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Functional connectivity within and between Intrinsic Connectivity Networks (ICNs) transforms over development and is thought to support high order cognitive functions. But how variable is this process, and does it diverge with altered cognitive development? We investigated age-related changes in integration and segregation within and between ICNs in neurodevelopmentally 'at-risk' children, identified by practitioners as experiencing cognitive difficulties in attention, learning, language, or memory. In our analysis we used performance on a battery of 10 cognitive tasks alongside resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging in 175 at-risk children and 62 comparison children aged 5-16. We observed significant age-by-group interactions in functional connectivity between two network pairs. Integration between the ventral attention and visual networks and segregation of the limbic and fronto-parietal networks increased with age in our comparison sample, relative to at-risk children. Furthermore, functional connectivity between the ventral attention and visual networks in comparison children significantly mediated age-related improvements in executive function, compared to at-risk children. We conclude that integration between ICNs show divergent neurodevelopmental trends in the broad population of children experiencing cognitive difficulties, and that these differences in functional brain organisation may partly explain the pervasive cognitive difficulties within this group over childhood and adolescence. [This article was written with the CALM Team.]

Working memory training improves children's cognitive performance on untrained tasks; however, little is known about the underlying neural mechanisms. This was investigated in 32 typically developing children aged 10-14 years (19 girls and 13 boys) using a randomized controlled design and multi-modal magnetic resonance imaging (Devon, UK; 2015-2016). Training improved working memory performance and increased intrinsic functional connectivity between the bilateral intraparietal sulci. Furthermore, improvements in working memory were associated with greater recruitment of the left middle frontal gyrus on a complex span task. Repeated engagement of fronto-parietal regions during training may increase their activity and functional connectivity over time, affording greater working memory performance. The plausibility of generalizable cognitive benefits from a neurobiological perspective and implications for neurodevelopmental theory are discussed.

Working memory training has been shown to improve performance on untrained working memory tasks in typically developing children, at least when compared to non-adaptive training; however, there is little evidence that it improves academic outcomes. The lack of transfer to academic outcomes may be because children are only learning skills and strategies in a very narrow context, which they are unable to apply to other tasks. Metacognitive strategy interventions, which promote metacognitive awareness and teach children general strategies that can be used on a variety of tasks, may be a crucial missing link in this regard. In this double-blind randomized controlled trial, 95 typically developing children aged 9-14 years were allocated to three cognitive training programmes that were conducted daily after-school. One group received Cogmed working memory training, another group received concurrent Cogmed and metacognitive strategy training, and the control group received adaptive visual search training, which better controls for expectancy and motivation than non-adaptive training. Children were assessed on four working memory tasks, reading comprehension, and mathematical reasoning before, immediately after, and 3 months after training. Working memory training improved working memory and mathematical reasoning relative to the control group. The improvements in working memory were maintained 3 months later, and these were significantly greater for the group that received metacognitive strategy training, compared to working memory training alone. Working memory training is a potentially effective educational intervention when provided in addition to school; however, future research will need to investigate ways to maintain academic improvements long term and to optimize metacognitive strategy training to promote far-transfer. A video abstract of this article can be viewed at https://youtu.be/-7MML48ZFgw

The article delves into the opioid addiction of Civil War veteran Thomas Watson, who died from a morphine overdose in 1889, shedding light on the challenges faced by scholars researching 19th-century opioid use in Kentucky. It emphasizes the importance of utilizing newly accessible archival materials and contextualizing individual cases to uncover the history of opioid addiction in the US. The postwar era saw a surge in opiate addiction, prompting legislative efforts to control abuse, such as the establishment of the Pinel Hospital in Virginia to address addiction and societal reintegration. The article also discusses the institutionalization of opiate users in public asylums during the Gilded Age and the political utilization of Civil War veteran opiate users' memory in the Progressive Era to contrast with modern drug users, providing a nuanced perspective on the historical context of opioid use and addiction in America. [Extracted from the article]

The article discusses a COVID-19 outbreak on a highly vaccinated population aboard a U.S. Navy ship after a port visit in Iceland in July 2021. Topics covered include the notification to report COVID-19 symptoms, the immediate institution of preventive measures, and their reimplementation after a period of relaxation upon identification of the first case. Also noted is the reduction of the spread of COVID-19 afforded by high vaccination rates in tandem with preventive measures.

The article offers a look at the 19th- and 21st-century opioid addiction crises in the U.S. which exhibit a history of troubling racial inequalities in access to opioids as well. Topics covered include the patterns of opioid use during the Civil War era, the opiate addiction among Black Civil War soldiers, and how the history of the U.S. opioid addiction underscores how Black Americans have experienced long-standing racial inequalities in access to opioid medicines.

The article focuses on the origins of pulse oximetry and its major benefits in the hospital's emergency department (ED). It states that in the middle of 1970s, pulse oximetry became a clinically useful tool for monitoring patients. It notes that pulse oximetry is used for the management of patients on improving triage classification, decreasing the use of arterial blood gas (ABG) sampling and decreasing the length of stay in the ED.