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Individual differences in cognitive abilities emerge early during development, and children with poorer cognition are at increased risk for adverse outcomes as they enter adolescence. Caregiving plays an important role in supporting cognitive development, yet it remains unclear how specific types of caregiving behaviors may shape cognition, highlighting the need for large-scale studies. In the present study, we characterized replicable yet specific associations between caregiving behaviors and cognition in two large sub-samples of children ages 9-10 years old from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study® (ABCD). Across both discovery and replication sub-samples, we found that child reports of caregiver monitoring (supervision or regular knowledge of the child's whereabouts) were positively associated with general cognition abilities, after covarying for age, sex, household income, neighborhood deprivation, and parental education. This association was specific to the type of caregiving behavior (caregiver monitoring, but not caregiver warmth), and was most strongly associated with a broad domain of general cognition (but not executive function or learning/memory). Additionally, we found that caregiver monitoring partially mediated the association between household income and cognition, furthering our understanding of how socioeconomic disparities may contribute to disadvantages in cognitive development. Together, these findings underscore the influence of differences in caregiving behavior in shaping youth cognition.

Aliphatic polyurethane (PU) nanocomposites were prepared using modified titanate nanotubes (TNTs) as filler in order to improve the mechanical and thermal properties of the initial polymer. With a view to achieving greater interaction between the polymer chains and TNTs, the latter was functionalized with hexamethylene diisocyanate (H) and/or aminopropyl trimethoxysilane groups (A), producing the modified nanotubes TNTH, TNTA, or TNTHA. The thermogravimetric analyses used to quantify the amount of anchored diisocyanate or/and silanol groups in the nanotubes identified the H function as the best functional group in terms of improving the filler–PU compatibility. Transmission electron microscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy, and atomic force microscopy analyses of the PU nanocomposites containing the three different fillers showed good TNT dispersion. The TNTHA nanotubes functionalized with both groups through the reaction between the H function already anchored on the TNTs and the A group, forming a monourea anchored group, significantly improved the mechanical and thermal properties of PU nanocomposites. POLYM. COMPOS., 40:2292–2300, 2019. © 2018 Society of Plastics Engineers [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is commonly indicated for refractory psychiatric disorders. However, response comparison across diagnoses is scantly investigated. Here, we aimed to evaluate the relative impact of diagnosis and clinical staging as response predictors in a cross-diagnostic sample., Methods: We investigate, in a retrospective cohort of adult inpatients (N=287) who underwent at least six sessions of ECT, predictors of complete response (a clinical global impression of 1) to ECT. We use adjusted regression models to estimate the impact of clinical diagnosis and staging on complete response and dominance analysis to assess the relative importance of these predictors., Results: Those with a depressive episode as a primary indication for treatment were more likely than all the other groups to have complete improvement, while those with psychosis were the least likely; clinical stage had a significant influence on outcome in all diagnoses. A diagnosis of psychosis stood as the strongest predictor of non-response., Conclusion: An indication of ECT for psychosis (mostly schizophrenia) had a dominant impact in our cohort, indicating a worse chance of response. We also demonstrate that clinical staging can aggregate information on response to electroconvulsive therapy that is independent of clinical diagnosis., Competing Interests: The authors report no conflicts of interest.