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Abstract Language and social symptoms improve with age in some autistic toddlers, but not in others, and such outcome differences are not clearly predictable from clinical scores alone. Here we aim to identify early-age brain alterations in autism that are prognostic of future language ability. Leveraging 372 longitudinal structural MRI scans from 166 autistic toddlers and 109 typical toddlers and controlling for brain size, we find that, compared to typical toddlers, autistic toddlers show differentially larger or thicker temporal and fusiform regions; smaller or thinner inferior frontal lobe and midline structures; larger callosal subregion volume; and smaller cerebellum. Most differences are replicated in an independent cohort of 75 toddlers. These brain alterations improve accuracy for predicting language outcome at 6-month follow-up beyond intake clinical and demographic variables. Temporal, fusiform, and inferior frontal alterations are related to autism symptom severity and cognitive impairments at early intake ages. Among autistic toddlers, brain alterations in social, language and face processing areas enhance the prediction of the child’s future language ability.

Abstract Background Social affective and communication symptoms are central to autism spectrum disorder (ASD), yet their severity differs across toddlers: Some toddlers with ASD display improving abilities across early ages and develop good social and language skills, while others with “profound” autism have persistently low social, language and cognitive skills and require lifelong care. The biological origins of these opposite ASD social severity subtypes and developmental trajectories are not known. Methods Because ASD involves early brain overgrowth and excess neurons, we measured size and growth in 4910 embryonic-stage brain cortical organoids (BCOs) from a total of 10 toddlers with ASD and 6 controls (averaging 196 individual BCOs measured/subject). In a 2021 batch, we measured BCOs from 10 ASD and 5 controls. In a 2022 batch, we tested replicability of BCO size and growth effects by generating and measuring an independent batch of BCOs from 6 ASD and 4 control subjects. BCO size was analyzed within the context of our large, one-of-a-kind social symptom, social attention, social brain and social and language psychometric normative datasets ranging from N = 266 to N = 1902 toddlers. BCO growth rates were examined by measuring size changes between 1- and 2-months of organoid development. Neurogenesis markers at 2-months were examined at the cellular level. At the molecular level, we measured activity and expression of Ndel1; Ndel1 is a prime target for cell cycle-activated kinases; known to regulate cell cycle, proliferation, neurogenesis, and growth; and known to be involved in neuropsychiatric conditions. Results At the BCO level, analyses showed BCO size was significantly enlarged by 39% and 41% in ASD in the 2021 and 2022 batches. The larger the embryonic BCO size, the more severe the ASD social symptoms. Correlations between BCO size and social symptoms were r = 0.719 in the 2021 batch and r = 0. 873 in the replication 2022 batch. ASD BCOs grew at an accelerated rate nearly 3 times faster than controls. At the cell level, the two largest ASD BCOs had accelerated neurogenesis. At the molecular level, Ndel1 activity was highly correlated with the growth rate and size of BCOs. Two BCO subtypes were found in ASD toddlers: Those in one subtype had very enlarged BCO size with accelerated rate of growth and neurogenesis; a profound autism clinical phenotype displaying severe social symptoms, reduced social attention, reduced cognitive, very low language and social IQ; and substantially altered growth in specific cortical social, language and sensory regions. Those in a second subtype had milder BCO enlargement and milder social, attention, cognitive, language and cortical differences. Limitations Larger samples of ASD toddler-derived BCO and clinical phenotypes may reveal additional ASD embryonic subtypes. Conclusions By embryogenesis, the biological bases of two subtypes of ASD social and brain development—profound autism and mild autism—are already present and measurable and involve dysregulated cell proliferation and accelerated neurogenesis and growth. The larger the embryonic BCO size in ASD, the more severe the toddler’s social symptoms and the more reduced the social attention, language ability, and IQ, and the more atypical the growth of social and language brain regions.

Extremely preterm infants are often treated with supraphysiological oxygen, which contributes to the development of bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD). These same infants exhibit compromised antioxidant capacities due in part to selenium (Se) deficiency. Se is essential for basal and inducible antioxidant responses. The present study utilized a perinatal Se deficiency (SeD) mouse model to identify the combined effects of newborn hyperoxia exposure and SeD on alveolarization and antioxidant responses, including the identification of affected developmental pathways. Se-sufficient (SeS) and SeD C3H/HeN breeding pairs were generated, and pups were exposed to room air or 85% O2 from birth to 14 d. Survival, antioxidant protein expression, and RNA seq analyses were performed. Greater than 40% mortality was observed in hyperoxia-exposed SeD pups. Surviving SeD pups had greater lung growth deficits than hyperoxia-exposed SeS pups. Gpx2 and 4 protein and Gpx activity were significantly decreased in SeD pups. Nrf2-regulated proteins, Nqo1 and Gclc were increased in SeD pups exposed to hyperoxia. RNA seq revealed significant decreases in the Wnt/β-catenin and Notch pathways. Se is a biologically relevant modulator of perinatal lung development and antioxidant responses, especially in the context of hyperoxia exposure. The RNA seq analyses suggest pathways essential for normal lung development are dysregulated by Se deficiency.

Abstract Few clinically validated biomarkers of ASD exist which can rapidly, accurately, and objectively identify autism during the first years of life and be used to support optimized treatment outcomes and advances in precision medicine. As such, the goal of the present study was to leverage both simple and computationally-advanced approaches to validate an eye-tracking measure of social attention preference, the GeoPref Test, among 1,863 ASD, delayed, or typical toddlers (12–48 months) referred from the community or general population via a primary care universal screening program. Toddlers participated in diagnostic and psychometric evaluations and the GeoPref Test: a 1-min movie containing side-by-side dynamic social and geometric images. Following testing, diagnosis was denoted as ASD, ASD features, LD, GDD, Other, typical sibling of ASD proband, or typical. Relative to other diagnostic groups, ASD toddlers exhibited the highest levels of visual attention towards geometric images and those with especially high fixation levels exhibited poor clinical profiles. Using the 69% fixation threshold, the GeoPref Test had 98% specificity, 17% sensitivity, 81% PPV, and 65% NPV. Sensitivity increased to 33% when saccades were included, with comparable validity across sex, ethnicity, or race. The GeoPref Test was also highly reliable up to 24 months following the initial test. Finally, fixation levels among twins concordant for ASD were significantly correlated, indicating that GeoPref Test performance may be genetically driven. As the GeoPref Test yields few false positives (~ 2%) and is equally valid across demographic categories, the current findings highlight the ability of the GeoPref Test to rapidly and accurately detect autism before the 2nd birthday in a subset of children and serve as a biomarker for a unique ASD subtype in clinical trials.

Objective To estimate the effectiveness of standardised self-management kits for children with type 1 diabetes.Design Pragmatic trial with randomisation ratio of two intervention: one control. Qualitative process evaluation.Setting 11 diabetes clinics in England and Wales.Participants Between February 2010 and August 2011, we validly randomised 308 children aged 6–18 years; 201 received the intervention.Intervention We designed kits to empower children to achieve glycaemic control, notably by recording blood glucose and titrating insulin. The comparator was usual treatment.Outcome measures at 3 and 6 months Primary: Diabetes Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL). Secondary: HbA1c; General PedsQL; EQ-5D; healthcare resource use.Results Of the five Diabetes PedsQL dimensions, Worry showed adjusted scores significantly favouring self-management kits at 3 months (mean child-reported difference =+5.87; Standard error[SE]=2.19; 95% confidence interval [CI]) from +1.57 to +10.18; p=0.008); but Treatment Adherence significantly favoured controls at 6 months (mean child-reported difference=−4.68; SE=1.74; 95%CI from −8.10 to −1.25; p=0.008). Intervention children reported significantly worse changes between 3 and 6 months on four of the five Diabetes PedsQL dimensions and on the total score (mean difference=−3.20; SE=1.33; 95% CI from −5.73 to −0.67; p=0.020). There was no evidence of change in HbA1c; only 18% of participants in each group achieved recommended levels at 6 months. No serious adverse reactions attributable to the intervention or its absence were reported.Use of kits was poor. Few children or parents associated blood glucose readings with better glycaemic control. The kits, costing £185, alienated many children and parents.Conclusions Standardised kits showed no evidence of benefit, inhibited diabetes self-management and increased worry. Future research should study relationships between children and professionals, and seek new methods of helping children and parents to manage diabetes.Trial registration number ISRCTN17551624.

Social visual engagement difficulties are hallmark early signs of autism (ASD) and are easily quantified using eye tracking methods. However, it is unclear how these difficulties are linked to atypical early functional brain organization in ASD. With resting state fMRI data in a large sample of ASD toddlers and other non-ASD comparison groups, we find ASD-related functional hypoconnnectivity between ‘social brain’ circuitry such as the default mode network (DMN) and visual and attention networks. An eye tracking-identified ASD subtype with pronounced early social visual engagement difficulties (GeoPref ASD) is characterized by marked DMN-occipito-temporal cortex (OTC) hypoconnectivity. Increased DMN-OTC hypoconnectivity is also related to increased severity of social-communication difficulties, but only in GeoPref ASD. Early and pronounced social-visual circuit hypoconnectivity is a key underlying neurobiological feature describing GeoPref ASD and may be critical for future social-communicative development and represent new treatment targets for early intervention in these individuals.

BackgroundSocial affective and communication symptoms are central to autism spectrum disorder (ASD), yet their severity differs across toddlers: Some toddlers with ASD display improving abilities across early ages and develop good social and language skills, while others with "profound" autism have persistently low social, language and cognitive skills and require lifelong care. The biological origins of these opposite ASD social severity subtypes and developmental trajectories are not known.MethodsBecause ASD involves early brain overgrowth and excess neurons, we measured size and growth in 4910 embryonic-stage brain cortical organoids (BCOs) from a total of 10 toddlers with ASD and 6 controls (averaging 196 individual BCOs measured/subject). In a 2021 batch, we measured BCOs from 10 ASD and 5 controls. In a 2022 batch, we  tested replicability of BCO size and growth effects by generating and measuring an independent batch of BCOs from 6 ASD and 4 control subjects. BCO size was analyzed within the context of our large, one-of-a-kind social symptom, social attention, social brain and social and language psychometric normative datasets ranging from N = 266 to N = 1902 toddlers. BCO growth rates were examined by measuring size changes between 1- and 2-months of organoid development. Neurogenesis markers at 2-months were examined at the cellular level. At the molecular level, we measured activity and expression of Ndel1; Ndel1 is a prime target for cell cycle-activated kinases; known to regulate cell cycle, proliferation, neurogenesis, and growth; and known to be involved in neuropsychiatric conditions.ResultsAt the BCO level, analyses showed BCO size was significantly enlarged by 39% and 41% in ASD in the 2021 and 2022 batches. The larger the embryonic BCO size, the more severe the ASD social symptoms. Correlations between BCO size and social symptoms were r = 0.719 in the 2021 batch and r = 0. 873 in the replication 2022 batch. ASD BCOs grew at an accelerated rate nearly 3 times faster than controls. At the cell level, the two largest ASD BCOs had accelerated neurogenesis. At the molecular level, Ndel1 activity was highly correlated with the growth rate and size of BCOs. Two BCO subtypes were found in ASD toddlers: Those in one subtype had very enlarged BCO size with accelerated rate of growth and neurogenesis; a profound autism clinical phenotype displaying severe social symptoms, reduced social attention, reduced cognitive, very low language and social IQ; and substantially altered growth in specific cortical social, language and sensory regions. Those in a second subtype had milder BCO enlargement and milder social, attention, cognitive, language and cortical differences.LimitationsLarger samples of ASD toddler-derived BCO and clinical phenotypes may reveal additional ASD embryonic subtypes.ConclusionsBy embryogenesis, the biological bases of two subtypes of ASD social and brain development-profound autism and mild autism-are already present and measurable and involve dysregulated cell proliferation and accelerated neurogenesis and growth. The larger the embryonic BCO size in ASD, the more severe the toddler's social symptoms and the more reduced the social attention, language ability, and IQ, and the more atypical the growth of social and language brain regions.

Background: Community-based monitoring provides a forum for diverse stakeholders to co-construct knowledge relevant to building social-ecological resilience. However, power asymmetries between these actors can privilege the perspectives of dominant groups, while preventing non-dominant perspectives from informing conservation science. Methods: This study investigates a workshop series intended to support young people in designing a watershed monitoring initiative rooted in their own interests with respect to a large dam removal in their community. We use interaction analysis to examine whose ideas are taken up in discussions among young people, educators, conservation professionals, and education researchers. Findings: Power dynamics that privilege the contributions of credentialed professionals over those of young people can constrain collective learning processes while simultaneously generating tensions that allow for expansive learning to occur. Facilitation practices and other pedagogical moves play an important role in either further entrenching or disrupting hierarchies between youth and community partners. Contribution: Our analysis reveals how careful attention to interactional dynamics—both as a research method and as a pedagogical practice—can make visible and disrupt epistemic hierarchies in multi-stakeholder learning environments. Problematizing these hierarchies can help broaden the perspectives from which knowledge is generated, a necessary endeavor in building resilient social-ecological systems.

Background: Community-based monitoring provides a forum for diverse stakeholders to co-construct knowledge relevant to building social-ecological resilience. However, power asymmetries between these actors can privilege the perspectives of dominant groups, while preventing non-dominant perspectives from informing conservation science. Methods: This study investigates a workshop series intended to support young people in designing a watershed monitoring initiative rooted in their own interests with respect to a large dam removal in their community. We use interaction analysis to examine whose ideas are taken up in discussions among young people, educators, conservation professionals, and education researchers. Findings: Power dynamics that privilege the contributions of credentialed professionals over those of young people can constrain collective learning processes while simultaneously generating tensions that allow for expansive learning to occur. Facilitation practices and other pedagogical moves play an important role in either further entrenching or disrupting hierarchies between youth and community partners. Contribution: Our analysis reveals how careful attention to interactional dynamics--both as a research method and as a pedagogical practice--can make visible and disrupt epistemic hierarchies in multi-stakeholder learning environments. Problematizing these hierarchies can help broaden the perspectives from which knowledge is generated, a necessary endeavor in building resilient social-ecological systems.

Abstract Genetic mechanisms underlying abnormal early neural development in toddlers with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) remain uncertain due to the impossibility of direct brain gene expression measurement during critical periods of early development. Recent findings from a multi‐tissue study demonstrated high expression of many of the same gene networks between blood and brain tissues, in particular with cell cycle functions. We explored relationships between blood gene expression and total brain volume (TBV) in 142 ASD and control male toddlers. In control toddlers, TBV variation significantly correlated with cell cycle and protein folding gene networks, potentially impacting neuron number and synapse development. In ASD toddlers, their correlations with brain size were lost as a result of considerable changes in network organization, while cell adhesion gene networks significantly correlated with TBV variation. Cell cycle networks detected in blood are highly preserved in the human brain and are upregulated during prenatal states of development. Overall, alterations were more pronounced in bigger brains. We identified 23 candidate genes for brain maldevelopment linked to 32 genes frequently mutated in ASD. The integrated network includes genes that are dysregulated in leukocyte and/or postmortem brain tissue of ASD subjects and belong to signaling pathways regulating cell cycle G1/S and G2/M phase transition. Finally, analyses of the CHD8 subnetwork and altered transcript levels from an independent study of CHD8 suppression further confirmed the central role of genes regulating neurogenesis and cell adhesion processes in ASD brain maldevelopment.

Feminist news media researchers have long contended that masculine news values shape journalists' quotidian decisions about what is newsworthy. As a result, it is argued, topics and issues traditionally regarded as primarily of interest and relevance to women are routinely marginalised in the news, while men's views and voices are given privileged space. When women do show up in the news, it is often as "eye candy," thus reinforcing women's value as sources of visual pleasure rather than residing in the content of their views. To date, evidence to support such claims has tended to be based on small-scale, manual analyses of news content. In this article, we report on findings from our large-scale, data-driven study of gender representation in online English language news media. We analysed both words and images so as to give a broader picture of how gender is represented in online news. The corpus of news content examined consists of 2,353,652 articles collected over a period of six months from more than 950 different news outlets. From this initial dataset, we extracted 2,171,239 references to named persons and 1,376,824 images resolving the gender of names and faces using automated computational methods. We found that males were represented more often than females in both images and text, but in proportions that changed across topics, news outlets and mode. Moreover, the proportion of females was consistently higher in images than in text, for virtually all topics and news outlets; women were more likely to be represented visually than they were mentioned as a news actor or source. Our large-scale, data-driven analysis offers important empirical evidence of macroscopic patterns in news content concerning the way men and women are represented.

Aim: To develop and evaluate an individually tailored age-appropriate diabetes diary and information pack for children and young people aged 6–18 years with type 1 diabetes to support decision-making and self-care with a specific focus on insulin management and blood glucose monitoring, compared with available resources in routine clinical practice. Design: Four-stage study following the Medical Research Council framework for designing and evaluating complex interventions. Stage 1: context – brief review of reviews and mixed-method systematic review; updating of database of children’s diabetes information; children’s diabetes information quality assessment and diabetes guideline analysis; and critical discourse analysis. Stage 2: intervention development – working with expert clinical advisory group; contextual qualitative interviews and focus groups with children and young people to ascertain their information preferences and self-care practices; ongoing consultation with children; development of intervention programme theory. Stage 3: randomised controlled trial (RCT) to evaluate the diabetes diaries and information packs in routine practice. Stage 4: process evaluation. Findings: The RCT achieved 100% recruitment, was adequately powered and showed that the Evidence into Practice Information Counts (EPIC) packs and diabetes diaries were no more effective than receiving diabetes information in an ad hoc way. The cost per unit of producing the EPIC packs and diabetes diaries was low. Compared with treatment as usual information, the EPIC packs fulfilled all NHS policy imperatives that children and young people should receive high-quality, accurate and age-appropriate information about their condition, self-management and wider lifestyle and well-being issues. Diabetes guidelines recommend the use of a daily diabetes diary and EPIC diaries fill a gap in current provision. Irrespective of allocation, children and young people had a range of recorded glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) levels, which showed that as a group their diabetes self-management would generally need to improve to achieve the HbA1c levels recommended in National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidance. The process evaluation showed that promotion of the EPIC packs and diaries by diabetes professionals at randomisation did not happen as intended; the dominant ‘normalisation’ theory underpinning children’s diabetes information may be counterproductive; risk and long-term complications did not feature highly in children’s diabetes information; and children and young people engaged in risky behaviour and appeared not to care, and most did not use a diabetes diary or did not use the information to titrate their insulin as intended. Limitations: Recruitment of ‘hard to reach’ children and young people living away from their families was not successful. The findings are therefore more relevant to diabetes management within a family context. Conclusions: The findings indicate a need to rethink context and the hierarchical relationships between children, young people, parents and diabetes professionals with regard to ‘partnership and participation’ in diabetes decision-making, self-care and self-management. Additional research, implementation strategies and service redesign are needed to translate available information into optimal self-management knowledge and subsequent optimal diabetes self-management action, including to better understand the disconnection between children’s diabetes texts and context; develop age-appropriate Apps/e-records for recording blood glucose measurements and insulin management; develop interventions to reduce risk-taking behaviour by children and young people in relation to their diabetes management; reconsider what could work to optimise children’s self-management of diabetes; understand how best to reorganise current diabetes services for children to optimise child-centred delivery of children’s diabetes information. Study registration: Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN17551624. Funding: The National Institute for Health Research Health Services and Delivery Research programme.

Autism is a highly heritable neurodevelopmental disorder, yet the genetic underpinnings of the disorder are largely unknown. Aberrant brain overgrowth is a well-replicated observation in the autism literature; but association, linkage, and expression studies have not identified genetic factors that explain this trajectory. Few studies have had sufficient statistical power to investigate whole-genome gene expression and genotypic variation in the autistic brain, especially in regions that display the greatest growth abnormality. Previous functional genomic studies have identified possible alterations in transcript levels of genes related to neurodevelopment and immune function. Thus, there is a need for genetic studies involving key brain regions to replicate these findings and solidify the role of particular functional pathways in autism pathogenesis. We therefore sought to identify abnormal brain gene expression patterns via whole-genome analysis of mRNA levels and copy number variations (CNVs) in autistic and control postmortem brain samples. We focused on prefrontal cortex tissue where excess neuron numbers and cortical overgrowth are pronounced in the majority of autism cases. We found evidence for dysregulation in pathways governing cell number, cortical patterning, and differentiation in young autistic prefrontal cortex. In contrast, adult autistic prefrontal cortex showed dysregulation of signaling and repair pathways. Genes regulating cell cycle also exhibited autism-specific CNVs in DNA derived from prefrontal cortex, and these genes were significantly associated with autism in genome-wide association study datasets. Our results suggest that CNVs and age-dependent gene expression changes in autism may reflect distinct pathological processes in the developing versus the mature autistic prefrontal cortex. Our results raise the hypothesis that genetic dysregulation in the developing brain leads to abnormal regional patterning, excess prefrontal neurons, cortical overgrowth, and neural dysfunction in autism.

The COVID- 19 pandemic has created challenges for student mental health in higher education. Emerging literature documents the various challenges that today’s college students encounter, but students’ coping strategies are understudied. Our work examines how college students utilize gaming as a tool to transition into a new campus environment and address mental health. Using a grounded theory approach, our analysis of interviews with freshmen on UC Davis campus during Fall 2021 revealed that college students use mental health apps and games in response to pandemic-related stress and anxiety. Students also articulated connecting to their peers as well as to themselves. We argue that gaming plays a critical role in this historic time by supporting students in their pandemic-lives on a college campus under stressful circumstances.

Early detection and intervention are believed to be key to facilitating better outcomes in children with autism, yet the impact of age at treatment start on the outcome is poorly understood. While clinical traits such as language ability have been shown to predict treatment outcome, whether or not and how information at the genomic level can predict treatment outcome is unknown. Leveraging a cohort of toddlers with autism who all received the same standardized intervention at a very young age and provided a blood sample, here we find that very early treatment engagement (i.e.,

[Figure: see text].

Social visual engagement difficulties are hallmark early signs of autism (ASD) and are easily quantified using eye tracking methods. However, it is unclear how these difficulties are linked to atypical early functional brain organization in ASD. With resting state fMRI data in a large sample of ASD toddlers and other non-ASD comparison groups, we find ASD-related functional hypoconnnectivity between 'social brain' circuitry such as the default mode network (DMN) and visual and attention networks. An eye tracking-identified ASD subtype with pronounced early social visual engagement difficulties (GeoPref ASD) is characterized by marked DMN-occipito-temporal cortex (OTC) hypoconnectivity. Increased DMN-OTC hypoconnectivity is also related to increased severity of social-communication difficulties, but only in GeoPref ASD. Early and pronounced social-visual circuit hypoconnectivity is a key underlying neurobiological feature describing GeoPref ASD and may be critical for future social-communicative development and represent new treatment targets for early intervention in these individuals.

A common theory of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) symptom onset includes toddlers who do not display symptoms until well after age 2, which are termed late-onset ASD cases. Objectives were to analyze differences in clinical phenotype between toddlers identified as ASD at initial evaluations (early diagnosed) versus those initially considered nonspectrum, then later identified as ASD (late diagnosed). Two hundred seventy-three toddlers recruited from the general population based on a failed developmental screening form or parent or physician concerns were followed longitudinally from 12 months and identified as early- and late-diagnosed cases of ASD, language delayed, or typically developing. Toddlers completed common standardized assessments and experimental eye-tracking and observational measures every 9-12 months until age 3. Longitudinal performance on standardized assessments and experimental tests from initial evaluations were compared. Delay in social communication skills was seen in both ASD groups at early-age initial assessment, including increased preference for nonsocial stimuli, increased stereotypic play, reduced exploration, and use of gestures. On standardized psychometric assessments, early-diagnosed toddlers showed more impairment initially while late-diagnosed toddlers showed a slowing in language acquisition. Similar social communication impairments were present at very early ages in both early-detected ASD and so-called late-onset ASD. Data indicate ASD is present whether detected or not by current methods, and development of more sensitive tools is needed.

This paper connects the technological practice of activity monitor gaming to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) science and engineering practice of "analyzing and interpreting data," and to the foundational constructionist idea of personal meaning. In our larger study, eighth-grade students, ages 12-14, wore physical activity monitor devices for approximately four months, encountered their own and peers' data on device displays and dashboards, and played a game designed by the project team that converted their device data into game bonuses and player actions. The analysis for this article examined focus groups and individual interviews with students from the project to determine alignment between students' thinking and the NGSS "analyzing and interpreting data" practices for grades 6-8: considering limitations related to measurement accuracy and error, measurement tools, and appropriateness of the data collection model. The analysis also identified what types of student experiences and reflections could be characterized as constructionist components of knowledge generation and knowledge reformulation, both of which are key to NGSS recommendations around finding "relevance" in data. Findings revealed that while students engaged in all three types of consideration, as well as creating meaningful interpretations of pattern identification and reasoning from evidence, their reflections and insights did not, for the most part, lead to actionable understandings. Our results have implications for implementing activity monitor technologies and practices in science education, particularly in regard to student meaning and motivation.

BackgroundTheories of brain abnormality in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have focused on underconnectivity as an explanation for social, language, and behavioral deficits but are based mainly on studies of older autistic children and adults.MethodsIn 94 ASD and typical toddlers ages 1 to 4 years, we examined the microstructure (indexed by fractional anisotropy) and volume of axon pathways using in vivo diffusion tensor imaging of fronto-frontal, fronto-temporal, fronto-striatal, and fronto-amygdala axon pathways, as well as posterior contrast tracts. Differences between ASD and typical toddlers in the nature of the relationship of age to these measures were tested.ResultsFrontal tracts in ASD toddlers displayed abnormal age-related changes with greater fractional anisotropy and volume than normal at younger ages but an overall slower than typical apparent rate of continued development across the span of years. Posterior cortical contrast tracts had few significant abnormalities.ConclusionsFrontal fiber tracts displayed deviant early development and age-related changes that could underlie impaired brain functioning and impact social and communication behaviors in ASD.

Genetic mechanisms underlying abnormal early neural development in toddlers with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) remain uncertain due to the impossibility of direct brain gene expression measurement during critical periods of early development. Recent findings from a multi-tissue study demonstrated high expression of many of the same gene networks between blood and brain tissues, in particular with cell cycle functions. We explored relationships between blood gene expression and total brain volume (TBV) in 142 ASD and control male toddlers. In control toddlers, TBV variation significantly correlated with cell cycle and protein folding gene networks, potentially impacting neuron number and synapse development. In ASD toddlers, their correlations with brain size were lost as a result of considerable changes in network organization, while cell adhesion gene networks significantly correlated with TBV variation. Cell cycle networks detected in blood are highly preserved in the human brain and are upregulated during prenatal states of development. Overall, alterations were more pronounced in bigger brains. We identified 23 candidate genes for brain maldevelopment linked to 32 genes frequently mutated in ASD. The integrated network includes genes that are dysregulated in leukocyte and/or postmortem brain tissue of ASD subjects and belong to signaling pathways regulating cell cycle G1/S and G2/M phase transition. Finally, analyses of the CHD8 subnetwork and altered transcript levels from an independent study of CHD8 suppression further confirmed the central role of genes regulating neurogenesis and cell adhesion processes in ASD brain maldevelopment.

This article examines two communities of youth who play an online game that integrates physical activity into virtual game play. Participating youth from two research sites--an urban middle school and a suburban junior high school--wore FitBits that tracked their physical activity and then integrated their real-world energy into game-world resource boosts. This incorporation of daily life as a mechanic of the video game creates a tangible connection between players' physical and virtual experiences. To better understand that connection, this article presents survey, GIS, and mapping data to detail the two communities as multi-domain ecologies, and then presents interview and focus group data to illustrate the players' perceptions of the affordances and limitations of their physical environments. Ultimately, the authors argue that a multi-layered analysis of real world communities is essential for designing games for health and for effectively facilitating game-based learning within players' complex ecologies.

Autism is a highly heritable neurodevelopmental disorder, yet the genetic underpinnings of the disorder are largely unknown. Aberrant brain overgrowth is a well-replicated observation in the autism literature; but association, linkage, and expression studies have not identified genetic factors that explain this trajectory. Few studies have had sufficient statistical power to investigate whole-genome gene expression and genotypic variation in the autistic brain, especially in regions that display the greatest growth abnormality. Previous functional genomic studies have identified possible alterations in transcript levels of genes related to neurodevelopment and immune function. Thus, there is a need for genetic studies involving key brain regions to replicate these findings and solidify the role of particular functional pathways in autism pathogenesis. We therefore sought to identify abnormal brain gene expression patterns via whole-genome analysis of mRNA levels and copy number variations (CNVs) in autistic and control postmortem brain samples. We focused on prefrontal cortex tissue where excess neuron numbers and cortical overgrowth are pronounced in the majority of autism cases. We found evidence for dysregulation in pathways governing cell number, cortical patterning, and differentiation in young autistic prefrontal cortex. In contrast, adult autistic prefrontal cortex showed dysregulation of signaling and repair pathways. Genes regulating cell cycle also exhibited autism-specific CNVs in DNA derived from prefrontal cortex, and these genes were significantly associated with autism in genome-wide association study datasets. Our results suggest that CNVs and age-dependent gene expression changes in autism may reflect distinct pathological processes in the developing versus the mature autistic prefrontal cortex. Our results raise the hypothesis that genetic dysregulation in the developing brain leads to abnormal regional patterning, excess prefrontal neurons, cortical overgrowth, and neural dysfunction in autism.

The literature suggests children with autism use communication primarily for requests and protests, and almost never for information-seeking. This study investigated whether teaching “Where” questions using intrinsic reinforcement procedures would produce the generalized use of the question, and whether concomitant improvements in related language structures, provided as answers to the children’s questions, would occur. In the context of a multiple baseline across participants design, data showed that the children could rapidly acquire and generalize the query, and that there were collateral improvements in the children’s use of language structures corresponding to the answers to the questions the children asked. The results are discussed in the context of teaching child initiations to improve linguistic competence in children with autism.

This article reviews critical discourse analysis scholarship in education research from 2004 to 2012. Our methodology was carried out in three stages. First, we searched educational databases. Second, we completed an analytic review template for each article and encoded these data into a digital spreadsheet to assess macro-trends in the field. Third, we developed schemata to interpret the complexity of research design. Our examination of 257 articles reveals trends in research questions, the theories researchers find useful, and the kinds of interactions that capture their attention. We explore areas in the field especially ripe for debate and critique: reflexivity, deconstructive-reconstructive stance toward inquiry, and social action. We compare the findings with an earlier review published in 2005, reflecting on three decades of critical discourse analysis in education research.

Background: Wearable and mobile technologies are often used by people who wish to document their own health and lifestyle behaviors. The feasibility of health tracking among youth is unclear, particularly in low-resource communities where health strategies stand to have the greatest impact. Methods: Youth (n = 24) enrolled in an afterschool program in an urban school district were provided Fitbit physical activity monitors. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected over 6 months; logged data from Fitbit.com were examined to assess physical activity patterns and level engagement with the technology and focus groups were conducted to assess motivators and barriers to use. Results: Data logs revealed low continuous engagement that declined over time. Qualitative findings suggest that, when youth wore their devices, they noticed and engaged with their real-time device data in reflective ways. Some aspects of the device's form factor were problematic for these youth, and technology access, environmental constraints, and motivation were also barriers to continuous engagement. Translation to Health Education Practice: Taken together, these mixed methods findings suggest that effecting sustainable changes in youth behavior through health tracking alone is challenging. Adequate training, programmatic/staff support, technology access, and motivation may help sustain ongoing use and engagement. We recommend that health tracking in similar contexts be situated within educational curricula and/or a broader intervention that facilitates and motivates continuous engagement.

Extant literature has largely not examined how users critically engage with their physical activity monitors, as objective data sense-making is often deemed superior to users' subjective realities. Our research, however, examines how middle-school youth encounter the representation of their data, as it is converted and actionable in an online game. This ethnographic study illustrates how youth negotiate conflicts between their data and embodied experience. Using a grounded theory approach, our analysis of interviews and focus groups reveals emergent categories of resistance such as youth evaluating the incompatibility of the device, disputing the device's step-count accuracy and syncing, and disputing the game's conversion of steps. In particular, we highlight the ways youth sometimes privileged their embodied recollections over the device's seemingly accurate data. The article also provides a case of a day during implementation when youth converged on a single form of resistance, game conversion, and examines their reasoning and alternate forms of data validation that we saw in-action on that day. Finally, we discuss benefits to learning and critical engagement that result from users' disputes and conclude by positing the promise in designing physical activity monitors for engagement, instead of exclusively persuasion or reward.

In the following case study, we examine the interplay between self-perception, environmental perception, and the interests and practice of volunteer trail guides who were recruited to provide educational services for visitors to a natural reserve in Northern California. Through semi-structured interviews with 15 guides and observations of training sessions and educational walks, we found that although individual perspectives of volunteers varied regarding the role of an educator for the reserve, guides shared common interests in teaching and learning and in the place itself. Active guides were drawn to the program by an interest in teaching and learning, had a previous relationship to the place, and held an image of themselves that matched their perceived image of a guide. These findings on the relationship of perception and participation support existing research on issues of identity in environmental education, and extend our current understanding of volunteer participation in interpretation and education programs.