Functional connectivity and quality of life in young adults with cerebral palsy: a feasibility study.

BACKGROUND: Cerebral Palsy (CP) is a group of disorders that affect the development of movement and posture. CP results from injuries to the immature brain during the prenatal, perinatal, or postnatal stage of development. Neuroimaging research in CP has focused on the structural changes of the brain during early development, but little is known about brain's structural and functional changes during late adolescence and early adulthood, a period in time when individuals experience major changes as they transition into adulthood. The work reported here served as a feasibility study within a larger program of research (MyStory Study). We aimed to determine whether it would be feasible to scan and obtain good quality data without the use of sedation during a resting state condition for functional connectivity (FC) analyses in young adults with CP. Second, we aimed to identify the FC pattern(s) that are associated with depressive mood ratings, indices of pain and fatigue, and quality of life in this group. METHODS: Resting state functional images were collected from 9 young people with CP (18-29 years). We applied a stringent head motion correction and quality control methods following preprocessing. RESULTS: We were able to scan and obtain good quality data without the use of sedation from this group of young individuals with CP who demonstrated a range of gross motor ability. The functional connectivity networks of interest were identified in the data using standard seed regions. Our analyses further revealed that higher well-being scores were associated with higher levels of FC between the Medial Pre-Frontal Cortex and the right Lateral Parietal regions, which are implicated in prosocial and emotion regulations skills. The implications of this association are discussed. CONCLUSION: The findings of the present study demonstrate that it is feasible to conduct resting state functional connectivity in young adults with CP with different gross motor abilities without the use of sedation. Our results also highlight a neural circuitry that is associated with the self-report of quality of life and emotion regulation. These findings identify these regions/circuitries as important seeds for further investigations into mental health and wellbeing in CP.

Amygdala and affective responses to infant pictures: Comparing depressed and non-depressed mothers and non-mothers.

In many mammalian species, new mothers show heightened positive responsiveness to infants and their cues when they give birth. As is evident from non-human and human studies, the amygdala is a brain region implicated in both the maternal and affective neural circuitry, and is involved in processing socioemotionally salient stimuli. In humans, infants are socially salient stimuli to women, and mothers in particular. Neuroimaging studies investigating the maternal response to infant cues have identified infant-related amygdala function as an important factor in maternal anxiety/depression, in the quality of mothering and in individual differences in the motivation to mother. The present study investigated the effects of maternal status and depression on the subjective affective response and amygdala responsiveness to unfamiliar infants using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Smiling infant pictures were used in a 2 × 2 design comparing four groups of women: mothers and non-mothers, with and without depression (total of 101 women: postpartum depression [PPD] = 32, non-PPD = 25, major depression [MDD] = 15, non-MDD = 29). We undertook an anatomically defined region of interest analysis of the amygdala response for a priori defined group comparisons. We found that mothers rated infants more positively than non-mothers and non-mothers rated non-infant stimuli (scenery) more positively than mothers. In the amygdala, we found that depression elevated response to smiling unfamiliar infants in mothers but had no effect in non-mothers. Within the depressed groups, mothers (PPD) showed an elevated amygdala response to unfamiliar smiling infants compared to depressed non-mothers. Hence, our results indicate that women with PPD show an enhanced amygdala response to affectively positive infant pictures but not to affectively positive (but non-salient) pictures of scenery. Women with depression outside of the postpartum period show no change in amygdala responsiveness to either stimulus categories.

Maternal perceptions of paternal investment are associated with relationship satisfaction and breastfeeding duration in humans.

This study examined potential pathways in the associations between breastfeeding and mothers' relationship satisfaction, including her satisfaction with father involvement (FI) and parity, among mothers not working outside the home at 6 months. Mothers (n = 222) completed questionnaires at 4 time-points, 3 to 24 months postpartum as part of a longitudinal cohort study. In this study, we were interested in two main outcome variables: mothers' relationship satisfaction with their partner (RS) and continuation of breastfeeding after 3 months. Our first analysis revealed that breastfeeding at 3 months postpartum predicted decreased RS at 6 months postpartum, which was mediated by mothers' dissatisfaction with FI in infant caretaking at 6 months postpartum. These associations depended on mothers' parity: Multiparous breastfeeding mothers were the most dissatisfied with FI. Second, mothers' satisfaction with FI at 6 months also predicted increased RS at 24 months through increased RS at 12 months, but not through FI at 18 months. Third, we found that high dissatisfaction with FI at 6 months was the only significant predictor for the discontinuation of breastfeeding from 3 to 6 months postpartum. Our results suggest that multiparous breastfeeding mothers might be more dissatisfied with FI in caregiving than nonbreastfeeding mothers and primiparous breastfeeding mothers. Furthermore, mothers' satisfaction with FI seems a potent predictor of overall RS up to 24 months postpartum and the continuation of breastfeeding from 3 to 6 months postpartum, regardless of parity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Both maternal care received and genotype influence stress-related phenotype in female rats.

Rat dams differ naturally in the level of maternal care they provide to their offspring within the same litter. We explored possible mechanisms of differential maternal care focused on genetic variation. We examined single nucleotide polymorphisms in the glucocorticoid receptor, FK506-binding protein, and serotonin transporter genes in two separate cohorts, and the relationship between differential maternal care received, genotype, and offspring phenotype. Allelic variation in all three genes was significantly associated with levels of maternal care received by offspring and behavioral and endocrine stress responses in adulthood. Differences in pup behavior were also associated with allelic variation in these genes. Together, these results indicate that the dam/pup interaction is dynamic and implicate the genotype of the offspring in influencing the level of maternal care received. They further suggest that some genotypes may have a dampening effect on the impact of maternal care on stress-related phenotypes in adulthood.

Exploring the morphological and emotional correlates of infant cuteness.

Ethologists have observed that "baby schema" or infant cuteness is an adaptive protective mechanism ensuring the young's survival. Past efforts to quantify cuteness have been restricted to line measurement techniques. We developed a novel data-driven approach to quantify infant cuteness into a single metric. Using the Psychomorph program, we delineated facial elements of 72 infant pictures using 206 facial points and identified the facial components that were significantly related to subjective cuteness perceptions of the faces. 108 nulliparous females rated the pictures on cuteness and emotional dimensions. We found that cuter infants have larger cephalic curvature compared to a smaller chin, a big smile, and round chubby features among others. We also investigated the relationship between cuteness and emotional responses. Our results show that a greater degree of cuteness elicits both increased positive emotional responses and decreased negative emotional responses. Cuter infants also elicited greater feelings of alertness, interest, and the need to respond. In fact, the participants' emotional responses were predictive of both data-driven scores and subjective perceptions of cuteness.

The role of breastfeeding in the association between maternal and infant cortisol attunement in the first postpartum year.

AIM: To explore the role of breastfeeding as a possible link between maternal and infant cortisol attunement across the first postpartum year. METHODS: Mothers (n = 93) provided salivary samples for cortisol levels over a two-day period during mid-pregnancy and at three, six and 12 months and infants at six and 12 months postpartum. Breastfeeding status was established at these same time points. RESULTS: Among breastfeeding mothers, positive correlations were found between maternal cortisol levels during pregnancy and at three months postpartum and infant cortisol at six or 12 months postpartum. Among nonbreastfeeding mothers, these same maternal and infant cortisol relations were inverse and less pronounced. Further, in breastfeeding mothers, the relationship between maternal prenatal cortisol and infant cortisol at 12 months was mediated through maternal cortisol at three months postpartum. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that maternal cortisol levels are positively associated with cortisol levels of the infant, among mothers who breastfeed. This relationship persists over a one-year period.

Postpartum depression and brain response to infants: Differential amygdala response and connectivity.

Recent evidence suggests that postpartum depression is associated with reduced amygdala (AMY) response to negative stimuli. However, given the anhedonic features of PPD, it is important to consider mothers' brain response specifically to positive infant and to other positive stimuli. Mothers with (n = 28) and without (n = 17) clinically determined PPD (n = 28) viewed smiling pictures of infants (Own and Other), and positive non-infant stimuli (Non-Infant). First, we examined group differences in AMY response across conditions. Next, psychophysiological interaction was used to examine group differences in AMY connectivity across conditions. Connectivity estimates were then correlated with measures of maternal mood and anxiety. PPD mothers, compared to non-PPD mothers, showed overall increased AMY response across conditions in the right AMY. Despite this, PPD mothers demonstrated decreased bilateral AMY-right insular cortex (IC) connectivity as compared to non-PPD mothers when they view Own-Other infants. Furthermore, decreasing AMY-IC connectivity was associated with increasing symptoms of depression and anxiety. These differences were evident only for infant stimuli and did not apply to all positively valenced stimuli. Thus, PPD mothers show altered brain response and connectivity in regions strongly implicated in the processing of socially and emotionally relevant stimuli, as well as interoception and the evaluation of subjective emotional experience.