Effects of DTNBP1 genotype on brain development in children

Background: Schizophrenia is a neurodevelopmental disorder, and risk genes are thought to act through disruption of brain development. Several genetic studies have identified dystrobrevin‐binding protein 1 (DTNBP1, also known as dysbindin) as a potential susceptibility gene for schizophrenia, but its impact on brain development is poorly understood. The present investigation examined for the first time the effects of DTNBP1 on brain structure in children. Our hypothesis was that a genetic variation in DTNBP1 (i.e., the single nucleotide polymorphism rs2619538) would be associated with differences in both gray and white matter brain regions previously implicated in schizophrenia. Methods: Magnetic resonance imaging and voxel‐based morphometry were used to examine brain structure in 52 male children aged between 10 and 12 years. Statistical inferences on the effects of DTNBP1 genotype on gray and white matter volume (GMV and WMV) were made at p < .05 after family‐wise error correction for multiple comparisons across the whole brain. Results: Individuals homozygous for the schizophrenia high‐risk allele (AA) compared with those homozygous for the low‐risk allele (TT) expressed reduced GMV in the left anterior cingulate gyrus and reduced WMV in the left medial frontal area. Conclusions: Our results suggest that genetic variation in DTNBP1 is associated with differences in gray and white matter; and that these effects are already evident in children as young as 10–12 years. These findings are consistent with the notion that the DTNBP1 genotype influences brain development and may thereby modulate vulnerability to schizophrenia.     

Child protection contact among children of culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds: A South Australian linked data study

Aim

To describe the cumulative incidence of child protection (CP) system contact, maltreatment type, source of reports to age 7 years, and socio-demographic characteristics for culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) Australian children.

Methods

We used CP, education, health, and birth registrations data for children followed from birth up to age 7 from the South Australian Better Evidence, Better Outcomes, Linked Data (SA BEBOLD) platform. Participants: SA born children enrolled in their first year of school from 2009 to 2015 (n = 76 563). CALD defined as non-Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, spoken language other than English, Indigenous or Sign, or had at least one parent born in a non-English speaking country. Outcomes measures: For CALD and non-CALD children, we estimated the cumulative incidence (risk) of CP contacts up to age 7, relative risk and risk differences for all levels of CP contact from notification to out-of-home care (OOHC), primary maltreatment type, reporter type, and socio-economic characteristics. Sensitivity analyses explored different population selection criteria and CALD definitions.

Results

By age 7, 11.2% of CALD children had ‘screened-in’ notifications compared to 18.8% of non-CALD (risk difference [RD] 7.6 percentage points (95% confidence interval: 6.9–8.3)), and 0.6% of CALD children experienced OOHC compared to 2.2% of non-CALD (RD 1.6 percentage points (95% confidence interval: 1.3–1.8)). Emotional abuse was the most common substantiated maltreatment type for CALD and neglect for non-CALD. Among both groups, the most common reporter sources were police and education sector. Socio-economic characteristics were broadly similar. Sensitivity analyses results were consistent with primary analyses.

Conclusion

By age 7, CALD children had lower risk of contact with all levels of CP. Estimates based on primary and sensitivity analyses suggested CALD children were 5–9 percentage points less likely to have a report screened-in, and from 1.0 to 1.7 percentage points less likely to have experienced OOHC.     

Deliberate poisoning in the context of Induced Illness in children

Deliberate poisoning of children is rare in the UK but carries a high morbidity and mortality. Two-thirds of cases in the major UK epidemiological survey in the early 1990's were associated with FII abuse. Diagnosis is often delayed with severe consequences for the child concerned. This paper reviews how poisoning may present in the context of FII abuse and describes the types of poisoning agents that may be identified, along with a brief guide to diagnosis and management of cases. Detailed guidance on managing cases is available through RCPCH and government documents.     

Health of Australian children in out-of-home care: needs and carer recognition

Aim: Following research highlighting high levels of health need in New South Wales children in out‐of‐home care, this study aimed to quantify health need in a sample of Queensland children in care based on multidisciplinary child health assessments. The study also sought to examine the concordance between foster carers' health concerns for children for whom they are providing care and health need as established through referrals made as a result of health assessment. Methods: Children entering out‐of‐home care in the north Brisbane area within the previous month were referred for baseline child health assessment. Child health was assessed by paediatricians and clinical nurses utilising a pro forma‐based methodology. Analysis of initial carer concerns, health referrals and immunisation status in the sample was undertaken. Results: Of the 63 children assessed, 70% were found to require multiple referrals to various health services. The most frequently made referrals included paediatrician follow‐up (41% of children), counselling services (30%) and audiology (26%). Only 68% of the sample was found to be fully immunised. A discrepancy was noted between foster carers' child health concerns and level of referral need established during assessment. Conclusions: Queensland children in care have high health needs similar to those evidenced by children in care in other areas of Australia. Foster carers appear to underestimate the health needs of children in their care, demonstrating the necessity of multidisciplinary health screens and foster carer training in order to detect child health problems in this population.     

Variability in post-error behavioral adjustment is associated with functional abnormalities in the temporal cortex in children with ADHD

Background: Error processing is reflected, behaviorally, by slower reaction times (RT) on trials immediately following an error (post‐error). Children with attention‐deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) fail to show RT slowing and demonstrate increased intra‐subject variability (ISV) on post‐error trials. The neural correlates of these behavioral deficits remain unclear. The dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and lateral prefrontal cortex (PFC) are key regions implicated in error processing and subsequent behavioral adjustment. We hypothesized that children with ADHD, compared to typically developing (TD) controls, would exhibit reduced PFC activation during post‐error (versus post‐correct inhibition) trials and reduced dACC activation during error (versus correct inhibition) trials. Methods: Using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) and a Go/No‐Go task, we analyzed the neural correlates of error processing in 13 children with ADHD and 17 TD children. Results: Behaviorally, children with ADHD showed similar RT slowing but increased ISV compared to controls. The post‐error contrast revealed a relative increase in blood‐oxygen‐level dependent (BOLD) signal in the middle/inferior temporal cortex (TempC), the ACC/supplementary motor area (SMA) and the somatosensory/auditory cortex (AudC) in children with ADHD compared to controls. Importantly, in the ADHD group, increased post‐error temporal cortex activity was associated with lower ISV. During error (versus correct inhibition) trials, no between‐group differences were detected. However, in children with ADHD lower ISV was associated with decreased insula and increased precentral gyrus activity. Conclusions: In children with ADHD, post‐error neural activity suggests, first, a shift of attention towards task‐irrelevant stimuli (AudC), and second, a recruitment of compensatory regions that resolve stimulus conflict (TempC) and improve response selection/execution (ACC/SMA). ADHD children with higher temporal cortex activation showed lower ISV, suggesting that functional abnormalities in the compensatory temporal regions contribute to increased variability. Moreover, increased ISV may be related to an over‐sensitivity to negative outcomes during error trials in ADHD (insula correlation).     

药物难治性颞叶癫患儿手术效果及其影响因素:附76例分析

目的总结药物难治性颞叶癫(MITLE)患儿的手术效果,探讨影响其手术预后的因素。方法以2005年6月—2009年3月进行手术,并至少随访1年的76例MITLE患儿为研究对象,应用多因素Logistic回归分析判断影响MITLE患儿手术效果的独立预测因素。结果 MITLE患儿手术后,根据Engel分级法,46例(60.5%)达到Ⅰ级,22例(28.9%)Ⅱ～Ⅲ级。多因素Logistic回归分析提示,首发年龄(P=0.034,OR=4.734,95%CI:1.121～17.067)、发作类型(P=0.033,OR=3.610,95%CI:1.111～11.732)是影响MITLE患儿手术效果的独立预测因素;既往病因、病程、MRI检查结果、发作频率、手术侧别、发作间期放电范围、IQ、服用抗癫药物对手术效果无独立预测作用。结论手术治疗儿童MITLE有效。首发年龄小、继发全面性发作的MITLE患儿手术治疗效果较差。     

Stomachaches and headaches in a community sample of preschool children

The epidemiology of recurrent stomachache and headache was studied in a community sample of 308 preschool children, most of whom were white. When the children were 3 years old, interviews with their mothers indicated that 3% had recurrent headaches and 9% had recurrent stomachaches. Children with recurrent stomachaches were more likely than those without recurrent stomachaches to have mothers who were emotionally depressed (P less than .01), had marital problems (P less than .05), and perceived their own health as poor (P less than .05). When maternal poor health was controlled, depression was still associated with their children having stomachaches (P less than .05). Prospectively collected data demonstrate that children with recurrent stomachaches did not have bowel difficulties when they were infants. Other psychosocial stresses and demographic factors were not associated with stomachaches. The only variable associated with recurrent headache was maternal depression. Children with recurrent headaches or stomachaches were more likely to have behavior problems, as measured by the Behavior Screening Questionnaire, than were children without these symptoms. The analysis presents new data on these common symptoms of childhood.     

Prevalence and characteristics of sexual abuse in a national sample of Swedish seventeen-year-old boys and girls

The aims of this study, which was part of a survey on adolescent sexual behaviour, were to investigate adolescents' experience of child sexual abuse and to present possible abuse-related problems. Representative samples of 2% of Sweden's 17-y-old male and female students and school non-attenders were selected in a two-step procedure. In all, 1943 students and 210 school non-attenders answered a self-administered anonymous questionnaire, distributed by school nurses. Six out of 170 questions dealt with personal experiences of child sexual abuse, i.e. age at onset, frequency of abuse and relationship to the offender. Peer abuse was excluded by the definitions used. The overall response rate was 92.2% for students and 44.2% for school dropouts. Among male and female students, 3.1% and 11.2%, respectively, acknowledged sexual abuse, 2.3% and 7.1%, respectively, when exhibitionism was excluded. Mean age at onset was 9.1 y (SD 4.3) for boys and 9.0 y (SD 3.9) for girls; 1.2% of the boys and 3.1% of the girls reported abusive oral, vaginal and/or anal intercourse. Suicide attempts or other acts of self-harm were reported by 33.3% of the male students reporting abuse and by 5.1% (p < 0.001) of those who had not been abused, and by 30.4% of the abused student girls compared to 9.1% of the non-abused (p < 0.001). Sleep and eating disorders, use of alcohol at an early age and/or experimentation with illicit drugs and consensual coitarche before age 15 y was reported significantly more often by abused than non-abused girls (p < 0.001, differences not found among the student boys). Of school non-attenders, 4% of the boys and 28% of the girls reported sexual abuse. Of the abused girls, 49% reported abusive vaginal intercourse and 64% reported self-destructive behaviour or suicide attempts. No abused boys and few abused girls had confided in a teacher, health professional or social worker. Results from the student sample should be interpreted as markers of "minimum prevalence", as female school non-attenders report significantly higher prevalence of sexual abuse. Potential high-risk groups are better included in prevalence investigations of child sexual abuse. The fact that so few adolescents confided in "professionals" about the abuse, despite having severe symptoms and signs of distress, underlines the need to address sexual abuse when recording the social, medical and psychiatric histories of adolescents.     

Response reversal and children with psychopathic tendencies: success is a function of salience of contingency change

BACKGROUND: Previous work has inconsistently reported difficulties with response reversal/extinction in children with psychopathic tendencies. METHOD: We tested the hypothesis that the degree of impairment seen in children with psychopathic tendencies is a function of the salience of contingency change. We investigated the performance of children with psychopathic tendencies on a novel probabilistic response reversal task involving four conditions with gradated reward-punishment contingencies (100-0, 90-10, 80-20 and 70-30; i.e., for the 100-0 contingency, responding to one object is always rewarded while responding to the other is always punished). RESULTS: In line with predictions, the impairment seen in the children with psychopathic tendencies was an inverse function of the salience of the contingency change. CONCLUSIONS: We suggest that this data is consistent with suggestions of subtle orbital frontal cortex impairment in children with psychopathic tendencies.     

Physiological markers of anxiety are increased in children of abused mothers

Background: A growing number of studies indicate that low income, African American men and women living in urban environments are at high risk for trauma exposure, which may have intergenerational effects. The current study employed psychophysiological methods to describe biomarkers of anxiety in children of traumatized mothers. Methods: Study participants were recruited from a highly traumatized urban population, comprising mother–child pairs (n = 36) that included school‐age children. Mothers were assessed for childhood abuse with the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, as well as symptoms of depression and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The children were measured for dark‐enhanced startle responses and heart‐rate variability. Results: Dark‐enhanced startle was found to be higher in children whose mothers had high levels of childhood physical abuse, as compared to children whose mothers had low levels of physical abuse. During the habituation phase of the startle experiment, children whose mothers had high levels of childhood emotional abuse had higher sympathetic system activation compared to children of mothers with low emotional abuse. These effects remained significant after accounting for maternal symptoms of PTSD and depression, as well as for the child’s trauma exposure. Conclusion: These results demonstrate that children of mothers who have history of childhood physical and emotional abuse have higher dark‐enhanced startle as well as greater sympathetic nervous system activation than children of mothers who do not report a history of childhood physical and emotional abuse, and emphasize the utility of physiological measures as pervasive biomarkers of psychopathology that can easily be measured in children.     

Cosleeping in a community sample of 2- and 3-year-old children

A randomly selected community sample of 303 parents of 2- and 3-year-olds were interviewed about child sleep behaviors and completed the Child Behavior Checklist for Ages 2-3, a standardized rating scale for child problem behaviors. Most parents (55%) reported that the child slept in their bed at least occasionally and for at least part of the night, particularly during periods of minor stress or disruption of the family routine. The prevalence of cosleeping did not vary by the child's age or sex, but frequent cosleeping (more than once per week) was more common among nonwhite families and single-mother households. Cosleeping was not significantly related to child behavior problems, but frequent cosleepers were more likely to report sleep problems, including difficulty getting to sleep and night waking. Children who were still cosleeping frequently 1 year after the initial assessment maintained high levels of sleep problems, compared with those who stopped cosleeping and non-cosleepers. Cosleeping is common at this age and is not related to general maladjustment. However, frequent cosleeping is closely intertwined with child sleep problems.     

Assessment and follow-up of suspected child abuse in preschool children with fractures seen in a general hospital emergency department

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the emergency department assessment and follow-up of possible child abuse in children with fractures. METHODS: A retrospective audit was conducted of children up to 3 years of age who presented with a fracture to a general hospital emergency department over a 2-year period. RESULTS: In the 98 cases included, there was no documentation of complete physical examination in 57% of cases, whether the injury was witnessed in 54%, or time of injury in 18%. In 27% of cases the history documented was too brief to assess consistency of the injury with the history. Seventy-five per cent of children with known prior injuries did not have their past history documented. In 80% of all cases there was no indication that the emergency department doctor had considered the possibility of child abuse. Emergency doctors did not recognize four out of 16 cases (25%) with inconsistent histories. There was poor follow-up of patients in whom abuse was suspected: 46% of children less than 2 years had neither a skeletal survey nor bone scan. Patients referred to a paediatrician by the emergency department were significantly more likely to have a skeletal survey performed and to have the diagnosis of child abuse confirmed. CONCLUSIONS: Emergency department staff in a general hospital do not document or assess for all of the indicators of child abuse in a high-risk population and they do not document consideration of the diagnosis in the majority of cases. Emergency department staff need more training and more resources to allow for full assessment of child abuse. Suspected child abuse cases should be referred to a paediatrician to improve investigation and follow-up.     

Cortical recruitment patterns in children born prematurely compared with control subjects during a passive listening functional magnetic resonance imaging task

OBJECTIVES: To use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to test the hypothesis that subjects who were born prematurely develop alternative systems for processing language. STUDY DESIGN: Subjects who were born prematurely (n = 14; 600-1250 g birthweight) without neonatal brain injury and 10 matched term control subjects were examined with a fMRI passive listening task of language, the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals (CELF) and portions of the Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing (CTOPP). The fMRI task was evaluated for both phonologic and semantic processing. RESULTS: Although there were differences in CELF scores between the subjects born prematurely and control subjects, there were no significant differences in the CTOPP measures in the 2 groups. fMRI studies demonstrated that the groups differentially engaged neural systems known to process language. Children born at term were significantly more likely to activate systems for the semantic processing of language, whereas subjects born prematurely preferentially engaged regions that subserve phonology. CONCLUSIONS: At 12 years of age, children born prematurely and children born at term activate neural systems for the auditory processing of language differently. Subjects born prematurely engage different networks for phonologic processing; this strategy is associated with phonologic language scores that are similar to those of control subjects. These biologically based developmental strategies may provide the substrate for the improving language skills noted in children who are born prematurely.     

Sexually transmitted infections in alleged sexual abuse of children and adolescents

AIM: To describe the prevalence of sexually transmitted infections (STI) in children and young people aged 0-17 years seen for suspected sexual abuse in Auckland, New Zealand. METHODS: Retrospective review of consecutive medical records over a 7-year period from December 1991 to December 1998. RESULTS: A total of 2162 children and young people had a genital examination related to concerns about possible sexual abuse, of whom 1909 (88.3%) had some form of screening test for STI. Sixty children and young people (2.8%) had STI, diagnosed either by examination, laboratory investigation, or both. The rate was 5.6% (43/770) in those aged 10 years or older and 1.2% (17/1392) in those aged under 10 years. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of STI in children and young people referred for suspected sexual abuse is low but significant. Chlamydia and pelvic inflammatory disease were the most common infections. No STI was found in an asymptomatic pre-pubertal child.