Light cues induce protective anticipation of environmental water loss in terrestrial bacteria.

The ecological significance of light perception in nonphotosynthetic bacteria remains largely elusive. In terrestrial environments, diurnal oscillations in light are often temporally coupled to other environmental changes, including increased temperature and evaporation. Here, we report that light functions as an anticipatory cue that triggers protective adaptations to tolerate a future rapid loss of environmental water. We demonstrate this photo-anticipatory stress tolerance in leaf-associated Pseudomonas syringae pv. syringae (Pss) and other plant- and soil-associated pseudomonads. We found that light influences the expression of 30% of the Pss genome, indicating that light is a global regulatory signal, and this signaling occurs almost entirely via a bacteriophytochrome photoreceptor that senses red, far-red, and blue wavelengths. Bacteriophytochrome-mediated light control disproportionally up-regulates water-stress adaptation functions and confers enhanced fitness when cells encounter light prior to water limitation. Given the rapid speed at which water can evaporate from leaf surfaces, such anticipatory activation of a protective response enhances fitness beyond that of a reactive stress response alone, with recurring diurnal wet-dry cycles likely further amplifying the fitness advantage over time. These findings demonstrate that nonphotosynthetic bacteria can use light as a cue to mount an adaptive anticipatory response against a physiologically unrelated but ecologically coupled stress.

Physical Activity, Medical Home, and Health Behavior Counseling Among Adolescents with Special Health Care Needs: NSCH 2016-2017.

OBJECTIVES: Aim 1 was to establish updated prevalence estimates for meeting national physical activity (PA) guidelines among adolescents with and without special healthcare needs (SHCN), 12-17 years old. To identify at-risk subgroups, our sub-aim was to compare the distribution of prevalence estimates across PA levels by SHCN subtypes, and in reference to peers without SHCN. Aim 2 was to examine the association between meeting PA guidelines, having a medical home, and receiving positive health behavior counseling in this population. METHODS: Weighted prevalence estimates for meeting the 2018 National PA Guidelines (inactive, insufficiently active, sufficiently active: guidelines met) were calculated from a secondary analysis of the National Survey of Children's Health 2016-2017 ( n = 16,171, 27% SHCN). Adjusted odds ratios and 95% CIs were estimated from logistic regression models to measure the association between PA, medical home, and postive health behavior counseling. RESULTS: Of adolescents with SHCN, 15% were reported to be meeting PA guidelines compared to 19% of peers without SHCN peers. Among adolescents with a medical home, regardless of SHCN status, those receiving positive health behavior counseling had 1.70 times the adjusted odds of meeting PA guidelines compared to peers without counseling. CONCLUSIONS FOR PRACTICE: Adolescents with and without SHCN were more likely to meet PA guidelines if they had a medical home and received positive health behavior counseling, highlighting the value of comprehensive healthcare practices for PA promotion.

Exploring the Interaction of Disability Status and Childhood Predictors of Physical Activity and Sport Participation: An Exploratory Decision-Tree Analysis.

A secondary data analysis of 33,093 children and adolescents age 6-17 years (12% with disabilities) from a 2016-2017 National Survey of Children's Health nonrepresentative sample aimed to identify (a) unique clusters of sociodemographic characteristics and (b) the relative importance of disability status in predicting participation in daily physical activity (PA) and sports. Exploratory classification tree analyses identified hierarchical predictors of daily PA and sport participation separately. Disability status was not a primary predictor of daily PA. Instead, it emerged in the fifth level after age, sex, body mass index, and income, highlighting the dynamic intersection of disability with sociodemographic factors influencing PA levels. In comparison, disability status was a second-level predictor for sport participation, suggesting that unique factors influencing PA level are likely experienced by disabled children and adolescents. The authors employ an intersectionality lens to critically discuss implications for research in adapted PA.

Parental Influence on the Physical Activity Behaviors of Young Children With Developmental Disabilities.

The purpose of this study was to test a modified conceptual model of the associations between parental supports and physical activity (PA) orientations and the PA behaviors of young children with developmental disabilities (DDs). In total, 135 parents of young children with DDs completed a questionnaire, which consisted of 67 questions. A pathway analysis indicated that tangible and intangible parental supports were significantly associated with PA behaviors in young children with DDs (ß = 0.26, p = .01, and ß = 0.24, p = .02, respectively). Tangible parental support was positively associated with parents' PA behaviors and PA enjoyment (ß = 0.22, p < .001, and ß = 0.13, p = .04, respectively). Intangible parental support was positively associated with parents' PA behaviors and PA importance (ß = 0.19, p = .05, and ß = 0.33, p < .001, respectively). In addition, parental PA behaviors and parents' perceptions of their children's motor performance were both directly associated with PA behaviors in young children with DDs. These results highlight the importance of parental support and PA orientations in relation to the PA behaviors of young children with DDs.

Community-Level Social Determinants and Children's School Readiness.

The current study examined links between social determinants across communities and school readiness of children attending kindergarten in each community, in literacy, math, self-regulation, and social skills. Four types of social determinants were explored: socioeconomic, crime/violence, health and well-being, and access to resources. Data came from the Oregon Kindergarten Assessment, with 40,652 entering kindergarteners attending 706 schools in the fall of 2014. The 706 schools were nested within 36 counties. Variables representing social determinants were drawn from a variety of publicly available data sources from the year(s) most recently prior to the 2014-2015 school year. Bayesian multilevel modeling was conducted with children nested within schools, within counties. Children's school readiness in all four domains was negatively predicted by economic disadvantage at the school-level (indicated by other children with whom they attend Kindergarten), accounting for economic disadvantage in their own household. Moreover, school-level economic disadvantage amplified the negative effects of children's economic disadvantage on their school readiness. Four county-level social determinants also predicted one or more of the four school readiness outcomes, accounting for child- and school-level factors: child care supply, behavioral crime, maternal smoking, and adult health. County-level findings should be interpreted with caution due to a small sample and exploratory approach. However, this study is a first step to helping leaders address critical questions about how community risk factors like crime, and resources like child care, relate to school readiness among children in their communities.

Changing Teacher-Child Dyadic Interactions to Improve Preschool Children's Externalizing Behaviors.

A randomized controlled trial was used to examine the impact of an attachment-based, teacher-child, dyadic intervention (Banking Time) to improve children's externalizing behavior. Participants included 183 teachers and 470 preschool children (3-4 years of age). Classrooms were randomly assigned to Banking Time, child time, or business as usual (BAU). Sparse evidence was found for main effects on child behavior. Teachers in Banking Time demonstrated lower negativity and fewer positive interactions with children compared to BAU teachers at post assessment. The impacts of Banking Time and child time on reductions of parent- and teacher-reported externalizing behavior were greater when teachers evidenced higher-quality, classroom-level, teacher-child interactions at baseline. An opposite moderating effect was found for children's positive engagement with teachers.

Cortisol Patterns for Young Children Displaying Disruptive Behavior: Links to a Teacher-Child, Relationship-Focused Intervention.

Supportive and close relationships that young children have with teachers have lasting effects on children's behavior and academic success, and this is particularly true for children with challenging behaviors. These relationships are also important for children's developing stress response system, and children in child care may be more likely to display atypical cortisol patterns at child care. However, warm, supportive relationships with teachers may buffer these negative effects of child care. While many relationship-focused early childhood interventions demonstrate changes in child behavior, associations with children's stress response system are unknown. This study assessed children's activity in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis via salivary cortisol as a function of their participation in a dyadic intervention intended to improve a teacher's interaction quality with a particular child. Seventy teachers and 113 preschool children participated who were part of a larger study of teachers and children were randomly assigned at the classroom level across three intervention conditions: Banking Time, Time-Control Comparison (Child Time), and Business-as-Usual. At the end of the school year, children in the Banking Time condition displayed a significantly greater decline in cortisol across the morning during preschool compared to children in Business-as-Usual condition. These pilot results are among the first to provide preliminary evidence that school-based interventions that promote sensitive and responsive interactions may improve young children's activity in the stress response system within the child care/early education context.

Child Behaviors of Young Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder Across Play Settings.

The hallmark characteristics of a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are deficits in social communicative skills and the use of repetitive and/or stereotyped behaviors. In addition, children with ASD experience known motor-skill delays. The purpose of this study was to examine salient child behaviors of young children with and without ASD in 2 distinctly different play settings: a traditional social-play-based setting and a motor-behavior-based play setting. Child behavior (engagement toward parent, negativity, and attention) and dyad characteristics (connectedness) were examined in 2 distinctly different play settings. Results indicated that children with ASD performed more like their peers without ASD in a social-play-based setting and less like their peers in a motor-behavior-based play setting. Aspects of our results shed light on the critical need to develop creative methods of early intervention that combine efforts in all aspects of child development, including motor-skill development.

Evidence for general and domain-specific elements of teacher-child interactions: associations with preschool children's development.

This study evaluates a model for considering domain-general and domain-specific associations between teacher-child interactions and children's development, using a bifactor analytic strategy. Among a sample of 325 early childhood classrooms there was evidence for both general elements of teacher-child interaction (responsive teaching) and domain-specific elements related to positive management and routines and cognitive facilitation. Among a diverse population of 4-year-old children (n = 1,407) responsive teaching was modestly associated with development across social and cognitive domains, whereas positive management and routines was modestly associated with increases in inhibitory control and cognitive facilitation was associated with gains in early language and literacy skills. The conceptual and methodological contributions and challenges of this approach are discussed.

Leisure Engagement during COVID-19 and Its Association with Mental Health and Wellbeing in U.S. Adults.

Leisure engagement has risen as a salient societal issue during the COVID-19 pandemic, not only because it provides a pathway for people to continue meeting their physical, cognitive, and social-emotional needs, but also due to the phenomenal juxtaposition of general increases in leisure time and unparalleled constraints. This study reports the results of the first investigation of U.S. adults' overall leisure engagement and its association with mental health amidst the major disruptions and sustained stress of the COVID-19 pandemic. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected through an online survey in February 2021 through Prolific from a sample representative of the U.S. adult population in age, gender, and race (n = 503) and analyzed using a mixed-method approach. A total of 104 unique leisure activities in 19 categories and 3 domains were identified through iterative thematic coding. Participants reported general increases in home-based traditional leisure and digital/online activities and decreases in physical and nature-based activities. Multiple regression analyses controlling for socio-demographic and context-specific covariates revealed distinct associations between changes in leisure engagement and different aspects of mental health (perceived stress, depressive symptoms, and mental wellbeing), supporting leisure's dual role in facilitating stress alleviation and wellbeing enhancement during taxing events, such as COVID-19.

Parental influences on parent-reported motor skills in young children with developmental disabilities.

BACKGROUND: Young children with developmental disabilities (DDs) often experience motor skill deficits. Although parents play an important role in developing their children's motor skills, the association between parents of young children with DDs and those children's motor skills has not been widely studied. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to cross-sectionally examine the pathway by which parental physical activity (PA) support, explicit modeling, and child's PA are associated with motor skills in young children with DDs. METHOD: One hundred and thirty-five parents of young children (5-7 years) with DDs completed an online questionnaire which included questions about parental PA support, parental explicit PA modeling, children's PA behavior and children's motor skill variables. RESULTS: Pathway analysis was conducted to examine the pathways between parental tangible support and explicit modeling and motor skills in young children with DDs. The pathway analysis indicated that parental tangible support and explicit modeling are significantly associated with PA behaviors in young children with DDs, which in turn, are associated with their motor skills. CONCLUSIONS: The results from this study suggest that young children with DDs may acquire motor skills by participating in PA. In addition, parents of young children with DDs can indirectly be associated with the motor skills of their children by supporting PA and becoming a PA role model. For parents of young children with DDs, increasing the PA behaviors of their children maybe away to improve their children's motor skills.

Updated National Estimates of Disparities in Physical Activity and Sports Participation Experienced by Children and Adolescents With Disabilities: NSCH 2016-2017.

BACKGROUND: Children and adolescents with disabilities often report low levels of physical activity (PA). Estimating the magnitude of PA disparities has been previously challenged by underreporting and variability in subsampling of disability. Using the National Survey of Children's Health, this study estimated the population-level PA disparities experienced and the association between disability status and PA engagement. METHODS: Weighted prevalence of PA engagement (National Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans (2nd edition) and sports participation) was compared across disability groups for children (n = 20,867, 6-11 y) and adolescents (n = 28,651, 12-17 y) and found to be 12%. Age-stratified multivariable logistic regressions estimated the likelihood of PA engagement as a function of disability status and type, after adjusting for child and household factors. RESULTS: Children, but not adolescents, with disabilities had significantly lower odds of being sufficiently active compared with peers without disabilities (adjusted odds ratio = 0.75; 95% confidence interval, 0.60-0.94). Across age groups, the lowest prevalence rates were observed among those experiencing function and mobility disabilities. Children and adolescents were significantly less likely to participate in sports compared with peers. CONCLUSION: Children with function and mobility disabilities were identified as priority subpopulations least likely to be sufficiently active. The disparity in sports participation highlights a critical intervention point for increasing PA among children with disabilities.

An inquiry into how parents of children with autism spectrum disorder interact with their children in a motor skill-based play setting.

BACKGROUND: Most studies examining parental behaviors of parents of young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and typically developing (TD) children have taken place in free play settings and have primarily focused on examining social behaviors. Motor skill-based play settings, which are distinctly different from free play settings, have not been explicitly studied as it relates to parental behaviors in these environments. AIMS: The purpose of this study was to examine parental behaviors of parents of children with and without ASD in two distinctly different play settings. METHODS: Parental behaviors of eighteen parents of children with (n = 9) and without ASD (n = 9) were examined by observation in different play settings (free play [a social-play/traditional play based setting] and a motor skill-based play setting). The examined parental behaviors included parental encouragement, negativity, sensitivity, detachment, and intrusiveness. A 2 × 2 (group × play setting) repeated measures of ANOVA was conducted to examine the main effect of group (TD vs ASD) and play setting (a social-play based setting and a motor skill-based setting) and the interaction effect between group and play setting on parental behaviors. Post-hoc independent t-tests between groups in each setting were conducted to follow-up on significant interactions indicated in the repeated measures of ANOVA RESULTS: The repeated measures ANOVA revealed that parental encouragement showed a significant interaction effect, suggesting that the effect of group on parental encouragement depended on play setting. A post-hoc analysis revealed that parents of children with ASD showed statistically significant lower parental encouragement in a motor skill-based play setting but not in a social-play based setting compared to parents of TD children. Moreover, there was a main effect of group (parents of children with ASD vs. parents of TD children) on parental intrusiveness indicating that the mean parental intrusiveness on children with ASD was significantly higher than parents of TD children across both play settings. There were no statistically significant main or interaction effects on the other parental behaviors (parental negativity, sensitivity, and detachment) between groups. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: The current study indicated parental encouragement differences between parents of children with ASD and parents of TD children varied based on the play setting. These results identify a need to examine parental behaviors, especially parental encouragement and parental intrusiveness across various types of play settings. Furthermore, as parents of children with ASD displayed lower parental encouragement in a motor skill-based play setting compared to parents of TD children, future studies are warranted to improve parental encouragement of parents of children with ASD in a motor skill-based play setting.

Red Light, Purple Light! Results of an Intervention to Promote School Readiness for Children From Low-Income Backgrounds.

Considerable research has examined interventions that facilitate school readiness skills in young children. One intervention, Red Light, Purple Light Circle Time Games (RLPL; Tominey and McClelland, 2011; Schmitt et al., 2015), includes music and movement games that aim to foster self-regulation skills. The present study (N = 157) focused on children from families with low-income and compared the RLPL intervention (SR) to a revised version of RLPL that included literacy and math content (SR+) and a Business-As-Usual (BAU) control group. In both versions of the intervention, teachers were trained to administer the self-regulation intervention in preschool classrooms with coaching support. Although not statistically significant, children receiving either version of the intervention gained more in self-regulation on the Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders (HTKS) over the preschool year compared to the BAU group (ß = 0.09, p = 0.082, Cohen's d = 0.31). Effect sizes were similar to previous studies (Schmitt et al., 2015; Duncan et al., 2018) and translated to a 21% difference in self-regulation over and above the BAU group at post-test. Furthermore, children participating in either version of the intervention gained significantly more in math across the school year compared to children in the BAU group (ß = 0.14; p = 0.003, Cohen's d = 0.38), which translated to a 24% difference in math over and above the BAU group at post-test. Results were somewhat stronger for the SR+ version, although effect sizes across intervention conditions were comparable. There were no statistically significant differences across groups for literacy skills. Results extend previous research and suggest that the RLPL intervention, which includes an explicit focus on self-regulation through music and movement games, may improve children's self-regulation and math scores over the preschool year.

Seeing the Light: The Roles of Red- and Blue-Light Sensing in Plant Microbes.

Plants collect, concentrate, and conduct light throughout their tissues, thus enhancing light availability to their resident microbes. This review explores the role of photosensing in the biology of plant-associated bacteria and fungi, including the molecular mechanisms of red-light sensing by phytochromes and blue-light sensing by LOV (light-oxygen-voltage) domain proteins in these microbes. Bacteriophytochromes function as major drivers of the bacterial transcriptome and mediate light-regulated suppression of virulence, motility, and conjugation in some phytopathogens and light-regulated induction of the photosynthetic apparatus in a stem-nodulating symbiont. Bacterial LOV proteins also influence light-mediated changes in both symbiotic and pathogenic phenotypes. Although red-light sensing by fungal phytopathogens is poorly understood, fungal LOV proteins contribute to blue-light regulation of traits, including asexual development and virulence. Collectively, these studies highlight that plant microbes have evolved to exploit light cues and that light sensing is often coupled with sensing other environmental signals.

Limited access to special education services for school-aged children with developmental delay.

BACKGROUND: Current policy in Oregon limits eligibility of children diagnosed with developmental delay for school-based services. Due to eligibility definitions, children with developmental delay may face additional barriers transitioning from early intervention/early childhood special education into school-based special education services. AIMS: Examine the relationship between enrollment in school-based special education programs given a change in primary disability diagnosis. METHODS: Logistic regression models were fit for children who enrolled in early intervention/early childhood special education services with a primary disability diagnosis of developmental delay and changed primary disability diagnosis before third grade (n=5076). RESULTS: Odds of enrollment in future special education were greater in children with a change in primary disability diagnosis after the age of five in comparison to children that had a change in primary disability diagnosis before the age of five, while adjusting for demographic characteristics (adjusted odds ratio: 2.37, 95% CI 1.92, 2.92). CONCLUSION: Results suggest that children who are diagnosed with a developmental delay and exit early childhood special education due to maximum age of eligibility are more likely to enroll in special education compared to children without a gap in service access. IMPLICATIONS: Gaps in service access during early development are associated with the need for supportive services later on in life.

Visuomotor integration and inhibitory control compensate for each other in school readiness.

Visuomotor integration (VMI), or the ability to copy designs, and 2 measures of executive function were examined in a predominantly low-income, typically developing sample of children (n = 467, mean age 4.2 years) from 5 U.S. states. In regression models controlling for age and demographic variables, we tested the interaction between visuomotor integration (design copying) and inhibitory control (pencil-tap) or verbal working memory (digit span) on 4 directly assessed academic skills and teacher-reported approaches to learning. Compared with children with both poor visuomotor integration and low inhibitory control, those on the higher end of the continuum in at least 1 of these 2 skills performed better across several dependent variables. This compensatory pattern was evident for longitudinal improvement in print knowledge on the Test of Preschool Early Literacy (TOPEL), with similar though marginally significant findings for improvement in phonological awareness (TOPEL) and teacher-rated approaches to learning on the Preschool Learning Behaviors Scale (PLBS). Of note, the same compensatory pattern emerged for concurrently measured receptive vocabulary on the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT), expressive vocabulary on the Woodcock-Johnson III (WJ), TOPEL phonological awareness, and teacher-rated approaches to learning. The consistent pattern of results suggests that strong visuomotor integration skills are an important part of school readiness, and merit further study.