An open resource for transdiagnostic research in pediatric mental health and learning disorders.

Technological and methodological innovations are equipping researchers with unprecedented capabilities for detecting and characterizing pathologic processes in the developing human brain. As a result, ambitions to achieve clinically useful tools to assist in the diagnosis and management of mental health and learning disorders are gaining momentum. To this end, it is critical to accrue large-scale multimodal datasets that capture a broad range of commonly encountered clinical psychopathology. The Child Mind Institute has launched the Healthy Brain Network (HBN), an ongoing initiative focused on creating and sharing a biobank of data from 10,000 New York area participants (ages 5-21). The HBN Biobank houses data about psychiatric, behavioral, cognitive, and lifestyle phenotypes, as well as multimodal brain imaging (resting and naturalistic viewing fMRI, diffusion MRI, morphometric MRI), electroencephalography, eye-tracking, voice and video recordings, genetics and actigraphy. Here, we present the rationale, design and implementation of HBN protocols. We describe the first data release (n=664) and the potential of the biobank to advance related areas (e.g., biophysical modeling, voice analysis).

Temporal modulations in speech and music.

Speech and music have structured rhythms. Here we discuss a major acoustic correlate of spoken and musical rhythms, the slow (0.25-32Hz) temporal modulations in sound intensity and compare the modulation properties of speech and music. We analyze these modulations using over 25h of speech and over 39h of recordings of Western music. We show that the speech modulation spectrum is highly consistent across 9 languages (including languages with typologically different rhythmic characteristics). A different, but similarly consistent modulation spectrum is observed for music, including classical music played by single instruments of different types, symphonic, jazz, and rock. The temporal modulations of speech and music show broad but well-separated peaks around 5 and 2Hz, respectively. These acoustically dominant time scales may be intrinsic features of speech and music, a possibility which should be investigated using more culturally diverse samples in each domain. Distinct modulation timescales for speech and music could facilitate their perceptual analysis and its neural processing.

Screening for chlamydia in general practice.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence of genital Chlamydia trachomatis infection in young patients presenting to general practitioners and to evaluate selective screening, based on risk factors, including gender. METHODS: A cross sectional survey of 508 consecutive patients aged 18-24, presenting to six general practices and one youth clinic in Mackay, North Queensland. We screened urine for chlamydia using Ligase chain reaction. RESULTS: Of 508 samples, 25 were positive (5%). The only factors with increased risks of infection were attendance at a youth clinic and recent change in sexual partner. It was as high in men as in women. CONCLUSION: Prevalence of chlamydia infection may be high enough to support screening of all patients aged 18-24, depending on cost effectiveness studies.