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Inhaled medications are commonplace for administering bronchodilators, anticholinergics, and corticosteroids. While they have a defined legitimate use, they are also used in sporting events as performance-enhancing drugs. These performance enhancers can be acquired via both legal (i.e., at a pharmacy through over-the-counter medications or through a prescription) and illicit (i.e., black market and foreign pharmacies) means, thus making monitoring procurement impossible. While urine tests can detect these pharmacological agents hours after they have been inhaled, there is a significant lag time before they are observed in urine. Direct detection of these inhaled agents is complicated and requires a multiplexed approach due to the sheer number of inhaled pharmacological agents. Therefore, detection of propellants, which carry the drug into the lungs, provides a simpler path forward toward detection of broad pharmacological agents. In this paper, we demonstrate the first use of terahertz spectroscopy (THz) to detect inhaled medications in human subjects. Notably, we were able to detect and quantitate the propellant, HFA-134a, in breath up to 30 min after using an asthma inhaler, enabling the use of a point-of-care device to monitor exhaled breath for the presence of propellants. We also demonstrate via simulations that the same approach can be leveraged to detect and identify next-generation propellants, specifically HFA-152a. As a result, we provide evidence that a single point-of-care THz sensor can detect when individuals have used pressure-mediated dose inhalers (pMDIs) without further modification of the hardware.

Objective: The current study examined how the opposing effects of bilingualism and attention problems operate on executive functioning, visual processing, and verbal fluency in children with clinically significant levels of attention problems. Method: We tested whether bilingualism moderated associations between attention problems and visual processing, executive functioning, and verbal fluency. Results: Bilingual children ( n = 331) showed visual processing advantages relative to their monolingual peers ( n = 165), but only at higher, and not lower, levels of attention problems. Bilingualism did not moderate the association between attention problems and interference control; however, across all children, those with higher levels of attention problems had more difficulty with interference control. Monolingual children demonstrated advantages in verbal fluency relative to bilingual children, but this did not vary with attention problems. Conclusion: Visual processing advantages in bilinguals are detected among children with heightened attention problems, but advantages in interference control are not; findings may have implications for classroom interventions.

Children from language minority (LM) environments speak a language at home that differs from that at school, are often from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds, and are at risk for reading impairment. We evaluated the main effects and interaction of language status and phonological memory and awareness on reading disorder in 352 children from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds. A significant phonological memory by language status interaction indicated that phonological memory problems were magnified in predicting reading impairment in children from LM versus English dominant (ED) homes. Among children without reading disorder, language minority status was unrelated to phonological processing.

Objective: Physical activity associates with mental health and neurocognitive function, showing potential for addressing ADHD symptoms. As a preliminary assessment of this potential, the authors piloted a before-school physical activity intervention for young children., Method: Seventeen children (Grades K-3) exhibiting four or more hyperactivity/impulsivity symptoms on the Disruptive Behavior Disorders Rating Scale (Pelham, 2002) completed about 26 min of continuous moderate-to-vigorous physical activity daily over eight school weeks. The authors administered cognitive, motor, social, and behavioral functioning measures at pre- and postprogram, assessed response inhibition weekly, and coded negative behaviors daily., Results: Several measures showed significant or marginally significant change over time (effect size = 0.35-0.96) with additional measures showing meaningful effect size values (≥ 0.20). Response inhibition effects were most consistent. Most participants (64% to 71%) exhibited overall improvement according to postprogram parent, teacher, and program staff ratings., Conclusion: Physical activity shows promise for addressing ADHD symptoms in young children.

This study examines whether positively biased self-perceptions relate to social behaviors in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) as compared to control children. The social behaviors of children with ADHD (n=87) were examined relative to control children (CTL; n=38) during a laboratory-based dyadic social interaction task. Children with ADHD were subgrouped into those with a positive illusory bias (PIB) in their self-perceptions (ADHD + PIB) versus those without such a bias (ADHD - PIB). Using a behavioral coding system adapted for this study, ADHD + PIB, ADHD - PIB, and CTL participants were compared on objectively coded social behaviors occurring within the context of the social interaction task. Whereas both ADHD groups displayed more disruptive behavior than controls, only the ADHD + PIB group displayed less prosocial behavior and less effortful behavior. This study breaks new ground by examining positively biased self-perceptions as they relate to social behavior in children with ADHD and provides promising new insight into the social problems experienced by these children., (Copyright © 2012. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

This study examined the relation between cognitive deficits and positive bias in a sample of 272 children with and without Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD; 7-12 years old). Results indicated that children with ADHD with and without biased self-perceptions exhibit differences in specific cognitive deficits (executive processes, working memory, broad attention, and cognitive fluency) compared to each other and to control children. Further, specific cognitive deficits emerged as partial mediators of the relation between ADHD diagnostic status and positive bias. Interestingly, some differences in results emerged based on the domain considered (academic, social, behavioral competence). Results lend initial support to the role of cognitive deficits in the positive bias of some children with ADHD. Implications for future research and intervention are discussed.

A statistical structure-activity model of the Salmonella typhimurium (Ames) test has been devised based on 472 chemicals for which this endpoint has been measured. The model uses substructural fragments as the independent parameters to explain the difference in mutagenicity of the different chemicals. The model is able to classify 86% of the chemicals into their correct categories; the false-positive rate is 4.7%, and the false-negative rate 5.3%. Approximately 10% of the chemicals cannot be classified by the existing equation. This structure-activity model can be used as a preliminary screen prior to other testing as well as for setting priorities for more detailed investigations.