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Reading disorders are common in children and can impact academic success, mental health, and career prospects. Reading is supported by network of interconnected left hemisphere brain regions, including temporo-parietal, occipito-temporal, and inferior-frontal circuits. Poor readers often show hypoactivation and reduced gray matter volumes in this reading network, with hyperactivation and increased volumes in the posterior right hemisphere. We assessed gray matter development longitudinally in pre-reading children aged 2-5 years using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) (N = 32, 110 MRI scans; mean age: 4.40 ± 0.77 years), half of whom had a family history of reading disorder. The family history group showed slower proportional growth (relative to total brain volume) in the left supramarginal and inferior frontal gyri, and faster proportional growth in the right angular, right fusiform, and bilateral lingual gyri. This suggests delayed development of left hemisphere reading areas in children with a family history of dyslexia, along with faster growth in right homologues. This alternate development pattern may predispose the brain to later reading difficulties and may later manifest as the commonly noted compensatory mechanisms. The results of this study further shows our understanding of structural brain alterations that may form the neurological basis of reading difficulties.

Children and adolescents with disabilities benefit from physical activity. However, this population has lower fitness levels and higher rates of obesity than their peers, suggesting that they are not meeting physical activity guidelines and are experiencing barriers to participation. The purpose of this study was to quantify physical activity participation and barriers experienced by children and adolescents with disabilities in our area. Forty-five parents or caregivers of children aged 2-18 with physical and/or intellectual disabilities completed a questionnaire regarding physical activity participation in an average week and barriers to participation, prior to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Data were analysed using quantitative and qualitative methodologies. Ninety-one percent (41/45) of the children and adolescents with disabilities did not participate in sufficient physical activity to meet physical activity guidelines irrespective of type and severity of the disability (p > 0.05). Physical activity participation decreased with increasing age (r = -0.478, p = 0.001). The most commonly identified barrier was 'environments and programmes not able to handle nature of disability.' In our sample, the majority of children and adolescents with disabilities did not meet physical activity guidelines, with access reported as a primary barrier. This may have negative consequences on the physical and mental health of children and adolescents with disabilities. The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic may have worsened the rates of physical activity participation noted in our study.

We examined whether prenatal exposure to two classes of endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) was associated with infant epigenetic age acceleration (EAA), a DNA methylation biomarker of aging. Participants included 224 maternal–infant pairs from a Canadian pregnancy cohort study. Two bisphenols and 12 phthalate metabolites were measured in maternal second trimester urines. Buccal epithelial cell cheek swabs were collected from 3 month old infants and DNA methylation was profiled using the Infinium MethylationEPIC BeadChip. The Pediatric-Buccal-Epigenetic tool was used to estimate EAA. Sex-stratified robust regressions examined individual chemical associations with EAA, and Bayesian kernel machine regression (BKMR) examined chemical mixture effects. Adjusted robust models showed that in female infants, prenatal exposure to total bisphenol A (BPA) was positively associated with EAA (B = 0.72, 95% CI: 0.21, 1.24), and multiple phthalate metabolites were inversely associated with EAA (Bs from −0.36 to −0.66, 95% CIs from −1.28 to −0.02). BKMR showed that prenatal BPA was the most important chemical in the mixture and was positively associated with EAA in both sexes. No overall chemical mixture effects or male-specific associations were noted. These findings indicate that prenatal EDC exposures are associated with sex-specific deviations in biological aging, which may have lasting implications for child health and development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs; e.g., physical abuse) can impact lifelong mental health both directly and intergenerationally, with effects transmitted from the parent to the child. Several physiological mechanisms have been proposed to explain the impacts of ACEs on mental health. The purpose of this narrative review was to synthesize and critique the peer-reviewed literature on physiological mechanisms proposed to underlie the impacts of ACEs on mental health, specifically: (1) hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis functioning, (2) inflammation, (3) genetic inheritance and differential susceptibility, (4) epigenetics, (5) brain structure and function, (6) oxidative stress, and (7) metabolic profiles. We searched Google Scholar using variations of the terms "adverse childhood experiences", "mechanisms", and "mental health" to locate relevant peer-reviewed literature. We also mined citations of the identified literature to find additional important sources. The role of inflammation in the etiology of mental health conditions among those exposed to ACEs appeared promising, followed by hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis functioning, brain structure and function, genetics, epigenetics, metabolism, and lastly, oxidative stress. Replication studies that examine the associations among ACEs, genetic inheritance and differential susceptibility, epigenetics, oxidative stress, and metabolism are required to better define links with mental health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Maternal gestational obesity is related to risk of obesity in the child. This risk may be in part mediated by altered child temperament, which can affect mother–child interactions, including feeding and soothing behaviors that affect obesity risk. Our objective was to examine the association between maternal pre‐pregnancy BMI and child zBMI and determine if child temperament, specifically positive Affectivity/Surgency, mediates this association. Using conditional process modeling, we analyzed data from 408 mother–child dyads enrolled in the Alberta Pregnancy Outcomes and Nutrition (APrON) study. Child temperament was assessed at 3 years of age via a parent report measure, the Child Behavior Questionnaire (CBQ), and child zBMI was calculated from in‐person measurements of child height and weight at 4–5 years of age. Bivariate correlations showed that there was a significant positive correlation between zBMI and Surgency (r = 0.11, p = 0.03), and zBMI was also correlated with maternal pre‐pregnancy BMI (r = 0.12, p = 0.02). Multivariable regression revealed that maternal pre‐pregnancy BMI (adjusted β = 0.15, 95% confidence interval [CI]; 0.00–0.05, p = 0.02) and Surgency scores (adjusted β = 0.14, 95% CI; 0.02–0.28, p = 0.03) were associated with higher child zBMI at 4–5 years of age. Mediation analysis showed that Surgency mediated the association between pre‐pregnancy BMI and child zBMI. Our models controlled for maternal gestational weight gain, gestational diabetes, socioeconomic status, maternal anxiety and depression, and gestational age at birth. Overall, maternal pre‐pregnancy BMI was positively associated with child zBMI, and this association was mediated by higher child Surgency scores. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]