Acoustic features of vocalizations in typically developing and autistic infants in the first year.

Background: We describe acoustic patterns across the five most prominent vocal types in typically developing infants (TD) and compare them with patterns in infants who develop autism (ASD) or a developmental disability (DD) not related to autism. Infant-directed speech (IDS) is a potentially important influence on such vocal acoustic patterns. Both acoustic patterns and effects of IDS are important for understanding the earliest origins of communication disorders.

Beyond IQ: executive function deficits and their relation to functional, clinical, and neuroimaging outcomes in 3q29 deletion syndrome.

Background: 3q29 deletion syndrome (3q29del) is a rare (~1:30 000) genomic disorder associated with a wide array of neurodevelopmental and psychiatric phenotypes. Prior work by our team identified clinically significant executive function (EF) deficits in 47% of individuals with 3q29del; however, the nuances of EF in this population have not been described.

Methods: We used the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF) to perform the first in-depth assessment of real-world EF in a cohort of 32 individuals with 3q29del (62.

Optical mapping of ground reaction force dynamics in freely behaving larvae.

During locomotion, soft-bodied terrestrial animals solve complex control problems at substrate interfaces, but our understanding of how they achieve this without rigid components remains incomplete. Here, we develop new all-optical methods based on optical interference in a deformable substrate to measure ground reaction forces (GRFs) with micrometre and nanonewton precision in behaving larvae. Combining this with a kinematic analysis of substrate-interfacing features, we shed new light onto the biomechanical control of larval locomotion.

STEERING FROM THE REAR: COORDINATION OF CENTRAL PATTERN GENERATORS UNDERLYING NAVIGATION BY ASCENDING INTERNEURONS.

Understanding how animals coordinate movements to achieve goals is a fundamental pursuit in neuroscience. Here we explore how neurons that reside in posterior lower-order regions of a locomotor system project to anterior higher-order regions to influence steering and navigation. We characterized the anatomy and functional role of a population of ascending interneurons in the ventral nerve cord of larvae.

Deformable microlaser force sensing.

Mechanical forces are key regulators of cellular behavior and function, affecting many fundamental biological processes such as cell migration, embryogenesis, immunological responses, and pathological states. Specialized force sensors and imaging techniques have been developed to quantify these otherwise invisible forces in single cells and in vivo. However, current techniques rely heavily on high-resolution microscopy and do not allow interrogation of optically dense tissue, reducing their application to 2D cell cultures and highly transparent biological tissue.