Functional connectivity between parietal and frontal brain regions and intelligence in young children: The Generation R study

It has been shown in adults that individual differences in intelligence are related to the integrity of the interaction between parietal and frontal brain regions. Since connectivity between distant brain regions strengthens during childhood, it is unclear when in the course of development this relationship emerges. Thus, the goal of this study was to determine whether parietal‐frontal functional connectivity is associated with intelligence in young children. We performed independent component analyses on resting‐state fMRI data of 115 children (6–8 years old) to select seed and target regions for a seed/target region correlation analysis. We found that higher nonverbal intelligence was associated with increased functional connectivity between right parietal and right frontal regions, and between right parietal and dorsal anterior cingulate regions. The association between intelligence and functional connectivity between certain brain regions was stronger in girls than boys. In conclusion, we found that connectivity between the parietal and frontal lobes is critically involved in intelligence in young children. Hum Brain Mapp 34:3299–3307, 2013. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Febrile seizures and behavioural and cognitive outcomes in preschool children: the Generation R Study

Aim  General developmental outcome is known to be good in school‐aged children who experienced febrile seizures. We examined cognitive and behavioural outcomes in preschool children with febrile seizures, including language and executive functioning outcomes. Method  This work was performed in the Generation R Study, a population‐based cohort study in Rotterdam from early fetal life onwards. Information about the occurrence of febrile seizures was collected by questionnaires at the ages of 1, 2, and 3 years. At the age of 3 years, behaviour and emotion were assessed using the Child Behavior Checklist. Information on expressive language development was obtained by the Language Development Survey at the age of 2 years 6 months. To assess executive functioning, parents completed the Behaviour Rating Inventory of Executive Function – Preschool Version when their children were 4 years old. Final analyses were based on 3157 children. Results  No associations were found between febrile seizures and the risk of behavioural problems or executive functioning. In contrast to single febrile seizures, recurrent febrile seizures were significantly associated with an increased risk of delayed vocabulary development (odds ratio 3.22, [95% confidence interval 1.30–7.94]). Interpretation  Febrile seizures are not associated with problem behaviour or executive functioning in preschool children, but the results suggest that children with recurrent febrile seizures might be at risk for delayed language development.     

Psychobiological dysregulation in violence-exposed mothers: salivary cortisol of mothers with very young children pre- and post-separation stress

To understand the determinants of frightening/frightened and other atypical maternal behavior, the authors studied a sample of 41 inner-city mothers of very young children (ages 8-50 months), the mothers of whom had lifetime histories of interpersonal violent trauma (i.e., physical or sexual abuse, and domestic violence) and related posttraumatic stress. METHOD: The authors measured (1) maternal salivary cortisol levels before and 30 minutes after a videotaped play paradigm with their children, involving two separations and reunions; and (2) cortisol reactivity 30 minutes after separation stress. Data were analyzed using Pearson bivariate correlations, ANOVA, and multiple linear regressions. RESULTS: Salivary cortisol "baseline" values were significantly negatively correlated with childhood interpersonal violent trauma severity (i.e., trauma severity prior to age 16). However, cortisol reactivity was not significantly correlated with interpersonal violent trauma severity at this level of analysis. Although baseline salivary cortisol values were not significantly correlated with current overall psychiatric or depressive symptoms, they were negatively correlated with severity of current posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) and with dissociative symptoms. Neither dimensions of negativity nor distortion of maternal attributions showed any significant association with prestress or poststress salivary cortisol levels. Salivary cortisol baseline was negatively correlated with atypical maternal behavior via measurement of the level of disrupted communication, at a trend-level of significance. CONCLUSIONS: Violent trauma-associated dysregulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis may be a marker for increased risk for intergenerational transmission via parenting behavior with young children. Low salivary cortisol prior to separation stress and blunted cortisol reactivity to separation may also be markers for posttraumatic stress.     

Nonverbal imitation skills in children with specific language delay

Research in children with language problems has focussed on verbal deficits, and we have less understanding of children's deficits with nonverbal sociocognitive skills which have been proposed to be important for language acquisition. This study was designed to investigate elicited nonverbal imitation in children with specific language delay (SLD). It is argued that difficulties in nonverbal imitation, which do not involve the processing of structural aspects of language, may be indicative of sociocognitive deficits. Participants were German-speaking typically developing children (n = 60) and children with SLD (n = 45) aged 2–3½ years. A novel battery of tasks measured their ability to imitate a range of nonverbal target acts that to a greater or lesser extent involve sociocognitive skills (body movements, instrumental acts on objects, pretend acts). Significant group differences were found for all body movement and pretend act tasks, but not for the instrumental act tasks. The poorer imitative performance of the SLD sample was not explained by motor or nonverbal cognitive skills. Thus, it appeared that the nature of the task affected children's imitation performance. It is argued that the ability to establish a sense of connectedness with the demonstrator was at the core of children's imitation difficulty in the SLD sample.     

Growth hormone dysregulation in children with major depressive disorder

The growth hormone response to stimulation with oral clonidine and L-dopa was measured in 14 boys with major depressive disorder (MDD) and 15 normal boys. The six MDD boys who were prepubertal or in early puberty were significantly lower than the 10 normal subjects of this age in peak growth hormone response following clonidine administration (p = 0.029) and area under the curve for clonidine (p = 0.030) and L-dopa (p = 0.028). The eight later puberty MDD boys did not differ from the five later puberty normal boys on any measures.     

Intrauterine growth and infant temperamental difficulties: the Generation R Study

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether intrauterine growth trajectories are associated with temperamental difficulties in infancy. METHOD: The Generation R Study is a population-based cohort study from fetal life onward. Size at different time points during gestation and growth trajectories, calculated on the basis of repeatedly measured fetal growth characteristics, were related to temperamental dimensions, assessed with the Infant Behavior Questionnaire-Revised, in 3,792 infants age 6 months. RESULTS: Birth weight, adjusted for gestational age, was negatively associated with activity level and duration of orienting. These associations disappeared after additional adjustment for maternal height, age, educational level, and national origin. Similarly, the negative associations between intrauterine total body weight gain and falling reactivity and activity level diminished after correction for maternal and child characteristics. After full adjustment, reduced fetal weight gain was only related to prolonged duration of orienting. Children scored 0.38 (95% confidence interval 0.09-0.68) points higher on duration of orienting per SD decrease in total body weight gain from mid-pregnancy to birth. CONCLUSIONS: After controlling for several genetic and socioeconomic status related factors, we found little indication of an association between intrauterine growth trajectories and temperamental difficulties in infants.     

Nonverbal social interaction skills of children with learning disabilities

Many children with learning disabilities (LD) face problems in their nonverbal communication, which constitutes an important component of their social skills. This study explores the frequency of nonverbal initiations and responses of 36 children with LD and 36 children without LD matched for age and gender, who were observed for 40 min during the break. Younger and older children with and without LD did not differ significantly in their nonverbal responses, but there was a statistically significant difference in terms of younger children's nonverbal initiations. Younger children with LD exhibited significantly fewer nonverbal initiations than younger children without LD. Findings are discussed and suggestions are made for further research.     

注意缺陷多动障碍儿童的智力水平分析

目的　测试ADHD儿童的智力水平及分测验结构。方法　采用韦氏儿童智力量表 (C WISC)对 12 9名ADHD患儿和 87名正常儿童进行智力评估。结果　ADHD患儿的智商多在正常范围或边缘水平 ,但VIQ与PIQ之间的平衡性较差。结论　ADHD患儿的智商较正常儿童平均水平为低 ,且智力发展不平衡者较多 ,二组差异有显著性意义。     

Taking a closer look: autonomic dysregulation in socially anxious children

Previous research on autonomic characteristics of social anxiety in children and adolescents has produced highly inconsistent results which may partially be due to task differences and a limited breadth of autonomic measurement. Here we investigated a sample of high (HSA) and low socially anxious (LSA) children, aged 10–12 years before, during and after a standardized evaluated speech task while acquiring a broad set of autonomic and experiential measures. During baseline, we found evidence for tonically higher sympathetic autonomic activity in HSA children, indicated by higher low frequency heart rate variability (LF) and a trend for higher LF to high frequency heart rate variability ratios (LF/HF). In response to the speech task, HSA children showed blunted cardiac responding evidenced by slower increase and delayed recovery of heart rate and a similar significant trend on LF/HF values. Self-reported anxiety, by contrast, showed enhanced reactivity from baseline to anticipation in the HSA compared to the LSA group. The results suggest a restricted cardiac flexibility in HSA children and illustrate that broad autonomic assessment during a well-structured, naturalistic task may improve our understanding of the autonomic physiology of socially anxious children. The results have implications for current theories of social anxiety.     

Intrauterine Cannabis Exposure Affects Fetal Growth Trajectories: The Generation R Study

ObjectiveCannabis is the most commonly consumed illicit drug among pregnant women. Intrauterine exposure to cannabis may result in risks for the developing fetus. The importance of intrauterine growth on subsequent psychological and behavioral child development has been demonstrated. This study examined the relation between maternal cannabis use and fetal growth until birth in a population-based sample.MethodApproximately 7,452 mothers enrolled during pregnancy and provided information on substance use and fetal growth. Fetal growth was determined using ultrasound measures in early, mid-, and late pregnancy. Additionally, birth weight was assessed.ResultsMaternal cannabis use during pregnancy was associated with growth restriction in mid-and late pregnancy and with lower birth weight. This growth reduction was most pronounced for fetuses exposed to continued maternal cannabis use during pregnancy. Fetal weight in cannabis-exposed fetuses showed a growth reduction of ?14.44 g/week (95% confidence interval ?22.94 to ?5.94, p = .001) and head circumference (?0.21 mm/week, 95% confidence interval ?0.42 to 0.02, p = .07), compared with nonexposed fetuses. Maternal cannabis use during pregnancy resulted in more pronounced growth restriction than maternal tobacco use. Paternal cannabis use was not associated with fetal growth restriction.ConclusionsMaternal cannabis use, even for a short period, may be associated with several adverse fetal growth trajectories.     

Video-EEG in the diagnosis of paroxysmal events in children with mental retardation and in children with normal intelligence

Video-EEG monitoring was performed to evaluate 193 children (91 females, 102 males; mean age 9.6 years, SD 5.7) who presented with paroxysmal events of uncertain etiology. Diagnosis of the type of event, i.e. epileptic or non-epileptic, was successfully established in 130 of 193 patients (67.3%). Seventy children (36%) had mental retardation* (MR). Children with MR were more likely (p<0.05) than children without MR to have events during the studies. Children with and without MR had strikingly similar frequencies of epileptic and non-epileptic events. In participants who had events recorded and characterized, epileptic seizures were identified in 67 children (51.5%), non-epileptic events in 54 children (41.5%), and both epileptic and non-epileptic events in nine children (7%). Improved diagnosis prompted appropriate management. This should encourage more frequent use of video-EEG in children, especially in those with MR, to differentiate epilepsy from behavioral disturbances so that specific treatment can be provided.