Heat exposure and adverse birth outcomes: Modification by residential greenness in a 14-year prospective cohort study in Taiwan.

Background: Pregnant women are vulnerable to climate change, with high ambient temperature (AT) associated with adverse birth outcomes. Inconsistent study designs, limited metrics, and unclear roles of greenness as an adaptation strategy hinder region-specific climate policies. This study assessed the effects of prenatal heat exposure on birth outcomes and whether greenness moderates this association.

chronic cannabis exposure is associated with lower total brain volume in the first month of postnatal life.

I cannabis exposure is associated with deleterious offspring neural development and behaviors that emerge across the lifespan. We explored if brain morphology differed in neonates exposed and unexposed to cannabis in the first month of life. To evaluate differences in global and subcortical regional brain volume (in the amygdala and hippocampus) in neonates in the first month of life according to cannabis exposure.

Prenatal Household Income Instability and Infant Subcortical Brain Volumes.

Prenatal stress exposure may negatively influence the development of the amygdala and hippocampus. Although there is significant income instability during pregnancy, and it can increase stress among pregnant parents, the impact of income instability on brain development is not well understood. The present study examined the association between household income losses during pregnancy and hippocampus and amygdala volumes in early infancy.

Prenatal Cannabis Use and Depressive Symptoms.

Objective: To evaluate whether cannabis use during pregnancy was associated with depressive symptoms and whether ongoing use beyond the first trimester and higher amounts of cannabis use were associated with increased depressive symptoms.

Methods: This was a secondary analysis of the nuMoM2b (Nulliparous Pregnancy Outcomes Study: Monitoring Mothers to Be) study with participants enrolled from October 2010 to September 2013 at eight academic centers. Individuals with pregnancy outcome data who completed the EPDS (Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale) in the first and third trimesters and had available frozen stored urine samples were included.

Birthing parents' neural response to infant cry: moderating effects of oxytocin and perceived childhood care.

Individuals who perceive the caregiving they received from their parents as more caring tend to bond better with their infants and show more sensitive parenting behaviors. Early caregiving experiences are also related to differences in the functions of hormonal systems, including the oxytocinergic system. The current study examined how perceptions of childhood maternal care relate to parenting behaviors, oxytocin levels, and neural responses to infant stimuli.

Maternal cortisol concentration is associated with reduced brain activation to infant cry and more intrusive parenting behavior.

Previous research indicates that maternal cortisol function and maternal brain response to infant are each in turn related to variations in parenting behavior. However, little is known about how maternal cortisol and maternal brain function are associated, thus studying these two mechanisms together may improve our understanding of how maternal cortisol assessed during interactions with own infant is associated with brain response to infant cry. First-time mothers (N = 59) of infants aged 3-4 months old were recruited to participate.

Longitudinal neuroanatomical increases from early to one-year postpartum.

Preclinical studies have provided causal evidence that the postpartum period involves regional neuroanatomical changes in 'maternal' brain regions to support the transition to offspring caregiving. Few studies, in humans, have examined neuroanatomical changes from early to one-year postpartum with longitudinal neuroimaging data and their association with postpartum mood changes. In the present study, we examined longitudinal changes in surface morphometry (cortical thickness and surface area) in regions previously implicated in the transition to parenthood.

Longitudinal Neuroanatomical Increases from Early to One-Year Postpartum.

Preclinical studies have provided causal evidence that the postpartum period involves regional neuroanatomical changes in 'maternal' brain regions to support the transition to offspring caregiving. Few studies, in humans, have examined neuroanatomical changes from early to one-year postpartum with longitudinal neuroimaging data and their association with postpartum mood changes. In this study, we examined longitudinal changes in surface morphometry (cortical thickness and surface area) in regions previously implicated in the transition to parenthood.

Cannabis use during pregnancy and hemodynamic responses to infant cues in pregnancy: an exploratory study.

Introduction: Cannabis is one of the most commonly used substances during pregnancy and has the potential to negatively impact parent-infant relationships. The prefrontal cortex (PFC) response to infant cues during pregnancy has been associated with subsequent positive parenting behaviors. However, PFC activation is altered in individuals who use cannabis.

Understanding the neural mechanisms of empathy toward robots to shape future applications.

This article provides an overview on how modern neuroscience evaluations link to robot empathy. It evaluates the brain correlates of empathy and caregiving, and how they may be related to the higher functions with an emphasis on women. We discuss that the understanding of the brain correlates can inform the development of social robots with enhanced empathy and caregiving abilities.

Interdisciplinary views of fNIRS: Current advancements, equity challenges, and an agenda for future needs of a diverse fNIRS research community.

Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) is an innovative and promising neuroimaging modality for studying brain activity in real-world environments. While fNIRS has seen rapid advancements in hardware, software, and research applications since its emergence nearly 30 years ago, limitations still exist regarding all three areas, where existing practices contribute to greater bias within the neuroscience research community. We spotlight fNIRS through the lens of different end-application users, including the unique perspective of a fNIRS manufacturer, and report the challenges of using this technology across several research disciplines and populations.

Neural activation to infant cry among Latina and non-Latina White mothers.

Cultural neuroscience is an emerging framework positing that culture (for example, values, beliefs, practices, and modes of emotional expression) critically informs socialization goals and desired behaviors, which are perhaps accompanied by differential patterns of brain activation. Using fMRI, the current study examines brain activation to infant cry stimuli and matched white noise among 50 first-time biological mothers identifying as Latina or White in the United States. Results showed that brain activation to infant cries in the right posterior insula, left cerebellum, and left auditory were higher for White mothers compared to Latina mothers, p's < .

Trait coping styles and the maternal neural and behavioral sensitivity to an infant.

During the postpartum period, new mothers experience drastic changes in their body, brain, and life circumstances. Stress from the emotional and physical demands of caring for an infant is associated with negative mood and parenting outcomes. The use of active coping strategies can increase mothers' resilience during the postpartum period.

Maternal socioeconomic disadvantage, neural function during volitional emotion regulation, and parenting.

The transition to becoming a mother involves numerous emotional challenges, and the ability to effectively keep negative emotions in check is critical for parenting. Evidence suggests that experiencing socioeconomic disadvantage interferes with parenting adaptations and alters neural processes related to emotion regulation. The present study examined whether socioeconomic disadvantage is associated with diminished neural activation while mothers engaged in volitional (i.

Intergenerational neuroimaging study: mother-infant functional connectivity similarity and the role of infant and maternal factors.

Mother and infant neural and behavioral synchrony is important for infant development during the first years of life. Recent studies also suggest that neural risk markers associated with parental psychopathology may be transmitted across generations before symptoms emerge in offspring. There is limited understanding of how early similarity in brain functioning between 2 generations emerges.

Maternal trait anxiety symptoms, frontolimbic resting-state functional connectivity, and cognitive development in infancy.

Exposure to maternal anxiety symptoms during infancy has been associated with difficulties in development and greater risk for developing anxiety later in life. Although previous studies have examined associations between prenatal maternal distress, infant brain development, and developmental outcomes, it is still largely unclear if there are associations between postnatal anxiety, infant brain development, and cognitive development in infancy. In this study, we used resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine the association between maternal anxiety symptoms and resting-state functional connectivity in the first year of life.

Postpartum Stress and Neural Regulation of Emotion among First-Time Mothers.

Early parenting relies on emotion regulation capabilities, as mothers are responsible for regulating both their own emotional state and that of their infant during a time of new parenting-related neural plasticity and potentially increased stress. Previous research highlights the importance of frontal cortical regions in facilitating effective emotion regulation, but few studies have investigated the neural regulation of emotion among postpartum women. The current study employed a functional neuroimaging (fMRI) approach to explore the association between perceived stress, depressive symptoms, and the neural regulation of emotion in first-time mothers.

Reported maternal childhood maltreatment experiences, amygdala activation and functional connectivity to infant cry.

Maternal childhood maltreatment experiences (CMEs) may influence responses to infants and affect child outcomes. We examined associations between CME and mothers' neural responses and functional connectivity to infant distress. We hypothesized that mothers with greater CME would exhibit higher amygdala reactivity and amygdala-supplementary motor area (SMA) functional connectivity to own infant's cries.

Childhood socioeconomic status is prospectively associated with surface morphometry in adulthood.

Childhood socioeconomic status (SES) has been associated with brain cortex surface area in children. However, the extent to which childhood SES is prospectively associated with brain morphometry in adulthood is unclear. We tested whether childhood SES (income-to-needs ratio averaged across ages 9, 13, and 17) is prospectively associated with cortical surface morphometry in adulthood.

How stress can influence brain adaptations to motherhood.

Research shows that a woman's brain and body undergo drastic changes to support her transition to parenthood during the perinatal period. The presence of this plasticity suggests that mothers' brains may be changed by their experiences. Exposure to severe stress may disrupt adaptive changes in the maternal brain and further impact the neural circuits of stress regulation and maternal motivation.

Associations between stress exposure and new mothers' brain responses to infant cry sounds.

Exposure to severe stress has been linked to negative postpartum outcomes among new mothers including mood disorders and harsh parenting. Non-human animal studies show that stress exposure disrupts the normative adaptation of the maternal brain, thus identifying a neurobiological mechanism by which stress can lead to negative maternal outcomes. However, little is known about the impact of stress exposure on the maternal brain response to infant cues in human mothers.

Prospective associations, longitudinal patterns of childhood socioeconomic status, and white matter organization in adulthood.

The association between childhood socioeconomic status (SES) and brain development is an emerging area of research. The primary focus to date has been on SES and variations in gray matter structure with much less known about the relation between childhood SES and white matter structure. Using a longitudinal study of SES, with measures of income-to-needs ratio (INR) at age 9, 13, 17, and 24, we examined the prospective relationship between childhood SES (age 9 INR) and white matter organization in adulthood using diffusion tensor imaging.

The impact of childhood poverty on brain health: Emerging evidence from neuroimaging across the lifespan.

Experiencing poverty in childhood has been associated with increased risk for physical and mental health difficulties later in life. An emerging body of evidence suggests that brain development may be one mediator of this relation. In this chapter, we discuss evidence for an association between childhood poverty and brain structure/function.