Developmental trajectories of autonomic functioning in autism from birth to early childhood.

Deficits in social engagement emerge in autism during the infant and toddler period and may be related to emotion regulation and stress response systems. This study examined patterns of growth in autonomic functioning related to autism diagnosis and addresses the hypothesis that there are differences in autonomic functioning related to autism in infancy. Heart rate (HR) and respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) were measured at 8 time points from 1 to 72 months of age in infants later diagnosed with autism (n = 12) and a non-autistic comparison group (n = 106).

Epigenetic Programming by Maternal Behavior in the Human Infant.

Unlabelled: : media-1vid110.1542/5804912859001PEDS-VA_2017-1890 OBJECTIVES: We sought to determine if variations in maternal care alter DNA methylation in term, healthy, 5-month-old infants. This work was based on landmark studies in animal models demonstrating that nurturing care by dams would alter their newborns' stress responses through epigenetic mechanisms.

Testing the programming of temperament and psychopathology in two independent samples of children with prenatal substance exposure.

Prenatal programming models have rarely been applied to research on children with prenatal substance exposure, despite evidence suggesting that prenatal drug exposure is a form of stress that impacts neurodevelopmental outcomes and risk for psychopathology. Utilizing data from two longitudinal multisite studies comprising children prenatally exposed to substances as well as a nonexposed comparison group (Maternal Lifestyle Study, n = 1,388; Infant Development, Environment, and Lifestyle study, n = 412), we tested whether early phenotypic indicators of hypothesized programming effects, indexed by growth parameters at birth and infant temperament, served as a link between prenatal substance exposure and internalizing and externalizing behavior at age 5. Latent profile analysis indicated that individual differences in reactivity and regulation for infants prenatally exposed to substances was best characterized by four temperament profiles.

Perinatal substance use, residential instability, and negative behavioral outcomes among adolescents: Lessons from the maternal lifestyle study.

Problem: Both housing instability and prenatal substance use are known risk factors for behavioral problems among adolescents.

Methods: The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between residential instability (residential mobility and homelessness) and delinquent behaviors among adolescents enrolled in the maternal lifestyle study (MLS), a 16-year research study that explored short-term and long-term effects of in-utero exposure to cocaine and/or opiates (N = 736). Logistic regression was used to measure the association between housing problems with youth crimes, school delinquency, and substance use at 11, 15, and 16 years of age.

Diminished respiratory sinus arrhythmia response in infants later diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder.

Unlabelled: Indicators of risk for developing Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are difficult to detect within the first year of life. In this study, infants who were originally followed prospectively to examine general developmental risks due to substance exposure interacted with their mother and an unfamiliar experimenter for 2-min episodes at 4 months of age. Electrocardiogram was collected to measure respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) and the session was video recorded for behavioral coding.

Global motion perception is related to motor function in 4.5-year-old children born at risk of abnormal development.

Global motion perception is often used as an index of dorsal visual stream function in neurodevelopmental studies. However, the relationship between global motion perception and visuomotor control, a primary function of the dorsal stream, is unclear. We measured global motion perception (motion coherence threshold; MCT) and performance on standardized measures of motor function in 606 4.

Infants' early visual attention and social engagement as developmental precursors to joint attention.

This study examined infants' early visual attention (at 1 month of age) and social engagement (4 months) as predictors of their later joint attention (12 and 18 months). The sample (n = 325), drawn from the Maternal Lifestyle Study, a longitudinal multicenter project conducted at 4 centers of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Neonatal Research Network, included high-risk (cocaine-exposed) and matched noncocaine-exposed infants. Hierarchical regressions revealed that infants' attention orienting at 1 month significantly predicted more frequent initiating joint attention at 12 (but not 18) months of age.

Maternal and infant affect at 4 months predicts performance and verbal IQ at 4 and 7 years in a diverse population.

Using existing longitudinal data from 570 infants in the Maternal Lifestyle Study, we explored the predictive value of maternal and infant affect and maternal vocalizations during 2 minutes of face-to-face interactions at 4 months on IQ scores at 4.5 and 7 years. After controlling for demographic factors, maternal depression, and prenatal drug exposure, maternal positive affect and maternal positive vocalizations emerged as predictors of both verbal and performance IQ at 4.

18-Month Follow-Up of Infants Cared for in a Single-Family Room Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

Objectives: To determine whether the single-family room (SFR)-neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) is associated with improved 18-month neurodevelopmental outcome, especially in infants of mothers with high maternal involvement.

Study Design: An 18-month follow-up was undertaken that compared infants born <30 weeks gestational age; 123 from a SFR-NICU vs 93 from an open-bay NICU. Infants were divided into high vs low maternal involvement based on days/week of kangaroo care, breast/bottle feeding, and maternal care.

Transactional relations between caregiving stress, executive functioning, and problem behavior from early childhood to early adolescence.

Developmental psychopathologists face the difficult task of identifying the environmental conditions that may contribute to early childhood behavior problems. Highly stressed caregivers can exacerbate behavior problems, while children with behavior problems may make parenting more difficult and increase caregiver stress. Unknown is: (a) how these transactions originate, (b) whether they persist over time to contribute to the development of problem behavior and (c) what role resilience factors, such as child executive functioning, may play in mitigating the development of problem behavior.

Fine Motor Differences and Prenatal Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors Exposure.

Objective: To examine fine motor differences between preschoolers with prenatal exposure to serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SRI) and children of mothers with major depressive disorder.

Study Design: A subset of children (N = 40) from a larger study on the effects of prenatal SRI and untreated major depressive disorder participated in a kinematic task of visual motor and fine motor functions at ages 4-5 years: exposure to SRI (n = 15), untreated major depressive disorder exposure (n = 10), and the control group (n = 15). The task was to reach and secure a peg, then drop it in a small hole near the start position in the light condition with full visibility or in the glow condition in which a phosphorescent peg glows in the dark.

School-Aged Outcomes following Prenatal Methamphetamine Exposure: 7.5-Year Follow-Up from the Infant Development, Environment, and Lifestyle Study.

Objective: To assess the relationship between prenatal methamphetamine exposure (PME) and behavior problems at age 7.5 years and the extent to which early adversity mediated this relationship.

Study Design: The multicenter, longitudinal Infant Development, Environment, and Lifestyle study enrolled 412 mother-infant pairs at 4 sites.

Neurobehavior related to epigenetic differences in preterm infants.

Unlabelled: Preterm birth is associated with medical problems affecting the neuroendocrine system, altering cortisol levels resulting in negative effects on newborn neurobehavior. Newborn neurobehavior is regulated by DNA methylation of NR3C1 and HSD11B2.

Aim: Determine if methylation of HSD11B2 and NR3C1 is associated with neurobehavioral profiles in preterm infants.

Prenatal exposure to recreational drugs affects global motion perception in preschool children.

Prenatal exposure to recreational drugs impairs motor and cognitive development; however it is currently unknown whether visual brain areas are affected. To address this question, we investigated the effect of prenatal drug exposure on global motion perception, a behavioural measure of processing within the dorsal extrastriate visual cortex that is thought to be particularly vulnerable to abnormal neurodevelopment. Global motion perception was measured in one hundred and forty-five 4.

Poor actigraphic and self-reported sleep patterns predict delinquency and daytime impairment among at-risk adolescents.

Objective: To evaluate associations between actigraphic sleep patterns, subjective sleep quality, and daytime functioning (ie, sleepiness, symptoms of depression, and delinquency and other conduct problems) in at-risk adolescents.

Design: Prospective, observational cohort study.

Setting: Providence, RI, predominantly home and school and 2 visits to the Brown Center for the Study of Children at Risk.

Global motion perception is independent from contrast sensitivity for coherent motion direction discrimination and visual acuity in 4.5-year-old children.

Global motion processing depends on a network of brain regions that includes extrastriate area V5 in the dorsal visual stream. For this reason, psychophysical measures of global motion perception have been used to provide a behavioral measure of dorsal stream function. This approach assumes that global motion is relatively independent of visual functions that arise earlier in the visual processing hierarchy such as contrast sensitivity and visual acuity.

Developmental and behavioral consequences of prenatal methamphetamine exposure: A review of the Infant Development, Environment, and Lifestyle (IDEAL) study.

This study reviews the findings from the Infant Development, Environment, and Lifestyle (IDEAL) study, a multisite, longitudinal, prospective study designed to determine maternal outcome and child growth and developmental findings following prenatal methamphetamine exposure from birth up to age 7.5 years. These findings are presented in the context of the home environment and caregiver characteristics to determine how the drug and the environment interact to affect the outcome of these children.

Effects of prenatal substance exposure on infant temperament vary by context.

This was a prospective longitudinal multisite study of the effects of prenatal cocaine and/or opiate exposure on temperament in 4-month-olds of the Maternal Lifestyle Study (N = 958: 366 cocaine exposed, 37 opiate exposed, 33 exposed to both drugs, 522 matched comparison). The study evaluated positivity and negativity during The Behavior Assessment of Infant Temperament (Garcia Coll et al., 1988).

Cortisol reactivity to social stress as a mediator of early adversity on risk and adaptive outcomes.

Children chronically exposed to stress early in life are at increased risk for maladaptive outcomes, though the physiological mechanisms driving these effects are unknown. Cortisol reactivity was tested as a mediator of the relation between prenatal substance exposure and/or early adversity on adaptive and maladaptive outcomes. Data were drawn from a prospective longitudinal study of prenatal substance exposure (N = 860).

Single-family room care and neurobehavioral and medical outcomes in preterm infants.

Objective: To determine whether a single-family room (SFR) NICU, including factors associated with the change to a SFR NICU, is associated with improved medical and neurobehavioral outcomes.

Methods: Longitudinal, prospective, quasi-experimental cohort study conducted between 2008 and 2012 comparing medical and neurobehavioral outcomes at discharge in infants born <1500 g. Participants included 151 infants in an open-bay NICU and 252 infants after transition to a SFR NICU.

Physiological correlates of neurobehavioral disinhibition that relate to drug use and risky sexual behavior in adolescents with prenatal substance exposure.

Physiological correlates of behavioral and emotional problems, substance use onset and initiation of risky sexual behavior have not been studied in adolescents with prenatal drug exposure. We studied the concordance between baseline respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) at age 3 and baseline cortisol levels at age 11. We hypothesized that children who showed concordance between RSA and cortisol would have lower neurobehavioral disinhibition scores which would in turn predict age of substance use onset and first sexual intercourse.

The contributions of early adverse experiences and trajectories of respiratory sinus arrhythmia on the development of neurobehavioral disinhibition among children with prenatal substance exposure.

Neurobehavioral disinhibition (ND) is a complex condition reflecting a wide range of problems involving difficulties with emotion regulation and behavior control. Respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) is a physiological correlate of emotion regulation that has been studied in a variety of at-risk populations; however, there are no studies of RSA in children with ND. Data were drawn from a prospective longitudinal study of prenatal substance exposure that included 1,073 participants.

Effects of prenatal methamphetamine exposure on behavioral and cognitive findings at 7.5 years of age.

Objective: To examine child behavioral and cognitive outcomes after prenatal exposure to methamphetamine.

Study Design: We enrolled 412 mother-infant pairs (204 methamphetamine-exposed and 208 unexposed matched comparisons) in the Infant Development, Environment, and Lifestyle study. The 151 children exposed to methamphetamine and 147 comparisons who attended the 7.

Prenatal methamphetamine exposure and neonatal and infant neurobehavioral outcome: results from the IDEAL study.

Background: Methamphetamine (MA) use among pregnant women is an increasing problem in the United States. How MA use during pregnancy affects neonatal and infant neurobehavior is unknown.

Methods: The Infant Development, Environment, and Lifestyle (IDEAL) study screened 34,833 subjects at 4 clinical centers.

Reactivity and regulation of motor responses in cocaine-exposed infants.

Unlabelled: Effects of prenatal exposure to cocaine on the reactivity and regulation of the motor system of 825 four-month-old infants enrolled in the Maternal Lifestyle Study were examined. Videotaped assessments of 338 cocaine-exposed (CE) infants and 487 non-exposed comparison infants were coded by examiners masked to exposure status. Exposure status was determined by meconium assay and maternal self-report of prenatal cocaine use.