Browse Articles

Maternal characteristics and their relation to early mother-child interaction and cognitive development in toddlers

Early mother-infant interaction is believed to have a significant impact on the social, cognitive, and emotional development of children. These interactions are not only influenced by child and contextual factors but also by the mother’s personality traits and strain. In this study, we investigated the relation between maternal factors such as personality, depressive symptoms, or experiencing of emotions, and (i) children’s early cognitive development and (ii) interaction patterns in a sample of 116 mother-child dyads (mean child age = 18.63 months ± 6.42). Maternal factors were assessed using standardized questionnaires and toddlers’ cognitive development was measured using the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development. Interaction patterns were evaluated using the CARE-Index. The study found that children of mothers who scored higher in agreeableness, a personality trait reflecting compassion and cooperation, performed better in cognitive assessments. Additionally, mothers who placed significant importance on their bodily signals to assess their overall well-being had higher scores in the quality of interaction with their child. Statistical trends suggested that mothers with higher levels of conscientiousness, indicative of being organized and responsible, tended to be more responsive in the interaction with their infants, while those with higher levels of neuroticism, characterized by a tendency towards negative emotions, were more likely to have toddlers who inhibit their true negative affect. Finally, there was a trend indicating that maternal depression was associated with increased maternal controlling behavior towards toddlers. Overall, these findings show the intricate relation between maternal behavior and state with dyadic interaction quality. This should underline that optimal infant development is only possible if mothers are well supported especially if in need due to various burdens such as depressive symptoms.

Self-isolation of adolescents after Covid-19 pandemic between social withdrawal and Hikikomori risk in Italy

Abstract Social withdrawal is a widespread phenomenon among adolescents, presenting significant challenges in understanding its aetiology and dynamics. This study, drawing on data from two cross-sectional surveys conducted in 2019 and 2022 on students in public upper secondary schools, investigates the trend of self-isolation among Italian adolescents before and after the COVID-19 pandemic. The two nationally representative samples comprise 3273 and 4288 participants, respectively, with 46.3% and 41.2% identifying as female, ranging in age from 14 to 19 years. Using Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA) and Hierarchical Cluster Analysis (HCA), three distinct profiles of social withdrawal were identified among adolescents: “Social Butterflies”, “Friendship-Centric”, and “Lone Wolves”. Notably, the discovery of a subgroup within the Lone Wolves, composed of adolescents who never meet their friends and whose number has doubled post-pandemic, highlights the chronic nature of the phenomenon that demands urgent intervention. These findings shed light on the increase of self-isolation in Italy, showing the interplay of socio-demographic, psychological, and sociological factors underlying this phenomenon.

Tuning Bro̷nsted Acidity by up to 12 p<i>K</i>_a Units in a Redox-Active Nanopore Lined with Multifunctional Metal Sites

Binaural speech intelligibility for combinations of noise, reverberation, and hearing-aid signal processing

Binaural speech intelligibility in rooms is a complex process that is affected by many factors including room acoustics, hearing loss, and hearing aid (HA) signal processing. Intelligibility is evaluated in this paper for a simulated room combined with a simulated hearing aid. The test conditions comprise three spatial configurations of the speech and noise sources, simulated anechoic and concert hall acoustics, three amounts of multitalker babble interference, the hearing status of the listeners, and three degrees of simulated HA processing provided to compensate for the noise and/or hearing loss. The impact of these factors and their interactions is considered for normal-hearing (NH) and hearing-impaired (HI) listeners for sentence stimuli. Both listener groups showed a significant reduction in intelligibility as the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) decreased, and showed a reduction in intelligibility in reverberation when compared to anechoic listening. There was no significant improvement in intelligibility for the NH group for the noise suppression algorithm used here, and no significant improvement in intelligibility for the HI group for more advanced HA processing algorithms as opposed to linear amplification in either of the two acoustic spaces or at any of the three SNRs.

Leveraging dynamics informed neural networks for predictive modeling of COVID-19 spread: a hybrid SEIRV-DNNs approach

Interrogation of Enantioselectivity in the Photomediated Ring Contractions of Saturated Heterocycles

A cross-sectional network analysis of successful aging in a resilience-based framework

Aging inevitably gives rise to many challenges and transitions that can greatly impact our (mental) well-being and quality of life if these are not controlled adequately. Hence, the key to successful aging may not be the absence of these stressors, but the ability to demonstrate resilience against them. The current study set out to explore how resilience and successful aging may intersect by investigating how various resilience capacity-promoting (protective) and resilience capacity-reducing (risk) factors relate to mental well-being and quality of life. Through a large-scale (N = 2000, age 55+, 30 factors) network analysis, we established the interplay between risk/protective factors from various domains, including demographics, (mental) health, (environmental) stress, lifestyle, coping/personality, and ageism. We revealed some unique pathways through which each of these factors contribute to individuals’ mental well-being and/or quality of life, and interpreted these findings in terms of a resilience-based framework of successful aging. Our findings emphasize the complexity of factors that can impact quality of life and mental well-being in later life and can steer researchers and practitioners in devising efficacious, multi-pronged interventions that target risk and protective factors simultaneously, thereby maximizing their potential in boosting beneficial outcomes among older individuals.

Construction and application of optimized model for mine water inflow prediction based on neural network and ARIMA model

The Importance and Discovery of Highly Connected Covalent Organic Framework Net Topologies

Ultrasound renal denervation in hypertensive patients: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Introduction Hypertension is the leading noncommunicable disease case affecting 1.28 billion individuals worldwide, with most cases located in low- and middle-income countries. While there are numerous techniques for treating mild to moderate hypertension, properly controlling severe or resistant hypertension poses substantial challenges. Ultrasound-based renal denervation (uRDN) has emerged as a promising non-pharmacological approach. This study aims to investigate the safety and efficacy of uRDN in hypertensive patients. Methods The literature search across PubMed, ScienceDirect, BMJ Journals, ProQuest, and Springer databases yielded 419 articles. A total of 395 articles were filtered, leading to 24 articles assessed for eligibility and overall analysis, which resulted in eight included studies for quantitative synthesis. Quality appraisal used RoB 2.0, while meta-analysis used RevMan 5.4. Results Our analysis results indicated significant improvements in 24-hour, daytime, and home ambulatory blood pressure measurements, favoring the uRDN over control. The mean difference (MD) for 24-hour measurements was -0.84 mmHg [95% CI -1.14, -0.55; p &lt; 0.00001], for daytime measurements -1.27 mmHg [95% CI -1.59, -0.95; p &lt; 0.00001], and for home measurements -1.98 mmHg [95% CI -2.32, -1.64; p &lt; 0.00001], with moderate heterogeneity observed. Office ambulatory measurements also favored the uRDN with a significant MD of -1.51 mmHg [95% CI -1.91; -1.10; p &lt; 0.00001]. Funnel plots revealed some outliers, indicating true heterogeneity among the studies. Conclusion uRDN was associated with a significant reduction (-2.32 to -0.10 mmHg) in blood pressure of hypertensive patients.

Biomechanical simulation of bed turning post-acetabular fracture fixation

A Borenium-Borane Composite for Exhaustive Reduction of Oxo-Chemicals

Exploring the subtle and novel renal pathological changes in diabetic nephropathy using clustering analysis with deep learning

Investigating the Molybdenum Nitrogenase Mechanistic Cycle Using Spectroelectrochemistry

Three-dimensional matter wave soliton transformation between different optical lattices in a cold Rydberg atomic system

Early-life cognitively stimulating activities and late-life cognitive function in the St. Louis Baby Tooth Later Life Health Study

Comparative color stability assessment of orthodontic clear aligners: an in vitro study

Regioisomeric Engineering for Multicharge and Spin Stabilization in Two-Electron Organic Catholytes

High leafy and root vegetables and high rice dietary patterns were associated with primary and secondary bile acid levels in the feces

Abstract Colorectal cancer has the second highest mortality among cancer sites worldwide, with increasing morbidity, high recurrence rates, and even poorer postoperative quality of life. Therefore, preventive strategies for colorectal cancer should be established. This study aimed to cross-sectionally explore dietary patterns affecting the intestinal metabolism of bile acids (BAs), a risk factor for colorectal cancer, in young Japanese women. We collected fecal samples for intestinal microbiota and BA analysis. We used the Bristol scale to determine 1-week defecation status. Moreover, the brief-type self-administered diet history questionnaire was used for habitual dietary intake status. Reduced-rank regression analysis revealed dietary patterns related to fecal BA levels. The relationship between dietary patterns and fecal BA levels was adjusted for defecation status and intestinal microbiota variables using analysis of covariance. Reduced-rank regression analysis generated two dietary pattern scores related to fecal BA levels. First, the score was associated with a greater intake of leafy and root vegetables, and higher values were associated with greater fecal cholic and chenodeoxycholic acid levels and lower deoxycholic and lithocholic acid levels. Second, the score was associated with greater rice intake and lower Western sweets, pork, beef, and egg intake, and higher values were associated with lower deoxycholic and lithocholic acid levels. These relationships remained after adjusting for intestinal microbiota and defecation status variables.

A promising high-sensitive 1D photonic crystal magnetic field sensor based on the coupling of Fano\Tamm resonance in far IR region