Screening and referral programs for diabetes and cardiovascular disease: Can community pharmacists bridge the care gap?

Background And Objectives: Heart disease and diabetes are leading causes of death in the U.S., with timely screening, referrals, and education being critical for effective treatment.

Practical, Economic, and Policy Implications of the Leve et al. Paper.

This commentary responds to the paper recently published in Prevention Science, entitled "The Promise and Challenges of Integrating Biological and Prevention Sciences: A Community-Engaged Model for the Next Generation of Translational Research" by Leve and colleagues (2024). A framework is advanced to provide a rationale for and facilitate the difficult and oft-avoided task of integrating concepts, techniques, methods, and datasets from diverse disciplines. The unfortunate reality is that disciplines germane to prevention continue to be highly siloed.

Effortful Control, Parent-Child Relationships, and Behavior Problems among Preschool-Aged Children Experiencing Adversity.

Young children who experience adversity are at increased risk for developing psychological difficulties across the lifespan. Among community samples, parent-child relationship dynamics interact with child effortful control to predict child behavior problems. The nature of these associations has not been examined among children who have experienced early childhood adversity and who may be particularly sensitive to familial effects on child development.

Early adolescents' ethnic-racial identity in relation to longitudinal growth in perspective taking.

Adolescents experience significant growth in social cognition, including perspective taking and identity formation. Due to the salience of race and ethnicity in the United States, adolescents' ethnic-racial identity (ERI) may have important implications for their sociocognitive development. The present study tested the association between ERI in early adolescence and subsequent longitudinal growth in perspective taking.

Sex Differences in Early Childhood Education Intervention Impacts on Cognitive Outcomes.

Several influential studies reported sex differences in early care and education (ECE) treatment on young adult IQ and academic outcomes. This paper extends that work by asking whether sex differences in impacts of the Carolina Abecedarian Project emerged during the treatment period or subsequently and whether sex differences were maintained into middle adulthood. The randomized clinical trial (98% Black, 51% female) followed 104 infants 5 to 45 years of age.

"Breaking the news"-post-autism spectrum disorder diagnosis group intervention for parents to 6-18-year-old children.

This study evaluated the effectiveness of a 3-session group intervention for parents who had received a diagnosis of autism for their child within the past month. The intervention group ( = 41) was compared to Treatment-as-Usual ( = 40): one meeting with a social worker after the diagnosis feedback meeting. Parental stress was evaluated in both groups within a week and then a month after the diagnosis.

Idiosyncratic pupil regulation in autistic children.

Recent neuroimaging and eye-tracking studies have suggested that children with autism exhibit more variable and idiosyncratic brain responses and eye movements than typically developing (TD) children. Here, we extended this research to pupillometry recordings. We successfully acquired pupillometry recordings from 111 children (74 with autism), 4.

Resilience and strengths in the Black autism community in the United States: A scoping review.

Gaps in research knowledge pertaining to resiliency factors and strengths among the Black autism community, inclusive of autistic persons and their support system exist. A scoping review was conducted to further explore quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods studies that investigate resiliency factors and related strengths in the Black autism community in the United States. A total of 436 articles were identified, with 28 studies included in the final review.

The role of changes in peer victimization from elementary to high school and autonomic reactivity on adolescent reactive aggression.

The goals of the present study were to investigate links between changes in peer victimization from elementary to high school and adolescent reactive aggression (Goal 1), whether heightened autonomic nervous system (ANS) reactivity to social and nonsocial stress increases risk for adolescent reactive aggression (Goal 2), and whether increased ANS reactivity strengthens the association between changes in victimization and adolescent reactive aggression (Goal 3). Participants included 145 adolescents ( = 16; 54% female; 76% European American, 13% African American, 11% Latino American, 7% Asian American, 5% of mixed race or ethnicity; 60% with family incomes of $100,000 or greater). We collected self-report data in elementary (Time 1 [T1]); (Time 2 [T2]); middle (Time 3 [T3]); and high school (Time 4 [T4]) to assess victimization.

The Autism Program Environment Rating Scale in Swedish Primary School: Cultural Adaptation and Content Validation.

There is a recognized need to improve inclusive learning environments for autistic children in primary school settings in Sweden. This study aimed to translate, cross-culturally adapt, and assess the content validity of the Swedish primary school version of the Autism Program Environment Scale (APERS), originally developed to evaluate autism program quality in educational settings in the United States. Following the translation into Swedish and the first cultural adaptation of the APERS, a content panel group of 14 professionals rated its content validity.

Clinical correlates of cerebellar injury in preterm infants with surgical necrotizing enterocolitis.

Background: The preterm infants are at risk of cerebellar injury and the risk factors for necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) associated cerebellar injury are not fully understood.

Aim: Determine the risk factors of cerebellar injury in infants with surgical necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC).

Methods: Retrospective study compared clinical/pathological information between surgical NEC infants with and those without cerebellar injury detected on brain MRI obtained at term equivalent age.

Chemical and non-chemical stressors in a postpartum cohort through wristband and self report data: Links between increased chemical burden, economic, and racial stress.

Multiple external stressors are known to have adverse impacts on health and development. Certain groups are more vulnerable and/or more likely to be exposed toenvironmental, psychological, and social stressors simultaneously. Yet, few studies have examined combined exposure to environmental toxicants and psychosocial stress.

Development of the Guide to Disseminating Research (GuiDiR): A consolidated framework.

Background: Less than one third of research evidence is translated into policy or practice. Knowledge translation requires effective dissemination, adoption and finally implementation. These three stages are equally important, however, existing knowledge translation models and frameworks provide little and disparate information about the steps and activities required for effective dissemination.

Adapting the Early Communication Indicator as a Social Communication Outcome Measure for Young Autistic Children: A Pilot Study.

Purpose: We sought to conduct a pilot investigation of the reliability and administration fidelity of a new play-based measure of social communication for infants and toddlers with an autism diagnosis.

Method: Our team adapted an existing measure, the Early Communication Indicator (ECI), for use with young autistic children in clinical and research contexts. In this brief report, we detail our adaptation process including administration and scoring of the final adapted measure based on data from a two-phase pilot study with young autistic children ( = 17).

A Comparison of Three Executive Function Batteries in a Preschool-Aged Sample.

There is great interest in the development of executive function (EF) in the preschool period. Accordingly, multiple performance-based measures of EF have been developed for this age group, yet little is known about how they compare to one another. This study used a large and diverse sample of 3-to-5-year-old children ( = 846), who completed subtests of the National Institutes of Health's Toolbox Cognition Battery (NTCB), the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence (WPPSI-IV), and the EF Touch battery.

Intergenerational effects of racism on amygdala and hippocampus resting state functional connectivity.

Racism is an insidious problem with far-reaching effects on the lives of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC). The pervasive negative impact of racism on mental health is well documented. However, less is known about the potential downstream impacts of maternal experiences of racism on offspring neurodevelopment.

Cohort study: Neurological and cognitive-behavioral sequelae of acquired Zika virus infection among Nicaraguan children.

Background: ZIKV has neuroinvasive properties, and in utero exposure can cause birth defects, but little is known about the neurological and neurocognitive impacts of acquired ZIKV infection, particularly in children.

Methods: We assessed neurological symptoms frequency among ZIKV-infected children within one year after ZIKV infection. Three to 5 years post-infection, these children and a matched group of uninfected children were assessed via questionnaires, neurological exams, and neuropsychological testing to evaluate the association between prior ZIKV infection and subsequent neurological symptoms, and cognitive-behavioral function.

Polygenic risk, childhood abuse and gene x environment interactions with depression development from middle to late adulthood: A U.S. national life-course study.

Objective: Utilizing national longitudinal data, this study examines how polygenic depression risk and childhood abuse interactively influence the life-course development of depressive conditions from middle to late adulthood.

Method: Data from 7512 participants (4323 females and 3189 males) of European ancestry aged 51-90, retrieved from the U.S.

Gamified Closed-Loop Intervention Enhances Tic Suppression in Children: A Randomized Trial.

Background: Gamification of behavioral intervention for tic disorders (TDs) potentially enhances compliance and offers key clinical advantages. By delivering immediate positive feedback upon tic-suppression, games may counteract negative reinforcement, which presumably contribute to tic consolidation by relieving uncomfortable premonitory urges.

Objectives: We developed a gamified protocol (XTics), which leverages this potential by combining gamified tic-triggering with immediate feedback, and evaluated its clinical value in enhancing tic suppression.

Unpacking the prevalence: A warning against overstating the recently narrowed gap for Black autistic youth.

Recent findings from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring (ADDM) Network's 2020 prevalence report indicate that disparities in autism diagnoses between Black and White youth have narrowed, reflecting improved screening, awareness, and access to services (Maenner et al., 2023. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Health-related quality of life at age 10 years in children born extremely preterm.

Objective: To evaluate the association between prenatal maternal health and socioeconomic status (SES) and health-related quality of life (QoL) among 10-year-old children born extremely preterm.

Design/ Methods: Retrospective analysis of the Extremely Low Gestational Age Newborns (ELGAN) Study cohort of infants born < 28 weeks gestational age. QoL was assessed at 10 years of age using the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory.

From learned value to sustained bias: how reward conditioning changes attentional priority.

Introduction: Attentional bias to reward-associated stimuli can occur even when it interferes with goal-driven behavior. One theory posits that dopaminergic signaling in the striatum during reward conditioning leads to changes in visual cortical and parietal representations of the stimulus used, and this, in turn, sustains attentional bias even when reward is discontinued. However, only a few studies have examined neural activity during both rewarded and unrewarded task phases.