Using a neural network to derive early childhood neurodevelopmental profiles in the New Hampshire Birth Cohort Study.

Background: Child-centred approaches represent a conceptual framework that emphasises the holistic characterisation of individual developmental patterns across cognitive, behavioural and social domains. As a complementary analytic tool, self-organising maps (SOMs), an artificial neural network, offer flexible, data-driven clustering capabilities that are well-suited to modeling complex, multidimensional and longitudinal developmental data. Despite their potential, few studies have applied such methods to profile early neurodevelopment, especially in rural populations.

Developmental Pb exposure increases rate of forgetting on a delayed matching-to-sample task among Mexican children.

Lead (Pb) is a potent neurotoxicant, but few studies have evaluated its effect on neurobehavioral measures that can be used in multiple species including humans. We investigated the effect of prenatal and childhood Pb exposure on children's rate of forgetting using a delayed matching-to-sample (DMTS) task among children 6 to 8 years of age. Blood Pb was measured during pregnancy (second and third trimesters) and at 4 to 6 years of age.

Time-varying exposure to element mixtures and children's cognition at 5 years of age: findings from the New Hampshire Birth Cohort Study.

Background: Exposure to metals and metalloids (hereafter referred to as 'metals') during gestation and early childhood may affect children's neurodevelopment. However, few studies have simultaneously evaluated the impact of exposure to both essential and non-essential metals across specific windows of exposure on children's neurodevelopmental outcomes.

Objective: To investigate whether levels of metals during gestation and the early postnatal period, individually and as a mixture, are related to child cognition at 5 years of age among participants in the New Hampshire Birth Cohort Study (NHBCS).

Evaluating the factor structure of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, Fourth Edition (WAIS-IV) in adults with congenital heart disease.

: While it is generally assumed that common neurobehavioral assessments, such as the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, Fourth Edition (WAIS-IV), function similarly in clinical and non-clinical populations, this has not been validated in adults with congenital heart disease (CHD). In this study, we examined the latent factor structure of the WAIS-IV in adults with d-transposition of the great arteries (d-TGA) who participated in the Boston Circulatory Arrest Study. : The WAIS-IV was administered as part of a larger assessment battery.

Family Socioeconomic Status and Neurodevelopment Among Patients With Dextro-Transposition of the Great Arteries.

Importance: Data are limited on the longitudinal implications of socioeconomic status (SES) for neurodevelopmental outcomes among persons with complex congenital heart disease (CHD).

Objectives: To examine the association of family SES, maternal educational level, and maternal IQ with the neurodevelopment of individuals with dextro-transposition of the great arteries (d-TGA) from age 1 to 16 years and to identify how SES-related disparities change with age.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This cohort study analyzed data of participants enrolled in the Boston Circulatory Arrest Study, a randomized clinical trial conducted in Boston, Massachusetts, from 1988 to 1992.

Quantifying the association between PM air pollution and IQ loss in children: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: A growing body of epidemiologic and toxicologic literature indicates that fine airborne particulate matter (PM) pollution is neurotoxic and threatens children's neurobehavioral development, resulting in reduced cognitive function. Understanding the magnitude of this effect is critical for establishing public health policies that will protect children's health, preserve human capital, and support societal progress.

Objective: To quantify the association between ambient PM air pollution and loss of cognitive function in children, as measured by Intelligence Quotient (IQ) scores, through a systematic literature review and meta-analysis.

Associations of maternal and paternal preconception and maternal pregnancy urinary phthalate biomarker and bisphenol A concentrations with offspring autistic behaviors: The PEACE study.

Background: Environmental chemical exposures in utero may play a role in autism development. While preconception risk factors for autism are increasingly being investigated, little is known about the influence of chemical exposures during the preconception period, particularly for paternal exposures.

Methods: In 195 children from the Preconception Environmental exposures And Childhood health Effects (PEACE) cohort born to parents recruited from a fertility clinic in Boston, Massachusetts between 2004 and 2017, we quantified concentrations of 11 phthalate metabolites and bisphenol A (BPA) in urine samples collected from mothers and fathers before conception and mothers throughout pregnancy.

Meta-regression of sulcal patterns, clinical and environmental factors on neurodevelopmental outcomes in participants with multiple CHD types.

Congenital heart disease affects 1% of infants and is associated with impaired neurodevelopment. Right- or left-sided sulcal features correlate with executive function among people with Tetralogy of Fallot or single ventricle congenital heart disease. Studies of multiple congenital heart disease types are needed to understand regional differences.

arsenic exposure and early childhood motor development in the New Hampshire Birth Cohort Study.

Introduction: High-level prenatal and childhood arsenic (As) exposure characteristic of several regions in Asia (e.g., Bangladesh), may impact motor function.

Paternal and maternal preconception and maternal pregnancy urinary concentrations of parabens in relation to child behavior.

Background: Epidemiologic studies of the effects of parental preconception paraben exposures on child behavior are limited despite emerging evidence suggesting that such exposures may affect offspring neurodevelopment.

Objective: We investigated whether maternal and paternal preconception and maternal pregnancy urinary concentrations of parabens were associated with child behavior.

Methods: We analyzed data from the Preconception Environmental exposure And Childhood health Effects Study, an ongoing prospective cohort of children aged 6-13 years and their parents.

Paternal and maternal preconception and maternal pregnancy urinary phthalate metabolite and BPA concentrations in relation to child behavior.

Background: Epidemiologic studies on health effects of parental preconception exposures are limited despite emerging evidence from toxicological studies suggesting that such exposures, including to environmental chemicals, may affect offspring health.

Objective: We investigated whether maternal and paternal preconception and maternal pregnancy urinary phthalate metabolite and bisphenol A (BPA) concentrations were associated with child behavior.

Methods: We analyzed data from the Preconception Environmental exposure And Childhood health Effects (PEACE) Study, an ongoing prospective cohort study of children aged 6-11 years whose parent(s) previously enrolled in the prospective preconception Environment and Reproductive Health (EARTH) study.

Design and Harmonization Approach for the Multi-Institutional Neurocognitive Discovery Study (MINDS) of Adult Congenital Heart Disease (ACHD) Neuroimaging Ancillary Study: A Technical Note.

Dramatic advances in the management of congenital heart disease (CHD) have improved survival to adulthood from less than 10% in the 1960s to over 90% in the current era, such that adult CHD (ACHD) patients now outnumber their pediatric counterparts. ACHD patients demonstrate domain-specific neurocognitive deficits associated with reduced quality of life that include deficits in educational attainment and social interaction. Our hypothesis is that ACHD patients exhibit vascular brain injury and structural/physiological brain alterations that are predictive of specific neurocognitive deficits modified by behavioral and environmental enrichment proxies of cognitive reserve (e.

Prenatal ambient air pollutant mixture exposure and neurodevelopment in urban children in the Northeastern United States.

Background: Studies of prenatal air pollution (AP) exposure on child neurodevelopment have mostly focused on a single pollutant. We leveraged daily exposure data and implemented novel data-driven statistical approaches to assess effects of prenatal exposure to a mixture of seven air pollutants on cognitive functioning in school-age children from an urban pregnancy cohort.

Methods: Analyses included 236 children born at ≥37 weeks gestation.

Who benefits most from a prenatal HEPA filter air cleaner intervention on childhood cognitive development? The UGAAR randomized controlled trial.

Background: Air pollution exposure during pregnancy affects children's brain function. Maternal stress and nutrition, socioeconomic status, and the child's sex may modify this relationship.

Objective: To identify characteristics of children with the largest increases in full-scale IQ (FSIQ) after their mothers used HEPA filter air cleaners during pregnancy.

Social cognition and behavioral outcomes in congenital heart disease: profiles and neuropsychiatric comorbidities.

Autism spectrum disorders are more prevalent in children with congenital heart disease (CHD) than in the general population. Children with CHD without diagnosed autism are also at increased risk for neurodevelopmental and psychiatric impairments. We characterized social and behavioral outcomes in children with CHD and examined neurodevelopmental and psychiatric comorbidities.

A Cross-validated Ensemble Approach to Robust Hypothesis Testing of Continuous Nonlinear Interactions: Application to Nutrition-Environment Studies.

Gene-environment and nutrition-environment studies often involve testing of high-dimensional interactions between two sets of variables, each having potentially complex nonlinear main effects on an outcome. Construction of a valid and powerful hypothesis test for such an interaction is challenging, due to the difficulty in constructing an efficient and unbiased estimator for the complex, nonlinear main effects. In this work we address this problem by proposing a Cross-validated Ensemble of Kernels (CVEK) that learns the space of appropriate functions for the main effects using a cross-validated ensemble approach.

Portable HEPA filter air cleaner use during pregnancy and children's autistic behaviors at four years of age: The UGAAR randomized controlled trial.

Background: Developmental exposure to airborne particulate matter (PM) may increase children's risk of developing autism spectrum disorder. We quantified the impact of reducing PM exposure during pregnancy on the development of autistic traits in children. We also assessed associations between indoor fine PM (PM) concentrations during pregnancy and autistic traits.