ABSTRACT
Objectives: : No comprehensive analysis has yet been published regarding global trends in childhood sexual abuse (CSA) and bullying victimization (BV). The present study offers a longitudinal perspective on their prevalence worldwide. Methods: CSA and BV rates were extracted from the Global Burden of Disease study, spanning the years 1990 to 2019 across 204 countries. Trends by gender, region, and human development index (HDI) were examined. Results: For both boys and girls, and in both high- and low-HDI countries, CSA rates did not significantly change from 1990 to 2019 (p>0.05). However, BV rates increased significantly in high- and low-HDI countries for both genders (p<0.001). Subsequently, we analyzed trends separately by gender across all countries, without considering development level. In this analysis, CSA rates among girls decreased from 1990 to 2000, followed by an increasing tendency after 2000; overall, an upward trend was evident between 1990 and 2019 (p=0.029). In contrast, no significant pattern was observed for boys. Notably, BV demonstrated an increasing trend across all regions when HDI was not considered (p<0.05), with African populations experiencing the most pronounced rise (p<0.001). Globally, boys consistently exhibited higher BV rates than girls. Conclusions: Our research indicates that, on a global scale, rates of CSA among girls have been rising. Additionally, BV rates have increased in all regions for both boys and girls. Notably, this trend in BV rates is occurring irrespective of HDI. These findings underscore the necessity for targeted interventions in areas with high rates of CSA and BV.
ABSTRACT
Background: Autism spectrum disorder is a neurodevelopmental condition in which impaired connectivity of the brain network. The functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) technique can provide information on the early diagnosis of autism by evaluating communication patterns in the brain. The present study aimed to assess functional connectivity (FC) variations in autism patients. Materials and Methods: Resting-state fMRI data were obtained from the "ABIDE" website. These data include 294 autism patients with a mean (standard deviation) age of 16.49 (7.63) and 312 healthy individuals with a mean (standard deviation) age of 15.98 (6.31). In this study, changes in communication patterns across different brain regions in autism patients were investigated using graph-based models. Results: The FC cluster of 17 regions in the brain, such as the hippocampus, cuneus, and inferior temporal, was different between the patient and healthy groups. Based on connectivity analysis of pair regions, 36 of the 136 correlations in the cluster were significantly different between the two groups. The middle temporal gyrus had more communication than the other regions. The largest difference between groups was - 0.112, which corresponding to the right middle temporal and right thalamus regions. Conclusion: The findings of this study revealed functional relationship alterations in patients with autism compared to healthy individuals, indicating the disease's effects on the brain connectivity network.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Maternal vitamin D deficiency during pregnancy has been associated with various maternal adverse events (MAE). However, the evidence regarding the effect of vitamin D supplementation on these outcomes is still inconclusive. METHODS: This secondary analysis utilized a case-control design. 403 samples with MAE and 403 samples without any outcomes were selected from the Khuzestan Vitamin D Deficiency Screening Program in Pregnancy study. Random forest (RF) analysis was used to evaluate the effect of maternal vitamin D changes during pregnancy on MAE. RESULTS: The results showed that women who remained deficient (35.2%) or who worsened from sufficient to deficient (30.0%) had more MAE than women who improved (16.4%) or stayed sufficient (11.8%). The RF model had an AUC of 0.74, sensitivity of 72.6%, and specificity of 69%, which indicate a moderate to high performance for predicting MAE. The ranked variables revealed that systolic blood pressure is the most important variable for MAE, followed by diastolic blood pressure and vitamin D changes during pregnancy. CONCLUSION: This study provides evidence that maternal vitamin D changes during pregnancy have a significant impact on MAE. Our findings suggest that monitoring and treatment of vitamin D deficiency during pregnancy may be a potential preventive strategy for reducing the risk of MAE. The presented RF model had a moderate to high performance for predicting MAE.