Age- and sex-related growth patterns of the craniofacial complex in European children aged 3-6 years.

BACKGROUND: Craniofacial growth changes in young children are not yet completely understood. Up-to-date references for craniofacial measurements are crucial for clinical assessment of orthodontic anomalies, craniofacial abnormalities and subsequent planning of interventions. AIM: To provide normal reference data and to identify growth patterns for craniofacial dimensions of European boys and girls aged 3-6 years. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Using standard anthropometric methodology, body weight, body height and 23 craniofacial measurements were acquired for a cross-sectional sample of 681 healthy children (362 boys and 319 girls) aged 3-6 years from Germany, Italy and Lithuania. Descriptive statistics, correlation coefficients, percentage annual changes and percentage growth rates were used to analyse the dataset. RESULTS: Between the ages of 3-6 years, craniofacial measurements showed age- and sex-related patterns independent from patterns observed for body weight and body height. Sex-related differences were observed in the majority of craniofacial measurements. In both sexes, face heights and face depths showed the strongest correlation with age. Growth patterns differed by craniofacial measurement and can be summarised into eight distinct age- and sex-related patterns. CONCLUSION: This study provided reference data and identified sex- and age-related growth patterns of the craniofacial complex of young European children, which may be used for detailed assessment of normal growth in paediatrics, maxillofacial reconstructive surgery and possibly for forensic age assessment.

Can facial proportions taken from images be of use for ageing in cases of suspected child pornography? A pilot study.

The age of the victim plays a crucial role for the legal implications concerning pornography. Judges therefore often call on forensic experts to verify the age of individuals depicted on photographs or videos. However, there is no scientifically established protocol available for forensic practice in such cases. The conventional methods such as the evaluation of secondary sexual characteristics provide unsatisfactory results particularly when the legally relevant ages for child pornography (i.e. 14 and 18 years) are concerned. To overcome these limits, a European research group has explored the applicability of facial proportions as an age indicator on images. In this pilot study, standardized facial images of 353 females and 20 males from four age groups (6, 10, 14 and 18 years) were randomly selected for the metric analysis from a large data set including German, Italian and Lithuanian subjects. In this sample, several indices extracted from the frontal and lateral photographs were closely correlated to their respective indices taken from the living individuals. Furthermore, age-related changes were identified for indices taken from the photographs. The discriminant analysis showed that for the pooled sample, 60.3% of the cases were correctly classified into the respective age group. The percentage of correctly classified cases increased in the respective country samples as follows: 69.9% for Germany, 69.4% for Lithuania and 80.5% for Italy. The present study suggests that the metric assessment of the face may be used for age estimation on images. Nonetheless, more work needs to be done in order to verify the reliability of these findings on a large sample.

Menstrual cycle phase modulates reward sensitivity and performance monitoring in young women: Preliminary fMRI evidence.

The ability to learn from errors or the positive outcomes of one's actions has been connected to a differential functionality of the mesolimbic dopamine system. Variations in dopaminergic transmission and D2-receptor (DRD2) density in the striatum may thereby incline the individual to be either more reward- or punishment-sensitive. The steroid hormones estradiol (E2) and progesterone (PROG) are known to modulate dopaminergic tone. While E2 may enhance dopaminergic release and reduces DRD2, PROG may oppose these effects and attenuates dopaminergic responses. In women, marked changes in the concentration of these hormones occur across the menstrual cycle. Hence, the aim of this study was to assess whether reinforcement learning is modulated by menstrual cycle phase. Fifteen female subjects underwent fMRI while performing a probabilistic feedback learning task twice during their menstrual cycle--once in a phase dominated by E2 (late follicular phase), and a second time in the presence of high PROG (mid luteal phase).The goal of the learning task was to select the more frequently rewarded symbols from 3 symbol pairs, which was enforced by probabilistic feedback. A behavioral post-test examined learning performance and the tendency towards reward or punishment sensitivity (i.e., preference to choose the most often rewarded symbol 'A' or to avoid the least often rewarded symbol 'B', respectively). We found that individual reward sensitivity was enhanced in the follicular relative to the luteal phase, while the ability to learn from negative feedback was compromised. In contrast, during the luteal phase this behavior was reversed and women showed an enhanced punishment learning bias. On the neural level, activation of the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and adjacent rostral cingulate zone (dACC/RCZ) was decreased when subjects received negative feedback in the follicular relative to the luteal phase. Additionally, in the luteal phase an enhanced ability to learn from negative feedback was accompanied by a stronger signal in the dACC/RCZ in response to negative feedback. These findings provide initial evidence for intra-individual differences in reward and punishment sensitivity due to naturally occurring hormonal changes across the menstrual cycle.

Recruitment of underage test persons: motivators and barriers in an anthropological EU-survey on a sensitive topic.

Recruiting test persons is crucial in many scientific fields. The recognition of motivators or barriers to survey participation may support the design and recruitment strategy of future studies. The recruitment of under age test persons is very complex and sensitive. This paperpresents and analyses the experiences in recruitment of female juveniles (10-18 years old) in Germany, Italy and Lithuania within the context of an EU funded project concerning the extremely sensitive topic of "child pornography". The purpose of the project was to develop a method for age estimation of juveniles on photographs and videos. The faces of the test persons were photographed and anthropologically measured after an informed consent was signed by their parents and themselves. The analysis of the recruitment strategies and response rates revealed that culturally influenced factors played a significant role in the individual decision for or against a participation in the study. In all countries, the sensitive topic of child pornography had a great influence on the decision process. Many German parents agreed especially in light of this topic while in Italy and Lithuania the word "child pornography" triggered a very negative response. In Germany, the anthropological investigation of the faces provoked negative associations with the anthropometric surveys in the Third Reich. Social and political climate were further relevant factors for decision-making especially in Lithuania. The "top-down" principle of recruitment proved to be very effective for this kind of study. The authorities of headmasters, scientists and institutions positively influenced the decisions of the parents.