Responsible research in health disparities using the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study.

Purpose: The Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study is the largest longitudinal study on brain development and adolescent health in the United States. The study includes a sociodemographically diverse cohort of nearly 12,000 youth born 2005-2009, with an open science model of making data rapidly available to the scientific community. The ABCD Study® data has been used in over 1100 peer-reviewed publications since its first data release in 2018.

A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis on Contrast Sensitivity in Schizophrenia.

Background And Hypothesis: Understanding perceptual alterations in mental disorders can help uncover neural and computational anomalies. In schizophrenia, perceptual alterations have been reported for many visual features, including a deficit in contrast sensitivity, a key measure of visual function. The evidence supporting this deficit, however, has not been comprehensively synthesized.

Prevalence of Fabry disease in patients with chronic kidney disease: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Fabry disease (FD) is an X-linked lysosomal storage disease caused by pathogenic variants in the GLA gene. It has a wide range of clinical manifestations, typically related to the specific underlying GLA variant. One of the main features of FD is kidney involvement; therefore, several studies have addressed the prevalence of FD in all types of patients with chronic kidney disease.

Accurate and Efficient Simulation of Very High-Dimensional Neural Mass Models with Distributed-Delay Connectome Tensors.

This paper introduces methods and a novel toolbox that efficiently integrates high-dimensional Neural Mass Models (NMMs) specified by two essential components. The first is the set of nonlinear Random Differential Equations (RDEs) of the dynamics of each neural mass. The second is the highly sparse three-dimensional Connectome Tensor (CT) that encodes the strength of the connections and the delays of information transfer along the axons of each connection.

Underage Problem Gambling: With Whom, Where and Why.

Background: Underage gambling is a widespread phenomenon with its own characteristics that differentiate it from adult gambling. In addition, problem gambling has shown a remarkable prevalence in previous studies. The present study examines underage gambling behaviour, studying its characteristics, as well as motivational and contextual aspects, and estimating the volume of problem gambling and possible moderating variables.

A Critical Review on the Complex Interplay between Social Determinants of Health and Maternal and Infant Mortality.

Background: U.S. maternal and infant mortality rates constitute an important public health problem, because these rates surpass those in developed countries and are characterized by stark disparities for racial/ethnic minorities, rural residents, and individuals with less privileged socioeconomic status due to social determinants of health (SDoH).

Lifecourse factors associated with flourishing among US children aged 1-5 years.

Aim: This study aimed to examine the association between lifecourse factors and flourishing among children ages 1-5 years.

Study Design: Using data from the combined 2016 and 2017 National Survey of Children's Health (N = 18 007 children aged 1-5 years), flourishing was defined as parent-reported child's affection, resilience, curiosity about learning, and affect. Multivariable logistic regression modelled the associations between lifecourse factors and flourishing.

Disrupted Care Continuity: Testing Associations between Social Networks and Transition Success for Children with Autism.

Children with autism situated in lower income families often receive intensive educational interventions as their primary form of treatment, due to financial barriers for community interventions. However, the continuity of care can be disrupted by school transitions. The quality of social relationships during the transition to a new school among parents, school staff and community providers, called the team-around-the-child (TAC), can potentially buffer a child with autism from the adverse effects caused by care disruptions.

Photodynamic therapy with a new bacteriochlorin derivative: Characterization and in vitro studies.

Photodynamic therapy presents a therapeutic choice that can be utilized to treat diverse neoplasms. In this technique, the critical element is a photosensitive molecule that absorbs light energy and transfers it to molecular oxygen or biological molecules to form reactive oxygen species, thus inducing irreversible damage to target cells and ultimately leading to cell death. Bacteriochlorin derivatives are employed as photosensitizers (PSs), possessing light-absorbing capacity in the near-infrared region.

StimuliApp: Psychophysical tests on mobile devices.

Psychophysical tests are commonly carried out using software applications running on desktop or laptop computers, but running the software on mobile handheld devices such as smartphones or tablets could have advantages in some situations. Here, we present StimuliApp, an open-source application in which the user can create psychophysical tests on the iPad and the iPhone by means of a system of menus. A wide number of templates for creating stimuli are available including patches, gradients, gratings, checkerboards, random-dots, texts, tones or auditory noise.

Social Determinants of Health Associated with Mental Health Among U.S. Mothers with Children Aged 0-5 Years.

Maternal mental illness is a significant public health problem during the perinatal period and beyond. Little is known about how social determinants of health (SDOH) affect maternal mental health. We used cross-sectional data from the 2016 to 2017 National Survey of Children's Health with 19,127 mothers of a nationally representative sample of U.

The Interwoven Nature of Medical and Social Complexity in US Children.

This cross-sectional study uses data from the 2017 National Survey of Children’s Health to assess whether social challenges increase with higher medical condition complexity among US children.

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.

Variation in Hospitalization Rates Following Emergency Department Visits in Children with Medical Complexity.

Objectives: To evaluate factors associated with admission from emergency department (ED) encounters for children with medical complexity (CMC) and to quantify the hospital admission rate as well as variation in adjusted hospital admission rates across EDs.

Study Design: Retrospective study of 271 806 visits to 37 EDs in freestanding children's hospitals from January 1, 2014, to June 30, 2017, for patients of all ages with a complex chronic condition. Associations between patient demographic, clinical, and health services characteristics and the likelihood of hospital admission were identified using generalized linear models, which were then used to calculate adjusted hospital admission rates.

Sequential daylight photodynamic therapy and ingenol mebutate versus 2 sessions of daylight photodynamic therapy for the treatment of actinic keratosis: An observational, prospective, comparative study.

Background: Field-directed therapy, such as daylight-photodynamic therapy (DL-PDT) or ingenol mebutate (IM), is indicated for multiple actinic keratosis (AK) lesions located on contiguous areas of skin with significant sun damage.

Objective: To compare the efficacy of sequential DL-PDT and IM treatment with that of 2 sessions of DL-PDT in AK patients.

Material And Methods: For this observational, multicenter, prospective study we recruited patients for whom DL-PDT was indicated for the treatment of AK lesions (grades I and II) located on the head.

Decoupling sensory from decisional choice biases in perceptual decision making.

The contribution of sensory and decisional processes to perceptual decision making is still unclear, even in simple perceptual tasks. When decision makers need to select an action from a set of balanced alternatives, any tendency to choose one alternative more often-choice bias-is consistent with a bias in the sensory evidence, but also with a preference to select that alternative independently of the sensory evidence. To decouple sensory from decisional biases, here we asked humans to perform a simple perceptual discrimination task with two symmetric alternatives under two different task instructions.

CLA-producing adjunct cultures improve the nutritional value of sheep cheese fat.

The influence of the autochthonous CLA-producing Lactobacillus plantarum TAUL 1588 and Lactobacillus casei subsp. casei SS 1644 strains and the ripening time on the fatty acid (FA) content and sensory characteristics of sheep cheese were investigated. Three cheese types with different cultures and the control cheese were produced in duplicate and ripened for 8 months.

The biogenic amines putrescine and cadaverine show in vitro cytotoxicity at concentrations that can be found in foods.

Putrescine and cadaverine are among the most common biogenic amines (BA) in foods, but it is advisable that their accumulation be avoided. Present knowledge about their toxicity is, however, limited; further research is needed if qualitative and quantitative risk assessments for foods are to be conducted. The present work describes a real-time analysis of the cytotoxicity of putrescine and cadaverine on intestinal cell cultures.

Validation of motion perception of briefly displayed images using a tablet.

Motion perception of briefly displayed images has been reported to be abnormal in clinical populations afflicted with schizophrenia, major depression, autism, Alzheimer's disease and epilepsy. These abnormalities have been measured using CRT monitors connected to a computer. Given that the use of this experimental set-up in clinical environments can be difficult, we tested whether motion perception of briefly displayed images could also be measured using a tablet.

Spermine and spermidine are cytotoxic towards intestinal cell cultures, but are they a health hazard at concentrations found in foods?

Spermine and spermidine are polyamines (PA) naturally present in all organisms, in which they have important physiological functions. However, an excess of PA has been associated with health risks. PA accumulates at quite high concentrations in some foods, but a quantitative assessment of the risk they pose has been lacking.

Lactic Acid Bacteria and Bifidobacteria with Potential to Design Natural Biofunctional Health-Promoting Dairy Foods.

Consumer interest in healthy lifestyle and health-promoting natural products is a major driving force for the increasing global demand of biofunctional dairy foods. A number of commercial sources sell synthetic formulations of bioactive substances for use as dietary supplements. However, the bioactive-enrichment of health-oriented foods by naturally occurring microorganisms during dairy fermentation is in increased demand.

Complete Genome Sequence of the Gamma-Aminobutyric Acid-Producing Strain APC151.

Here is presented the whole-genome sequence of APC151, isolated from a marine fish. This bacterium produces gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) in high yields and is biotechnologically suitable to produce naturally GABA-enriched biofunctional yogurt. Its complete genome comprises 2,097 genes and 1,839,134 nucleotides, with an average G+C content of 39.

APC151 Strain Is Suitable for the Manufacture of Naturally GABA-Enriched Bioactive Yogurt.

Consumer interest in health-promoting food products is a major driving force for the increasing global demand of functional (probiotic) dairy foods. Yogurt is considered the ideal medium for delivery of beneficial functional ingredients. Gamma-amino-butyric acid has potential as a bioactive ingredient in functional foods due to its health-promoting properties as an anti-stress, anti-hypertensive, and anti-diabetic agent.

The dietary biogenic amines tyramine and histamine show synergistic toxicity towards intestinal cells in culture.

Tyramine and histamine are the biogenic amines (BA) most commonly found at high concentrations in food; they may even appear together at toxic concentrations. The present work examines, via real-time cell analysis, whether histamine and tyramine show synergistic toxicity towards intestinal cell cultures. Employing a constant equipotency ratio, their interaction was examined via the combination index (CI) method of Chou & Talalay.