiethnic US Population.

Importance: The opioid epidemic increasingly affects pregnant women and developing fetuses, resulting in high rates of neonatal abstinence syndrome. However, longitudinal studies that prospectively observe newborns with neonatal abstinence syndrome or with maternal opioid use and examine their long-term physical and neurodevelopmental outcomes are lacking.

Objective: To examine prenatal risk factors associated with maternal opioid use during pregnancy and the short-term and long-term health consequences on their children.

Associations Between Maternal Body Mass Index, Gestational Weight Gain, Maternal Complications, and Birth Outcome in Singleton, Term Births in a Largely Non-Hispanic White, Rural Population.

In 2009, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) published guidance on gestational weight gain (GWG) modified by body mass index (BMI). GWG outside of IOM recommendations negatively affects birth outcomes and child health. This study examined the relationship between BMI, GWG, birth complications, and birth outcomes in a rural, non-Hispanic white population over 10 years.

Marked Disparities in Pre-Pregnancy Obesity and Overweight Prevalence among US Women by Race/Ethnicity, Nativity/Immigrant Status, and Sociodemographic Characteristics, 2012-2014.

This study examines racial/ethnic, nativity, and sociodemographic disparities in the prevalence of pre-pregnancy obesity and overweight in the United States. Logistic regression was fitted to the 2012-2014 national birth cohort data to derive unadjusted and adjusted differentials in pre-pregnancy obesity (BMI ≥30), severe obesity (BMI ≥40), and overweight/obesity (BMI ≥25) prevalence among 10.4 million US women of childbearing age.

Fetal and Infancy Growth Pattern, Cord and Early Childhood Plasma Leptin, and Development of Autism Spectrum Disorder in the Boston Birth Cohort.

Leptin is a proinflammatory cytokine that plays an important role in energy homeostasis. Emerging evidence suggests that leptin levels are altered in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD); however, this has not been studied prospectively. Rapid growth during infancy and early childhood has been implicated in ASD, but the evidence is inconsistent.

A retrospective study of gestational weight gain in relation to the Institute of Medicine's recommendations by maternal body mass index in rural Pennsylvania from 2006 to 2015.

Background: In 2009, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) published guidance on gestational weight gain (GWG) modified by maternal pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI). Estimates indicate that less than half of US pregnant women have GWG within recommendations. This study examined GWG from before (2006-2009) and after (2010-2015) the release of the IOM guidance in a rural, non-Hispanic white population to assess the proportion of women with GWG outside of IOM guidance, whether GWG became more likely to be within IOM guidance after 2010, and identify potential maternal factors associated with GWG outside of recommendations.

Use of postpartum care: predictors and barriers.

This study aimed to identify actual and perceived barriers to postpartum care among a probability sample of women who gave birth in Los Angeles County, California in 2007. Survey data from the 2007 Los Angeles Mommy and Baby (LAMB) study (N = 4,075) were used to identify predictors and barriers to postpartum care use. The LAMB study was a cross-sectional, population-based study that examined maternal and child health outcomes during the preconception, prenatal, and postpartum periods.

Menopause and lead body burden among US women aged 45-55, NHANES 1999-2010.

Background: Environmental factors in menopause have received limited attention. Lead is a known reproductive toxicant associated with delayed puberty in girls that may also affect menopause.

Methods: The odds of menopause among US women aged 45-55 were estimated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 1999-2010, in relation to quartiles of blood lead.

Application of a newly identified and characterized 18-o-acyltransferase in chemoenzymatic synthesis of selected natural and nonnatural bioactive derivatives of phoslactomycins.

Phoslactomycins (PLMs) and related leustroducsins (LSNs) have been isolated from a variety of bacteria based on antifungal, anticancer, and other biological assays. Streptomyces sp. strain HK 803 produces five PLM analogs (PLM A and PLMs C to F) in which the C-18 hydroxyl substituent is esterified with a range of branched, short-alkyl-chain carboxylic acids.