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The HEALthy Brain and Child Development (HBCD) Study, a multi-site prospective longitudinal cohort study, will examine human brain, cognitive, behavioral, social, and emotional development beginning prenatally and planned through early childhood. Wearable and remote sensing technologies have advanced data collection outside of laboratory settings to enable exploring, in more detail, the associations of early experiences with brain development and social and health outcomes. In the HBCD Study, the Novel Technology/Wearable Sensors Working Group (WG-NTW) identified two primary data types to be collected: infant activity (by measuring leg movements) and sleep (by measuring heart rate and leg movements). These wearable technologies allow for remote collection in the natural environment. This paper illustrates the collection of such data via wearable technologies and describes the decision-making framework, which led to the currently deployed study design, data collection protocol, and derivatives, which will be made publicly available. Moreover, considerations regarding actual and potential challenges to adoption and use, data management, privacy, and participant burden were examined. Lastly, the present limitations in the field of wearable sensor data collection and analysis will be discussed in terms of extant validation studies, the difficulties in comparing performance across different devices, and the impact of evolving hardware/software/firmware.

The HEALthy Brain and Child Development (HBCD) Study, a multi-site prospective longitudinal cohort study, will examine human brain, cognitive, behavioral, social, and emotional development beginning prenatally and planned through early childhood. Given its aim to examine the impact of adversity and protective factors on children’s outcomes, the recruitment and retention of families who have a wide diversity in experiences are essential. However, the unfortunate history of inequitable treatment of underrepresented families in research and the risks with which some participants will contend (e.g., substance use) makes their recruitment and retention in social science and neuroscience research particularly challenging.This article explores strategies that the HBCD Study has developed to recruit and retain participants, including marginalized, underserved, and hard-to-reach populations, capitalizing on the extant literature and the researchers’ own experiences. In this paper, we address strategies to recruit and retain families within HBCD, including: 1) creating experiences that engender trust and promote relationships; 2) maintaining connections with participants over time; 3) ensuring appropriate compensation and supports; 4) considerations for study materials and procedures; and 5) community engagement. The implementation of these strategies may increase representation and inclusiveness, as well as improve the quality of the resulting data.

Background: Preterm birth (birth at

The mother represents one of the earliest sources of microorganisms to the child, influencing the acquisition and establishment of its microbiota in early life. However, the impact of the mother on the oral microbiota of the child from early life until adulthood remains to unveil. This narrative review aims to: i) explore the maternal influence on the oral microbiota of the child, ii) summarize the similarity between the oral microbiota of mother and child over time, iii) understand possible routes for vertical transmission, and iv) comprehend the clinical significance of this process for the child. We first describe the acquisition of the oral microbiota of the child and maternal factors related to this process. We compare the similarity between the oral microbiota of mother and child throughout time, while presenting possible routes for vertical transmission. Finally, we discuss the clinical relevance of the mother in the pathophysiological outcome of the child. Overall, maternal and non-maternal factors impact the oral microbiota of the child through several mechanisms, although the consequences in the long term are still unclear. More longitudinal research is needed to unveil the importance of early-life microbiota on the future health of the infant.

Communicative signals such as eye contact increase infants’ brain activation to visual stimuli and promote joint attention. Our study assessed whether communicative signals during joint attention enhance infant-caregiver dyads’ neural responses to objects, and their neural synchrony. To track mutual attention processes, we applied rhythmic visual stimulation (RVS), presenting images of objects to 12-month-old infants and their mothers (n = 37 dyads), while we recorded dyads’ brain activity (i.e., steady-state visual evoked potentials, SSVEPs) with electroencephalography (EEG) hyperscanning. Within dyads, mothers either communicatively showed the images to their infant or watched the images without communicative engagement. Communicative cues increased infants’ and mothers’ SSVEPs at central-occipital-parietal, and central electrode sites, respectively. Infants showed significantly more gaze behaviour to images during communicative engagement. Dyadic neural synchrony (SSVEP amplitude envelope correlations, AECs) was not modulated by communicative cues. Taken together, maternal communicative cues in joint attention increase infants’ neural responses to objects, and shape mothers’ own attention processes. We show that communicative cues enhance cortical visual processing, thus play an essential role in social learning. Future studies need to elucidate the effect of communicative cues on neural synchrony during joint attention. Finally, our study introduces RVS to study infant-caregiver neural dynamics in social contexts.

Background: Prenatal fluoride exposure can have adverse effects on children’s development; however, associations with visual and cardiac autonomic nervous system functioning are unknown. We examined associations between prenatal fluoride exposure and visual acuity and heart rate variability (HRV) in 6-month-old infants. Methods: We used data from Canadian mother-infant pairs participating in the Maternal-Infant Research on Environmental Chemicals (MIREC) cohort. We estimated prenatal fluoride exposure using: i) fluoride concentration in drinking water (mg/L), ii) maternal urinary fluoride adjusted for specific gravity (MUFSG; mg/L) and averaged across pregnancy, and iii) maternal fluoride intake (µg/kg/day) from consumption of water, tea, and coffee, adjusted for maternal body weight (kg). We used multivariable linear regression to examine associations between each measure of fluoride exposure and Teller Acuity Card visual acuity scores (n = 435) and assessed HRV (n = 400) using two measures: root mean square of successive differences (RMSSD) and the standard deviation of N-N intervals (SDNN) measured at 6-months of age. Results: Median (IQR) values for water fluoride, MUFSG, and daily fluoride intake were 0.20 (IQR: 0.13–0.56) mg/L; 0.44 (0.28–0.70) mg/L and 4.82 (2.58–10.83) µg/kg/day, respectively. After adjustment for confounding variables, water fluoride concentration was associated with poorer infant visual acuity (B = -1.51; 95 % CI: −2.14,-0.88) and HRV as indicated by lower RMSSD (B = -1.60; 95 % CI: −2.74,-0.46) but not SDNN. Maternal fluoride intake was also associated with poorer visual acuity (B = -0.82; 95 % CI: −1.35,-0.29) and lower RMSSD (B = -1.22; 95 % CI: −2.15,-0.30). No significant associations were observed between MUFSG and visual acuity or HRV. Conclusion: Fluoride in drinking water was associated with reduced visual acuity and alterations in cardiac autonomic function in infancy, adding to the growing body of evidence suggesting fluoride's developmental neurotoxicity.

Neural-activity-associated hemodynamic changes have been used to noninvasively measure brain function in the early developmental stages. However, the temporal changes in their hemodynamics are not always consistent with adults. Studies have not evaluated developmental changes for a long period using the same stimuli; therefore, this study examined the normalized relative changes in oxygenated hemoglobin (Δ[oxy-Hb]) in full-term infants and compared them with neonates up to 10 months of age during the administration of tactile vibration stimuli to their limbs using whole-head functional near-infrared spectroscopy. The time to peak of normalized Δ[oxy-Hb] was not affected by age. The amplitude of normalized Δ[oxy-Hb] showed an effect of age in broader areas, including sensorimotor-related but excluding supplementary motor area; the amplitude of normalized Δ[oxy-Hb] decreased the most in the 1–2-month-old group and later increased with development. We hypothesized that these results may reflect developmental changes in neural activity, vasculature, and blood oxygenation.

Joint attention (JA) is an early-developing behavior that allows caregivers and infants to share focus on an object. Deficits in JA, as measured through face-following pathways, are a defining feature of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and are observable as early as 12 months of age in infants later diagnosed with ASD. However, recent evidence suggests that JA may be achieved through hand-following pathways by children with and without ASD. Development of JA through multimodal pathways has yet to be studied in infants with an increased likelihood of developing ASD. The current study investigated how 6-, 9- and 12-month-old infants with (FH+) and without (FH-) a family history of ASD engaged in JA. Parent-infant dyads played at home while we recorded the interaction over Zoom and later offline coded for hand movements and gaze. FH+ and FH- infants spent similar amounts of time in JA with their parents, but the cues available before JA were different. Parents of FH+ infants did more work to establish JA and used more face-following than hand-following pathways compared to parents of FH- infants, likely reflecting differences in infant motor or social behavior. These results suggest that early motor differences between FH+ and FH- infants may cascade into differences in social coordination.

Social communication emerges from dynamic, embodied social interactions during which infants coordinate attention to caregivers and objects. Yet many studies of infant attention are constrained to a laboratory setting, neglecting how attention is nested within social contexts where caregivers dynamically scaffold infant behavior in real time. This study evaluates the feasibility and acceptability of the novel use of head-mounted eye tracking (HMET) in the home with N = 40 infants aged 4 and 8 months who are typically developing and at an elevated genetic liability for autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Results suggest that HMET with young infants with limited independent motor abilities and at an elevated likelihood for atypical development is highly feasible and deemed acceptable by caregivers. Feasibility and acceptability did not differ by age or ASD likelihood. Data quality was also acceptable, albeit with younger infants showing slightly lower accuracy, allowing for preliminary analysis of developmental trends in infant gaze behavior. This study provides new evidence for the feasibility of using in-home HMET with young infants during a critical developmental period when more complex interactions with the environment and social partners are emerging. Future research can apply this technology to illuminate atypical developmental trajectories of embodied social attention in infancy.

Background: Basic management for food allergy (FA) is eliminating causative food from the diet, which can impact normal growth. This study examined the association between food avoidance and growth failure among children with FA aged 0–3 years using the Japan Environment and Children's Study (JECS) data. Methods: Data on height, weight, and FA history registered were collected using self-administered questionnaires at age 1, 1.5, 2, and 3 years. A general linear model was used to examine whether dietary restriction affected body size. Height, weight, and body mass index (BMI) were adjusted for age in months using standard deviation (SD) scores for each age group by month of measurement. Presence of FA or dietary restriction was used as a binary variable. Results: Of the 38 477 participants included in this analysis, 4070 with FAs had significantly lower SD scores for height and weight at age 3 years. With milk avoidance, significantly lower SD scores for height (male: β = −0.097 [95%CI: 0.175, −0.019], female: β = −0.103 [95%CI: 0.204, −0.002]), a significantly lower SD score for weight (male: β = −0.115[95%CI: 0.187, −0.043], female β = −0.114[95%CI: 0.203, −0.026]) were observed. Soy avoidance in males marked a lower SD score for height (β = −0.307 [95%CI: 0.474, −0.140]). Continued food avoidance until age 3 resulted in significantly lower SD score for height and weight regardless of gender. Conclusion: Growth impairment was observed with food avoidance at age 3 years. Growth impairment were more obvious in males than in females. With regards food items, the impact of milk and soy was more significant.

Melanotic neuroectodermal tumors of infancy (MNTI) are a rare type of benign tumor that affects the head and neck region. MNTI represents (68–80%) of the tumors in the maxillary region. This tumor is usually located in the alveolar crest, skull, mandible, and brain. Although this tumor is considered benign, it can grow rapidly, with a high risk of recurrence and interference with functions of infancy, such as feeding and breathing. It is also frequently harmful to the surrounding soft and hard tissues or adjacent sensitive vital structures. This study aimed to review the pathological, clinical presentation, and treatment of melanotic neuroectodermal tumors in infancy and the role of dentists in these cases.

Background: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder diagnosed based on social impairment, restricted interests, and repetitive behaviors. Contemporary theories posit that cerebellar pathology contributes causally to ASD by disrupting error-based learning (EBL) during infancy. The present study represents the first test of this theory in a prospective infant sample, with potential implications for ASD detection. Methods: Data from the Infant Brain Imaging Study (n = 94, 68 male) were used to examine 6-month cerebellar functional connectivity magnetic resonance imaging in relation to later (12/24-month) ASD-associated behaviors and outcomes. Hypothesis-driven univariate analyses and machine learning–based predictive tests examined cerebellar–frontoparietal network (FPN; subserves error signaling in support of EBL) and cerebellar–default mode network (DMN; broadly implicated in ASD) connections. Cerebellar-FPN functional connectivity was used as a proxy for EBL, and cerebellar-DMN functional connectivity provided a comparative foil. Data-driven functional connectivity magnetic resonance imaging enrichment examined brain-wide behavioral associations, with post hoc tests of cerebellar connections. Results: Cerebellar-FPN and cerebellar-DMN connections did not demonstrate associations with ASD. Functional connectivity magnetic resonance imaging enrichment identified 6-month correlates of later ASD-associated behaviors in networks of a priori interest (FPN, DMN), as well as in cingulo-opercular (also implicated in error signaling) and medial visual networks. Post hoc tests did not suggest a role for cerebellar connections. Conclusions: We failed to identify cerebellar functional connectivity–based contributions to ASD. However, we observed prospective correlates of ASD-associated behaviors in networks that support EBL. Future studies may replicate and extend network-level positive results, and tests of the cerebellum may investigate brain-behavior associations at different developmental stages and/or using different neuroimaging modalities.

We sought to characterize developmental trajectories of EEG spectral power over the first 2 years after birth and examine whether family income or maternal education alter those trajectories. We analyzed EEGs (n = 161 infants, 534 EEGs) collected longitudinally between 2 and 24 months of age, and calculated frontal absolute power across 7 canonical frequency bands. For each frequency band, a piecewise growth curve model was fit, resulting in an estimated intercept and two slope parameters from 2 to 9 months and 9–24 months of age. Across 6/7 frequency bands, absolute power significantly increased over age, with steeper slopes in the 2–9 month period compared to 9–24 months. Increased family income, but not maternal education, was associated with higher intercept (2–3 month power) across delta–gamma bands (p range = 0.002–0.04), and reduced change in power between 2 and 9 months of age in lower frequency bands (delta-alpha, p range = 0.01–0.02). There was no significant effect of income on slope between 9 and 24 months. EEG intercept and slope measures did not mediate relationships between income and 24-month verbal and nonverbal development. These results add to growing literature concerning the role of socioeconomic factors in shaping brain trajectories.

Decades of research have established that the home language environment, especially quality of caregiver speech, supports language acquisition during infancy. However, the neural mechanisms behind this phenomenon remain under studied. In the current study, we examined associations between the home language environment and structural coherence of white matter tracts in 52 typically developing infants from English speaking homes in a western society. Infants participated in at least one MRI brain scan when they were 3, 6, 12, and/or 24 months old. Home language recordings were collected when infants were 9 and/or 15 months old. General linear regression models indicated that infants who heard the most adult words and participated in the most conversational turns at 9 months of age also had the lowest fractional anisotropy in the left posterior parieto-temporal arcuate fasciculus at 24 months. Similarly, infants who vocalized the most at 9 months also had the lowest fractional anisotropy in the same tract at 6 months of age. This is one of the first studies to report significant associations between caregiver speech collected in the home and white matter structural coherence in the infant brain. The results are in line with prior work showing that protracted white matter development during infancy confers a cognitive advantage.

Objective: Longer sleep duration in infancy supports cognitive and affective functioning – likely through effects on brain development. From childhood through old age, there is evidence for a close link between sleep and brain volume. However, little is known about the association between sleep duration and brain volume in infancy, a developmental period of unprecedented brain maturation. This study aimed to close this gap by assessing sleep duration across the first year of life and gray and white matter volume at 12-mo age. Method: Infant sleep duration trajectories across the first year of life were based on maternal reports at 1, 3, 6, 9, and 12 months of age. Infant specific trajectories were generated by running a logarithmic regression for each infant and residualizing the resulting slopes for their intercept. Structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans were acquired at 12-mo age. Gray and white matter volume estimates were residualized for intracranial volume and age at scan. Results: Data to calculate sleep trajectories was available for 112 infants. Overall, sleep duration decreased over the course of the first year of life and was best described by a logarithmic function. Of these infants, data on brain volume was available for 45 infants at 12-mo age. Infants whose sleep duration decreased less during the first year of life relative to their intercept had, on average, greater white matter volume (β = .36, p = .02). Furthermore, average sleep duration across the first year of life, and sleep duration specifically at 6 and 9 months were positively associated with white matter volume. Sleep duration during the first year of life was not significantly associated with gray matter volume at 12-mo age. Conclusion: Sufficient sleep duration may benefit infant white matter development – possibly by supporting myelination. The fact that sleep duration was not associated with gray matter volume is in line with preclinical studies suggesting that sleep may be crucial for the balance between synaptogenesis and synaptic pruning but not necessarily relate to a net increase in gray matter volume. Supporting sleep during periods of rapid brain development and intervening in case of sleep problems may have long-term benefits for cognitive function and mental health.

Infancy represents a critical period during which thalamocortical brain connections develop and mature. Deviations in the maturation of thalamocortical connectivity are linked to neurodevelopmental disorders. There is a lack of early biomarkers to detect and localize neuromaturational deviations, which can be overcome with mapping through high-density electroencephalography (hdEEG) assessed in sleep. Specifically, slow waves and spindles in non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep are generated by the thalamocortical system, and their characteristics, slow wave slope and spindle density, are closely related to neuroplasticity and learning. Spindles are often subdivided into slow (11.0-13.0 Hz) and fast (13.5-16.0 Hz) frequencies, for which not only different functions have been proposed, but for which also distinctive developmental trajectories have been reported across the first years of life. Recent studies further suggest that information processing during sleep underlying sleep-dependent learning is promoted by the temporal coupling of slow waves and spindles, yet slow wave-spindle coupling remains unexplored in infancy. Thus, we evaluated three potential biomarkers: 1) slow wave slope, 2) spindle density, and 3) the temporal coupling of slow waves with spindles. We use hdEEG to first examine the occurrence and spatial distribution of these three EEG features in healthy infants and second to evaluate a predictive relationship with later behavioral outcomes. We report four key findings: First, infants’ EEG features appear locally: slow wave slope is maximal in occipital and frontal areas, whereas slow and fast spindle density is most pronounced frontocentrally. Second, slow waves and spindles are temporally coupled in infancy, with maximal coupling strength in the occipital areas of the brain. Third, slow wave slope, fast spindle density, and slow wave-spindle coupling are not associated with concurrent behavioral status (6 months). Fourth, fast spindle density in central and frontocentral regions at age 6 months predicts overall developmental status at age 12 months, and motor skills at age 12 and 24 months. Neither slow wave slope nor slow wave-spindle coupling predict later behavioral development. We further identified spindle frequency as a determinant of slow and fast spindle density, which accordingly, also predicts motor skills at 24 months. Our results propose fast spindle density, or alternatively spindle frequency, as early EEG biomarker for identifying thalamocortical maturation, which can potentially be used for early diagnosis of neurodevelopmental disorders in infants. These findings are in support of a role of sleep spindles in sensorimotor microcircuitry development. A crucial next step will be to evaluate whether early therapeutic interventions may be effective to reverse deviations in identified individuals at risk.

Background: Parenting Self-Efficacy, a concept first described in Bandura's Social Cognitive Theory, is a parent's belief in their ability to successfully parent their child. The concept of parenting self-efficacy is used by researchers to increase our understanding of parenting abilities and influences on child health and developmental outcomes. Numerous instruments exist for measuring parental self-efficacy; but little is known about the specific topics included in the measures and consistency across instruments. Therefore, this scoping review sought to compare parenting self-efficacy instruments for parents of infants and toddlers, focusing on comparison of parenting topics, scale format, and administration with the goal of providing guidance and recommendations for measurement selection. Methods: Our sample included 25 instruments and items from every instrument was evaluated and coded using NVIVO Qualitative Software. We reviewed the instruments’ target population, subscales, number of items, response options, scoring range and instructions, theoretical background, and parenting topics across each instrument. Results: This review found three common factors across all instruments: parent, social and family, and child factors. Parent personal factors were addressed most frequently to evaluate self-efficacy and included topics such as, perception of parenting abilities, emotional reactions, and perceived successes. From our synthesis, we also offer recommendations for instrument selection and provide a conceptual model of parenting self-efficacy. Conclusions: The findings from this scoping review highlight the presence of key factors (parent, social & family, and child) necessary for the evaluation of parenting self-efficacy in parents of infants and toddlers. Given our results, a meta-analysis is needed to compare parenting self-efficacy scores across studies to better understand the associations between self-efficacy and parent and child outcomes.

Structural and functional brain alterations are found in adults with depression. It is not known whether these changes are a result of illness or exist prior to disorder onset. Asymptomatic offspring of parents with depression offer a unique opportunity to research neural markers of familial risk to depression and clarify the temporal sequence between brain changes and disorder onset. We conducted a systematic review to investigate whether asymptomatic offspring at high familial risk have structural and functional brain changes like those reported in adults with depression. Our literature search resulted in 44 studies on 18,645 offspring ranging from 4 weeks to 25 years old. Reduced cortical thickness and white matter integrity, and altered striatal reward processing were the most consistent findings in high-risk offspring across ages. These alterations are also present in adults with depression, suggesting the existence of neural markers of familial risk for depression. Additional studies reproducing current results, streamlining fMRI data analyses, and investigating underexplored topics (i.e intracortical myelin, gyrification, subcortical shape) may be among the next steps required to improve our understanding of neural markers indexing the vulnerability to depression.

Introduction: Existing evidence suggests that exposure to phthalates is higher among younger age groups. However, limited knowledge exists on how phthalate exposure, as well as exposure to replacement plasticizers, di(isononyl) cyclohexane-1,2-dicarboxylate (DINCH) and di-2-ethylhexyl terephthalate (DEHTP), change from infancy through early childhood., Methods: Urine samples were collected across the first 5 years of life from typically developing infants and young children enrolled between 2017 and 2020 in the longitudinal UNC Baby Connectome Project. From 438 urine samples among 187 participants, we quantified concentrations of monobutyl phthalate (MnBP), mono-3-carboxypropyl phthalate (MCPP), monoisobutyl phthalate (MiBP), monoethyl phthalate (MEP), monobenzyl phthalate (MBzP), and metabolites of di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), diisonoyl phthalate (DiNP), DINCH and DEHTP. Specific gravity (SG) adjusted metabolite and molar sum concentrations were compared across age groups. Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) were calculated among 122 participants with multiple urine specimens (373 samples)., Results: Most phthalate metabolites showed high detection frequencies (>80% of samples). Replacement plasticizers DINCH (58-60%) and DEHTP (>97%) were also commonly found. DiNP metabolites were less frequently detected (<10%). For some metabolites, SG-adjusted concentrations were inversely associated with age, with the highest concentrations found in the first year of life. ICCs revealed low to moderate reliability in metabolite measurements (ρ = 0.10-0.48) suggesting a high degree of within-individual variation in exposure among this age group. The first 6 months (compared to remaining age groups) showed an increased ratio of carboxylated metabolites of DEHP and DEHTP, compared to other common metabolites, but no clear age trends for DINCH metabolite ratios were observed., Conclusion: Metabolites of phthalates and replacements plasticizers were widely detected in infancy and early childhood, with the highest concentrations observed in the first year of life for several metabolites. Higher proportions of carboxylated metabolites of DEHP and DEHTP in younger age groups indicate potential differences in metabolism during infancy., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

Objective: To examine associations between cognitive stimulation in the home at 6 months and maternal feeding styles at 24 months, direct intervention effects of Smart Beginnings (SB) on feeding styles, and potential indirect effects of SB on feeding styles via earlier intervention effects on cognitive stimulation., Methods: Single-blind, two-site randomized clinical trial (RCT) of the SB intervention. SB integrates PlayReadVIP, a universal, pediatric primary care-based program, and Family Check-Up (FCU), a targeted secondary home-based parenting intervention. Mother-infant dyads (N = 327) were randomized at birth to standard pediatric care or the SB intervention. Linear regression analyses determined associations between cognitive stimulation at 6 months and maternal feeding styles at 24 months, a secondary data analysis. Direct intervention impacts on feeding styles, a secondary RCT outcome, were also assessed and mediation analyses explored intervention effects on feeding styles via earlier intervention impacts on cognitive stimulation., Results: Cognitive stimulation was significantly associated with higher responsive and lower indulgent feeding styles. SB mothers were less likely to exhibit pressuring styles compared with controls (Effect Size [ES]=-0.12, P = 0.02). Although no direct intervention effects were found on responsive or indulgent feeding styles, indirect effects of SB were evident on these feeding styles through intervention-induced increases in cognitive stimulation in the SB group., Conclusions: This study found positive linkages between cognitive stimulation in the home and later feeding styles. Additionally, the SB intervention was associated with less pressured feeding and indirect pathways mediated by intervention effects on cognitive stimulation. Implications for early childhood parenting interventions are discussed., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors have no potential conflicts of interest to disclose, including financial relationships relevant to this article., (Copyright © 2024 Academic Pediatric Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The HEALthy Brain and Child Development (HBCD) Study, a multi-site prospective longitudinal cohort study, will examine human brain, cognitive, behavioral, social, and emotional development beginning prenatally and planned through early childhood. Wearable and remote sensing technologies have advanced data collection outside of laboratory settings to enable exploring, in more detail, the associations of early experiences with brain development and social and health outcomes. In the HBCD Study, the Novel Technology/Wearable Sensors Working Group (WG-NTW) identified two primary data types to be collected: infant activity (by measuring leg movements) and sleep (by measuring heart rate and leg movements). These wearable technologies allow for remote collection in the natural environment. This paper illustrates the collection of such data via wearable technologies and describes the decision-making framework, which led to the currently deployed study design, data collection protocol, and derivatives, which will be made publicly available. Moreover, considerations regarding actual and potential challenges to adoption and use, data management, privacy, and participant burden were examined. Lastly, the present limitations in the field of wearable sensor data collection and analysis will be discussed in terms of extant validation studies, the difficulties in comparing performance across different devices, and the impact of evolving hardware/software/firmware., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

The HEALthy Brain and Child Development (HBCD) Study, a multi-site prospective longitudinal cohort study, will examine human brain, cognitive, behavioral, social, and emotional development beginning prenatally and planned through early childhood. Given its aim to examine the impact of adversity and protective factors on children's outcomes, the recruitment and retention of families who have a wide diversity in experiences are essential. However, the unfortunate history of inequitable treatment of underrepresented families in research and the risks with which some participants will contend (e.g., substance use) makes their recruitment and retention in social science and neuroscience research particularly challenging. This article explores strategies that the HBCD Study has developed to recruit and retain participants, including marginalized, underserved, and hard-to-reach populations, capitalizing on the extant literature and the researchers' own experiences. In this paper, we address strategies to recruit and retain families within HBCD, including: 1) creating experiences that engender trust and promote relationships; 2) maintaining connections with participants over time; 3) ensuring appropriate compensation and supports; 4) considerations for study materials and procedures; and 5) community engagement. The implementation of these strategies may increase representation and inclusiveness, as well as improve the quality of the resulting data., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper. Declaration of Competing Interests None., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Fish consumption is one of the main sources of mercury (Hg) exposure, but few studies have examined Hg exposure from fish consumption among children. This study aimed to assess the frequency of fish intake and associations with Hg and other element concentrations among 700 three-year-old children from the New Hampshire Birth Cohort Study. Usual fish intake was derived from a validated food frequency questionnaire (Block Questionnaire for ages 2-7) and toenail element concentrations were determined using ICP-MS. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to assess the association between fish intake and toenail element concentrations. A mixture analysis, using Weighted quantile sum (WQS) regression, was used to estimate the relative contribution of fish consumption to element exposures. Twenty-three percent of children were reported to consume at least one fish meal/week on average during the previous 6 months. In adjusted linear regression models, children with any type of fish consumption versus no consumption had 108% (95% confidence interval (CI: 68%, 153%)) higher toenail Hg concentrations. To a lesser extent, children consuming "other fish (not fried) including tuna" and "fried fish or fish sticks" had 120% (95% CI: 82%, 164%), and 23% (95% CI: 2%, 51%) higher toenail concentrations, respectively, than those consuming no fish. Using WQS regression, Hg was the element most strongly related to fish consumption. Fish intake among young children was related to Hg exposure even at low levels of consumption. Future studies will need to determine the health consequences of this exposure., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Margaret R. Karagas reports financial support was provided by National Institutes of Health. Julia A. Bauer reports financial support was provided by National Institutes of Health. If there are other authors, they declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Infancy is a period of continuous growth and development, where inadequate intake of essential elements and exposure to non-essential elements may have lifelong health consequences. Thus, the aim of this study is to evaluate the urine concentration of essential and non-essential elements as a proxy for internal exposure during the weaning period, from 3 to 18 months of age. The Nutrition in Early Life and Asthma (NELA) birth cohort generated the data for this study. Sociodemographic, dietary, and urine concentration of essential (Co, Cu, Mo, I, Fe, Mn, Se, Zn, and Ni) and non-essential elements (Al, V, As, Cd, Sb, Tl, and Pb) data were available for 490 participants at 3 months of age and 216 participants at 18 months of age. Paired urine samples at both time periods were available for 175 infants. At 3 months of age, exclusively breastfed infants had lower urine concentrations of Al, V, Fe, Co, Se, Sb, and Tl. Notably, the concentration of Mo had a median (IQR) of 0.60 (0.40-2.10) μg/L compared to a median (IQR) of 39.80 (25.00-56.40) μg/L observed in infants exclusively fed with formula. When we analyzed the change in urine elements concentrations between 3 and 18 months of age, we observed increased As (0.75 vs. 18.60 μg/L), Co (0.05 vs. 0.24 μg/L), Mo (1.98 vs. 50.0 μg/L), Pb (0.15 vs. 0.69 μg/L), Se (11.3 vs. 23.1 μg/L), Tl (0.02 vs. 0.11 μg/L), and V (0.05 vs. 0.11 μg/L). For Cu, lower urine concentrations were observed at 18 months of age in comparison with concentrations at 3 months (5.77 vs. 4.41 μg/L). Among the main food items identified as driving the changes in urine concentration between 3 and 18 months of age were white fish, rice and pasta, potato chips, custard, small blue fish, and legumes. Exclusively breastfed infants showed lower exposure to non-essential elements compared to those who were fed with a mixture or formula. With the introduction of solid foods, the exposure to some non-essential elements increased drastically, as in the case of As and Pb. In addition, exposure to the essential metal Mo also increased substantially with the introduction of solid food., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: AJ Signes Pastor reports financial support was provided by Generalitat Valenciana. AJ Signes Pastor reports financial support was provided by Carlos III Health Institute. Jesus Vioque reports financial support was provided by Carlos III Health Institute. Eva Morales reports financial support was provided by Spanish Ministry of Science. If there are other authors, they declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Wheezing is a common symptom in infants, which may occasionally develop into asthma. There are many factors related to infant wheezing, including anatomical features, viral infections, and passive smoking. There are only a few reports on the association between renovation and pregnancy worldwide, and reports on this association are inadequate in Japan. This study aimed to examine the association between house renovation and new construction during pregnancy and wheezing in infants during the first year of life using data from the Japan Environment and Children's Study (JECS). Methods: Data of pregnant women registered in JECS were collected using self-administered questionnaires during the second/third trimester and 1 month after delivery. Childbirth records were completed by the doctors. Similarly, wheezing in infants was evaluated using self-administered questionnaires 1 year after birth. Logistic regression analysis was used to determine the primary outcome. Results: In total, 75,731 infants, excluding those with unknown gender, who were not singleton infants, and who relocated during pregnancy and the first month of life, were examined in this study. Renovation during pregnancy increased the prevalence of wheezing (odds ratio [OR]: 1.33, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.20–1.48) and recurrent wheezing (OR: 1.22, 95% CI: 1.00–1.48) in the first year of life. The relationship between new construction during pregnancy and wheezing in infants was insignificant (OR: 0.98, 95% CI: 0.90–1.06). Conclusions: Renovation during pregnancy may be a risk factor for wheezing in infants, and should be avoided.

Inhibitory control, a core executive function, emerges in infancy and develops rapidly across childhood. Methodological limitations have meant that studies investigating the neural correlates underlying inhibitory control in infancy are rare. Employing functional near-infrared spectroscopy alongside a novel touchscreen task that measures response inhibition, this study aimed to uncover the neural underpinnings of inhibitory control in 10-month-old infants (N = 135). We found that when inhibition was required, the right prefrontal and parietal cortices were more activated than when there was no inhibitory demand. This demonstrates that inhibitory control in infants as young as 10 months of age is supported by similar brain areas as in older children and adults. With this study we have lowered the age-boundary for localising the neural substrates of response inhibition to the first year of life.

Social cognition skills and socioemotional development are compromised in children growing up in low SES contexts, however, the mechanisms underlying this association remain unknown. Exposure to psychosocial risk factors early in life alters the child’s social milieu and in turn, could lead to atypical processing of social stimuli. In this study, we used functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) to measure cortical responses to a social discrimination task in children raised in a low-resource setting at 6, 24, and 36 months. In addition, we assessed the relation between cortical responses to social and non-social information with psychosocial risk factors assessed using the Childhood Psychosocial Adversity Scale (CPAS). In line with previous findings, we observed specialization to social stimuli in cortical regions in all age groups. In addition, we found that risk factors were associated with social discrimination at 24 months (intimate partner violence and verbal abuse and family conflict) and 36 months (verbal abuse and family conflict and maternal depression) but not at 6 months. Overall, the results show that exposure to psychosocial adversity has more impact on social information processing in toddlerhood than earlier in infancy

Infants rapidly advance in their speech perception, electrophysiologically reflected in the transition from an immature, positive-going to an adult-like, negative-going mismatch response (MMR) to auditory deviancy. Although the MMR is a common tool to study speech perception development, it is not yet completely understood how different speech contrasts affect the MMR’s characteristics across development. Thus, a systematic longitudinal investigation of the MMR’s maturation depending on speech contrast is necessary. We here longitudinally explored the maturation of the infant MMR to four critical speech contrasts: consonant, vowel, vowel-length, and pitch. MMRs were obtained when infants (n = 58) were 2, 6 and 10 months old. To evaluate the maturational trajectory of MMRs, we applied second-order latent growth curve models. Results showed positive-going MMR amplitudes to all speech contrasts across all assessment points that decreased over time towards an adult-like negativity. Notably, the developmental trajectories of speech contrasts differed, implying that infant speech perception matures with different rates and trajectories throughout the first year, depending on the studied auditory feature. Our results suggest that stimulus-dependent maturational trajectories need to be considered when drawing conclusions about infant speech perception development reflected by the infant MMR.

Amplitude rise times play a crucial role in the perception of rhythm in speech, and reduced perceptual sensitivity to differences in rise time is related to developmental language difficulties. Amplitude rise times also play a mechanistic role in neural entrainment to the speech amplitude envelope. Using an ERP paradigm, here we examined for the first time whether infants at the ages of seven and eleven months exhibit an auditory mismatch response to changes in the rise times of simple repeating auditory stimuli. We found that infants exhibited a mismatch response (MMR) to all of the oddball rise times used for the study. The MMR was more positive at seven than eleven months of age. At eleven months, there was a shift to a mismatch negativity (MMN) that was more pronounced over left fronto-central electrodes. The MMR over right fronto-central electrodes was sensitive to the size of the difference in rise time. The results indicate that neural processing of changes in rise time is present at seven months, supporting the possibility that early speech processing is facilitated by neural sensitivity to these important acoustic cues.

Electroencephalography (EEG) has been widely adopted by the developmental cognitive neuroscience community, but the application of machine learning (ML) in this domain lags behind adult EEG studies. Applying ML to infant data is particularly challenging due to the low number of trials, low signal-to-noise ratio, high inter-subject variability, and high inter-trial variability. Here, we provide a step-by-step tutorial on how to apply ML to classify cognitive states in infants. We describe the type of brain attributes that are widely used for EEG classification and also introduce a Riemannian geometry based approach for deriving connectivity estimates that account for inter-trial and inter-subject variability. We present pipelines for learning classifiers using trials from a single infant and from multiple infants, and demonstrate the application of these pipelines on a standard infant EEG dataset of forty 12-month-old infants collected under an auditory oddball paradigm. While we classify perceptual states induced by frequent versus rare stimuli, the presented pipelines can be easily adapted for other experimental designs and stimuli using the associated code that we have made publicly available.

Cortical source analysis of electroencephalographic (EEG) signals has become an important tool in the analysis of brain activity. The aim of source analysis is to reconstruct the cortical generators (sources) of the EEG signal recorded on the scalp. The quality of the source reconstruction relies on the accuracy of the forward problem, and consequently the inverse problem. An accurate forward solution is obtained when an appropriate imaging modality (i.e., structural magnetic resonance imaging – MRI) is used to describe the head geometry, precise electrode locations are identified with 3D maps of the sensor positions on the scalp, and realistic conductivity values are determined for each tissue type of the head model. Together these parameters contribute to the definition of realistic head models. Here, we describe the steps necessary to reconstruct the cortical generators of the EEG signal recorded on the scalp. We provide an example of source reconstruction of event-related potentials (ERPs) during a face-processing task performed by a 6-month-old infant. We discuss the adjustments necessary to perform source analysis with measures different from the ERPs. The proposed pipeline can be applied to the investigation of different cognitive tasks in both younger and older participants.

We aimed to perform an umbrella review of systematic reviews and meta-analyses (SRMAs) of randomized clinical trials (RCT) of the effects of long-chain omega-3 fatty acid supplementation in pregnancy, lactation, and infancy. We searched PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science to November 2020. Two independent investigators extracted the information, evaluated the methodological quality of SRMAs using A Measurement Tool to Assess Systematic Reviews-2 (AMSTAR2), and rated the certainty of evidence using the Grades of Recommendation, Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) approach. Either a fixed-effects or a random-effects model was used to recalculate the effect sizes and 95%CIs, depending on the number of trials. Overall, 28 SRMAs of RCTs, reporting 124 outcomes from 672 RCTs with 273,523 participants were considered eligible for the present umbrella review. Our results demonstrated evidence of moderate to high certainty that omega-3 supplementation reduced the risk of pre-eclampsia and low-birth weight and improved head circumference when used in pregnant women, and reduced severe retinopathy of prematurity and cholestasis when used in infancy. There were also favorable effects on preterm delivery, pre-natal and post-partum depression, glycemic control and inflammation markers in pregnant women, and sensitization to peanuts, positive skin prick tests, anthropometric measures, language development, visual acuity, and duration of ventilation in infants (GRADE = low). Our findings suggested that omega-3 supplementation during pregnancy can exert favorable effects against pre-eclampsia, low-birth weight, pre-term delivery, and post-partum depression, and can improve anthropometric measures, immune system, and visual activity in infants and cardiometabolic risk factors in pregnant mothers.

Humans are born into a social environment and from early on possess a range of abilities to detect and respond to social cues. In the past decade, there has been a rapidly increasing interest in investigating the neural responses underlying such early social processes under naturalistic conditions. However, the investigation of neural responses to continuous dynamic input poses the challenge of how to link neural responses back to continuous sensory input. In the present tutorial, we provide a step-by-step introduction to one approach to tackle this issue, namely the use of linear models to investigate neural tracking responses in electroencephalographic (EEG) data. While neural tracking has gained increasing popularity in adult cognitive neuroscience over the past decade, its application to infant EEG is still rare and comes with its own challenges. After introducing the concept of neural tracking, we discuss and compare the use of forward vs. backward models and individual vs. generic models using an example data set of infant EEG data. Each section comprises a theoretical introduction as well as a concrete example using MATLAB code. We argue that neural tracking provides a promising way to investigate early (social) processing in an ecologically valid setting.

Research has shown that infants represent legitimate leadership and predict continued obedience to authority, but which cues they use to do so remains unknown. Across eight pre-registered experiments varying the cue provided, we tested if Norwegian 21-month-olds (N=128) expected three protagonists to obey a character even in her absence. We assessed whether bowing for the character, receiving a tribute from or conferring a benefit to the protagonists, imposing a cost on them (forcefully taking a resource or hitting them), or relative physical size were used as cues to generate the expectation of continued obedience that marks legitimate leadership. Whereas bowing sufficed in generating such an expectation, we found positive Bayesian evidence that all the other cues did not. Norwegian infants unlikely have witnessed bowing in their everyday life. Hence, bowing/prostration as cue for continued obedience may form part of an early-developing capacity to represent leadership built by evolution., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Little is known about anaphylaxis in Chinese children. This study aimed to determine the age-specific patterns of anaphylaxis in Chinese children. Methods: We conducted a retrospective study of anaphylaxis cases attending an allergy department in a tertiary children's hospital. Results: A total of 279 anaphylactic reactions in 177 patients were analyzed. Overall, 57.6% (102/177) of first anaphylaxis events occurred in infants (0–2 ys). Foods were the most common culprits (88.5%), followed by food + exercise/exercise (4.7%), and drugs (4.3%). The main food allergens were cow's milk (32.9%), egg (21.4%), and wheat (20.7%) in infants, compared with fruits/vegetables at 35.9% in preschool-age children (3–6 ys) and 31.6% in school-age children (7–12 ys). The most commonly implicated drug triggers were vaccines (n = 5, comprising DTaP n = 2, group A + C meningococcal polysaccharide vaccine n = 1, Sabin vaccine n = 1, and not specified n = 1). Among the 5 vaccine-induced anaphylaxis patients, 4 had severe cow's milk allergy. The clinical manifestations were mainly mucocutaneous (86.0%), followed by respiratory (68.8%), gastrointestinal (23.7%), neurological (10.4%), and cardiovascular (0.7%). Compared with patients of other ages, infants had higher rates of hives (0-2ys 77.4%, 3-6ys 50%,7-12ys 57.9%, 13-17ys 38.9%, p = 0.016) and vomiting (0-2ys 20.7%, 3-6ys 1.6%,7-12ys 8.8%, p

Materials and methods: A retrospective analysis of all paediatric patients diagnosed and treated for gastric teratomas in our hospital over the past 20 years was carried out (1997–2017). A database of the clinic-pathological characteristics of these patients was developed. In all, 7 patients were identified. All the patients underwent resection and were followed up every 6 months. The investigations performed included routine blood investigations, X-ray, alpha fetoproteins (AFP), beta HCG levels and a CT scan of the abdomen. Results: There were seven patients with gastric teratomas and all of them were male except one female. Their ages ranged from 1 day to 4 years. Six (85.7%) patients presented during infancy. The manifestations were as follows: a palpable abdominal mass followed by anemia, respiratory distress, abdominal distension, gastric outlet obstruction with recurrent vomiting, and abdominal pain, anorexia, and melena. Histopathology was mature type in five (71.4%) cases, and immature Grades 1 and 2 in one (14.2%) each. Complications were seen in four (57.1%) cases, and there was one (14.2%) mortality in our series. Recurrence was seen in two of our cases. Conclusion: The preoperative diagnosis of Gastric teratoma may be challenging, but with recent advances in imaging an accurate diagnosis and staging is possible. Complete surgical excision is curative in all cases, with close observation and follow-up.

Language acquisition is of central importance to child development. Although this developmental trajectory is shaped by experience postnatally, the neural basis for language emerges prenatally. Thus, a fundamental question remains: do structural foundations for language in infancy predict long-term language abilities? Longitudinal investigation of 40 children from infancy to kindergarten reveals that white matter in infancy is prospectively associated with subsequent language abilities, specifically between: (i) left arcuate fasciculus and phonological awareness and vocabulary knowledge, (ii) left corticospinal tract and phonological awareness, and bilateral corticospinal tract with phonological memory; controlling for age, cognitive, and environmental factors. Findings link white matter in infancy with school-age language abilities, suggesting that white matter organization in infancy sets a foundation for long-term language development.

Sensorimotor alpha suppression is present both during the observation and execution of actions, and is a commonly used tool to investigate neural mirroring in infancy. Köster et al. (2020) used this measure to investigate infants’ motor cortex activation during the observation of action demonstrations and its relationship to subsequent imitation of these actions. Contrary to what is implied in the paper and to common findings in the literature, the study's results appear to suggest that the motor system was deactivated during the observation of the actions, and that greater deactivation during action observation was associated with a greater tendency to copy the action. Here we present potential methodological explanations for these unexpected findings and discuss them in relation to common recommendations in the field.

Although positive effects of oxytocin (OT) on social functioning are well-demonstrated, little is known about the mechanisms through which OT may drive early social development, or its therapeutic efficacy in infancy. To address these critical issues, we investigated the effects of exogenous OT on neural (EEG) and behavioral responses during observation of live facial gestures in infant macaques with limited social exposure (i.e. nursery-reared). Three key findings were revealed. First, OT increased alpha suppression over posterior scalp regions during observation of facial gestures but not non-biological movement, suggesting that OT targets self-other matching and attentional cortical networks involved in social perception from very early infancy. Second, OT increased infant production of matching facial gestures and attention towards the most socially-relevant facial stimuli, both behaviors typically silenced by early social deprivation. Third, infants with higher cortisol levels appeared to benefit the most from OT, displaying greater improvements in prosocial behaviors after OT administration. Altogether, these findings suggest that OT promotes prosocial behaviors and associated neural responses likely impacted by early social adversity, and demonstrate the potential of OT administration to ameliorate social difficulties in the context of neurodevelopmental and early-emerging psychiatric disorders, at a developmental stage when brain plasticity is greatest.

The development of social-cognitive abilities in infancy is subject to an intricate interaction between maturation of neural systems and environmental input. We investigated the role of infants’ attachment relationship quality in shaping infants’ neural responses to observed social interactions. One-hundred thirty 10-month-old infants participated in an EEG session while they watched animations involving a distressing separation event that ended with either comforting or ignoring behavior. Frontal asymmetry (FA) in the alpha range - which is indicative of approach-withdrawal tendencies - was measured with EEG. Attachment quality was assessed using the Strange Situation procedure at 12 months. Overall, infants with disorganized attachment showed a lack of right-sided – withdrawal related – FA compared to secure and insecure infants. Furthermore, only avoidant infants exhibited reduced right-sided FA responses following the separation. Contrary to our expectations, the type of response (comforting vs. ignoring) did not elicit differences in FA patterns, and attachment quality did not moderate the effects of the type of response on frontal asymmetry. Implications for research on attachment-related biases in social information processing and on the neural underpinnings of prosocial behaviors are discussed.

Objective: To better understand caregivers' decisional processes related to offering novel and disliked foods to their infants and toddlers., Design: As part of a parent study on young children's food acceptance that took place in Denver, CO, this secondary analysis used a basic qualitative approach to explore caregivers' decisional processes related to repeated exposure and children's food rejection., Participants: English-speaking caregivers of infants and toddlers (aged 6-24 months; n = 106) were recruited via flyers and social media and interviewed (from July, 2017 to January, 2018) during a laboratory visit focused on introducing a novel food., Phenomenon of Interest: Factors influencing caregiver decisions to (dis)continue offering novel or disliked foods., Analysis: Using a combined deductive and inductive coding approach, trained researchers coded transcripts and codes, which were reviewed and discussed by all investigators to identify themes., Results: Three major themes (and 2 subthemes) were generated regarding caregivers' decisions about re-offering rejected foods: 1) Caregivers understand that multiple experiences with new foods are needed because children's reactions can be unpredictable and depend upon time, developmental stage, and child traits; 2) Caregivers vary in their persistence and decisions to keep offering foods depending on responsiveness to child cues (sub-theme) and adult-centered beliefs, needs, and decisions (sub-theme); 3) Child food acceptance will change with time, circumstances, and development if you keep trying., Conclusions and Implications: Although caregivers are aware of repeated exposure, additional implementation research focused on translating theory into effective home practices could assist caregivers to persist in offering novel or disliked foods., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Syllables are one of the fundamental building blocks of early language acquisition. From birth onwards, infants preferentially segment, process and represent the speech into syllable-sized units, raising the question of what type of computations infants are able to perform on these perceptual units. Syllables are abstract units structured in a way that allows grouping phonemes into sequences. The goal of this research was to investigate 4-to-5-month-old infants' ability to encode the internal structure of syllables, at a target age when the language system is not yet specialized on the sounds and the phonotactics of native languages. We conducted two experiments in which infants were first familiarized to lists of syllables implementing either CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) or CCV (consonant-consonant-vowel) structures, then presented with new syllables implementing both structures at test. Experiments differ in the degree of phonological similarity between the materials used at familiarization and test. Results show that infants were able to differentiate syllabic structures at test, even when test syllables were implemented by combinations of phonemes that infants did not hear before. Only infants familiarized with CVC syllables discriminated the structures at test, pointing to a processing advantage for CVC over CCV structures. This research shows that, in addition to preferentially processing the speech into syllable-sized units, during the first months of life, infants are also capable of performing fine-grained computations within such units., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest None., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Primary myxoid stromal tumor in infancy is a rare subtype of soft tissue sarcoma, with the feature of infiltration of surrounding tissue, rare metastasis and poor response to chemotherapy. As a result, surgery operation is the most effective among therapies. According to current documents, sarcoma locate in trunk, head, neck and limbs. Here is a case report of PMMTI locating in pharynx and larynx.

Active learning is a critical component of human development, however, the mechanisms supporting it are not fully understood. Given that early learning experiences may affect both infants' immediate learning success, as well as their motivation to learn, it is particularly important to investigate the mechanisms of active learning in this period, when the foundations of learning habits and curiosity are built. Traditional behavioural approaches of studying infant learning face challenges that emerging tools from neuroscience may help relieve. We introduce one such tool, EEG theta oscillations, and propose this neural marker has great potential for offering novel insights into active learning. Theta activity, recorded prior to or during learning, has been shown to be predictive of learning success. We argue that this involvement in memory formation, combined with theta activity’s tight association with reward processing, makes theta oscillations a uniquely suited tool for the investigation of motivational mechanisms underlying active learning. We outline research questions as well as methodological approaches pertinent to infant learning and suggest how and why theta oscillations may offer complementary insights. As such, we aim to bridge the gap between cognitive and neural approaches, and advance our knowledge of active learning in development more broadly.

Maternal odor is known to play an important role in mother-infant-interaction in many altricial species such as rodents. However, we only know very little about its role in early human development. The present study therefore investigated the impact of maternal odor on infant brain responses to emotional expression. We recorded the electroencephalographic (EEG) signal of seven-month-old infants watching happy and fearful faces. Infants in two control groups exposed to no specific odor (control 1) or the odor of a different infant’s mother (control 2) showed the expected EEG fear response. Crucially, this response was markedly absent in the experimental group exposed to their mother’s odor. Thus, infants respond differently to fear signals in the presence of maternal odor. Our data therefore suggest that maternal odor can be a strong modulator of social perception in human infants.

Environmental enrichment, particularly during the early life phases of enhanced neuroplasticity, can stimulate cognitive development. However, individuals exhibit considerable variation in their response to environmental enrichment. Recent evidence suggests that certain neurophenotypes such as hippocampal size may index inter-individual differences in sensitivity to environmental conditions. We conducted a prospective, longitudinal investigation in a cohort of 75 mother-child dyads to investigate whether neonatal hippocampal volume moderates the effects of the postnatal environment on cognitive development. Newborn hippocampal volume was quantified shortly after birth (26.2 ± 12.5 days) by structural MRI. Measures of infant environmental enrichment (assessed by the IT-HOME) and cognitive state (assessed by the Bayley-III) were obtained at 6 months of age (6.09 ± 1.43 months). The interaction between neonatal hippocampal volume and enrichment predicted infant cognitive development (b = 0.01, 95 % CI [0.00, 0.02], t = 2.08, p = .04), suggesting that exposure to a stimulating environment had a larger beneficial effect on cognitive outcomes among infants with a larger hippocampus as neonates. Our findings suggest that the effects of the postnatal environment on infant cognitive development are conditioned, in part, upon characteristics of the newborn brain, and that newborn hippocampal volume is a candidate neurophenotype in this context.

Early infancy is characterized by rapid brain development that occurs alongside, and in response to, the development of cognitive and behavioral functions, including attention. Infants’ ability to orient and sustain attention to stimuli develops in concert with refinement of the orienting network in frontoparietal regions of the brain. Infants (n = 97) underwent magnetic resonance imaging at one-month of age and data were fit to a diffusion tensor imaging model to calculate fractional anisotropy (FA) and radial diffusivity (RD), as well as to a neurite orientation dispersion and density imaging model to calculate intracellular volume fraction (νic). Infant attention was assessed at six months of age using a dynamic puppet task (Cuevas and Bell, 2014). Infants with higher FA in the corpus callosum and anterior cingulum showed increased orienting behaviors. Our findings indicate that increased microstructure of the white matter tracts in the orienting network may play a role in the early neurodevelopment of attentional orienting behaviors.

Characteristics of the home language environment, independent of socioeconomic background, may account for disparities in early language abilities. Past studies have reported links between the quantity of language input within the home and differences in brain function during early childhood. The current study examined associations between home language input and EEG brain activity in a socioeconomically diverse sample of 6- to 12-month-old infants (N = 94). Replicating past studies, a positive correlation was found between measures of socioeconomic status and language input. Examining links between language input and brain activity, analyses yielded a negative association, with children who heard more adult words in the home demonstrating reduced EEG beta power (13–19 Hz) in the parietal region. Exploratory analyses revealed a significant interaction between language input and the amount of chaos and disorganization in the home. Specifically, among children living in high-chaos households, children who heard more adult words tended to have reduced EEG activity. Among children living in low-chaos homes, there was no link between adult word count and children’s EEG activity. These findings demonstrate the importance of the early home environment context in shaping neurocognitive trajectories.

Cortical areas in the ventral visual pathway become selectively tuned towards the processing of faces compared to non-face stimuli beginning around 3 months of age and continuing over the first year. Studies using event-related potentials in the EEG (ERPs) have found an ERP component, the N290, that displays specificity for human faces. Other components, such as the P1, P400, and Nc have been studied to a lesser degree in their responsiveness to human faces. However, little is known about the systematic changes in the neural responses to faces during the first year of life, and the localization of these responses in infants’ brain. We examined ERP responses to pictures of faces and objects in infants from 4.5 months through 12 months in a cross-sectional study. We investigated the activity of all the components reported to be involved in infant face processing, with particular interest to their amplitude variation and cortical localization. We identified neural regions responsible for the component through the application of cortical source localization methods. We found larger P1 and N290 responses to faces than objects, and these components were localized in the lingual and middle/posterior fusiform gyri, respectively. The amplitude of the P400 was not differentially sensitive to faces over objects. The Nc component was different for faces and objects, was influenced by the infant’s attentional state, and localized in medial-anterior brain areas. The implications of these results are discussed in the identification of developmental ERP precursors to face processing.

An important feature of the development of emotion recognition in infants is the emergence of a robust attentional bias for fearful faces. There is some debate about when this enhanced sensitivity to fearful expressions develops. The current study explored whether 3-month-olds demonstrate differential behavioral and neural responding to happy and fearful faces. Three-month-old infants (n = 69) participated in a behavioral task that assessed whether they show a visual preference for fearful faces and an event-related potential (ERP) task that assessed their neural responses to fearful and happy faces. Infants showed a looking preference for fearful over happy faces. They also showed differential neural responding over occiptotemporal regions that have been implicated in face perception (i.e., N290, P400), but not over frontocentral regions that have been implicated in attentional processes (i.e., Nc). These findings suggest that 3-month-olds display an early perceptual sensitivity to fearful faces, which may presage the emergence of the attentional bias for fearful faces in older infants. Tracking the ontogeny of this phenomenon is necessary to understand its relationship with later developmental outcomes.