The association between neurocognition and sexual abuse within a children's psychiatric inpatient program.

: The aim of this study was to understand the detrimental effects of sexual abuse on neuropsychological variables including child's intelligence, executive functioning (EF), and learning/memory within a pediatric inpatient population.: This study examined the effect of sexual abuse on children's intelligence, EF, and learning/memory by conducting a retrospective chart review for 144 children (aged 7-12) who completed a neuropsychological assessment during a psychiatric inpatient hospitalization. Of the 144 children, participants were matched two to one by gender and age, with one group (n = 52) categorized by reported sexual abuse and the other group (n = 92) categorized by no reported sexual abuse.

Editorial Perspective: Adolescents' fragile sleep-shining light on a time of risk to mental health.

As many other facets of life-biological, behavioral, psychological, cognitive, and social-undergo change during adolescence, so too does sleep. The context of sleep behavior is modified by alterations to underlying bioregulatory processes that challenge sleep's timing, regularity, and quantity. The buildup of sleep pressure during the day gets slower, opening the door for youth to stay awake later; however, the amount of sleep required does not diminish.

Adversity exposure and obesogenic food consumption in young children: The transgenerational role of emotion dysregulation.

Background: Childhood adversity is linked with unhealthy eating behaviours and obesity, but the mechanisms underlying this association are unclear, specifically the transgenerational behavioural precursors that develop in early childhood.

Objective: To determine whether adversity predicts change in obesogenic food consumption through child emotion dysregulation, and whether caregiver emotion dysregulation modifies this association.

Methods: Participants included 190 low-income caregiver-child dyads (mean child age = 4.

Insights into smell and taste sensitivity in normal weight and overweight-obese adolescents.

Research examining connections between BMI and smell and taste sensitivity in adolescents has been minimal, methodologically inconsistent, and inconclusive. We sought to address this issue with an exploratory study of smell and taste sensitivity in overweight-obese (high BMI) and normal BMI male and female adolescents (ages 12-16 years), using previously validated chemosensory testing measures (Sniffin' Sticks, Taste Strips, 6-n-propylthiouracil: PROP), and taking pubertal stage into account. Puberty was evaluated with the validated Pubertal Development Scale and participants were then classified as either "early" or "late" pubertal stage.

Continuous Theta-Burst Stimulation in Children With High-Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder and Typically Developing Children.

: A neurophysiologic biomarker for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is highly desirable and can improve diagnosis, monitoring, and assessment of therapeutic response among children with ASD. We investigated the utility of continuous theta-burst stimulation (cTBS) applied to the motor cortex (M1) as a biomarker for children and adolescents with high-functioning (HF) ASD compared to their age- and gender-matched typically developing (TD) controls. We also compared the developmental trajectory of long-term depression- (LTD-) like plasticity in the two groups.

Molecular markers of neuroendocrine function and mitochondrial biogenesis associated with early life stress.

Objective: Glucocorticoid receptor gene (NR3C1) promoter methylation influences cellular expression of the glucocorticoid receptor and is a proposed mechanism by which early life stress impacts neuroendocrine function. Mitochondria are sensitive and responsive to neuroendocrine stress signaling through the glucocorticoid receptor, and recent evidence with this sample and others shows that mitochondrial DNA copy number (mtDNAcn) is increased in adults with a history of early stress. No prior work has examined the role of NR3C1 methylation in the association between early life stress and mtDNAcn alterations.

Memory: Necessary for Deep Sleep?

Patients with hippocampus lesions suffer profound failures in episodic memory. Sleep plays a key role in processing hippocampus-dependent memories. Lesioning this structure may fundamentally alter the architecture of human sleep, posing fundamental questions about the link between sleep and memory processing.

Strategies for longitudinal recruitment and retention with parents and preschoolers exposed to significant adversity: The PAIR project as an example of methods, obstacles, and recommendations.

Longitudinal research with adversity-exposed parents and children can present numerous challenges for researchers. Recruitment and retention of participants in longitudinal research is crucial to understanding complex relations between risk and resilience, as well as developing prevention and intervention programs. To assist the field, this article provides a thorough description of the Preschoolers' Adjustment and Intergenerational Risk (PAIR) project, a study aimed at understanding adversity and resilience in parent-preschooler dyads.

Assessing performance validity with the TOMM and automatized sequences task in a pediatric psychiatric inpatient setting.

This study examined the performance of children consecutively admitted to an inpatient psychiatric unit on the Test of Memory Malingering (TOMM) (aged 5-12; = 96) and Automatized Sequences Task (aged 8-12; = 67). Eighty-three percent of children passed the TOMM Trial 2 ( raw score = 47.7,  = 4.

Infant sleep moderates the effect of infant temperament on maternal depressive symptoms, maternal sensitivity, and family functioning.

Observed infant temperamental difficulty and infant sleep efficiency and sleep variability were examined as predictors of maternal depressive symptoms, maternal sensitivity, and family functioning. Eight observations at 8-months postpartum were used to assess infant temperament, and actigraphy was used to measure infant sleep for 1-week at the time of the 8-month assessment. Structured clinical interviews were used to assess maternal depressive symptoms between 5 and 12 months postpartum and at 15 months postpartum, and observational assessments were used to assess maternal sensitivity and family functioning at 15 months postpartum.

The relationship between individual alpha peak frequency and clinical outcome with repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) treatment of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD).

Background: The individual α frequency (IAF) has been associated with the outcome of repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) treatment of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), but the association has been inconsistent.

Hypothesis: Proximity of IAF to the stimulation frequency, rather than the value of IAF per se, is associated with outcome for patients receiving 10 Hz rTMS.

Methods: We examined the relationships between IAF, rTMS stimulation frequency, and treatment outcome in 147 patients.

Measurement and Modulation of Working Memory-Related Oscillatory Abnormalities.

Despite the critical role of working memory (WM) in neuropsychiatric conditions, there remains a dearth of available WM-targeted interventions. Gamma and theta oscillations as measured with electroencephalography (EEG) or magnetoencephalography (MEG) reflect the neural underpinnings of WM. The WM processes that fluctuate in conjunction with WM demands are closely correlated with WM test performance, and their EEG signatures are abnormal in several clinical populations.

Childhood maltreatment, behavioral adjustment, and molecular markers of cellular aging in preschool-aged children: A cohort study.

Objective: Childhood maltreatment is a major risk factor for the development of behavioral problems and poor physical and mental health. Accelerated cellular aging, through reduced telomere length and mitochondrial dysfunction, may be a mechanism underlying these associations.

Methods: Families with (n = 133) and without (n = 123) child welfare documentation of moderate-severe maltreatment in the past six months participated in this study.

Test-Retest Reliability of the Effects of Continuous Theta-Burst Stimulation.

Objectives: The utility of continuous theta-burst stimulation (cTBS) as index of cortical plasticity is limited by inadequate characterization of its test-retest reliability. We thus evaluated the reliability of cTBS aftereffects, and explored the roles of age and common single-nucleotide polymorphisms in the brain-derived neurotrophic factor () and apolipoprotein E () genes.

Methods: Twenty-eight healthy adults (age range 21-65) underwent two identical cTBS sessions (median interval = 9.

Neurocognitive heterogeneity across the spectrum of psychopathology: need for improved approaches to deficit detection and intervention.

Neurocognition is one of the strongest predictors of clinical and functional outcomes across the spectrum of psychopathology, yet there remains a dearth of unified neurocognitive nosology and available neurocognition-targeted interventions. Neurocognitive deficits manifest in a transdiagnostic manner, with no psychiatric disorder uniquely affiliated with one specific deficit. In fact, recent research has identified that essentially all investigated disorders are comprised of 3-4 neurocognitive profiles.

Infant mental health home visiting in the context of an infant-toddler court team: Changes in parental responsiveness and reflective functioning.

This article describes an infant-toddler court team in Michigan, the community-based participatory research approach to the implementation evaluation, and the resulting changes in parenting. Like other court teams, Michigan's Baby Court is led by a science-informed jurist, and all service providers are knowledgeable about the developmental needs of young children and engage in collaborative communication throughout the case. Relationship-based treatment in the form of infant mental health home-visiting was provided to families.

Neurocognitive predictors of length of stay within a children's psychiatric inpatient program.

This study investigated the neurocognitive predictors of length of stay (LOS) within a children's psychiatric inpatient program. A medical chart review was conducted for 96 children aged 6-14 years who received a neuropsychological evaluation during hospitalization. Correlation and linear regression analyses examined the influence of neurocognition (memory, construction, executive functioning [EF], and intelligence [IQ]) on subsequent LOS.

Hand stereotypies: Lessons from the Rett Syndrome Natural History Study.

Objective: To characterize hand stereotypies (HS) in a large cohort of participants with Rett syndrome (RTT).

Methods: Data from 1,123 girls and women enrolled in the RTT Natural History Study were gathered. Standard tests for continuous and categorical variables were used at baseline.

The Role of Mindful Parenting in Individual and Social Decision-Making in Children.

Children are confronted with an increasing amount of choices every day, which can be stressful. Decision-making skills may be one of the most important "21st century skills" that children need to master to ensure success. Many aspects of decision-making, such as emotion regulation during stressful situations, develop in the context of caregiver-child interactions.

Maternal witness to intimate partner violence during childhood and prenatal family functioning alter newborn cortisol reactivity.

Witnessing intimate partner violence (IPV) during childhood is a risk factor for mental health problems across the lifespan. Less is known about the intergenerational consequences of witnessing IPV, and if the current family climate buffers intergenerational effects of witnessing violence. The mother's experience of witnessing IPV against her own mother during childhood, prenatal family dysfunction, and prenatal perceived stress were examined as predictors of offspring cortisol in the first month of life (N = 218 mother-infant dyads).

A coordinate-based meta-analysis comparing brain activation between attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and total sleep deprivation.

Study Objectives: Sleep disruption is common in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Likewise, deficits in attention are a hallmark of sleep deprivation in healthy individuals. Whether ADHD and sleep deprivation modulate common, or disparate, neural systems is unknown.

Child Psychotherapy Training in the United States: A National Survey of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship Program Directors.

Objectives: Training in child and adolescent psychotherapy continues to be emphasized by accrediting organizations (ACGME and ABPN) but it is not known how these skills are taught and what types of therapy are highlighted in fellowships across the United States.

Methods: A 16-question anonymous online survey was developed by the authors and covered six main areas: demographics, the priority of psychotherapy in training, the competency goals for different psychotherapy modalities, training strategies, types of supervision, and program directors' satisfaction of their training implementation and assessment of trainees. The survey was sent to every identified CAP program director during a three-month period in early 2017.

Cognitive performance of youth with primary generalized anxiety disorder versus primary obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Background: Despite gains made in the study of childhood anxiety, differential diagnosis remains challenging because of indistinct boundaries between disorders and high comorbidity. This is certainly true for generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) as they share multiple cognitive processes (e.g.