Surface-based morphometry of the corpus callosum in young children of ages 1-5.

The corpus callosum (CC) is a large white matter fiber bundle in the brain and is involved in various cognitive, sensory, and motor processes. While implicated in various developmental and psychiatric disorders, much is yet to be uncovered about the normal development of this structure, especially in young children. Additionally, while sexual dimorphism has been reported in prior literature, observations have not necessarily been consistent. In this study, we use morphometric measures including surface tensor-based morphometry (TBM) to investigate local changes in the shape of the CC in children between the ages of 12 and 60 months, in intervals of 12 months. We also analyze sex differences in each of these age groups. We observed larger significant clusters in the earlier ages between 12 v 24 m and between 48 v 60 m and localized differences in the anterior region of the body of the CC. Sex differences were most pronounced in the 12 m group. This study adds to the growing literature of work aiming to understand the developing brain and emphasizes the utility of surface TBM as a useful tool for analyzing regional differences in neuroanatomical morphometry.

Corneal injury repair and the potential involvement of ZEB1.

The cornea, consisting of three cellular and two non-cellular layers, is the outermost part of the eyeball and frequently injured by external physical, chemical, and microbial insults. The epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) plays a crucial role in the repair of corneal injuries. Zinc finger E-box binding homeobox 1 (ZEB1), an important transcription factor involved in EMT, is expressed in the corneal tissues. It regulates cell activities like migration, transformation, and proliferation, and thereby affects tissue inflammation, fibrosis, tumor metastasis, and necrosis by mediating various major signaling pathways, including transforming growth factor (TGF)-ß. Dysfunction of ZEB1 would impair corneal tissue repair leading to epithelial healing delay, interstitial fibrosis, neovascularization, and squamous cell metaplasia. Understanding the mechanism underlying ZEB1 regulation of corneal injury repair will help us to formulate a therapeutic approach to enhance corneal injury repair.

Microstructural neural correlates of maximal grip strength in autistic children: the role of the cortico-cerebellar network and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder features.

Introduction: Maximal grip strength, a measure of how much force a person's hand can generate when squeezing an object, may be an effective method for understanding potential neurobiological differences during motor tasks. Grip strength in autistic individuals may be of particular interest due to its unique developmental trajectory. While autism-specific differences in grip-brain relationships have been found in adult populations, it is possible that such differences in grip-brain relationships may be present at earlier ages when grip strength is behaviorally similar in autistic and non-autistic groups. Further, such neural differences may lead to the later emergence of diagnostic-group grip differences in adolescence. The present study sought to examine this possibility, while also examining if grip strength could elucidate the neuro-motor sources of phenotypic heterogeneity commonly observed within autism. Methods: Using high resolution, multi-shell diffusion, and quantitative R1 relaxometry imaging, this study examined how variations in key sensorimotor-related white matter pathways of the proprioception input, lateral grasping, cortico-cerebellar, and corticospinal networks were associated with individual variations in grip strength in 68 autistic children and 70 non-autistic (neurotypical) children (6-11 years-old). Results: In both groups, results indicated that stronger grip strength was associated with higher proprioceptive input, lateral grasping, and corticospinal (but not cortico-cerebellar modification) fractional anisotropy and R1, indirect measures concordant with stronger microstructural coherence and increased myelination. Diagnostic group differences in these grip-brain relationships were not observed, but the autistic group exhibited more variability particularly in the cortico-cerebellar modification indices. An examination into the variability within the autistic group revealed that attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) features moderated the relationships between grip strength and both fractional anisotropy and R1 relaxometry in the premotor-primary motor tract of the lateral grasping network and the cortico-cerebellar network tracts. Specifically, in autistic children with elevated ADHD features (60% of the autistic group) stronger grip strength was related to higher fractional anisotropy and R1 of the cerebellar modification network (stronger microstructural coherence and more myelin), whereas the opposite relationship was observed in autistic children with reduced ADHD features. Discussion: Together, this work suggests that while the foundational elements of grip strength are similar across school-aged autistic and non-autistic children, neural mechanisms of grip strength within autistic children may additionally depend on the presence of ADHD features. Specifically, stronger, more coherent connections of the cerebellar modification network, which is thought to play a role in refining and optimizing motor commands, may lead to stronger grip in children with more ADHD features, weaker grip in children with fewer ADHD features, and no difference in grip in non-autistic children. While future research is needed to understand if these findings extend to other motor tasks beyond grip strength, these results have implications for understanding the biological basis of neuromotor control in autistic children and emphasize the importance of assessing co-occurring conditions when evaluating brain-behavior relationships in autism.

Role of autonomic, nociceptive, and limbic brainstem nuclei in core autism features.

Although multiple theories have speculated about the brainstem reticular formation's involvement in autistic behaviors, the in vivo imaging of brainstem nuclei needed to test these theories has proven technologically challenging. Using methods to improve brainstem imaging in children, this study set out to elucidate the role of the autonomic, nociceptive, and limbic brainstem nuclei in the autism features of 145 children (74 autistic children, 6.0-10.9 years). Participants completed an assessment of core autism features and diffusion- and T1-weighted imaging optimized to improve brainstem images. After data reduction via principal component analysis, correlational analyses examined associations among autism features and the microstructural properties of brainstem clusters. Independent replication was performed in 43 adolescents (24 autistic, 13.0-17.9 years). We found specific nuclei, most robustly the parvicellular reticular formation-alpha (PCRtA) and to a lesser degree the lateral parabrachial nucleus (LPB) and ventral tegmental parabrachial pigmented complex (VTA-PBP), to be associated with autism features. The PCRtA and some of the LPB associations were independently found in the replication sample, but the VTA-PBP associations were not. Consistent with theoretical perspectives, the findings suggest that individual differences in pontine reticular formation nuclei contribute to the prominence of autistic features. Specifically, the PCRtA, a nucleus involved in mastication, digestion, and cardio-respiration in animal models, was associated with social communication in children, while the LPB, a pain-network nucleus, was associated with repetitive behaviors. These findings highlight the contributions of key autonomic brainstem nuclei to the expression of core autism features.

Conditional deletion of Zeb1 in Csf1r+ cells reduces inflammatory response of the cornea to alkali burn.

ZEB1 is an essential factor in embryonic development. In adults, it is often highly expressed in malignant tumors with low expression in normal tissues. The major biological function of ZEB1 in developing embryos and progressing cancers is to transdifferentiate cells from an epithelial to mesenchymal phenotype; but what roles ZEB1 plays in normal adult tissues are largely unknown. We previously reported that the reduction of Zeb1 in monoallelic global knockout (Zeb1+/-) mice reduced corneal inflammation-associated neovascularization following alkali burn. To uncover the cellular mechanism underlying the Zeb1 regulation of corneal inflammation, we functionally deleted Zeb1 alleles in Csf1r+ myeloid cells using a conditional knockout (cKO) strategy and found that Zeb1 cKO reduced leukocytes in the cornea after alkali burn. The reduction of immune cells was due to their increased apoptotic rate and linked to a Zeb1-downregulated apoptotic pathway. We conclude that Zeb1 facilitates corneal inflammatory response by maintaining Csf1r+ cell viability.

Automated motion artifact detection in early pediatric diffusion MRI using a convolutional neural network.

Diffusion MRI (dMRI) is a widely used method to investigate the microstructure of the brain. Quality control (QC) of dMRI data is an important processing step that is performed prior to analysis using models such as diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) or neurite orientation dispersion and density imaging (NODDI). When processing dMRI data from infants and young children, where intra-scan motion is common, the identification and removal of motion artifacts is of the utmost importance. Manual QC of dMRI data is (1) time-consuming due to the large number of diffusion directions, (2) expensive, and (3) prone to subjective errors and observer variability. Prior techniques for automated dMRI QC have mostly been limited to adults or school-age children. Here, we propose a deep learning-based motion artifact detection tool for dMRI data acquired from infants and toddlers. The proposed framework uses a simple three-dimensional convolutional neural network (3DCNN) trained and tested on an early pediatric dataset of 2,276 dMRI volumes from 121 exams acquired at 1 month and 24 months of age. An average classification accuracy of 95% was achieved following four-fold cross-validation. A second dataset with different acquisition parameters and ages ranging from 2-36 months (consisting of 2,349 dMRI volumes from 26 exams) was used to test network generalizability, achieving 98% classification accuracy. Finally, to demonstrate the importance of motion artifact volume removal in a dMRI processing pipeline, the dMRI data were fit to the DTI and NODDI models and the parameter maps were compared with and without motion artifact removal.

Eventos adversos pós vacinais em crianças e atuação da enfermagem: revisão integrativa / Adverse events after vaccination in children and nursing performance: an integrative review

Objetivo: identificar na produção cientifica os eventos adversos pós vacinação em crianças e abordar a atuação da enfermagem nesse contexto. Metodologia: estudo do tipo revisão integrativa, realizado nas bases de dados da Biblioteca Virtual em Saúde referente ao período de 2007 a 2015, utilizando os descritores efeitos adversos, vacinação e enfermagem, a partir da questão: Como esta a atuação da enfermagem frente aos eventos adversos pós vacinais? Após a analise dos 25 artigos 13 contemplaram os objetivos do estudo Resultados: constatou-se que é crescente o surgimento de eventos adversos principalmente em crianças menores de um ano e que a vacina tetravalente leva a maior ocorrência desses eventos. O enfermeiro ainda se mostra pouco operante diante dos eventos adversos pós vacinais. Conclusão: observou-se escassez de estudos nessa temática. Uma atuação mais efetiva do enfermeiro como integrante da equipe multiprofissional é necessária para cumprir o preconizado pelo Programa Nacional de Imunização.

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Promoção do aleitamento materno na primeira hora de vida do recém-nascido por profissionais da enfermagem / Promotion of breastfeeding in the newborn's first hour of life by nursing professionals

O aleitamento materno é a principal maneira de proporcionar a alimentação ideal para o crescimento e desenvolvimento de forma saudável para o neonato. O estudo tem como objetivo descrever e analisar a percepção das puérperas acerca do incentivo ao aleitamento materno na primeira hora de vida pelos profissionais de enfermagem em uma maternidade pública. Trata-se de uma pesquisa qualitativa, de caráter descritivo. As participantes da pesquisa foram 24 puérperas que pariram na maternidade e que aceitaram participar da pesquisa. O instrumento para coleta de dados foi a entrevista semiestruturada. Todas as participantes assinaram um Termo de Consentimento Livre e Esclarecido. Os depoimentos revelaram que todas as puérperas possuíam um conhecimento prévio quanto aos benefícios e importância da amamentação e que a maioria das entrevistadas receberam uma assistência humanizada voltada ao incentivo deste ato. Conclui-se que é importante ressaltar que seja oferecido um apoio profissional na afirmação do contato pele a pele precoce entre mãe e filho, para a elevação de ações de cuidado e que não haja limitações por parte do profissional enfermeiro no espaço que envolva esta interação, visando um bom entendimento entre eles.

Breastfeeding is the main way of providing ideal food for the healthy growth and development of the newborn. The study aims to describe and analyze the perception of mothers about the promotion of breastfeeding in the first hour of life by nursing professionals in a public hospital. This is a descriptive qualitative research. The participants were 24 mothers who gave birth in the maternity ward and agreed to participate. The instrument for data collection was a semi-structured interview. All surveyed subjects signed an Informed Consent. The statement revealed that all mothers had prior knowledge of the benefits and importance of breastfeeding and that most of the interviewees received a humanized assistance dedicated to it encouragement. It concludes that it is important to point out that professional support is provided in the early skin-to-skin contact between mother and child, for heightening care actions, and there are no limitations on the part of the professional nurse in the space involving such interaction, aiming a good understanding between them.

Percepção da enfermagem em relação às mães no cuidado de recém-nascidos na unidade de terapia intensiva neonatal

Objetivou-se descrever a percepção da equipe de enfermagem em relação às mães no cuidado de recém-nascidos na unidade de terapia intensiva neonatal. Estudo do tipo exploratório-descritivo, com abordagem qualitativa. A entrevista foi o instrumento utilizado para a coleta dos dados, obedecendo aos critérios da resolução CNS 196/96. Os dados foram analisados utilizando-se a análise de conteúdo, originando três categorias: problemas vivenciados pela equipe de enfermagem; a recuperação do recém-nascido: o cuidado integrado mãe-equipe de enfermagem; desconhecimento das mães percebido pela equipe de enfermagem, que proporcionaram a compreensão que a equipe de enfermagem tem em relação às mães...

This work aimed to describe the nursing team's view of mothers in the care of newborns in the neonatal intensive care unit. An exploratory, descriptive study, with qualitative approach. The interview was the instrument used to collect the data, in accordance with the criteria of resolution CNS 196/1996. The data were analyzed through content analysis, which originated three categories: problems experienced by the nursing team; the recovery of the newborn: the mother-nursing team integrated care; lack of knowledge of the mothers perceived by the nursing team, which provided the understanding that the nursing team has in relation to the mothers...

Se buscó describir la percepción del equipo de enfermería con relación a las madres en el cuidado a los recién nacidos en la unidad de terapia intensiva neonatal. Estudio del tipo exploratorio – descriptivo, con abordaje cualitativo. La entrevista fue el instrumento utilizado para la colecta de datos, obedeciendo a los criterios de la resolución CNS 196/1996. Los datos fueron analizados valiéndose del análisis de contenido, originando tres categorías: problemas vividos por el equipo de enfermería; la recuperación del recién nacido: el cuidado integrado madre – equipo de enfermería; desconocimiento de las madres percibido por el equipo de enfermería, que proporcionaron la comprensión que el equipo de enfermería tiene con relación a las madres...