The development of psychopathy

The current review focuses on the construct of psychopathy, conceptualized as a clinical entity that is fundamentally distinct from a heterogeneous collection of syndromes encompassed by the term 'conduct disorder'. We will provide an account of the development of psychopathy at multiple levels: ultimate causal (the genetic or social primary cause), molecular, neural, cognitive and behavioral. The following main claims will be made: (1) that there is a stronger genetic as opposed to social ultimate cause to this disorder. The types of social causes proposed (e.g., childhood sexual/physical abuse) should elevate emotional responsiveness, not lead to the specific form of reduced responsiveness seen in psychopathy; (2) The genetic influence leads to the emotional dysfunction that is the core of psychopathy; (3) The genetic influence at the molecular level remains unknown. However, it appears to impact the functional integrity of the amygdala and orbital/ventrolateral frontal cortex (and possibly additional systems); (4) Disruption within these two neural systems leads to impairment in the ability to form stimulus-reinforcement associations and to alter stimulus-response associations as a function of contingency change. These impairments disrupt the impact of standard socialization techniques and increase the risk for frustration-induced reactive aggression respectively.     

Annotation: Development of facial expression recognition from childhood to adolescence: behavioural and neurological perspectives

BACKGROUND: Intact emotion processing is critical for normal emotional development. Recent advances in neuroimaging have facilitated the examination of brain development, and have allowed for the exploration of the relationships between the development of emotion processing abilities, and that of associated neural systems. METHODS: A literature review was performed of published studies examining the development of emotion expression recognition in normal children and psychiatric populations, and of the development of neural systems important for emotion processing. RESULTS: Few studies have explored the development of emotion expression recognition throughout childhood and adolescence. Behavioural studies suggest continued development throughout childhood and adolescence (reflected by accuracy scores and speed of processing), which varies according to the category of emotion displayed. Factors such as sex, socio-economic status, and verbal ability may also affect this development. Functional neuroimaging studies in adults highlight the role of the amygdala in emotion processing. Results of the few neuroimaging studies in children have focused on the role of the amygdala in the recognition of fearful expressions. Although results are inconsistent, they provide evidence throughout childhood and adolescence for the continued development of and sex differences in amygdalar function in response to fearful expressions. Studies exploring emotion expression recognition in psychiatric populations of children and adolescents suggest deficits that are specific to the type of disorder and to the emotion displayed. CONCLUSIONS: Results from behavioural and neuroimaging studies indicate continued development of emotion expression recognition and neural regions important for this process throughout childhood and adolescence. Methodological inconsistencies and disparate findings make any conclusion difficult, however. Further studies are required examining the relationship between the development of emotion expression recognition and that of underlying neural systems, in particular subcortical and prefrontal cortical structures. These will inform understanding of the neural bases of normal and abnormal emotional development, and aid the development of earlier interventions for children and adolescents with psychiatric disorders.     

Becoming a parent: biobehavioral and brain science perspectives

This overview is a synthesis of our current understanding of parent-infant bonding, chiefly from the perspective of the parent's brain physiology. The parent-infant bond is central to the human condition, contributes to risks for mood and anxiety disorders, and provides potential resiliency and protection against the development of psychopathology throughout life. While the complex nature of the phenomena and experimental approaches leads to the consideration of many overlapping parenting brain systems, including sensory, emotion, and cognition to support behavior, a relatively small set of brain regions seem to be robustly involved. These include basal ganglia and related cortex for emotion and drive (striatum, amygdala, hypothalamus, and hippocampus), and regulatory cortical regions (anterior cingulate, insula medial frontal, and orbitofrontal cortices). Work in this field promises to link parental brain performance with resilience, risk, and appropriate treatment toward infant mental health.     

Emotion self-regulation in preschool-aged children with and without orofacial clefts

Emotion self-regulation is an important developmental task in the preschool period that is related to children's emotional and behavioral adjustment in early childhood. Emotion self-regulation and its relation to later adjustment has not been studied in children born with orofacial clefts, despite their risk for externalizing and internalizing behavior problems. Eighty-three 5-year-old children with cleft lip and palate, isolated cleft palate, or no cleft condition were videotaped during a laboratory disappointment situation. Results showed that children in the cleft group expressed less disappointment than children in the comparison group. Longitudinal analyses revealed that parenting stress measured when the children were 2 years of age predicted Expressed Disappointment at age 5 years, which, in turn, predicted severity of behavior problems at age 7 years. Although tentative, results indicate that control over mild negative affect may be a protective factor for children with clefts, buffering the effects of early stress on the development of later behavioral and emotional problems. Thus, interventions that reduce parenting stress and enhance children's emotion regulation strategies may decrease the risk for later psychological problems in this population.     

Neural connectivity in children with bipolar disorder: impairment in the face emotion processing circuit

BACKGROUND: Pediatric bipolar disorder (BD), a highly debilitating illness, is characterized by amygdala abnormalities, i.e., volume reduction and hyperactivation during face processing. Evidence of perturbed amygdala functional connectivity with other brain regions would implicate a distributed neural circuit in the pathophysiology of BD, and would further elucidate the neural mechanisms associated with BD face emotion misinterpretation. METHODS: Thirty-three BD and 24 healthy age, gender, and IQ-matched subjects completed a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) task of face emotion identification in which attention was directed to emotional (hostility, fearfulness) and nonemotional (nose width) aspects of faces. Voxel-wise analyses examined whole brain functional connectivity with the left amygdala. RESULTS: Compared to healthy subjects, BD subjects had significantly reduced connectivity between the left amygdala and two regions: right posterior cingulate/precuneus and right fusiform gyrus/parahippocampal gyrus. Deficits were evident regardless of mood state and comorbid diagnoses. CONCLUSIONS: BD youth exhibit deficient connectivity between the amygdala and temporal association cortical regions previously implicated in processing facial expressions and social stimuli. In conjunction with previously documented volumetric and functional perturbations in these brain regions, dysfunction in this distributed neural circuit may begin to clarify the pathophysiology of the face emotion misperceptions and social deficits seen in BD youth.     

Perinatal corticosteroid effect on amygdala and hippocampus volume during brain development in the rat model

Exposure of the fetus to corticosteroid during brain development has been suggested to cause permanent change in brain structure and has been associated with long term cognitive, behavioral and emotional impairment. We evaluated the effect of perinatal corticosteroid, at a dose similar to that which human fetuses are exposed, on cerebral cortex, corpus collosum, hippocampus, dentate gyrus and amygdala in a rat model. Rat pups were given betamethasone at day 1 (P1). Brain sections from the rat pups at postnatal day 45 (P45) were then analyzed. No differences were noted in the volumes of cerebral cortex, corpus collosum, hippocampus, dentate gyrus, or three nuclei of the amygdala compared to the control and sham groups. We concluded that a single course of betamethasone, at a comparable dose to that which the human fetus is exposed in clinical practice, had no effect on these regional brain volumes at this stage of development.     

Differential effects of parenting in preterm and full-term children on developmental outcomes

ObjectiveTo examine the relations between preterm birth, parenting behavior during early childhood, cognitive development, and social–emotional outcomes at Kindergarten entry, and to determine whether parenting behavior differentially influences this developing system in children born preterm compared to children born full-term.MethodsThe nationally representative sample comprised 3600 full-term and 1300 preterm children born in the US in the year 2001. All children who entered Kindergarten and who participated in data collection at 9 months, 24 months, and Kindergarten entry were included in the study. Measures of parenting behavior were collected at 9 and 24 months and cognitive development at 24 months via home visits. Social–emotional outcomes were assessed at Kindergarten entry via parent and teacher report. Multiple-sample Structural Equation Modeling was used to analyze group differences in a model whereby early childhood parenting behavior predicted cognitive outcomes, and social–emotional outcomes at Kindergarten entry, and indirectly predicted social–emotional outcomes via early cognitive processes.ResultsThe full sample developmental model indicated excellent fit to the data. Preterm birth status indirectly influenced social–emotional outcomes at Kindergarten entry via its effect on early childhood parenting behavior and cognitive development. The multi-sample model revealed significant differences in the way in which early parenting behavior exerted its influence on outcomes at Kindergarten entry in preterm children compared to full-term children.ConclusionsFor preterm children, parenting indirectly influenced social–emotional outcomes via early cognitive functioning. Findings highlight the importance of early identification and targeted parenting programs to support early cognitive development in preterm children.     

Rehabilitative measures in hearing-impaired children]

On the basis of certain fundamental data on the maturation processes of the central auditory pathways in early childhood the importance of early intervention with hearing aids is discussed and emphasized. Pathological hearing, that is acoustical deprivation in early childhood will influence the maturation process. Very often speech development is delayed if diagnosis and therapy or rehabilitation are not early enough. Anamnesis, early diagnosis and clinical differential diagnosis are required before a hearing aid can be fitted. Selection criteria and adjustment parameters are discussed, showing that the hearing aid fitting procedure must be embedded in a complex matrix of requirements related to the development of speech as well as to the cognitive, emotional and social development of the child. As a rule, finding and preparing the "best" hearing aids (binaural fitting is obligatory) for a child is a long and often difficult process, which can only be performed by specialists who are pedo-audiologists. After the binaural fitting of hearing aids an intensive hearing and speech education in close cooperation between parents, pedo-audiologist and teacher must support the whole development of the child.     

Cognition, emotion, and neurobiological development: mediating the relation between maltreatment and aggression

Child maltreatment has been consistently linked to aggression, yet there have been few attempts to conceptualize precisely how maltreatment influences the development of aggression. This review proposes that biases in cognitive, emotional, and neurobiological development mediate the relation between childhood maltreatment and the development of aggression. In addition, it is posited that physical abuse and neglect may have differential effects on development: Physical abuse may result in hypervigilance to threat and a hostile attributional bias, whereas neglect may result in difficulties with emotion regulation because of a lack of emotional interactions. These processes may be "hardwired" into neural networks via the overactivation of certain brain regions and dysfunctional cognitive processes. The theoretical and necessarily speculative nature of this article is intended to stimulate hypotheses for future research. Only when the adverse effects of maltreatment on brain and cognitive development are understood can scholars hope to develop more effective interventions to alter the developmental pathway to aggression.     

Regulating emotion in parent-child and peer relationships: a comparison of sexually maltreated and nonmaltreated girls

This study examined emotion regulation skills in 22 sexually maltreated girls and 22 nonmaltreated girls between 6 and 12 years of age to determine how the experience of sexual maltreatment might interfere with normative emotional development. Findings indicated that sexually maltreated girls, compared to nonmaltreated peers, reported different goals (i.e., inhibiting emotion to avoid conflict vs. displaying emotion to rectify, a situation) for managing their emotional expressivity with their parents. They also reported expecting less support and more conflict from parents in response to emotional displays. Finally, maltreated girls expected less practical assistance from all social partners (i.e., mother, father, best friend) following their emotional displays. Surprisingly, however, there were no group differences in girls' ability to generate effective strategies for coping with emotionally arousing situations. Findings are discussed from the functionalist approach to emotional development, emphasizing the importance of social context (i.e., maltreating, nonmaltreating) in the development of children's emotion regulation skills.     

Developing circadian rhythmicity in infants

Circadian rhythms are endogenously generated rhythms with a period length of about 24-hrs. Evidence gathered over the past decade indicates that the circadian timing system develops prenatally and the suprachiasmatic nuclei, the site of a circadian clock, are present by mid-gestation in human and non-human primates. Recent evidence also shows that the circadian system of primate infants is responsive to light at very premature stages and that low intensity lighting can regulate the developing clock. After birth, there is progressive maturation of the circadian system outputs, with pronounced rhythms in sleep-wake and hormone secretion generally developing after two months of age. With the continued elucidation of circadian system development and influences on human physiology and illness, it is anticipated that consideration of circadian biology will become an increasingly important component of neonatal care.     

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??Functional magnetic resonance imaging??fMRI?? is one of the most important technologies in pediatric brain cognitive function research??it is also an important method in the field of psycho-radiology which aims to study the abnormalities of neural basis in the patients with mental disorders. Pediatric depression is one of the most common mental disorders in children. It is thought frequently that the children with major depressive disorder??MDD?? have their specific neural and physiological basis. Based on the findings from the task state fMRI studies??children with MDD demonstrated impairment in the cognitive??emotional and social cognitive functions. And the pediatric MDD shows alteration in the key brain areas involved in the cognitive??affective and rewared processing??including the amygdala??anterior cingulate??prefrontal and orbitofrontal cortex. The future research should consider the psychological development of children in the selection of the appropriate cognitive and affective task or paradigm to explore the brain function of the pediatric MDD. For children at high risk of depression??we should carry out systematic preventive research to provide experimental evidence for neuroimaging and psychological markers of early warning and for the development of early intervention methods.     

Entwicklung von Verhaltensstörungen

In childhood and adolescence behavioral disorders are the most stable disorders.Hyperactivity, oppositional and aggressive behavioral disorders are highly prevalent. Over the past 20 years a large number of longitudinal studies have presented the main risk factors for the development of these behavioral disorders.The biopsychosocial development models include biological, psychological, social and family risk conditions. The model given by Moffitt (1993) is demonstrated; intervention strategies for the treatment of aggressive behavior are shown in brief.     

抽动障碍儿童家庭、社会适应能力及行为的研究

为探讨抽动障碍儿童与正常儿童在家庭、社会适应能力及行为心理方面的异同,采用自制定向问卷对80例抽动患儿和100例正常儿童进行调查,内容包括三方面共17项。对调查结果应用Epi info Version统计软件包进行分析。结果显示,在家庭状况方面。抽动患儿和正常儿童在其家庭类型上几乎无差异,但前者神经精神阳性家族史显著高于后者(X_(MH)~2=8.93,P<0.05),在家庭教育上,抽动组家长以打骂、训斥为主的教育方式远较正常组高;在社会适应能力方面,抽动患儿与正常儿童相比,较多的表现为结识新友难,在校成绩相对较差,容易产生孤独感(t值=4.38,P<0.01);在行为问题上,抽动患儿更多的伴随多动注意障碍、攻击行为、精神紧张等。提示家族阳性神经精神病史、父母教养不当、社会适应能力欠佳、行为心理问题较多等与抽动障碍密切相关,并在该症的发病过程中起重要作用,应引起重视。     

Reduced orbitofrontal and temporal grey matter in a community sample of maltreated children

Background: Childhood maltreatment is strongly associated with increased risk of psychiatric disorder. Previous neuroimaging studies have reported atypical neural structure in the orbitofrontal cortex, temporal lobe, amygdala, hippocampus and cerebellum in maltreated samples. It has been hypothesised that these structural differences may relate to increased psychiatric vulnerability. However, previous studies have typically recruited clinical samples with concurrent psychiatric disorders, or have poorly characterised the range of maltreatment experiences and levels of concurrent anxiety or depression, limiting the interpretation of the observed structural differences. Methods: We used voxel‐based morphometry to compare grey matter volume in a group of 18 children (mean age 12.01 years, SD = 1.4), referred to community social services, with documented and well‐characterised experiences of maltreatment at home and a group of 20 nonmaltreated children (mean age 12.6 years, SD = 1.3). Both groups were comparable on age, gender, cognitive ability, ethnicity and levels of anxiety, depression and posttraumatic stress symptoms. We examined five a priori regions of interest: the prefrontal cortex, temporal lobes, amygdala, hippocampus and cerebellum. Results: Maltreated children, compared to nonmaltreated peers, presented with reduced grey matter in the medial orbitofrontal cortex and the left middle temporal gyrus. Conclusions: The medial orbitofrontal cortex and the middle temporal gyrus have been implicated in reinforcement‐based decision‐making, emotion regulation and autobiographical memory, processes that are impaired in a number of psychiatric disorders associated with maltreatment. We speculate that grey matter disturbance in these regions in a community sample of maltreated children may represent a latent neurobiological risk factor for later psychopathology and heightened risk taking.     

子宫内电穿孔法调控鼠胚大脑皮质神经干细胞基因表达体系的建立

目的 利用子宫内电穿孔(in utero electroporation,IUE)技术,建立小鼠胚胎阶段调控大脑皮质神经干细胞基因表达体系。方法 向孕14.5 d鼠胚脑室内注入pCIG质粒,电转至大脑皮质神经干细胞(neural stem cell,NSC)。取孕16.5 d或孕17.5 d鼠胚脑组织制作冰冻切片,采用免疫荧光染色观察NSC的增殖、凋亡、分裂、定向分化及迁移和成熟。结果 可在孕16.5 d观察到NSC向中间前体神经元分化、NSC增殖与凋亡及放射状胶质细胞放射轴形态结构发育的情况;可在孕17.5 d观察到NSC向大脑皮质Ⅴ～Ⅵ层神经元分化、NSC向外侧大脑皮质迁移、迁移神经元树突发育及神经元成熟的情况。结论 采用IUE技术可成功建立调控小鼠胚胎大脑皮质NSC基因表达体系,这有利于深入开展大脑皮质NSC的增殖、凋亡、分裂、定向分化、迁移和成熟等神经发育相关研究。[中国当代儿科杂志,2022,24 (9):1061-1067]     

The late positive potential: a neurophysiological marker for emotion regulation in children

Background:  The ability to modulate emotional responses, or emotion regulation, is a key mechanism in the development of mood disruptions. Detection of a neural marker for emotion regulation thus has the potential to inform early detection and intervention for mood problems. One such neural marker may be the late positive potential (LPP), which is a scalp-recorded event-related potential reflecting facilitated attention to emotional stimuli. In adults, the LPP is reduced following use of cognitive emotion regulation strategies such as reappraisal. No studies to date have examined the LPP in relation to cognitive emotion regulation in children, and whether the LPP is related to parent-report measures of emotion regulation and mood disruptions.
Methods:  To examine this question, high-density electroencephalograph (EEG) was recorded from 20 children ( M age = 87.8 months, SD  = 18.02; 10 girls) while they viewed unpleasant emotional pictures following either a directed negative or neutral interpretation of the picture.
Results:  As predicted, the LPP was smaller following neutral versus negative interpretations at posterior recording sites, except for younger girls (aged 5–6). The timing of this effect was later than that reported in studies with adults. For all children, greater modulation of the LPP by neutral interpretations was associated with reduced anxious-depressed symptoms, whereas larger LPPs for both interpretation types were associated with greater mood symptoms and worse parent-reported emotion regulation.
Conclusions:  Results suggest that the LPP may represent a clinically relevant neural marker for emotion regulation and mood disruptions.     

Sexuality in adolescence: development, experience, and proposals for intervention

OBJECTIVE: To present a literature review of some aspects concerning the development of sexuality in the period between childhood and adolescence, and to work on some proposals for prevention and intervention. METHODS: Review of literature on relevant issues related to the process of psychosocial and sexual development during childhood and adolescence, and to the importance of prevention education. RESULTS: Differently from genitality, which is only concerned with biological aspects, sexuality encompasses emotional aspects, life history and cultural values. These factors contribute to the formation of general identity and to the components of sexual identity: gender identity, gender role, and sexual orientation. Psychosocial and sexual development, emotional balance, and social relations are based on sexual experience during childhood and adolescence. During adolescence, the relationship with family and social group go through marked changes: conflicts arise, and experimentation and risk behavior are enhanced. The family, school, and health systems represent important links of identification, support, and protection for children and adolescents before they reach maturity. CONCLUSIONS: Sexuality education, either individually or in group, allows adolescents to experience sexuality and their emotional relations in a satisfactory, creative, and risk-free manner, combined with mutual respect and absence of gender discrimination.     

The Mpl ligand and platelet homeostasis

The classification of Mpl as a cytokine receptor present on cells of the platelet lineage has led to the identification and cloning of its ligand. This has resulted in a rapid accumulation of data advancing the understanding of the processes of megakaryopoiesis and thrombopoiesis and the regulation of endogenous Mpl ligand (thrombopoietin, eTPO). Highlights of in vitro human and non-human primate data will be discussed, as well as preclinical ( in vivo ) non-human primate studies. Two recombinant forms of Mpl ligands (rTPO) are currently being tested in clinical trials and early results will be reviewed. The preclinical and clinical studies will be summarized with consideration of the observations which provide insights into the biology of the response to exogenous rTPO. Understanding the biology of platelet production and the condition of target cells in treatment populations will facilitate the appropriate use of this potential therapeutic agent.